Long live joy

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

A couple of weeks ago, we gave a shout-out to the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Maria Corina Machado. Turns out Maria Corina Machado has a more complicated and problematic backstory, including her support of Trump and Israel’s war in Gaza, and more. We don’t know the full story and this may be one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situations but hey, hard to imagine how supporting genocide or blowing up boats full of citizens of Venezuela without due process deserves the Peace prize. But we know these things are complicated and we are just scientists afterall, not diplomats. So we will leave it there. 

We would be remiss to not mention that 7 million people in the US and across the world took to their streets on October 18th to once again remind the US president and aspiring king that there are no kings in a democracy! The inflatable costumes and joy won the day and stand in absolute contrast to the cruelty, corruption, greed, and sheer stupidity of what we are up against. 

Joy and bravery, together, will win.

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  • We don’t often recommend things in the NYT (it’s a mixed bag of amazing journalism and complicity with fascism) but we love this new series “Lost Science” from Carl Zimmer, highlighting science and discoveries we won’t make because of Trump’s cuts to science in the US. 

  • AGU’s database of funding opportunities.

weekly wins

  • Federal judge ruled that Trump administration must restore school funds for mental health support for students.

  • Federal judge extended the order blocking Trump administration from deploying troops in Illinois.

weekly wonder

  • New technology allows scientists to detect infrasound from individual sea and ocean waves, making it possible to monitor sea conditions from land.

check it out

around the world

  • Category 5 storm made landfall in Jamaica. This storm is likely to have absolutely devastating effects, and the size and impact of this storm is most likely made worse from climate change.

  • Japan elects first woman prime minister Sanae Takaichi, known in part for her opposition to gender equality.

  • Although Zimbabwe outlawed child marriage, 1 in 3 girls are still married before the age of 18. These women and girls are reinventing traditional practices to build community and shift social norms. 

  • Same-sex couples still cannot get married in South Korea, but they will be counted as “spouses” in the upcoming census - a step towards gathering critical data on LGBTQIA+ citizens.

  • 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 academics from The Netherlands and their open letter to stop the uncritical adoption of AI technologies in academia.

  • Israel ceased to abide by cease-fire agreement and ordered major strikes on Gaza, again.

more of this please

  • A project to preserve thousands of US National Park signs as the Trump administration removes them.

  • Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson calls for a general strike 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

  • Multiple universities decline invitation to join the federal compact, shout out to Brown University, Penn, University of Arizona, MIT, USC, Brown, and Dartmouth and all the amazing researchers, faculty, and staff who have spoken up internally to help their institutions do the right thing.

    • But after initial rejection, looks like UVA caved

  • A Portland coffee shop has raised over $200K (and growing) for people who are losing their SNAP benefits.

perennial reads

book nook

all ears

  • Check out the latest “Why is this happening” podcast episode on Right-wing radicalization in a fractured America, with Beth Macy.

…by the way

🙃 Manels are apparently back. Just look around, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

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