We must accept that there are certain people and ideas that we cannot be in conversation with if our goal is human dignity, freedom, and flourishing futures.

🧵 The other day, someone tried to explain to me that AI is just a tool, like a calculator, and it’s our responsibility to teach students how to use it wisely. I didn’t know how to respond at the time, so here are some delayed thoughts for no reason. 1/5

Only one week into the semester here, and I’m already accepting thoughts, prayers, and setting up an emergency GoFundMe to finance my green tea supply in this tariff-ridden economy.

I wonder if there’s any peer-reviewed work that questions how academic institutions are normalising generative AI as mere “tools” instead of treating them as non-sentient, privately-owned digital entities with social, political, and economic agendas.

Posts about scientific research on Bluesky receive substantially more attention than similar posts on Twitter. More importantly, you're far less likely to get sexist or racist replies.

A proper timeline cleanse after an evening spent admiring the works of Cézanne au Jas de Bouffan. I’ll miss these research trips to Aix! 🇫🇷

Getting flagged as an AI bot by France's archival search systems was not on my bingo card today.

The continents are rapidly drying out and the earth’s vast freshwater resources are under threat, according to a recently released study based on 20+ years of NASA satellite data. Here are the report’s key findings and what they portend for humankind.

Struggling to come up with effective ways to AI-proof assignments for the graduate courses I'll be assisting this Fall. Haven't found much in the way of tried-and-true guidance so far. Any tips welcome!

The rapid decline of American science has few precedents in history, argues @rossandersen.bsky.social. We are witnessing an unparalleled act of self-sabotage: https://theatln.tc/d40fABTK

Off to somewhere e-mails won’t find me for the next few weeks.

Is this what people from abroad felt when they watched the Nazis destroying Germany in the 1930s?

What do we say to the August scaries trying to kill the vibes for us late summer vacationers?

I’m sorry—how is this not an article from @theonion.com?

The genocide in Gaza has been so revealing of the narrow imagined geographies of past atrocities among some. The ignorance of how different forms of genocidal intent and practice were deployed across a whole range of colonial contexts has been central to the effort to dismiss the use of the term.

Spent two weeks reflecting on ways to embrace a more transformative water diplomacy and how to decolonise my own research. In these dark times, it was refreshing to find community among those committed to the cause. Grateful to IHE Delft for the opportunity! 💧🕊️

💧Les plus grandes métropoles d’Asie, d’Europe, d’Amérique et d’Afrique sont confrontées au problème de la raréfaction de l’eau potable. Tour du monde des pistes évoquées dans la presse internationale pour faire face à la menace croissante d’un monde sans eau.

A lot of media are covering Europe’s heatwave 🔥 but few are connecting it to the climate crisis. Tools like the Climate Shift Index show this heatwave is up to 5x 😱 more likely because of climate change. That context matters. csi.climatecentral.org/climate-shif...

Heading to the Netherlands 🇳🇱 next month to wrap up the Young Water Diplomats programme, then join an exciting Decolonising Science PhD course at IHE Delft with @amitangshu.bsky.social and a fantastic teaching team. Any suggestions for things to do are most welcome!

“The American people are facing one of the great challenges of the 21st century, as great as that confronting the French in 1940, when they had to decide whether to join the Resistance or not.”

You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who is coming to save you?

New research shows the depletion of groundwater in the Colorado River Basin far exceeds losses from the river’s reservoirs. Scientists say overpumping is leading to alarmingly rapid declines at a time when climate change is putting growing strains on water supplies. www.latimes.com/environment/...

🇮🇳🇵🇰💧Après quatre jours d’une confrontation militaire qui a fait quelque 70 morts dans les deux pays, l’Inde et le Pakistan ont convenu d’un cessez-le-feu. Derrière cette confrontation se joue un autre conflit encore non résolu : celui de l’accès aux eaux de l’Indus. Explications en vidéo.

Looking at what's happening in Palestine and what's happening at the White House and remembering all those commentators and scholars who dismissed settler colonialism as a category of analysis...

The #Indus River Treaty of 1960 has long been held up as an exemplar of transboundary #water cooperation, but twice in recent years India has manipulated river flows as a weapon to punish Pakistan in their ongoing conflicts.

Attention spans are shrinking, with research showing the average person's has declined from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds now.

How are we still prioritising climate issues while fascism and genocide stage the comeback of the century? Do we seriously think science will sway the “great leaders” who are lighting torches under our ivory towers? Isn’t that beyond absurd?

A plan to commit crimes against humanity on a mass scale? Apparently not front-page material for either @reuters.com or @apnews.com. Luckily their coverage of Cannes is on point.

New York University said it would withhold the diploma of a student who used a graduation speech to condemn Israel's attacks on Palestinians.

By carrying on with our business as usual, we embody Arendt’s banality of evil. Western governments are not mere bystanders—they are actively aiding and abetting the extreme violence and crimes against humanity unfolding in Palestine. 🇵🇸

Heartening to see more European scholars breaking their silence as millions of civilians in Palestine suffer unspeakable atrocities. What else needs to happen for academia everywhere to take a stance? 🇵🇸

Intentionally starving a population is a war crime, one we are seeing Israel commit in clear view, now into the 10 week.

I keep calling it "the administration" but it's time to call it "the regime."

« François Mitterrand, le dernier empereur » : les ambivalences d’un président face à la « Françafrique »

Meanwhile, India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in response to the recent attacks in Kashmir, and the risk of military conflict between the two countries remains high.

L’Afrique à la peine pour défendre ses intérêts face à Donald Trump

🇮🇳 🇵🇰 | Since the suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, tensions are escalating quickly. Indian officials now signal that their country may start diverting water via canals in the coming months, while also planning hydroelectric dams that could take 4-7 years to complete. #WaterSky

🇺🇸 🇲🇽 | Looks like there may be reason for cautious optimism that the 1944 US-Mexico water treaty might survive past the October deadline. If successful, this could offer a compelling case study in water diplomacy amid political turbulence. #WaterSky

After finishing The Engineers of Chaos by Giuliano da Empoli last night, reading this piece sent literal chills down my spine.

Just wrapped up a research trip to the French colonial archives in Aix-en-Provence. So grateful to the staff for their generosity with both time and expertise. I’ll have to find my way back there sometime soon! 👨🏻‍💻 🗃️

From the front lines in Ukraine to ordinarily damp Belgium, a shortage of rainfall has left much of Europe parched halfway through spring.

The logic behind appointing Rubio is now unmistakable: they needed an obedient functionary to oversee the controlled demolition of U.S. foreign policy and development architecture. History won’t remember “little Marco” as a senator—but as the butcher of two agencies.

🔥

🇮🇷 | Iran’s water crisis escalates as protests erupt in Isfahan over the diversion of water to Yazd. As the regime in Tehran doubles down on mismanagement, farmers edge closer to a breaking point—and the spectre of militarisation in an already volatile region looms ever larger. #WaterSky

Despite the bitter exit of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from ECOWAS and their formation of the rival AES, the destinies of the two blocs remain deeply intertwined.

🇺🇸 🇲🇽 | The 1944 US-Mexico water treaty is long overdue for review, given economic and climate realities at the border. Alas, the timing couldn’t be worse. Washington will block any diplomatic solution just to weaponise this dispute. #WaterSky

These EOs are just slightly longer social media posts from a deranged mind.

If “cognitive apartheid”—the process of erasing traditional and local knowledge in favour of Western science—is new to you, don’t miss this powerful talk by @amitangshu.bsky.social. Confronting centuries of epistemic injustice begins with radical humility and genuine curiosity. Watch below! 👇🏼