🚨 Carbon dioxide averaged 432.34 ppm in May 2026. This marks a new record high for the month of May and the annual seasonal peak. 10 years ago May averaged about 408 ppm. This continued rise is driven by human emissions from fossil fuels, with climate change impacts intensifying around the world.

The proposed OMB grant regs definitely warrant the concerns being expressed about the potential politicization of science - but trust me as someone who has managed federal science grant programs, the admin and process changes are very worrying all on their own as well. tinyurl.com/mr24jusr

Happy pride month. In 2024, NASA created a pride flag made of various space imagery. For weeks, it was the most-liked image on Bluesky. Under the Trump administration, NASA was forced to delete it. www.southernfriedscience.com/the-story-of...

On my way to Sweden for BIOGEOMON! Very excited for this conference. Everything was running a little late today, starting with being trapped by the cat while finishing packing

🚨A proposed OMB rule could let political appointees override peer review, cancel grants mid-project, ban certain research topics, restrict publishing, and more🚨 Stand up for science 💪 🧪 Learn more and use our resources to submit a public comment today ⬇️ agu.quorum.us/campaign/163...

Many years in the making, this new synthesis puts a more accurate number on soil organic C and N stocks stored away in Arctic river deltas large and small: Fuchs et al have collected soil data from these deltas and estimate a pool of ~57.7 billion tons of carbon. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I just learned that OMB is required to respond to every comment on the anti-peer-review rule. So that means our comments really matter, at the very least by gumming up the gears. Send your comment today.

"This is not a routine regulatory update...What it actually does is restructure the foundational rules of US science funding—with cascading impact for global collaborators—to serve political priorities rather than the public good." [email protected] Pres. Brandon Jones. fromtheprow.agu.org/a-rule-that-...

Postdoc in Ecohydrology and Forest Resilience We are seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Scholar to work on collaborative research investigating the interplay between bedrock properties and forest resilience in the Rocky Mountains. See announcement: go.ncsu.edu/pdannouncement

every remarkable achievement of the state must be undone to prove the state cannot achieve anything. ( if you don't know the screwworm story, see e.g. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch... )

happy gay sediments month to all who celebrate

To be clear: the lower court said the map intentionally discriminates against black people in violation of the *constitution* (not just the VRA) and the MAGA Majority of SCOTUS is saying "that's ok now."

“The Forest Service’s FY 2027 budget request would eliminate about 800 of the Forest Service’s 1,110 research scientist positions.” federalnewsnetwork.com/reorganizati...

This is a helpful guide! If you haven’t made a comment yet, please do! Even—especially—if you’re not a scientist!

NSF grantmaking update Two weeks ago (5/17) New grants: 1080/3772 — 28.6% of avg. *Obligations: 1.2/2.12 billion — 56.6% of avg. Now (5/31) New grants: 1,355/4,125 — 32.8% of avg. Obligations: 1.50/2.34 billion — 64.1% of avg. Data from grant-witness.us/funding_curv...

Happy World Peatlands Day!! #peatECR #Wetlands

“Five straight years of record heat, sporadic rainfall and divided leadership has Corpus Christi in danger of becoming the first U.S. city to run short of water.” @texastribune.org www.texastribune.org/2026/05/29/t...

This is a cat check point. Relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone

Subhed from the NYT article on CSU adoption of ChatGPT: “California’s public universities spent $16.9 million on A.I. during a financial crisis, and the result has been chaos.” Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/m...

My summary of OMB's proposed Federal Financial Assistance rule was based on 22 years as an NIH Program Official and the damage I saw to science funding would be. I want to widen the lens now: scientists are not the only ones who should be alarmed. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/this-new-o...

America is racing towards willful obsolescence: “the National Science Foundation is removing 900 ocean data collecting buoys that cost $370 million to install. If left in place, the buoys would have continued to provide climate-related data …for another 15 years” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/c...

I'm completely gutted by this news. @raulpachecovega.bsky.social has passed. I never met but we talked so much online. He was so incredibly kind and generous. One of the best of us.

Breaking: Judge Jackson blocks NSF from dismantling NCAR. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72496...

There are no words to describe the joy this brings. A Condor back in Oregon skies. Just a lot of gratitude for all the work from the Yurok Tribe, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's on the Northern California Condor Restoration Program. www.oregonlive.com/environment/...

GLM Lightning Mapper might point to a bolide (fireball) causing that very large boom over southern New England a little while ago.

Calling all Scientists! Research Administrators! Deans! Fans of Science! No one is coming to save us. Here is your assignment. I have written a step by step, easy to understand "how-to" document to help you comment on the proposed OMB rule. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...

Texas A&M spends about 1.5 billion on research in a year, about as much as the nation of Czechia.

Write an op ed urging your Congresspeople to stand up for public science and oppose the OMB's proposed rule changes. An effective letter might cite the ways publicly funded research has benefitted your community; your state university news page can tell you what they've been up to if you're stuck.

If you are a member of a scientific or educational society, please contact them and ask them what they are doing to fight this. They should be releasing statements, calls to action, explainers, talking points, or drafting letters for their members to sign.

Because much of what the OMB is proposing is illegal, Congress needs to know about it. Yes, even the conservative ones you think don't care-- they know how much their states benefit from federal science funding, and I promise you, they do in fact care. Contact them!

🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n

While regulations.gov incorrectly lists this action as "closed for comments", you can submit your comments directly here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM... My response is below, but don't feel that you need to draft anything nearly so long-winded. A short statement will also be very helpful.

If you would like the government to know what you think about their proposal to put federal science funding, communication, and travel under strict political control, you can tell them in the public comment section here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM...

I put off reading this because I knew it would upset me, and I was still unprepared

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.

Wrote a bit about the data center backlash, and why it is Good, Actually. The Data Center Bankshot davekarpf.beehiiv.com/p/the-data-c...

IFYKYK

Excited to expand my Fresh Water Songs Playlist with whatever gets added here! bsky.app/profile/pola...

Important update: This morning NSF removed its internal flags on 3 of the 4 universities (Princeton's remains). We've updated our story to reflect this and the release of the new awards to Harvard and Duke.

The National Science Foundation is terminating and suspending grants again, and at Grant Witness we need you to help to track them! 🧪 We can only identify research being suppressed by under-the-radar suspensions directly from researchers. Please report! grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0... #NSF

The Squamish people of what is now Vancouver were illegally dispossessed of their land 100 years ago. They sued, got the land back, and used their sovereignty to ignore local zoning and build 6,000 new homes over the loud objections of nearby wealthy NIMBYs. Now other tribes are getting in the game.

LATEST DATA | Solar power has overtaken coal power in Texas In the twelve months to March 2026, Texas solar (68.3 TWh) produced more electricity than coal (66.8 TWh). Just five years ago, coal was still more than 7x larger than solar.

please. any other name than blexas

College admissions essays are so often trite and derivative - but when students use AI tools they become more so. This is not surprising! Generating likely strings of words, indepedent of meaning, is what AI tools DO. www.nytimes.com/2026... 1/4

This is about how I feel. I'm gonna hope that Talarico does the thing, but Paxton is a truly vile human being and its bad that he defeated Cornyn

Well, I guess I am going to get my hopes up for my home state after all.

#nsf canceled #geoscience postdocs. That’s nifty. Let’s pretend we aren’t messing up the planet and be super sure to stop training people who can help. eos.org/research-and...

If you're interested in Alaska and Arctic climate monitoring and analysis but not Substack, the Alaska and Arctic Climate newsletter is now on Beehiiv. As always, completely free. Subscribe to receive posts by email or just visit the website: alaska-arctic-climate.beehiiv.com #akwx #Arctic #Climate

This is unbelievable. The AI boom is now piggybacking on green colonialism, eating up any contribution to emissions reduction while causing harm to Indigenous communities. The Yakama Tribe has been fighting this pumped storage project for years, only to learn it would primarily power…a data center.