DrArchivalGenomics

On Tuesday morning I am arguing an important campaign finance case in the Supreme Court. I will be off line until that is over. In the meantime, stay informed about what else is happening to democracy in court by following @democracydocket.com and visiting www.democracydocket.com

Be back soon!

Trump administration abruptly cancels citizenship ceremonies for some immigrants The ceremony is the final step to becoming a U.S. citizen, a process that takes years to complete.

Trump administration abruptly cancels citizenship ceremonies for some immigrants share.google/v9PsNqyMMlyB...

My grandpa was born in the US to German parents. He had younger cousins who were in Hitler youth in Germany. Decades later I talked with some of them about it (with the ruthless candor of youth). Why did you do that? What were you thinking? What they described was a lot like this.

If this isn't fascism, explain to me what it is.

The world’s lemurs are going extinct. This is the only way to save them. To protect Madagascar’s iconic animals, wildlife groups need to think beyond wildlife.

“We didn’t have the agriculture skills before, so people would go into the forest for charcoal,” Lalao said that morning. “But now they are working here.”

🌎
www.vox.com/climate/4676...

A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...

Europe’s Banned Pesticides Are Poisoning Nigeria Chemicals barred by the EU are widely available across Africa, threatening food and water supplies.

"Region imported 438,000 tons of pesticides and herbicides in 2020, two-thirds more than in 2018. More than half of such chemicals used in Nigeria are highly hazardous, at least 40% of those can’t be sold in Europe"

#Pesticide colonialism
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

"After her hearing ended, three-year-old Lucy cuddled her teddy bear as she walked back from the lawyer’s table and took a seat.

Moments later, the next child was called up to face the judge..."

coppercourier.com/2025/12/05/c...

Did you know that a massive "meteor impact" led to the "extinction" of most "dinosaurs", yet birds survived? This video explores surprising "animal facts" about how their unique traits, like size and… Why Birds Survived But Dinosaurs Didn't #dinosaur #extinction #evolution

A meteorite wiped out almost every dinosaur… except the birds.
So what made them the only survivors?
Two traits, backed by fossil and ecological evidence, gave certain lineages a fighting chance during the long, dark impact winter.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/ZSZp4CD

The 'hobbits' mysteriously disappeared 50,000 years ago. Our new study reveals what happened to their home About 50,000 years ago, humanity lost one of its last surviving hominin cousins, Homo floresiensis (also known as "the hobbit" thanks to its small stature). The cause of its disappearance, after more ...

The 'hobbits' mysteriously disappeared 50,000 years ago

About 50,000 years ago, Homo floresiensis, or hobbits, disappeared. New evidence suggests extreme drought may have contributed to the hobbits' disappearance.

#Hobbits #drought #Indonesia 🧪

phys.org/news/2025-12...

How to Crowdsource the Perfect Gift But only if it's cat videos

I am NOT going to write a holiday gift guide, but I AM going to tell you how scientists used TikTok to learn about the urban ecology of cats murdering arthropods: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-cro... 🧪

NOAA cancels funding for data collection crucial to tsunami warning systems The Alaska Earthquake Center has long provided NOAA with seismic data for tsunami monitoring and warning purposes. That work will wind down in November, after the federal agency said it can no longer ...

This might be a good day to remind people that when #NOAA cancels funding for #tsunami related data, the warning system is affected. 🧪🌊 #AlaskaSky

alaskapublic.org/news/alaska-...

Journal retracts weed killer study backed by Monsanto, citing ‘serious ethical concerns’ Highly cited paper was used as evidence that the widely used herbicide Roundup is safe

Journal retracts weed killer study backed by Monsanto, citing ‘serious ethical concerns’ | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Hedwig Kohn (back row, on left) possibly with family or on a school trip enjoying a sunny day at the beach with cliffs in the background. 1911

A historical black-and-white photo of a group of people, including Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, and Hertha Sponer on the far right, standing in front of Göttingen Institute. Some are dressed in suits, while others are in more casual attire, and they display a range of expressions and poses.

Group photo of the physicists featuring Niels Bohr at a “Bonzenfreie Kolloquium” (which translates to “Colloquium Without Bigwigs”) organized for him by Lise Meitner in Dahlem near Berlin, Germany. Left to right: Otto Stern, Wilhelm Lenz, James Franck, Rudolph Ladenburg, Paul Knipping, Niels Bohr, Ernst Wagner, Otto von Baeyer, Otto Hahn, George de Hevesy, Lise Meitner (only woman), Wilhelm Westphal, Hans Geiger, Gustav Hertz and Peter Pringsheim.

Check out our blog to see even more photos of the amazing women in Olivia Campbell's recent book "Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History." https://bit.ly/4rzo0uM
#WomeninSTEM #PhysicsHistory #Archives

The Delaware court decision in that case became one of the most important judicial precedents in American corporate law.

What's old is new again. Crazy.

(2/2)

Seeing this news is so weird for me because in 1989 when I was a baby 25-year-old corporate litigator in Manhattan, one of the first things I worked on was Warner Communications Inc.'s defense against a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Communications Inc.

(1/2)

Ring camera captures Burnsville ICE raid that leaves 7-year-old without parents, according to family ICE agents detained four people from a Burnsville home, according to family members, including a 7-year-old's parents and the husband of a pregnant woman.

I dissent. We the People want our government to work for all humans in the US.

www.kare11.com/article/news...

The Supreme Court is working hard to turn this country into a despot's dreamscape—while making it nigh impossible for good people to make lasting change for the better.

Those of us who begged folks (and national media) to put SCOTUS before everything else in 2016 are in an endless Cassandrian hell.

It's pathetic really...Donald Trump asking the SCOTUS to overturn birthright citizenship as enshrined in the 14th Amendment.

Not even the Supreme Court has the power to overrule or rewrite our Constitution.

Argue against that all you want, and you'll still be wrong.

Records reviewed by AP detail online monitoring, arrests in New Orleans immigration crackdown State and federal authorities are monitoring online criticism and protests against the immigration crackdown in New Orleans.

Authorities are closely tracking online criticism and protests against the immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests.
#NOLA #Louisiana
#WeAreTheMedia

US vaccine panel votes to end universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns Trump, who called the decision

Dangerous retrograde step as #US #CDC pulls back on recommendations for #HBV #vaccine at #birth & dilutes advice for a proper three dose #immunisation schedule.
This is a safe, cheap, robust & well-evidenced vaccine.
There is no evidence of harm. 🧪
@who.int @gavi.org
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Weakening universal HBV vaccination recommendations has accomplished nothing positive for public health. It is undoing a policy with decades of evidence, extensively demonstrated safety, and it is erroneously suggesting that there is some kind of substantive risk to the vaccine.

There isn't.

When Russia praises the new US security strategy, you get the idea of the magnitude of the shift that has taken place.

How a Cryptocurrency Helps Criminals Launder Money and Evade Sanctions

Not to mention that the blockchains use tremendous amounts of energy as we barrel toward oblivion.

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/t...

Those who voted against Russia, Iran, Belarus, etc., are no surprise, but China, India, Indonesia, among many others, abstained. Seemingly a morally challenging decision indeed, whether a war aggressor should return children to their parents whom it has kidnapped as an action of war.

Looking for a new challenge in the Netherlands after obtaining your PhD? 🇳🇱 There are more than 80 postdoc positions available in various scientific fields. Check the options for your area of expertise now ✨👇

https://loom.ly/1ZUzngU

#Netherlands #AcademicJobs #PhD #Postdoc

SARS-CoV-2 Leaves a Lasting Mark on the Immune System A landmark new study shows COVID-19 isn’t ‘just a cold’: One infection left people with long-lasting immune damage, and those with heart disease lost up to 70% of key immune cells. Reinfections may wo...

I know I reposted this earlier, but everyone really should read this. It's in plain English, unlike a lot of COVID-related stuff. And it spells out what this virus is doing to the human immune system.
johnsnowproject.org/primers/sars...

After this weekend's racist attacks on the EU, I've written a column about the moral obligation to stop posting on X.

Oh no, wait, I wrote it *two years ago* when it was blatantly obvious what was going on and how it would get much much worse.

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Local news is retreating, hurting NYC democracy New York may call itself the media capital of the world, but when it comes to local elections — the campaigns that shape our daily life — important contests come and go with hardly a single story w…

"Reviving local journalism is not a luxury; it’s an urgent necessity. If we want competitive elections, accountable institutions, and communities that feel seen and heard, we must rebuild the local press that makes democracy real."