Collage of nine book covers: Strata by Laura Poppick The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything by Peter Brannen A New History of Life by Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink Revolutions That Made the Earth by Tim Lenton and Andrew Watson The Ages of Gaia by James Lovelock The Cosmic Oasis by Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewicz Symbiotic Planet by Lynn Margulis Here on Earth by Tim Flannery The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen

🧵 BOOKS FOR EARTH DAY 🌎

While writing my book, Becoming Earth, I read — and have continued to read — *a lot* of books about our extraordinary planet. Here are a few of my personal favorites, old and new, with a particular focus on Earth as a dynamic, interconnected, evolving system 🧪 📚💙

Every dollar invested in science drives our economy.

Part of science progress which impacts our economy in large ways involves purchasing things that science depends upon (antibodies from mom and pop small businesses, microscopes from large companies, salaries that buy food and houses, etc...)

Planning in the Brain: It's Not What You Think It Is The neuroscience of planning has long been analogized to search algorithms in artificial intelligence (AI), which simulate future actions to guide immediate choices. We argue that advances in both neu...

New Annual Review with @nathanieldaw.bsky.social: “Planning in the Brain: It's Not What You Think It Is.” We argue that the brain's 'planning' machinery is mostly used for learning from simulated experience, and that thinking prospectively at decision time is just one special case of this process.

Career Development Research Fellowship Career Development Research Fellowship in Psychology for full-time research offered by St John’s College to early career researchers who have recently completed or are close to completion of a doctora...

***4-year Career Development Research Fellowship in Psychology now available at Oxford!***

Open to all areas of Psychology, including Cognitive/Behavioural Neuroscience.

PhD in last three years, or be about to submit (some exceptions apply).

Deadline: 21st May.

www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/vac...

Fisherman. We're blowing up fishing boats.

National Science Foundation’s future in limbo as Trump eyes cuts The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) future is in limbo as President Trump pushes for more budget cuts and his nominee to helm the research agency awaits Senate confirmation.  Since Trump’s retu…

'The NSF has only committed $500 million of the $8 billion it was appropriated for the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. The NSF will lose the billions of remaining funding if it does not spend it by Sept. 30.' thehill.com/homenews/adm...

most gerrymanders are republican legislators saying fuck the voters

these ones are the voters saying fuck republican legislators

This is important and shocking news from NYT.

And it doesn’t mention the DRC third-country deportation program has already begun. ICE sent 15 immigrants from Latin American countries there five days ago.

gillianbrockell.com/breaking-ice...

The Executive Orders Blocking Your NIH Grant This image was generated by Google AI (Gemini)

“Congress did fund NIH. That is true. The President signed the appropriation. The money exists.

But the grants are not necessarily moving.”

Great piece from Liz Ginexi detailing why.

Add to this all of this new screening is happening with 20% less staff.

open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

ICE detained more than 70 Minnesota children, data reveals Immigration officials detained more than 70 Minnesota children between Dec. 1 and March 10, a Sahan analysis of court records and federal deportation data shows.

Trump claimed "Operation Metro Surge" targeted the "worst of the worst." In reality, ICE ripped 70 kids away from their families, friends, and schools.

Our children deserve justice and accountability. That starts with abolishing ICE.

sahanjournal.com/immigration/...

"For a while now, I have drawn it on my hand every day to remind myself to always tell the truth. I later discovered that it has traditionally been known as a Jerusalem cross."
??
You didnt know what it was but drew it on your hand? And why are you so tempted to lie that you must inscribe yourself?

“A small number of extreme users constantly post fringe opinions, which creates the illusion that these views are far more widely held than they really are.”

This is a critical concept.
The most powerful tool for deception today is “selected speech” — billionaires boosting ideas they like…

This has been published as part of a special issue on AI for Remote Sensing ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/114...

Another state looks to help protect homes against disasters Colorado weighs a program to pay for installing disaster-resistant roofs in an effort to reduce damage — and property insurance costs.

Just your regular reminder to policymakers that climate change is extremely expensive, and your residents will pay for it one way or another-- so might as well keep and strengthen the climate mitigation policies you have, whose cost pales in comparison:
www.eenews.net/articles/ano...

Tim Cook donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration.

He fawned over Trump and gifted him a 24-karat gold plaque (as Apple lobbied for tariff exemptions).

Apple donated to Trump’s White House ballroom.

And it removed ICE tracking apps from its stores following a demand from the DOJ.

Remember this.

Faculty Defect From Texas Publics, Citing Censorship Fed up with the state’s censoring of Plato, Joan of Arc and Romeo and Juliet, humanities professors are leaving Texas public institutions in pursuit of academic freedom.

'Texas A&M philosophy professor Martin Peterson is leaving the university after administrators told him in January that he couldn’t teach Plato’s Symposium in his philosophy class; they said the ancient Greek philosopher’s work violated the system’s restrictions on gender and sexuality content.' 1/3

Judge sides with creators of banned ICE trackers who allege DHS and DOJ violated their First Amendment rights The Trump administration coerced platforms into removing ICE monitoring projects such as ICE Sightings - Chicagoland and the Eyes Up app, the lawsuit alleges.

"A judge has granted the makers of the 'ICE Sightings - Chicagoland' Facebook group and the Eyes Up app a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from coercing platforms to take these projects down."

TFW you look out the window and see the Earth disappear
🎥 Astronaut Reid Wiseman
📍 Artemis II from the far side of the Moon

Why this NASA climate scientist wants you to stay angry “I don’t think we rebuild science without getting mad.”

"Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are."

One of my favourite quotes, attributed to St Augustine and embodied by @drkatemarine.bsky.social today.

This has been published as part of a special issue on AI for Remote Sensing ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/114...

I saw the phrase "grow out of spite" as a motto for 2025, but "run for office out of spite" is an even better one for 2026

Trump’s federal workforce changes cost the economy more than $165.6B, analysis finds The Partnership for Public Service report includes the costs of the deferred resignation program, severance pay for laid-off civil servants and federal employees who were on paid administrative leave ...

DOGE has backfired horrifically and the people who did this to us must be held accountable.

www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

A federal judge in Illinois today ruled that the Trump administration improperly coerced Facebook and Apple to remove ICE-tracking apps in violation of the First Amendment. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The best case scenario. Where we are as a country.

the basic theory of DOGE was that if powerful people said it was fine it didn’t matter what the law said.

I think proving that theory wrong is worth significant effort

Detoxing my life, resentfully Some thoughts on plastic, power, and personal responsibility.

I've decided to do a stupid plastic detox, but I'm going to infuse my journey with maximum spite over the fact that the only reason I have to do this is because the government has completely abdicated its responsibility to protect public health, biodiversity, and the climate.

Follow along!

‘He Just Lied to America’: Russ Vought Denies Violating Impoundment Laws, Prompting Sharp Response Despite his central role in the Trump administration, Office of Management and...

Just a filthy civic degenerate

‘He Just Lied to America’: Russ Vought Denies Violating Impoundment Laws, Prompting Sharp Response talkingpointsmemo.com/news/he-just...

Evil, evil shit.

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds Exclusive: Climate action blockers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and major fossil fuel firms set to make extra $234bn by end of 2026

Guess who's winning the war? "The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran..."

Saw a video of a dad cutting the grilled cheese in there pieces: two "halves" and one thin rectangle down the middle. He ate the rectangle and the kids were none the wiser about the "halves"