My god. A Virginia data center ran backup diesel generators full blast for 24 hours, creating a giant cloud of toxic smoke that choked its human neighbors. The government claimed there was nothing they could do.

Virginia Data Center Ran Diesel Generators for 24 Hours. Residents Fled Their Homes

Virginia data center diesel generators ran nearly 24 hours during a Code Red alert, leaving neighbors with no regulatory recourse under current state permits.

gadgetreview.com

Trump announced that a group of companies—including OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Palantir, and Amazon—have committed over $2.4 billion to accelerate American scientific research. In other words, he's replacing established research institutions with the corporations that have curried favor with him.

Trump calls on AI to speed up science—while continuing to defund it

Tech firms are giving big to a White House AI science program amid the destruction of institutions like the NIH.

motherjones.com

How I arrived on Bluesky

Dog's Shocked Reaction in Car

Alt: A dog with reddish blonde fur sitting in a car, apparently at night, its eyes so wide open that the whites are visible. It glances from side to side in apparent nervousness, first by moving only its eyes then by moving its entire head.

static.klipy.com

Wanted: children to rear harvest mice at home for wild release in Devon

Wanted: children to rear harvest mice at home for wild release in Devon

Teenagers Eva Wishart and Emily Smith launch project to breed and release 250 of the tiny animals by September Children in Devon are being invited to become “citizen captive breeders”, rearing harvest mice at home for release into the wild to help revive endangered nature. Wild Pets, a new conservation project launched by two 14-year-old friends, is seeking 20 Devon-based children to rear hundreds of mice after the duo’s own successful restoration efforts. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

some top researchers in my field have been replacing their cut NSF funding with crowd sourcing (the Go Fund Me is still active to support this project if you can! We need help doing DEI work in US science now more than ever): www.gofundme.com/f/flocks-for...

Donate to Help Flocks take flights for ornithologists!, organized by Ashley Dayer

We all need a space to feel we belong and where we are supported. This is wh… Ashley Dayer needs your support for Help Flocks take flights for ornithologists!

gofundme.com

This is Huckleberry, an animal ambassador at the Nashville Zoo. Huckleberry is a Javan ferret-badger (Melogale orientalis) & I think he is amazing, but you need to meet the rest of the ferret-badger crew (babies incoming 😃). Let's learn about ferret-badgers!

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 325-to-1 Trickle-down economics was always a sham. Nothing has ever trickled down.

This is the most heartbreaking stories I’ve heard in a long time. ICE detained 2-year-old Orlin Hernandez Reyes’ mother. She begged to be reunited with him before deportation. ICE refused. What happened next is horrific. No matter how you feel about immigration, normal people don’t like cruelty.

At least 56 people have died in ICE custody during Trump’s second term. According to ICE’s internal reviews, detention staff did not provide sufficient medical care to at least six of those detainees. ICE has now taken down those reviews from its website. What other cruelty is ICE trying to hide?

ICE Deleted Reviews for Deaths in Custody That Cited Shoddy Medical Care

Three-quarters of ICE’s own 2025 death reviews, briefly posted online, raised substandard and “inappropriate” care of il

theintercept.com

A new federal rule weakens the Endangered Species Act by redefining "harm" to wildlife. This change makes it much harder to protect the habitats that endangered species need to survive. Tell Congress to undo this change and protect endangered species here: mbayaq.co/4xSPQUZ

Stand with the Aquarium for Endangered Species - title

mbayaq.co

Massive new review paper out on the causes of insect population declines. It's not great news, BUT if we pay attention, we can still turn things around. 🧪🦋 academic.oup.com/aesa/advance...

Drivers of insect decline: direct, indirect, and combined pressures

Abstract. Reductions in insect biodiversity are widely documented and result from numerous pressures that operate from local to global scales. Identifying

academic.oup.com

Not “mind-boggling.” Trump has made our once-beloved country an unwelcoming place and an unsafe place for foreign visitors.

Semafor@semafor.com · 2w ago

Visitors to the US are on track to drop by almost two million year-on-year. “We’re the only major country in the world losing visitation,” the head of the US Travel Association said. “It’s mind-boggling.” www.semafor.com/article/09/2...

James Tornetta Photographer "Every fall, hundreds of thousands of Tree Swallows descend on the lower Connecticut River during migration. Just before sunset, they gather into enormous swirling clouds before the entire flock suddenly pours into the reeds to roost in a matter of seconds."

Samuel Gonzalez Terrones left ICE a final message before he committed suicide: “I hope it was worth it.” ICE kidnapped his mother, who was the only person who helped calm him when schizophrenia and depression pushed him into a crisis. He was 21. Share this with everyone if you hate ICE.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

Antarctic winter sea ice falls to third-lowest level on record as scientists warn of ‘now problem’

Coverage levels fall a million square kilometres short of the long-term average, with global heating likely driving losses

theguardian.com

This is a photo of our home planet taken only a few hours ago! So what? We have photos of Earth taken from space every day. Ah, but *this* photo was taken by a spacecraft ON ITS WAY TO JUPITER.

Meta, one of the world's largest wildlife market, settled for billions of dollars and agreed to change its apps for child safety. As Facebook provides all the key functions wildlife poachers and traders need, Meta should do the same for wildlife. gitoc.substack.com/p/metas-171-... 🌏

Meta's $17.1 billion settlement could reshape Facebook's wildlife market

Meta can redesign the systems that enable several harms at once, or adopt narrow privacy measures that give traffickers better cover

gitoc.substack.com

As more information emerges, it’s seeming like intentional financial mismanagement from Drexel. They must be held accountable.

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.@sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 2w ago

The doors of the Academy of Natural Sciences will be closing on Sunday...for now. But this isn't over. We're meeting at the Academy of Natural Sciences when doors close to gather for a moment of resolve followed by a march to City Hall. Join us. art by @lindzeamays.bsky.social luma.com/7ggkgtjb

When farms stop yielding, hunger does not knock — it breaks the door. Across the Horn of Africa, soils that once fed nations are turning barren. This is not “bad weather.” This is climate change rewriting our food systems in real time.

From @gaigedavila.bsky.social : Time is running out for the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, once called a "crown jewel" of protected spaces in the U.S. Can one last lawsuit slow down the border wall until Congress can act?

Santa Ana's Last Stand

Congress repeatedly shielded the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge from the border wall. Now, construction has begun—and an irrigation district lawsuit may be the only option left to buy time for…

texasobserver.org

Jim Henson would have been 90 (yup, you read that right: NINETY) years old today. You can celebrate his life by celebrating creativity, diversity, peace, imagination, and silliness.

"When I think of global climate change, my heart sinks at the enormity of such a challenge, and the tendency is to lose hope. Yet, if Magan and Daltun have shown us anything, it is that we can all improve the world right here, on our doorstep, acre by acre." www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

I’ve lived in city centres for 20 years, and my dream of planting a native Irish forest is getting urgent

Manchán Magan and Eoghan Daltun have shown us we can improve the world right here on our doorstep, acre by acre

irishtimes.com

After a ferocious monsoon thunderstorm this afternoon, nature rewarded us with a rainbow. Rainbow Grasshopper, Dactylotum bicolor. Bisbee, Arizona. #insects 🌿🦑

The rule they are overturning was predicted to give $120 billion in public health benefits by 2047, with projections that by 2035, it would would prevent up to 1,200 premature deaths, 870 hospital and emergency room visits, 360K asthma attacks, 48K school absence days and 57K lost workdays each year

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 4w ago

Breaking News: The E.P.A. is said to be planning to announce that the U.S. will no longer limit climate pollution from power plants.

Irish President Connolly is also a clinical psychologist. She had his number, and kicked his fat ass. It infuriates him to be outdone by a woman. She totally understood the assignment.

It’s astonishing to see this, even though we saw it coming months ago. White = 10°F + above normal in the El Niño regions. Its immense! In the air, a regional warming of 10° is no big deal. But in the ocean it’s immense! Think about how hard it is/ how long it takes to cool/ heat your pool. 1/

We need justice for Alex Pretti. And this witness is incredibly brave. Story: buff.ly/q8cY7JB

Make a band edible: Almond Joy Division The Carbs Macaroon 5 Buns N' Roses Pain Halen The Bland Reinterpretation edition: Wings Kiss The Turtles Blondie The Specials The Jam The Platters The Sweet Leopards only: Small Faces RFK Jr. only: Roadkill Raccoon Skunk

Richard Waite@waiterich.bsky.social · 4w ago

Make a band edible: Radicchiohead

Make a band edible: Hootie and the Carefully Prepared by a Trained and Licensed Chef Blowfish

John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 4w ago

Make a band edible: Blancmange youtu.be/ukLGrA2ryYY

If you’ve ever taken the oath to uphold the Constitution, this is the time to live up to it.