First they came for evolution
Then they came for climate science
Then they came for epidemiology
Then they came for, like, really really basic math

A course grained rock under ultraviolet light. Bits of red and orange stand out between larger violet and blue structures.

Last night I tried as an experiment to photograph a chunk of gabbro (mafic intrustive igneous rock) under ultraviolet light. I didn’t expect much as it was sorta dull to the naked eye but ended up with a pretty interesting result!

flic.kr/p/2s8T54z

Fancy a trip to our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud?

Specifically, our destination is N180 B, a fertile source of new stars. N180 B’s shape is made up of a gargantuan bubble of ionised hydrogen surrounded by four smaller bubbles.

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1903/

🔭

When the Earth Had Supermountains YouTube video by PBS Eons

Super-mountains and major events in life's #evolution

#evoSky #geology

youtube.com/watch?v=PUDv...

A barren plain, filled with flat rocks, pebbles, and sand. The sky is a yellow colour; the ground fades with distance from the camera, which is mounted on a lander (the base of which is visible at the bottom).

This is what the surface of Venus looks like.

(Sort of.)

Prince passed away 10 years ago today.

RIP, your music lives on.

Diverse organic molecules on Mars revealed by the first SAM TMAH experiment - Nature Communications Curiosity detected over 20 organic molecules in 3.5-billion-year-old Martian rocks using a wet chemistry experiment, showing complex carbon compounds can survive for billions of years and may preserve...

Diverse organic molecules on #Mars revealed by the first SAM TMAH experiment
#astrobiology

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars - NASA After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of

NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars

www.nasa.gov/missions/mar...

Survival of NASA-cleanroom microbial isolates under simulated space and Martian conditions | Applied and Environmental Microbiology This study reveals that conidia of the fungus Aspergillus calidoustus, which was isolated from spacecraft assembly cleanrooms, can survive simulated space-relevant stressors like ultraviolet irradiati...

Survival of NASA-cleanroom microbial isolates under simulated space and Martian conditions
#Mars #PlanetaryProtection #astrobiology #fungi

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Direct benefits are not necessary for the evolution of multicellularity - Nature Ecology & Evolution A model for the evolution of multicellularity in a spatially heterogeneous environment shows that indirect mechanisms such as escape from competition and increased environmental exploitation can drive...

Direct benefits are not necessary for the #evolution of #multicellularity

#evoSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Plagiarised research passed automated tests, and I detected it – but only because it copied my work The safeguards in place to protect research integrity are not keeping pace with the tools that can be used to circumvent them.

Plagiarised research passed automated tests, and I detected it – but only because it copied my work
#academicSky #scienceSky

theconversation.com/plagiarised-...

The human body isn’t a masterpiece of design – it’s a patchwork of evolutionary compromise Many aspects of human anatomy are just “good enough” solutions – functional, but far from perfect.

The human body isn’t a masterpiece of design – it’s a patchwork of evolutionary compromise
#evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #HumanEvolution #evoSky

theconversation.com/the-human-bo...

Repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cell shape Bacteria, like eukaryotes, use conserved cytoskeletal systems for intracellular organization. The plasmid-encoded ParMRC system forms actin-like filaments that segregate low–copy number plasmids. In m...

Repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cell shape
#evolution #evoSky #cyanobacteria

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A Rare 1897 Film Discovered in an Old Trunk in Michigan Features the First On-Screen Appearance of a Robot Filmmaker Georges Méliès employed some of his signature special effects techniques to create comedy in "Gugusse and the Automaton"

A Rare 1897 Film Discovered in an Old Trunk in Michigan Features the First On-Screen Appearance of a Robot
#film #robots

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/r...

NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating - NASA Science On April 17, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California sent commands to shut down an instrument aboard Voyager 1 called the

#NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating
#Voyager1 #Voyager2 #DeepSpace #SpaceExploration

science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage...

“If I finish a book a week, I will read only a few thousand books in my lifetime, about a tenth of a percent of the contents of the greatest libraries of our time. The trick is to know which books to read.”

― Carl Sagan

A star cluster glowing at the center of a vast nebula, surrounded by bright stars and clouds of gas and dust

NGC 3603 is a starburst region where stars form from its extended clouds of gas and dust.

It owes its shape to the light and winds coming from the young, massive stars which lift the curtains of gas and clouds revealing a multitude of glowing suns.

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1005/

🔭
📷 ESO

“Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact.”

― Carl Sagan

“But nature is always more subtle, more intricate, more elegant than what we are able to imagine.”

— Carl Sagan

📸 Hubble Sees a Horsehead of a Different Color, NASA ID: PIA16008

The United States damages millennia-old archaeological site with explosives to build the border wall The work is taking place on Cuchumá Hill in Baja California, which was divided in the 19th century when the border was established

The United States damages millennia-old archaeological site with explosives to build the border wall

english.elpais.com/usa/2026-04-...

“We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.”

— Carl Sagan

Thirty years later, #Mars 96 has not been found

www.thespacereview.com/article/5194/1

Having a hard time keeping up with the fast-moving field of origin of eukaryotes/Asgards archaea? Our new perspective article can help, we review the status of research over the last decade and where it's going.

The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Gagarin in his Vostok 1 spacesuit on 12 April 1961

65 years ago, on the 12th of April 1961, Yuri Gagarin (Юрий Гагарин) became the first human to travel into space. He was 27 at the time. 🗃️#otd #history

“My parents taught me that even though it’s not forever — because it’s not forever — being alive is a profoundly beautiful thing for which each of us should feel deeply grateful. If we lived forever it would not be so amazing.”

— Sasha Sagan

The Earth as seen from the Moon.

Welcome home, #Artemis 2.
#NASA #ESA

“We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands.”

— Carl Sagan

Trump threats cause dilemma for US officers: disobey orders or commit war crimes Legal experts say attacking Iran’s infrastructure would constitute a war crime – but would military officers be held responsible?

Trump threats cause dilemma for US officers: disobey orders or commit war crimes
#Iran #IranWar #WarCrimes

www.theguardian.com/law/2026/apr...

Colorful telescope view of Cassiopeia, remnant of a collapse star. Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jv7z-GxmSRpfGWSt9dyTngH1h8UdxRRx/view

You have stellar bone structure!

Did you know that the phosphorus atoms that build your bones (and your DNA) were formed in certain novae and supernovae in space? And that this happened billions of years ago? #Pweek @sustainablep.bsky.social
drive.google.com/file/d/1Jv7z...