Eric Hand

Physical sciences news editor for @NewsfromScience. I manage coverage in Earth and planetary science, physics, and astronomy.

[Dr Robin George Andrews 🌋☄️ @SquigglyVolcano]

NEW: NASA is about to send an audacious spacecraft to paint a portrait of an icy moon hiding an ancient ocean.

It’s called Europa Clipper. And it’s going to change the way we understand not just our world, but every world, everywhere.

Me @NewsfromScience https://t.co/sidKCBHPGC

[Daniel Clery @DanClery]

Disaster avoided? There's a good chance the Milky Way may avoid a galactic crash with its neighbor Andromeda. @NewsfromScience https://t.co/JnGivI1Deb

[Jonathan O’Callaghan @Astro_Jonny]

Astronomers once thought there might be a "missing satellites problem" – our Milky Way didn't have enough dwarf galaxies in its grip.

Now we might have oversolved the problem, finding too many satellites. What's going on?

Story by me @NewsfromScience

https://t.co/myFLFcuBxG

[Elise Cutts has migrated 🐦🦋 @elisecutts]

Scientists exhumed some 6 million year old (!!!!) ice from Antarctica.

That's truly wild. The continuous ice core record goes back 800,000 years. And the oldest ice ever found until now was 2.7 million years old.

Reported from #egu2024

https://t.co/zkCZPV5RDb

[Eric Hand @erichand]

“You could probably just roll Perseverance into Starship and fly back to Earth."

[Jonathan O’Callaghan @Astro_Jonny]

NASA has asked for help getting its invaluable rocks back from Mars.

They might have one particular idea in mind: SpaceX's Starship.

Story by me @SciAm

https://t.co/8RYwYwqoUr

[Marcia Smith @SpcPlcyOnline]

Quick look at NASA's FY2024 approps:
Total: $24.875 billion (request was $27.2 B, FY2023 was $25.384B).
Mars Sample Return: "The Senate language ... is not adopted," no further workforce reductions for now, "no less than" $300 M and "up to" the requested level for FY2024.

[Daniel Clery @DanClery]

NSF board approves funding for just one of two proposed giant telescopes | Science | AAAS https://t.co/ZuhBL8hAeu

[Eric Hand @erichand]

3/ My feature story from a year ago about natural hydrogen. A good primer if you're looking to understand what it is and where the field is going:
https://t.co/4C1RNQKSwM

[Eric Hand @erichand]

1/ The latest in the intriguing field of natural hydrogen, the overlooked idea that Earth can produce the clean fuel. Researchers have discovered a surprisingly significant spring, bubbling away deep in an Albanian mine:
https://t.co/KNZFr0oZJ7

[Eric Hand @erichand]

2/ Coincidentally, @ARPAE today announced the 16 winners of $20m in grant funding, the first major government support for natural hydrogen. I wrote about the money in September:
https://t.co/9kOEflynK1
https://t.co/PR6f0hxfEh

[Jud Partin @junglecave]

Enjoyable and informative article by @voooos in @ScienceMagazine about the global impacts of #ElNino. On behalf of the whole team, thank you for coming all the way out to Vanuatu to cover our story! It was great having you out. 🧵

https://t.co/W7AcsDZJGo

[Zack Savitsky @savagitsky]

i spent several months investigating physicists attempting to build a computer out of an object they aren’t sure exists

this Majorana quasiparticle is proving almost as elusive as its namesake, the Italian physicist who mysteriously vanished in 1938

https://t.co/PIs5kI3Mb6

[Michael Greshko @michaelgreshko]

My latest for @NewsfromScience!
@MissionToPsyche has launched, embarking on a 3.6-billion-km journey to one of the weirdest asteroids we've got: a metal-rich asteroid 220 km wide. What the heck is this thing?

Huge thanks to @erichand for editing!

https://t.co/3xKItIk4jg

[Dan Garisto @dangaristo]

Ranga Dias is headed for a 3rd retraction—this time, it's the blockbuster Nature paper on LuNH from March. I obtained documents that detail what went wrong, and why his co-authors are asking for a retraction. https://t.co/EPFLudZ4X5

[Eric Hand @erichand]

What's quantum computing good for? For 30 years, Shor's algorithm, a way to hack internet security, was the selling point. A more efficient successor now may be on the way:
https://t.co/COk4hqDjVF

[Anna Kramer @anna_c_kramer]

little surprising scoop from me: a new quantum algorithm might bring the end of RSA encryption a little closer. truly new ideas in quantum computing are very rare! https://t.co/bnISJjtC98

[Michael Greshko @michaelgreshko]

My latest, for @NewsfromScience: A major new @theNASEM study calls for a tenfold increase in funding for biological and physical research in space, amid huge changes in access and space exploration goals. https://t.co/Ij85XoObjs

[Eric Hand @erichand]

If the idea of natural H2 is new to you, you're not alone -- it's still new for most geoscientists. My feature from earlier this year offers a good primer:
https://t.co/4C1RNQKSwM

[Eric Hand @erichand]

Whether natural or geologic hydrogen could be economically important is still hugely uncertain. But new research programs from @ARPAE and @USGS are signs that it is gaining legitimacy:
https://t.co/PR6f0hxfEh