Paul Voosen

Finally pinning this. To reach me on Signal, while using your personal device, scan this QR code or click this link: signal.me#eu/U1ryqcv4c...

My latest for @science.org: Much depends on the structure of iron in the inner core -- the maintenance of Earth's protective magnetic field and the escape of heat, to start. After decades of debate, scientists thought they finally had it down. But a surprising new result is throwing that in doubt.

NEW: On Oct 20, Japan will launch its most audacious space mission. It’s hoping to fly to Mars, land twice (!) on Phobos (“fear”), steal pieces of that alien moon, and bring ‘em home. That’s right: to pull of this heist, Japan must confront fear itself. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Heard on a call this morning... For #AGU26 community, if you're presenting a poster this year, there are changes to the format! We're going square.

NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:

Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. https://scim.ag/4rTKck8

Update on this: Alan Stern, New Horizons's PI, just told me that the instruments will stay on until Oct 12, when the first opportunity comes to send instructions to turn them off in this new fiscal year. So there's still some time.

BIG NEWS! I’m writing a book about the amazing processes of the deep Earth that shaped the surface as we know it. We’ll venture from the crust to the core, examining the surprising links that connect us to Earth’s deepest reaches. I’m so excited to dig in! ⚒️🧪🪨🌎🌋

Congratulations to @hannah-richter.bsky.social, '24, for landing a first place NASW Science in Society Journalism Award in the Science News category. You can her award-winning entry from @science.org here: www.science.org/content/arti...

Appreciate @chriscmooney.bsky.social's look at science magazines, including the role of societies and the history of Science 79-86. One thing to add: @science.org, AAAS still has the world's largest (?) science-focused newsroom. We're in print, every week. Editorially independent. And a nonprofit!

The two most prominent proxy-based measures of global greenhouse gas emissions (Carbon Monitor and Climate Trace) have 2026 as either 0.2% below or above 2025 levels. Each method has its drawbacks, but the plateau still seems like it is there. We'll see if it holds.

Hey @washingtonsun.bsky.social it's great to see you. I'd love to follow your metro DC coverage but you only have one massive RSS feed! Would love to see RSS by section.

GOOD NEWS: the Arctic Report Card will continue under its independent editorial team – led by researchers at CIRES @colorado.edu and @uafairbanks.bsky.social – with new support from @agu.org. cires.colorado.edu/news/2026-ar...

UNEP has written a nice report on overshoot, though, perhaps 10 years too late. But I am somewhat surprised there is so little focus on the requirement of short-term action. Overshoot and non-overshoot both require deep & immediate reductions in emissions... www.unep.org/resources/li... 6/6

1.5 C without overshoot was never a realistic goal, and it was not agreed to at Paris, where the language is to “hold[] the increase … well below 2 C” and “pursu[e] efforts to the limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C”

NASA has awarded Blue Origin a $700 million contract to build the new Mars telecomm network, which stemmed from language included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act www.nasa.gov/news-release...

Had to accelerate this story, which means I got to dwell on far less termination shock science than I would have liked.

Some business news: Pleased to announce today was my first day as Director, Science Policy News, at the American Institute of Physics. We're best known for FYI: Science Policy News www.aip.org/fyi the long-running weekly newsletter and news platform for science insiders. More TK.

Report from Spain's La Razon newspaper about the fires near Madrid threatening NASA's Deep Space Network facility near Robledo de Chavlea, which has been evacuated. No damage to the DSN as of when that was written, however. www.larazon.es/actualidad/f...

I have heard from former colleagues, and the layoffs have cut deep once again, after several brutal layoffs over the past 4 years.

NOAA Climate & Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship applications are now open! cpaess.ucar.edu/cgc/annual-r... I was one about 350 years ago, and cannot not speakly highly enough of this program. Applications due October 16, 2026

James has been a great freelancer for Science since he left New Scientist -- it's a coup for Nature (our friendly competitor) to get him on staff! One of the few reporters I might find at a geochemistry conference. You all can always flag me first on a story before Nature, of course. ;-)

An update on the OMB comments story. A few days ago I became aware of a bizarre issue with the OMB website that throws serious doubt on the overall reported number of comments received. Our analysis focused on posted comments only and none of that is affected. But this is really weird:

My oldest kiddo's first summer at sleepaway camp in the Poconos: two heat waves, huge downpours, power outages, and wildfire smoke. Climate change does not explain all of it -- but yes, a lot of it. (Everyone at the camp is still having a great time, by all accounts.)

Admirable job by what must be @eaterofsun.bsky.social bringing together the ongoing mystery of the surge in absorbed sunlight on Earth. CERES, pattern effects, ECS -- oh my.

This is an interesting claim, and perhaps true from a legal perspective, but from an ethical perspective, it seems to me overly general.

It's going to be interesting to see how they butcher not only the next NCA, but also the required review process. They couldn't get their DOE "climate science" report through any meaningful review. They'll have the same problems here, even if they learn from their experience (questionable).

Who are some science journalists writing great newsletters? Trying to get some more independent science writing in my feed.

My latest for @science.org: The rifting of Gondwana likely led, some *100 million* years later, to the formation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. (Yes, CO2 decline was also part of it.) The past isn't even past. A fascinating expansion of @gernon.bsky.social's mantle waves work.

We'll take that as a compliment 🙌 And note that "temperature" in this case includes projections at 5-year intervals for TAVG *and* TMAX for 8,000 global cities (TMIN soon), with metrics derived from daily simulations (CDD, HDD, Days >35C) for a select sample group. 👉 synthesis.berkeleyearth.org