White House Seeks to Impose Political Test on Billions in Federal Grants www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u...
White House Seeks to Impose Political Test on Billions in Federal Grants
nytimes.com
Eric Niiler
@eniiler.bsky.social
Journalist reporting on science, space and climate. Recently @NYT and @WSJ.
Trump administration shuts down deep-sea instruments that monitored climate change for a decade. “By dismantling such a system, we push the United States back yet again into a rear seat in global scientific leadership,” said a former official. Story by @eniiler.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4voqmxP
nyti.ms
Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/c...
Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System
nytimes.com
Stardust reveals its recipe for cooling Plane Earth: tiny sphers of amorphous silica and calcium carbonate. As the climate warms, what are the risks of privatizing solar geoengineering? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/c...
Can Some Very Tiny Particles Cool the Planet? One Tech Company Says Yes.
nytimes.com
It’s Harder Than Ever to Get Federal Disaster Aid. Even in Red States. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/c...
It’s Harder Than Ever to Get Federal Disaster Aid. Even in Red States.
nytimes.com
Prominent Climate Scientist Resigns From NASA, Citing Trump’s Attack on Science. @drkatemarvel.bsky.social joins 95,000 people leaving Federal science agencies. Story by @eniiler.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/4butGQU
nyti.ms
Antarctica’s Mineral Riches Exposed as Climate Warms www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c...
Antarctica’s Mineral Riches Exposed as Climate Warms
nytimes.com
U.S. cross-country skiers Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher power to a silver medal in the men's team sprint. U.S. women led by Jessie Diggins finish off the podium. n.pr/46QNdIj
Ogden, Schumacher grab silver for U.S. in Olympic cross-country team sprint, Diggins falls short
U.S. cross-country skiers Ben Ogden and Gus Schumacher power to a silver medal in the men's team sprint. U.S. women led by Jessie Diggins finish off the podium.
n.pr
"El Niño can cause strong winter storms, landslides and flooding along the Pacific Coast and Southwest United States, delay the vital monsoon rainy season in India, and spark drought and wildfires across Australia and Southeast Asia" www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c... @eniiler.bsky.social @nytimes.com
El Niño May Be Back This Summer, Bringing Drought and Floods
nytimes.com
Athletes are going higher and farther to train and race as the winters get warmer and shorter. That's forcing organizers to rethink how they stage the next few Winter Games. Here's new research about the Winter Games climate resiliency: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/c...
As Winter Warms, Olympic Athletes, Organizers Hunt for Elusive Snow
nytimes.com
My old pal @eniiler.bsky.social with a killer story. What we save defines us as a culture—the archive is our memory and our future. And we’re throwing it away? Madness. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/c...
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts
nytimes.com
Shale drillers have turned the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico into a pressure cooker that is literally bursting at the seams
Trump administration helps torpedo policy summary on recent U.N. global environment outlook: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/c...
U.S. Helped to Weaken Report at U.N. Environment Talks, Participants Say
nytimes.com
Shifting Climate Alters Pattern of Atlantic’s Giant Seaweed Blobs www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/c...
Shifting Climate Alters Pattern of Atlantic’s Giant Seaweed Blobs
nytimes.com
Weird (and hungry) "rogue planet" gobbles up billions of tons of stellar material per second. www.wsj.com/science/spac...
Scientists Observe Rogue Planet’s Explosive Growth in Real Time
The record-breaking event is providing insight into how these strange objects form.
wsj.com
Is there a lesson here? Researchers applied modern-day tools of epidemiology to trace how the spread of false rumors provoked the “Great Fear” of the French Revolution. @eniiler.bsky.social reports for #WSJScienceShorts www.wsj.com/science/fren... via @wsj.com
Panic-Inducing Rumors Went Viral Ahead of the French Revolution
The tools of epidemiology were used to trace how false tales spread from place to place, and provoked a revolt.
wsj.com
Science Shorts: NASA announced it has found potential evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars. Is it another false alarm? @eniiler.bsky.social reports for #WSJScienceShorts www.wsj.com/science/spac... via @wsj.com
Did NASA Find Signs of Ancient Life on Mars—Or Is It Another False Alarm?
Earlier evidence pointing to ancient microbial life on the red planet hasn’t held up.
wsj.com
Could third time be the charm for NASA's hunt for life on Mars? www.wsj.com/science/spac...
Did NASA Find Signs of Ancient Life on Mars—Or Is It Another False Alarm?
Earlier evidence pointing to ancient microbial life on the red planet hasn’t held up.
wsj.com
THE COLOSSAL SQUID IS MASSIVE. MUCH BIGGER THAN PEOPLE THOUGHT. THEY SAID IT WAS A MYTH — WRONG. I’VE SEEN IT. TOTALLY DOMINATES THE OCEAN. OTHER SQUIDS? VERY WEAK. VERY SAD.
Scientists detected the largest-known black hole merger, resulting in a black hole 225 times the mass of the sun @eniiler.bsky.social reports for #WSJScienceShorts www.wsj.com/science/viol... via @wsj.com
Violent Collision of Two Black Holes Rippled Across the Universe
The pair merged to create a single hole about 225 times the mass of the sun.
wsj.com
Farmers, water managers, fishermen, river advocates, and everyday residents told me they would fight for their water to the very last drop. Others have already begun asking the existential question: Where will we go when the river runs dry?
‘With What Water?’: Texas, Mexico, and the Disappearing Rio Conchos
Drought has hollowed out Chihuahua’s Conchos Valley and bred civil unrest as South Texas demands the water it’s owed.
texasobserver.org
The steep cliffs and narrow canyons that characterize Texas Hill Country channeled torrential rain from a stalled weather system into overflowing rivers and creeks @eniiler.bsky.social reports for #WSJScience www.wsj.com/us-news/clim... via @wsj.com
How Terrain in Texas Hills Turned Stalled Rainstorm Into Flood Disaster
Water cascaded down cliffs and swelled waterways when shallow soil failed to absorb the deluge.
wsj.com
A massive heat dome will cover 200 million people across the Eastern U.S. in the coming days, prompting concerns about health-related illnesses. @eniiler.bsky.social reports for #WSJScience. www.wsj.com/us-news/clim... via @wsj.com
Dangerous Heat Dome to Bring Record Temperatures to Much of the U.S.
Officials warn of health risks as massive weather system traps sweltering air.
wsj.com
First-ever images of the sun’s south pole reveal secrets vital to understanding the solar magnetic storms that can affect Earth.
The Sun’s Fiery South Pole Is Revealed for the First Time
New images are key to understanding solar magnetic storms and other space weather that can disrupt systems on Earth.
on.wsj.com
The Trump administration froze Northwestern’s research funding. It hasn’t offered the school a way to get it back. https://on.wsj.com/440ZN5L
How Trump Blew Up Northwestern’s Business Model
The federal government froze the university’s research funding. It hasn’t offered the school a way to get it back.
on.wsj.com
"In two instances, the HHS memo makes claims about dangers to pregnant women that are actively refuted by the papers it cites to back them up." Another study cited is a preprint and includes an alert that it "should not be used to guide clinical practice." www.npr.org/2025/06/13/n...
RFK Jr. sent Congress 'medical disinformation' to defend COVID vaccine schedule change
A document circulated to members of Congress misinterprets studies and cites debunked research, scientists say. It could influence congressional perceptions of vaccine safety.
npr.org
Why is hail getting so big? The largest study of hailstorms in U.S. history is trying to find out. @eniiler.bsky.social reports for #WSJScienceShorts www.wsj.com/science/envi... via @wsj.com
Why Is Hail Getting So Big?
Hailstorms cause billions in damages. Scientists are studying why it happens.
wsj.com
The hurricane season is set to begin with the National Weather Service struggling to do more with less after several rounds of staff cuts www.wsj.com/us-news/clim... by @pattersonscott.bsky.social @eniiler.bsky.social
National Weather Service Struggles With Staffing Cuts as Hurricane Season Begins
A downsized weather service is struggling to do more with less as the country heads into a storm season that is expected to see above-normal numbers of hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires.
wsj.com
The White House is working on an executive order that would eliminate thousands of jobs at the FDA, CDC and other federal health agencies www.wsj.com/health/healt... @lizessleywhyte.bsky.social and Betsy McKay report
Exclusive | White House Preparing Order to Cut Thousands of Federal Health Workers
The executive order could come as soon as next week, if the Trump administration goes ahead with plans, according to people familiar with the matter.
wsj.com