Every time I see a band with pedal boards the size of command centers, they're deeply serious (and boring). This is not that. (Shout out to my colleague Nikki for booking Nova Twins at the Tiny Desk. This one rules.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiOi...

It's the first Friday of the month and we got no jobs data for the first time in 77 years. Hold me.

1/ New research from our group @umich.edu in collaboration with MI DNR investigated if climate change is altering fish body size. Our team analyzed data from 13 species and 1,497 lakes from 1945-2020. 🐟 🧪 🌎🌐🌱 #climatescience #umichresearch #blueskyscience onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

It’s hard to believe but there was a cartoon about an immigrant mouse and it was seen as totally fine and not controversial and not woke because it was an aspirational and nice thing about America that people could come here and find a better life

ICYMI: After an August meeting on how the state permits large-scale animal feeding operations, Phil Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, issued his final opinion laying out new terms for the permit. @michiganadvance.com michiganadvance.com/2025/11/03/s...

In which two of my interests overlap unexpectedly... www.the-scientist.com/metal-vocali...

"Michigan's 10-cent deposit... applies only to carbonated beverages, fizzy and bubbly drinks. But the number of beverages available to consumers has skyrocketed since the Bottle Bill was enacted in 1976. It was the following year, 1977, when Perrier launched a successful U.S. advertising campaign...

I don't know if that's true anymore. Real newspapers have a limited scope, the erosion of local news means that the bar for stuff to get reported on is quite high, and I see stuff on TikTok all of the time that people is saying is happening in their communities that I have no way to verify

The government shutdown is blocking funding for LIHEAP, an energy assistance program that helped over 400k Michiganders keep their heat on last winter, assisting another 129k with year round support. @planetdetroit.org

Tremane Wood is currently on death row, despite his older brother admitting to killing victim Ronnie Wipf in 2002. Next week, he will have the chance to make his case for mercy. Oklahoma's attorney general is fighting to ensure his death anyway.

Can we develop robots that anyone can teach new tricks? 🤖 In the latest episode, I chatted to Prof. Chad Jenkins from @umich.edu about #robot learning and perception. Available wherever you get your podcasts: linktr.ee/robottalkpod #Robots #Robotics #AI #MachineLearning

NEW: With #Medicaid work requirements looming, our team that's evaluating Michigan's Medicaid expansion just published new findings in @jamahealthforum.com about the intersection between coverage, health and work: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

"The dime deposit in 1976, when Michigan adopted the Bottle Bill, would be equivalent to only two cents today." A great deep dive into Michigan's bottle bill, featuring a new @umich.edu report, in @freep.com. www.freep.com/story/news/l...

Lennie Briscoe 2099, full color version. #Orbachtober

MOM: You can’t spend all day moping. Not on Lottery’s Eve! TESSIE: I have to find a way to get my life back. I don’t have time for the Lottery. MOM: There's always time for family. Help your sister roll her wheelchair down to the creekbed to collect some stones for tomorrow.

Tracking your carbon "hoofprint" based on where you live. A _fun_ lookup piece from @naemas.bsky.social and I 🎁: wapo.st/4ocwoy8

Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications given by @nationalacademies.org in partnership with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social ! Learn more about the winners: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm

This is a really, really cool analysis of how the carbon footprint ("hoofprint") of meat consumption varies widely across US metro areas. Chicago's history as a center for meatpacking has left it with a low hoofprint. news.umich.edu/revealing-th...

Tuesday's Most Read # 1 - Revealing the 'carbon hoofprint' of meat consumption for American cities link.theoverheadwire.com/brgje University of Michigan

They said the window was closed. Too much change. This is what happens, they said, when your cabinet gets raided. One problem. Dan Campbell doesn’t have a cabinet. Dan Campbell is the cabinet. Welcome to Detroit. Home of the NFL’s most resilient football team. www.nytimes.com/athletic/673...

New research: Meat consumption in US cities has a "carbon hoofprint" equivalent to the emissions from all US domestic fossil fuel burning - "reducing food waste and dietary shifts (eg more chicken, less beef) could halve emissions" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Last week, the Indiana University administration asked their student newspaper not to print any news stories in the Homecoming edition. When the faculty advisor refused, IU fired him and ended paper printing. So students at the Purdue paper printed the IU edition and drove it down to Bloomington!

"The secret sauce has been poured down the drain," says David Draper, former Deputy Chief Scientist of NASA, over the recent firing or departure of 1000s of NASA employees, which will be catastrophic for the legacy of the US🇺🇸😖🚀 www.planetary.org/articles/400... h/t @floragraham.bsky.social 🧪

So, this should be an interesting panel to moderate.

Apparently Bluesky is seeing an influx of new users. Welcome! If you're interested in science, journalism, and/or science writing, here are a bunch of folks worth following. go.bsky.app/7Z8u31b

Fun bit of rock and roll trivia: Paul McCartney initially wanted to write a song about how topological Maxwell lattices could stifle vibrations. But he couldn't figure the phrasing out, so he decided to make it about whacking people with a silver hammer instead. journals.aps.org/prapplied/ab...

I immediately thought about this after seeing Omar Yaghi's name this morning. It was so cool back then getting to speak with him for the podcast's first episode and I feel all the more fortunate for it now. (1/a few, more or less)

Your electric car needs graphite. Do you know where it comes from? This story explores how the push for climate solutions is colliding with Indigenous rights, as a proposed mine in Alaska advances without tribal consultation. grist.org/indigenous/i...

"To an extent, the U.S.’s loss may have been Europe’s gain, according to BNEF." www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

It is Friday and the store is open until 3:30pm! Baxter the robot is now 72% off. msusurplusstore.com/products/ret...

Sign of the times: @mjgault.bsky.social interviewed ABC's John Quiñones re: his podcast about Vanessa Guillén, a soldier who was murdered at Ft Hood in 2020. When Gault asked how Sec. Def. Pete Hegseth could roll back reforms made in response to Guillén's death, a PR person cut in to shut it down.

So Trump is defunding the police.

They say that we must meet the moment. Ok, but I think we should meet in a very public, well-lit place with lots of people around, because I certainly don't trust the moment

You’ve heard that beavers are “nature’s engineers.” But Cretaceous dinosaurs might have engineered their ecosystems, too. Comments from Luke Weaver @umich.edu, David Fastovsky @universityofri.bsky.social, and Jordan Mallon @museumofnature.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/mov...

My new story is about a @umich.edu poll on a topic I hadn't though much about before writing about it: Care companions, or the practice of adults bringing another adult to their doctor's appointments and other clinic visits. Whether you're a #caregiver, a clinician or just over 50, check it out:

The Coalition is hiring a Policy Fellow for a two-year term! Check out this post for more information and to apply: buff.ly/Xn5pUWJ #Hiring #GreatLakes #CleanWater

Having the chance to talk to @realshri.bsky.social has been incredibly helpful for my understanding of the Line 5 situation. He's now written a story about it for @theconversation.com and I can't recommend it enough. theconversation.com/a-great-lake...

Some people think ChatGPT has a place writing things like news briefs, stuff written to a specific style and tone and, y'know, kinda boring. So Science did a study. ChatGPT failed. Why? It got stuff wrong. "Also, extensive editing for hyperbole was needed." www.science.org/content/blog...

Ever since I read Tim Cernak's "Medicinal Chemistry Gone Wild" Perspective, I knew I wanted to profile him for a @cenmag.bsky.social story! Many months later, here is that story: cen.acs.org/synthesis/me...

Come see how we annually divert 12 million pounds of material from the landfill!

I like this. Since under RFK Jr, Covid shots are now for people with underlying conditions that put them at risk, Michigan’s chief medical executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian states that not having the most recent Covid shot constitutes such an underlying condition. www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/inside...

I've been using them all my life and had no idea that bottle return machines were officially called "reverse vending machines." That is delightful. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse...

Today, the parent of a trans child & lifetime U of M patient spoke to the U-M Regents against their compliance with the Trump admin by halting affirming care for trans youth, and adults age 18. Many, including myself & a Regent, were in tears. Link+full text below. www.youtube.com/live/JJsF2GM...

Explore the beauty of the Upper Peninsula’s architecture with a virtual tour led by Josh Lipnik, Detroit-based photographer, speaker, and writer! Josh Lipnik runs @midwestmodern.bsky.social, documenting the architecture and built environment of his home state of Michigan and the greater Midwest.

When tiny freshwater crustaceans called daphnia are infected w/a parasite, the mothers are able to shake off the disease. But many of their offspring died young. U-M researchers say if we only focus on how an infection affects a single organism, we may be missing its biggest impact. myumi.ch/kPJEz

I just want to compliment the person who made the hummus, but no one will tell me who made it. I wish I could tell you who made it so you’d shut up about it. I’ll shut up about it when I get some answers.

American universities are navigating rapid changes to federal policy & funding. Within this upheaval, science communicators are doubling down to reinforce awareness of the societal impact of our research enterprise. Join @sciencewriters.org on Sept. 26 to learn how. www.nasw.org/events/sciwr...

🦖Dinosaurs promoted open habitats in the Late Cretaceous, and their extinction could have led to a radical reorganization of the landscape and ecosystem structure at the beginning of the Paleogene. @umich.edu 👉Read here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Any day in which I learn that dinosaurs tromped around so hard they prevented forests from growing densely is a good day. @umich.edu research shows the demise of dinosaurs led to wide scale changes in Earth's ecosystem, which is reflected in the geologic record. news.umich.edu/your-ecosyst...