Fantastic piece by @dereklowe.bsky.social. Feeds into an ongoing debate among scientists: is it possible to dedicate yourself to finding the truth about the real world, and not vocally oppose an administration that constantly undermines the truth? Is doing so political, or just being a scientist?

For all of The NY Times' flaws - and I give it a lot of grief for them - there is no way they would have run this story if they didn't have multiple sources confirming that this even happened.

If a secdef violating the 14th amendment rights of US servicemembers by denying promotions based on race isn’t impeachable then I don’t see what is. The man would rather the military be racist than effective.

While on this topic... This is identity politics. They do this not for any policy reason, but because they feel their voters' identities are tied up in a combination of a continued use of fossil fuels and making environmentalists angry.

Shot, chaser

It's interesting that in the lead up to the last No Kings, Republicans kept reiterating talking points about it being a bunch of "Hamas lovers" and "America haters." This time: nothing. It's not because they are worried their talking points made them look ridiculous...

My resignation letter

How do you end up in the position that Nordhaus is in while only being so dimly aware of reality?

If there's anything that gives me a bit of hope for the US public, it's how often this 3 step plays out: Degrade trust in institutions. Take them over, promising to restore trust. Fail because nearly everybody who actually cared can see through the bullshit.

First data from 2026 on US generation. Power use in January down a tiny bit from 2025. Hydro is up 30%(!) probably due to the warm winter out west melting snowpack early, which means bad things for summer. For now, it's pushed both coal and gas down. Solar is up 16%.

This is the third WTF headline I've seen in two days, after the freak pickleball accident and the quad amputee killer/cornhole pro. It's like the rest of the world looked at US politics and had a "hold my beer" moment.

I just resigned from NASA. It breaks my heart to leave, but I’ve become convinced the best path forward is to do the best science I can, and that can’t be here anymore. I’m still in love with the promise of those four magic letters. Ad astra per aspera, and remember: Earth is the only good planet.

It's nice that the rest of the US will now get a sense of what it has been like having the National Guard deployed in DC.

Another day, another Department of Energy press release bragging about how they're forcing obsolete coal plants to stay open.

The chances of this guy publicly reflecting on his enormous error of judgement are near zero, and the odds of facing any professional consequences for it even less.

Given the past behavior of ICE, I'm interpreting "security like no one has ever seen before" as a threat.

It is quite telling that since the horrific story of Cesar Chavez re: sexual abuse broke earlier this week and calls to change the names of schools and other public spaces named in his honor, not one conservative voice has stepped forward to object that this would be tantamount to erasing history.

To cover the energy economics of renewables in Spain, the Times assigned their Spanish culture and politics reporter. That is editorial malpractice.

Ridley and Bhattacharya are basically saying we'll restore public trust in science by taking a "debate me bro!" approach to controversial topics. It's like they've been living in some other society for the past few decades.

Ugh, as if the NIH's "scientific freedom lecture" weren't bad enough, you've got to use Teams to view it.

I like that this includes a "WTF is up with the Adirondacks?"

Can we pass a law where all the people who say dumb shit about life in NYC are required to live there for five years? Preferably in an immigrant-heavy neighborhood in Queens.

Ukraine told us this several years ago. The military should have been on a crash course to adjust to the lessons there. If they weren't, then wtf were they doing? (Ukraine has used counter-drones, German-made radar-guided guns, helicopter gunships, and more, so lots of potential lessons).

As a regular user of bike lanes, some thoughts on things a lot of places seem to be getting wrong when they put them in: 1) Physically separated bike lanes are great! But they also accumulate all the gunk—gravel, broken glass, tree limbs, etc—that traffic normally clears off roads.

Good.

Nothing will get your PR email marked as spam more quickly than the appearance of the phrase "just completed a seed round."

With the world being what it is right now, it's worth taking a few minutes to enjoy two people being decent to each other even though they don't know one another at all.

This exhibit feels like an epic troll, given that the Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto.

Is he trying to say that lack of ID is a form of contraception?

Perhaps the least surprising announcement of all time.

Oh, man, we need one of these by me.

I missed this when it came out, but dumping on Charles Murray and anyone who supports him or trolls their fellow students by inviting him to speak on campus is a bit of a pastime of mine. He's a racist, has tried (and failed) to give his racism an intellectual veneer to make himself feel better...

Rattlesnakes are the best kind of venomous snakes, in that they will let you know in a way that's hard to miss where they are and that they're uncomfortable with how close you're getting.

I think recent history has shown that, if this administration is involved, the word "plan" should always be placed in scare quotes.

A couple of times a month, The Atlantic's PR group sends out an offer to let me interview someone about the reporting they've done for a story it has published. I'm growing increasingly tempted to send back offers for them to talk to me about some of mine.

Makes it pretty clear that they're calling for their political supporters to create propaganda outlets for them. Hungary here we come!

Folks in Maine and Alaska: please call Collins and Murkowski to oppose the confirmation of Casey Means for Surgeon General. They are apparently still on the fence and MAHA is pushing them hard to vote in favor.

The thing that leaps out at me about these testimonies more generally is how often these kids get tripped up by some really basic questioning. Kid: well, there's this other plausible justification for what we did. Lawyer: did you actually do any of that? Kid: LOL, no of course not.

Pretty clear that this guy was largely motivated by anti-LGBTQ animus.

You require more activity to maintain the same level of fitness. At the same time, life conspires to make it harder to be active through basic daily activities. Put differently, when you need to be out walking around more, life hands you a desk job.

Active wind farms from 30,000 feet look pretty cool.

The jokes write themselves. arstechnica.com/science/2026...

For anyone in the US thinking "well, that's Asia", let me run down a few things: This demand will raise prices for natural gas anywhere it can be exported, and that includes the US. That means consumers will pay more for electricity, and potentially heat and hot water. (1/2)

I love how inquiries to the journal at issue here are directed to a gmail address.

...i am genuinely curious about how MIT feels about a clarinet instructor using his MIT affiliation to give bullshit science a veneer of institutional authenticity. are there rules about this? can any university scientists enlighten me?

With journalism contracting on so many fronts, it's a relief to know that outlets can still reserve high paying spots for people with thinking challenges.

Is he really this stupid, or is this a pure cynicism play on his part?

I realize Kennedy is likely to be replaced an even more problematic lunatic, but I still won't miss him when he's gone.

Great writeup by Carl on how studying viruses in a lab creates an evolutionary signature that we can detect even after they spread widely in humans.