Trees! Trees! Trees!

Urban trees aren't just nice, scientists say — they're mandatory

Researchers are calling for cities to double down on one of the simplest yet most powerful solutions to many problems - planting more trees.

grist.org

Glad that professional societies are taking stances on a proposed OMB rule about the awarding and management of federal grants across all agencies I'm working on my comment now. If you are US-based and have an interest in US science & technology, please take some time to write a comment as well 🧪💡

🪼 Your tax dollars paid a scientist to squeeze jellyfish through cheesecloth. Osamu Shimomura processed tens of thousands on an NSF grant to understand why they glow. He found a protein that glowed green under UV light. Called it "green protein." Nobody cared. For decades.

Orlando Rojas (University of British Columbia) opens Adapting for Tomorrow: Programmable Bio-Matter with his keynote: Cellulose: Interface Engineering for Sustainable Nanogenerators @news.ubc.ca #SPIEsmart

Hey y'all. I'm hiring. Are you interested in building instruments for astrophysics? wd5.myworkdaysite.com/recruiting/u...

The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023. The Cato study provides the first-ever 30-year analysis of the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets. https://ow.ly/jy8a50Y8kM3

what you clearly see, CLEARLY, is a driver who is spooked by the agents grabbing her door, takes steps to drive away, and is immediately shot as moves her vehicle *away* from the agents.

Mike Hixenbaugh@mikehixenbaugh.com · 7mo ago

Forensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.

Biggest technological revolution in our lifetime and it's not AI:

Science Magazine@science.org · 8mo ago

Science has named the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy worldwide as the 2025 Breakthrough of the Year. Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/493Tpgx

THREAD. A collection of photographs of excellent goats I have met during walks in the British countryside. You will find the captions to each photo in the alt text.

China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months, starting in March 2024. This trend continued in the third quarter of 2025, when emissions were unchanged year-on-year. If this trend starts to move into sustained carbon emissions reduction it would be hugely significant.

Sharing for awareness: For those able and willing to help, the Embassy of Jamaica in DC is coordinating disaster relief in the U.S. They have asked folks to reach out to them at disasterresponse@jamaicaembassy.org to coordinate support. The government has info on donations supportjamaica.gov.jm

Study after study shows that it's remarkably cheap and easy to solve the problems of homelessness and poverty with low-barrier supportive housing and universal basic income, but our own fear that someone, somewhere will get something they didn't "earn" keeps us looking for other (punitive) options.

Brent Toderian@brenttoderian.bsky.social · 10mo ago

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.” It costs a lot less to house people.

30 years ago, Black men gathered in Washington, D.C. for the historic Million Man March. Today, we honor the legacy, the message, and the movement. That spirit lives on. We must continue the fight alongside our brothers and sisters in a struggle that’s so much bigger than us. ✊🏿 #MillionManMarch

You're living through one of the biggest technological transformations in world history and it has nothing to do with AI

Jan Rosenow@janrosenow.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Grid scale batteries are changing our electricity system. Excellent new visual story on batteries in FT today shows just how far this technology has evolved. Fasten your seatbelts, this is just the beginning. ig.ft.com/mega-batteri...

We've known for a while that satellite mega-constellations like SpaceX's Starlink are a problem for optical astronomy. Now, a new survey shows they're also adversely affecting radio astronomy – including at wavelengths supposedly protected by international regs. 🔭⚛️🧪 physicsworld.com/a/starlink-s...

Starlink satellite emissions interfere with radio astronomy – Physics World

Largest-ever survey shows new regulations on unintended transmissions are needed, say researchers at Australia’s Curtin University

physicsworld.com

EVERYONE STOP EVERYTHING Mychal the Librarian is hosting the Reading Rainbow revival!!! reactormag.com/reading-rain...

Reading Rainbow Is Back, With Mychal the Librarian Hosting! - Reactor

The butterfly is back in the sky; can’t wait to fly twice as high.

reactormag.com

Even if you were going to pick an example of overreach in the UK, the fact that the country labels supporters of Palestine Action as terrorists is probably a bigger free speech threat right now than defending the right of a man to make violent threats against a marginalized group.

Adrian Daub@adriandaub.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Using a piece in The Atlantic to throw up a JD Vance-shaped bat signal in support of your little fasho buddy really tells you everything about reactionary centrism circa 2025

This is devastating, and part of a larger move to entirely push science out of NASA's mission. It is horrific betrayal of so much work, not to mention the fact that it violates NASA's charter.

Jennifer Ouellette@jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 12mo ago

NASA’s acting chief calls for the end of Earth science at the space agency arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...

Y'all need to read this

Sherrilyn Ifill@sifill.bsky.social · last yr.

One of our earliest civil rights statutes was designed to protect us against masked gangs who violate our constitutional rights. This particular history makes the masked ICE gangs uniquely repugnant. open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...

The only appropriate response to what Trump is doing is impeachment and removal from office. Elected officials who are not working toward this goal with urgency are helping to destroy the constitution and the rule of law.

Musk casually demonstrating the huge risk of placing systemic faith in software which can be casually adjusted to suit the political goals of a multi-billionaire. (Trusting the free market to resolve this is naive as hell)

Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · last yr.

“You are being updated this week.” (MM and RS are Media Matters and Rolling Stone)

sheer expenditure on AI feels like a profound misallocation of resources

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

this is appreciated, and not at all saying this is the only direction compromise needs to go, but liberals working with the left towards a popular front rather than punching left really needs to happen if we’re going to get out of this in a way that doesn’t just create the same cycle.

Ryland@rfaller317.bsky.social · last yr.

Yes. And it is going to take progressive liberals, like me, curbing the desire to argue with the slightest misgivings of others and rally around the moment. Stopping fascism.

Under the proposed White House budget, the NASA Space Grant program would be eliminated. I was a NASA Space Grant recipient during my Masters—it funded my research on water on Mars. I then went on to work in science & mission ops on multiple NASA Mars missions immediately after graduation. (1/2)

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum marks the 400th anniversary of the Yamaki Pine, an ancient tree that survived the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and has since become a symbol of peace.

Washington honors an ancient tree that survived Hiroshima

The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum marks the 400th anniversary of the Yamaki Pine, an ancient tree that survived the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and has since become a symbol of peace.

npr.org

Science Magazine gets it wrong. 🧵

Kai Kupferschmidt@kakape.bsky.social · last yr.

“Her departure, which she announced this morning in an essay in Time, is believed to be the first time in the agency’s 75-year history that a member of the 24-person board resigned over a policy disagreement with an administration” @policyhound.bsky.social on Alondra Nelson’s bombshell resignation 🧪

It's that time of year again. Please send us your ideas on how to use astronomy in some way to make the world a better place! (deadline 31 May 2025) @astro4dev.bsky.social astro4dev.org/iau-oad-2025...

IAU OAD 2025 Grants Open: Astronomy to Promote Sustainable Development - IAU Office of Astronomy for Development

What is the role of discovery sciences in global development? Can astronomers contribute their skills to solve local and global challenges? The IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) has launch...

astro4dev.org