Mira Rojanasakul
@rjnskl.bsky.social
Data and visual journalist, New York Times climate team https://www.nytimes.com/by/mira-rojanasakul
New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...
I used to do some work on the ethical use of satellite and drone imagery for aid and disaster response, and it is genuinely hard to express in words what a dangerous, stupid thing Google is doing by making it easy to use GenAI to create faked satellite imagery:
How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran
The question is: what on earth is Google doing?
digitaldigging.org
Pollution in groundwater will persist for a very long time. This is a really really bad idea www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/c...
In Ohio, Toxic Wastewater Is Bubbling Up Out of the Ground
The state is a major importer of fracking wastewater, which gets pumped underground but doesn’t always stay there. The city of Marietta is fighting back.
nytimes.com
Happy to share our new paper in @agu.org Earth's Future with @pyrogeog.bsky.social @climate-guy.bsky.social @mojisadegh.bsky.social. We investigated three key drivers of home survivability—building age, surrounding fuels, and fire weather conditions. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Residential Structure Survivability to Large Wildfires in the United States
Around half a million homes were exposed to large fires in the US, with 68% of exposures and a sixfold increase during 2001–2020 in the West Survivability declined by 12% in the western US in the...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Gift article. Recent deadly fires like Altadena and Pacific Palisades were structure fires, houses igniting and their embers igniting others. These are fires in a built environment, not open space. Making structures and neighborhoods more fire resistant is crucial. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Wildfire Researchers Who Burn Houses Down on Purpose (Gift Article)
As wildfires intensify, threatening more people, a nonprofit is studying how to rethink homes and neighborhoods to prevent catastrophe.
nytimes.com
NIFC: “Due to the scope of national fire activity, including numbers of resources committed, number of fires, and number of geographic areas with activity, as of this morning we are at at national preparedness level 5, indicating the highest level of resource mobilization and preparedness.”
THREAD: The boy is called a liar. He’s told not to defend himself. Then the private school owner encourages all of his peers to attack him, one by one. She hits him, repeatedly, with a plastic pipe-like object. How does this school still exist — and receive state funds? 🧵
Mapping the recent wildfire smoke: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Climate change worsens wildfires, but we could also be building our homes and neighborhoods in safer ways. Visit the lab where they're burning down entire houses to learn how to do just that. 🎁🔥 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Wildfire Researchers Who Burn Houses Down on Purpose (Gift Article)
As wildfires intensify, threatening more people, a nonprofit is studying how to rethink homes and neighborhoods to prevent catastrophe.
nytimes.com
Iranian strike damages a Kuwait desalination plant apnews.com/article/iran... Our article from earlier in the war maps the crucial water infrastructure. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
RFK Jr. asked the National Institute of Health to dedicate $5 billion (!) to finding a link between vaccines and autism. "That would have dedicated more than a tenth of the NIH’s annual budget to investigating a hypothesis already refuted by scientists worldwide."
Inside RFK Jr.’s push to dismantle decades of U.S. vaccine policy
Insider accounts reveal the scale of the health secretary's ambitions to curb childhood immunizations and unearth a link between vaccines and autism.
reuters.com
when will web designers have the courage to slow down page loads for a more vintage browsing experience
A great story about something I had never thought about www.wsj.com/business/whi... (gift link)
This Simple White Line Is America’s Greatest Unsung Innovation
You know about the lightbulb and the iPhone. This is the unknown story of another ingenious creation that changed a nation.
wsj.com
“.. Members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in Washington, D.C.” @reuters.com
Reuters: U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF BAYER'S BID TO LIMIT LAWSUITS IN STATE COURT CLAIMING ITS ROUNDUP WEEDKILLER CAUSES CANCER
François Primeau, a UC Irvine professor, developed mathematical and computational ocean models that helped us understand the ocean's role in global climate. He was killed on his bike by someone driving a car. 🌊
Orange County bicyclist fatally struck by hit-and-run driver in Santa Ana
It happened at around 6:15 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Standard Avenue and Warner Avenue, Santa Ana Police Department officers said in a news release shared on social media.
cbsnews.com
Our latest investigation: How giant trucks and SUVs are far deadlier for pedestrians. “Before the driver knows what’s happened, the pedestrian’s head is under the wheel.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s (Gift Article)
The vehicles on American roads have grown larger — and they are killing thousands more pedestrians, a Times investigation found.
nytimes.com
Fantastic reporting, and clear visual examples, of the danger posed to pedestrians by bigger and bigger trucks with huge blind spots www.nytimes.com/interactive/... from @mhkeller.bsky.social
The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s (Gift Article)
The vehicles on American roads have grown larger — and they are killing thousands more pedestrians, a Times investigation found.
nytimes.com
Beautifully presented look at how oil and gas exploration can affect wildlife www.nytimes.com/interactive/... by Katherine Chui & @catrineinhorn.bsky.social
Dive Into a Very Noisy Sea With Some Very Rare Whales
Fewer than 100 Rice’s whales remain on Earth. Researchers say sonic blasts from oil exploration are a top threat to the species. See and hear why.
nytimes.com
PELLEY: “.. And about four hours after our deadline, Bari Weiss sends an email to my boss, Tanya Simon. Two of the things in the email include, can we make the protesters look more violent?” @nytimes.com $PSKY www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/m...
💥 In Donetsk region, birds are building nests from drone fiber optics.
Analysis by @sanjanamv.bsky.social on Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Lebanon and the dangers it poses to public health and the land, with a reference to @baydoun.nl's visual database documenting its use and commentary from @wammezz.bsky.social. .
What Visual Evidence Tells Us About Israel’s Use of White Phosphorus in Lebanon
nytimes.com
New Fed SHED survey: 6% percent of homeowners went without homeowners insurance, a majority because of cost. Among owners with insurance, 20% said they could not afford as much coverage as they wanted, while 14% said they struggled to afford the premiums. www.federalreserve.gov/publications...
NEW: More than half the U.S. is in drought. But few places are dealing with the kind of crisis facing Corpus Christi, Tex., which could see water demand outstrip supply w/in a year. One official told me: "This is actually the canary in the coal mine. 🎁: www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/u...
A Texas City Bet Big on Industry. Now It’s Running Out of Water.
nytimes.com
Georgia's governor signs a comically transparent law. It makes local elections in 5 big blue counties nonpartisan, to give GOP candidates a chance to win without a party label in places like Atlanta. And it doesn't change anything in the rest of the state, for red counties to know who's GOP.
Brian Kemp signs law making many metro Atlanta races nonpartisan
The law applies to most local government races in Democratic-dominated areas. A court challenge is expected.
ajc.com
Great visual explainer by Agnes Chang and @pablorobles.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Long Journey From the Strait of Hormuz to the Gas Tank
Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopened today, oil would still take more than a month to reach consumers. The economic shock from the Iran war could take far longer to ease.
nytimes.com
