Next week, we'll be listening to #Bermuda in stereo for the first time!
A hidden geologic structure deep below the island may explain why Bermuda still rises above the Atlantic Ocean more than 30 million years after its volcanoes went quiet.
Next week, Carnegie Science postdoc Will Frazer—alongside Diana Roman, Katy Cain, and Navid Marvi—returns to the island for the next phase of the Bermuda Earthquake & Structure Test (#CarnegieBEST). The team will check in on a network of 10 broadband seismometers deployed back in February, and collect the first major dataset from the project.
This new network is primed to turn one of the Atlantic's most isolated islands into a natural laboratory for planetary discovery.
Follow along as the team takes over the @CarnegiePlanets Instagram for daily behind-the-scenes looks at the fieldwork, the science, and the story of a beautiful and mysterious volcanic island.
#CarnegieScience #CarnegieEPL #CarnegieBEST #QuickDeployBox #IslandGeology #GeologicalMystery #BermudaScience #Seismology #Seismometer #Geology #Geoscience #EarthquakeResearch #SeismicArray #SciComms #FieldWork #FieldworkLife #Bermuda #BermudaTriangle @navidmarvi@katycain526
Want to know the REAL mystery of Bermuda? 🤯 🏝️
At a recent #NeighborhoodLecture, #CarnegiePostdoc William Frazer took us beyond the triangle to explore an even deeper question: Why does Bermuda exist to begin with?
No, but seriously.
Missed the lecture? Good news, we recorded it for you! Link in bio.
#CarnegieBEST
The first rule of Lunch Club is: no complaints about the food. The second is no seconds before 12:45 pm. The third is no hot dogs more than once a week.
Object 10 of our #Carnegie125 series: a Washington Post clipping and a worn grey notebook. These two objects are windows into Lunch Club, the oldest surviving tradition at the Earth & Planets Laboratory.
It started in 1947, when a handful of biophysicists at our Broad Branch Road campus got tired of driving off campus for lunch and decided to cook for each other instead. Nearly eight decades later they're still at it. Geochemists pick up some astronomy. Astronomers pick up some geology. In fact, Vera Rubin once thought she was just sharing her research over lunch. It turned out to be her job interview. She got the job.
The clipping is from 1984, when the Washington Post's Joan Nathan visited campus to report on our unique community lunch. The notebook is from the same era, passed cook to cook to plan the week's meals. Today, the notebook has been retired for a Google spreadsheet, and the daily schedule shrank to Thursdays and Fridays after COVID. But Lunch Club is still kicking! In 2027, it turns 80.
Read the full story and download the Lunch Club Cookbook at the link in our bio.
This weekend, we're bringing science to the community!
On Saturday, come visit us at the UDC-CAUSES Van Ness Farmers Market, where we'll have interactive activities so you can chat with planetary scientists and enjoy hands-on activities while you pick up your produce. @vannessmainst@udc_causes
Then, on Sunday, we're celebrating discovery with the @rockvillesciencecenter at their 35th Annual Rockville Science Day. We'll have all of our favorite hands-on activities for kiddos and adults alike. You might even go home with a Solar System in your pocket and a new perspective on light.
We hope to see you there!
#DCEvents #VanNess #VanNessFarmersMarket #ScienceEvents #FreeEvents #ExploretheUniverse #RockvilleScienceDay #CommunityEngagement #PlanetaryScience #HandsOnScience
A seismic mystery lurks beneath Bermuda. Join us for a special #NeighborhoodLecture as Carnegie postdoc William Frazer goes beyond the triangle to uncover the truth! 🔺🏝️🕵️🪨🤯
🗓️ April 30 @ 6:30 PM ET
📍 Earth & Planets Laboratory | Washington, D.C.
🔗 Link in bio
@biosstation , @bermudanationaltrust , @nationalmuseumbermuda , @bda_zoo_society
This #EarthMonth, let's celebrate the planet we call home...from the inside out! 💙🌍
What do you love most about Earth?
🧲 The magnetic field that shields us from radiation?
🌱 The plants that oxygenate our air?
🦠 The microbes that cycle nutrients across the globe?
🌋 The volcanoes that reshape the crust?
We can never choose just one thing. (It's all connected after all.) So, our researchers study every layer of what makes this planet habitable—from the churning iron core deep below to the complex ecosystems on the surface. That way, we can better understand what makes our celestial home so special.
(P.S. Our Earth Month logo is a tribute to the astronauts who've been lucky enough to see Earth from afar—a view that reminds us this pale blue dot is the only home we've got. ✨)
#EarthDay #EarthMonth #CarnegieScience #EarthScience #ClimateScience #PlanetEarth #PaleBlueDot
Everybody Else: ⭐ 👁️ 🌸 📦 ❤️
Vera Rubin: 🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀🌀
Many of us draw cubes, daisies, stars, or that one heavily stylized super "S" when our minds wander, but Rubin's comfort doodle was, unsurprisingly, galaxies. Link in bio.)
This page of spirals belonged to Carnegie astronomer and "Mother of Dark Matter" Vera Rubin, and if you know her work, the subject matter should be no surprise!
Alongside Carnegie colleague Kent Ford, Rubin discovered that stars at the outer edges of spiral galaxies move just as fast as those near the center, evidence that something unseen was holding them together. That something was dark matter, and we now know it makes up more than 80 percent of the mass of the universe.
Swipe through, look closely, and you'll spot clues about her day: a Baltimore phone number, the name "Maxine", a computer printout stamped "User: rubin.”
🌀 What clues do you see in her doodles? Tell us what you think in the comments!
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Vera Rubin's doodles are Object 6 in our #Carnegie125 celebration. Join us as we unearth 125 treasures from the archives—spanning astronomy, Earth science, biology, and beyond—that tell the story of how our 125 years of curiosity-driven research have shaped modern science.
#Carnegie125 #WomensHistoryMonth #VeraRubin #DarkMatter #CarnegieScience #WomenInSTEM #ScienceDoodles #WomensHistory #VeraRubin #DarkMAtter #Doodles
We had a BLAST leading #AwesomeCon2026 attendees across the universe for blind dates with cosmic wonders at our "Mission Matchmakers" panel.
🙌 Massive shoutout to the intrepid explorers who volunteered to play our game. You were INCREDIBLE! (And equal thanks to everyone who chose us over @therealAdamSavage 's mythbusting next door. We see you. We appreciate you.)
Biggest love to our host and panelists for stepping away from their research to spend an afternoon pretending to be celestial objects. You rock. 🪐⭐☄️
#AwesomeCon #Science #Astronomy #SpaceNerds #ComicCon2026 #ScienceCommunication #Cosmos #SciComms #ScienceOutreach
🔭 🚀#AwesomeCon2026—@CarnegiePlanets is BACK, and this time YOU'RE in the captain's chair.
In space exploration, the questions you ask matter as much as the answers you get. Are you ready to commit to a destination you've never met? Introducing Mission Matchmaker—part The Dating Game, part Choose Your Own Adventure, 100% real planetary science.
Ask smart questions. Read the clues. Trust your gut. Then commit to a mission…and find out if your cosmic match is a moon, a planet, an asteroid, or something even more exotic. The catch? You won't know where you're going until the very end.
Join scientists from the Carnegie Science Earth & Planets Laboratory for an audience-driven space mission unlike anything you've done before.
🗓Friday, March 13
🕑 1:30–2:15 PM
📍 Room 206
🔗 Link in bio
#AwesomeCon #MissionMatchmaker #CarnegieScience #PlanetaryScience #SpaceScience #ScienceIsAwesome #AwesomeCon2026 @AwesomeCon@CarnegieScience
Every time we point JWST at something, the universe surprises us. Here are six of the wildest discoveries so far — from moons being born to planets that rain diamonds. 🔭 Swipe through, then read the full story at the link in bio.
The next era of exoplanet science has arrived!
The Henrietta Infrared Spectrograph—designed and built at Carnegie Science—will study the atmospheres of distant planets, revealing their chemistry, weather, and evolution. As the first ground-based instrument of its kind, Henrietta will detect the molecular fingerprints of alien skies as planets pass in front of their stars.
Named for astronomer Henrietta Hill Swope, the instrument continues a legacy of discovery—expanding our reach from mapping the universe to understanding the worlds within it.
First light is coming soon.
Link in @CarnegieScience bio to read the full story.
#CarnegieScience #Exoplanets #ExoplanetAtmospheres #TransitSpectroscopy #Spectroscopy #AstronomyInstrumentation #FirstLight #Astrophysics #AlienWorlds #SpaceScience #ComingSoon
It's officially #NeighborhoodLecture season!
🤯 What if there's a missing law of nature that explains how complexity arose in our universe—and could even help us find life on other planets?
On March 18, join Carnegie Science researchers, Robert Hazen & Michael Wong (@miquai ) as they discuss their new book—Time's Second Arrow. This dynamic duo will explore the ways selection for function has shaped everything from minerals to living organisms—and how this framework could help us detect life on other worlds, fight cancer, and find new meaning in our own existence.
The talk will be moderated by NPR Short Wave's Regina Barber (@scienceregina ).
📅 March 18, 2026, at 6:30 PM ET
📍Greenewalt Auditorium at Carnegie Science's Earth & Planets Laboratory in Washington, D.C (or tune in online!)
👉 Register to attend in person or watch online. Link in bio (https://bit.ly/4cELw4w).
Forest Hills Connection @foresthillsconnection@popville@nprpodcasts@730dc@clockoutdc #KnowYrCity #ClockoutDC
