Hannah Richter

After 35 years, Ig Nobel ceremony to leave the U.S. Finances and Trump policies underlaid the decision to move the satirical science event to Switzerland

“We were aware that we might have a similar situation this year,” the Ig Nobel founder said after Trump's border policies prompted 4/10 winning teams to decline traveling in 2025. "Then the situation got far worse.”

Read about the Igs' decision to move abroad @science.org: tinyurl.com/3kfrdh7y

@evangora.bsky.social

In a first, researchers film treetops glowing during thunderstorms Glimmer sparked by electrical fields detected in nature for the first time

For half a century, researchers suspected treetops on Earth might glow because of thunderstorms. But the phenomenon, an electric outburst called a corona, has only ever been spotted in the lab--until now. Cool story from @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @science.org

In a first, researchers film treetops glowing during thunderstorms Glimmer sparked by electrical fields detected in nature for the first time

Lightning is so 2025 - it's time for glowing trees, instead ⚡🌲. Today for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #lightning #trees #storm #science #nature #physics

As the world warms, freezing rain shifts to the U.S. South Recent winter storm traced the path of an emerging ice corridor

Freezing rain is the next big winter hazard—and if the recent January storm is any indication, it's coming for the U.S. South ❄️⚠️🧊. Read more today (and in this week's print edition) @science.org

www.science.org/content/arti... #freezingrain #climatechange #weather #climate #nws #noaa

Earthquake sensors buried in the quietest spot on Earth Deep beneath the South Pole, two seismometers will monitor the planet’s interior and the movement of Antarctic ice

Wake up, babe, the new quietest spot on Earth just dropped 🤫🧊🌐

It's 2.5 km under the South Pole—and geologists have installed seismometers there that operate more quietly than the background rumblings of Earth itself. Read more about this cool project in @science.org : tinyurl.com/5n76jfht #science

@skylargrayson.bsky.social

NASA’s Budget Woes Are Over, For Now Congress has rejected Trump’s draconian cuts, passing a bill that funds the space agency similarly to 2025.

After a year of chaos and turmoil, Congress gave NASA "nearly everything we were asking for." 🪐💵 Read about the appropriations bill on the way to President Trump's desk that has sparked, at least for now, hope. @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #nasa #space #trump

NASA is making last-ditch attempt to contact tumbling Mars orbiter After 12 years studying the Red Planet’s atmosphere, MAVEN has gone perilously quiet

On December 4th, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft sent its last bit of data. Two days later, it was somersaulting around Mars. Since then, silence. 🛰️

Read about the space agency's final attempt to reconnect with the decade-old craft in @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #maven #space

Life in Europa’s ocean could feed on rocks’ radioactive decay After series of bleak findings, theory sparks hope for alternative energy source within Jupiter’s intriguing moon

“Is Europa truly dead?” a planetary scientist asked himself after some disheartening results for the moon. “Or should we broaden our perspective on other mechanisms that can sustain life?” (Spoiler: he chose the latter)🌱🦠

Read my last #AGU2025 story (for now!) at @science.org: tinyurl.com/4dd67hhw

Trump administration moves to break up leading U.S. climate and weather center White House budget director calls the National Center for Atmospheric Research a source of “climate alarmism”

“An abdication of U.S. leadership”—that's how the scientific and policy communities see the White House's push to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research. 🌪️🪓

Read my 3rd story from AGU for
@science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #trump #science #ncar #climate #weather

Titan might not have an ocean after all A reanalysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission suggests Saturn’s icy moon may lack the subsurface ocean presumed for a decade

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been a member of the deep-sea club for almost 2 decades. New research might revoke its water world card. 🪐 🌊

My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa

@rdword.bsky.social

Martian cities could be built from ice Astronauts could theoretically harness frozen water on the Red Planet to construct habitats and research stations, new analysis suggests

Do you wanna build an ice dome? 🧊🔨

Taking a trip from New Orleans to Mars for my first @science.org story from #AGU2025: www.science.org/content/arti... #mars #space #humanspaceflight

Replenishing sapped groundwater could trigger small earthquakes A boom in aquifer injection projects could unlock long-quiet faults

From California to Florida, projects to manually refill aquifers by pumping in highly treated wastewater are underway.💧 But they have a shaky downside: the potential to cause earthquakes.🪨 🚩

Read about how—and what researchers are doing to prevent the danger— in @science.org: tinyurl.com/ytcrj2ca

@mbkplus.bsky.social @karenswilcoxphd.bsky.social

In red states, many academic researchers feel fear–and resolve State-level mandates prompt changes and small acts of resistance at universities

Trump has brought a national chill to U.S. science. But what about state actions? 🚩🏛️

For @science.org, I spoke with researchers across disciplines, career stages, and geography to find out how being a red state researcher can stoke fear, and acts of resistance 🔬🏳️‍🌈: tinyurl.com/4yf8pf62

A hyperlocal story for @eos.org about a vulnerable population in the path of climate change🌡️

@bassisjeremy.bsky.social @drnaomio.bsky.social @helen-amanda.bsky.social @mathieu-ice.bsky.social

Antarctic glacier shows fastest retreat in modern history Tides and glacial earthquakes caused record ice loss at Hektoria Glacier

Glaciologists are "kind of like one of those crime shows…‘Who Killed the Ice Shelf?’"

A record-breaking glacial casualty gets unraveled today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

This Ecologist Lost Her Grant for Studying Diversity—of Insects The federal trawling of grants for misaligned priorities has brought in bycatch

What's worse than getting your grant cut by the Trump administration? Getting it cut by accident. ❌🪲 Thank you to this Louisiana Tech ecologist for letting me share her story in @sierramagazine.bsky.social: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ecolo... #trump #ecology #nsf

To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics - Eos A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.

Where are critical minerals hiding? Plate tectonics might hold clues.🧪⚒️

New research from Chris Kirkland @curtinuniversity.bsky.social + colleagues; input from Zachary Murguía Burton @ Montana State. Story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/to-...

To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics - Eos A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.

90% of the world's niobium comes from a single operation in Brazil 🪨 ⛏️ . More might be hiding in the scars left by an ancient supercontinent breakup.

Read my first story for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/to-... #criticalminerals #mining

Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*

For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️

The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy

@tanyaofmars.bsky.social @caseydreier.bsky.social

NASA Faces Government Shutdown, Funding Fears Rise While civil servants are furloughed or working without pay, funding for NASA remains uncertain.

The world's premier space agency isn't exempt from the U.S. government shutdown. "You can't just sit in your lab and think that this doesn't impact you, because it's very clear now that it does,” says one planetary scientist. 🏛️ ❌ Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/26e5h4d2 #nasa

A ‘solar bump’ could help data centers recover wasted energy Solar water heaters could recoup 8% of the electricity needs of AI computer farms

Cooling 1 data center's electronics and venting the heat 💻 = 40,000 U.S. households' energy 🏠. New research suggests a way to waste less power with the help of solar—even as the U.S. moves away from renewables.☀️🔌 #solar #ai

@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

The Ig Nobels are science’s most lighthearted event. This year is ‘not typical’ Amid Trump research cuts, visa restrictions, and international conflicts, some winners sit out the celebration of whimsical science

The 2025 Ig Nobel-winning research was as wacky as ever. But wars, visa restrictions, Trump's border and research policies, and even an all-too-frequent airplane incident kept nearly half the winning teams from traveling to Boston @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Inside NASA’s Wild Space Mission to Defend Earth Against a Planet-Killing Asteroid A mighty, cosmos-altering rocket could be the only thing that saves humanity from extinction.

I got to tell the inside story of NASA's historic DART mission for Popular Mechanics and Apple News+. 🛰️☄️As one source put it, “The probability is low that an asteroid will hit us. But at the same time, it is the only natural disaster that we can predict and act against.”🌍 tinyurl.com/2xvskbuh #nasa

Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Might Have Weird “Space Rainbows” Scouring old data from NASA’s Cassini mission revealed puzzling atmospheric stripes that could help probe Saturn’s icy moon.

Somewhere, over the space rainbow...🪨🌈 @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #space #nasa