Karen Masters

I hope everyone who checked out @hogg.bsky.social’s white paper on the implications of LLMs in astronomy and shared it across slack channels similarly perused and amplified this white paper of best practices for broadening participation in astronomy!

#sciart 🔭

"Just after starting on Cars 2, I was told by a superior that I would be uninvited from all weekly art department meetings because Lasseter 'has a hard time controlling himself' around young women... It was clear that the institution was working hard to protect him, at the expense of women like me."

Yellow and white crocuses.

Spring is coming! 🌸🌼🪻

What inspires someone to pursue physics for life?

From discovering general relativity to the encouragement of mentors, women in our community share the moments that shaped their journeys.

This #InternationalWomensDay we’re celebrating women advancing physics and inspiring the next generation. 🌟

To my Canadian friends, an acquaintance started a petition to allow US transgender citizens to claim refugee status here.

www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

If you’re Canadian please sign it.
If you’re not, please share ❤️

My understanding as a Mandarin Chinese learner is that there is a similar set up there with “bu cuo” (不错) literally meaning “not bad” but actually meaning really good. Most of the time.

Reminded by a mail from @nccomfort.bsky.social that in UK English “quite” is a negative modifier unless applied to a superlative. So quite good, quite smart, quite tasty etc imply something less than good, smart, tasty. Quite excellent, quite brilliant, quite scrumptious are all better. But why?

Im a historian of vaccination.
Every semester/year since 2015, I teach the histories of smallpox vaccination.
And every semester/year, I have had anti-vaxxers/vaccine hesitant people in my classes.
If I want to change their minds, telling them how evil or stupid they are isn't going to cut it.

A white cat playing with a coloured ball with a long red string. A black cat lies nearby. Background is silver.

'Playing cats' - Takahashi Hiroaki, ca. 1930.
#Caturday #JapaneseArt

Thanks for the recommendation. The Haverford bookclub also mostly (many retired) female faculty and staff from humanities. Plus me and a male biology professor! But it’s great.

Data Visualization A Practical Introduction

Here’s a full draft of the upcoming second edition of my “Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction”: socviz.co

Growing up in the UK where this is just not a thing and I don't think I will get used to it. In the UK you go to the Doctor, then you are done... In the US - you get bills, you have to push back on denied claims etc. etc...

My regular musing on how much money is wasted by how time intensive US medical bill payment (and understanding if your insurance covered something or not ) is to people...

She’d Never Changed Her Gender Marker. Kansas Invalidated Her License Anyway. — Assigned A trans Kansas resident recently changed her name but not her gender marker on her license, fearing what Kansas may do if she did. The Kansas DMV still flagged her ID.

This story, from @natezuke.bsky.social, is absolutely wild. A trans woman who never changed her gender marker was issued a letter invalidating her license. At the DMV they cut up her license, which had an "M" marker.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE | MARCH 3, 2026 | GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY YouTube video by Griffith Observatory

If, like me, the #TrollClouds have ruined your #LunarEclipse experience, which has now commenced - tune into Griffith Observatory's live feed.

The music is great!

The majority of UK academic institutions now no longer post on X - LSE Impact For the first time, more UK universities and associated organisations are inactive on X than active.

💥New post | The majority of UK academic institutions now no longer post on X

✍️ @andytattersall.bsky.social

#AcademicSky #X #AcademicSocialMedia

The first image off my camera of the Blood Moon. This is right at totality, 3:33 a.m. I did very little processing on this. I sharpened it. The light and color are exactly as they came off my camera. #astronomy #astrophotography

A night photo of the moon during the lunar eclipse, there is a hint of red in the illuminated area.

Totality, lunar eclipse. The moon has a very red color to it.

Lunar eclipse 3 March 2026 approaching totality and totality at 4:33am this morning. Mainly clear sky, handheld shots using a tree stump for a bit of stability so not as sharp as they could be, still, fun to see it all unfold.

Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text Discovery sheds new light on how famed astronomer came to lead a scientific revolution

🤓 Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text

Flat boats on a river with trees alongside and a full moon low in the sky beyond.

'Moon at Seba' from the series '69 Stations of the Kisokaido' - Utagawa Hiroshige, ca 1834.
#FullMoon #ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

A full moon in the sky reflected on still water on which a boat with three people is passing. Reeds grow on the shore in the foreground.

'Moonlit Sea' - Koho, ca. 1930's.
#FullMoon #JapaneseArt

Hey, there is good news out there.

🔩🔧🧰🩻💉🧬🌡️🩺🔬🪄🎁 😅

Yeah @standupforscience.bsky.social
💌🙏✍️ @princess-vimentin.bsky.social 👏👍✊✊✊

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

“No stupid rules of engagement” is a hell of a thing to say after killing 165 little girls at school in Minab, Iran.

OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for a Senior Full Stack Engineer to join the Web Application Services Branch, performing software development, support and maintenance of applications and processes to our NASA missions: https://bit.ly/4l9HF1Q

OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for a Senior Finance & Grants Analyst to support financial and operational efficiency across NASA-funded research programs, including Hubble, James Webb, and future missions: https://bit.ly/4rM6p2A

I find the news very frightening right now, but one thing that helps me is noticing the birds all around me

Do you want a reason to spend 10 minutes a day noticing your local birds? Then join me for this spring’s #TenMinMerlin, using the (free) app Merlin to notice birds. No experience needed!

1/5

Financing dies in darkness? The impact of newspaper closures on public finance We examine how local newspaper closures affect public finance outcomes for local governments. Following a newspaper closure, municipal borrowing costs…

Studies show that when local news outlets stop scrutinizing government, efficiency drops. Public payrolls bloat. Waste increases.

The cost gets passed to you—roughly $85 in added taxes per person after a county loses one of its last few papers.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Column | We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea? Proposals before the FCC involve mirrors that could bathe entire cities in sunlight and, from SpaceX, a million satellites to serve as data centers.

Hint: when there’s a question in a title, the answer is almost always “no”. Article: “We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea?” wapo.st/4cdyP0s

Federal Science Workforce Declines Sharply Under Trump The last year was marked by turmoil at science agencies and the administration’s stated desire to shrink the federal workforce.

Federal science workforce in 2025:

NSF down over 30%
USGS, NOAA, and NIH down 20%
DOE down 17%
NIST down 15%
NASA down 12%

By comparison, the total federal civilian workforce was down approximately 10% last year.

www.aip.org/fyi/federal-...