🔥💯 Jon Stewart's prophecy from 2022: "When a democracy is under threat: comedians are the ones who get sent away first. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to progress. It ain't the pronoun police, it's the Secret Police. It always has been & it always will be."

Very proud to see the main thesis work of the intrepid Dr. Mohammad Pourhosseinzadeh come out in @pnas.org today! In this paper, Mohammad assesses how crosstalk between insulin-secreting beta and somatostatin-secreting delta cells in the islet actually happens, in near real-time. A quick thread 1/10

Yeah man they ain’t coming back. This is going to be one of the biggest foreign policy blunders of my lifetime, and it’s entirely possible that some guy at ICE ordered it not having any clue what he was doing. This is why we used to leave foreign affairs to sensitive nerds.

Biking to the pasta Feed of the Davis high school XC team to help feed some of the 150 athletes before their race. Great group of kids and fun event, despite slight delay as one of our bike's chain rattled off due to the terrible condition of the pavement of the once great Davis bike trail network.

This matters a lot more than his tweets.

If your yard stick for success of a society is 'robotaxis' you have completely lost the plot. Not efficient affordable public transit, not universal health care, or a functioning democracy for that matter, no 'robotaxis'. JFC...

Canada’s out-of-control wildfire crisis in six charts. Important new analysis from @nationalobserver.com's @bsaxifrage.bsky.social 👇 www.nationalobserver.com/2025/09/03/a...

We used to have a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in our attic, until we excluded them years ago. A handful keep coming back to feed around the house every summer night. This is from just a few weeks - imagine how many insects they devour to produce this much bat shit!

Of mice and men... 🧪 Work by postdoc Laura Reininger in collaboration with @huisinglab.bsky.social and Michelle Kimple. Differences in the regulation of insulin secretion by FFAR4 between mouse and human islets. @crchum.bsky.social @umontreal-en.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Today's garden bounty ;-)

Spouse picked up groceries for the week on the way back from dropping kid #2 off for a play date. #cargobike

Calling all scientists and science supporters! You have a crucial role to play in countering the authoritarian threat we currently face in this country. Learn more about how you can stand up for the facts and truth that are essential for a free and democratic society. blog.ucs.org/gretchen-gol...

As we are apparently at war with wind, a picture from a few years back of an 86-turbine near-shore wind farm in the Netherlands, 3 miles from nearest shore (=barely visible), generating enough cheap, renewable energy to power half a million households (out of 8.4 M total).

Scoop: The Trump administration is now pushing for national mandatory land use restrictions on all wind projects — including those on private land — by claiming they present a risk to critical communications infrastructure.

The anti-science Trumpers may be planning to destroy two working satellites that provide vital measurements about carbon dioxide & climate (and data that forecasts crop yield, drought conditions, & more). They cost $750 million to make but only $15 million/yr to operate. www.npr.org/2025/08/04/n...

Important details from this story: 1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025... 2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal." 3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.

Why can't CA do as NY just did and ban fossil gas in new buildings. I electrified in a retrofit and my energy bills went down, plus it is more comfortable, pleasant and healthy to breathe indoor. We can and should build quickly AND energy efficiently. We should be ditching FFs at every opportunity.

A hugely important verdict. The victims were pedestrians, so Tesla can't argue they knew/accepted Autopilot's risks. People walking, biking, and inside other cars didn't consent to be Elon Musk's guinea pigs.

If you are a scientist who agrees that this abject denial of settled science by limiting the EPA's ability to regulate GHGs is terrifyingly shortsighted, economically absurd and NOT in the best interest of the American public, consider signing in support of climate science and public health.

On July 23, the International Court of Justice issued a historic advisory opinion on states’ legal duties to address climate change. Though not binding, it carries global weight and could influence law, policy, and climate justice efforts for years to come. Here’s why it matters:

Grabbed a beer after work with colleagues last night. Both of these vehicles transported one person to - and from - my neighborhood brewery.

Overflow crowd at UC Davis listened to Congressman Thompson (CA-4) who pledged his unwaivering support for federally funded science. Heard from so many who are deeply impacted by federal cuts to scientific funding. Grateful to congressman Thompson attending and representing @ucdavis.bsky.social

Motherfucking wind farms…

By entirely funding more awards up front, the NIH is on track to fund just 1 in 25 applications Such a payline “would chase a lot of people out of science” former NCI director Ned Sharpless told us 🧪🔬 www.statnews.com/2025/07/29/n...

Want to know what the ICJ climate ruling means? Here's an explainer from @rishpardikar.bsky.social & @amywestervelt.bsky.social and a deep dive from @roycerk2.bsky.social in Australia: - drilled.media/news/ijc-1 - drilled.media/news/icj-2

I have had my electric cargo bike (e-assist) for one full year! 🎉🚲🍾I biked 2590 miles across 1285 trips. This works out to just over 2 miles per trip. These things are so much FUN to ride, plus they are tremendously efficient compared to cars and saved me hundreds of 💵Here's what I learned: 1/9

~40% of research funding could be slashed. Labs dismantled. Scientists silenced. Experts warn this will hobble public health, medical innovation, and America’s global leadership Support the brave #NIH employees that spoke out in the #BethesdaDeclaration here: zurl.co/pKveJ zurl.co/1navO

"...the risk of being murdered underground is... orders of magnitude less than the risk of dying from a traffic accident elsewhere in the US. Cars are deadly, and any transportation policy that encourages their use over public transportation is pretty much by definition anti-safety."

Had to take a work trip to Santa Cruz so took a small @ucdavis.bsky.social fleet vehicle instead of my own much larger car. Super smooth ride, took only half a charge and convenient charging at the hotel means it's already charged for the way home.

Terrible Friday news dump.The wealth of expertise. The decades of scientific progress. The emerging and urgent challenges we were focused on tackling. It is all so short-sided and cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...

Well tonight’s Friday government news dump is horribly depressing- EPA to eliminate their entire research branch (ORD). I’ve been on ORD’s science advisory board the last few years and they do amazing work across climate, air, water and other issue. This sucks www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...

The freedom to drive electric...

“It wasn’t until public planning began to prioritize cars that children lost not only areas to play but also the freedom to get to places on their own. Tellingly, the share of K–8 students walking or biking to school fell from 48 percent in 1969 to just 13 percent in 2009…”

The new Senate bill doesn’t just gut renewables. It includes massive giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. It exempts oil and gas drillers from paying corporate taxes. It gives coal companies a tax credit for burning more coal. It uses your tax dollars to subsidize climate destruction.

Republicans are now suddenly planning to TAX renewable energy, transforming the repeal of the IRA from a challenge to a full-blown crisis for American solar and wind. I spent the last 24 hours putting this story together to explain why. Please share! This is really important!!! @heatmap.news

Returning from Dresden by Deutsche Bahn with the family after a seminar at the great @plid-info.bsky.social and some sightseeing to get our culture fix in. Dresden got its public transit right. Trams and buses were affordable, on time, easy to navigate and well-used. Made it easy to explore.

Cutting NIH or NSF funding sounds abstract. Seeing what research is actually being cut makes it real. Kudos to @nytimes.com for this piece: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Misplaced Trust. Stolen Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system. Climate change is its legacy. grist.org/project/equi... #Universities #Indigenous #FossilFuel #Climate

How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)

Lemme explain what bilateral trade deficits are, so that you can better understand -- and perhaps be infuriated by -- the intellectual error that's transforming our economy. #TeachEcon

Grateful to congressional staffers from Senators @padilla.senate.gov @schiff.senate.gov and Congressmen @mikethompson.house.gov @repgaramendi.bsky.social @bera.house.gov who stopped by to learn how research led by my graduate students @ucdavis.bsky.social reveals how diabetes drugs can be improved.

Earlier this week I biked with 80 Davis elementary school kids to the local independent movie theater to treat them to a free special showing of 'My Neighbor Totoro'. Most kids had never biked the 2.5 miles or so to their own downtown, in Davis. Now they have ;-) Such a blast!!

82% more likely to kill a child than a standard car if involved in a collision. Yet 60% of new car sales are these monster vehicles. With this collective car brain it’s not surprise the UK is at the bottom of the league for child wellbeing & teenage happiness. www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...

This is a wonderful initiative to highlight the the great return on federal investment in research at @ucdavis.bsky.social. Wonderful see my colleague @doctheagrif.bsky.social featured, she is awesome. There are about 2 dozen short highlights, including one from my lab. Find them all here:

Just passed one full year in our fully electrified home. No more burning fossil gas in the house from our loud smelly furnace, and using 45% less energy at 42% less cost than similar homes. And the new heat pumps are quiet.... Not bad for a house older than I am...

To fast-track recovery after wildfires ravaged Los Angeles County in January, Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order exempting replacement structures from the city's all-electric building requirement. A new report argues that’s the wrong approach:

This is an outrageous policy change. Also, if you’re gonna do this then you gotta do it for drivers, too right? Given those are obviously far far more dangerous vehicles. nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/05/02/p...

We had our annual Undergraduate Research Conference this weekend @ucdavis.bsky.social , where five of my students presented their excellent work. Each was mentored directly by one of my graduate students. We had in excess of 1000 student researchers present! So much fun !!!

Made comments to kick off the Davis General Plan update along with 30 odd other City Commissioners to emphasize that we need to center transportation around people, not cars. The next day someone called in to City Hall to leave a comment that started with "I loved what the Dutch man said" ;-)