Media coverage

2026

Eight colored SEM images of presolar grains from Quanta Magazine

Image: Quanta Magazine / Nan Liu

Quanta Magazine, March 2026 — What crystals older than the Sun reveal about the start of the solar system — Long-form interview on presolar grains and the early solar system.

2022

WashU Ampersand, 2022 — Conversation: Two award-winning space scientists — Interview following the Meteoritical Society's Nier Prize.

2021

Red giant AGB star with inset SEM image of a 1-micron presolar SiC grain

WashU Source, October 2021 — Stellar fossils in meteorites point to distant stars — Coverage of ApJL paper on multielement isotopic compositions of presolar SiC grains.

Universe Today, 2021 — Meteorites found with little pieces of other stars — Follow-up coverage of the same paper.

Sci.News, October 2021 — Researchers measure isotopic ratios in presolar stardust grains — Additional coverage of the same ApJL paper.

ScienceDaily, July 2021 — Sculpted by starlight: A meteorite witness to the Solar System's birth — Republished from WashU Source; coverage of Vacher et al. paper on cosmic symplectite as a record of irradiation by nearby massive stars.

2020

Multielement chemical map of Kapoeta howardite alongside cratered surface of asteroid 4 Vesta

WashU Source, June 2020 — Ancient micrometeoroids carried specks of stardust, water to asteroid 4 Vesta — Coverage of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta paper on the Kapoeta howardite.

2018

Crab Nebula supernova remnant with inset SEM image of a presolar SiC grain

ScienceDaily, January 2018 — Meteoritic stardust unlocks timing of supernova dust formation — Republished from Carnegie Science; coverage of Science Advances paper on late formation of silicon carbide in Type II supernovae.

Phys.org, 2018 — Supernova stardust secrets — Coverage of the same Science Advances paper.

Space.com — Grain of stardust in meteorite reveals supernova history — Coverage of the same Science Advances paper.

2017

Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory, 2017 — Postdoc Spotlight: Cosmochemist Nan Liu — Q&A profile during my postdoctoral years at Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (archived via Internet Archive).