Ryan (and me) are hiring a PhD student! Sweden is a great country to do a PhD, see the link or ask us for more details, or share with potential students!
This article did a nice job of explaining the issues with using tile to drain agricultural land.
While true that more corn can be grown, corn is king when it comes to nitrate pollution.
Drain tile moves water faster increasing stream flow and causing stream erosion
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Tonight, I was looking at water.noaa.gov to see where the US is flooding. My 11-year old pointed to the ongoing major flooding in North Dakota, and I said "Oh, that's Devils Lake. It's always flooding there." They asked "Why?" and a rabbit hole yawned before me.
Some professors at the University of St. Thomas are doing a research project on the effects of the ICE occupation on Twin Cities parents. They're looking for parents who are US citizens, who live in the Twin Cities metro area, and who have kids ages 5-10.
stthomas.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
5/ Civilians are very vulnerable.
Over 400 desalination plants line the Gulf coast. ~100 million depend on them for drinking water.
Kuwait: 90%. Oman: 86%. Saudi Arabia: 70%. UAE: 42%.
A 2008 US diplomatic cable warned Riyadh "would have to evacuate within a week" if its main plant were destroyed.
3/ On March 7, the US struck a freshwater desalination plant on Iran's Qeshm Island, cutting water to 30 villages.
Iran's FM named the source: missiles from the US Navy's 5th Fleet base in Bahrain's Jufair.
Iran immediately retaliated — against that specific base.
The US hasn't denied it.
2/ First, the water crisis context.
Before a single bomb fell, Iran was already facing what hydrologists called "water bankruptcy." Tehran's reservoirs were at 13% capacity. The government was considering relocating the capital.
This wasn't a future risk - it's a present emergency.
1/ Timothy Snyder posted this at 2am. He's right. But the full picture is even worse than he describes.
Here's what I've found about the evidence and implications
🧵
Others in the past couple years I've liked: Proto by Laura Spinney; Pekka Hamalainen's works (esp Commanche Empire); Weavers, Scribes and Kings by Amanda Podnay, Charles Sumner by Zaakir Tameez (great overview of America 1840-1870ish, overall), Rick Perlstein's books
So many recs!
Robert Macfarlane's books are great as audiobooks, particularly Landmarks
Recently read Empire of Cotton which is dense but very good
Ive been on a history of textiles kick for awhile now, and highly recommend Worn by Sofia Thornhauser and The Golden Thread by Kasia St Clair
libby! Lots of libraries have really great selection, and if your local doesnt, theres plenty that allow you to get a non-resident membership for like $50 a year, which is well worth it
Newly released footage shows an ICE agent killing Rubin Ray Martinez, 23, in his car in Texas.
"He was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger."
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Damn, looks like it actually broke up and picked up the lake ice in this longer video.
Who's ready to make another run at record global temperatures? 🔥
They don’t give a shit. They’re gonna be just fine, whatever happens to the rest of us. www.todayintabs.com/p/they-don-t...
Im impressed they let you run a class with 2 students! Thats really hard to teach
My spring break productivity
Ive had 1-2 students show up, its pretty demoralizing
White knuckling it through early March
"The little fuckers are waking me up again. I saw skunk cabbage peaking out through the muck in the forest last week. I preemptively feel my sinuses clogging. The winter WILL end goddammit"
You guys! The Extremely Loud Morning Birds are back! We are gonna make it, you guys!
Some exciting news to share: very soon, NOAA Research will be hiring new federal employees into science positions across the agency! A couple of notes:
1) They will only be open on USAJobs for seven days.
2) Multiple positions at different sites may be in one posting.
(1/2)
The big story from this winter is the record heat across the West, which helped to drive a historic snow drought (even despite some areas of heavier precipitation). We'll be covering this and more in our next monthly webinar at @climatecentral.org. Sign up at: www.climatecentral.org/climate-brie...
I’m still processing images from Sunday morning… look at the size of this giant Saguaro, and nest! 🪶 🌵
When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.
Primary election today in Texas y’all. Go vote.
can you teach something at Texas A&M? just follow this flowchart.
www.chronicle.com/article/insi... via @jasperjsmith.bsky.social and @mzahneis.bsky.social
The restoration of the Klamath River, a work in progress
#Conservation #Restoration #Sustainability #Ecology #Resilience
therevelator.org/klamath-rest...
back from my socials sabbatical because for the past few weeks i've been trying to put down words about how it feels to be trans and see what's been happening at my alma mater, texas a&m university.
on being trans, texan, and loving things that can't love you back: www.chron.com/culture/arti...
The unelected official heading the White House's Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, continues to prevent Americans from discovering new insights on:
1) how earthquakes happen.
2) how mineral resources may be found and exploited.
3) how our planet works.
