So, you've decided to write a terrible EV piece. An early column, because I'm away this Friday.

My head assploded and harsh words came out after reading the ABCs stupidest ever 730 report on EVs

Japan raises more tax revenue from Australian gas exports than Australia does.

Japan has a tax on gas and coal imports that raises more money than Aus PRRT.

Great new research out today @australiainstitute.org.au @richarddenniss.bsky.social

australiainstitute.org.au/report/taxin...

Senate Select Committee on the Taxation of Gas Resources | 21/04/2026 YouTube video by Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal

. @richarddenniss.bsky.social opens by pointing out that the Japanese govt actually raises more revenue from Australian gas than does the Australian govt!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilVp...

Even "school girl" is ick

Laughing at this in Norwegian

(hei hei hei hei hei hei)

I drove an EV for three days. It saved me money but cost me time With no end in sight to soaring fuel prices, 7.30 decided to take an EV for a test drive to see how far it could take our reporter, and if Australia's EV charging network stacks up.

So laughable.

Should be “I drove an EV without any knowledge or preparation whatsoever and still only lost 20mins when I insisted on charging when I didn’t have to, and hadn’t prepared for, so I could interview people in the meantime.”

Do you like this kind of thing?

Well, Australia just decided not to be part of it anymore.

(Maybe we'll get a submarine though???)

An astronomical image featuring the backdrop of the dark night sky with a faint grey-blue speckle at the centre. The nebulous cloud has the shape of a four-leaf flower. Four orange laser beams are pointing to it.

This isn't a scene from #StarWars.

What you're looking at is the Tarantula Nebula. While those beams come from the lasers installed on the telescopes that comprise our VLTI.

But why are we sending lasers into the sky? Find out: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2616a/

🔭 🧪
📷 A. Berdeu/ESO

Cover of report "Mission Aborted: how NASA illegally implemented the president's budget request without congressional approval. Minority staff report, prepared by members of the committee on science, space, and technology, us house of representatives, April 2026

This report came out today by minority staff of the House science committee on how three NASA missions were aborted due to NASA illegally following the FY26 president's budget request instead of congressionally approved budget. Very important reading. 🔭🧪 democrats-science.house.gov/staff-report...

Worst episode of 'Perfect Match' ever.

This 👇🏽

“Astronomy does more than deliver discoveries. It inspires students, engages communities, and builds the pipeline of future scientists. Stepping back from a flagship international collaboration at the very moment the world is looking up risks dimming that inspiration for a generation”

The Australian Academy of Science posted this reaction to the government's decision to withdraw Australia from ESO (which I had not heard about?!) 🔭 science.org.au/news-events/...

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

I will say this again: Science isn’t just something that nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world.

It’s why this app exists. It’s why child mortality rate isn’t 50% anymore. It’s how we’re able to launch people to the moon. It’s how we’re able to grow food that feeds half the world.

A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

More context on this #Artemis II image:

* This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right

* The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon:
☀️🌍🚀🌕

I made a little Instagram reel about this image because it’s just so frickin’ cool

Really awful to say goodbye to an Iranian PhD graduate from our Centre today, before they make a 5-day journey back home to help their sick mother.

“These crazy people – they don’t care what they do”.

“Maybe I’ll try to get a job at a university there. If they’re not destroyed, & I’m not killed”.

“The top caramelised” is now one of my favorite sentences.

I am choosing not to make any exclusion principle jokes here.

New crater just dropped. Wait. Large meteor just dropped. Then the crater.

Another stunner from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

✊ donating to Wikipedia is a good thing to do

When I was growing up, I remember my parents scraping together $5 for fuel to make it to work. We couldn't go to friend's houses because we couldn't spare the fuel, and every trip needed to be accounted and planned for. If the petrol price went up, we stayed home. (No public transport) (cont)

Sovereignty overboard

I feel very innovated, and transformed.

You shouldn't cancel. You should invite them all, then fall asleep while getting them all to watch the weather and wake you if it clears up. That is the true astronomy way.

Swinburne’s legacy is shaping its future Swinburne has farewelled Vice-Chancellor Professor Linda Kristjanson AO after almost 10 years of service.

As an arbitrary comparison, those words appear 4 and 8 times in this other, unrelated article.

The words "teaching" and "research" don't appear in this article.

This *must* be it. And the logical answer to the question "Well, why haven't they supported a gas tax before, then?" is just that they're beholden to donations and promises of support from billionaires.

A viral dog rescue from 2016 is now immortalized with a statue in Kazakhstan. When a dog fell into the Sayran reservoir, bystanders formed a human chain to pull him to safety. The statue is a reminder of the value of unity, solidarity and collective action. 14/10 for all

Of all the things I would have expected bipartisan consensus on, this was not it.