Is a penguin the size of a gorilla still adorable or terrifying? 🐧 Steve Brusatte joined Science Friday to talk about demon ducks, terror birds, and colossus penguins. Hear the full convo today on your public radio station from 2-4pm ET. Or listen to our podcast right now! https://bit.ly/4ekd6VQ

NEW: For more than a century, a smelter and other factories spewed 400 million pounds of lead dust across Omaha’s east side. Faced with similar concerns, 13 states passed laws requiring all kids to get a blood test before kindergarten. But not Nebraska.

On arsenic and the Old West, a Sunday dispatch from the high desert: open.substack.com/pub/rubygone...

Whitman on the courage of optimism as a force of resistance www.themarginalian.org/2018/07/26/w...

From the Substack! Some essentail grounding for the new year and an essay on the consideration of time as affluence: rubygonewild.substack.com/p/the-afflue...

Many thanks to @altajournal for supporting this piece! #truecrime #pnwlife #oregon "Soon, violence crept up from the edges..." Read more about how a charismatic cult leader and his flock took an Oregon county by storm: bit.ly/42lQH3J"

Happy Book Birthday to WILDERNESS AND THE AMERICAN SPIRIT by @rubygonewild.bsky.social At this time when the fabric of what it means to be America is facing challenges, this book about the making & mythology of the American West is a read for this moment! overcupbooks.com/products/wil...

“Currently, more than 80,000 chemicals on the market are not subject to environmental testing or regulation.”

Nothing like starting out on a new platform with a picture of a landfill. It's oddly beautiful under that cloudy blue sky. And important, if we want to survive ourselves. My next book is all about our questionalbe use of the subsurface; hang onto your hats, people, it's a wild ride.