Aside from who started it, states like CA and VA putting a counter-gerrymander up to a referendum, where people are told and can make a decision on the context for why it's being done, has vastly more democratic legitimacy than state legislators rushing it through because they got bullied by POTUS.
But again I’m probably over-complicating it. Obama vs Trump may have just been the ballgame.
I just have a baseline assumption that barely anyone does even a small amount of research, and if you lived in a red county this vote was existential, while blue counties had to get *more* people out for a complicated higher cause. Plus even the fervent yes’ers were like “We wish we didn’t have to”
I’m a little amazed Yes won in Virginia. Continue to think the No ads had a clearer, tighter message for people who don’t live on this website, but I’m guessing “Obama + Spanberger say vote against Trump” is what NoVA actually heard
Great piece
The IHRA definition of antisemitism could make it impossible to teach Yeshayahu Leibowitz. forward.com/opinion/8197...
Embedding robots with an internal understanding of their own joint limits, or kinematic intelligence, can enable transfer learning across various robot types after a single demonstration.
Learn more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/48JhbyT
No beak? No problem. Despite his disability, Bruce the parrot beats all of his rivals in combat. He's done it by inventing a fighting style reminiscent of jousting or fencing. “He doesn’t have to open his bill. He’s just got this dagger.” Really fun story by @phiejacobs.bsky.social for @science.org
The April 2026 issue of #ScienceRobotics is out!
This month's cover highlights large behavior models that can outperform single-task policies at complex manipulation tasks like installing a bike rotor. Learn more about this research and more: https://scim.ag/4tKExMC
An infographic titled "Magnolia molecules: perfume and medicines" details the plant's chemistry. Pink petals contain cyanidin and peonidin pigments. Aroma molecules include aldehydes like 2-nonenal and heptanal, and terpenes like alpha-pinene and linalool. Medicinal bark compounds include magnolol and honokiol, which have antioxidant properties. It also highlights yulanosides, unique phenylethanoid glycosides. Chemical structures for these compounds surround a central magnolia branch photo.
Did you know magnolia petals are edible?
I didn't until this year, and discovering that they are led me to this exploration of magnolia chemistry (and experiments in making magnolia gin).
Learn more in the graphic here: www.compoundchem.com/2026/04/20/m...
#ChemSky 🧪
Some major steelmakers and start-ups have started investing in alternative technologies to make steel, mostly using green hydrogen or electrochemistry to reduce iron oxides to iron.
#ChemistsCelebrateEarthWeek #CCEW #EarthWeek #chemsky 🧪
Webinar on Wednesday about U.S. budget proposal for science funding
aaas.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Toss in your tv when the Bills lose in the playoffs next year? Maybe just having it there will change your fortunes….
Going on record ahead of time. I will be surprised if “yes” wins in Virginia tomorrow, independent of my view of the merits. But we’ll see!
Matutinal? Really?
The reason people care about missing flights is that there aren’t a lot of them! It’s not like missing a train. If it just doesn’t matter when you get somewhere, you have an enviably flexible life😭
I mean there’s also a high chance you miss an important destination commitment, especially on business (which has happened to me). This whole discourse is bizarre. It’s not neurotic to plan ahead!
The Athletic | The New York Mets are playing baseball the right way.
by Ezra Klein
Great Muppet Caper is the best Muppet movie sorry
lmk next time you’re in DC🤣 I have tried and failed
This is actually a question, not rhetorical. So if you know (or feel like making up something that sounds right or is funny), please tell me🙃
Is there anything you hate more than you hate tedious social media discourse about it? I think for me the answer might be no🤣
You know how in a lot of toilets there’s a chain on a suction cup and it’s just open enough that sometimes it slides off the suction cup, and you then have to muck around reattaching it? Why isn’t it just crimped closed all the time?
literally every day my wife or I go outside with our daughter people go out of their way to be friendly, offer aid or a kind word, no matter where we've traveled. it's nice to remember that hostility as default mode of interaction is not destiny, much as it benefits some to pretend it is
Honored to have been able to engage with this new book (THE EDGE OF SPACE-TIME) by theoretical physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (@chanda.blacksky.app), recently published in Science Magazine (@science.org).
I’m partial to next week’s cover (just wait—I can see the future), but this is such a gorgeous moonlit photo by Pete McBride😍
Too late😭 It’s gone
A Dijon mustard container with the safety seal of the lift-and-peel style ripped as I attempted to remove it.
Fire the person who invented this from every job they have, have had, or will have.
