Journalist Kate Yoder did a great job describing our study on snow-eater heatwaves. I'm grateful to have been able to contribute to this work and am always so pleased to work with reporters who care deeply about sharing science stories.

Grist@grist.org · 2mo ago

Scientists define a new category of heat wave: ‘Snow eaters’

Proposing a new kind of weather event is admittedly audacious. But our team believes it can help us better prepare for floods and drought. "Snow eater heat waves," which double the rate of melt, may be growing bigger, becoming more common, and arriving earlier. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Snow-eater heat waves of the western United States

Snow-eater heat waves are defined, identified, and shown to nearly double usual western United States spring snowmelt rates.

science.org

One of my favorite scientific roles is part of an applied agricultural research project focused on exploring whether the most widely distributed tree in North America might have a sweet side benefit in addition to its importance for fire mitigation and biodiversity. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iClI...

Aspen Syrup Experimentation Network: Making the Syrup

YouTube video by Matthew LaPlante

youtube.com

In a world where skeletons never stay in closets, only two kinds of people would ever run for office: those with nothing to be ashamed of, and those ashamed of nothing. The first group is a myth, so the second is what we get on our ballots.

Detest A.I.? OK. But you really should read this before you start calling it names. open.substack.com/pub/witherwa...

The Tempest, and Why We Don’t Need New Slurs for AI

Really, people! It's not! That! Hard! Have some respect for yourselves.

open.substack.com

2025: New book under contract w/MIT Nat'l Academies research award 2nd TEDxTalk Aspen syrup project funded Helped birth 2nd NYT best-seller Bar featured on ABC/FOX/SLTrib/SLUG Ep.300 of UnDisciplined SFClimateWeek org. team Wrote for LA Rev. of Books Launched solutions reporting class Back to boxing

Well played, @theathletic.com.

I became a climate scientist because I'm deeply attracted to tragedy. But I've come to believe that prediction-enabled adaptation is a force multiplier in a rapidly changing world. And I'm buoyant about what this science allow us to do—even in an inexorably warmer future. youtu.be/ijBY4YrAvLU?...

Never underestimate the possibility that a single act of kindness might make someone's day.

Where can you get a nonalcoholic cocktail in Salt Lake City? Look to this Sugar House speakeasy.

This century-old Sugar House home is SLC’s newest nonalcoholic speakeasy. Here’s where to find it.

Where can you get a nonalcoholic cocktail in Salt Lake City? Look to this Sugar House speakeasy.

sltrib.com

Truly proud to be among this group of journalists, researchers, and science communicators. Thank you, @nationalacademies.org and @schmidtsciences.bsky.social.

SciComm Excellence@scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 12mo ago

Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications given by @nationalacademies.org in partnership with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social ! Learn more about the winners: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm

The other 23 people on this list are absolutely amazing researchers, journalists, and science communicators from whom I am already learning so much. And then there's me. In the immortal words of Thom Yorke: "What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here."

SciComm Excellence@scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 12mo ago

#ICYMI - yesterday our program welcomed 24 new award winners! 🏆🥳🎉 The #scicomm awards given by @nationalacademies.org in partnership with Schmidt Sciences recognize excellent science journalists, research scientists, and science communicators. Learn more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10...

I am driving my parents’ white Subaru Outback in Utah today. This means that I have spent at least 47% of my day looking for this godforsaken car in parking lots filled with other white Subaru Outbacks.

I’m completely enchanted with David Maitland and the way he sees beauty and purpose in this world. You’ll be enchanted, too. Here’s Part 1 of my interview with the zoologist and Nature Photographer of the Year award-winner. www.upr.org/show/undisci...

UnDisciplined: The Patterns of Life, Part 1

Again and again, similar patterns show up in nature in different creatures at different times in their evolutionary histories. And when they show up, we often perceive them as beautiful. Why?

upr.org

These guys were a blast. Give a listen.

Steve Haddock@stevehaddock.bsky.social · last yr.

@sonkejo.bsky.social and I were interviewed by @mdlaplante.bsky.social for his UnDisciplined podcast www.upr.org/podcasts/103... I don’t like hearing myself speak so I haven’t listened back, but my mom “LOVED IT”, so that counts for something. 😉 Support public radio, Utah PR, and @npr.org 🦑🧪🌊

Tickets for TEDxSaltLakeCity are now available. I'll be speaking about how climate prediction can be a force multiplier in a rapidly warming world. www.tedxsaltlakecity.com/2025-events/...

Pleased to have been invited by @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social to review Boris Fishman's latest, The Unwanted — an allegory about complicity that feels particularly relevant right now. lareviewofbooks.org/article/comp...

Complicity Becomes Us | Los Angeles Review of Books

Matthew D. LaPlante considers the perils of complicity in Boris Fishman’s novel “The Unwanted.”

lareviewofbooks.org

I didn't want to pathologize, and I certainly didn't want to traumatize, but there was something deep in Dan McClellan's past that seemed so speak to his motivations to put data over dogma. In part two of my conversation with ‪@maklelan.bsky.social‬, we dive into it. www.upr.org/show/undisci...

UnDisciplined: Did a tragedy at a fundamentalist commune drive this Biblical scholar’s desire to put data over dogma?

Dan McClellan loves the Bible. He doesn’t always love what it says. But he works hard not to try to mold it into something that he wants it to be — to meet it, he says, on its own terms. Doing anythin...

upr.org

Kilby has got Salt Lake City looking like a Riverside County thrift store fire sale rack in late April.

Part one of my two-episode interview with Dan McClellan (@maklelan.bsky.social) was broadcast this morning. In it we discuss a thorny question: Does the Bible ever say it's the word of God? And if it doesn't, by what authority do Christians believe it is? www.upr.org/show/undisci...

UnDisciplined: Does the Bible really say it is the Word of God?

Just about 60% of Americans say they identify as Christian. And just about 20% of Americans say they have read the entire Bible.

upr.org

Our little ag science project is going well.

Aspen Syrup Production Experimentation Network: Collecting the Sap

YouTube video by Matthew LaPlante

youtube.com

I know that you're all excited about trying a Chicago pope for the first time, but I've always preferred my pontiffs with yellow mustard, sweet pickle relish, chopped onions, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, a pickle spear and celery salt on a poppy seed bun.

It was a big day for the ASPEN project: After a lot of hard work, we finally reached sap flow today, collected 10 sample vials from our experimentation grove, and did a little taste test.

ASPEN: ASPEN SYRUP PRODUCTION EXPERIMENTATION NETWORK: SAP FLOW

YouTube video by Matthew LaPlante

youtube.com

My autistic child played four years of varsity high school sports, wrote four plays, performed in many others, starred as Octavius Caesar in a local production of Antony & Cleopatra, and will graduate next week with a bachelor's degree—at the age of 17. Autism doesn’t destroy children. Ableism does.

What's the one thing that would do more than anything else to change our woeful global warming trajectory? More renewables? Cap and trade? Accountability for carbon polluters? Nope, @mikebernerslee.bsky.social says it's the establishment of "a climate of truth." www.upr.org/show/undisci...

UnDisciplined: Can holding leaders accountable to truth unlock a climate revolution?

In his new book, climate analyst Mike Berners-Lee says there's one shift that would go far toward solving every climate bind we’re in: holding corporate and political leaders accountable to truth.

upr.org

I was there for the first MLS game on April 6, 1996. Like today, it was D.C. at San Jose, and there was a guy named Harkes on the field and a coach named Bruce Arena on the sidelines. Unlike today, it was unclear then if the league would make it. But soccer survived. And now it thrives in the USA.

I've been looking forward to this chat with @agroclim.bsky.social for many months, and Weston Anderson absolutely exceeded my expectations. What a privilege it is to chat with such brilliant people. www.upr.org/show/undisci...

UnDisciplined: Why aren't we using climate phases to predict crop yields?

For decades, we’ve known that climate cycles like El Niño affect regional crop yields. But even though our food system is increasingly global, we haven’t done a great job of thinking at a planetary sc...

upr.org

I had such a great chat with @karenlloyd.bsky.social today. Can't wait to share our episode on her new book, Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth.

I love it when Raegan Edelman hosts UnDisciplined — not because it's a break for me (which I do also like) but because she comes to the microphone with such enthusiasm and awe for our world. Her chat with Bevin Cohen on herbs and seasons is a salve for the soul. www.upr.org/show/undisci...

There is little more frightening than the prospect of losing cognitive capacity before losing physical capacity. This book, by @drdalebredesen.bsky.social, could not be more important.

The Ageless Brain: How to Sharpen and Protect Your Mind for a Lifetime

The Ageless Brain: How to Sharpen and Protect Your Mind for a Lifetime [Bredesen MD, Dale E.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Ageless Brain: How to Sharpen and Protect Your Mind for a Lifetime

amazon.com