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Don Osborn

@donosborn.bsky.social
425 followers 872 following 629 posts

Africa agriculture Baha'i China development environment food ict4d justice L10n language policy research rural security systems. JHU, MSU. RPCV. PhD.

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Reposted by Don Osborn
Charles Gaba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 06/10/2026
#FunFact: Yes, it's now possible to drive a standard, mainstream EV from New York to Los Angeles in a reasonable amount of time without getting stranded with a dead battery and WITHOUT having to use a Tesla station!
Map of mainland U.S. with EV route from NYC to LA
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Thorin Klosowski @thorinklosowski.com · 01/10/2026
last year we did a little made up holiday called Opt Out October that was all about taking control of your data across platforms. This year we decided to talk about how many excellent alternatives to the products made by big tech are out there www.eff.org/pages/welcom...
eff.org
Welcome to Opt Out October. Let’s Take Control of Our Data and Our Devices
Big tech companies are hell-bent on taking away our agency and forcing us to use their surveillance-based services, apps, and devices. It’s hard to fight against, and it often feels much easier to giv...
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 03/10/2026
I often see people claim that because clean energy sources like solar, wind, or nuclear are manufactured using fossil fuels their emissions are high. But thats absolutely not the case: even accounting for full lifecycle emissions they are vastly better than burning coal or gas:
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Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics @bermaninstitute.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Africa’s effort to make most of its own vaccines by 2040 faces significant headwinds | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Africa’s effort to make most of its own vaccines by 2040 faces significant headwinds
Companies striving to reduce continent’s reliance on foreign shots must overcome major financial and logistical challenges
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This has to do with the University of Minnesota, but it illustrates the stark scenarios faced by much of higher education in the US currently.
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Farmers try to bring back Syrian bees Syria was once home to one of the largest populations of bees in the Middle East but they were eliminated Now only a fraction remain theworld.org/stories/2026...
theworld.org
Farmers try to bring back Syrian bees - The World from PRX
For DW’s Living Planet podcast, Kathleen Schuster reports on the fight to bring bees back to Syria.
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CERN @cern.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Happy birthday CERN! 🎉 #OnThisDay 72 years ago, CERN officially came into being, bringing together 12 founding Member States with a shared vision for science and international collaboration. Discover the story behind 72 years of science: home.cern/about/who-we...
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Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Please sign Petition to help South Africa save the Pangolins A Million Pangolins Were Trafficked in a Decade. South Africa Is Fighting It Nearly Alone. Eight pangolin species are now threatened with extinction and four are critically endangered. www.thepetitionsite.com/707/705/767/...
thepetitionsite.com
Sign Petition: South Africa Is Protecting Endangered Wildlife Alone. The World Needs to Help Fund It.
Eight species are now threatened with extinction, and four are critically endangered. (53029 signatures on petition)
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 27/09/2026
"America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth. Congenital measles has rarely been seen in the U.S. That’s changing as vaccination declines and more pregnant women become infected." www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
nbcnews.com
America had wiped out measles. Now babies are infected at birth.
Congenital measles has rarely been seen in the U.S. That’s changing as vaccination declines and more pregnant women become infected.
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Isaac Samuel @rhaplord.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The Sahara is one of the most dynamic zones of interaction in human history. In 1600 BC, the Hyksos introduced the horse-drawn chariot to Egypt, from where it spread southward to the kingdom of Kerma (Kush in Sudan) and westward across the Sahara www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-wheel-...
africanhistoryextra.com
The Wheel in the Ancient Sahara: Africa’s Forgotten Chariots
The Sahara is one of the most dynamic zones of interaction in human history.
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Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I don’t buy wine, cocktails, or stadium beer. I have 1 car that needs repairs. I financed my phone through my carrier plan. I’ve never owned $800 shoes, I gave up TV years ago,and while I think a well-made latte is one of the finer things in life, I’d never pay $14. Do I still have to pay the $4.50?
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Dr. Todd Arrington @btarrington.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"A republic, if you can keep it." ~Attributed to Benjamin Franklin 239 years ago today-9/17/1787-upon being asked if new US government would be a monarchy or a republic. The founders signed the Constitution OTD in 1787, so happy Constitution Day to all! Let's keep it. Image: National Archives.
Image: This color image shows the beginning of the U.S. Constitution, with the words "We the People" prominently featured.
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Good discussion on surveillance tech, privacy, & current public reaction by @karaswisher.bsky.social, with Jason Koebler, @safiyanoble.bsky.social, & Victoria Song. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...
podcasts.apple.com
Flock Cameras, Meta Glasses and the Surveillance Backlash
Podcast Episode · On with Kara Swisher · September 14 · 1h 6m
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Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · 14/09/2026
On The Climate Brink: The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Record. Aug. 2026 probably had more water vapor in the atmosphere than any month in the last few thousand years, if not a 100,000 years. www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-atmosp...
theclimatebrink.com
The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Record
More water vapor means more rocket fuel for extreme rain — so this record is not good news
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12/09/2026
mackenzie scott really seems like the only billionaire to figure out that you can be a literal hero to millions with a relative pittance
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A personal retrospective on 9/11 as experienced while living in Niger. (Written on the 15th anniversary in 2016) donosborn.org/blog/2016/se...
donosborn.org
September 11, 2001 in Niamey | Multidisciplinary Perspectives
For Americans (and many others), "where were you on 9/11?" is in the same category as an earlier generation's "where were you when President Kennedy was assassinated?" There are some events that are e...
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Ricky Davila @therickydavila.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
9/11 is a day I’ll never forget. Rather than sharing the horrific photos, I’d rather share an image in memory of what once was. 🙏
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Simon Lee @simonleewx.com · 10/09/2026
8 years ago, I tweeted side-by-side maps from NASA GISS showing global temperatures in 1976 and 2018 – both hot summers in the UK. It subsequently went viral and was printed in the Daily Mail! The 2026 version is stark. Two locally extreme summers separated by 50 years of global climate change.
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 09/09/2026
Interesting: Massachusetts has ordered all new data centers above 25MW to procure clean power.
mass.gov
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Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
“As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.” Albert Einstein 🧪
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Kasey Jones @nikitairoh.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 08/09/2026
arstechnica.com
EV batteries last longer than drivers feared
Study suggests used vehicles can retain about 90% of original usable battery capacity after 150,000 km.
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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 08/09/2026
More than 11,000 people have been sickened in a Cyclospora outbreak linked to lettuce. Meanwhile, FDA inspections of foreign food facilities have fallen nearly 35% since 2019. Public health work is often invisible...until it isn’t. Cuts have consequences.
apnews.com
Cyclospora outbreak followed years of declining FDA foreign inspections
The ongoing outbreak of cyclospora tied to iceberg lettuce has raised new concerns about the safety of imported produce — and underscores a worrisome trend: The U.S. is conducting fewer inspections to catch contaminated food.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 07/09/2026
The story linked above involves LLM-assisted work in which the LLM presented an argument developed by someone else as its own. If a human researcher did that, it would be straightforward misconduct and there could be career consequences. We need a process for addressing this now; we don’t have one.
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WHO @who.int · 07/09/2026
Here's some public health good news 🎊 Congratulations to Thailand for eliminating rubella as a public health problem! Learn more: bit.ly/4ynibTR #StandWithScience
A public health win for Thailand. The 7th country in the WHO South-East Asia Region to eliminate rubella as a public health problem.

Bold text against a background image showing children playing with their family.
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
This was pretty much inevitable. For years, recruitment and hiring have been using ever more sophisticated tech, while applicants are stuck with basically late 20th century tools. And then AI is used for the interviews…
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The idea of edible robots has been around for a while, altho mostly limited in foreseen design applications. See, for example, www.robofood.org Maybe the concept should be extended to all future AI mobile robots? Might level the playing field a bit if they get out of hand. #ediblerobots
robofood.org
Robofood – The new science and technology of edible robots and robotic food for humans and animals
ABOUT ROBOFOOD The New Science and Technology of Edible Robots and Robotic Food for Humans and Animals Ordering your pizza and having it delivered in a few minutes by a drone? That could soon be rou...
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
An actual dream in 2021: I came up on a level of what seemed vaguely like an airport, and it happened that a woman was there, with notepad like she was doing a survey. She looked at me and said,
Woman conducting survey in airport. Image from Dreamstime (appropriately enough) at https://www.dreamstime.com/woman-conducting-survey-busy-airport-terminal-focused-clipboard-surrounded-travelers-showcasing-vibrant-indoor-setting-image386578492
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Saul Steinberg on identity, property, and action. saulsteinbergfoundation.org/artwork/unti...
Saul Steinberg's illustration for a 1971 cover of The New Yorker, featuring images of the words "I do," "I have," and "I am."
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Reposted by Don Osborn
Uché Blackstock, MD @ucheblackstockmd.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The U.S. now has more measles cases than we’ve seen in 35+ years. Measles didn’t suddenly become harder to prevent. What changed is our relationship with vaccines, public health and expertise. Diseases we once had largely under control can come back.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.
The famous Copenhagen shopping street where it opens up into a triangular public place and gathering place, filled with people.
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Linsey Marr @linseymarr.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"Indoor spaces as active protectors of respiratory health" now published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, led by Brent Stephens and Jerry Krishnan. academic.oup.com/ajrccm/artic... Free preprint at drive.google.com/file/d/1nrzL...
Opportunity to transform the quality of indoor air. The figure illustrates how indoor environments can transition from passive spaces to active
protectors of respiratory health through integrated sensing of airborne pollutants, pathogens, and allergens; occupant feedback; and automated responses to improve IAQ. These capabilities could also provide high-resolution environmental data that can deepen our understanding of the pathobiology and adverse health effects of poor IAQ on pulmonary, cardiovascular, neurocognitive, and metabolic disorders across the lifespan.
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Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
“Remember, the Constitution doesn’t begin with, ‘I, the president.’ It begins with, ‘We, the people.’ ” —Gloria Steinem at the 2017 Women’s March
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Daniel Moser @dmoser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
Map showing Lower Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
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Sally Hayden @sallyhayd.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
One of the most horrific stories I’ve ever reported was published this weekend. Please, everyone privileged in this world, read it and really think about what it means not to have freedom of travel. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
irishtimes.com
‘It was day 13 or 14 when people started dying’: More than 200 set sail for Europe. Only 36 survived
A harrowing story of death and survival on the Atlantic migration route from west Africa, ‘the deadliest in the world’
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
“Trump’s executive order applies to all U.S. federal maps, documents, and other communications. However, experts suggest that Trump can’t force other countries, international organizations, private mapping companies, or even U.S. state governments to use the new name.” time.com/article/2026...
time.com
The Trouble With Trump’s Attempt to Rename Lake Ontario
Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario is symbolic political theater aimed at diverting our attention away from the fallout of his trade war with Canada, write Reuben Rose-Redwood and Derek Alderman.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
reminder that this is what auto supply chains in North America currently look like. Random parts can cross the US/Canadian border half a dozen times www.wsj.com/business/aut...
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Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Before Europeans arrived, these were some of the names for The Great Lakes: Superior: gichi-gami (great sea) Erie: erielhonan (long tail) Michigan: michigami (long body of water) Ontario: Ontarí'io\kanadario (great lake\beautiful water) Huron: karegnondi (fresh water sea)
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 24/08/2026
Underappreciated: US farmland *already substantially produces energy, not food*, and does so very inefficiently. Corn ethanol (~40% of all US corn) requires about 100 times more land per vehicle-mile driven than solar photovoltaics -> electric vehicles. Shifting corn to solar *would free up land*.
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Sitting on a porch for a few minutes this cool summer evening, and listening to the soft rain. And thinking.
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Ansley Erickson @ansleyerickson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Breaking my heart this morning: “Fitting ankle monitors on noncitizens without a criminal history who remain in compliance with their immigration cases has little precedent.” True in the narrowest sense. False given how the history of slavery and peonage roars through each part of this story.
nytimes.com
In Ohio, Haitians Feel Shaken by Ankle Monitors and Increased ICE Presence
The devices, which will make it easier for authorities to locate immigrants in Springfield if large-scale deportations begin, have intensified a sense of dread.
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Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🦟🧀 @mackayim.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Between two Japanese islands a tidal turbine on the seabed is sending 1.1 megawatts ashore through a single cable, and every hour it will generate for the next decade is already printed on a chart. www.ecoportal.net/en/tidal-tur...
ecoportal.net
Between two Japanese islands a tidal turbine on the seabed is sending 1.1 megawatts ashore through a single cable, and every hour it will generate for the next decade is already printed on a chart
The tidal turbine sits on a gravity base, held by its own weight rather than by piles driven into rock. Nothing is hammered in and nothing is anchored,
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Dr Paul Dorfman @drpauldorfman.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Solar panel prices have fallen 90% since 2010, making solar the cheapest form of energy on Earth. oilprice.com/Alternative-...
oilprice.com
How Solar Panel Prices Fell 90 Percent In 15 Years | OilPrice.com
Solar power outpaced every other energy source in 2025, driven by falling costs, early policy bets and a global push for energy security.
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NPR @npr.org · 14/08/2026
Just like all previous summers since the pandemic began, COVID-19 cases are ticking up again, even while other health threats make more headlines. n.pr/45oln5k
n.pr
Is there a summer COVID-19 surge this year? Yep, it's ramping up again
Just like all previous summers since the pandemic began, COVID-19 cases are ticking up again, even while other health threats make more headlines.
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Don Osborn @donosborn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
“The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law that prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government … from engaging in some forms of political activity.” #HatchAct en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatch_Act
en.wikipedia.org
Hatch Act - Wikipedia
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alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social @alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
For the first time, a quarter of the EU’s electricity comes from #solarenergy. Since 2021, it has grown from 10 to 25%.“The rise of solar energy has been nothing short of meteoric and is exceeding one forecast after another” #ClimateActionNow #KatharinaReiche #oilandgas #FriedhelmMerz #ActOnClimate
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SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @covid19disease.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
🚨 BREAKTHROUGH: 18-Year-Old Mia Heller From Virginia, USA, Invents a Water Filter That Eliminates 96% of Microplastics From Drinking Water
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Isaac Samuel @rhaplord.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
A school at Jenne, Mali c. 1897, Félix Dubois #archivesxt
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Aryq @nefariousaryq.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
🎶 They paved paradise and put up a data center… 🎶
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Whoa 🤯 in Slow-Mo @0lsi.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Minnesota just plugged a 710-megawatt #solar farm into a coal plant that once burned 30,000 tons a day. The unique approach to connecting the panels to the grid allowed it to sidestep a typically years-long connection process.
autonocion.com
Minnesota just plugged a 710-megawatt solar farm into a coal plant that once burned 30,000 tons a day, the two sharing wires until the last boiler dies in 2030 — and one retired coal unit will keep sp...
Retirement does not mean the old hardware stops working entirely, either. One of the retiring units is being converted into a synchronous condenser, a huge
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