On the way to a 6 am ferry two years ago today. I sure do love this city.

It’s that time of year, again. Went on a long run in a local park yesterday. Rained so much and wind blew so hard, I’d swear it was 20 degrees colder by the time I finished. I know I sure was.

Trump now says he's opening the #ArcticNationalWildlifeRefuge to oil drilling. In the past, new presidents have reversed course before any damage is done. It's not clear that will happen this time. Here's a stunning look at the stakes w/text by me from 2021 www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/...

As the father of a teenager trying to navigate social media and AI and everything else, just popping up to say: We should be teaching news literacy in middle school. And we should have started at least a decade ago.

Nearly 1 million species require coral reefs to survive, so such loss—if unaddressed—will reverberate in ways we can't yet even imagine.

NEW: More than 150 top researchers from 23 countries now, for the first time, say coral reefs, which half a *billion* people rely on for food, have reached a point beyond which recovery is irreversible—unless we halt greenhouse gas emissions AND cool the planet. global-tipping-points.org

Journalism, he said, is how we know what's happening in troubled lands. "These extraordinary eyewitness accounts are the culmination of the daily efforts of countless people who work to ensure that information isn't manipulated for ends contrary to truth and human dignity“ apnews.com/article/pope...

So sorry I missed this headline a few days ago. So happy to see it now. (h/t @wudan.bsky.social) www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

🧵 The @nytimes.com just named this issue of National Geographic the 18th most influential magazine cover of all time. Photo editor Vaughn Wallace, artist Jorge Gamboa and cover creator Emmet Smith deserve all the praise they've received for this arresting design. BUT .... 1/3

@biographic.bsky.social publishes so much of my favorite nature writing, from the epic story behind sea star wasting disease by @craigwelch.bsky.social to creepy, beautiful bites like "Mom on the Menu" by @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social I'm grateful that I'm able to donate!

Nothing quite like receiving documents from a public records request to make a bad week just a little bit better.

The kid is back in school. We all adjust in our own way.

Read this. You won’t regret it.

Wow! After years on the transplant list, my friend woke up in the hospital w/a new kidney. Only then did he learn his life had been saved by a stranger—not as part of a larger organ swap, but because a generous soul knew she could get by w/just one. So they met www.seattletimes.com/life/by-dona...

Please read this beautiful story by my friend and former editor at @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social. It will restore your faith in humanity. Some people are just amazing. www.seattletimes.com/life/by-dona...

"So Odell waits. And while she waits, she produces a paper every week for nearly 3,000 subscribers. Some of those papers still get delivered by paperboys on bikes." This is such a lovely tribute and so heartbreaking. I knew Meredith ages ago. Such fortitude. Go Mer! www.kmuw.org/the-range/20...

Appears the feds did an immigration sweep (arrested two) while firefighters were battling a wildfire in my state. The previous administration had strict limits on law enforcement during natural disasters. @isabellabreda.bsky.social @conradswanson.bsky.social www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Long-lost sailback shark rediscovered after more than 50 years | New Scientist

Don’t like this one bit. I mean, I don’t even know you, man!

Been battling nagging injuries since January but finally pulled off my first Cascades trail run for the year. I’ve lost several steps—we were not fast. But we ran for 3+ hours and got back to the car knowing we could have gone longer and higher. So grateful to be back #running in the mountains.

This is really quite something. As if we needed another way of spreading misinformation. (Ken is a climate scientist I’ve interviewed many times.)

“This ecosystem is predicated on balance—we need a certain combination of species to make it function.” Powerful @craigwelch.bsky.social story in @biographic.bsky.social on sea star epidemiology. www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...

Incredible & beautifully written. @craigwelch.bsky.social phenomenal work.

The enchantment of bumblebees illuminated beautifully by @judeisabella.bsky.social www.biographic.com/plight-of-th...

Congratulations to Dr. Alyssa Gehman @rhizalyssa.bsky.social at @hakai.org for her work on solving this mystery!

By far the best coverage of this remarkable tale of the scientific process and the search for what causes sea star wasting disease

Sea stars—26 species—have been dying by the *billions* from Mexico to Alaska, their arms tearing off, their bodies dissolving, w/huge consequences for the sea. No one knew why. So we tagged along while scientists unraveled the mystery. Now can we save them? Thanks for the share, @longreads.com!

"To raise sunflower stars in captivity and release them to the Pacific, however, scientists must first learn how to keep stars from dying. And for that, they must know what’s killing them in the first place." @craigwelch.bsky.social for @biographic.bsky.social: www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...

Sea stars—26 species—have been dying by the *billions* from Mexico to Alaska, their arms tearing off, their bodies dissolving, w/huge consequences for the sea. No one knew why. So we tagged along while scientists unraveled the mystery. Now can we save them? Thanks for the share, @longreads.com!

This is such an important story for the ocean. Losing these sea stars meant losing whole forests of kelp, whole ecosystems. And although scientists have just identified the bacteria behind the disease, as this story points out, they already knew there was a "co-conspirator" in rising temperatures.

And yes, this is the former writing teacher in me speaking: wishing I could assign that last graf as a close-reading exercise and spend a collective hour thinking about punctuation, but also mourning the future we seem to be careening toward where everything is the length of a genAI LinkedIn post.

Always so glad to read @craigwelch.bsky.social, and really admire how he illuminates both the ordinary and the sublime in science. Reading his work reminds me how longform reporting can both mirror and reveal the painstakingness of scientific discovery in a way that other forms can’t. #SciComm 🌊

To all who write: Never miss a chance to work w/ @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social. A real talent and an absolute joy.

I've loved sea stars my whole life. So when I found out that @biographic.bsky.social was getting exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the scientists tracking a notorious sea star killer, I knew we had to send the best of the best. Enter @craigwelch.bsky.social. A must read:

ARRRGH. (Pinedale is 70 miles south of Jackson, Wyo, my old home, gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.) Joy Ufford, btw, has been reporting in Wyoming for 35 years. She's terrific—a legend. And she was STILL willing to do it for $25 a story. www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/state/l...

After a decade of carnage, we finally know what’s devastating sea stars along North America’s west coast. For the most in-depth coverage of this breakthrough finding, don't miss this piece by @craigwelch.bsky.social in @biographic.bsky.social 🔗 tinyurl.com/2bmjdjex

such a great story about the researchers, their discoveries, and the fascinating lives of the sea stars themselves! Three cheers to Craig Welch and @biographic.bsky.social for this story.

There are a lot of stories out there this week on the discovery of the cause of the sea star die off. This is, in my opinion, the best. Fantastic reporting, great visuals, behind the scenes science writing at its best. Give it a read.

Sea stars emerged 1/4 billion years before dinosaurs.“Keystone species” was first coined about them. Because without sea stars, coastal ecosystems are devastated, as invertebrates mow down kelp forests and drive biodiversity out of intertidal food webs. Fascinating @biographic.bsky.social

EXCELLENT article and I am so glad to see @craigwelch.bsky.social writing about this. He's done so much crucial work on PNW marine ecosystem issues, and the deep dive here (pun kinda intended) is the best I've seen yet about this huge research discovery.

This is a FASCINATING read.

Unmasking the Sea Star Killer After a decade of carnage, we finally know what’s devastating sea stars along North America’s West Coast. Does that mean scientists can save them? by @craigwelch.bsky.social www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...

Pretty cool story @whatmaybe.bsky.social

Great read.

For @biographic.bsky.social, writer @craigwelch.bsky.social followed @hakai.org scientist @rhizalyssa.bsky.social's quest to unveil the the killer that decimated populations of sea stars off the West Coast. It took a few years but the lab's hard work paid off: www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...

We watched them unravel this enormous mystery. Was it climate change? Technically, no. It was an infection. Unfortunately, it was from a genus of bacteria scientists call the “microbial barometer of climate change.”

Sea stars—26 species—have been dying by the billions from Mexico to Alaska, their arms tearing off, their bodies dissolving, w/huge consequences for the sea. Experts finally figured out why— and gave @biographic.bsky.social exclusive access. Can we save them? www.biographic.com/unmasking-th...

We watched them unravel this enormous mystery. Was it climate change? Technically, no. It was an infection. Unfortunately, it was from a genus of bacteria scientists call the “microbial barometer of climate change.”

The photos of gloopy seastars is ☹️. Good article with lots of other great pics, though.