How do you move 1000 people into a city centre? 1 train, 20 buses or 650 personal vehicles (with a LOT of parking required!) HT @davidloisuned.bsky.social for the Spanish translation of one of my favourite graphics originally from Sydney. #CityMakingMath

Just 2 gun rights advocates sitting behind a wall of bulletproof glass while enjoying a memorial for a gun rights advocate who got murdered by a gun.

A number of countries and even cities within the United States of America have tried this experiment. Believe it or not, Salt Lake City, Utah did this a few years ago, and yes, it cost less money to house the chronically homeless than it did to provide EMS, police, and hospital services. Way less.

The Man From Moscow.

Innovation makes useful things smaller and smaller. Overconsumption makes things bigger and bigger (and more dangerous with bigger costs & consequences). Bigger vehicles and larger homes for fewer people is not progress. HT @fietsprofessor for graphic

“The fundamental civic unit in this nation is neighbor.” - @jelaniya.bsky.social 🇺🇸

We've become so accustomed to lawbreaking that this probably won't ripple much, but it is important not to forget that firing the IRS Commissioner for refusing to break the law--if that's in fact what happened here--would and should prompt immediate articles of impeachment in any other presidency.

@jelaniya.bsky.social What a pleasure to watch Sinners and then read J Cobb’s profile of Ryan Coogler. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Make no mistake, everything that’s happening in the United States is being significantly enabled by the right wing oligarch capture of media. Every other country needs to do everything possible to keep that from happening where they are. Including protecting the CBC from Poilievre here in Canada.

Scenes from the past month inside NYC’s immigration courts. At 26 Federal Plaza and 290 Broadway, detainments happen daily, often out of public view. Families arrive together, but not everyone leaves together.

The Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi) at the University of Chicago is seeking postdoctoral researchers interested in marine carbon dioxide removal to start in a year. 🌊🧪 Annual salary: $90,000/year Research and travel funding: $10,000/year Relation assistance: $3,000

Great work here from @carbonbrief.org , debunking common myths about solar power. The reason that solar power makes so much sense is fundamental physics - it takes energy in its most useful form, as soon as it arrives on Earth, before it's "taxed" in entropy. Making use of it is a slam-dunk win.

This interesting article highlights how #climatechange presents both opportunities and challenges. In Australia, community batteries store solar energy, while grazing under solar panels improves the wool of merino sheep, demonstrating synergies between agriculture and green energy. 1/3 🧪 #science

Outrageous! Early this year, lawyer Steven Cook represented chemical companies suing to block a new rule that would force them to clean up PFAS. Now he’s is in a senior role at the EPA, where he has proposed scrapping that rule, and shifting the cleanup costs onto taxpayers.

Just double checking. RFK Jr is not a medical doctor. Unfit to serve doctorsforamerica.org/statement-re...

Donald Trump's threat to bring the National Guard to Chicago isn't about safety — it's a test of the limits of his power and a trial run for a police state. Illinois has long worked with federal law enforcement to tackle crime, but we won't let a dictator impose his will.

From the Guardian…

The continents are rapidly drying out and the earth’s vast freshwater resources are under threat, according to a recently released study based on 20+ years of NASA satellite data. Here are the report’s key findings and what they portend for humankind.

A lovely listen: overcast.fm/+AA_xcCnvZeo

That got us wondering: How would those governors feel if National Guard troops from other states were ordered onto their streets, perhaps to patrol one of the 53 cities in those states with a higher murder rate than Washington’s? So, we asked them. www.democracydocket.com/analysis/the...

It’s pretty simple: - AI is driving electricity demand up - The Trump Administration is restricting new electricity supply from being built - When demand goes up and supply goes down, you pay more for electricity.

The most impressive thing about this campaign is how *creative* they are. They’re trying new stuff! Multiple times during the last few months I’ve thought “wow, I’ve never seen a campaign do that.” Much more of that needed everywhere.

This week's STEM Professional of the week, BioMechanist Jake Socha, studies how snakes do the unexpected: fly! Here's another unexpected creature story from the NYT about predator and prey hanging out together: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/...

NEW: 1km of Montreal’s Ste-Catherine Street will become permanently “pedestrian only” (less than perfect term since it will be a people-place for a LOT more than walking). 225+ new trees, vegetation-covered pits for rain drainage, more seating, illuminated canopy, financial help for businesses, etc.

I participated in the Decomp Physical Model, which examined how to restore the Everglades as envisioned in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. We had to go through way more planning and assessments for something way less destructive. www.saj.usace.army.mil/Missions/Env...

My latest Math4Science profile emerged from an extra fun interview with poet engineer Richard Blanco: math4science.org/richard-blan... — he was #PresidentBarackObama’s inaugural poet.

Worth a careful listen. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/o...

What if we designed cities, and the land-uses, densities, services and infrastructure that make them what they are, so that daily activity and exercise was just an ordinary, “invisible” part of every day life? It’s actually not that hard. We just have to change our priorities. #HealthyCities

For those of us interested in California coastal ecology, the timing of the coming tsunami is particularly interesting. By this time of year, many of California's estuaries are closed off from the ocean by a sandbar that forms in response to decreased inflows and constructive wave energy:

Thanks for reading this far - this thread is getting some love, so if any rich people see it: please help fund your local neighborhood stream gauges and tide gauges! Without them, we're flying blind. water.usgs.gov/networks/fun...

“We need better cars, & electric cars are part of the solution,” argues @brenttoderian.bsky.social. “But a better energy source for the same # of cars, or even more & bigger cars, won’t get us where we need to be, & can induce more driving & higher emissions if we think those cars are ‘green.’”

The list of names on the review of climate science presented to the US energy secretary reads like a who's who of paid lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry. Because it is.

“Helsinki has not recorded a single traffic fatality in the past 12 months, city and police officials confirmed this week.” City engineer credits lower speed limits and smart design. I agree. #Helsinki #VisionZero

“In New York, Mr. Pucino said, “He should have been arrested the second he stepped out of that car.” Had he been in Nevada, “he would have been legal until the second he opened fire.”” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/n...

Just like ozone is good up there (in the stratosphere) and bad down here (in the troposphere), cats are good in the house and bad out there.

From what’s being reported, it sounds like the EU made a bad trade deal with Trump.* Canada shouldn’t do the same. *The deal is bad for US citizens too. Never forget, the 15% tariffs on EU goods aren’t paid by EU companies or countries. They’re paid by US purchasers to fund tax cuts for the rich.

Wishing we had train systems like those in Europe.

Xenophobia slashing and burning American businesses. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/u...

This is an executive order that lays the groundwork for sending homeless people and people with mental illness to concentration camps to be "civilly committed." It was never going to stop with immigrants. This is horrifying beyond words. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

This Vienna street isn’t “closed” because cars have been removed. It’s been opened to everything else, to a diverse and invigorated civic life for people, because cars have been replaced by a multitude of wonderful things. Language matters. HT @dmoser.bsky.social for the pic. #OpenStreets

I’ve got to admit, I love this cartoon but I also find the woman whose head goes round 180 degrees really disturbing.

I’m in Venice now (will be heading to Milan later) Venice may be the most famous zero-car place in the world. Even still, they do have a public transit system. Of boats, instead of buses

We need apex predators. Sometimes … dogs can help : ) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...

Congress voted this disaster in. Who will fix it? www.nytimes.com/2025/07/12/u...

“Both he and his wife supported Trump’s campaign promise to launch the largest deportation program for criminals in U.S. history, he said.”

“at both offices, the vacancy rate is roughly double what it was when Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January, according to Mr. Fahy” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/u...