Nicholas Enrich, who worked at USAID under four administrations, talks about his new book, "Into The Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID," and the effect on countries where the agency used to work. Listen: www.wnyc.org/story/behind...

Recently, studies of the material returned from asteroids Bennu and Ryugu suggest an alternate origin of life: on hydrothermally active, radioactive, planetesimals in the outer solar system. Could RNA world have started there and spread to earth? www.facebook.com/share/p/1Cpe...

Apparently U of Alberta has this fossil?! Those of us who have worked on trying to reconstruct North American Dromaeosaurs would have had our jaws drop if we knew there was an articulated mummy of Saurornitholestes!!! I hope that it is OK that I repost these photos that I think I found on X.

Since it’s #WorldPenguinDay we decided to give our buddy Kairuku a walk! This model of the Oligocene giant penguin Kairuku was created by @chalkychicken.bsky.social for our 2023 show Penguins, Past and Present. Kairuku was endemic to New Zealand and over a foot taller than modern emperor penguins.

Kaijubara prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/guil...

Dimethyl sulfide has been cited as a sign of life on the planet K2-18b. But it is not only produced by algae. It ha salso been found on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. www.facebook.com/share/p/19Y3... www.science.org/content/arti...

I find this fascinating. RW Elner investigated what Western Sandpipers were eating on mudflats. The prey were invisible even under a microscope. Ultimately he learned that it was a whole new way of acquiring fatty acids. canadiangeographic.ca/articles/the...

We heard these today! youtu.be/kN4NEEz8mBg?...

The honeybee news is very bad. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... www.facebook.com/share/1CKRUv...

It's not a fungus? Not that a fungus is a thing. open.substack.com/pub/jasonbro...

The last time this rail was identified on Floreana was by Charles Darwin in 1835. After that, it was known to persist on other islands but not Floreana. And it is thought to be nearly flightless! So maybe it was hiding. news.mongabay.com/short-articl... galapagosconservation.org.uk/galapagos-ra...

Indigenous people, such as Nenet, excavated vole burrows, and left gifts to reimburse the voles. "Pallas found that one rodent store in eastern Siberia could hold 3–5 kg of carefully cleaned roots, and in a nest there could be three or four stores." www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Rat birth control was successful in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood, where the rat population fell 99%. Eating poisoned rats is a major cause of death for hawks and owls. Thank you to City Council Member Shaun Abreu shaunabreu.bsky.social for his leadership on this! abcnews.go.com/US/rat-birth...

"This remarkable rediscovery marks the first official record of the bird on the island since Charles Darwin first recorded it during his visit in 1835." 🤯

Today, buy nothing!

If humans disappeared, might we be replaced with six-foot-tall flightless pigeons? Who knows, but it's fun to speculate. My thoughts on the world after us, in this article from Becky Ferreira: defector.com/which-pests-...

I got this book for Xmas. Dr. Daniel Ksepka’s review is excellent, as always. academic.oup.com/auk/article/...

This thing really is impressive. And the scuttlebutt is that our exhibiting it corresponds with the biggest increase in attendance we’ve had in four years! www.amnh.org/exhibitions/...

Did you like MESOZOIC ART, the massive, state-of-the-art #palaeoart volume edited by @sharkbitesteve.bsky.social and I, published by @chiffchat.bsky.social? If yes, so you'll be thrilled to know that MESOZOIC ART II is hitting shelves later this year. Stay tuned :) www.bloomsbury.com/uk/mesozoic-...

This one was very inspiring to me. Such a good idea. And people loved it!

COMING SOON... A symbol of human folly and the necessity of conservation, the great auk is one of the great icons of extinction. Join Tim Birkhead as he reveals previously unimagined aspects of the bird's life and also, unexpectedly, its afterlife. Out 13th March 🌊

Discover the astonishing story of the life, death and afterlife of the forgotten seabird, the Great Auk. Out 13th March.

I am reading this now. Let’s see how the pros do it.

Another snow shadow by @sirinthada.bsky.social ! The sunlight caused the tin dusting of snow to turn directly into water vapor. But in the shadows, the snow persisted.

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general. If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.

Why are we destroying our own government? That is what enemies try to do. www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/c...

I think this is a pretty scary sign of dementia. The Palestinians will not be removed. That was kind of what the last 75 years have been about. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

I just read that, in the 19th century, hunters used to go to Brooklyn to shoot “high holders.” A bird with several names, the Northern Flicker! They tasted strong, from the formic acid in the ants they feed on.

DEI that

Rodrigues solitaire skeletons, female and male. Who knows if either successfully reproduced before death or not? Either way, the game they played is long over. Extinction has made them and every other Pezophaps solitaria equals in death. #FossilFriday

Something for (sub) #FossilFriday! Saw a beautiful pair of solitaire skeletons at the Hunterian. These birds were basically the island of Rodrigues' equivalent of a dodo. Also large, also flightless, also driven to extinction by European colonists 🦤🧪🦉

A few people in the USA have been ALLEGED to be members of Tren de Aragua. So far, I cannot find a single person wo has been convicted of being a TdA member in the USA. Copycats may call themselves TdA with no real connection to the organization in South America. insightcrime.org/news/what-we...

I am reading more books, and unplugging more. This one, by #MannyHoward is a real page turner. He accepts a challenge from his editor to try to live on what he could grow in his yard in Brooklyn. To do so, he had to turn to intensive urban farming, with mixed results.

This is an astonishing statistic, which most people don’t appreciate. When we phase out fossil fuels, we can eliminate 40% of international shipping along with it.

Hooray! apnews.com/article/dona...

Last night, Trump illegally froze all federal grant & loan payments—rent for low-income families, child care, health care. Special ed. FEMA relief. School lunches. We tallied up federal funding for NYC in December:

We do need an active NIH and CDC. Now more than ever. www.usnews.com/news/health-...

Report of a new skull of Diatryma (Gastornis?) found, mislabeled, in a museum collection. www.sci.news/paleontology...

I'm fed up with our city's corrupt leadership. Are you? As Mayor, I will bring honesty to City Hall by closing lobby loopholes, making COIB independent, increasing transparency and media accessibility, and more.

It is already starting. Trump is using racial profiling against Latino - American veterans and other US citizens in his mania to make immigrants suffer. pix11.com/news/morning...

More good news for New York City! www.thecity.nyc/2025/01/22/d...

#MarkZuckerberg This is the male role model. Men should ally with and promote the women who have the best ideas. Men should stick up for those who are ignored and pushed aside.

#MarkZuckerberg: The male role model should be Corporal Hicks from Aliens. Men should stand up for what is right. We should promote and protect whoever has good ideas, be they female, queer, racial or religious minority, or anyone else. 64.media.tumblr.com/1044d143b49f...

Martin Luther King, Jr. fought to end our nation's deliberate neglect and abuse of Black Americans. He was relentlessly targeted by our government for his views and pursuit of equality. At this pivotal moment, we honor his legacy by fighting injustice in all its forms, with everything we've got.