In other words: there's growing evidence not only that precipitation extremes will increase (in general) due to climate change--but also that the most intense, rarest, & most dangerous rain events will increase faster than more "moderate" extremes. That's...not great!

The “mineral moon” from last night (10 April 2025) @davidbflower.bsky.social

We've greatly underestimated the role of the gut microbiome in fatty liver disease (MASLD). This open-access outstanding review @jclinical-invest.bsky.social is illuminating www.jci.org/articles/vie...

Furious.

This morning's Partial Solar Eclipse. 1049UT 29 March 2025. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour

And while mistakes were surely made in the science advice, it is far too simplistic to say "the scientific advisers got it wrong". Yes, there needs to be independent evaluation, but also consideration of how the advice was itself politically constrained and indeed compromised.

Barnard is my once cherished alma mater. I had no idea that Columbia invested 30% of its $13.4 billion endowment in hedge funds which tend to be predatory and hurt acreage investors. Plus I’m Jewish and appalled at how Jewish students were treated. www.ai-cio.com/news/columbi...

Seed banks are a resource for the world, and some of the great food heroes have saved them during times of war and famine. It might be time for heroism like that again. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/o...

being an indie bookseller in the helltimes has felt both very stable and very stabilizing, and part of me wishes everyone could be on my side of the counter for a little while, because I think it would help some of you be a little less cynical and doomy right now. so here is my VERY anecdotal data:

The National Weather Service is facing significant staffing cuts and has temporarily reduced weather balloon launches at several sites. These balloons are a key tool used by meteorologists to gather data for weather forecast models.

🚨in our new paper we ran an experiment at Procter and Gamble with 776 experienced professionals solving real business problems. We found that individuals randomly assiged to use AI did as well as teams of two people & were happier. It also erased skill silos. www.oneusefulthing.org/p/the-cybern...

A professor of environmental sciences gives a quick punchy take on the "eye-popping" numbers re. how clean air promotes economic growth. An EPA analysis of 20 years of the Clean Air Act (1970-90) found the economic benefits of the regulations were about 42X greater than the costs. No pay wall.

🌌 Is intelligent life away from Earth rare? Maybe not A study challenges the 'hard-steps' model, which assumes human-like intelligence is v. unlikely Instead, evolution may have followed environmental openings, suggesting intelligent life is common. 🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #SciComm 🧪 🔭

Brian Gibbs had no clue Friday would be his last day at his dream job. The education technician park ranger at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa reported to work, only to be terminated on despite receiving an exceptional performance evaluation in the fall.

It’s been like this for as long as I can remember, because people are very uncomfortable around the chronically ill. They don’t want to think about the fact that there are conditions that will ruin your quality of life but not kill you /6

Wow. So not only were several bird flu studies left out of today’s CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, some data on bird flu briefly appeared in the online report and then was quickly removed.

Pandemics do not begin with official announcements. They start with quiet deletions, missing reports, and assurances that there is "no cause for concern." Pay attention.

Today @thesicktimes.bsky.social: Great explainer from @jillneimark.bsky.social about improving air quality in indoor spaces! thesicktimes.org/2024/12/24/i...

I was unexpectedly laid off from @motherjones.com on Friday the 13th. I’ve been deprived of direct access to my Google Drive, which contains seven years worth of work. I am also ineligible for unemployment. This is a terrible Christmas for me and my family. If you have leads for work, pls lmk.

ProPublica has been the only “large” media organization consistently covering the many crimes and other cartoonishly evil practices of private health insurance companies. If you haven’t previously reevaluated which sources of media you choose to consume, it might be worth looking into

COVID-19 linked to more heart complications than flu, RSV www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/cov...

UnitedHealth recently helped kill single-payer health care legislation in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom backed off his previous support of the idea -- after he & Dems received huge money from UnitedHealth donors. https://buff.ly/3ZPLOPu

A major push is underway to revive the American nuclear industry, promising huge amounts of energy without carbon emissions that warm the planet. But South Texas landowners living near recently revived uranium mines fear for their groundwater.

🌫️ PM2.5 exposure: overwhelming evidence of harm. A new @science.org #OpenAccess study shows fine particulate matter disrupts immune systems & epigenetics in pregnancy, endangering maternal & neonatal health. When will we stop this invisible killer? 🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scia... 🧪 #SciComm 🛟

Great starter pack

Yum

"Regular exercise can delay dementia onset by 18 months." Regular exercise is so useful for maintaining cognitive function that it can even help people who are genetically more predisposed to dementia to reduce their risk by up to 35%. 🧪🧠🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ #neuroskyence www.theguardian.com/society/2024...