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Mike Bell

@m-kebell.bsky.social
214 followers 375 following 151 posts

Ecologist studying how air pollution harms natural systems and working to establish guidelines to minimize risk to human health and the environment. I spend my free time on trails and wheels to let go of what I know. Thoughts here are mine. he/him/his

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Reposted by Mike Bell
Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
My big takeaway from reporting this story is that it's not JUST about the Forest Service. The closure of these stations threatens to upend a delicate system of mutually beneficial collaboration and resource sharing, and the impacts will ripple out far beyond the Forest Service itself.
thebulletin.org
‘It’s just madness’: Trump administration to close three-quarters of Forest Service research stations
Between funding cuts, facility closures, and the inevitable resignations that will follow, there’s virtually no way for the Forest Service to continue to do research at its current level or quality, w...
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Paul Behrens @profpaulbehrens.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
New data paper out: Ammonia doesn't often make the headlines – but it’s one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and air pollution in Europe, harming ecosystems and our health. > 90% of it in Europe comes from one source: agricultural fertiliser and manure 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A series of maps of emissions across Europe for different livestock
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Reposted by Mike Bell
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Air pollution from oil and gas kills over 90,000 people in the US every year and makes hundreds of thousands more sick, disproportionately affecting Black and brown communities. But Republicans want to drill baby drill and kill more people because they're racist af.
theguardian.com
Air pollution from oil and gas causes 90,000 premature US deaths each year, says new study
Study analyzed health impacts of fossil fuels from exploration to end use, and found communities of color bear brunt of harm
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe @aaberhe.com · 19/07/2025
Gutting scientific research at EPA means less protection for our air, water, and health. The consequences of this decision will be felt for generations. Deeply concerning. Unreal! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
nytimes.com
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
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Reposted by Mike Bell
The Denver Post @denverpost.com · 29/06/2025
Signs posted at National Park Service sites seen as threats to ‘whitewash’ dark side of Colorado history trib.al/MqahPC8
trib.al
Signs posted at National Park Service sites seen as threats to ‘whitewash’ dark side of Colorado history
Action stems from a Donald Trump executive order aimed at “restoring truth and sanity to American history” as told at national parks, historic sites.
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Ann Marie Carlton @amgcarlton.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
The Clean Air Act is VERY successful. Rolling back #EPA rules & regs is a mistake and will cost lives. The #ParisAgreement is not enough to solve the #climate emergency & also saves lives. Simon Rosanka & I take a stab at quantifying how many. Republicans attack their own best legacy 🤷🏻‍♀️
nature.com
The legacy of the U.S. Clean Air Act at a crossroads - npj Clean Air
Chronic and acute exposure to elevated concentrations of ambient fine particulate matter represents a significant health risk. Here, we evaluate the avoided air pollution due to the U.S. Clean Air Act...
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Reposted by Mike Bell
A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
at a time when destroying the planet for profit is normal, we should all be radical
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Reposted by Mike Bell
AGU (American Geophysical Union) @agu.org · 10/05/2025
A victory for the federal scientific workforce! We could not stand by while this irreparable harm continues at NSF, NOAA and all our scientific agencies. TODAY the judge granted our request to temporarily HALT the mass firings at federal agencies under Trump’s Executive Order.
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
My new piece in @rollingstone.com : “Our democracy is made up of reciprocal ties between and among all of us, and AmeriCorps strengthens these ties. We will all feel the loss of AmeriCorps...and our democracy will pay the price.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Within the chaos I’m excited for our new publication in Oecologia. With funding being cut to a lot of air pollution monitoring it is going to be important to take advantage of biomonitors like lichen. Here we used nitrogen content and isotopes to infer deposition patterns and sources in the PNW.
link.springer.com
Assessing nitrogen deposition and chemistry in mountainous regions of Olympic National Park and North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Pacific Northwest, USA - Oecologia
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition (Ndep) can disrupt ecosystem dynamics, yet its spatial distribution and chemical composition in mountainous regions remains poorly understood. Accurate measuremen...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
I’m sad about all the expertise that the public is losing through this round of DRP. So much knowledge and service disappearing without the replacement. But I’m excited for the creative solutions that will be necessary to move forward. Will it be taxing. Yes. Will we fight for you. Also yes.
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Phoebe Cohen @phoebefossil.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
My colleague Rohit Bhattacharya and I wrote an op-ed in our campus paper to call attention to the impact on federal cuts to science and academia and encourage our students to keep paying attention: williamsrecord.com/469399/opini...
williamsrecord.com
Cuts to federal science funding are a problem for all of us
In an op-ed, professors Rohit Bhattacharya and Phoebe Cohen explain how cuts to federal research funding will have devastating consequences beyond academic circles.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
What a lovely read. I felt lke it was ode to paying attention, an ode to passion, a love letter to spring, a fascinating look at the interconnectedness of life, and a warning of it all falling apart. It also got me more excited for spring in the front range. Bring on the Pasque flowers.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Hot off the presses, our new paper looking at eight different air quality models and their impact on ecosystem risk assessments. We used critical load exceedances to compare areas of model alignment and guide our analysis of which model parameters were leading to variability.
acp.copernicus.org
Critical load exceedances for North America and Europe using an ensemble of models and an investigation of causes of environmental impact estimate variability: an AQMEII4 study
Abstract. Exceedances of critical loads for deposition of sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) in different ecosystems were estimated using European and North American ensembles of air quality models, under th...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Such a loss.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
I love seeing more attention being paid to air pollutants and their impacts. As long as funding doesn’t get cut with the new budget, the National Atmospheric Deposition Program should be launching a national monitoring network for PFAS at the end of the year.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Our new published paper developed convex hulls for 198 herbaceous species critical loads to expand their application to parks and forests. This uses the soil pH, temp, precip, and deposition data to highlight additional areas where our CL models can be applied.
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Developing spatially explicit critical loads for herbaceous species across the United States using convex hulls
Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur, after land use change, is one of the most impactful stressors to terrestrial biodiversity. Deposition effects on ecosystems are pervasive, impacting spe...
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Theresa Crimmins @theresacrimmins.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Things are so chaotic and stomach-churning in our world right now. I find a lot of solace out in nature. I want to share a tiny slice of that with you. My book, #Phenology is available today! You can purchase it for 30% off *today only* with code MITP30 through penguinrandomhouse.com
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Check out this great @westword.com article on my friend Lucy’s art show opening tonight that engaged youth in asking questions of what a world beyond fossil fuels looks like and highlights the air quality issues the Denver currently faces.
westword.com
New PlatteForum Exhibit Asks What Suncor Could Be Instead of an Oil Refinery
"There's lots to despair about, but I would love to spend some time imagining what a different future could look like.”
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
It's great seeing love for the NADP! And it's important to know that their funding is at risk with potential cuts to government programs so this won't be possible with "new" pollutants like PFAS, ammonia, and mercury...
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 23/02/2025
Statement by Yosemite NPS workers: “These losses, while deeply personal and impactful, may also be invisible to visitors and members of the public — we are shining a spotlight on them by putting a distress flag on El Capitan in view of Firefall. Think of it as your public lands on strike.”
“The purpose of this exercise of free speech is to disrupt without violence and draw attention to the fact that public lands in the United States are under attack,” it reads. “The Department of the Interior issued a series of secretarial orders that position drilling and mining interests as the favored uses of America’s public lands and threaten to scrap existing land protections and conservation measures. Firing 1,000s of staff regardless of position or performance across the nation is the first step in destabilizing the protections in place for these great places.”
“These losses, while deeply personal and impactful, may also be invisible to visitors and members of the public — we are shining a spotlight on them by putting a distress flag on El Capitan in view of Firefall. Think of it as your public lands on strike.”
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Lovely article by @annehelen.bsky.social helping elucidate what is lost through the current purge of funding for services across the US. The attack on science, art, and service has been heartbreaking and I have been grieving the loss of the unseen connective tissue of society.
open.substack.com
This is How We Fall Out of Love with the World
The Twilight of the American Passion Job
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Reposted by Mike Bell
McKenzie Prillaman @meprillaman.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Six fired federal employees told me and @alexviveros.bsky.social about their science-related jobs — and what the public could lose without them. We talked to people from NIH, FDA, FAA, NPS, the Forest Service, and Fish & Wildlife for @sciencenews.bsky.social. www.sciencenews.org/article/fire...
sciencenews.org
Fired federal workers share the crucial jobs no longer being done
Thousands of probationary federal employees received termination notices. Many were doing crucial work at science-related agencies.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
It's kind of frustrating to start every conversation about a future project with "if our division exists later this year..." or "if there is any funding for science...".
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Still absolutely gutted to start the week after losing multiple coworkers and collaborators to last Fridays purge, but keeping the work moving towards protecting our air quality is giving me life.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
I love seeing more work looking at the how climate is altering the recovery path that we were on from reducing air pollution deposition; especially at the watershed level.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Streets should always be for people, not just on three Saturdays in December for 3 hours at a time. But when streets are for people, I am in the street.
People walking down the middle of the street n Golden, CO with a gingerbread man and snowman mixed into the crowd.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Happy Winter Solstice! I hope you all embrace the natural cycles of rest and recovery. For those in the southern hemisphere, live for us!
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Cool research coming out of my alma mater. I always appreciated how many undergrads participated in research at @ucriverside.bsky.social!
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Science Advent 17 | This came from another friend from my grad school who I am super excited is still in the nitrogen game. Looking at overlapping impacts of disturbances is going to be crucial for understanding our near future. Especially recovery after large fires.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Nitrogen deposition suppresses ephemeral post‐fire plant diversity
In a field study in recently burned shrublands of southern California, we found that nitrogen addition suppresses ephemeral post-fire wildflower events by favoring invasive plant species over natives...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Science Advent 16 | Falling behind with this daily posting thing, but a new paper is a great way to catch up. Not a named author again, but have been working with this group about applying a new analysis on tree responses to deposition and climate variables.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Winners and Losers From Climate Change: An Analysis of Climate Thresholds for Tree Growth and Survival for Roughly 150 Species Across the Contiguous United States
Here we assess the effects of temperature and precipitation on the growth and survival of about 150 US tree species. This helps inform the resilience of US forests to climate change, and identify vul...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Cleaning up some @inaturalist.bsky.social data today and it appears that someone at @brandeisuniversity.bsky.social is using it for a class :-)
ArcGIS screenshot showing the distribution of Alliaria petiolata points around Brandeis University.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Science Advent 15 | This one is kind of cheating because it came out December 29th of last year, but was a fun exercise in working with our Office of Communication to develop a more public facing article about our science. It is always interesting to get feedback on what words are considered jargony
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Science Advent 14 | A big ongoing project has been trying to develop a repository for managers to access the information they need to respond to air pollution issues in their area. We work closely with the USFS, EPA, and FWS so that when we have overlapping issues, we are using the same data.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Science Advent 13 | One of the magical parts of big conferences like AGU is being able to search for keywords like "NADP" and find researchers who are studying similiar systems. At the end of 2023, I met Deni at her poster and got excited about her work filling a gap in our deposition knowledge.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Seasonal and Climatic Drivers of Wet Deposition Organic Matter at the Continental Scale
Archived wet deposition samples from the US National Atmospheric Deposition Program are viable for hindcasting dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) Highest concentr...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Science Advent 12 | This book chapter came from the skeleton of a manuscript from 2021. This chapter reviews monitoring strategies to measure N deposition using wet and dry deposition, (2) throughfall, stemflow, and bulk deposition, and (3) biomonitoring of lichens and mosses across the globe.
sciencedirect.com
Effects of nitrogen deposition on soil nitrogen transformations in forest ecosystems
Nitrogen (N) deposition can alter N availability, soil pH, and microbial activity and composition in soils, which directly and indirectly affects soil…
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Started Jingmas last night. I’m excited to end the year on a flavor high.
Fly By Jing 12-day advent calendar with the first day open.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Science Advent 11 | Speaking of ammonia deposition, this year our office, working with the state of CO, released a milestone report for the Rocky Mountain Initiative. This is a collaborative effort to try to reduce ammonia emissions in CO's front range that travel into Rocky Mountain NP.
cdphe.colorado.gov
Rocky Mountain National Park Initiative | Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Science Advent 10 | One of the biggest projects I worked on last year was supporting some distinguished colleagues in synthesizing sources, transformations, effects, and management of atmospheric reduced nitrogen. An unregulated pollutant, ammonia can be the dominant form of N deposition in the US.
tandfonline.com
Atmospheric reduced nitrogen: Sources, transformations, effects, and management
Human activities have increased atmospheric emissions and deposition of oxidized and reduced forms of nitrogen, but emission control programs have largely focused on oxidized nitrogen. As a result,...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Science Advent 9 | In line with the previous post, another analysis of the climate/deposition overlap agrees that changing climate will counteract recovery from reductions in acid deposition and will impact ecosystem services. One of the key factors assessed her was sawtimber.
nature.com
Climate change could negate U.S. forest ecosystem service benefits gained through reductions in nitrogen and sulfur deposition - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Climate change could negate U.S. forest ecosystem service benefits gained through reductions in nitrogen and sulfur deposition
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Science Advent 8 | One of our big challenges in the air pollution space is differentiating responses from climate and environmental variation. This paper uses tree response models to evaluate how future reductions in N deposition within future climate scenarios change above ground biomass.
iopscience.iop.org
Geographic variation in projected US forest aboveground carbon responses to climate change and atmospheric deposition - IOPscienceSearch
Geographic variation in projected US forest aboveground carbon responses to climate change and atmospheric deposition, Aspen Reese, Christopher M Clark, Jennifer Phelan, John Buckley, James Cajka, Robert D Sabo, George Van Houtven
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Science Advent 7 | One of my favorite parts of my job is getting to do analyses to help guide Clean Air Act regulations. I was excited to see that E&E News picked up on our public comment on the NOxSOxPM Secondary Standard and our disappointment in EPA’s proposed rule.
subscriber.politicopro.com
E&E News: Intra-agency dispute — and Trump — threaten landmark EPA air review
The agency will soon wrap up a first-ever and decadelong attempt to tackle atmospheric deposition’s impact. Will it survive Trump?
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
A must-read in my office! We're so grateful for your commitment to understanding nitrogen impacts on the Loch Vale ecosystem.
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Science Advent 6 | Hot off the presses! This manuscript is a meta-analysis of using stable isotopes of N in biomonitors of nitrogen pollution. It highlights how isotopes in lichen tissue have shifted since the industrial revolution and have a strong anthropogenic signal.
sciencedirect.com
Utilizing δ15N of biomonitors to assess N emission sources and deposition chemistry?
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) emissions and subsequent deposition can cause harm to ecosystem function and processes. Identifying emission sources of atm…
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Applications for summer Scientists in Parks internships are open now! Check out the website to access the application and for information on how to apply for remote and in-park jobs. www.scientistsinparks.org Apply by: Sunday, 19 January at 11:59 p.m. EST Let me know if you have any questions!
scientistsinparks.org
Scientists in Parks | Internships in the NPS
Scientists in Parks NPS Internships for the next generation of national park stewards
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Science Advent 5 | This next paper highlights a big step in how we understand tree responses to N and S deposition by exploring regional differences in growth and survival responses along air pollution gradients.
frontiersin.org
Frontiers | Regional variation in growth and survival responses to atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition for 140 tree species across the United States
Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) alter tree demographic processes via changes in nutrient pools, soil acidification, and biotic interact...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Science Advent 4 | The first third of my year was spent given public presentations in one form of another. The one that stood out the most was a trip to Weber State University to give a seminar on National Park Service science to the Environmental Science Department.
man standing behind a podium moving his hands too much as he talks about National Park Service science
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Reposted by Mike Bell
Joanna Kacprzyk @joannakacprzyk.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
A survey on why people want to study and work with plants: please participate and share <3 forms.gle/btg9GP1L3CTh...
forms.gle
Plant Biologists and How to Find Them?
We are Dr Joanna Kacprzyk and Dr Rainer Melzer from School of Biology and Environmental Science at University College Dublin, Ireland. Our project Plant Biologists and How to Find Them? aims to invest...
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Science Advent 3 | Under the next door is a project that I was tangentially involved with through my position on the NADP Executive team. This paper looked at the impact of the East Palestine train disaster on precipitation chemistry across the eastern US. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
iopscience.iop.org
Widespread impacts to precipitation of the East Palestine Ohio train accident - IOPscienceSearch
Widespread impacts to precipitation of the East Palestine Ohio train accident, David A Gay, Katelan Blaydes, James J Schauer, Martin Shafer
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Mike Bell @m-kebell.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I'm starting a Science Advent Calendar thread to highlight a project a day that I've been a part of this past year, and hopefully give y'all some stuff to read while eating cookies. 🧵
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