John Walker

A small crop of a work-in-progress digital painting. The crop shows a puppy, maybe a wolf, maybe a dog, standing and facing the viewer. Their head is lowered to the ground, sniffing a dirt surface. They are a mix of light and dark browns with some cream on their legs and nose.

Current WIP. Wolf pup or dog pup? Stay tuned…
#SciArt #Archaeology

Aerial view of pre-Contact agricultural fields in the Bolivian Amazon.

Here's a link to a podcast episode from my friends at Pieces of History podcast. I had a great time talking with Colum McGrath about the Llanos de Moxos and all of the great research that is going on there.

Spotify - open.spotify.com/episode/0YXX....
iTunes - podcasts.apple.com/.../engineer....

Renowned anthropologist Deborah Poole dies at 73 Her research yielded vital contributions to the understanding of language, affect, and practice through which racial ideology, violence, and law shape life in modern Latin America

Sad news that Deborah Poole has died. I really liked her work on Andean memory and affect. hub.jhu.edu/2026/01/08/d...

Preventable atrocities uncovered in India’s sugar industry underscore urgent need for WSR Indian Sugar Workers Association (ISWA) release: To remedy – and ultimately prevent – this outrageous exploitation, ISWA urgently calls on the global brands that purchase Indian sugar to engage with w...

ciw-online.org/blog/2026/01...

Indian Sugar Workers Association (ISWA) release: “To remedy – and ultimately prevent – this outrageous exploitation, ISWA urgently calls on the global brands that purchase Indian sugar to engage with workers and collaborate..."

Editorial: New College is far from a success story A recent New York Times story painted a rosy picture at Florida’s New College in the wake of its hard-right turn. It left out a lot of details.

www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/01/07/t...

Here's a story from the Orlando Sentinel that makes some good points about higher education in Florida.

The 27th of December... “I think Dad got too many books for christmas this year.” Says a daughter. “Don't worry, he'll get through them.” Says the mother, looking up from her book. “But until then..?” Asks the daughter. “He'll be fine on turkey sandwiches until he's reduced the front piles” The father is completely surrounded by high teetering walls of stacked books. He is reading within and the daughter has thrown a sandwich in to him.

My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books.

I got an e-reader for Christmas and I'm kind of obsessed. Its like staring at my phone, which is my favorite hobby. Instead of doomscrolling, though, I'm reading a book!!!

"Did you see what Mark Cuban posted? Oh did you see the clapb—"

You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.

The Floods Kept Coming. He Needed to Grow a Crop That Would Thrive in Water — or to Quit. One Illinois man’s decadeslong fight to convert his fields into rice paddies demonstrates how it’s possible to bring diversity to the Corn Belt, but improbable so long as federal farm policy remains f...

The floods kept coming.

He needed to grow a crop that would thrive in water — or to quit.

Published Sept. w/ @capitolnewsil.bsky.social, Saluki Local Reporting Lab

Woman Struggles To Put Down Bags While Holding Coffee Like Dog Trying To Fit Stick Through Door

Woman Struggles To Put Down Bags While Holding Coffee Like Dog Trying To Fit Stick Through Door https://theonion.com/woman-struggles-to-put-down-bags-while-holding-coffee-like-dog-trying-to-fit-stick-through-door/

AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.

“I’m imagining an instructor somewhere making a syllabus with ChatGPT, assigning reading from books that don’t exist. But the students don’t notice, because they are asking ChatGPT to summarize the book or write the essay.”
🧪

www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Red and Green Flags, According to Protagonists of Hallmark Christmas Movies RED FLAG: He sometimes has to work late and Q4 is his busy season. GREEN FLAG: His full-time job is directing the local middle school Christmas pag...

RED FLAG: He has an expensive haircut.

GREEN FLAG: He owns 150 snow globes.

NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities

“The changes permit as few as one outside review rather than the current minimum of three, end the routine use of expert panels to discuss those individual reviews, and give program managers greater authority to recommend which proposals should or should not be funded.”

This is figure 1, which shows a map indicating the location of the Tulán archaeological sites and the sampling location of the previously published modern South American camelid individuals used in this study.

Ancient Andean societies relied on now-extinct lineages of camelids for resources such as food and transport, according to a genetic analysis in Nature Communications. go.nature.com/48WhPbA 🏺 🧬 🧪

Farmworkers Are Frequently Exploited. But Few Farms Participate in a Program That Experts Say Could Prevent Abuse. Experts say the Fair Food Program has helped improve conditions for farmworkers. But farms and produce buyers across the country have resisted joining.

NEW: A lax regulatory environment has led to the widespread abuse of farmworkers — including threats of violence, stolen wages and forced labor.

Experts say the Fair Food Program's reforms could help.

But few farms have signed on.

Title: Wenceslas Variations 1. Good King Wenceslas: King bestows gifts on peasant. 2. Bad things Wenceslas: King steals gifts from peasant. 3. Indifferent King Wenceslas: No gifts 4. Two Kings Wenceslas: Kings exchange gifts. 5. No King Wenceslas: Gifts divided between peasants. 6. Philosopher King Wenceslas: King and Peasant discuss gift-giving. 7. Quantum King Wenceslas: Gifts given and simultaneously not given. 8. Apex Predator King Wenceslas: King devours gifts and peasant.

A Christmas cartoon from my new book of science cartoons PHYSICS FOR CATS. In good bookshops and online now: www.tomgauld.com/comic-books-v2

Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera. Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a re...

Sad story from ProPublica: www.propublica.org/article/usai...

This poster showing a stunning array of crayfish species in Georgia helps deliver the message that freshwater ecosystems of the southeastern U.S are among the most diverse in the world. 🧪

I read this classic again every time I see it.

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)

The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used

> neal.fun/size-of-life/

Incredible, mind-blowing, life-changing interview. I can't even.
exchange.prx.org/pieces/59592...

Lucas Benitez, CIW Co-Founder, Turns 50, as CIW Turns 30! Thirty years ago this month, the Immokalee farmworker community -- the principal source of labor for Southwest Florida's massive agricultural industry for several decades -- came together across long-...

ciw-online.org/blog/2025/11...

30 years ago, the Immokalee farmworker community, the principal source of labor for Southwest Florida’s massive agricultural industry for several decades, came together across linguistic and cultural divisions and erupted in its first-ever general strike...

YouTube video by Bill Walker Bill Walker's Friday Jazz Happy Hour # 279 (Nov 28, 2025)

time for Friday Jazz Happy Hour! grab that beverage and join us!

youtu.be/NOudqih6OCU

I wrote an accessible introduction to the life and work of the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics - Elinor Ostrom. She showed that are not doomed to fall into the "tragedy of the commons." Collaborative governance is possible.
islandpress.org/books/uncomm...

BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.

It's over.

Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.

www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...

A small child approaches his scientist father who is working at a large, strange, contraption. His face pressed to a viewing tube. “Are you looking forward to Christmas, papa?” Asks the child. “Yes,” replies the scientist“ turning round, “that is exactly what I am doing” then he adds “Thank you for the socks.” We can now see that the viewing tube breaks the border of the comics panel, passes through complicated machinery and allows the scientist to see into the next comic panel: Caption: December 25th A Christmas scene. The child and father-scientist open presents before a Christmas tree. The father has just unwrapped some socks.

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com

Several megaliths stood in a grassy field.

Carnac (🇫🇷) is the site of thousands of standing stones, constructed ~7,000-years-ago #StandingStoneSunday

Radiocarbon dates indicate people added to and changed the complex over a 300 year period, painting a picture of a dynamic #megalithic landscape

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology

Chili’s Menu, by Cormac McCarthy Southwestern Eggrolls – $9.95 In a tortilla made by the boy’s abuela he watched her, with her armfat and canvas apron, cast frijoles negros upon fl...

Big Mouth Southern Smokehouse Burger – $14.99
The charred black bones of the farmhouse coughed and hissed and exhaled into the early morning fog, ghosts of smoke swirling whitehot against the sun, contrast in defiance of God ordained.

Wealthy Ranchers Profit From Public Lands. Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab. A ProPublica and High Country News investigation found that government programs supporting grazing on public lands prop up a wealthy few while harming the environment. The Trump administration is supe...

The U.S. government’s grazing program was established a century ago to prevent abuse of public lands.

It’s grown into a massive subsidy program that benefits wealthy ranchers and corporations.

Huge congratulations to the wonderful Donna Haraway for winning the 2025 Erasmus Prize:
erasmusprijs.org/en/laureates...