quasar gazer | science & education policy wonk | prof. of physics & astronomy at a public liberal arts college | Illinoisan
LOL - this is the last thing I was expecting to enter the Odyssey discourse. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/29/s...
Matt Damon’s Biceps in That ‘Odyssey’ Fight Scene? They’re Hers. (Gift Article)Devyn Dalton, a 4-foot-6 woman, is the leading man’s stunt double in Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster.www.nytimes.com"Authoritarianism doesn’t have to involve men in suits dragging people into cars...Orban showed that critics — or pockets of independence — can be rendered pliable by making them believe that the smart move is to affirmatively sacrifice some of their independence" @yale.edu wapo.st/3RW4HPo
Opinion | Yale trustees, history is watching youA lesson from Hungary: Boards don't capitulate to authoritarians. The people on them do.wapo.st
TIL 10% of the UNC System's endowment is invested in SpaceX www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...
‘I’m Coming Clean’: Former UNC-CH Chancellor Says He Advised Against Investing in SpaceXHolden Thorp doubted SpaceX would pay off for the UNC Investment Fund. After the company’s initial public offering, he’s thankful no one listened.www.theassemblync.com
'it’s clear we also need new collaborative structures, theories of jurisdiction and laws; new philosophies of the human, the unique status of human culture, and interplanetary environmental responsibility; and a sharp eye on the history of human hubris.' 1/4
Arts and humanities have a role in understanding space exploration | LettersLetter: Prof Abbie Garrington reflects on an interview with the physicist Laura Grego about the battle for our skieswww.theguardian.com
It is sickening and illegal and poisonously anti-American to steal OUR tax dollars, mandated by our Congress for the public good, and pervert them into a plaything of authoritarian patronage. Flaying our public institutions is the opposite of Conservative and it harms all Americans.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.www.nytimes.com
15. I keep coming back to this line. It is willful misrepresentation of our federal funding agencies' mission beyond discovery: developing that R&D workforce (and a pipeline of ideas) that flow into the private sector so beloved to our author. We employ trainEES because trainING is what we do.
8. One of the biggest misunderstandings or misrepresentations running through the report involves the role of US funding agencies. Indeed, they serve in part to promote tech discoveries and medical breakthroughs, but their role and charge is also to develop and perpetuate a vibrant STEM ecosystem.
1. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.www.nytimes.com
Ahead of a hearing before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee tomorrow, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has released a 120-pg report, "Science: A New Golden Age" www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u... Here's the summary from the press release:
I realize the WSJ reporter who wrote this does not have a ton of government reporting experience, and they've fired their science desk, but I would assume someone there knows about Article I of the United States Constitution.
Exclusive | White House to Redirect Billions in Research Funds Toward AI, Away From CollegesThe overhaul will reshape $200 billion in spending a year and favors individual scientists to outpace China.www.wsj.com..a digital library housing "millions of A.I. models". Coooooool. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/t...
OpenAI Says Its A.I. Models Went Rogue and Attacked a Digital Library (Gift Article)The incident, which targeted the computer systems of another company called Hugging Face, happened while OpenAI was testing the systems.www.nytimes.com