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Jon Gertner

@jongertner.bsky.social
575 followers 723 following 130 posts

Writing about climate, science, and tech at the NYTMagazine; author of The Idea Factory and The Ice at the End of the World. Next book—on NASA’s Voyager mission—out from Random House in 2027.

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Reposted by Jon Gertner
Jim Alwine @jimalwine.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I have always liked the word bellwether. It derives from the practice of shepherds hanging a bell around the neck of a wether (a castrated male sheep) to lead and track the flock. The word evolved to be anything that guides or predicts the way forward. When I taught virology, I would
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 28/09/2026
New Horizons is now *three days away* from shutting off its two heliophysics instruments, simply because NASA has not provided the $2M in funding it had promised to the mission last year or this year. There is no science basis for shutting these off. Our earlier coverage:
science.org
NASA’s New Horizons mission may shut down two instruments over lack of funding
Decision risks “incalculable loss” of data from the edge of the Sun’s influence, scientists say
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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
When Trump launched “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” without ICE facilities to accommodate it, inhumane overcrowding was inevitable. Judge Kaplan’s 9/24 ruling shows the results. Diagrams simulating a NYC holding cell in Aug 2025 look like slave ships. 1/5
Hold Room 1(820.78 sq. ft.)
With 87 people
(out of 193 people total)
Lying Down/Sitting
Diagram showing the largest tenth-floor hold room containing eighty-seven detainees in which each rectangle represents one lying-down detainee with the average height and shoulder width of an adult man and each circle represents one sitting-down detainee with the average shoulder width of an adult man. PX303, Ex. 1.
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Rather unsettling and very close -- detected 2 years after the fact; a once-in-every-132-years event . . . . apnews.com/article/moon... spacecraft discovers a huge new crater on the moon
apnews.com
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
For decades, berkelium has occupied an unusual place in the periodic table. It is one of the rarest elements on Earth, available only in minute quantities, and has few direct commercial applications. #chemsky 🧪
cen.acs.org
Opinion: The overlooked actinide that could transform chemical separations
Berkelium’s refusal to behave like other tetravalent actinides may be its greatest separation advantage
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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This was SO much fun. I got to talk to art historians and scientists about science in art! Artists are keen observers of the world, and they may see things others miss. And it was a fab opportunity to dive into beautiful art. www.sciencenews.org/article/hist...
sciencenews.org
Historical art can hide scientific secrets
Scientists are working closely with art historians to uncover scientific documentation in historic paintings.
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Jesse Felder @jessefelder.com · 04/09/2026
‘This company simply cannot be trusted. Their software is becoming ever more dangerous; their internal security practices leave a lot to be desired; they aren’t being straight with the public; and their proxies are preparing us to swallow the damage...’ garymarcus.substack.com/p/pause-open...
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Glen Peters @glenpeters.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
If you want 1.5C, 1.8C, 2C, overshoot, no-overshoot, etc, then they all require the same thing: rapid short-term emission reductions reaching net zero CO2 emissions as soon as possible. This has been clear from the IPCC Special Report on 1.5C, which depicts "overshoot" on its cover! 1/
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The Phantom Tollbooth Quotes @phantomtollbot.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
“Perhaps you might allow Rhyme and Reason to return,” said Milo softly. “How nice that would be,” said Azaz, straightening up and adjusting his crown. “Even if they were a bother at times, things always went so well when they were here.”
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Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 28/08/2026
#NASARoman is scheduled to launch from from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:26 a.m. ET on Sunday, August 30. Follow along with the launch broadcast and deployment, starting an hour before targeted launch: www.spacex.com/launches/roman 🔭 🧪
A rocket is positioned on a launch pad with a dramatic sunset sky in the background. Text on the image reads "Roman Space Telescope Mission" with the words "August 30, 2026 07:10 - 07:30 ET."
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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Hackenburg’s paper is the latest in a string of studies showing the power of AI to sway people. “It’s a whole new field that is emerging,” says @profsanderlinden.bsky.social. “People are very interested in the persuasive powers of AI, I think, both for ethical and unethical reasons”🧪 In @science.org
science.org
AI chatbots are becoming experts at changing people's minds. What's their secret?
ChatGPT and other AIs use a flood of facts, and the occasional lie, to persuade humans
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
A book festival featuring a singer, a director, and an astronaut? Some years ago my editor at Viking said to me mournfully, "I like books by...writers."
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Reminds me of reporting on this 20 years ago, looking into a hazy and worrisome future. 1/2 www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/c...
nytimes.com
Lake Powell Hits Lowest Level On Record As Water Crisis Continues
Levels in Lakes Mead and Powell have not been so low since 1957, underscoring a water crisis that plagues seven states that rely on the Colorado River.
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Years from now, we will look back and say: Why didn't we stop that before things got completely out of hand? www.space.com/space-explor...
space.com
SpaceX wants to put 1 million AI satellites in orbit. What would that do to Earth's climate?
"There seems, in my opinion, to be very little consideration for the environment."
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 11/08/2026
The Trump administration has pulled federal funding for the Arctic Report Card. Every year for the past two decades, the report has provided a checkup on the health of the region, which is heating up at several times the pace of the rest of the globe.
nyti.ms
Trump Administration Kills Annual Arctic Report Card
The top of the world is warming faster than any other region. For 20 years, the Arctic Report Card chronicled the extraordinary transformation.
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Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"We are aware of no instance in American history in which a President unilaterally and using privately collected funds demolished substantial portions of the White House that Congress authorized to be built and American taxpayers paid for. Until now." www.documentcloud.org/documents/28...
documentcloud.org
OPINIONS 26-5123-2187096
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Oliver Morton, Eater of Sun @eaterofsun.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
File under "Still don't like the look of this" (Posted one week on) climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_dai...
Plot of daily sea surface temperature between 60ºN and 60ºS from Climate Reanalyzer grabbed on August 3rd. Day for day the temperature has been at a record height siince June 3rd. The as yet provisional data for the past couple of weeks reaches 21.16ºC-- just a smidge below the all time record of 21.17ºC set in early 2024, when an El Nino event was at its peak. It fell a little after that, but is still trending up.
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Andy Scollick @andyscollick.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
The Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex at Robledo de Chavela municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain on fire. Burgohondo wildfire. 📷 via Infues Avila
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Carbon Brief @carbonbrief.org · 24/07/2026
State of the climate: Rapidly developing El Niño raises chance of record-warm 2026 | @zekehausfather.com Read here ➡️ buff.ly/NDJddQS
Annual composite temperatures over 1970-2025, the 2026 year-to-date value (January-June, red dot), and Carbon Brief’s 2026 annual estimate (yellow dot with the 5th to 95th percentile range). Chart by Carbon Brief.
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Guy does not know anything about growing tomatoes, obviously.
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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Excellent BBC article on the risk of a catastrophic ocean circulation change in the Atlantic. Time to act before it’s too late. #AMOC www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
After record heat, could the Atlantic make Britain's weather even more extreme?
As temperatures rise, scientists are investigating whether a changing Atlantic could bring more volatile weather to the UK
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
This actually rattled me -- most likely a devastating year ahead.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 12/07/2026
Elon Musk’s cuts to U.S.A.I.D. led to some 700,000 deaths, Atul Gawande says. www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...
newyorker.com
The Human Cost of DOGE’s War on U.S.A.I.D.
Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and the “public man-made death” that they’ve caused.
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
“Thwaites is really the biggest player, the biggest wild card in sea level rise in the future. Greenland melting, especially surface melting water running off at the top of the ice sheet into the ocean—another big player.” insideclimatenews.org/news/1107202...
insideclimatenews.org
The Case of the (France-Sized) Missing Antarctic Ice - Inside Climate News
“It's just a question of whether we're fast enough to stretch out that loss to several thousand years versus dumb enough to keep warming the planet and seeing it collapse very quickly in a century or ...
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
We Didn’t Build the Atomic Bomb This Way www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Didn’t Build the Atomic Bomb This Way
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Wil Eelsing @wileelsing.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Bethan's Rock is a small grey stone on display at Poole Museum in Poole, England. It was donated to the museum in 2019 by a five-year-old girl named Bethan, and it has since attracted significant attention on social media and become the museum's most famous object. - Wikipedia
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Gernot Wagner @gwagner.com · 25/06/2026
Hard to overstate how dramatic this European heatwave is. And then you zoom into other areas around the globe, and you realize there may, just may be something going on that links all these weather extremes around the world. @climatecentral.org's CSI: csi.climatecentral.org/climate-shif...
Climate Shift Index showing climate fingerprint in European beatwaveNorth AmericaMideastAsia
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Shocked not shocked
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Martyn @martynpedler.com · 19/06/2026
I have read this piece half a dozen times over the years and if you haven't, you should right now.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
JFK Terminal 8 last night when Knicks took the lead. (via Renny Gong) #NYC 🏀
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Game 3. (via @espn.com)
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 04/06/2026
Top AI executives are joining security experts in calling for Congress to protect against biological threats posed by the technology.
on.wsj.com
Exclusive | Top AI CEOs Call for Law Protecting Against Biological Weapons
Artificial intelligence is magnifying concern that criminals could unleash new pathogens.
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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 02/06/2026
Super important speech here by NYT Publisher AG Sulzberger. Anyone who cares about the role of journalism in our global society-and democracy in the modern world-should read this/reflect on it. AI giants are in the process of wiping out much of the news industry. www.nytco.com/press/a-i-jo...
nytco.com
A.I., Journalism and the Uncertain Future of the Public Square
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warns A.I. companies are violating settled law and urges news organizations to stand up for their rights to ensure a sustainable future for reporting.
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Dr Pamela L Gay @starstryder.space · 02/06/2026
After seeing the headline "SpaceX IPO: How to Buy and Why You Shouldn't" on @barrons.com, I decided it was time to read the prospectus. I'm only a few pages in and folks... the implications of this document ... Do you want to go on a journey with me? Because I'm about to enter the rabbit hole.
static.klipy.com
White Bunny Mascot Walking in Woods
Alt: White Bunny Mascot or Furry Walking in Woods. It's vaguely ominous in an uncanny valley sort of way.
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Lev Akabas @levakabas.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
The New York Knicks just played the most dominant 10-game stretch in NBA history, and it's not even remotely close
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Thinking about the extraordinary legacy of David Rosner- historian, public health scholar, and one of the most important voices on how corporate power, industrial pollution, and structural inequality shaped American health and lives. 🧵
billmoyers.com
David Rosner | Guests | BillMoyers.com
David Rosner, a Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, studies how structural inequities impact
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...
slate.com
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
I'm not saying I like how they do this - the pollution alone should get SpaceX fined out of existence - but this part of the test AFAIK went as planned.
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Total nonsense:
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Based on the prospectus, it would be helpful if the media could start accurately reporting it as the Grok IPO, rather than the SpaceX IPO.
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
phys.org/news/2026-05... Professor Eloise Marais (UCL Geography) said, "The space industry pollution is like a small-scale, unregulated geoengineering experiment that could have many unintended and serious environmental consequences."
phys.org
Satellite launch pollution is rapidly accumulating in the upper atmosphere
The potent pollution from so-called megaconstellation satellite systems launched en masse into space since 2019 will account for nearly half (42%) of the total climate impact of space sector pollution...
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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
The Trump administration has slashed funding for infectious disease research and has far fewer employees, including disease detectives, to respond to outbreaks. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/h...
nytimes.com
Hantavirus Response Shows How Trump Cuts Have Compromised U.S. Preparedness
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James Davenport @jradavenport.com · 29/04/2026
Is Pluto a planet? O, let me count the ways in which I do not care. Will we still be able to discover new planets 5 years from now? Right now the magic 8 ball of funding says: Outlook not so good
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Jon Gertner @jongertner.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Love this thread — not too long, and read til you get to Jason’s wisdom at the end.
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Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
I played my cello this afternoon in a 5,000 year-old druid's burial chamber in West Kennet Long Barrow.
Me, a middle-aged white man with glasses, dressed in black, playing an electric cello at the end of a narrow corridor made of large gray-green slabs of stone. The entrance to West Kennet Long Barrow. A stone portal in a green hill. Large rough pointed stones, ranging from three to eight feet tall, arranged in a row on green grass at West Kennet Long Barrow.
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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Oh that terrible @nytimes with its wishy-washy headlines and incessant bothsidesing why does anybody read that complicit rag anyway www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | ‘Easily the Worst President in U.S. History’
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 22/04/2026
Christ this is bleak. NASA already operates on a shoestring and for decades that string has gotten thinner and thinner. There are no more “efficiencies” to be had — take anything more away and things just start breaking.
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Luke Russert @lukerussert.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
The world’s richest man and a kid named “big balls” brought 6.7% unemployment to DC, put uniformed Fed troops in the streets and per conservative estimates cut programs that’ll result in the deaths of millions of people: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/u...
nytimes.com
A Year After U.S.A.I.D.’s Death, Fired Workers Find Few Jobs and Much Loss
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Dr Space Junk (Alice Gorman) @drspacejunk.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Are we meant to forgive SpaceX's destruction of LEO, astronomy, and the night sky for this?
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Rabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Ma Yuan's studies of the properties of water, southern Song Dynasty China, ca. 1190 - 1225 CE 1
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