Links for you. Science:
The Worm That No Computer Scientist Can Crack. One of the simplest, most over-studied organisms in the world is the C. elegans nematode. For 13 years, a project called OpenWorm has tried—and utterly failed—to simulate it.
D.C. cherry blossoms reach peak earlier than normal for 6th straight year
ICE detains Harvard researcher from Russia who protested Ukraine war. Kseniia Petrova’s visa was revoked as she returned to Boston last month. She fears deportation to Russia because of her opposition to its invasion of Ukraine.
Honeybee Deaths Surge In U.S.: ‘Something Real Bad Is Going On’
This town on the Cape is a hub for climate scientists. Under Trump, its local economy is shaking. (Woods Hole, MA)
Trump wants to reshape the Smithsonian. Who funds the vast institution?
Other:
Top US vaccine official resigns over RFK Jr’s ‘misinformation and lies’. Dr Peter Marks was seen as a guardrail against any future politicisation of the FDA’s approval of life-saving vaccines
Why I left my job leading public health messaging for the CDC: Public health policy must be guided by facts and not fantasy.
Visibly bruised Venezuelans allege mistreatment in ICE custody
Scores of child-care centers at risk after Trump officials gut federal office
Wall Street Prepares to Get Paul Weiss’d. Few on Wall Street view Brad Karp, the chairman of Paul Weiss, as a paragon of moral clarity. But most senior finance executives are terrified that, once Trump finishes throwing darts at Big Law, he’ll take aim at banks and private equity firms. “If the government decides that it wants to get you, … don’t fight,” one Wall Street C.E.O. told me. (the URL is “after-paul-weiss-wall-street-prepares-to-show-its-belly”)
Trump’s executive order targeted this museum. Many visitors question why.
Agency for older adults and people with disabilities to be shuttered under HHS cuts (conservatives have always hated Meals on Wheels)
Maryland might ban formal ICE partnerships. Sheriffs strongly oppose it.
Chuck Schumer Is Pushing Young People Away From the Democratic Party With His Toothless Leadership
DOGE wants businesses to run government services ‘as much as possible’
Where did Seattle’s affordable housing go?
Richard Chamberlain, TV heartthrob and ‘king of the miniseries,’ dies at 90
How the Social Security Administration and DOGE are gaslighting Americans
Trump’s Threats to the Constitution Are Happening in Real Time, Not (Just) in a Third Term
Self-Driving Trucks
An Abundance of Ambiguity: Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that a world of plenty awaits us if we reform zoning and environmental laws and everyone moves to San Francisco. But that can’t be the whole plan, right?
The reactionary right is not a monolith: J.D. Vance is trying to cover the cracks (one way they ‘cover the cracks’ is by having a firm belief in a dominance hierarchy)
Mike Johnson loses his war against new moms—and he’s pissed
The Biggest Loser in Wisconsin: The richest man in the world could not buy an election
Elon Musk Can’t Take the Heat. The numbers say anti-Tesla protests are working. So do Musk’s increasingly unhinged actions.
MAGA is Bad for Business. And business owners were deluded to believe otherwise
LePen Being Banned From Running For President Is Not Lawfare
The End of College Life: If they persist, Donald Trump’s attacks on universities will destroy a cornerstone of American life.
DOGE Accesses Federal Payroll System Over Objections of Career Staff
The Vance Doctrine: Depending on whom you talk to, J.D. Vance is either a foreign policy naif or an embittered War on Terror vet driven by fear that the West’s foundational civilization is being washed away. The truth may be somewhere in between.
Sabotage In Plain Sight— How Republicans Hope To Get Away With Dismantling Social Security
Miserable Failure
mikethemadbiologist
“Top US vaccine official resigns over RFK Jr’s ‘misinformation and lies’.” “Why I left my job leading public health messaging for the CDC:” They’re wimping out. I wish that they had stayed and fought — don’t resign, wait until they’re fired, and repeatedly make public stinks, especially regarding lesser discipline. Disobey orders about what to say or what not to say, if necessary.
“Visibly bruised Venezuelans allege mistreatment in ICE custody.” ICE custody? Not the Salvadorean Gulag? The ICE part is believable.