White House proposes new rules giving political appointees final approval of research grants These proposed Office of Management and Budget regulations would render the federal research grant review process opaque www.scientificamerican.com/article/whit...

"I've been a #climate scientist for 33 years and we're seeing exactly the kinds of things that we were warning back then... [although] these records are perhaps more extreme and coming sooner than we had expected," @richardabetts.bsky.social

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Global warming and habitat destruction pose grave threats to Joshua trees. Vast networks of underground fungi could help them survive: www.latimes.com/california/s... via @alex-wigglesworth.bsky.social

Why is protein being added to everything? Do you need more of it than you're getting? Thanks to @beebrookshire.bsky.social for joining Science Quickly to talk it through with us! Listen to the full episode here: www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...

An estimated 92 per cent of UK homes will be at risk of overheating by 2050, without so-called adaptation measures, up from just over half today www.ft.com/content/ec4d...

Here is a baby otter to round off your week in the best possible way.

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

1/ Tear gas was created to incapacitate grown men. So when I started seeing reports of kids hurt by tear gas deployed by federal immigration agents, I wondered how often it was happening. My colleagues and I started to count:

New modeling shows the Amazon threshold could be hit in the 2040s. With 18% already deforested, researchers say hitting 22% forest loss alongside global warming will degrade the ecosystem. Experts urge a drastic cut in emissions and a total halt to deforestation to protect the basin.

Why do people continue to trust AI? www.science.org/content/arti...

Elements of the right and the left are united in the baseless belief that two attempts on Donald Trump's life were staged. www.wired.com/story/there-...

An almost unkillable fungal strain isolated from NASA’s ultrasterile clean rooms hints at “critical gaps” in interplanetary quarantine

I remember reading this piece when it first came out. It haunted me for days.

Just learned about from an old friend: Media Resilience Network offers free and anonymous support for US-based journalists going through burnout or crisis and offers peer support, counseling and coaching.

In 2025, global tree loss fell by 14% from the year before, according to a new report from @worldresources.bsky.social. The decline was mostly due to better protections for rainforests, particularly in Brazil. But increasing wildfires offset those gains.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com America’s electric grid is old and could soon be pushed past its breaking point. “Something needs to change now,” Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, writes.

For followers of @thexylom.com, check out their audience survey! Open until this Friday, May 1 ⤵️

Light pollution is dangerous for birds flying over towns and cities. Here’s how you can help

Want to learn more about chocolate and climate change? Here’s an excellent primer.

A 110-kilo ivory seizure in Kenya has reignited concerns over law enforcement follow-through. While arrests make headlines, critics warn that wildlife trafficking is rarely investigated to the "next level," leaving traffickers & buyers to operate with impunity. Charles Mpaka reports for #Mongabay.

This is so cool!

After a ten-day mission around the moon, the Artemis II astronauts will have traveled nearly 700,000 miles. Today is the final hurdle: reentry. Here's where we stand right now: www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

“There’s a lot to learn on the moon….But some astronomers, faced with increasingly austere government funding for their ground- and space-based projects, are beginning to see the moon as a more fiscally-stable scientific stage for some of their most ambitious cosmic studies.”

Exclusive: The acting director of the CDC has delayed publication of a report showing the covid-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of ER visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half, according to two scientists.

The Iran War has broken the bargain that Trump promised to strike between American consumers and the oil industry — and its left his energy policy dead in the water. I wrote about it for @heatmap.news: heatmap.news/energy/trump...

~1.7 million lives were saved in 2019 because of decreases in air pollution More lives are saved when cleaner air goes hand in hand with: - reducing social inequalities - more equal access to healthcare for everyone in society New study share.google/tx06aJ8S65gX...

A huge heat dome is spreading across the United States and it is shattering March temperature records.

Dolphins washing up on the shores of Patagonia may have been fleeing orcas in the area

This is Nathan Cavanaugh, another DOGE staffer explaining how he flagged grants at NEH for "DEI" which would be reviewed for termination. 404 Media has reviewed hours of this footage and we'll have more soon. Part of a lawsuit by @acls1919.bsky.social, @modernlanguage.bsky.social + @historians.org

NEW ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 2.4% in 2025 as coal fell to a 400-year low. Incredibly, we used less coal last year than than in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. All the details in our article: www.carbonbrief.org/...

A Dutch lock is closed for the spring, and its employees want you to tell them when migrating fish come knocking by ringing a digital doorbell

Today on the pod, what a worrying forecast says about women’s heart health, what’s happening with NASA’s Artemis II moon mission and why female reindeer have antlers

As the U.S. officially breaks 1,000 measles cases in 2026, experts say that the rate of infections is accelerating much faster this year than it did in years past

New research on African striped mice found that the caregiving instinct may be rooted in a specific gene

12-year-old Ender wrote that when she felt sick at Dilley, the doctor would only say to drink more water. “The worst thing is that it seems like the water is what makes people sick here,” she wrote in her letter. By @micarosenberg.bsky.social

Dozens of routinely updated CDC databases have gone quiet. Here’s what states and medical societies are doing to preserve U.S. public health

EVs are already making your air cleaner #Climate

The consequences of this will be felt for generations.

As deepfakes blur the line between truth and fiction, we’ll need a new class of forensic experts to determine what’s real, what’s fake and what can be proved in court

Europe commits to wind energy expansion despite Trump criticism, draft shows reut.rs/4pTHGYg

@noaa.gov has finalized a rule to expedite the permit process for deep sea mining, including applications for exploration and extraction beyond U.S. jurisdictional boundaries. 🧪 eos.org/research-and...

Beautiful images of Monday’s northern lights show in Western Europe. You could even see them here in Portugal.

NYTimes: How Wall Street Turned Its Back on Climate Change www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/c...

BREAKING: A judge has overturned a stop work order from the Trump administration, allowing the Coastal Virginia offshore wind project to proceed. The decision marks the third defeat for the president — this week. Here's @jael.bsky.social with more: heatmap.news/sparks/coast...

US judge allows Equinor to restart New York offshore wind project reut.rs/4pLfmaC

2025 was the hottest year on record for ocean heat content. Unfortunately, we now say this every year. 🥹 "In addition to setting a new record in 2025, the global ocean continues to show sustained and intensified warming." + #OpenAccess Study: doi.org/10.1007/s003... + Data: www.ocean.iap.ac.cn

Recommended read: In the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo, columnist @marcelonleite.bsky.social looked into the climate impact of extracting more oil from Venezuela.

Every country needs this.