While we're talking percentages, let's talk about the proposed cuts to NASA's science budget.
NASA is currently 0.36% of US federal spending. www.planetary.org/space-policy...
The proposed budget cuts NASA science by 47%.
NASA science is already on a shoestring, and that string is about to break
Drs. Amy Hagen and Ben Gill stand next to Amy's dissertation presentation entitled Geochemical, paleontological and sedimentological exploration of the co-evolution of life and environment during the Cambrian Period.
Congratulations to Dr. Amy Hagen (@spicegirl.bsky.social), who just successfully defended her dissertation this afternoon! Amy's dissertation is entitled Geochemical, paleontological and sedimentological exploration of the co-evolution of life and environment during the Cambrian Period.
If you want to know what Amy was up to during her Ph.D., two of her dissertation chapters are already published.
The first is on what the iron geochemistry and mineralogy of the Harkless Formation of Western Nevada can tell us about the environment at that time:
Drs. Amy Hagen and Ben Gill stand next to Amy's dissertation presentation entitled Geochemical, paleontological and sedimentological exploration of the co-evolution of life and environment during the Cambrian Period.
Congratulations to Dr. Amy Hagen (@spicegirl.bsky.social), who just successfully defended her dissertation this afternoon! Amy's dissertation is entitled Geochemical, paleontological and sedimentological exploration of the co-evolution of life and environment during the Cambrian Period.
In a random coincidence, this morning I was uploading photos to my laptop from my visit to Table Mountain a couple years ago. ⚒️🧪
Yes Congress should fully fund USGS. That is one battle. Whether the appropriated funding gets to be used by the agency is another. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been slow rolling or stopping all together appropriated funds from going out. This also needs to be watched.
Humanity did that. Science did that. Publicly-funded research did that. Excellent universities did that. Diversity did that. International cooperation did that.
Artemis II is a perfect example of what we can do at our best.
Welcome home, Integrity crew!
Science is good. We should fund it.
Happy #FossilFriday. Check out these awesome silicified Cambrian cyanobacteria fossils from the Harkless Formation from western Nevada from a publication in Palaios by @spicegirl.bsky.social. 🧪⚒️🔬
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
We had to change all our mentions of "diversity" to "biodiversity" in our proposal last summer and it was funded.
A little more than week ago they were asking for additional reviewers because they didn't have enough to cover the proposals they had.
👊
That song is the second track on 2026 2̶0̶2̶5̶ has me angry playlist.
I just contacted my congressional representatives for the first time ever. I haven't in the past because I have always thought that it wouldn't do anything... I'm hoping to be proven wrong.
Oh no. NSF Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program shuttered.
This one leaves me winded. A good story from 2025 by @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social offers insight into what we are losing: www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
If I was on crew, I would have had the everyone floating around the cabin motionless with facehuggers masks on when we emerged from the dark side.
Oh man! Look at those climbing ripples! 🔬🧪⚒️ @juliamorphology.bsky.social @clasticdetritus.bsky.social @cosynomad.bsky.social
Yeah. I'm bummed I couldn't go!
New publication from our research group led by PhD candidate @spicegirl.bsky.social. This study🔬 looks at the environmental conditions that led to the preservation of a unique fossils of 508 million year old cyanobacteria.🧪⚒️
This research was supported by NASA's Astrobiology Program.
I'm got a student floating the Colorado through the canyon at the moment. She doing fieldwork on the Chuar Group!
The Trump administration is requesting the cancellation of billions of dollars in funds for renewable energy, space science, and climate change education in its FY2027 budget. The cuts would help fund an increase in defense funding to a total of $1.5 trillion.
eos.org/research-and...
A line grant of the cumulative numbers of awards for NSF from fiscal years 2021-2026. The curve for fiscal year 2026 lies below well the other curves.
NSF update
Still looking very bleak.
4/5
Incredible footage from a United Airlines flight of the Artemis II launch.
For #NSF and #NIH watchers, Grant Witness now has interactive data on numbers of grants and total funding obligations, broken down by institute and directorate, new awards and non-competitive renewals.
The stranglehold on new awards is still a disaster.
grant-witness.us/funding_curv...
Then there is also the energy intensive production of nitrogen fertilizer and corn needs a lot of it compared to other plants!
I keep having to tell students that the true "product" on a homework, essay, or test is not the completed assignment, it's the brain that has gone through the thinking required to complete the assignment.
