Tootfinder

The 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society #AAS247 is underway, coming with 8 press conferences - https://aas.org/meetings/aas247/press-kit#briefings - streaming on https://www.youtube.com/@AASPressOffice. There were already two yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gAjRP1xLtQ about Galaxies Big and Small, covering e.g. https://public.nrao.edu/news/hidden-giants-of-the-early-universe/ / https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2026/astronomers-reveal-hidden-activity-early-universe’s-most-massive-galaxies / https://keckobservatory.org/aas247-magaz3ne/ and https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae1584 (The First RELHIC? Cloud-9 is a Starless Gas Cloud) -> https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-examines-cloud-9-first-of-new-type-of-object/ / https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cloud-9_a_new_celestial_object_found_by_Hubble / https://public.nrao.edu/news/starless-dark-matter-failed-galaxy-near-m94/.
And https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvpDVq-7h6E about Stars and Their Behavior, covering e.g. https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00470 (Betelgeuse: Detection of the Expanding Wake of the Companion Star) -> https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/cfa-scientists-detect-wake-betelgeuses-elusive-companion-star / https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-hubble-helps-detect-wake-of-betelgeuses-elusive-companion-star/ and https://aas.org/sites/default/files/2026-01/Steven and Tyler AAS Press Release.pdf and https://public.nrao.edu/news/alma-devours-cosmic-hamburger-reveals-potential-for-giant-planet-formation/

Carney Goes from ‘Elbows Up’ to Apologies
How Canada is getting it all wrong in dealing with Trump the bully.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025/11/04/Carney-Elbows-Up-Apologies/

Carney Goes from ‘Elbows Up’ to Apologies | The Tyee
How Canada is getting it all wrong in dealing with Trump the bully.

Winterfiets Elfstedentocht uitgesteld wegens winter
https://www.frieslandbeweegt.frl/winterfiets-elfstedentocht-verplaatsing.php

Trump is, officially, the dictator of Venezuela.
https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-01-06/trump-clarifies-who-is-ultimately-in-charge-in-venezuela-me.html

Trump clarifies who is ultimately in charge in Venezuela: ‘Me’
In an interview with NBC, the US president said that other officials including State Secretary Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will help oversee the country’s management

Russian ELVIS V brain implant for restoring vision https://elvis-tech.ru/elvisv_en "After implantation, patients undergo a rehabilitation course, which may last 6 months and include activities to teach the new 'vision' from simple to complex."

ELVIS V - electronic vision of the future
Electronic vision of the future - neuroimplant ELVIS V

The third #AAS247 presser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfDmYXvBbV4 about News from the High-Redshift Universe and Local Analogs dealt with the papers The ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST Survey: JWST/IFU Optical Observations for 18 Main-sequence Galaxies at z = 4–6 (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4365/ae0928 with https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/young-galaxies-grow-up-fast and https://public.nrao.edu/news/young-galaxies-grow-up-fast/), A New Population of Point-like, Narrow-line Objects Revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope (https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.12177 with https://showme.missouri.edu/2026/scientists-discover-platypus-galaxies-in-the-early-universe/ and https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/scientists-identify-astronomys-platypus-with-nasas-webb-telescope/; slide), Supermassive Stars Match the Spectral Signatures of JWST's Little Red Dots (https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12618 with https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/scientists-use-jwst-examine-ancient-monster-stars-may-reveal-birth-black-holes) and Discovery of SiC and Iron Dust around AGB Stars in the Very Metal-poor Sextans a Dwarf Galaxy with JWST: Implications for Dust Production at High Redshift & JWST Captures Growth of Aromatic Hydrocarbon Dust Particles in the Extremely Metal-poor Galaxy Sextans A (https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/adf06a / https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.04060 with https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-finds-early-universe-analogs-unexpected-talent-for-making-dust/).

RE: https://flipboard.com/@spacecom/space.com-06o8ff5iz/-/a-uaYJjWjASkOFZag4tBuDuQ:a:1693190246-/0
More in https://www.aaas.org/news/fy-2026-rd-appropriations-dashboard, https://scicomm.xyz/@AkaSci@fosstodon.org/115845815382959954, https://www.leonarddavid.com/mars-sample-return-given-the-political-axe/ and https://eos.org/research-and-developments/science-escapes-largest-cuts-in-latest-budget-bills

Strong progenitor age bias in supernova #cosmology – I. Robust and ubiquitous evidence from a larger sample of host galaxies in a broader redshift range / II. Alignment with DESI BAO and signs of a non-accelerating universe: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/538/4/3340/8098234 / https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/544/1/975/8281988 -> Universe's expansion 'is now slowing, not speeding up': https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/universes-expansion-now-slowing-not-speeding (this has been claimed by the group since at least 2023 - http://vietnam.in2p3.fr/2023/windows/transparencies/02_tuesday/Astro_5/01_Son.pdf - and is rejected by the SN cosmology community as https://bsky.app/profile/astromarc.bsky.social/post/3m4xmikwfds26 explains).

JWST-TST DREAMS - NIRSpec/PRISM Transmission Spectroscopy of the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e & Secondary Atmosphere Constraints for the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e / The Photochemical Plausibility of Warm Exo-Titans Orbiting M Dwarf Stars: #TRAPPIST-1e, an Earth-sized, habitable-zone exoplanet: https://news.arizona.edu/news/new-look-trappist-1e-earth-sized-habitable-zone-exoplanet

The fourth #AAS247 press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZmP4fC07-Q about The Milky Way and Stellar Explosions covered the paper Resolving the Fe K-alpha Doublet of the Galactic Center Molecular Cloud G0.11-0.11 with XRISM (https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02482), 25 years of observing the Kepler supernova remnant with Chandra (https://chandra.si.edu/photo/2026/kepler/ and https://chandra.si.edu/press/26_releases/press_010626.html and https://www.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/supernova-remnant-video-from-nasas-chandra-is-decades-in-making/) and the paper Where do stars explode in the ISM? -- The distribution of dense gas around evolved massive stars in M33 (https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.17694 with https://public.nrao.edu/news/stars-that-die-off-the-beaten-path/).