Michael Battalio
@battalio.com
Research Scientist at Yale studying planetary climates
Pinned
Michael Battalio
@battalio.com
· Nov 11
Intro thread: I’m a #climate and #planetary scientist. I try to find atmospheric processes common across planets. I interpret each planet as an instance on a continuum of possible climates. Without exception, I’ve found that cool stuff that happens on one has parallels to help interpret the others.
And remember that definitionally, "real scientists" excludes Avi Loeb.
As expected, the content farms nonsense around this comet has vanished, with no follow ups… as noise always does.
What remains is an unprecedented effort to gather data using every possible instrument on the ground, in space and on Mars!
A reminder to follow real scientists, not dodgy clicks.
What remains is an unprecedented effort to gather data using every possible instrument on the ground, in space and on Mars!
A reminder to follow real scientists, not dodgy clicks.
Say goodbye to Comet 3I/ATLAS! Watch it head for interstellar space in real-time with this free Jan. 16 livestream www.space.com/astronomy/co...
January 17, 2026 at 3:17 PM
And remember that definitionally, "real scientists" excludes Avi Loeb.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
As expected, the content farms nonsense around this comet has vanished, with no follow ups… as noise always does.
What remains is an unprecedented effort to gather data using every possible instrument on the ground, in space and on Mars!
A reminder to follow real scientists, not dodgy clicks.
What remains is an unprecedented effort to gather data using every possible instrument on the ground, in space and on Mars!
A reminder to follow real scientists, not dodgy clicks.
Say goodbye to Comet 3I/ATLAS! Watch it head for interstellar space in real-time with this free Jan. 16 livestream www.space.com/astronomy/co...
Say goodbye to Comet 3I/ATLAS! Watch it head for interstellar space in real-time with this free Jan. 16 livestream
3I/ATLAS is heading away from the sun on an escape trajectory from our solar system.
www.space.com
January 17, 2026 at 11:18 AM
As expected, the content farms nonsense around this comet has vanished, with no follow ups… as noise always does.
What remains is an unprecedented effort to gather data using every possible instrument on the ground, in space and on Mars!
A reminder to follow real scientists, not dodgy clicks.
What remains is an unprecedented effort to gather data using every possible instrument on the ground, in space and on Mars!
A reminder to follow real scientists, not dodgy clicks.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Reposting for no particular reason…
We're really just going to comply our way through this, huh?
Now is a great time for folks in these AGs (Assessment Groups, for the uninitiated) to consider their form, function, and capacity for advocacy. Since they already require so much work (for free), what if we built something better?
Now is a great time for folks in these AGs (Assessment Groups, for the uninitiated) to consider their form, function, and capacity for advocacy. Since they already require so much work (for free), what if we built something better?
Sigh. The planetary AG pages are now down:
www.lpi.usra.edu/analysis/
They now divert to pages that say the website is under review.
www.lpi.usra.edu/analysis/
They now divert to pages that say the website is under review.
January 16, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Reposting for no particular reason…
I've been thinking about buying one for my house.
I’m a longtime believer in reclaiming the Gadsden flag and now is really an ideal time.
So, if I'm following all this correctly, a bunch of internet shitposters who spent years screaming "don't tread on me" and warning about federal agents stomping out people's rights... have been hired as ICE agents to go around breaking into people's homes, kidnapping & shooting them
January 16, 2026 at 12:47 AM
I've been thinking about buying one for my house.
It's a tough week, but Yo-Yo Ma was on @colbertlateshow.bsky.social last night. You should listen.
Bach Prelude from the 1st Cello Suite / "Over The Rainbow" - Yo-Yo Ma (LIVE on The Late Show)
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
www.youtube.com
January 15, 2026 at 6:34 PM
It's a tough week, but Yo-Yo Ma was on @colbertlateshow.bsky.social last night. You should listen.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Epstein-Barr Virus #EBV was linked to #MultipleSclerosis - now a plausible cause has been found, misidentification by longterm memory T-cells that pick on the wrong protein, ANO2, instead of the EBV-antigen. Massive inflection towards the elimination of MS!!!
🧪🧠Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
🧪🧠Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Anoctamin-2-specific T cells link Epstein-Barr virus to multiple sclerosis
Researchers identified anoctamin-2 (ANO2) as a frequent autoimmune target in multiple
sclerosis, with T cell responses against ANO2 occurring in over half of patients.
These ANO2-specific T cells shar...
www.cell.com
January 15, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Epstein-Barr Virus #EBV was linked to #MultipleSclerosis - now a plausible cause has been found, misidentification by longterm memory T-cells that pick on the wrong protein, ANO2, instead of the EBV-antigen. Massive inflection towards the elimination of MS!!!
🧪🧠Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
🧪🧠Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Michael Battalio
It’s more evidence that “human-caused warming is now really overwhelming inter-annual natural variability” in weather, said Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social @ucanr.edu, reports @eroston.bsky.social @bloomberg.com
Heat and greenhouse gas pollution rise in lock-step — until 2023, when the thermostat goes bonkers.
🎁🔗 The 2025 climate numbers are in.
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
🎁🔗 The 2025 climate numbers are in.
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
January 14, 2026 at 6:17 PM
It’s more evidence that “human-caused warming is now really overwhelming inter-annual natural variability” in weather, said Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social @ucanr.edu, reports @eroston.bsky.social @bloomberg.com
Reposted by Michael Battalio
NASA pessimistic about odds of recovering MAVEN
NASA says it is “very unlikely” the agency will be able to recover a Mars spacecraft that has been out of contact for more than a month.
NASA says it is “very unlikely” the agency will be able to recover a Mars spacecraft that has been out of contact for more than a month.
NASA pessimistic about odds of recovering MAVEN
NASA says it is “very unlikely” the agency will be able to recover a Mars spacecraft that has been out of contact for more than a month.
spacenews.com
January 14, 2026 at 12:38 PM
NASA pessimistic about odds of recovering MAVEN
NASA says it is “very unlikely” the agency will be able to recover a Mars spacecraft that has been out of contact for more than a month.
NASA says it is “very unlikely” the agency will be able to recover a Mars spacecraft that has been out of contact for more than a month.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
My Stop the Presses newsletter calls for a dramatic change of tactics by major media to produce "radically truthful” news that defeats the right-wing disinformation industry. Right now, the media are getting slam-dunked by fascist liars. Here’s a thread with my 10 main points. 🧵🧵🧵
How to build a radically truthful news outlet
The old ways don’t work. Time to declare war on the liars.
www.stopthepresses.news
January 14, 2026 at 1:47 PM
My Stop the Presses newsletter calls for a dramatic change of tactics by major media to produce "radically truthful” news that defeats the right-wing disinformation industry. Right now, the media are getting slam-dunked by fascist liars. Here’s a thread with my 10 main points. 🧵🧵🧵
Reposted by Michael Battalio
It's "very unlikely" NASA will be able to recover the MAVEN Mars orbiter, NASA planetary science division director Louise Prockter says at the Small Bodies Assessment Group meeting this morning. Efforts to restore contact will resume Friday, after solar conjunction ends.
January 13, 2026 at 2:54 PM
It's "very unlikely" NASA will be able to recover the MAVEN Mars orbiter, NASA planetary science division director Louise Prockter says at the Small Bodies Assessment Group meeting this morning. Efforts to restore contact will resume Friday, after solar conjunction ends.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
If you want to put people back on the moon, don’t gut the agency in charge of getting them there. www.wired.com/story/china-...
Trump Declared a Space Race With China. The US Is Losing
If you want to put people back on the moon, don’t gut the agency in charge of getting them there.
www.wired.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:03 AM
If you want to put people back on the moon, don’t gut the agency in charge of getting them there. www.wired.com/story/china-...
Fun connection to the space community is that this is the congresswoman that Avi Loeb hitched himself to try to commandeer Juno to look at 3I/ATLAS and the representative Loeb has sit on the board of his proposed takeover (arxiv.org/pdf/2510.01405) of UN searches of interstellar objects.
January 12, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Fun connection to the space community is that this is the congresswoman that Avi Loeb hitched himself to try to commandeer Juno to look at 3I/ATLAS and the representative Loeb has sit on the board of his proposed takeover (arxiv.org/pdf/2510.01405) of UN searches of interstellar objects.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Science, like all human endeavors, is a political process. "Depoliticizing science" is "political interference" in science, definitionally.
According to Podcast Jay, he can silence anyone or anything as long as he calls it “DEI.”
It’s his magic censorship phrase.
It’s his magic censorship phrase.
January 12, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Science, like all human endeavors, is a political process. "Depoliticizing science" is "political interference" in science, definitionally.
It makes me feel better that one of the smartest and savviest posters on this site has the same problems the rest of us do.
what is the point of having threads on this website when no one reads past the first post?
January 12, 2026 at 5:02 PM
It makes me feel better that one of the smartest and savviest posters on this site has the same problems the rest of us do.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Here is an interesting perspective on how planetary exploration has historically responded, good and bad, to budget challenges. Written by @cyberlyra.bsky.social whose research is partially about how NASA teams work successfully on missions.
#planetsci 🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#planetsci 🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Weathering budget cuts: Lessons from NASA
The current uncertainty and cuts to science funding affect universities, research facilities, and laboratories across the United States, but this situation is not unprecedented. Under pressure to fund...
www.science.org
January 11, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Here is an interesting perspective on how planetary exploration has historically responded, good and bad, to budget challenges. Written by @cyberlyra.bsky.social whose research is partially about how NASA teams work successfully on missions.
#planetsci 🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#planetsci 🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Our NASA’s Pandora space telescope is on orbit!! Congrats to the team and NASA, LSP, SpaceX, and everyone who helped to get to this exciting point! What will Pandora do and why is it important for exoplanet science? Read my short article on this: theconversation.com/nasas-pandor...
NASA’s Pandora telescope will study stars in detail to learn about the exoplanets orbiting them
The findings from Pandora will complement data from the James Webb Space Telescope to give astronomers more insight into stars and planets outside our solar system.
theconversation.com
January 11, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Our NASA’s Pandora space telescope is on orbit!! Congrats to the team and NASA, LSP, SpaceX, and everyone who helped to get to this exciting point! What will Pandora do and why is it important for exoplanet science? Read my short article on this: theconversation.com/nasas-pandor...
Reposted by Michael Battalio
In my world, there's a certain reluctance to being merely, or in a knee-jerk way, a resist lib. That's understandable, even commendable. On the other hand, let's be clear: It's a hell of lot better, morally and intellectually and politically, to be a resist lib than a Vichy conservative.
January 11, 2026 at 2:59 PM
In my world, there's a certain reluctance to being merely, or in a knee-jerk way, a resist lib. That's understandable, even commendable. On the other hand, let's be clear: It's a hell of lot better, morally and intellectually and politically, to be a resist lib than a Vichy conservative.
Only well-off AAAS fellows are "ok"; the rest of us aren't.
If the science minibus passes, the decimation remains. Colette notes NIH ECRs are crushed. NCAR is not explicitly protected. Money won't arrive before a 5% grant success rate at NASA planetary forces more ECRs out after the 20% NASA RIF.
If the science minibus passes, the decimation remains. Colette notes NIH ECRs are crushed. NCAR is not explicitly protected. Money won't arrive before a 5% grant success rate at NASA planetary forces more ECRs out after the 20% NASA RIF.
This is a HUGE win…and one that happened because we ~collectively~ said “NO!”
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Only well-off AAAS fellows are "ok"; the rest of us aren't.
If the science minibus passes, the decimation remains. Colette notes NIH ECRs are crushed. NCAR is not explicitly protected. Money won't arrive before a 5% grant success rate at NASA planetary forces more ECRs out after the 20% NASA RIF.
If the science minibus passes, the decimation remains. Colette notes NIH ECRs are crushed. NCAR is not explicitly protected. Money won't arrive before a 5% grant success rate at NASA planetary forces more ECRs out after the 20% NASA RIF.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Keeping funding levels high while installing apparatchiks to steer it in political favored directions will fund at least as much corruption as it will science.
This is a HUGE win…and one that happened because we ~collectively~ said “NO!”
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Keeping funding levels high while installing apparatchiks to steer it in political favored directions will fund at least as much corruption as it will science.
I think this is a terrific idea, and I've already registered. I'll see everyone in April.
I've been to this venue for Exoplanets in our Backyard a few years ago. It is an excellent locale with views overlooking the Ohio River.
I've been to this venue for Exoplanets in our Backyard a few years ago. It is an excellent locale with views overlooking the Ohio River.
Planetary friends!
Don't want to go to Houston in March, or support an institute that's bending the knee?
Then join us for the very first Planetary Science Community Workshop in Louisville, KY on April 14–16, 2026.
It's our community. Fight for it!
Details at the link:
planetaryworkshop.org
Don't want to go to Houston in March, or support an institute that's bending the knee?
Then join us for the very first Planetary Science Community Workshop in Louisville, KY on April 14–16, 2026.
It's our community. Fight for it!
Details at the link:
planetaryworkshop.org
PSCW 2026
planetaryworkshop.org
January 9, 2026 at 2:42 AM
I think this is a terrific idea, and I've already registered. I'll see everyone in April.
I've been to this venue for Exoplanets in our Backyard a few years ago. It is an excellent locale with views overlooking the Ohio River.
I've been to this venue for Exoplanets in our Backyard a few years ago. It is an excellent locale with views overlooking the Ohio River.
Just registered to attend.
🚨🚀🚨 NEW SPACE CONFERENCE ALERT 🚨🚀🚨
The Planetary Science Community Workshop, organized by @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social & @millionconcepts.com, will be held in Louisville, KY on April 14-16 and is aimed at bringing together academia, industry & gov.
More here: planetaryworkshop.org
The Planetary Science Community Workshop, organized by @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social & @millionconcepts.com, will be held in Louisville, KY on April 14-16 and is aimed at bringing together academia, industry & gov.
More here: planetaryworkshop.org
PSCW 2026
planetaryworkshop.org
January 8, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Just registered to attend.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
🚨🚀🚨 NEW SPACE CONFERENCE ALERT 🚨🚀🚨
The Planetary Science Community Workshop, organized by @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social & @millionconcepts.com, will be held in Louisville, KY on April 14-16 and is aimed at bringing together academia, industry & gov.
More here: planetaryworkshop.org
The Planetary Science Community Workshop, organized by @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social & @millionconcepts.com, will be held in Louisville, KY on April 14-16 and is aimed at bringing together academia, industry & gov.
More here: planetaryworkshop.org
PSCW 2026
planetaryworkshop.org
January 8, 2026 at 8:16 PM
🚨🚀🚨 NEW SPACE CONFERENCE ALERT 🚨🚀🚨
The Planetary Science Community Workshop, organized by @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social & @millionconcepts.com, will be held in Louisville, KY on April 14-16 and is aimed at bringing together academia, industry & gov.
More here: planetaryworkshop.org
The Planetary Science Community Workshop, organized by @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social & @millionconcepts.com, will be held in Louisville, KY on April 14-16 and is aimed at bringing together academia, industry & gov.
More here: planetaryworkshop.org
"A lineage of interplanetary robotic explorers that NASA has built across almost 60 years, for about $60 billion. That’s less than what Mark Zuckerberg spent on his struggling metaverse."
To be exact, metaverse was $77 billion and was canceled.
To be exact, metaverse was $77 billion and was canceled.
I wrote about the cosmic grandeur of American space science and this president’s foolish attempts to sabotage it
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
Inside Donald Trump’s Attack on NASA’s Science Missions
During his first year back in office, the president tried to bring America’s age of discovery to an end.
www.theatlantic.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:54 PM
"A lineage of interplanetary robotic explorers that NASA has built across almost 60 years, for about $60 billion. That’s less than what Mark Zuckerberg spent on his struggling metaverse."
To be exact, metaverse was $77 billion and was canceled.
To be exact, metaverse was $77 billion and was canceled.
Reposted by Michael Battalio
Avelo Airlines will stop flying deportation charters for the Department of Homeland Security after facing protests, boycotts and backlash from travelers, flight attendant unions, local politicians and immigration activists.
Avelo Airlines to stop deportation flights after months of backlash
Houston-based Avelo is shutting down its base in Arizona after facing protests and boycotts for flying deportation charters for Homeland Security.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:45 AM
Avelo Airlines will stop flying deportation charters for the Department of Homeland Security after facing protests, boycotts and backlash from travelers, flight attendant unions, local politicians and immigration activists.
I wonder how feasible it would be to pass a law to give an impeachment teeth by requiring that House impeachment of a Senate-confirmed Executive branch officer requires Senate reconfirmation or removal in 30 (or some number) days. Instead of making removal active, make it passive by the Senate.
I am impeaching Secretary Kristi Noem, who is an incompetent leader and a disgrace to our democracy.
She wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis. One of her rogue ICE agents shot and killed an innocent woman today. It must come to an end.
She wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis. One of her rogue ICE agents shot and killed an innocent woman today. It must come to an end.
January 8, 2026 at 1:32 AM
I wonder how feasible it would be to pass a law to give an impeachment teeth by requiring that House impeachment of a Senate-confirmed Executive branch officer requires Senate reconfirmation or removal in 30 (or some number) days. Instead of making removal active, make it passive by the Senate.