#OverheardOnZoom: "If you play soccer and are any good at it, you like Messi. If you don't play soccer, or if you play and are bad, you like Ronaldo."

SETI Institute Launches Discovery and Futures Lab to Explore the Human Dimensions of Life Beyond Earth New initiative bridges science, society, and the future of discovery in astrobiology and SETI

I am really excited to see this press release go live! Happy to report that the amazing @notnotrocketscience.com and I are now co-Directors of the new Discovery & Futures Lab at @setiinstitute.bsky.social
www.seti.org/news/seti-in...

Me and a JPL employee walking toward a meeting with Senator Padilla's office

Yesterday, I met with the offices of two senators and five representatives to advocate for federal science funding as part of the @planetarysociety.bsky.social's Day of Action. Learn more: www.planetary.org/advocacy/day...

From @caltech.edu to Congress! It was so wonderful to advocate for federal science funding alongside some fellow former Techers at the @planetarysociety.bsky.social’s Day of Action! 🚀

It was a lot of fun to talk cosmology and Star Trek with @miquai.bsky.social for this podcast episode!

Katie Mack has such a wonderful way of explaining the most mind-stretching possibilities, & having read her book several years ago it was a joy to hear her talk about the end of everything with Mike Wong. And also a #StarTrekDS9 episode I’ve always been fond of! 🖖🏼😊

Two great science communicators chatting about the end of the universe! Delightful!

Let's go California! This our team for tomorrow's Day of Action with the @planetarysociety.bsky.social to tell Congress to #SaveNASAScience! With @miquai.bsky.social too!

There are three signed copies of Time’s Second Arrow at the National Air & Space Museum gift shop! 💫

Episode 197: The End of Everything Guest: Dr. Katie Mack Cosmologist Katie Mack beams aboard to discuss how the universe will end. Using the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode

New podcast episode! ✨🎙🖖

Using the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Chrysalis" as our launchpad, Dr. @astrokatie.com and I go through scenarios for the end of the universe—and whether there's anything we can do about them.

How ‘Star Trek’ Boldly Became a Science Classroom | Duke Today

Really gracious story... today.duke.edu/2026/04/how-...

We need to write a paper together so we will DEFINITELY know 😉

OMG

Epistemic Pluralism & Astrobiology - Journal for General Philosophy of Science Journal for General Philosophy of Science - Astrobiology is a field that asks profound questions about the universe by simultaneously acquiring knowledge from multiple disciplines in order to...

Proud to present my first paper in a philosophy of science journal: "Epistemic Pluralism & Astrobiology" by Smith, Anderson, and Wong! Please check it out 😊

#OverheardAtCarnegie: "I'm at that age now where if I have to learn something new, I have to forget something else to make room in my brain."

The potential loss of dark skies worldwide will not only interfere with astronomical observations, but also natural ecologies, cultural practices, and a sense of wonder that can transform human identities and destinies.

We won bar trivia again, and this time my primary contribution was remembering that West Side Story was based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. My 10th-grade English teacher would be so proud.

I attended this workshop yesterday and it was excellent! PALLAS sounds like a great website to connect artists and astronomers for joint projects and I believe this platform will be so useful in the future!

#astronomy

How a grass-roots movement won the fight to save an Arizona landmark At a time of fewer protections for public lands, residents of Prescott devise a new playbook to preserve the Granite Dells as open space.

At a time when the federal government is sharpening its attacks on #PublicLands, one city demonstrates what it takes to save their neighborhood park from development.

Here's the new playbook that other grassroots movements can take a page from. By yours truly, for @azcentral.com

#GraniteDells

My favorite tree on Carnegie Science’s EPL campus in spring

@chelseaharamia.bsky.social has taught me so many new terms over the past 3 years, but “causal nexus” is perhaps my favorite. I may not be able to build a better world all by myself. But I can be part of the causal nexus that achieves such goals. Every little bit of good counts.

Black hawks return to Arizona's Santa Cruz River for the habitat As black hawks flock to Tubac, so too do birdwatchers. The monitoring effort provides a snapshot of health of the riparian habitat.

In March, I got to see a natural wonder unique to southern AZ: black hawk migration, with up to 100 of the birds flying over #Tubac daily. Their journey rests on the persistence of cottonwood trees along riparian corridors. For a drying, warming state, that future isn't guaranteed.

@azcentral.com

Reckoning with my ‘ghost years’: why a low publication rate doesn’t always reflect failure I have a five-year gap in my publication record. Last year, I published seven academic articles as either the first or corresponding author. Here’s why one level of output isn’t better than any other.

Remember, you are not a failure if you didn't publish last year.

In that interval, your success could have been expressed in other, less noticeable, but just as important dimensions: reading, drafting, coding, exploring, experimenting, or plain old fashioned thinking.

As an early-career academic, there are few things more uplifting than a senior colleague whom you really respect tell you out of the blue, "I know you're on the job market. If you ever need a letter of recommendation, I'll write you a strong one" 🥹

The FY 2027 NASA budget request hides its science cuts by omitting mission names instead of explicitly zeroing them out.

We did the work and found 54 missions cancelled in this proposal.

This is another extinction-level event for NASA science.

Full list: planetary.org/save-nasa-science

I preordered this like 6 months ago and Blackwells finally shipped it today. My dear friend @miquai.bsky.social wrote this freakin bestseller and I finished it in one sitting. Shannon would be proud, guys.

These Scientists Are Proposing a New Law of Nature These Scientists Are Proposing a New Law of Nature: Entropy isn’t the final word. Time also brings order to the universe.

The 2nd law of thermodynamics famously points to death and decay--but, could there be another, overlooked law responsible for *increasing* order? Robert Hazen & @miquai.bsky.social make the argument in their new book, "Time's Second Arrow." I spoke with them for @nautil.us:
nautil.us/time-brings-...

Takeover of federal lands could cost Arizona $800 million, study says On Arizona Public Lands Day, a new report examines the costs and the losses to the state for taking over federal lands.

Some Arizonan politicians have long pushed for the state to take over federal lands. That... is not a good idea.

My latest for @azcentral.com:

@nature.org @azwildlifefed.bsky.social #PublicLands

#OverheardOnZoom: “Email used to be one of my phobias.”

Grand Canyon sunsets are otherworldly 😍

The Moral Case Against Artificial Constellations Three potential satellite projects may change our night sky forever. Beyond the environmental and scientific problems, the proposals are an ethical nightmare.

If approved, three proposed satellite megaconstellation projects would fundamentally change the nature of the night sky. When consequences cannot be quantified in dollars, our instinct should be to tread lightly, rather than thrust ahead with an engine of greed.