Yüksel Günal

Renewable energy outpaces coal for electricity generation in historic first, report says For the first time on record, renewable energy generated more electricity for the planet than coal, a new report says.

For the first time on record, renewable energy generated more electricity for the planet than coal, a new report says. n.pr/47hcegr

How can a nomination from a war criminal be seen as a positive endorsement?

Title card for Mindscape Podcast episode on Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse.

Mindscape 331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse. In which I shamelessly steal material from the #PhilosophyOfCosmology course I am teaching to talk about some big questions. #MindscapePodcast

www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025...

Since last year Physics swallowed Computer Science whole and the Nobel was given for machine learning, my list of plausible prizes remains unaltered.

ICC finds former Sudan militia leader guilty of war crimes in Darfur The International Criminal Court in the Hague handed down its first-ever Darfur war crimes conviction, finding Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, guilty of atrocities committed more than two decades ago.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague handed down its first-ever Darfur war crimes conviction, finding Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, guilty of atrocities committed more than two decades ago.

Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows First major attempt to chart researchers’ views finds interpretations in conflict.

This year quantum physics turns 100, so @nature.com decided to conduct the biggest ever survey of what lies behind it. Do physicists really believe in multiple universes? Can influences happen instantaneously? Is the Copenhagen interpretation all it's cut out to be? ⚛️🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why Did The Universe Begin? | Quanta Magazine In this episode of The Joy of Why, Thomas Hertog discusses his collaboration with Stephen Hawking on a provocative theory arguing that the laws of physics evolved with the universe, and how this…

How could the universe have created the conditions needed for life to emerge? Tune in to “The Joy of Why” from @prx.org and @quantamagazine.bsky.social with co-host @jannalevinastro.bsky.social.

A non-exhaustive timeline of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s war on vaccines He's transformed conspiracy theories into action and reshaped American policy in just a few months.

Long before he became secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services under President Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was laying the groundwork for his war on vaccines.

We have the receipts📑

Who are the "intellectuals" in Trump's movement?

Trump's dementia is getting worse by the day. He is totally out of touch with reality.

Interested in seeing the first images from the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile? We'll be hosting a "First Look Watch Party" featuring images and data from this iconic new telescope. Doors open at 7:45AM and we'll have introductory remarks and images live-streamed from Chile.

In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, a “palantir” is a seeing stone that can be used to distort truth and present selective visions of reality.

Palantir Technologies bears a striking similarity.

Be warned. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/palantir-the-worst-of-the-corporate

Carlo Rovelli, one of the physicists interviewed by @lizziegibney.bsky.social, has a great book with the title "Helgoland", the name of the island. Strongly recommended:
www.amazon.com/Helgoland-Ma...

In science’s new era, open and transparent cooperation remains key As China continues its scientific ascent, the rest of the world should keep engaging.

China is on course to overtake the United States as the world’s largest contributor to research

https://go.nature.com/40axZdT

First ever skull from ‘Denisovan’ reveals what ancient people looked like Ancient proteins and calcified dental plaque identify heavy-browed fossil from China as a Denisovan.

It’s the first time a near-complete skull has been definitively linked to the extinct people

https://go.nature.com/4e8cekR

Opinion | A U.S. War With Iran Would Be a Catastrophe America must not get dragged into a war with Iran.

“A war with Iran would be a catastrophe, the culminating failure of decades of regional overreach by the U.S. and exactly the sort of policy that Trump has long railed against,” Rosemary Kelanic, the director of the Middle East program at the think tank Defense Priorities, writes.

Israel Can’t Be a Hegemon The Israeli government is making a bid for regional dominance that’s unlikely to succeed.

Is Israel becoming a “regional hegemon?” I think not. Latest FP column here: foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/16/i...

Teeth first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish, fossil scans find Anyone who has ever squirmed through a dental cleaning can tell you how sensitive teeth can be. This sensitivity gives important feedback about temperature, pressure—and yes, pain—as we bite and chew ...

New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team!
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

No money was actually saved, but at the same time we had truly devastating cuts to scientific research, medicine, and foreign aid. Just reinforces what a tiny fraction of spending those areas always were, with an outsized positive impact.

This time really is different for the dollar, writes Kenneth Rogoff The greenback was already in decline. Donald Trump will accelerate the process

@pkrugman.bsky.social Care to comment on this piece from Ken Rogoff about dollar's fall and interest rates? I know you wrote disagreeing pieces on this in the past
www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

AI Changes Science and Math Forever | Quanta Magazine An exploration of how artificial intelligence is changing what it means to do science and math, and what it means to be a scientist.

Out today: a new special series from @quantamagazine.bsky.social about science in the age of AI! It explores the roots of AI in fundamental science, how researchers are trying to make sense of AI today, and the ways they’re grappling with an uncertain future.

www.quantamagazine.org/series/scien...

AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK | Quanta Magazine The brain’s astounding cellular diversity and networked complexity could show how to make AI better.

"A maggot knows things about the outside world in a way that no computer does." Read @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social fun + fascinating feature: AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK www.quantamagazine.org/ai-is-nothin...

A Witch Hunt at the State Department Trump’s commissars are looking for ideological enemies.

Considering how obsessed Trump’s top people are with calling everything “communism,” it’s ironic how much Beattie's witch hunt at State seems like a page from Soviet history, with Party commissars trying to identify ideological saboteurs in their midst.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

#OnThisDay in 1993, CERN released the World Wide Web software to the public.

Proposed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the web was originally created to allow scientists and institutes working on CERN data to share information accurately and quickly from across the globe.

#WorldWideWeb

Since 2011 or so, Hungary has been what is known as a “hybrid regime”—not a totalitarian dictatorship, but not a real democracy, either. Is the same thing happening in the U.S.?
nyer.cm/YxWG7w0

Fearing paper on evolution might get them deported, scientists withdrew it President Donald Trump’s orders haven’t targeted research involving evolution, but the authors’ unease about publishing reflects uncertainty in the science world.

Fearing paper on evolution might get them deported, scientists withdrew it

President Donald Trump’s orders haven’t targeted research involving evolution, but the authors’ unease about publishing reflects uncertainty in the science world. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

You Might Think of Shrimp as Bugs of the Sea. But a Remarkable Discovery Shows the Opposite: Bugs Are Actually Shrimp of the Land A recent study suggests that insects branched out from crustaceans on the tree of life

Shrimps is bugs? No, it’s kinda the other way around. Insects are technically crustaceans, which highlights the importance of systematics in understanding how evolution unfolds. My latest for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social.

Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals | Quanta Magazine Complex neural circuits likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.

Calling someone bird-brained is, in fact, a way of calling someone highly intelligent. @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/intelligence...

MUST WATCH: Rümeysa Öztürk’s legal team reads her first statement since detention outside of courthouse.

The government must immediately release Rümeysa Öztürk from custody.

The First Amendment protects all of us — regardless of citizenship status.

Dissent Is Not Grounds For Deportation The unconscionable, illegal arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Badar Khan Suri, and other international scholars should alarm every one of us. Tell Congress to defend our right to free speech ...

The Trump administration is threatening all of our First Amendment rights by punishing students and scholars like Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, and Badar Khan Suri for their protected speech.

Tell Congress: Our leaders must protect our right to free speech.