You might think that the mayor of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's vast Northwest Territories, would be a fan of giant pickups. Nope. He's disgusted by car bloat. www.linkedin.com/posts/benjam...

Millions of people are being left behind due to car-centric policies in the United States.

For as much as some members of Congress say the D.C. government is dysfunctional and should be disbanded, it's worth noting that the D.C. government will open and operate normally tomorrow because elected officials can do stuff like, you know, pass annual budgets.

Driving to Vermont and back in our Bolt this month was, in fact, much easier than it used to be.

Farewell, sweet origin of poster’s disease

Trump's autism announcement mangled evidence. But the backlash seems a bit much? A researcher on studies finding NO link has also been a paid expert in lawsuits. And I would caution against relying on judges to decide where the strongest evidence lies.

This @washingtonpost.com has great context on the Tylenol litigation. (And more fair than the @nytimes.com story that annoyed me so much the other day.) Thanks @laurenweberhp.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Tireless Mercatus team @salimfurth.bsky.social @ebwhamilton.bsky.social @charlescgardner.bsky.social just dropped 18 (!) strategies for state govts to increase housing supply. Love the ideas to limit "lawsuits of questionable merit" [ahem, Virginia]. www.mercatus.org/research/pol...

Oooooh tricky! Notice anything about California's definition of ultra-processed foods? That's right! In order to be a UPF, food has to meet a definition that has nothing to do with processing. They need that because PROCESSING HAS ALMOST NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD QUALITY.

In the Post (& elsewhere), Energy Secretary Wright continues to get basic facts wrong. He claims “We’ve been talking about ‘electrify everything’ for a while. Today, 15 percent of energy in manufacturing comes from electricity, same as it was 25 years ago.” False. Here's the real global data.

A peril of working as an expert witness in litigation, whether for big companies or (as in this case) people who sue those companies: The NYTimes may imply that your conclusions are warped by financial self-interest. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/h...

In a UN speech today, President Trump said that "all of these [climate] predictions were wrong". Back in 2019 I led a research effort to digitize old climate model projections and assess how well they did. Turns out they got future warming pretty spot on!

Wait, it gets worse. The team of economists and researchers responsible for the USDA survey that measures food insecurity and hunger were put on indefinite paid leave today. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Fewer people work in farming in Asia’s largest countries

Utilities in Connecticut, and their allies in the state legislature, have forced a reform-minded regulator to resign. ctmirror.org/2025/09/19/m...

Yes, farmers are mad about Trump’s farm policies. Yes, those policies suck. But it would be a huge mistake for Democrats to read stories like this and decide to pander even harder to farmers who will never vote for them. Pander to eaters! www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

More of this, please. ggwash.org/view/100891/...

The USDA is just sitting on money for research, can't move it out the door, as the fiscal year ends. www.science.org/content/arti...

My new book is published today, and my cats highly recommend it. www.penguin.co.uk/books/462676...

A new report by the prestigious US National Academy of Sciences concludes that the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence:

A lot of good stuff in the Massachusetts YIMBY Bill that would help re-legalize badly needed missing middle housing. Including, of course, statewide parking reform! 🤞

New financial disclosures from Surgeon General nominee Casey Means show that she’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting supplements and other health and wellness products. www.statnews.com/2025/09/16/c...

The federal government is killing federal transportation grants nationwide because the projects they would have funded are designed to help pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders—rather than drivers.

I'm glad more people are thinking and talking about electricity affordability. As we do, I think it's worth pondering the fact that households typically pay around twice as much as industrial customers for a unit of electrical energy. How did this come to be? Does it have to be this way?

Despite its 162-year-history of service, congressional Republicans tell federal agencies not to seek the advice of the National Academies. www.science.org/content/arti...

Some US states are considering letting gas utilities build district heating/cooling networks. I think this is a nice idea as long as we enforce the Denmark Rule: decommission gas grids in neighborhoods that get district thermal grids. Otherwise gas utilities will just do both and double charge.

This post that a friend of my partner's shared on FB potentially explains the Kristin Chenoweth thing, and is frightening.

Global farmland has been declining since the early 2000s — but where is that land going? Researchers from @oxfutureoffood, @OurWorldInData & @oxmartinschool Director, Charles Godfray explore rewilding, lab-grown food & the future of farming.

We are horrified to learn of the shooting of Charlie Kirk. Political violence has no place in democracy. The foundation of democracy rests on the principle that differences can be debated vigorously, but peacefully, without intimidation or acts of violence.

The current administration has claimed renewables are making the grid less reliable. If that were the case, I'd expect states adding the most renewables over the past decade to have the largest increase in outages. However, the opposite seems to be true!

Clear the interconnection logjam!

The addition of 3,500 MW of offshore wind capacity would have reduced ISO-NE energy market costs by about $400 million over the past winter. #energysky 🔌💡 See Full Story: ow.ly/y8Wk50WNipr#energyskyWriter: Jon Lamson

Few scientists get elected. Will Megan O'Rourke? She's selling an unusual story: Ph.D. ecologist, worked on climate change, also Mormon, with family members who voted for Trump, and roots in the rural working class. www.science.org/content/arti...

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce as figures in the new U.S. National Climate Assessment report, a thread

"A software update that installed Grok, xAI's chatbot into some Tesla models is allowing them to spew climate conspiracies." #NeverTesla #cdnpoli #uspoli www.nationalobserver.com/2025/08/25/n...

The idea that AI-as-scientist will replace human researchers, or augment their creativity and productivity, is drawing attention. But how soon? @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Do you ever think about how the fine for peeing in public is substantially more than the fine for dumping tonnes of CO₂ in public?

Lots of federal workers and scientists have seen their careers derailed by the Trump administration. One of them is now running for Congress in New Jersey. www.science.org/content/arti...

Solar panel imports will reduce OVERALL imports - because the value of diesel imports eclipses the value of solar panel impors. A solar panel in Nigeria now costs just $60, and can repay the cost of diesel for a generator within 6 months - and even less in other countries.

NEW: The first evidence of a solar take-off in Africa☀️✈️ x33 rise in Algeria solar panel imports in the 12 mths to June 2025, compared to previous 12 mths. x8 in Zambia x7 in Botswana x6 in Sudan x3 in each of Liberia, DRC, Benin, Angola, Ethiopia 🧵

A fox trotted past me this morning, making its weird hooting sound, as I picked up the newspaper. This is the horror of life in DC.

You do not often see the Speaker of the CA State Assembly and the President of the California Farm Bureau coauthoring opinions. That this moment has called for it underlines the unusual times we are in.

Shout out to the California local elected officials who banned the construction of new housing for decades, causing the state's population to stagnate while places like Texas grew by 1-2% every year since the 1990s.

Journalists everywhere need to stand in solidarity on this killing spree and resulting news blackout. See below in this thread for some actions and stay tuned here https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hits-gaza-hospital-killing-least-20-people-including-five-journalists-2025-08-25/

I was speaking to a Latino resident this morning, and they said that people in the community are far less likely now to call the Metropolitan Police Department if they see a crime or are victims of one. The concern is over MPD's work with ICE, or at least the perception of it.

Egg Commentary. In 2015 HPAI hit v. hard but it only lasted from Feb to Jun. Still, we ramped up imports of eggs for two years (chart). In 2022 HPAI hit v. hard and is ongoing. Prices through the roof. Same Secy of Ag 2009-2016 and 2021-2024, but it took the new Secy of Ag to push for imports?

As a science reporter, my heart sinks when I get an email that reads "I would like to share with you our recently published paper." By the time a paper is published, it's usually too late for me to cover it. If you have work you're excited about, contact reporters BEFORE publication, under embargo!

I disagree with my colleagues at the Post about artificial sweeteners, and this piece shows why. It rehashes the observational evidence that high diet soda consumption is associated with bad health outcomes - and it is! People who drink diet soda tend to have lousy diets and health habits.

ED1 was incredible. Proved beyond any doubt that the LA establishment wants to grandstand about homelessness and housing without actually doing anything. The minute that housing developers called her bluff and proposed a ton of 100% affordable units, she began a furious retreat.

Live in the U.S. and are EV-curious? Now is the time to try one out! Leases are at historic lows — in some cases under $100/month. And don’t forget: EVs are also cheaper to run than gas cars, so you’re saving money and cutting emissions. 👉 Read the full story on @bloomberg.com