Only a few days left: Finland 🇫🇮 must base its decisions on arms trades on human rights - no sale of weapons to, or purchase of weapons from countries engaged in #genocide.

Your signature could force a long overdue debate in parlament:
https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/14227

#DavidSling #rafael #elbitsystems #lakisarmaan

Doch, natürlich - aber ich möchte nicht allen die mir folgen deutschsprachige Beiträge vorsetzen, die sie nicht verstehen und wegen der Markierung "EN" auch nicht filtern können.

@js_06 @AufstandLastGen

Maa- ja metsätalousministeri Sari Essayahin kasvupaketti metsille tarkoittaa lisää rahaa jo nyt tukevasti tuetulle metsäteollisuudelle ilman, että hakkuumääristä tingitään piiruakaan.

Suomen luonto tuhotaan järjestelmällisesti meidän jokaisen veroeuroilla.

Joko olet nähnyt tarpeeksi?
https://kulovalkea.me

You may have seen headlines today - such as in The New York Times - suggesting the possible detection of a biosignature on an exoplanet. It’s an exciting prospect, no doubt. But it’s also an extraordinary claim, and as the saying goes, "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" (Carl Sagan).

While the molecule in question is associated with biological processes, it’s important to note that non-biological (abiotic) pathways for its formation exist as well (see: Reed et al. 2024 ApJL; Sanz-Novo et al. 2025 ApJL). These results are interesting, but far from conclusive.

Scientists work within a robust framework to test such claims. This includes:

- Peer review and replication
- Community feedback and critique
- Cross-validation through multiple instruments and techniques
- Avoiding sensationalism in science communication
- Building consensus through sustained investigation

I am looking forward to hearing more from the exoplanet and astrobiology communities on these findings before drawing conclusions.

In the meantime, the ripple effect of bold headlines - like "Possible Signs of Extraterrestrial Life" - has already begun. A friend at the dentist this morning spotted a very misleading headline about this on Channel 9 News!

This is where science communication becomes critical: managing public interest and excitement without compromising scientific accuracy.

We should use moments like these to show the process - how scientific ideas are proposed, tested, debated, and refined - to broader audiences. Whether we’re talking about space, climate change, or pandemics, this transparency is essential to building trust in science.

Aliens make for a great headline, but the real story is in how we do the science.

#JWST #Astronomy #Astrobiology #Astrodon #Science #ScienceCommunication

Me tehtiin se!

Kampanja radikaalista empatiasta Espooseen ja Länsi-Uudenmaan hyvinvointialueelle johti paikkoihin sekä Espoon kaupunginvaltuustoon että Länsi-Uudenmaan aluevaltuustoon.

Olen mykistynyt kaikesta saamastani tuesta. Lupaan tehdä parhaani valtuustoissa. Lämmin kiitos ♥️

We have choices. If companies like #accenture bend their values to please Trump, to a point where their values are no longer aligned with ours, we should not buy from them.

The city of #Helsinki should follow London's example 👏

https://archive.md/WQGpQ

Via @ianb

In which a large consulting firm finds that bending the knee to King Donald and meekly following the US descent into fascism means Europeans don’t want to do business with you.

https://archive.md/WQGpQ

@paavi @iju @elina

If capitalism demands new buildings instead of renovating old ones, that's OK - but it's not something we have to accept, and something city planning can prevent. Apparently, capitalism also demanded lots of new malls in Helsinki, and now that shops in the centre are struggling, capitalism demands we make it easier to drive there...

Other European cities have realised that they need to work for the people who live there, not only four investors. Helsinki could, too.

@paavi @iju @elina

I'm curious - what's happening inside the green one? Both the brown and the green towers never have any lights on, and they aren't the only ones apparently empty or at least highly underused in Itäpasila.

One point I didn't raise is that it's completely unsustainable that we've allowed the construction of lots of new office space - largely from concrete - right next to office space that stands empty.

https://www.helsinginuutiset.fi/paikalliset/8068210

Humanitäärisestä avusta Gazaan.

Ekologinen ja reilu Helsinki? Sen eteen oon valmis tekemään edelleen töitä. Alla on joitakin mun valtuustopuheenvuoroista. Jos haluut tällaista settiä myös jatkossa, äänestä tänään #121. Tärkeintä kuitenkin, että äänestät Vasemmistoa, koska me kaikki toimitaan vastavoimana hallitukselle ja sitä tarvitaan todella. Meissä on voimaa.

Election day in #Helsinki 🇫🇮

It's a beautiful day - but take a closer look 🧐

That green building is one of several empty office blocks in #ItaPasila during the housing crisis. On the bottom right is a shelter - bread qeues have been getting longer while our government shows disdain for the poor. And while public transport works well if you can afford it, it's much too expensive, to which the only response is more ticket inspections.

Time for a change - @elina!

#kuntavaalit #kuntavaalit2025

@rzeta0 @AkaSci

Not really. The one other country that's really expanding #astronomy with a significant budget is China, but thousands of US astronomers aren't going to relocate there.

Most international missions are not designed to compete, but complement one another, and a telescope like Roman simply not launching will reverberate for a long time.

Also, many people now losing their jobs or job opportunities won't return, even if US budgets eventually recover. Their knowledge is lost.

@jaztrophysicist @franco_vazza

I think we can't see science just as a form of consumption by scientists.

Fundamental science is largely funded by taxes, on the understanding that it creates societal benefits, whether that's applications down the road, or to satisfy an innate human curiosity about the universe.

I consider this second aspect very important, and one reason why outreach is so essential. If we do science just for scientists, it becomes a selfish and unsustainable pursuit indeed.

@the5thColumnist @godpod

That's the point.

If you 'mistakenly' deport legal residents I'm going to 'mistakenly' send you to Hell.

A lot of dear colleagues (and some amazing friends) are directly affected by the proposed NASA science budget cuts, but it's an extra level of hurt when the news come in when you are out for dinner with a current and a former NASA employee...

(More on the cuts e.g. here by @hfalcke : https://mastodon.social/@hfalcke/114320411426694255)

@hfalcke Of course, these proposed cuts go much deeper, but has there been an update on a new European ADS mirror?

Ideally, such a system wouldn't just serve as an archive if ADS fails, but could continue to operate going forward.

If #NASA's next great space telescope was named after some male bureaucrat rather than after Nancy Grace #Roman, the outstanding astronomer AND trailblazer for women in astronomy, would it now be sabotaged so close to launch?

Unfortunately, one has to wonder out loud. And unfortunately, if they really manage to kill off NASA's #astrophysics division, the damage to science won't be repared in decades.

#Astrodon #Astronomy