Kristina M. Gill

NSF officials break silence on how AI and quantum now drive agency grantmaking Leaders acknowledge White House role in controversial moves

The National Science Foundation is systematically being converted to the National AI and Quantum Research Foundation.

“I see it as the administration exerting political control over what has traditionally been NSF’s ability to fund the best science.”

A sphinx moth came to slurp at a desert lily as we were watching the sunset over the Anza Borrego badlands.

In early college I would just eat off a tub (like 3 lbs) of red vines for a week or so. The texture as they “aged” just got better. So gross and so good 😂

Me too! I love that it’s an early one, hinting at the extent of blooms to come soon after.

So is the Carrizo Plain 🌼 #superbloom

For those familiar w/ "ARkStorm/ARk2.0" flood scenarios for California, a comparable event has been unfolding on the Iberian Peninsula. These ridiculous rainfall accumulations, caused by a long series of extremely moist atmospheric rivers, have brought widespread severe flooding to Spain & Portugal.

Oh my, Weiss here opening her ugly mouth again. Kudos to UCLA and San Manuel ✨

Organizers have collected 14 lotion bottles, two deodorant bottles, and one AA Battery that detainees have thrown over the fences with notes attached to them.

The full story: lataco.com/captive-loti...

By Aisha Wallace-Palomares

My idea for reforming ICE is somewhere in the Carthago delenda est realm.

Yep, as a kid we went across often as a family just for day trips to Tijuana from San Diego.

Love it. My favorite is Salsipuedes in Santa Barbara, aka “leave if you can”. So much history!

Yes! (😂 Manteca)

Lots of Spanish names and Indigenous ones too, like Malibu, Topanga, Jalama, Pismo.

Lol. I had a copy editor insist that the publisher’s guidelines for an academic volume stipulated all words must be in English. They wanted me to “translate” dozens of place names in Southern California 😂🥴🫠.

My picture was used in child abuse images. AI is putting others through my nightmare | Mara Wilson I was a child actor, exploited by strangers on the internet. Now millions of children face the same danger

I wrote about my experiences being sexually exploited as a child, and what we need to do to make sure AI doesn’t make that a reality for millions of children.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A lot of disabled kids who require 1:1 aides won’t get educated online, but may not be safe to go to school.

Map from NOAA Climate at a Glance depicting the relative rank of Nov-Dec 2025 temperatures on a county-by-county basis. Most Western U.S. counties experienced their warmest Nov-Dec on record, as depicted by all locations dark red in color on the map.

Well, it's now official (per NOAA): Dec (and Nov-Dec) 2025 were the warmest such periods on record for Western U.S. (and also for most individual Western states). It has been an extraordinarily sustained period of winter warmth, and this eerily balmy winter continues into Jan.

Ornithorhynchology (PLATYPUSES) with Dr. Tahneal Hawke — alie ward Duck bills. Beaver tails. Underground lairs. Eggs. Milk. Venom? A platypus has it all. Scholar, conservationist, and Ornithorhynchologist Dr. Tahneal Hawke is here to run through the baffling anatomy ...

I learned so much about platypuses w/this episode. I look for ways to be optimistic about the future & seeing @ologies.bsky.social at the top of science podcasts helps. Thoughtful & fun interviews w/scientists from all backgrounds, often mentions Indigenous ppl, dispels misinformation, I 💜 Ologies.

*laughs in archivist* anyone who thinks it's all been digitized is out of their goddamn mind. We don't have the staff, resources, or digital infrastructure to digitize, store, check, and maintain at preservations standards a digital copy of every single item in our collections.

🚨 JOB JOB JOB!!! 🚨
Late-breaking job! Indigenous history at University of Colorado Boulder. Assistant or eatly associate. Been trying to get this line for forever. It’s finally happening 🙏 Great place to live and work. Fabulous colleagues (ask me how I know!) networks.h-net.org/jobs/69637/u...

Image of Morro rock in the background, boats and otters in Morro Bay harbor in the foreground.

We’ve been loving the sunny heat wave on the coast 😆

Map showing current temperatures in California (from PivotalWeather.com). It depicts balmy and even record warmth in the mountains and hills, as well as SoCal, with temperatures into the 70s and 80s in these areas, but very chilly temperatures in the Central Valley remaining in the low 40s under a dense fog layer.

Central California is currently experiencing one of the most remarkable temperature inversions I've ever seen in this part of the world. The Central Valley remains miserably damp & chilly under dense fog layer, but it's balmily warm & sunny just 2,000ft up nearby mountain slopes!

Volcanic eruption triggered 'butterfly effect' that led to the Black Death, researchers find A volcanic eruption in 1345 may have kicked off a series of events that led to the Black Death sweeping through medieval Europe.

Researchers have marshaled ice core and tree-ring data to suggest that a previously unknown volcano erupted in 1345 and triggered climate changes that eventually led to the Black Death. 🏺🧪

(Thanks to @monicamedhist.bsky.social for commenting!)

💯 I had an SEB NSF DDRIG grant that funded my PhD work. I would not have been able to finish the work + be where I am without it.

but you’d have to look at all the potential aspects to do so. And even then, if they show the same data patterns, seasonality, etc., you can’t necessarily rule out they were both used ~ the same time. You’ll prob have better luck tracing the paperwork trails/historical land uses to piece together.

I think this would be a context/stratigraphic issue vs a sourcing issue. You could do isotopic work on the shells, but if the second (or first) location is nearby, you could reasonably assume they’re sourcing the shells from the same place. You might be able to tease out something with the data,

If a politician:

-Has never cared at all about whales before;

-Is in the pocket of big oil, an industry which has a financial incentive to oppose alternative energy;

and

-is a well-documented liar,

You don't have to take their "we have to stop offshore wind to save whales" claims seriously.

Oh no. One of my worst life experiences was from a Caesar salad. At the fair. Bad call 🫠. Hope you feel better soon 🌸

I'd never heard of this site until tonight. Both my books are on there. Did you know my publisher offers one of three lowest royalty rates in the entire industry? And that I didn't get an advance? Literally all I make is from royalties. Royalties I don't earn when you pirate my book.