Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

www.katherineeban.com/reviewsandex...

Front page of the print NYT: Trump Revels in Making Emphatic Threats to Commit War Crimes. He said he'll send Iran back to the "Stone Ages." Today he argued he can destroy Iran's civilian infrastructure to pressure the government because "they're animals." Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/u...

Latest V-Dem Report:

"The speed with which American democracy is
currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern
history." p. 5.

"Nearly three quarters of the world population
(74%, or 6 billion) live in autocracies." p. 7

v-dem.net/documents/75...

E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution

Latest from the Energy Profits Agency:
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...

🚨 New in Nature+Science!🚨
AI chatbots can shift voter attitudes on candidates & policies, often by 10+pp
🔹Exps in US Canada Poland & UK
🔹More “facts”→more persuasion (not psych tricks)
🔹Increasing persuasiveness reduces "fact" accuracy
🔹Right-leaning bots=more inaccurate

Opinion | The World Has Again Failed to Prevent Atrocities in Darfur

My take on the UAE-backed slaughter now unfolding in Sudan, and the refusal of the US and others to call out the UAE for its role. This was preventable, but neither Biden nor Trump cared enough to try: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/o... Thank God some members of Congress are speaking up.

Mitigation efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and meet the Paris Agreement have been offset by economic growth - Communications Earth & Environment Global carbon dioxide intensity declined from 2015 to 2024 following the Paris Agreement, but total emissions still increased due to economic growth, according to a global analysis of population, gros...

Good news: carbon intensity has declined

Bad news: carbon emissions increased, due to the rapid rise in world GDP

Also bad news: the chance of staying below 2°C remained low, at 17%

Better news: chance of going above 3°C has gone down substantially, from 26% to 9%

The three most damning paras in the UN Report alleging that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza: Siege starvation, attacks on health care, direct targeting of children as patterns that cannot be explained except if group destruction is one animating purpose.

Trump Is Shutting Down the War On Cancer America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives, is under threat in one of its most productive moments.

“It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” America’s cancer research system, which has helped save millions of lives and is in one of its most productive moments, is under threat by the Trump administration.

Opinion | Where There’s No Debate About Genocide — and No Response Either

As debate boils over allegations of genocide in Gaza, there’s another place where all sides in the United States seem to agree a genocide is underway — yet largely ignore it. That’s Sudan My column: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/o...

!!!

Gaza City and Surrounding Areas Are Officially Under Famine, Monitors Say

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/w...

The Uproar A “raw, tensely plotted, profound high-wire act of a book” (Téa Obreht) on the intricacies of marriage, class, and race, and just how far ...

If you're looking for a novel to read, I recommend The Uproar not only because a friend wrote it, but more importantly because it's a terrific, timely, and captivating book.

Here is the chart showing the growth of reported protest over time, 2025 vs. 2017, referenced in the piece below.

Opinion | The World Must See Gaza’s Starvation

It's not just that Israel is imposing a policy of starvation on Gazans; it's also that the U.S. is underwriting this horror and is utterly complicit in it, in both the Biden and Trump administrations. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/o...

Being Too Helpful At Work Can Hurt Your Career—Here’s How To Say No Women are more likely to take on behind-the-scenes duties at work—extra tasks like onboarding or event planning—and it's hurting their careers. Here's how to say no.

In a study of professors, women got 378 new work requests over 4 weeks vs 118 for men. Women spent more time on service, advising & teaching; men on research. Orgs should track who is taking extra duties & ensure they are rewarded and distributed fairly. www.forbes.com/sites/kimels...

Reducing Crime Through Environmental Design: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Street Lighting in New York City - Journal of Quantitative Criminology Objectives This paper offers novel experimental evidence that violent crimes can be successfully reduced by changing the situational environment that potential victims and offenders face. We focus on ...

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This comparsion in the NYTimes today is pretty stark. China is racing ahead to be a high-tech exporter of 21st century technologies, while the US is doubling down on being a petro-state exporting the technologies of the 19th century: www.nytimes.com/inte...

What slaughtering animals all day does to your mind The meat industry has a PTSD problem.

Billions of animals are tortured for meat each year. Millions of slaughterhouse workers suffer too -- physically and mentally: www.vox.com/future-perfe...

This quote really stands out: “Public demand for meat creates ongoing, present, and future exposure to trauma and continual retraumatization.”

Assistant Professor of Political Science Assistant Professor of Political ScienceThe Institute of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Leiden University is currently looking for at least two (2) assistant professors in Poli...

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨
Universitair Docent in de Politieke Wetenschap (2x)

Vragen? 👉 Ik beantwoord ze graag, of vraag het @mdigiuseppe.bsky.social

www.universiteitleiden.nl/vacatures/20...

An Escalation of Extermination : Daily Brief If Israel’s abhorrent plan to “destroy” #Gaza is implemented, the future question will be, “How could world leaders have allowed that to happen?” – “And everyone will know the answer,” writes Andrew S...

Today, everyone knows what’s happening in #Gaza. Israel has been committing atrocities - war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts of genocide… The new plan makes Israel's intentions even more obvious.

Other countries have obligations that are just as obvious… www.hrw.org/the-day-in-h...

What’s the Cost to Society of Pollution? Trump Says Zero.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/c...

Opinion | No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines

Always read @stevelevitsky.bsky.social @dziblatt.bsky.social & @lucanway.bsky.social: "No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines." Gift link here:

LUCIR lecture: Prosecution of Heads of State: What Happens After? Is it beneficial to prosecute current and former heads of state for atrocity? Some argue that prosecutions are a necessary response that affirms the rule of law and sets boundaries of appropriate beha...

We're welcoming @geoffdancy.bsky.social and Timo Thoms to Leiden University on 27 May at 16:00: "Prosecution of Heads of State: What Happens After?" Register here www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20... @polscileiden.bsky.social @lucir.bsky.social @fggaleiden.bsky.social @buitelaartom.bsky.social

Rules for a lawless world? The international legal order in an age of great-power struggle for normative primacy Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International Dr Agnès Callamard is Secretary General at Amnesty International. She leads the organization’s human rights work and is its chief spokespers...

Join us for what promises to be an inspiring exchange with two leading voices on human rights in our dark times.

All welcome, but prior registration is required.

@amnesty.org @franceskalbs.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social

25 million deaths: what could happen if the US ends global health funding Nature - Models estimate the ginormous potential impact of foreign-aid cuts.

Article here: www.nature.com/articles/d4...

Full preprint here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers...

New preprint finding that eliminating US global health funding over the next fifteen years would cause:
- 15.2m deaths from AIDS
- 2.2m deaths from TB
- 7.9 additional child deaths

Assistant Professor: Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, and International Relations Assistant Professor in Peace Studies, Conflict Resolution, and International Relations (0.8 - 1.0fte)The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) is looking for an assistant professor with rese...

Job Alert:
www.universiteitleiden.nl/vacatures/20...

U.S.A.I.D. Memos Detail Human Costs of Cuts to Foreign Aid The world is likely to see millions more malaria infections and 200,000 cases of paralytic polio each year, according to an agency whistle-blower.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/h...