Verulamia

#evolution

Unsung heroes...

A fascinating paper (imo) reconstructs how lichens spread, transformed entire terrestrial ecosystems and "changed the biosphere" before forests did - starting from "an enigmatic Devonian fossil" called Spongiophyton, which lived in Brazil 400 million years ago.

Portrait of the Bentvueghels, a gang of Dutch painters living in Rome in 1623. They were v. rowdy! And had strange nicknames. At #10 here, Paulus Bor, known to his pals as Orlando. Today is his day.

Exclusive | AI Wildfire Detection Startup Raises $44 Million Pano AI’s fundraising signals investor willingness to back startups that rely in part on government entities for revenue.

Non sono una tecnottimista (semmai il contrario) ma progetti del genere potrebbero avere senso? Domanda vera, io non so che pensare ma sono sommamente angosciata dagli incendi boschivi: www.wsj.com/articles/ai-...

#microbiology

"[Recovery] methods being explored include captive breeding for resistant individuals and developing probiotic solutions that can be introduced to ecosystems."

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen.

By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

Forse gli altri quotidiani non sono poi molto meglio (Domani, chissà?), ma quell'aria da primi della classe (sotto sotto però ignorantissimi) un po' sadici rende Il Foglio, almeno per me, davvero insopportabile.

Poi però ho iniziato a vedere meglio: negazionismo climatico, derisione della scuola e della ricerca pubblica, cattolicesimo retrogrado estetizzante, liberismo sfrenato, atlantismo acritico, militarismo, tecnottimismo, e perfino un implicito suprematismo occidentalista. E poi l'oltraggio su Gaza

Grazie a lei per il tempo che ha dedicato a rispondere. Ovviamente rispetto pienamente la sua scelta, vorrei soltanto chiarire meglio le mie perplessità. Anch'io, anni fa, ho creduto per qualche tempo che il Foglio potesse essere un'eccezione nel panorama deprimente del giornalismo italiano.

Sono iscritta e ascolto con piacere il podcast. Sono d'accordo con gli articoli a pagamento ma proprio il foglio? È ancora, davvero, un giornale credibile? Naturalmente sono scelte personali rispettabilissime e continuerò a leggere ciò che scrive (altrove).

Nessuna speranza di pioggia in Ciociaria, vero? Incendi ovunque... Che angoscia

Opinion | Something Extraordinary Is Happening All Over the World

An absolutely monumental piece from @polgreen.bsky.social this morning. Appreciate the research, array of sources, and nuanced thinking on the complicated issue of migration.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/o...

"famigerata"

Accuse di #antisemitismo e #terrorismo

Anche se qui non ci sono le primarie democratiche per il candidato a sindaco di NY, è un giorno giusto per leggere le riflessioni di Masha Gessen.

Tks Greg Gonsalves per l'articolo-regalo:
bsky.app/profile/greg...

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars.

A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.

Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream

The BBC and Gaza: a Public Broadcaster Under Fire "The BBC has an aversion to any language that describes Israel’s actions as war crimes – even when this language is being used judiciously by respected experts"

🚨BREAKING: The BBC and Gaza: a Public Broadcaster Under Fire

“The BBC has an aversion to any language that describes Israel’s actions as war crimes – even when this language is being used judiciously by respected experts”

@iainoverton.bsky.social reports
bylinetimes.com/2025/06/16/t...

Study of cherries, an unusual work by Carlo Dolci. Evidently at a hungry moment! It's his birthday.

Such a fun and useful resource: text search in maps from the David Rumsey collection. Here are the results for "incognita" and "ruins": www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet...

da abbonata della prima ora questo l'ho imparato presto (restando comunque abbonata). Non avrei dovuto scrivere, sono stanca delle solite angoscianti trappole comunicative, sempre uguali, dell'accondiscendenza, del sarcasmo tetro. Spero solo che il racconto di questa guerra sia serio. E basta.Chiudo

Campaigners mount coordinated protests across Europe against ‘touristification’ Thousands expected to march in a dozen cities against an industry they say is wrecking communities Campaigners in at least a dozen tourist hotspots across southern Europe have taken to the streets to protest against “touristification”. It is the most widespread joint action to date against what they see as the steady reshaping of their cities to meet the needs of tourists rather than those who live and work there. Continue reading...

Campaigners mount coordinated protests across Europe against ‘touristification’

Stephen Jay Gould, in one of his books, wrote about exactly this. Gould concluded that the earthworm book was not some bottom-shelf afterthought of an old researcher gone to seed, but rather one of the crowning achievements of Darwin's career, punctuating and vindicating his earlier works.

Ho sbagliato aggettivo, forse è proprio sbagliata l'idea che mi sono fatta ascoltandolo (di un atlantismo acritico e entusiasta, incline e benevolo verso scelte che a me sembrano scellerate). Avevo scritto un auspicio, ma continuate pure nel dileggio, se vi diverte

Ok, me la sono cercata. Vi leggo ed ascolto da anni, questa è stata la mia impressione, evidentemente sbagliata. Un saluto

Speriamo che il post (e il suo nuovo direttore, solitamente piuttosto guerrafondaio) mantenga la decenza e mostri un po' di coraggio (so che non è pertinente scriverlo qui sotto e me ne scuso)

Gli Stati Uniti vogliono controllare i porti greci La nuova ambasciatrice statunitense ad Atene avrà il compito di sottrarre gli scali commerciali del paese al controllo cinese. Leggi

I nuovi vertici dell’ambasciata statunitense ad Atene avranno il compito di sottrarre gli scali commerciali del paese al controllo cinese. L’ambasciatrice arriverà nella capitale greca alla fine di luglio.

Gli oceani stanno diventando più scuri In oltre un quinto lo strato di acqua che può essere attraversato dalla luce solare si è assottigliato negli ultimi anni. I motivi non si conoscono ancora, ma le conseguenze potrebbero essere gravi. L...

In oltre un quinto lo strato di acqua che può essere attraversato dalla luce solare si è assottigliato negli ultimi anni. I motivi non si conoscono ancora, ma le conseguenze potrebbero essere gravi, scrive Gabriele Crescente.

Magnifico, se solo si smettesse di tagliare i fondi ordinari per la ricerca (in Italia, Francia, Germania, olanda)

How an American Radical Reinvented Back-Yard Gardening Ruth Stout didn’t plow, dig, water, or weed—and now her “no-work” method is everywhere. But behind her secret to the perfect plot lay other secrets and other plots.

Like many of you, I wonder if I should cancel my subscription to the New Yorker. They just pile up. But then, all of a sudden, I find myself transported in time and space into the universe of Ruth Stout.

Thanks Jill Lepore (on here?). www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The rise of end times fascism The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

THE RISE OF END TIMES FASCISM

My first major piece of the new Trump era, co-written with @astra.bsky.social.

The governing ideology of the far right has become a
monstrous, supremacist survivalism.

Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

This is insane. No university worth the name could agree to it, and any which did would soon not be worthy of the name.

A Prison Death Highlights Russia’s LGBTQ Crackdown The Russian government has unleashed a wave of repression against L.G.B.T.Q. people, with the police raiding gay night clubs and investigators targeting people they suspect of being gay.

The Russian government has unleashed a wave of repression against LGBTQ people, with the police raiding gay night clubs and investigators targeting people they suspect of being gay.