Laura Baisas

Reflecting On The Wild With Jane Goodall, Winner Of The 2021 Templeton Prize A look back on the groundbreaking chimpanzee research and humanitarian career of Jane Goodall.

Jane Goodall is an inspiration to so many in science, myself included. I once combed through @scifri.bsky.social's archives listening to her interviews. I'll never forget her on-air imitation of a chimp pant-hoot. A true legend 💙🐒 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t8_... www.sciencefriday.com/articles/arc...

Well done, @merriam-webster.com! You got me with this one.

Rodents’ secret weapon? Thumbnails. Those tiny nails helped rats, squirrels, and more take over the world.

Truer words were never spoken: "While humans are Earth’s most dominant animal species, it’s really a rodent’s world and we are just living in it"

www.popsci.com/environment/...

🚨ACTION OF THE DAY🚨
@standupforscience.bsky.social

Day 21! QUACK-O-GRAM THURSDAY!

For $3 we will hand deliver an "IMPEACH THE QUACK" rubber ducky to your House Representative! (By one of our team members in a duck suit!)

DO IT (AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS)

act.standupforscience.net/fundraising/...

WOAH!!!

Happy Shark Awareness Day!

I want people to be aware of 5 things:

1 Sharks are awesome

2 Sharks are not a threat to your safety

3 Sharks are ecologically important

4 Sharks are highly threatened

5 We can still save them- but it matters what we do, don’t reinvent the wheel, follow experts!

MAHA’s European food envy is full of contradictions The idea of making the U.S. more like Europe is anathema to many in the Trump administration. But that’s what the Make America Healthy Again movement says it wants — at least when it comes to food.

Much of the Trump admin would recoil at the idea of making the US more like Europe — but MAHA often points to Europe as a model when it comes to food. I wrote about the policies that explain Europe's lower rates of chronic disease, and MAHA's selective rhetoric:

www.statnews.com/2025/07/10/m...

Everyday is Shark Week in Coral City. A male lemon shark swims directly over the Cam 🔮🍋🦈🪸🌇 #lemonshark #sharksofcoralcity #everydayissharkweekincoralcity #sharkweek #overhead #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #miamibeach #biscaynebay #coralcity

self-sabotaging my own feature stories is a particular speciality of mine

Truly exhausting. Hang in there

Riley Gaines: New York City is so screwed. evan loves worf: Did Zohran Mamdani also beat you at swimming?

I've really begun to dread the month of June for this very reason...

What is a heat dome? These stuck areas of high pressure act like a lid on a boiling pot of water. Except we are inside the pot.

Please stay safe in this heat east coast/midwest!
www.popsci.com/environment/...

LOVE this!

So, What Did I Miss? “How much can possibly happen when I’m on parental leave?” I said five months ago.

“how much can possibly happen when I’m on parental leave” I asked in January of 2025

anyway uh I have a new job just in time for President Trump’s tank parade www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Please Remain Civil While Resisting President Nyarlathotep’s Orgy of Nullification Look, I get it. I’ve been in this game a long time, okay? I managed political campaigns on both sides of the aisle, and very nearly won some of the...

My latest @mcsweeneys.net is a dire PSA:

please
whatever you do,

don't make a fool of yourselves in front of the Fascist Souleaters whose only guiding purpose is to devour your souls

There's no reason to be so aggressive about it!

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/ple...

Truly the dream! And I agree, I don't think it will be the last. Looking forward to the new book and congraulations!

Now that's a plug!

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

Ten Vital Services Provided by NOAA (Beyond the National Weather Service) Far too much of the media coverage supporting NOAA only mentions one of many things they do: here are 10 more.

Lots of people on my feed are concerned about the destruction of NOAA by the Trump administration and Elon Musk, but much of what I’ve seen people post about is the national weather service. That’s vital, but NOAA does so much more than that!

My latest, for @ucsusa.bsky.social

🧪🌎🦑🐠

And now, a note on Bill Owens who, until this past week, was the executive producer of 60 Minutes.

We’ll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.

Q&A: The legendary VFX artist who brought Captain Davy Jones, ‘The Abyss,’ and more to life The award winning VFX artist discusses the past and future of the field ahead of a new season of ‘Light & Magic’ on Disney+.

It's SFX Friday over at Popular Science!

(We're manifesting this into existence)

www.popsci.com/science/john...

Cordyceps fungus: ‘The Last of Us’ co-star thriving outside the spotlight Parasitic fungi have a grip on us, yet most are still a scientific mystery.

The real world is terrifying enough right now, so let's dive into an ever more frightening world this weekend when the second season of "The Last of Us" premieres! Fun with (parasitic) fungi.

www.popsci.com/environment/...

Those Dire Wolves Aren’t an Amazing Scientific Breakthrough. They’re a Disturbing Symbol of Where We’re Heading. We shouldn’t be celebrating “de-extinction.” We should be focused on the species that are currently in danger.

Colossal’s bungled wolf announcement isn’t a conservation win. It’s a sad reminder of how the offensively rich want to foist their vision of the future on everyone. My latest for @slate.com

You guys, we better hope that this tariff war with penguins doesn’t turn into a shooting war, because penguins shit from a long distance and it smells real bad.

arstechnica.com/science/2020...

The Heard and McDonald Islands Are a Pristine Biological Wonderland Trump’s tariffs put a spotlight on the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, which comprise a remote volcanic refuge for penguins and seals and a UNESCO World Heritage site

This was actually a really delightful piece to write, albeit for the dumbest possible reason. 🧪

Jersey is having a week!

Kennedy Guts Teams That Share Health Information With the Public (Gift Article) The health secretary had promised “radical transparency,” but fired communications teams in the Health and Human Services Department.

ICYMI: You've probably heard about the vast array of agencies the HHS layoffs gutted, but somewhat less focused-on were the communications teams that were laid off. I talked to laid-off workers in the comms offices in 5 divisions of HHS, and all said their offices had been emptied or nearly so. 1/x