I'm hiring a postdoc to lead sedimentary aDNA reconstructions of alpine plant biodiversity as part of a broader project exploring the mechanisms of alpine plant resilience. Come join a collaborative team working in beautiful places! Bonus: postdocs at UMaine are unionized!

In his monthly message in the city newsletter the mayor of this small Utah town wrote about mutual aid and community. I hadn’t seen that language used in a cultural space like this before. Given that the rapid growth and influx of white flight MAGA types from other states, this is a welcome change…

IT’S A TRAP!

I keep hearing “national security” and the “ai war with China” as justification for data centers and things like mining just outside of the boundary waters, but none of these folks care to explain how any of that is true and it sure seems like a scam. utahnewsdispatch.com/2026/05/01/b...

The attack on education in the US is not new, but the slow fuse that arguably started with Reagan is now setting off detonations across K-12 and higher education that are going to be incredibly difficult to walk back if we don’t treat this like the urgent crisis it is.

This video shows how seismic waves from the M7.4 earthquake in Japan were detected across North America and Europe. These ground motion visualizations are created by the @earthscope.org

Based on the student responses to end of month check in reflections I assign (points for completion), the students freely admitting to using AI as a tool to help them study are getting the least out of it. So far it’s been a tar pit for the most vulnerable students. arstechnica.com/science/2026...

Wanna move to Utah? Love being out in the field? The Utah Geological Survey his hiring a Project Geologist for a position focused on work mineral resource projects in Utah! utdgohcm.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... Please apply if you're interested! Unfortunately only US citizens or legal residents

Canvas access is down with a multi factor authentication error.Wonder if it’s just our system or larger. Will be a mess for many of it’s not just a weekend maintenance issue. This sort of thing is why I am not all in on cloud stuff. #education

Fieldwork Friday…student is working on a Chinle stratigraphy project. We dug up some mudstones with slickenlines, thought I’d share.

It’s Friday and it might hit mid 80s F at 6000 ft elevation today. I’m going to wear shorts to work.

Been wondering about the bathymetry of the gulf that’s in the news. Apparently it plays an important role in recent goings on with various narrow waterways. It is, geologically speaking, very shallow. www.researchgate.net/figure/Locat...

Not enjoying my sinuses at capacity due to spring snot runoff from distressingly early seasonal allergies. Pollen counts are purportedly low and the AQI ok, but the valley is dusty AF today (not windy) and, well, all the sneezing.

Well, Mojave Ntl Preserve is beautiful but now we’re in Vegas because the dog woke up in the middle of the night with super puffy lips and an obvious allergic reaction to something. Not sure what. Swelling was down with just one Benadryl by the time we got to the vet, but now she’s on the good stuff

Pulled this snail fossil out of the pea gravel in my backyard today. Looks like some of the relatively common Cretaceous snails around here. ⚒️ #geology #fossil

I have said this before, but eliminating programs that teach a lot of students but don’t have many majors is like a restaurant not buying flour in its grocery delivery because people aren’t ordering flour on the menu.

Local city spent a lot of money on potential culinary water wells…and the contractors targeted normally-faulted Mesozoic strata that are very gypsum rich. AKAIK the only folks directly consulted were the ones making money on this (not state employees)… www.cedarcityutah.com/news/highly-...

Made a couple geology-themed mugs in a pottery class this month. ⚒️

"The Trump Administration has begun the great public lands sell off in earnest." Interior to Sell Off Millions of Acres of Public Lands in Alaska open.substack.com/pub/morethan...

Interesting! arstechnica.com/science/2026...

Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone’

Concerned about ICE's $45 billion plan to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers? This is what they'll look like inside. From ICE's plan for the Social Circle, GA facility. Each little dot: a person. www.socialcirclega.gov/home/showpub...

If the McCaskeys are considering an Indiana stadium but not intending to sell the Bears they are banking on Ben and Caleb really hard, because their ticket buying fan base is definitely not in that direction/Kevin Warren and the McCaskeys don’t know about GIS: proximityone.com/metros/cbsa1...

You can tell how entitled someone is by how they commute in snowy conditions. The number of people who know a storm is coming but wake up expecting to operate on the same schedule as usual is baffling.

i think lots of people underestimate how badly these “AI” companies want people to be unable to afford computers. they view personal computing as a roadblock to their desire for complete end-to-end centralization. the fact that their tech is putting hardware out of reach is not just a happy accident

It’s exceptionally clear and crisp right now, but the intensity of wind has picked up and it’s from the south, which is somewhat weird for here. There do appear to be some clouds encroaching from the SW, so hopefully that much needed moisture is on the way.

Wrote an OP-Ed about the lack of outdoor dining in SLC. I was able to quantify that SLC has a great number of days throughout the year when eating outdoors would be ideal - why doesn't our built environment reflect that? (written on personal time) buildingsaltlake.com/slc-is-ideal...

A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:

I don't post enough about the other central pillar of my politics, aside from anti fascism: being anti car cars are bad in almost every way, especially in cities if you go to even large, bustling cities that are actually dense, they are quieter than US cities because you can get away from cars

If you know any #geology #geosciences #earthsciences undergraduates looking for an affordable field course this summer, we still have several spots available at Southern Utah University: www.suu.edu/geosciences/...

The front page of tomorrow's Minnesota Star Tribune: Feb. 1, 2026

Infections are primarily among unvaccinated. files.epi.utah.gov/Utah%20measl...

New at Can We Still Govern: Here is one thing I wish more people understood about government. There is a lot of rent-seeking by private vendors in our social safety net. Trump's policies will make this worse. @lukef.bsky.social breaks it down. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-means-...

I'm calling bullshit on the media narrative that Trump is "pivoting" and "deescalating" on his ICE raids. The threshold is this: As long as the military occupations and the treatment of US cities as enemy territory continue, there's no pivot. ICE out. 1/ (New piece) newrepublic.com/article/2057...

The Trump regime got rid of 10,109 PhDs in science and related fields, representing 14% of the total number of PhD scientists in the federal workforce.

Worth noting that one reason you’re benefitting so fully from the Star-Tribune’s timely, extensive coverage of unfolding events is that it’s a metro newspaper that hasn’t been systematically starved to further enrich shareholders and executives.

"They say they're coming to save us from some evil? They're talking about our neighbors who take care of us ... Alex was murdered while he was helping. Mr Rogers said look for the helpers, & right now the helpers have a target on our forehead ... Mr Rogers would be here right now too, so I'm here."

Best part of staying late at the office in the winter is the gathering of the ravens at dusk.

This kid and his father entered via CBP One app. It's just absurd and monumentally unfair for people who availed themselves of lawful channels when they existed by following government processes to suddenly get detained and deported to a third country. newrepublic.com/article/2056...

St George has a solution to its awful traffic and thirst for HOAs: more unaffordable housing, more traffic, and less nature. At least the collision cam guys will get more great videos. www.cedarcityutah.com/news/opposin...

🔥🔥🔥 December 2025 temperature ranking (since 1895). A lot of the West had their warmest December on record and nearly everywhere out west had a top 5 warmest December. 🫠

I’ve started recording original songs. Figured it was about time, no sense waiting until I actually got good at singing: youtu.be/7Z630QzGkNo?...

Some GTA type police chase going down in my neighborhood. Cops are chasing someone in loops around the blocks.

Look, I think PI on under thrown passes is one of the worst calls in football…but I never thought tackling the receiver was a valid option to prevent it.

Matt LaFleur has an absolutely abysmal beard:coaching talent ratio. This is regretfully complimentary.

Time to get your public comments in on the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule that would strip protections for countless wetlands and streams. Trout unlimited has a tool on their page that will automatically send your message to the EPA as well as your representatives: www.tu.org/conservation...

#FossilFriday Late Triassic Chinle Formation coprolite. You can see the spiral pattern in at least one of the images. No wolf hair or credit card fragments…

38°38” N. Video slightly undersells how vivid it is this far south. #AuroraBorealis

Regarding the general vibes of 2025.

More pictures from the Beaver Dam area, far SW Utah. #geology