Jacek Debiec, MD, PhD, DPhil 🌎 🧠

This is well-written, deeply researched, student newspaper editorial speaks to the power that universities have over their communities.

How UMich is forcing a data center on Ypsilanti The combined 144 acres the University seems to have settled on are agricultural or recreational use land. No one deserves to have their local park taken over by a data center.

When universities stop serving the common good and start serving their corporate interests:

"Deception, deflection, and disregard: How UMich is forcing a data center on Ypsilanti."

#AcademicSky

www.michigandaily.com/opinion/colu...

The most important message of @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social opinion piece: "For decades and maybe centuries it has has been too late to save everything, but it will never be too late to save anything." There is always something, someone worth protecting and saving.

#ClimateSky

Fossil fuels removed as cause of global warming on EPA website 'It's like pretending cigarettes don’t cause lung cancer,' says one climate expert.

“The rest of the world understands this is happening and they're taking steps... And we're just going backwards. We're knocking ourselves back into the Stone Age.”

#ClimateSky

www.euronews.com/green/2025/1...

Canada launches $1.2bn fund to poach academic talent from US Investment comes as Trump administration cuts grants and slashes higher education funding

"Canada is to spend C$1.7bn (US$1.2bn) to attract up to 1,000 leading international and expatriate researchers, in a plan to strengthen its universities and attract US talent"

#AcademicSky

www.ft.com/content/c664...

The wealthiest are determined to contribute to the climate crisis, make money from it, and pass the costs on to the rest as long as they can, until the system collapses, and they will have to pay for the costs like everybody else.

Cut and Run: How Insurers Dodge the Climate Costs They Help Create and Why Fossil Fuel Should Pay - Center for International Environmental Law Learn how insurers avoid the costs of the climate disasters they help create and why fossil fuel companies should ultimately pay.

At the same time, the insurance industry continues to invest in and profit from fossil fuels, contributing to global warming while raising homeowners' insurance costs due to climate crisis-related extreme weather events.

www.ciel.org/insurers-dod...

The question is not if but when. Below are the images of some parts of the world with a global sea level rise of 3 meters, according to Climate Central. Areas in red will be underwater. And these 3 meters are only due to Thwaites Glacier melting, not including Greenland or other regions.
#ClimateSky

South Dakota ER Nurse Says Dying Patients Continue to Deny COVID-19 In South Dakota, where the COVID-19 death rate is among the worst in the world, emergency room nurse Jodi Doering says she’s treated many patients who deny that COVID-19 is making them ill even as the...

We had a sample of what it's like.

www.democracynow.org/2020/11/17/h...

A wise advice, and it was wise of you to follow it. The environment, especially the early environment, shapes the way brain circuits organize and process stimuli and information. Many children are overflooded with stimuli. Adapting to this flooding comes with costs.

'Attack on Independent Science': Trump EPA Removes All Mention of Human-Caused Climate Crisis From Public Webpages | Common Dreams In what the Union of Concerned Scientists called "an attack on independent science," the Trump administration has purged all information about human causes of climate change from EPA websites.

The awakening will be painful.

"EPA Removes All Mention of Human-Caused Climate Crisis From Public Webpages"

#ClimateSky

www.commondreams.org/news/epa-web...

Environmental groups demand national moratorium on new data centers over climate concerns More than 230 environmental groups are demanding a national moratorium on new data centers in the United States.

"This expansion is rapidly increasing demand for energy, driving more fossil fuel pollution, straining water resources and raising electricity prices across the country."

#ClimateSky

www.wxyz.com/science-and-...

Greed as the top value in the hierarchy of public values.

Under Former Chemical Industry Insiders, Trump EPA Nearly Doubles Amount of Formaldehyde Considered Safe to Inhale Chemical industry lobbyists have long pushed the government to adopt a less stringent approach to gauging the cancer risk from chemicals, one that would help ease regulations on companies that make or...

"EPA nearly doubles amount of formaldehyde considered safe to inhale... Chemical companies want every carcinogen to be considered a threshold carcinogen, which would allow them to say that their chemicals are safe when we know that is not true."
#MedSky
www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

The loss of efficacy of fluoxetine in pediatric depression: explanations, lack of acknowledgment, and implications for other treatments Fluoxetine is among the most used antidepressants for children and adolescents and frequently recommended as first-line pharmacological treatment for pediatric depression. However, in contrast to earl...

"Clinicians should be aware that in light of small or doubtful efficacy, side-effects create an unfavorable harm-benefit ratio." - from the new commentary by @ploederl.bsky.social et al.

#PsychSky

www.jclinepi.com/action/showF...

"Government Fusion Centers were supposed to focus on preventing terrorism... With little formal oversight... the information collected by Fusion Centers has been used to monitor people engaged in First Amendment-protected activities and to track minority communities and protest movements."

More than 60,000 penguins starve to death near Africa African penguins need sardines to fatten up before a three-week moulting period on land

From the chronicles of the ongoing ecosystem collapse:

"More than 60,000 penguins have starved to death off the coast of South Africa as a result of collapsing sardine numbers, according to a new study."

#ClimateSky
#GreenSky

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

How science can phase out animal testing New technologies could replace many procedures though some will still be needed

"New technologies...are emerging to replace procedures previously carried out on animals. In response, governments and regulators globally have made encouraging commitments this year to phase out their use of animals..."

www.ft.com/content/4d4e...

publications.aap.org/pediatrics/a...

Parents, smartphones are not designed to support your child's mental health and well-being. Make wise decisions.

According to a new study (link in the comment below) published by Pediatrics, children who have smartphones by age 12 are at a higher risk of sleep disruption, depression, and obesity.

Elon Musk’s X fined €120mn by EU for transparency violations Penalty under bloc’s Digital Services Act risks escalating tensions with US government

Will the government he co-owns defend Musk against the rule of law in the foreign countries where he runs his businesses?

“We are here to make sure that our legislation is enforced. If you comply with our rules, you don’t get a fine.”

www.ft.com/content/cf1e...

YouTube video by PBS Terra You’re Not Worried Enough About Sea Level Rise

PBS: "About 230 million people live at or below one meter of sea level. And around a billion people live below 10 meters. And cities are just not preparing for the type of sea level rise we may see..."

#ClimateSky

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg7x...

A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA | NEJM Twelve former commissioners of the FDA express concern that the agency’s recent moves will undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure vaccine safety, effectiveness, and availability.

A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA

"Recent moves will undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure vaccine safety, effectiveness, and availability."

www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Kids who have smartphones by age 12 have higher risk of depression, obesity: Study Children who own smartphones by age 12 are at higher risk of lack of sleep, obesity and depression, a new study published Monday finds.

Smartphones have not been designed to support a child's mental health and well-being. According to a recent study, children who have smartphones by age 12 are at higher risk of sleep disruption, depression, and obesity.

#MedSky

abcnews.go.com/Health/kids-...

I am not an ecological economist, but an ecological psychiatrist and behavioral neuroscientist. Looking from my perspective, framing is typically the answer. It reveals the underlying strategy and motivations that are behind it.

Third senior Oxford academic quits over misconduct claims John Tasioulas resigned in September as director of the Institute of Ethics in AI. Campaigners say the Equality and Human Rights Commission should investigate

Make ethics a daily practice, not merely an academic discipline again.

"A senior Oxford professor...of ethics and legal philosophy... resigned from the university while under investigation over allegations of harassment and inappropriate conduct..."

#AcademicSky

www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.

The point is not to raise more educated, wiser citizens but to make fortunes

"Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education"
#AcademicSky
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

Lots of love turned in these 6'2. Congratulations! Job well done.

Fluoride and the brain: Largest US study ever unearths surprise new link In the first US study looking at whether the recommended fluoride levels in drinking water affects brain function, researchers have found that the hot-button mineral has no negative impacts on cogniti...

"In the first US study looking at whether the recommended fluoride levels in drinking water affect brain function, researchers have found that the hot-button mineral has no negative impacts on cognition – and may actually be giving it a boost."

#MedSky

newatlas.com/health-wellb...

They uncritically rely on their normalcy bias.