I know it is easy to doomscroll, especially today. Please plan for yourself at least one or many more offline activities. Buy a pastry, read a book, go to a museum, see a friend, cook a meal, play with a pet, or even a trip to Costco. Try to limit time on your phone and avoid stewing in anxiety.

Researchers praise ‘stunning’ results of new prostate cancer treatment Early trials of the drug VIR-5500 showed it shrinking tumours in some patients

I have this cancer in remission (nearly 20 years now). I'm convinced the only reason I'm still alive is because I was (for a neuro knock-on catastrophe) treated with immunoglobulin donated by strangers. Their antibodies taught mine, got me out of a wheelchair.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

A photo of pink flowering trees (magnolias?) in front of a blue sky with an orange sign that says ‘Caltech’

Yeah so it’s 87F in February. That can’t be a bad sign, right?

“I kept always two books in my pocket: one to read, one to write in.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

CONGRESS declares war.

NOT President tRumpstein.

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

So about that chart the White House put out…

David Ellison will soon control CNN. In response, I wrote to Democracy Docket subscribers today about the importance and urgency of building a strong independent media ecosystem.

Whether it is Democracy Docket or another independent news outlet, please support one today. bit.ly/4qmEiFz

Netflix Backs Out of Bid for Warner Bros., Paving Way for an Ellison Takeover

The richest man owns X.

The second and third richest men control Google.

The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post.

And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros.

See the problem here?

A female Pileated Woodpecker looking around to see what tree to fly to next.

It costs $130 + a $35 facility fee to obtain a passport and an extra $30 for a passport card. In California, fees for certified copies of vital records are between $18 and $31 each. How is the SAVE Act not a poll tax?

I've been saying this for ages. It's <100 cases of noncitizens voting in 43 yrs.

The SAVE Act is a poll tax, it threatens poll workers w/ jail time, dumps voters off the rolls, violates our privacy. The goal is denying women the vote. GOP is anti-democratic and can't win if they don't cheat.

It’s your right.
ASK IF NECESSARY.

Yes it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped from slavery & rose to become the most eloquent and forceful voice for the abolition of slavery & for Black voting rights in the U.S.

A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years

Look up

“I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility Hundreds of children are currently being held with their parents at an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. In letters and drawings, eight kids convey the pain of feeling trapped with no end...

No child should be behind bars.

Yet hundreds of kids are being detained at Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas—some of them for months. www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

#Women&GirlsinScienceDay Academic & particle physicist Anne Kernan was a huge advocate for women in science, on one occasion funding a trip to CERN for an undergrad she had never met, meeting her at the airport and paying for her accommodation until funding came through. www.dib.ie/biography/ke...

Jayapal: To the survivors in the room, if you are willing, please stand. And if you are willing, please raise your hands. If you have still not been able to meet with this DOJ. Please note for the record that every single survivor has raised their hand.

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science!

Follow these awesome women ocean scientists, many of whom I'm proud to call colleagues and delighted to call friends.

🧪🦑🌍🐟

go.bsky.app/7MdiLgo

Trump’s DOJ tried to charge me with a crime simply for saying something they didn’t like. Think about that. This is after DOD already censured and threatened to demote me.

He wants to make an example out of me and scare Americans from speaking out against him. Don’t let it work.

And now for something completely different

Wow

Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’ Lead author of Australian study says breeding slowdown is linked to climate-driven changes in ‘magnificent’ whale’s foraging grounds

Climate crisis linked to fall in southern right whale birth rates as researchers raise ‘warning signal’
Lead author of Australian study says breeding slowdown is linked to climate-driven changes in ‘magnificent’ whale’s foraging grounds www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If this passes, it will be enacted in a way that will make it nearly impossible for married women with their husband’s last name to get the proper updated paperwork to vote in 2026. It’s designed to disenfranchise women. Women who are getting married should seriously consider keeping their name.

Christ, I hadn’t seen the details here but it really is trying to set up a Temu UN with Donald Trump as Secretary General for life (and his hand chosen successor as Secretary General for life after that).

Well, I really wish now that I had finished my report on this from months ago. I repeatedly wrote on social media that this is what was happening, and it was.

All the evidence was there that this had nothing to do with a ballroom.

I will still publish my report, which includes lots of new details.

gray squirrel eats a nut while balanced on a skinny branch

The Squirrel of the Day for January 19, 2026 enjoys a balanced breakfast #sqrlpix

Night sky with curving, horizontal streaks of green aurora above hedges, trees and a telephone post.

Night sky with curving, vertical curtains of red and green aurora.

Night sky with curving, horizontal streaks of red and green aurora above a row of trees.

Night sky with near vertical curtains of red against horizontal streaks of green aurora.

Ireland, if you haven’t looked outside this evening . . .

#SpéirGhorm #SpeirGorm

We are NOT helpless in the face of this. (And importantly neither were the Jews and queers and Romani of 1930s Germany.) We can and should organize. We should also understand exactly what we are organizing against. They are posting ethnic cleansing memes on their official accounts. BELIEVE. THEM.