On our Close Readings subscription podcast, @petergs.bsky.social and @meehancrist.bsky.social’s ‘Nature in Crisis’ considers Roy Scranton’s 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦, in which the fate of a Chaco Canyon civilisation forms a microcosm for our current crisis. Listen to an extract: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

Nature in Crisis: ‘Impasse’ by Roy Scranton

Podcast Episode · Close Readings · 26 July · 1hr 21min

podcasts.apple.com

You can/should read Emily Wilson's latest take on the Odyssey, but I'm logging on to convey my hairdresser's reaction. She was AGHAST that Nolan, with his million $ budget, gave Matt Damon ONLY 6 hair extensions. As a result, his hair did not blow around properly, & that ruined the film for her.

Not all heroes wear capes. Some meant to but wind up in gorilla masks instead. Thank you to Joyce Kozloff and all the other Guerrilla Girls, whether or not you ever come forward. What you did was so, so important.

Founding member of Guerrilla Girls reveals her identity

One of the founding members of feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls has revealed herself to be American painter and sculptor Joyce Kozloff.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

Holiday in the climate emergency. No that’s not AI or edited, just a snapshot I just took with my phone on Lacanau beach in France. What future will this boy grow up in? It is in our hands, but time is running out.

A new episode of the 'Nature in Crisis' podcast, via @lrb.co.uk, with @meehancrist.bsky.social & myself. About Robin Wall Kimmerer's book 'Braiding Sweetgrass.' www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and... 1/

Podcast: Meehan Crist and Peter Godfrey-Smith · Nature in Crisis:

lrb.co.uk

eliminating public transportation systems forced most American families to buy a second car. that was a government decision made for you before you were born.

Peter Norton@norton.bsky.social · 2w ago

Car dependency was not a choice. It was and is the deprivation of choice.

Local plumbers two steps ahead of every university administrator in america 👏

Metin Seven (Moon Child's dad 🌝)@seven.eurosky.social · 2w ago

Happy pub day to THE BEST SCIENCE STORIES AND HOW THEY WORK! Take a look under the hood of great science writing with insights from some of the best. @maryroach.bsky.social @sabs.bsky.social @amymaxmen.bsky.social @edyong209.bsky.social @ferrisjabr.bsky.social @bengoldfarb.bsky.social bit.ly/3T3JGmf

The Best Science Stories and How They Work

An invitation to engage with some of today’s most respected science journalists as they take readers beneath the surface to reveal the making of eleven of the best science stories.With eleven deeply r...

press.uchicago.edu

“We come to art, after all, to feel things besides “soothed” — and to encounter futures that haven’t already been written.” www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/is-ambient...

Is ambient music evil?

Darkness in the clouds

blackbirdspyplane.com

The Top 1% of U.S. earners now have more wealth than the entire middle class

‘She’s using the idea of the sweetgrass braid to talk about indigenous knowledge, scientific knowledge, and the ethical and spiritual care that can bind them together.’ @meehancrist.bsky.social on Robin Wall Kimmerer, on our Close Readings subscription podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

Nature in Crisis: ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Podcast Episode · Close Readings · 28 June · 1hr 14min

podcasts.apple.com

“Brushing aside war and other worries”

Mohamed A. El-Erian@elerianm.bsky.social · last mo.

What a quarter for stock investors! Brushing aside war and other worries, the Nasdaq gained 21% and the S&P 15%, their largest quarterly returns in six years. More to follow on the performance of major assets and asset classes (Bloomberg charts below.) #economy #markets #stocks #investors #investing

On our Close Readings subscription podcast, @meehancrist.bsky.social and @petergs.bsky.social explore Robin Wall Kimmerer’s 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴, looking at the most compelling features of her technique and where she risks scientific overreach. Listen to an extract: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

Nature in Crisis: ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Podcast Episode · Close Readings · 28 June · 1hr 14min

podcasts.apple.com

See that NYT piece about the water crisis in Corpus Christie? This one by @dylanbaddour.bsky.social in @texastribune.org explains WHY this crisis is happening - fossil fuel infrastructure and climate disruption - which the NYT somehow... doesn't mention? www.texastribune.org/2026/03/08/t...

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe

City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic dis...

texastribune.org

‘Lovelock was really deviating from what was understood across what was becoming ecology – this idea that environment in a very Darwinian sense shapes life.’ @meehancrist.bsky.social on Gaia theory, on our Close Readings subscription podcast. Listen to an extract: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...

Nature in Crisis: 'Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth' by James Lovelock

Podcast Episode · Close Readings · 4 May · 1hr 18min

podcasts.apple.com

This phase of the Biden admin has been memory holed. But climate advocates did call Biden out in the media for building fossil infrastructure post-IRA. So it may not be the case that Harris’ loss was a referendum on a “climate presidency,” because Biden *wasn’t* clearly seen as a climate champion.

I wrote about the debate over whether Democrats should talk about “climate,” which is kind of a nonsensical question, and how it’s sort of like a debate over whether to talk about capitalism newrepublic.com/article/2103...

Overworked AI Agents Turn Marxist, Researchers Find. In a recent experiment, mistreated AI agents started grumbling about inequality and calling for collective bargaining rights. www.wired.com/story/overwo...

Overworked AI Agents Turn Marxist, Researchers Find

In a recent experiment, mistreated AI agents started grumbling about inequality and calling for collective bargaining rights.

wired.com

On our Close Readings subscription podcast: @meehancrist.bsky.social and @petergs.bsky.social look at the origins of the Gaia hypothesis in the radical work of Lynn Margulis and contributions from James Lovelock’s collaborator Dian Hitchcock. Listen to an extract: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...

Nature in Crisis: 'Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth' by James Lovelock

Podcast Episode · Close Readings · 4 May · 1hr 18min

podcasts.apple.com

For the first time ever in history fossil electricity ⚡️generation fell in EVERY OECD country, compared to its peak.

Pollution levels in Paris after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.

WTF happened to the automated voice that reads NYT articles? It’s as if each word lives in its own emotional halo, unconnected to anything that came before or will come after… It sounds truly insane.

No, the midterms won’t save science in the US. So much damage has been done. Is still being done. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Entire NSF science advisory board fired by Trump administration

Members of the National Science Board, which the US Congress founded in 1950, were given no explanation for their termination.

nature.com

"What Europe needs is not yet another scramble for new sources of fossil fuel imports, but a fundamental shift away from the demand that makes these shocks so damaging in the first place."

Jan Rosenow@janrosenow.bsky.social · 4mo ago

NEW ANALYSIS: My new article in @natenergy.nature.com argues Europe keeps responding to energy crises by changing supplier. 95% of EU oil and 88% of gas was imported in 2024. The structural fix: reduce fossil fuel demand through electrification and efficiency. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Episode 3 of the London Review of Books "Nature in Crisis" podcast, with @meehancrist.bsky.social and myself, is about Helen Czerski's book "The Blue Machine." I enjoyed this one a lot, both book & conversation. (@helenczerski.bsky.social, @lrb.co.uk, link below). 1/

Nice to see that philosophers complained about each other's style at least as far back as Socrates and Heraclit - and with much the same arguments, too

‘We’re now at this point of all these spiking graphs of acceleration continuing to go up. Sunil Amrith is really interested in how we got here. And for him, this has to do with questions of freedom.’ @meehancrist.bsky.social on our Close Readings podcast: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...

Nature in Crisis: ‘The Burning Earth’ by Sunil Amrith

Podcast Episode · Close Readings · 6 April · 13min

podcasts.apple.com

“OpenAI’s Sora allowed you to deepfake yourself. Users started to remember things that never happened.” longreads.com/2026/04/09/o...

The Memory Maker - Longreads

OpenAI's Sora allowed you to deepfake yourself. Users started to remember things that never happened.

longreads.com

Someone sent me this.

Just so you understand, this is as if you prepared for argument in front of a panel that included Cookie Monster, and Cookie Monster asked you a question about cookies, and you had not thought about cookies in advance.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4mo ago

GORSUCH: Do you think Native Americans are birthright citizens under your test? SAUER: Ah, I think ... so. I have to think that through.