Links for you. Science:

Scientists get closer to solving chemical puzzle of the origin of life
‘Dune’ stunt double? Terrifying creature may be even weirder than movie’s sandworms (stupid hook, but cool critters)
A cryptic plasmid is among the most numerous genetic elements in the human gut
An update on COVID-19 vaccination coverage
Post-AGBT: Sequencing Hardware Roundup
Winter is warming almost everywhere. See how it’s changed in your town.

Other:

Why Are We Still Flu-ifying COVID?
“I Don’t Know If Most People Even Know What Party Is In The Senate Majority”: AOC explains the value of accountability, excoriates Senate Democratic leaders for shirking oversight obligations, and lays out a vision for a more fearless, effective party
Inside the Internal Debates of a Hospital Abortion Committee
White Christian nationalism: the most powerful identity politics. A vision of government centered on controlling the lives of others (must-read; “The logic of the judicial decision — if life begins at conception, embryos must be people — fails against the logic of Christian nationalism — that White people need to reproduce to avoid being replaced.”)
Generative AI is a hammer and no one knows what is and isn’t a nail
Lableak truther loses $100,000 in his own debate. Scientific literacy can be lucrative in the age of myth and manipulation
Republicans used to back Ukraine. Then came middle fingers in Alabama.
A Republican candidate voted from the wrong address. Will it affect his bid for Congress? Brad Knott, a contender for the GOP nomination in the state’s 13th Congressional District, voted while registered at his father’s address despite living elsewhere in Raleigh. He says it was an oversight. (IOKIYAAR)
These Video Doorbells Have Terrible Security. Amazon Sells Them Anyway.
Public criticism of political news coverage cries out for the return of the public editor. Such a position is not a panacea for restoring the public trust, but it’s a good start.
33,000 And Counting: DC Is 92% of Way Towards Meeting 2025 Housing Production Goals
Scenes From the Bat Cave. How Steward Health left a Space Coast community hospital in a literal world of shit
Liberal Justices Cut Through Right-Wing Obfuscating: Bump Stocks And Machine Guns Do ‘Same Thing’
Google made an A.I. so woke it drove men mad
145 GOP Members of Congress Ask Supreme Court to Slash Access to the Abortion Pill
Donald Trump is broke hahahaha
How Democrats Could Disqualify Trump If the Supreme Court Doesn’t. Without clear guidance from the Court, House Democrats suggest that they might not certify a Trump win on January 6. (this would be a power move completely out of keeping with decades of professional Democratic politics)
AI Companies Are Getting the Culture War They Deserve: Google’s new image generator is yet another half-baked AI tool designed to provoke controversy.
Trump Wants a Break on $464 Million Judgment. The AG Says Trump Is Sneaking Assets to Florida.
The Real Story Behind Melania’s “I Really Don’t Care” Jacket Is Truly Funnier Than Anyone Knew
The Carry-On-Baggage Bubble Is About to Pop
Trump’s Taking His Immunity Claims All the Way To The Carefully Cultivated Supreme Court Majority
The Supreme Court just handed Trump an astonishing victory
The Missouri Freedom Caucus Spread Misinformation About the Super Bowl Parade Shooting
Alexandria achieves zero traffic fatalities in 2023
Understanding the District’s Housing Production Trust Fund