Texas A&M’s Melting Point: Five presidents in five years. High-profile firings and cancellations. Crackdowns on dissent. Inside state leaders’ efforts to remake one of our finest institutions. archive.ph/q0wgP

A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.

New Year, New Us. Looks like our new Scientific Ocean Drilling branding is up. You can still find us at our usual spot on @tamu.bsky.social’s West Campus.

🚨POSTDOC JOB ALERT🚨 We have an exciting opportunity for a 2 year postdoc on remote sensing of icebergs and marine terminating glaciers. See the link below for more info! Please spread widely, and feel free to email me with any Q's :) tinyurl.com/2jjcmea9

Speaking of the GCR, if you want to spend a week there to learn about scientific ocean drilling, analytical techniques, work with legacy cores, etc. apply here by Feb 15th, 2026 gcr.tamu.edu/outreach/upc...

A new field of “soilsmology” :)

🌊 Our latest study reconstructs the tropical Indian Ocean during the mid-Pliocene - a past warm world with CO2 similar to today. A reminder that future oceans may reorganise in ways that reshape ecosystems and the carbon cycle. IODP EXP361 cp.copernicus.org/articles/21/...

We invite applications for two graduate students to investigate Antarctic ice sheet instability during past warm interglacials using marine sediments. Please share with students who may be interested to join our group at USF! Contact me for details; deadline 15 Dec. www.usf.edu/marine-scien...

Not under her own power anymore, the vessel that revealed more about our planet than most others, the legendary JOIDES Resolution is being towed to a pre-cleaning yard in Lyngdal, Norway. First pic I've seen of her since stepping off in August 24. Still looking great 🫡💔 www.fvn.no/magasin/i/8q...

New publication!! Featuring some of the most gorgeous rocks I’ve ever cored, tremendous work by an international, interdisciplinary team, and interesting implications for marine CDR. Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41... News & views: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New data alert 🚨📣: Updated Coastline and Rock Outcrop of Antarctica released as part of the @scar-antarctic.bsky.social Antarctic Digital Database. With big improvements to date formats, coastline positions and more accurate rock outcrop! 📍View and download via the map viewer add.scar.org.

The initial SODCO website is now online and will evolve over time. Keep an eye open for Scientific Ocean Drilling events (looking at you @agu.org Annual Meeting) and announcements about proposals, workshops, expeditions, internships, etc… www.sodco.org

I heard it’s headed to Turkey to be scrapped. RIP

🌊In a new study co-led by USF professor @oceanandclimate.bsky.social Patrick Rafter, researchers used forams from the Pliocene to show that warming in the tropical Pacific may not trigger the severe decline in nutrients predicted by earlier models. www.usf.edu/marine-scien...

🚨Looking for a Geoscience Perspective on Climate Change? Exp403 co-chief Kristen St. John and former JRFB chair Larry Krissek just published this OPEN ACCESS book on it! Download it for free below! link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Texas is nearing 100 gigawatts of emission-free power (solar, wind, storage, nuclear). EIA reported yesterday that the US will install 50 gigawatts of solar + storage in 2025, 40% of it in Texas. That & much more in today's Grid Roundup. Link in reply.

#Antarctic sea ice is: ⚙️ a global climate engine ☂️ a cooling sunshade 🌀 a pumphouse for currents 🧊 a vast verandah for life ♻️ one of the largest seasonal cycles on Earth 🌬️ highly sensitive to climate variability 🌊 What happens when there's less sea ice? aapp.shorthandstories.com/a-world-with...

Check out our latest #IODP #Exp379 contribution about the #Antarctic Ice Sheet's history @natcomms.nature.com. Read the full article here: rdcu.be/euikE

Great summary of our recent paper on sea level rise during a past warm period and what it means for our future. Thanks, @climateages.bsky.social , for featuring our work.

😥 www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/n...

😓 These are the folks who provide satellite imagery, maps, and geospatial support to American scientists that operate in polar regions where most satellites don’t reach. FOR DECADES they have done this, supporting critical work. They have helped me many times. This is terrible. #WithoutNSF

Studying the role ocean circulation played in shaping past climate and glacial dynamics, I’m absolutely captivated by this new NASA simulation. Check out the full video here: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/...

Sediment coring: examining a rich and ancient 'layer cake' of #Antarctic climate change New records from the sea floor near the Denman Glacier and Shackleton Ice Shelf offer crucial insights dating back thousands of years, writes Dr Taryn Noble ⬇️ #DMV @utas.edu.au antarctic.org.au/sediment-cor...

Offshore to the west of the Denman Glacier, the Kasten core sediment tubes keep on coming - and this one, retrieved from the seafloor this week, is a keeper #DMV Taryn Noble (@utas.edu.au) leads the research team to examine its many interesting layers ⬇️ 📷: Katharina Hochmuth, Delphine Lannuzel

The first time Sidney Hemming (from @lamontearth.bsky.social) sailed on JOIDES Resolution was in the role of a co-chief scientist. But this is just one part of Sidney’s "big adventure" for IODP Expedition 361. Take a listen at #TalesFromTheDeep in the StoryCorps Archive. 🧪🌊⚒️

These rocks were retrieved from the first dredge, deployed to a water depth of 2700 metres on the steep eastern slope of the Eastern Bruce Rise. Further dredges are planned, including to features that may be extinct underwater volcanoes. @utas.edu.au 📷: Katharina Hochmuth / Delphine Lannuzel

Please note that our labs now also have windows ☀️ It's sad that the JR got retired, but with all the ship's lab equipment here, the GCR has quickly been transformed to a cutting edge core research facility!

Bedmap3 is now out rdcu.be/ecTmO

Standing up for science at Texas A&M #standupforscience

For more detail on my comments about why sea ice decline matters, see the thread I posted on Mastodon a few days ago fediscience.org/@PoLaRobs/11...

Expedition 398 E&O Officer Susan just published a book on the amazing cores we drilled in and around Santorini. It's great for anyone (layperson to expert) who wants to learn about these stunning cores. The best thing of it all? You can download it 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 here: joidesresolution.org/activities/e...

This paper shows that every dollar spent on improving hurricane forecasts pays for itself many times over in reduced damages: www.nber.org/papers/w32548 Cutting funding for weather forecasting does not save money - it costs billions in addition to putting lives at risk

The U.S. passes the torch of scientific dominance to China. Oped by me in the San Antonio Express-News www.expressnews.com/opinion/comm...

"What I found most unexpected was the emotions felt not just by the scientists but by the crew. I was so unaware of the community and relationships that came with being on the JR [...] truly a tight-knit family, were now being pulled apart..." eos.org/opinions/exp...

The National Academies released the Decadal Survey "Forecasting the Ocean" stating: "U.S. investment in ocean science, engineering, and technology is not keeping pace with growing societal needs, even as U.S. competitors are increasing investments in ocean science and advancing their capacities" 1/2

This morning, the US National Science Foundation fired 168 employees, approximately 10% of its workforce, for no cause other than they were the agency's most recent hires. 🧪 Co-workers are leaving supportive messages before they have to clear out of the building at 5 p.m. Sent to me by a source ⬇️