Pat Bagley always nails it.

Pat Bagley@bagleycartoons.bsky.social · 6d ago

Mad Men

Was poking around in the Dept. of Ed Equity in Athletics database and thought it would be fun to make a chart showing how university spending per athlete has changed over the years, particularly in the post-NIL era. I chose to use the Big 12 conference as an example (personal bias).

When I read about this kind of stuff, along with the restriction of FEMA aid to blue states, there's a part of me that is very much in favor of blue states banding together to secede from the union. Because this is not a federation.

Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social · 2w ago

Next time someone accuses me of “making science partisan” I’m going to throw the physical NYT edition of this article at their head. These people are operating in bad faith…we have a mountain of evidence. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

3. I know this will strain credulity, but at times it seems as if the report's author Michael Kratsios has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. Take this statement. As a former member of a department of biological sciences and a department of life sciences, I have no idea what this means.

It's important to realize that Trump's science advisor Michael Kratsios, now presiding over the destruction of US science, has no science training at all. His primary professional accomplishment is loyalty to Peter Thiel, and helping Peter's Clarium Capital lose over a billion dollars 1/

capitolhunters@capitolhunters.bsky.social · last yr.

Today 19 Dem Senators helped enable both Trump's attack on science and the techbro power grab by confirming the most unqualified person ever to lead the Office of Science & Technology Policy: a non-scientist (BA in politics) who spent 8 years working for Peter Thiel. 1/

Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

Once you understand that this is a model of science written by non-scientists who hate universities but love venture capital and redirecting money to political allies, everything makes a lot more sense. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

For those who work in science editing and writing, I have a whole playlist of relevant podcasts gathered over the past few years to share here if you are interested: open.spotify.com/playlist/27B...

Science Editor Podcasts

Playlist · RobL · 44 items

open.spotify.com

I took a hard look at the financial donors to ICE’s biggest supporters in Congress. These are people who want to significantly expand ICE’s power and have sponsored or co-sponsored legislation to do so. Here are the top 25 consumer brands bankrolling the biggest ICE supporters in Congress:

A good review of the history, and where things stand, with the depleting Great Salt Lake. utahn.com/the-water-we...

The Water We Ship to China

The Great Salt Lake is turning to dust, and the dust is turning toward us.

utahn.com

Ooh, we get to have some Risk Factor Discourse this smokey Friday afternoon! So the first thing: this headline (and the article) are supremely dumb, though not necessarily in obvious ways (but often in obvious ways). So what do SEC filings show? And what does it mean? It's time for Discourse! 1/

Forbes@forbes.com · 3w ago

SEC filings show Taco Bell—and other restaurants—knew cyclospora posed a risk to their businesses and the public.

A $50 air filter, fyi. It's loud and not sealed great around the edges but you can fix that with duct tape it. Not fancy but it does what it does: pulls air through an HVAC filter of your choice, which are a lot cheaper to replace than proprietary brand ones. www.homedepot.com/p/Lasko-Air-...

The world would be a better place if some dudes would realize that the natural decline in testosterone that occurs in your late 20s coincides with the time when you are likely to be raising children, and that's actually a good thing. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Pete Hegseth says soldiers over age 30 to be screened for testosterone deficiency

US defense secretary unveils plan that will work to ensure service members have the ‘right testosterone levels’

theguardian.com

It's got to be hard to separate the signal from the noise in this scenario. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Authorities investigate Taco Bell and lettuce in multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak

Authorities have not yet identified a produce grower or supplier responsible for the outbreak that has hospitalized more than 80 people.

washingtonpost.com

Remember the Biosphere 2 fiasco of the early 90s? Well, it's still there in Arizona and they still do some cool research there. AND, they are looking for a director. Not a job opp you'll see every day! Check it out: arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

This is why it is so valuable to use your own words in any political advocacy situation, folks.

Jeremy Yoder says no war@jbyoder.org · 3w ago

Holy COW. Text analysis of comments on the OMB rule: overwhelming opposition, overwhelmingly not form letters. (But 9 in 10 comments supporting the rule ARE form responses, LOL) Whatever happens next, folks have stepped up.

i’ve spent enough time on r/tragedeigh to be about 90% certain that Bryttanni is from Utah

Ok, if you insist, here's a video of my baby killifish having a nibble on freshly hatched brine shrimp. So adorable, right?

Dog rescued in Venezuela after 6 days in rubble! Such goodness all around 😍

Following the tragic news of a missing autistic boy that was found in a pool, a local restaurant's Facebook page decided to post some terrible comments about the boy's family, their nationality, and their religion, adding to the tragedy. www.yahoo.com/news/us/arti...

Taste of Italy condemned for comments after boy's death

Boycott demanded after anti-Muslim remarks posted online, drawing apology from Frank Cappello, owner of Latham restaurant.

yahoo.com

A really eye-opening recent Frontline episode about baby brokers, adoption tourism, and the exploitive gray areas of adoption. Also touches on why so much of it happens in Utah. Good news is that some laws are hopefully improving. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLfV...

For-Profit Adoptions & Misconduct Allegations (full documentary) | FRONTLINE (PBS) + Retro Report

YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official

youtube.com

My latest story for @scenichudson.bsky.social is about some ice caves and a blind crustacean that lives in them. For the story, I got to squirm deep into the caves with a local biologist. I may have cracked a rib in the process, but stil worth it. www.scenichudson.org/viewfinder/s...

Secrets of the Sam's Point Ice Caves

Hudson Valley Viewfinder is a collaborative digital magazine celebrating the inspirational beauty of Hudson Valley communities and nature.

scenichudson.org

The best place to be in academia right now is probably teaching at a small liberal arts college with a small research project mostly aided by undergrads. Terrifying headlines for everyone else. www.wmar2news.com/news/region/...

Over 100 Johns Hopkins University employees laid off due to cuts in federal research funding

Johns Hopkins University has laid off more than 100 employees amid a $500M drop in federal research funding, with major grants cut and new initiatives launched to stabilize its research programs.

wmar2news.com

Like Moneyball, but Seinfeld. Quite the labor of love. Bravo!

Andy Kirk@visualisingdata.com · last mo.

People of Bluesky, may I present to you 'The Seinfeld Chronicles: Digital Edition' seinfeld.visualisingdata.com

Foundational! "The scientist doing basic research may not be at all interested in the practical applications of his work, yet the further progress of industrial development would eventually stagnate if basic scientific research were long neglected." From Science: The Endless Frontier, Bush, 1945

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist@princess-vimentin.bsky.social · last mo.

Labor share of income--the "fraction of economic output paid to workers as wages and salaries"--is at its lowest-ever level since WWII. @federalreserve.gov

For a guy who doesn't really care about pop music, I'm becoming very much a fan of Olivia Rodrigo as a human while remaining agnostic about Olivia Rodrigo as a musician (until I actually listen to her music).

Stereogum@stereogum.com · last mo.

Olivia Rodrigo announces her own all-women music festival, Daisy Chain Fields, featuring Chappell Roan, Bikini Kill, the Breeders, and many more

When Trump went to war with Iran, I watched every speech anyone in the administration gave and made a chart of every reason given for going to war "Eliminate ballistic capability" was the #1 reason given: more even than preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon

Iran War Reasons Chart.xlsx

docs.google.com

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

Trump endorses Iran having ballistic missiles: "I'm saying that if other countries have them, it's a little unfair for them not to have some"

When I was a young college student, I worked part-time for this little spin-out company in the U. of Utah Research Park that made microelectrode implants for animal experiments, at that time. Fun to see updates about that technology, such as this one in Nature today. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

At-home brain implant gives man with motor neuron disease his daily life back

The device has helped a man with motor neuron disease communicate and control his computer for nearly two years.

nature.com

If the Reflecting Pool holds 6,750,000 gallons of water [1], and you need a final concentration of 80 ppm H2O2 to shock kill algae [2], how many gallons of 12% H2O2 would you need to add to the pool to kill the algae? I'm a bit rusty on Chem 101 math, but I came up with 4,508 gallons.