Facts worth repeating: It would be cheaper to pay the ~40,000 or so people employed by the coal industry $1M a year to do nothing than to pay for the health damages (not including climate change) caused by burning coal in the U.S. publichealth.hsc.wvu.edu/news/story?h...

Counting up the costs of coal

Regular readers know that WVU’s Dr. Michael Hendryx has done work on that issue (subscription required), reporting that:

publichealth.hsc.wvu.edu

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument special issue! @geopetalfabric.bsky.social, Joshua Xavier Samuels, and I did a character analysis of the oreodonts (sheep-camel-pig-like things) from the John Day region. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A character analysis of oreodonts (Superfamily Merycoidodontoidea) in the John Day region of Oregon, USA | Journal of Paleontology | Cambridge Core

A character analysis of oreodonts (Superfamily Merycoidodontoidea) in the John Day region of Oregon, USA

cambridge.org

A reminder that the Black and Indigenous Scholars Award in Mammalogy is now accepting applications for awards of up to $1500 to support the further development of mammalogy by Black/African American, African, and Indigenous individuals. www.mammalsociety.org/form/black-i...

The sixth paper in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument special issue is out! Alex Lowe and others talk plants and ecosystem evolution from the Mascall Formation. doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

Vegetation, climate, and age of the mid-Miocene Mascall flora reinvestigated: leeward environments of the Cascade Mountains | Journal of Paleontology | Cambridge Core

Vegetation, climate, and age of the mid-Miocene Mascall flora reinvestigated: leeward environments of the Cascade Mountains

doi.org

And, for bonus reading, the story of how the carbon component was extracted from the ecological footprint concept and popularized by fossil fuel companies:

The Carbon Footprint Sham

“This is one of the most successful, deceptive PR campaigns maybe ever.”

mashable.com

The fourth paper of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument special issue is out! @geopetalfabric.bsky.social, Joshua X. Samuels, and I look at the biostigraphy of oreodonts (sheep-camel-pig-like critters) in the John Day basin. doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

A revision of the biostratigraphy of oreodonts (superfamily Merycoidodontoidea) in the John Day region of Oregon, USA | Journal of Paleontology | Cambridge Core

A revision of the biostratigraphy of oreodonts (superfamily Merycoidodontoidea) in the John Day region of Oregon, USA

doi.org

The fifth paper of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument special issue came out today! Samantha Hopkins and Jonathan Calede describe mountain beaver material from Oregon and Montana, and name new species. doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

New material and two new species of the poorly known rodent Rudiomys (Aplodontiidae: Meniscomyinae) from the late Oligocene John Day Formation of Oregon and the Renova Formation of Montana | Journal o...

New material and two new species of the poorly known rodent Rudiomys (Aplodontiidae: Meniscomyinae) from the late Oligocene John Day Formation of Oregon and the Renova Formation of Montana

doi.org

Nancy Grace Roman was paid 60% of her male colleague's wages. 'the Nobel prize-winning physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar ... told her: “We don’t discriminate against women. We can just get them for less.”' #WomenInSTEM 🧪 🔭

Nasa’s new telescope is named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman – but who was she?

The US astronomer battled discrimination in a male dominated field.

theconversation.com

Perseids xkcd.com/3287/

Wildfires are 4 times more likely to start near roads than in roadless areas. More roads = more fire. Trump is selling out your public lands for development while over 2.6 million acres of Oregon burn in a record wildfire season.

The Oregonian@oregonian.com · last mo.

The 2 million Oregon acres include areas such as Lost Lake and Mirror Lake near Mount Hood, plus sections of the Pacific Crest Trail and Timberline Trail. https://mrf.lu/2R-8x

Y'all they tryna sell Sunlight now, we can't have nothing 😭

I had a whole thread on this recently as an example of “shifting baselines.” Meanwhile, corporations are raking in record-breaking profits.

Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse

Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?

theguardian.com

This actually is the root of a lot of my anger and frustration, and yes, grief. I spent years crafting accessible classrooms, advocating for tech, and now every measure I use for access is misused by (mostly able-bodied) students who want to cheat with gAI. And our institutions are no fucking help.

David M. Perry@lollardfish.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I spent years fighting for tech in the classroom for disability access reasons, arguing that no, accommodation wasn't enough, go for universal design. I've given up. I've lost. AI humping motherfuckers ruined it. As they ruin everything.

We already do this and companies who want them are happy to pay for PhD student interns. Why do precious and limited NSF funds need to be deployed for this? Most PhD student pursue industry jobs anyways - that has always been true. Use NSF funds to support basic science that industry wont support!

Jonathan Wosen@jonathanwosen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

With academic jobs few and far between, the NSF is testing a new approach to graduate education: Giving Ph.D. students industry experience — and dollars — as part of their training. For more, see my latest for @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/h...

Insurance is a subscription you buy that provides a service when there's a disaster, but if there actually is a disaster, they penalize you and raise your rates, which is like if Netflix put a strike on your account every time you watched a movie

New study shows that — contra widely accepted narratives — there is NO EVIDENCE that professors change their students’ politics and make them more liberal through their teaching

Do you like getting candids of wildlife? Do you like free things? #BlackMammalogistsWeek @browningtrailcams.bsky.social

The natural history collections at the University of Texas, holding maybe 5 million specimens, is partly closed down because our buildings are falling apart and UT is doing the bare minimum of life support. We could fix it for 1/5th the price of a vanity purchase of a single dinosaur specimen.

AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · 3mo ago

🦖 A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed 'Gus' sells for $50.1 million at Sotheby's in New York, making it the most valuable dinosaur fossil bought at auction after a 10-minute battle between seven bidders u.afp.com/SKv4

My coauthor Jay Falk's postdoctoral fellowship was terminated by the Trump administration for documenting the hummingbird example in this paper.

Andy Lee, PhD@andylee.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In our Viewpoint (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...) we synthesize the gametic definition (outlined by Janicke et al below) and other definitions of sex (e.g., multivariate definition). We contend that is NO consensus on “biological sex” (maybe a consensus isn’t actually necessary…)

There's an OMB rule change that would require political oversight of scientific grants, and could pull any that don't "reflect presidential priorities" Another country has tried this before! It was the USSR and it was called Lysenkoism. By @thsaey.bsky.social www.sciencenews.org/article/omb-...

Here’s what happens when you put politicians in charge of science

Proposed federal rules would rely on political appointees to decide how a lot of U.S. science gets done. History shows the consequences of such actions.

sciencenews.org

Economists, man. They just do not live in the same reality as the rest of us.

Gwen C. Katz@gwenckatz.bsky.social · 2y ago

This

In addition to producing hazardous air pollution and endangering pets and wildlife, fireworks make the 4th of July the most common day for human-started wildfires in the US. The West is a tinderbox - maybe it’s time to consider alternatives without catastrophic consequences.

If this proposed rule is finalized, it will make #research #funding highly unpredictable, allow current and future administrations to suddenly cancel grants for political reasons and weaken the system that has supported American innovation for years..." www.axios.com/sponsored/gr... see description

Being American has little to do with how long your family has been in America. JD Vance disagrees, but, then, 1 in 6 immigrants have been here longer than him. www.ctinsider.com/columnist/ar...

My family has been here since 1621. That is not what makes me American.

Let's look at ancestry, immigration, Revolutionary War service and July 4 as the United States marks its 250th birthday.

ctinsider.com

The NPS will launch 850,000 fireworks in the middle of the night. (Last year, they launched 7,000) That will dump perchlorates and heavy metals into the Potomac River and cause the amount of soot and smoke particles to skyrocket (pardon), at great danger to any creature that breathes.

Bill Kuchman@billkuchman.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"The Park Service, in a separate document, similarly said that people should ‘wear an n95 mask when outdoors’ and ‘remain indoors as much as possible during and after the show.’” The guidance is to remain indoors ... during the fireworks. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Many animals rely on darkness to rest, feed, move safely and find their way. But artificial light can disturb these natural rhythms, including for migratory species like sea turtles, bats & birds. Watch this video to learn how small changes at home and in our communities can help protect wildlife.

The third paper for those special issue on John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is out! @jdorcutt.bsky.social, two of his students, and I describe bear-dog material as well as add two new dog ancestors in the John Day Formation. doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

I’ve been thinking a lot about the shifting baseline concept as applied to everyday life. People in their 20’s now have no memory of highly functional systems, products (from blenders to sweaters) that were so well made you could hand them down across generations, or even helpful customer service.

Over 50 years later, this anti-Vietnam War PSA still rings true.

The drop in teen moms is one of the most major factors driving birth rate declines. We've gone from >80 per 1,000 15- to 19-year-olds in 1950 to 50 per 1,000 in 2000 to 12.7 today! This fact needs to be at the forefront of every discussion about birth rates