Issue of July 17, 2026
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Sethanne Howard, Ferah Munshi, Stella Kafka, and Ben Keller
[Apologies for the late newsletter. We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]
This week's issues:
1. Crosspost: Q&A: Kate Marvel on the physics and emotions of climate change
2. AAS Policy Update (9 July 2026)
3. Who writes the rules of science?
4. Setting sail on an ocean research journey inspires Innu youths for futures in sciences
5. Garnet found in Mars meteorite surprises scientists
6. Mapping the Web of our Universe
7. Wally Funk, aviation pioneer and oldest woman to go into space, dies at 87
8. Commentary: Why African women can help take the next giant leap in space exploration
9. Women Astronauts. The Chance for Space Flight
10. The female science influencers who leverage their training and have legions of followers
11. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
13. Access to Past Issues
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
Today's crosspost was originally published on Physics Today on November 19, 2025. In this interview by Jessica Duncombe, astrophysicist turned climate physicist Kate Marvel discusses her journey from astrophysics to climate science, her work at NASA, and being a writer. She describes how colleagues recommended she try climate modeling during her postdoc, leading to collaborations that reshaped her career.
Read more at: https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2026/07/crosspost-q-kate-marvel-on-physics-and.html
On 1 July, all 47 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus sent a letter to Director Russ Vought of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) insisting that he rescind the OMB proposed rule on federal grants and other forms of federal financial assistance. Conversely, Senator Jim Banks is leading a draft letter in strong support of the proposed rule. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to Director Vought asking for the comment period to be extended by 90 days and for OMB to withdraw portions of the rule that would unduly burden scientific and biomedical research and small communities.
Read more at: https://aas.org/posts/news/2026/07/policy-update-9-july-2026
Astronomers who gathered in Baltimore in 1992 thought they were drafting a charter that would change their field. Three decades later, one of its authors calls it "tame." The piece examines how written rules and unwritten customs have shaped scientific communities over time, using the Baltimore Charter as a pivotal example of efforts to address gender inequality in astronomy.
Read more at: https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/magazine-article/who-writes-rules-science
Now in its fourth year, the Uinipeku Expedition is an annual ocean science research journey, travelling through Innu Nation marine zones between Sheshatshiu and Natuashish. Before a day in June, Sheshatshiu youth Ocean Pokue had never held a starfish. But, as one of two dozen Innu youth aboard Innu Nation's Uinipeku Expedition, Pokue's days are full of firsts — bringing researchers and youth together at sea.
Read more at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/innu-uinipeku-expedition-9.7269482
Hiding inside a piece of an ancient meteorite that is at least 4.4 billion years old lie potential secrets to the history of Mars. The meteorite, known as NWA 8171, contains a mineral — garnet — that has not been discovered in Martian material before, and it might offer clues about how the planet was formed. "The most exciting part is that we potentially have a new rock type on Mars," said Tanya Kizovski, an assistant professor at Brock University's earth sciences department who made the discovery.
Read more at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/garnet-found-in-martian-meteorite-9.7247165
When Edwin Hubble discovered in 1925 that the universe is full of galaxies, astronomers wondered how they are distributed. Adelaide Ames' work helped catalog the way galaxies cluster into clumps. Born in 1900, Ames earned a graduate degree in astronomy at a time when most graduate schools did not admit women, and worked at the Harvard College Observatory from 1924 to 1932, publishing 18 papers before her tragic death in a boating accident in 1932. Astronomers continue to use and build on her work today.
Read more at: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/mapping-web-our-universe
Wally Funk, a trailblazing aviation pioneer who was denied the opportunity to become a NASA astronaut and half a century later became the oldest woman to travel into space, has died aged 87. Funk died peacefully on Wednesday evening at her apartment in an assisted living facility in Grapevine, Texas. She had been passed over by NASA during the era of the "Mercury 13" women pilots, but made history on a Blue Origin flight in 2021.
Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/wally-funk-astronaut-dies
Every July 25, the International Day of Women and Girls of African Descent invites the world to celebrate our contributions, and to confront the systems that still limit whose ideas are funded and whose voices shape the future. The space sector offers a clear example. For too long, conversations about Africa and aerospace have begun with what the continent supposedly lacks, while African women have been imagined as spectators or beneficiaries instead of astronauts and engineers.
When the American Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, a fifth of the earth's population witnessed the incredible event, and a new generation dreamed of following astronaut Neil Armstrong's footsteps. But what were the chances for women? At that time, NASA did not accept women into its astronaut training program and would not admit the first women until 1978. Yet a woman had already flown in outer space six years before the moon landing, when the Soviet Union sent Valentina Tereshkova into orbit in 1963.
Read more at: https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/women-astronauts-first-anna-fisher-valentina-tereshkova/
With the help of Pokémon or Bad Gyal–style looks, a handful of women communicators explain science on social media as they deal with unequal opportunities. Pushing against algorithmic biases that associate STEM with men, they began over the past 10 years — especially since the Covid pandemic — to counter two trends at once: the surge of misinformation, and the dominance of their male peers explaining physics, chemistry, and mathematics online. Each from her own specialty, they cover everything from the nanoscale to the planetary scale.
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