Oof.

John McPhee’s “evenhandedness harks back to an era when reasonable people could disagree.“ Elizabeth Kolbert writes about McPhee’s piece “Encounters with the Archdruid,” a classic of environmental reporting.

Bioturbation: my kids’ daily mission to erase order from my house.

OPINION: When Should Universities Take a Stand? linkedin.com/pulse/opinio... via @LinkedIn

Should universities take official positions on contested social and political issues? Or should they remain neutral? And if they stay neutral, does that mean they should stay silent? - I have a proposal. shorturl.at/NPSXw

Philadelphia Stands up for Science and Democracy!

Big shout out to Pele for the perfectly timed demonstration of hot spot volcanism—right when my Intro to the Earth System students were researching it for their igneous rocks problem set! Love when real-world events align with the classroom. Seems like you got my memo! www.usgs.gov/media/videos...

Opinion piece: Farms worldwide need access to commercial satellite data to enhance #SustainableDevelopment goals and research. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #SDGs #SmallholderFarm #ClimateChange #agriculture #LandUse #CropProductivity

We're excited to be a cohost for the Climate Storytellers' Summit on 4/10 with High Meadows Environmental Institute, @yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social, and My Climate Story! Interested in submitting a story? You have until 3/1 at 6pm ET. web.sas.upenn.edu/pcssm/calend...

Tyranny requires your fear, your silence, and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.

For my first scientific post here, I want to talk about the Phanerozoic temperature record we published last Fall, which unfortunately has been making rounds in the climate denier circuit 👀 First though hopefully you can appreciate the beauty of this reconstruction ✨...

Excellent post

Already photo of the year?

Oof

Ok, so we’re not going to make the target. But not all is lost! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is interesting, masks some progress being made in emission reduction in the US and EU. Far from sufficient, but it’s not the case that nothing has been done.

🌏📈🪸🧊⚖️🌡️ www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Last night was the official building dedication of our new home at @upenn.bsky.social! Thank you to Roy and Diana Vagelos, the entire Vagelos family and all the donors for your commitment to supporting energy research! penntoday.upenn.edu/news/penn-va...

Our first kiddo was born at the end of my PhD. With many local fam & friends, decided not to relocate for a postdoc - would’ve ended my acad career. Just then Jon Hawkings was hired at the local uni. I emailed him, and he put me on startup to help build his lab. Now, I’m teaching faculty there.

We can’t control the timing of things appearing on the NSF Earth Sciences website but finally the announcement, FAQ, and full solicitations for our realignment are out! DCL: www.nsf.gov/pubs/2025/ns... FAQ: www.nsf.gov/pubs/2025/ns... All EAR programs: new.nsf.gov/geo/ear

“It’s easy to be a humanist in good times, but to be a humanist in bitter times and bitter circumstances, that is truly a heroic act.” - David Brooks shorturl.at/3GeiK

As a student, research staff, and teaching faculty, I value what universities provide society. As a parent of two, ‘saving for college’ feels impossible on an academic salary. Our society must ensure access to education in science, humanities, and critical thinking. These programs are essential.

Anyone on here doing isotope measurements on a quad icpms? I’ve been working a bit on Li isotopes using a PerkinElmer NexION5000. Would love to chat.

Fascinating paper on where 6000 global elites went to college. Billionaires, CEOs, heads of state, central bankers, etc. In a word: Harvard. Fully 10% of global elites went to Harvard. Elite US schools are over-represented (23% IvyPlus), but nobody comes close to Harvard. 🧵

Let’s chat geochem!

This illustrates a very widespread issue of unacknowledged structural uncertainty in measurements/observations that can lead to overfitting of models, artifacts in time series and confusion in #scicom when previously ‘precise’ numbers change.

Philly!

“People find it hard to accept that a city like New Orleans at some point will not exist anymore. But why don’t we think of the life of a city the way we think about the life of a human being? Just because our lives are finite, doesn’t mean that they’re worthless.” www.nytimes.com/2024/11/30/o...

"Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can". What the f**k does that even mean? A mature tree removes ~25 kg of CO₂/year. This "new powder" is a sorbent with a capacity of 0.96 mmol/g, so that's 0.0096 kg of CO₂ per 0.5 lbs. You'd need 1305 lbs to equal a tree.

Planning to get behind this 100%. Let’s as a community make this the new central place for high quality open access science! Thanks to all who organized.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lesotho 🇱🇸(2008–2010), which has the second highest adult HIV prevalence (24%), I witnessed firsthand the life-saving impact of PEPFAR on individuals and communities. This program has transformed lives and strengthened nations. The US needs more initiatives like this.

We're using our first post on BlueSky to share our upcoming event with @katharinehayhoe.com on 12/5 from 2-3pm! Register here: web.sas.upenn.edu/pcssm/calend...

Worth a read and discussion! www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...