NSF LTER program “archived”. LTER=“Long Term Ecological Research”. This program has been incredibly successful, incredibly frugal for what they accomplish, and…of course…targeted by evil know-nothings. My heart is breaking.

The onslaught continues. Of course, we are well past the point of irreparable damage to science, nature, people's lives, ethics, and anything else that made the US great. But it still feels like another shot to the stomach. Keep fighting back in whatever way you can. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/c...

Agree 100% . (Ron Fournier longtime AP bureau chief in DC.)

This is an actual post. This is not funny. This is beyond desperate. This is a deeply unwell man who doesn’t belong anywhere near the levers of power. Every member of his cabinet and Congress is complicit in not demanding his removal now.

Pete Hegseth Replaces Top General With Horse That Drinks Beer https://theonion.com/pete-hegseth-replaces-top-general-with-horse-that-drinks-beer/

Back in the day, I bet this comic was taped to a lot of musician’s iceboxes.

The US Department of War Crimes.

Headquarters is leaving Washington D.C. for Salt Lake City. All nine regional offices are closing. More than 50 research facilities across 31 states are being eliminated. The regional system the agency has used since its founding in 1907 is gone.

It’s easy to forget how much land used to be…wet. Like very wet. #Wetlands were the OG way to store/filter #water, while also sustaining #biodiversity & huge #ecosystems. But, like many great things, we killed it. New long-form essay: Killing the Sponge 👇🏞️ tnature.substack.com/p/killing-th...

Run this clip from now through November.

Travel writer Rick Steves on Washington's newly signed "Millionaires Tax"

Look how good the Loggerhead Shrike sculpture turned out!

Hospital Decides Cancer-Sniffing Leopard More Trouble Than It’s Worth https://theonion.com/hospital-decides-cancer-sniffing-leopard-more-trouble-than-its-worth/

Happy to see our antifragility paper published! With @jonaswickman.bsky.social and @chrisklausmeier.bsky.social.

Last night after dinner watch: 1 hour of Claudio Abbado leading Brandenburg Concertos 2, 3, and 6 + 1 hour of Rick and Morty Perfection. youtu.be/VC24gV1o7XQ?...

Westenberg makes a convincing argument that solo operations—in which a human does the creative stuff and uses AI for the essential but boring, quotidian work—will be at the vanguard of innovation. Something for any scientist to consider for her lab group. www.joanwestenberg.com/notes-on-goi...

I’ve spent my working life as a geographical ecologist but a move from the Great Plains to VA has me gobsmacked by the cloudscapes at mid elevation Charlottesville. Any recommendations on getting up to speed as a cloud-ologist?

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller March 29,1948

Charlottesville checking in. #NoKings

Only 23% of government workers believe they “can report a suspected violation of a law, rule, or regulation without experiencing retaliation.” That's way down form the share the prior year (72%) who said they could report suspected illegal activity without fear www.thebulwark.com/p/two-more-g...

Upon the fourth or fifth viewing, I am now of the opinion that Deadwood is the first among equals as the finest drama in the history of television. David Milch created an existential masterpiece in Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter.

good lord www.politico.com/newsletters/...

The key result: suppressing insects with bifenthrin, a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide, suppresses plant diversity. Unfortunately, with this poison there are knock-on effects to the animal's evolutionary sister group: fungi. So if 10 years of insecticide is also killing beneficial fungi...

This is utterly extraordinary. If Hegseth et al got this wrong, think what else is happening with the drug boat strikes and much more. The U.S. Said It Helped Bomb a Drug Camp. It Was a Dairy Farm. Gets worse as you read it. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/03/24/w...

Good gawd, TheAtlantic. Ya think?

The Nebraska Sandhills is the largest continental dune system in the western hemisphere. Big and Little Bluestem and Indian Grass dominate, but disturbance+wind can generate blowouts. It sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer. The water out of that windmill was the best I ever tasted. -Arthur Co, Nebraska

Star Formation xkcd.com/3222/

Early spring is a tough time for insectivores like wrens, warblers, and titmice. The spring flush of insects hasn't yet taken off. And most of the accessible bugs from the winter have already been eaten. Your leaf litter piles are the current and future sources of bird food this month.

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller March 23,1950

"The Justice Department is increasingly telling judges it can’t defend ICE’s actions..." www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Happy to announce new paper with @chrisklausmeier.bsky.social and @elenalitchman.bsky.social in @asn-amnat.bsky.social in their new Inspiring Perspectives category! (1/4) www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. Democrats have introduced 7 bills to fund TSA. Republicans voted them all down. Republicans are to blame for long TSA lines.

Daughter, 15, woke on her spring break in NYC this morning hoping for better weather and was offered only 40-degree weather. "I hate 40-degree days. It's a day that can't decide what it wants to be." I took my phone to You Tube and found the clip. "Check out this scene from an old TV show..."

Markwayne Mullin is an election denier and today he wouldn’t rule out federal officers at polling locations, saying they could be deployed for a “specific threat.” Not new for him. If alarm bells are ringing, you’re paying attention.

Nearly 50% of Earth's land cover and upwards of 70% of Biodiversity Hotspots are extreme environments. Yet many ecological theories fail in these habitats. Here, we explain why and showcase what extreme environments can tell us in a world of new extremes. #Fulbright dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...

This article does not mention Covid even one time, and suggests maybe just all 40 yos have hypertension for no particular reason at all.

💁‍♂️Trump says Iran is very unfairly blocking the Strait of Hormuz because the US has already won the war. “It’s even unfair on their part. We already won! They have no right to keep doing what they’re doing.”

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

PSA: Do not walk across a tropical airstrip in your flip flops.

Santa Catalina Mountains, just north of Tucson. Damn near paradise.

Why not publish your research with a Society Journal? 🧪🌍 The Linnean Society is committed to publishing high-quality and ground-breaking scientific research across the four themes of botany, zoology, biology and evolution, striving to make these accessible & engaging to a global audience. 🧵(1/4)

Just so we're all clear, this is a war crime and would be punishable by life or death under U.S. law.

THIS. Charging for water isn't anti-agriculture. It's a basic guardrail that keeps lowest-common denominator bulk goods, that can be grown just about anywhere, from crowding out more financially rewarding types of farming. That brings MORE MONEY to farms & rural areas.

FACT: only our ALLIES have shot down our fighter planes

Please repost this. The GOP’s search for waste, fraud, and abuse is one of the biggest cons of all.