Any astronomers/astrophysicists out there up for a brief chat this week about Super Mario Galaxy? LMK!

Feels like not enough people appreciate the facts that millions of years ago, we shared the Earth with other species of humans or that billions of years ago, our two nearest neighboring planets had rivers, oceans and possibly life.

The deep time perspective is humbling and awe-inspiring.

Last night, Automatic Noodle won the Octavia Butler Award!! I'm so honored and happy!!! 🤖❤️🎉 www.instagram.com/p/DUI5pCokno...

The ‘Burn’ Science You Need to Watch Starfleet Academy The dilithium-fueled disaster that nearly broke the Federation underpins the drama of the latest Star Trek show

Watching Starfleet Academy yet, or planning to do so soon?

Read my way-TMI explainer on the science of The Burn before you start (bonus: you get to learn how a warp drive could actually work AND how future humans solve the mystery of dark matter): www.importantnotimportant.com/p/the-burn-s...

Had a source I really needed to interview who hasn’t responded to calls or emails so this past week I drove to his house and knocked on his door an wound up talking to him for four hours. Turns out he’d just missed me emails. Never be afraid to follow up!

Frankenstein's electrifying take on the nature of life The creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was inspired by real scientific debates over whether electricity can create life.

I had a fascinating chat with @themadstone.bsky.social about Frankenstein a few weeks ago.

A literary scholar explains how ancient myths shape modern AI With generative AI, our stories about artificial beings are coming to life. Are we telling the right ones?

I interviewed the world's first "artificial humanities" expert about how new science fiction can help us build better AI, if only we could get ourselves off narrative tropes from 2,000 years ago www.importantnotimportant.com/p/a-literary...

Andor Shows the Power and Peril of High-Tech Minerals As the quest for Ghorman “kalkite” reveals, access to minerals can make or break empires, while raining riches or curses on mining communities.

On Earth, minerals like neodymium and gallium are becoming the currency of power. The same, apparently, is true for the Star Wars galaxy, at least according to Andor’s fabulous 2nd season.

Please read my latest on why Andor is the best of Star Wars: www.importantnotimportant.com/p/andor-show...

Exciting times ahead! Kaiju science is fascinating—did you know Godzilla's radiation reflects nuclear anxieties? 🌍💥 What real-world actions are you considering? 🪐📚 #SciFi #Kaiju

Important, Not Important Because you give a sh*t. News, essays, and Action Steps so you can understand and help unfuck the world.

Big news in my little corner of the multiverse! The Science of Fiction has a new home over at @important.bsky.social!

That means more posts, plus steps to translate articles on Kaiju science into real-world action.

Sign up here: www.importantnotimportant.com/the-science-...

Microsoft’s Hypocrisy on AI Can artificial intelligence really enrich fossil-fuel companies and fight climate change at the same time? The tech giant says yes.

And it’s MUCH less comment than Microsoft had 10 months ago, when energy division lead Darryl Willis did an entire interview with the Atlantic on this topic.

Guess Microsoft realized engaging with journalists about its oil business wasn’t helping greenwash it 🙃 www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Microsoft employees spent years fighting the tech giant's oil ties. Now, they’re speaking out. Inside the worker-led effort to get the world's most valuable company to stop helping the oil and gas industry drill.

That’s actually less comment than Microsoft had a year ago, when it was praising the Sustainability Connected Community for helping hold it accountable grist.org/accountabili...

He helped Microsoft build AI to help the climate. Then Microsoft sold it to Big Oil. A former Microsoft product manager reveals how the tech giant is using AI to help Big Oil drill—and how he and his partner are now pushing for change.

Nice piece by @emorwee.bsky.social on the former Microsoft employees demanding the company hold itself accountable for its oil contracts.

Astounding that a year after I reported a similar story for @grist.org and @drilledmedia.bsky.social, MFST has no comment!

heated.world/p/he-helped-...

Making our fossil record a better place A Science of Fiction debut!

I'm delighted to share a new guest post from one of my favorite humans, @themadstone.bsky.social‬. Nobody thinks more clearly about the intersection of sci-fi and how it impacts the real world.

Making our fossil record a better place www.importantnotimportant.com/p/making-our...

This is the Science of Fiction’s first crossover with @quinnemmett.bsky.social’s awesome @important.bsky.social focused on using science to unf*ck the world. It includes some of my personal ideas for how to make humanity’s fossil record a bit less disastrous looking—would love to hear yours!

Making our fossil record a better place A Science of Fiction debut!

Imagine, hundreds of millions of years from now, aliens landing on Earth and digging up the fossil remains of an ancient industrial society. What kind of story will our rock record tell?

I lay out some ideas in my latest Science of Fiction piece! www.importantnotimportant.com/p/making-our...

Trump's second term is creating 'a limbo moment' for US battery recyclers The president hasn't directly targeted the nascent industry, but his clean energy rollbacks could hurt it.

When your government calls for rapidly boosting domestic mineral supplies while rolling back policy support for clean energy, what does it mean on balance?

That’s the existential question US battery recycling companies are asking right now.

My latest for @grist: grist.org/technology/t...

i REMEMBER those!

Membership Readers vs. Members vs. Paid Members Readers are any and all curious beings who end up on this internet space. Readers can include humanoid and non-humanoid life forms, artificial intelligences, ghos...

If you like this work and want to see more deeply researched dives into obscure environmental videogame history—and many other science/fiction topics!—please sign up for my newsletter here: www.sciof.fi/membership/#...

Here's my SimEarth interview with James Lovelock — 10 years ago — just before he died:

slate.com/technology/2...

Huge thanks to @annaleen.bsky.social and @charliejane.bsky.social for letting me nerd out on your show!

Courtesy of @ericholthaus.com, the podcast also includes a cameo from the legendary astrobiologist James Lovelock, who passed away in 2022. Eric spoke with Lovelock in 2015 about his role as a scientific advisor to SimEarth, which helped spread his Gaia Hypothesis far and wide.

Episode 177: Simulating Earth and Politicizing Science — our opinions are correct It's the end of science as we know it in America. As the U.S. government dismantles science agencies and slashes budgets for health and environmental research, we talk about what it means to politiciz...

I also had the honor of sharing SimEarth's story as a guest co-host on the amazing @ouropinions.bsky.social podcast this week. There are some details that aren't in the written piece, so be sure to take a listen!

www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes/20...

How a videogame taught my generation that Earth is alive Like many environmental scientists, early exposure to nature sparked my interest in the field. But so did the 1990 video game SimEarth, game studio Maxis's first release after SimCity. SimEarth was mo...

35 years ago, game studio Maxis released the planet simulator SimEarth. It taught 7-year-old me the basics of Earth science, evolution, and human-caused climate change.

For my latest Science of Fiction newsletter, the forgotten history of this truly one-of-a-kind game: www.sciof.fi/how-a-videog...

Attn Earth & planetary science folks: I’m trying to get in touch with researchers who work at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies to learn how the lab’s imminent shutdown is impacting them.

Can grant anonymity. Please share if you can and DM me if you’d like to talk.

#climate #NASA

How did I not know that season 2 of Andor is basically an allegory for the Trump admin’s energy policy, complete with a critical minerals mining subplot?? I must catch up immediately!

The environmental policy backed by free-market Republicans Several years ago, Louis Blessing’s wife asked for his help replacing the battery in her laptop. An electrical engineer by training, Blessing figured it would be a quick fix. But after swapping out th...

From Ohio to Texas, Republican lawmakers are pushing bills that would cut carbon emissions, eliminate toxic waste and curb rampant consumerism.

They’re just not talking about them that way.

My latest, for @grist, on the conservative case for the right to repair: grist.org/politics/rig...

If you missed Grist’s mining issue earlier this week, its a phenomenal collection of stories about the materials needed to build a low-carbon economy and the thorny trade offs involved in extracting them. Great weekend reading! grist.org/series/unear...

Why Biden and Trump both support this federal mineral mapping project A U.S. Geological Survey effort to find underground deposits of clean energy metals has gotten bipartisan support.

My colleague Peter Cook weighs in for this @gristnews.bsky.social @themadstone.bsky.social piece on EarthMRI federal critical mineral mapping efforts at the USGS:

“This is a program that has survived both the Trump and Biden administrations.”

grist.org/energy/criti...

Why Biden and Trump both support this federal mineral mapping project A U.S. Geological Survey effort to find underground deposits of clean energy metals has gotten bipartisan support.

Many Biden-era climate & energy programs are still in limbo following Trump's freeze on BIL and IRA-funded initiatives.

But as I report for the first time in @gristnews.bsky.social, one infrastructure-law funded program got an early greenlight to proceed: grist.org/energy/criti...