Science journalist and correspondent for Nature (she/her). Opinions = my own. Reach me at alexwitze.01 (Signal), witzescience (@gmail.com), or awitze (@protonmail.com).
Alexandra Witze
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June 8, 1783, the Laki eruption, one of the largest basaltic fissure eruptions in recorded history and the deadliest volcanic eruption in Icelandic history, starts when a series of fissures erupting lava open in the ground 🌋🇮🇸
tinyurl.com/u63ksxcr
History of Geology
🌋⚽⤵️🤩
Forget the World Cup, y'all, the Rockies are on fire
This will never ever happen again
NCAR just won in court! A US district judge in Colorado has prohibited NSF from taking #NCAR apart, specifically in spalling off its supercomputing center in Wyoming. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Our earlier story on this and why it matters:
www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪
PITCH: an explainer on the physics of scaffolding
In which @voosen.me reports from sea on the possible resilience of the much-feared AMOC, an Atlantic Ocean current system that could be weakening as the planet warms www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
Today NASA named four skilled astronauts as the #ArtemisIII crew for a test mission in low-Earth orbit, perhaps next year. All four are men, even though NASA has loads of highly qualified women astronauts. It's not a good look for the so-called Artemis generation. 🧪🔭
A rough @nature.com poll of >1,900 researchers found:
~48% feel negative towards AI
63% say that risks for data analysis outweigh benefits
~60% felt AI FOMO: that they would be left behind if they did not use AI tools in their work.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Are you an astronomy graduate student interested in science communication? Apply for the @aas.org Media Fellowship by June 26: aasnova.org/2026/04/08/a...
Alexandra Witze
Universities that run the National Center for Atmospheric Research want to keep it from being dismantled.
Almost half of the scientists who responded said that they feel broadly negative towards artificial intelligence, but they think that some tools are better than others.
Not just an issue for AI:
"Scientists and engineers who build powerful AI systems often understand the tools’ capabilities in extraordinary detail. What they resist — and sometimes cannot see — is that their technical choices are also political choices."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
