Dr. Tessa Fisher
LightNews LightNews
banner
tessafisher.bsky.social
Dr. Tessa Fisher
@tessafisher.bsky.social
15K followers 2K following 7.1K posts
Postdoc researching exoplanet biosignatures, Univ. of Arizona | Astrobiologist | Trans Lesbian | Wife | SFF Writer | Lukewarm Ecosocialist | Union Woman | One Half of @asabpod.bsky.social | She/Her| 🌹
www.tessafisher.com
Words and opinions are my own.
Posts Replies Media Videos
tessafisher.bsky.social
Not going to lie, as schlocky as they sometimes were, I kind of miss the era of hyperliteral SFF book covers from the 1980s-1990s
The cover of Anne McCaffrey's All The Weyrs of Pern, depicting Jaxom and white dragon Ruth perched upon a stony spire that rises out of a foggy landscape The cover of Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, depicting an armed fithp (an alien that resembles a baby elephant with a branching trunk ending in 8 tentacles) fighting its way through the ruins of a structure, as frightened humans look on. The cover of Marooned on Eden by Robert and Margaret Forward, depicting a group of humans looking up at two Earth-like planets in a contact binary orbit. The cover of Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Earth, depicting a figure in an astronaut on the shoulder of an enormous statue of a human in some sort of high-tech suit.
November 24, 2025 at 8:57 PM
tessafisher.bsky.social
A picture of a sidewalk covered in a layer of pea-sized hale A picture of a sidewalk covered in a layer of pea-sized hale
November 20, 2025 at 2:05 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
I'm honestly not sure I've ever seen hale this heavy in Tempe before. Jeez.
November 20, 2025 at 2:05 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Hexadecimal from the 90's CGI tv show ReBoot, snarling with her hands thrust forward, claws extended.
November 13, 2025 at 9:04 PM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, describe your gender.
A painting of a winged woman soaring through the clouds, wielding an ornate shield and sword.
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
An anarchist discussing how the US is a fascist, fundamentally racist state that starves the poor in favor of the rich, only to to turn into a red, white, and blue patriot the moment someone claims the Civil War about states rights and not slavery.
November 9, 2025 at 2:49 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Me when a character mentions eating at The Inn At Little Washington
The Leonardo DiCaprio Pointing Because He's Recognized Something meme
November 8, 2025 at 6:01 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
I hate gay Halloween, what do you mean you're the background characters in a romantasy novel?
Two women standing with their arms around each other's shoulders, one dressed as black-scaled dragon, the other as a fairy queen in a navy blue dress.
November 2, 2025 at 5:04 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Volume up for snoozy kitten sounds
November 1, 2025 at 9:59 PM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary at a haunted house, as is our tradition
Two women posing and smiling in front of a human-sized statue of a shambling ghoul Two women smiling next to a life-size statue of a snarling werewolf
November 1, 2025 at 1:06 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only
An action shot of the heroes from the movie Dungeon and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
October 20, 2025 at 12:19 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Of course women don't like the Cybertruck.

Women only want one thing, and it's the Lunar Worm rover concept Philco proposed for the Apollo program in 1966.
A black and white illustration of a ribbed cylinder crawling over the lunar landscape
October 19, 2025 at 1:02 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
It simply depicts his pushcart, surrounded by the broken thrones of dictators.
The monument to Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian vegetable seller who's self-immolation in response to endemic government corruption ignited the Arab Spring. It is a simple sculpture in white stone, depicting a wheelbarrow-shaped pushcart, resembling the one Bouazizi used to peddle his produce, surrounded by the broken thrones of dictators. On the plinth on which it stands, a graffiti artist has written in red spray paint, "For those who yearn to be free"
October 18, 2025 at 1:37 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Every once in a while when I'm feeling down about my lack of career opportunities, I think of the actual cover letter I sent when applying to an 'AI Alignment Data Scientist' position (i.e., someone who's job it was to make sure the superintelligent AI is good instead of evil), & I feel a bit better
Dear Hiring Manager, I’m applying for your open position of Alignment Data Scientist. From the information posted, it’s clear you want someone who’s enthusiastic about the use of AI/ML in tech, immersed in cutting-edge research, and who cares deeply about the problem of ensuring AI alignment in the context of a potential take-off scenario. I am not that person. I honestly hold your whole industry in contempt, and consider it at best a harmless collective delusion that you’ll be able to create a machine god who will fix all your problems, and at worst a socially and environmentally destructive scam. But you should still hire me anyway, and here’s why: First off, due to my extensive background in complex systems science and advanced degrees, you can trot me out in front of potential clients and I will spout off lots of fancy-sounding phrases about emergent complexity, scale-free graph topology, and basins of attraction in the context of chaotic systems. This will impress them, and they will give you lots of money (a portion of which will then be given to me). Secondly, on the off-chance you do manage to produce an AGI, you’ll have someone who it will likely be willing to communicate with, as I am a pleasant person who’s interesting to talk to, whereas most TESCREAL-aligned AI-centric businesses are typically made up of some of the most insufferable people on Earth. I’d honestly rather be doing astrobiology, and answering real fundamental questions about life and the universe, but since your comrades at DOGE took an axe to NASA science funding, hiring me is the least you can do to make up for it. Sincerely, Dr. Theresa Fisher
October 4, 2025 at 4:29 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
My writing career summed up in one image:
A picture of a UFO flanked by rainbow pride flags hovering over a planet, on which the words "SPACE IS GAY" are written
October 2, 2025 at 12:39 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Arizona is the only place I've ever lived where your car can be *dirtier* after a rainstorm. I can only assume it's because of all the dust in the air?
The hood of a black Honda Civic, mottled and streaked with dirt after a rainstorm last night
September 29, 2025 at 12:39 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
*nods enthusiastically*

Read theory
The cover of the 1998 book Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Droids
September 25, 2025 at 12:19 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
The Martin Scorsese 'Abolute cinema' meme
September 8, 2025 at 11:12 PM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Assuming this is real and something they can pull off, what bothers me most at this point isn't even the genocidal implications of declaring an entire marginalized population mentally unstable, it's how fucking pathetically cringe they're being about it
A tweet from some conservative news reporter woman saying some anonymous source at the DoJ doesn't think "trannies should have guns"
September 5, 2025 at 2:11 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Arizona peeps: the burlesque troupe I perform with will be doing a benefit show for One Love Arizona animal rescue Sunday, Sept 14th! Come check us out!

www.burlesqueaz.com/product/show...
A poster for "Show Me Your Pitties", a Vavavoom Productions benefit show for One Love Arizona, an animal rescue, on Sept 14th at the Rosetta Room in Mesa, AZ at 5PM (doors at 4:30), tickets at burlesqueaz.com. The poster features two adorable pitbulls smiling at the camera excitedly.
September 3, 2025 at 5:04 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
My wife, everyone
A text from wife, showing a screenshot of arxiv.org depicting a newly submitted paper titled " The Uranus Flagship: Investigating New Paradigms for Outer Solar System Exploration Workshop Summary Report", followed by wife saying "Heh. Heheh. Hehehehehehehehehehe [peach emoji]"
September 3, 2025 at 12:07 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
A clip of the SNL sketch where Tom Brokaw announces that Gerald Ford died today, after being eaten by wolves. He was delicious
August 30, 2025 at 1:09 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Got to see award-winning, best-selling author buckaroo @chucktingle.bsky.social last night at the Mesa Arts Center, and even got to be part of his on-stage magic trick
Buckaroo Chuck Tingle, in his signature pink bag face mask, silver jacket, and silver shorts, on stage standing in front of a projected slide that reads "WORLD'S GREATEST BOOK TOUR" Chuck on stage with four buckaroos (including Tessa!) selected from the audience to participate in the magic trick Chuck, mic in hand, standing on stage in front of a projected slide that reads "The next time you think, 'This doesn't matter so I'm not going to do it', try, 'This doesn't matter, so I might as well go for it'" Tessa, in a long, gold-and-white floral pattern dress and holding her ace of diamonds card from the magic trick, poses next to Chuck Tingle who is giving a thumbs-up
August 30, 2025 at 12:35 AM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Great talk by @chelseaharamia.bsky.social earlier today about the intersection between SETI and sustainability thought. #PSETI2025
A slide from Chelsea's presentation on what the extraterrestrial turn means for SETI
August 20, 2025 at 9:32 PM
tessafisher.bsky.social
Found out today that by using millisecond pulsars as your reference points, you can determine your position in the galaxy down to 7km or less, which is frankly a ridiculous degree of accuracy on the cosmic scale #PSETI2025
A science poster on pulsar positioning system and its use in the search for technosignatures
August 18, 2025 at 9:12 PM