Shan Kothari

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

Scientists of Bluesky, help me!

Do you have an example of a question that was (1) studied using both observational and experimental methods, and (2) the observational results are far more trustworthy because of the circumstances and/or quality of design?

#AcademicSky #PhDSky #Science

(to be clear the paper also claims a more straightforward improvement, due to better methods, over prior observational studies—so it's not plainly observation vs. experiment)

Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference - Nature Communications Isolating the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in natural ecosystems is challenging. Here, the authors apply a causal inference approach to observational data from grasslan...

This paper seems to make such a case about how biodiversity affects ecosystem productivity. The evidence isn't directly in conflict, but I think the claim is that the observational analyses better represent what we should really care about.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

pjreddie, who made the best real-time computer vision system, epically explaining that he quit AI because the primary use case was killing people

The IDENT-MTL tree diversity experiment from above, highlighting differences in crown shape and depth. @Orane Mordacq

Plain Language Summary

📢 Latest from #IDENT-MTL!
Here we show that species plasticity in crown shape, leading to positive diversity effects, is in part due to spp strategies in shedding lower branches. But, there's more! 🧵
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@cef-cfr.bsky.social @biologieuqam.bsky.social

Israel is starving Gaza. Here’s how you can help keep people alive. “People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.” These are the words of Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency,…

“Many of us feel paralyzed by despair, waking to images of emaciated Palestinian children on our phone screens each morning, but there are still things we can do to help.”

Cycle Toronto wins Charter challenge, saving bike lanes on Yonge, University, and Bloor

Well, this is just FANTASTIC news.

“Cycle Toronto wins Charter challenge, saving bike lanes on Yonge, University, and Bloor.”

Congratulations @cycletoronto.bsky.social, you’ve done a huge service to Toronto. Safe bike-lanes are better for EVERYONE, no matter how they get around.

Canada’s Bill C-2 Opens the Floodgates to U.S. Surveillance The Canadian government is preparing to give away Canadians’ digital lives—to U.S. police, to the Donald Trump administration, and possibly to foreign spy agencies.Bill C-2, the so-called Strong Borde...

Bill C-2 lets Canadian cops demand users' info without a warrant—and it paves the way for that info to go to U.S. government agencies.

Canada’s Bill C-2 Opens the Floodgates to U.S. Surveillance The Canadian government is preparing to give away Canadians’ digital lives—to U.S. police, to the Donald Trump administration, and possibly to foreign spy agencies.Bill C-2, the so-called Strong Borde...

CANADIANS!

Have a read on how the dogshit Bill C-2 is going to infringe on our basic right to online privacy: www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

And then do your part by signing the House of Commons petition as well as contacting your local MP! www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

"If recognizing a Palestinian state proves to be a barrier in trade negotiations with the US, should Canada reverse that decision?"

No, Recognize Palestine: 63%
Yes, Reverse The Decision: 20%

Unsure: 17%

Angus Reid / Aug 1, 2025 / n=1333 / Online

and yet! SK, MB, and AB are on top and BC is dead last

Ingres's Grande Odalisque, but for legs

Just learned from LinkedIn that a Heritage Foundation affiliate is now FOIA-ing (or equivalent) instructors’ syllabi to go snooping for supposed illegal DEI at state universities. It’s hard to describe how far past McCarthyism we’re headed here.

New details about police activity after lawmaker shootings raise questions about response The Minnesota Star Tribune found that Brooklyn Park police waited more than 60 minutes to enter the Hortman home and that several law enforcement agencies were unaware of the situation for hours.

They waited *more than an hour* to enter the Hortman home after watching Mark Hortman get shot in the doorway

Unbelievably tragic & heartbreaking

And, of course, they publicly congratulated themselves on a great, lifesaving police response when they’d let a lawmaker bleed out. Uvalde is everywhere

This graphic alone is like a fucking dissertation. Incredible stuff. Master class.

Blows a massive hole in every govt's excuse that their level of gov't has no control over freeway spending.

Aid Groups Blame Israel’s Gaza Restrictions for ‘Mass Starvation’

The distance between what is in happening Gaza, fully backed with US dollars and political support, and the reaction of American politicians who by and large just don’t seem to care or support it is just completely brain-breaking.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/w...

CNN: An Exit Interview With Nonso Morah Podcast Episode · Alberta Unbound · EP47 · 34m

Happy Canada Day Eve! I can’t wait to share this special Canada Day edition of Alberta Unbound, my interview with award-winning spoken word poet Nonso Morah, the pride of Spruce Grove, on what it means to be Albertan, Canadian and Nigerian #AlbertaUnbound #Alberta #ableg #abpoli #yeg #SenateofCabada

Did I “slam” C-5? Hm. I prefer to think that I offered a fair-minded critique of the policy and the process. Have a listen to my free-wheeling chat with @markhamhislop.bsky.social and decide for yourself! #cdnpoli #abpoli #ableg #SenateofCanada #C5

YouTube video by Energi Media Alberta Separatism Under Fire: Senator Paula Simons’ Hard-Hitting Critique

This is a must watch for us all, particularly for Albertans.

Kudos to @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social for her unvarnished comments on separatism, to @markhamhislop.bsky.social.

#ableg #abpoli #cdnpoli

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAzK...

The clerks where I get my lunch said a man came in last week and asked them where the public entrance to 26 Federal Plaza was. He locked his bike outside, and it’s been there since.

🚨 New Paper 🚨
Coauthors and I just published our work in PLOS One on Canadian graduate funding. We found that Canadian graduate funding falls _well_ below cost of living.
On average, $10kCAD below cost of living.

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

From outright bans to ambiguous restrictions, the sheer volume of policy changes over a short period has stalled investment in #renewables in Alberta.

The Government of Alberta must act fast if it wants to restore investment in this multi billion dollar industry. 1/2

Couverture du rapport annuel sur L’état des forêts au Canada : Un petit arbre à feuilles persistantes devant un grand tronc d'arbre

Si les élections peuvent chambouler les plans des fonctionnaires, le rapport sur L’état des forêts au Canada 2024 a bel et bien été déposé au Parlement et est téléchargeable. Bravo à l'équipe! Passionné(é)s des forêts et des 🌳🌲? Bonne lecture, et parlez-en à votre entourage! shorturl.at/0j1W4

wish people could bring some of their "feeding rainforests to chatbots" energy to meat production but it's passé to be preachy about veganism isn't it. and people love eating meat. so we just ignore it really. no campaigning. eat what you want buddy!

Fun week @idiv-research.bsky.social attending the 1st meeting of sTREND working group on synthesis of tree traits responses to neighbouring diversity with @mixedforests.bsky.social, @ritasousasilva.bsky.social, @habenblondeel.bsky.social, @cavenderg9.bsky.social, @shankothari.bsky.social and others

The Trump Administration Is About to Incinerate 500 Tons of Emergency Food Federal workers warned for months that the high-energy biscuits would go to waste.

The administration will incinerate enough food to feed 1.5 million children for a week. When it burns, its label will read: THIS PRODUCT IS A GIFT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 500 tons, from us, to no one.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Marc Andreessen Is a Traitor It is the tech oligarchs, not young radicals, who have turned against the system that made them.

“They have betrayed the society that enriched them, and have put us at serious risk of authoritarianism, ethnic cleansing, lawlessness, and stagnation. They have betrayed the values that made that society great, values which they apparently only ever held superficially”

Which Kind of Science Reform What hope is there for science reform, if we can't agree on what to reform? Right now, principles are more important than practices.

How can we reform science? I have some ideas. But I am not sure you’ll like them, because they don’t promise much. elevanth.org/blog/2025/07...