I’ll be reading at the Last Fridays Poetry open mic on Friday, May 29, 8 p.m., at Esquina event space, 4602 N. Western Ave., Chicago. It’s a supportive environment, and all are welcome.

What's good for the environment is good for the tax base. Who knew?

I visited the National Chornobyl Museum many years ago. It was moving, and the museum was full of essential information and unique artifacts that cannot be replaced. The attack was deliberate.

Stay safe. Don't go west of the Mississippi River. weather.com/health/news/...

I’m interviewed about Goal-Based Sci-Fi Research by Beth Barany for her podcast. We talk about research can help generate conflict in your stories and avoid clichés. writersfunzone.com/blog/2026/05...

Not always migrating like they used to, either.

I'm happy to report that the gardeners in my neighborhood have been ignoring this rule for some time already. blockclubchicago.org/2026/05/21/g...

Golfballia ambusta, Latin for ‘burnt golf ball’ | Kew www.kew.org/read-and-wat...

In the "Blast from the Past" section of SMALL PLANET: THE SF IN TRANSLATION MAGAZINE, I'll be mining older #SFinTranslation and world sf newsletters and magazines to reveal the evolution of the Anglophone world's interest in the sff scene in other countries and other languages.

🌎 SMALL PLANET, the magazine about fiction in translation! Rachel Cordasco is the General Editor and has incredible contributors. I'm really happy to be a contributor interviewing translator @sueburke.bsky.social OUGH YEAGH! www.sfintranslation.com/wp-content/u...

A glimpse of the bleeping obvious.

“Arañas”, un cuento corto ubicado en el mundo de mi novela Semiosis, ya está disponible en castellano. microficcionesycuentos.blogspot.com/2026/05/aran...

The national debt is good for the 1%.

A bear tries to cross the road...

Five kilos of old rat poop, a scientific treasure.

I’ll be reading my translation of the short story “Francine (Draft for the September Lecture)” by Maria Antònia Martí Escayol at the Deep Dish reading on Thursday. If you can’t make it, a link to the story is in the comments.

What do you see in this picture?

#JustIn on Plantae: The Unwritten CV of a Plant Scientist. In this new piece, ASPB Plantae Fellows Anastasia Kolesnikova and Charlay Wood offer a more human picture of plant science than most people ever get to see in a plant scientist's CV. buff.ly/tOdWD3v #PlantScience

“It’s nice when Western science catches up to Indigenous science.”

Potatoes in space!

Here are cards anyone can carry in their wallet and request translation or interpretation services as required by law. Know Your Rights to Language Access - American Translators Association (ATA) www.atanet.org/client-assis...

POETRY Magazine Submission Manager - Special Issue Dedicated to Chicago

Citizen scientists! You can help with Kelp Quest (Seattle Aquarium) | Zooniverse - People-powered research www.zooniverse.org/projects/zhr...

Last Fridays Poetry open mic, Friday, April 24, 8 p.m., at Esquina, 4602 N. Western Ave., Chicago. I'll be there.

This is one case among many of ICE illegal detention. I am a member of ATA.

It's an open secret that astronauts don't always eat well. The problem hasn't been solved for long flights, like going to Mars.

Live from the Circle Garden - Chicago Botanic Garden - YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLjH...

My faith leaders weigh in.

The Protopian Prize | The Fiction Contest protopianprize.com

Medieval Solar Storm Detected Through Tree Rings and Historical Records - Medievalists.net www.medievalists.net/2026/04/medi...

Whimsy or warning? titlemedle.com/products/whi...

These plants hate you.

My short story “To Defeat Water” has been translated into Spanish as “Derrotar al agua” and published by Microficciones y Cuentos. The site is run by Sergio Gaut vel Hartman, one of the founding fathers of Spanish-language science fiction. A link to the story in English is in the comments.

"Defensive deflection, TINA rhetoric, resignation, victim mentality, nihilism. These aren’t fringe phenomena, but precisely the arguments we must contend with, again and again, whenever we talk about AI." dorotheabaur.ch/en/texts-and...

No bugs, thanks, too risky. www.botany.one/what-if-a-fl...

Let's go to the Moon and eat hummus. www.sciencenews.org/article/chic...

A graffiti artist discovers flowers! www.npr.org/2026/03/18/n...

I learned surprising things about myself from my Grokipedia entry, and I wrote about it at my blog. sueburke.site/2026/04/01/i...

It's hot and smells like rotting flesh. Clever early Spring strategy to attract flies for pollination.

“Evolutionary rescue occurs when the few individuals that are left have the right genetic makeup to do better than the ones that died, so they do well or thrive within these new conditions, so the population inches back from extinction.” edition.cnn.com/2026/03/12/s...

From my neighborhood No Kings rally

@sueburke.bsky.social, author of SEMIOSIS and DUAL MEMORY described this collection of stories as akin to "eating a box of chocolates" with their range of themes and tone. Mmmmm. semiosispax.com/2025/01/03/g...

My 50-word science fiction short story “Good Boy” has been published: 50 Give or Take Story No.1967 preview.mailerlite.com/s7k8d9b5y3/2...

📗📘 Story Bundle is in "da" house 📘📗 Extremely happy to report that my eco-horror novel CHLOROPHILIA, translated by @sueburke.bsky.social , is part of Story Bundle. Curated by the one and only @lavietidhar.bsky.social, the line-up is by spectacular & talented authors storybundle.com/blog/2026wor...

Does nature need help? - Los Angeles Times www.latimes.com/california/s...

I'm attending No Kings's event, “NO KINGS Edgewater neighborhood Chicago” - sign up now to join me. www.mobilize.us/nokings/even...

Jinenger, an eccentric, energetic mountain yam, is an unofficial mascot for Shiroi City.

Can you correctly place all six kinds of plants in this Sudoku Garden? www.botany.one/sudoku-garde...

Dirty birds. | All About Birds www.allaboutbirds.org/news/from-mu...

Very big flowers. apnews.com/article/braz...