If only a paper with well placed sources in the national security agencies, such as The Washington Post, could look into this. Oh well, never mind.

There are plenty of things to criticize about the idea of datacenters in space, but it would be nice if more of the criticism were actually informed. These would be nothing like earth-bound datacenters.

WTAF?

The text of this announcement is astonishing. "All these segments of the US public valued this service, and it boosted our international reputation. We're now closing it." They just left off the "LOL!"

This is the sort of thing Voice of America could be doing if it weren't in the process of being killed off by the administration.

Just thinking about how, when I was a kid, if someone said "I'm going to sell you a device that gives you free electricity, and charge you less than it'll cost you more to hire someone to stick it on the roof," we would have all thought it was a too-good-to-be-true scam.

Florida woman has to crime twice as hard to get the same attention that Florida man receives.

Also, i realize i tend to post negative things, so here is a photo of a Christmas cactus i inherited indirectly from my great grandmother. It’s 100+ years old, and still blooming up a storm.

From the Ars comments, probably the best summary I’ve seen of the Harvard-Trump fight.

ICE recruitment team undoubtedly reaching out to someone who is clearly their kind of guy.

We had an excessive public debate about cancel culture on campus, when the dynamics could be much more clearly understood through the lens of different sides trolling and taking the bait.

Next time someone asks you about energy and land use, maybe remind them that the ~35 million acres that currently grow corn for ethanol in the US could produce ~15 PWh per year of electricity from solar photovoltaics. That's ~3.5 times more than *total annual generation from all US power plants*.

Anyone taking odds on whether the financing is going to come from the account they're dumping the Venezuelan oil sales into?

This is an interesting point (to me, anyway). I'd tweak the language to "that is perceived to protect", and highlight the difference between writing in a way that seeks refuge and writing in a way that anticipates and addresses.

Tell me five classes you took in college. The Direction of Time Introduction to Buddhism Physical Chemistry Calculus IV Biology and Society Despite being a biochemistry major, I accidentally skipped intro to biology.

Anybody with a PACER login want to help a guy out? ecf.mad.uscourts.gov/doc1/0951134...

Bhattacharya says many answers on COVID came out of other countries, presents that as a problem, but does not mention that national health systems in those countries enabled that.

Head of the NCI is presently trying to avoid saying there's no possible reason to think ivermectin might make a good cancer treatment in response to a question.

One positive: the NIH people here keep mentioning the value of vaccines for things like cancer prevention and the promising results of blocking dementia, even though this is a MAHA event.

I'm at the Willard Hotel where I've been denied entry and kicked out of the Reclaiming Science event with NIH director Bhattacharya & other top agency leaders. @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social and I registered for the event months ago yet were told capacity was full, even as they let in dozens of others.

Apparently, RFK's VP running mate has convinced Walter Kirn of Up in the Air fame to write a movie script about the pandemic - he's apparently making a fictionalized account where Bhattacharya is the hero, COVID wasn't a serious threat, and ivermectin worked.

Bhattacharya: "None of these changes are politically motivated - if a future political leader decides to change them, then god help them."

Asked about funding cuts, Bhattacharya responds with "what funding cuts?"

Bhattacharya: "let competition decide the right indirect cost rate" - if Oklahoma can outcompete on cost, let's fund more there.

Bhattacharya just claimed "there haven't been funding cuts" - tries to reframe them as changes of priorities.

Key theme here: everybody is still angry about the pandemic control measures.

I'm off to an event with most of the senior NIH leadership hosted by the "MAHA Institute". I expect very odd things. If you're a fellow member of the press also attending, say hi.

Get in, dorks. We're ready for round two. RALLY TO TAKE BACK SCIENCE! 🔬🧪✊ March 7th, 2026 in Washington, DC Learn more at www.standupforscience.net/ma... (link in our bio.)

Worth reading the article — these guys can't even fake a classified reason to block offshore wind well. Judge notes the government claims that operational turbines are the problem, but is blocking construction while letting existing turbines operate.

Academics have a habit of viewing the weirdos and contrarians among their ranks as harmless eccentrics. But horrible ideas coupled to the prestige of a faculty position can do real damage.

I only recognize two names on this list, and one of those is because she's a physicist. Who are these people?

NCAR represents what is possible when a nation chooses to invest in science as a public good, writes @carlonimbus.bsky.social of @ucs.org. #SaveNCAR eos.org/opinions/wha...

I actually think these two items are the same phenomenon. The radicalization of the GOP means that accountability no longer happens, regardless of the information the GOP base is exposed to. Journalists keep trying but LOL, nothing matters.

Am I actually watching someone from the Whitehouse press using their own statements against them?

Very odd moment in this article about people using improperly obtained genetic data to advance their eugenic agenda, where the reporter acknowledges that one of those people was the Times' source for its improperly obtained Mamdani material. Internal tensions at the Times? Random snark?

Did they stop teaching the Boston Tea Party since I went through or something?

It's easy to look at this and say "this is not a science issue." But doing so concedes to these lunatics that things like facts and evidence don't matter, and they will continue to apply that to science & everything else. The denial of reality is the same whether it's vaccines, climate, or murder.

Attention folks in the weather, climate, disaster, wildfire, and Earth science communities: NSF has just published a new "Dear Colleague" letter inviting feedback (by Mar 13) on the proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). www.nsf.gov/funding/...

Four days later, and Google News shows there's still no coverage from major outlets like the NYT or WaPo.

/6 ICE is a monument to totalitarianism, lawlessness, and bigotry. It should be ripped out and woodchippered root and branch and replaced with something focused on the concept that you can’t defend the rule of law by burning it down.

I love the "the numbers are uncertain, so we're just gonna use zero" justification, as if they didn't have an entire agency available that specializes in figuring out these numbers. Or as if the concept of uncertainty ranges didn't exist.

If you search Getty Images of renewable power, you'll find it's difficult to not end up with picture after picture from China.

This man needs psychiatric care - his grip on reality is so tenuous.

Remember, they prepared for this by dehumanizing the local Somali population first. This is planned.

This is a blatant lie, and she does it instinctually because there have not been any consequences for lying like this in some time.

The response to the events in Minnesota show that the administration is trying to expand Trump's "I never do anything wrong" to the entire government.

NATO Ambassador Whitaker on Greenland: "As the ice recedes and we do have some thawing and passageways open up in the arctic, obviously the approaches to the US in North America are more dangerous." (So global warming isn't a hoax apparently ... )

As the US gears up to speedrun nuclear safety evaluations, we get a good reminder that the greatest danger from nuclear power comes from guys saying "eh, I'm sure it'll be fine."

I wouldn't have been aware of how many people were becoming ungovernable if Interior hadn't felt compelled to set this policy. And I feel better for knowing that.

This is one of those cases where latching on to a strained metaphor causes more confusion than clarity.