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Patrick Flamm

@ptrckflmm.bsky.social
561 followers 865 following 472 posts

Peace & Security in the ‘Anthropocene’, from Low Earth Orbit 🛰️ to Antarctica 🇦🇶. Senior Researcher at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (@prif.org). Head of Research Group ‘Ecology, Climate, and Conflict.’ Formerly at VUW&UoA in Aotearoa New Zealand 🇳🇿.

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Reposted by Patrick Flamm
Vassili Golod @golod.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Wir dürfen die Realität nicht ausblenden.
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Electricity is 23% of global final energy but delivers 37% of useful energy and powers 46% of the global economy. We don't need to replace every fossil joule. We need to replace the services. A much smaller task. Great to see the @iea.org’s new Electrification report finally measure this.
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Vassili Golod @golod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In Oleschky, im Süden der Ukraine, entwickelt sich eine humanitäre Katastrophe. Eine junge Frau, die noch in der Stadt ist, schreibt der ARD in einer SMS: „Ich esse nur einmal, am Abend. Fladenbrot mit gesalzener Tomate, dazu Tee.“ Wichtiger Beitrag von Florian Kellermann.
tagesschau.de
Frontstadt in der Ukraine: "Jetzt beginnt dort echter Hunger"
Seit Mai leben die Menschen in Oleschky von Vorräten und dem, was sie im Sommer geerntet haben. Der Hunger nimmt in der von Russen besetzten Frontstadt jeden Tag zu. Nur wenigen gelingt die Flucht - d...
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Wtaf is this question my university just asked me about my project?
Does the project involve any work that could be interpreted as promoting DEIA, climate change research, or non-compliant to any Presidential Executive Orders?
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Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports - Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’ #climatecrisis www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
How Saudi oil scientists ended up working on the world’s most important climate reports
Guardian investigation reveals fossil fuel links of IPCC authors, with experts declaring the body’s conflict of interest policy ‘not fit for purpose’
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Fabian Hoffmann, PhD @frhoffmann.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Whenever I'm briefed by people working in the European oil sector, their assessments of just how bad the last 12 months have been for Russia's oil sector consistently exceed those reported in public news. And it's just going to get worse from here.
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Military chatbot hallucinates about nuke parts and US troops almost attack a Chinese ship. AI kills a large part of humanity, it will be because someone believed all this hype. That’s the most probable outcome already.
cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
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Arctic Relations @arcticrelations.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
How can science shape Arctic governance? In a new post, @itsbrett.bsky.social explores the #MOSAiC expedition & how #Arctic science diplomacy creates space for contesting norms, advancing environmental stewardship & broadening influence beyond states 🚢 🤝 www.arctic-relations.info/connected-no...
arctic-relations.info
Connected Normativity | Arctic Relations
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PRIF @prif.org · 16/09/2026
Now on #PRIFblog: A just world map?🌍 The UN has adopted a resolution recognizing the distortions inherent to the Mercator projection, encouraging member states to use area-preserving maps. Myriel Mathez, Sarah McKee, Sophia Birchinger and Frederik Schissler on the vote's background and implications:
blog.prif.org
A Fair World Begins with a Fair Map: The UN Adopts Equal Earth Projection - PRIF BLOG
On September 4, 2026 the United Nations adopted Resolution A/80/L.104 #CorrectTheMap, with an overwhelming global consensus. The resolution recognizes the distortions inherent in the Mercator projection and encourages member states to use area-preserving maps, specifically referring to the Equal Earth projection.
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Bellingcat @bellingcat.com · 11/09/2026
It’s harvest season in Ukraine, but in the first two weeks of August, Ukrainian grain exports were down 75% from the same period last year. Russia’s military blockade has effectively cut off Ukrainian ports from the Black Sea.🧵
Reads What Routes Does Ukraine's Grain Trade Have Left. Pictured grain being harvested.
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“The way maps are drawn shapes how we understand a war. Four years on, that argument has migrated from territory to money. Cartographic absence was once a tactical asset. In a reconstruction economy, it is a liability.”
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Philipp Krohn @philippkrohn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Auch so eine Zeitenwende: Zwei Drittel der ersten Finanzen-Seite @faznet.bsky.social über Bestäubung, Grundwasser, Bodenerosion und Notenbanken. Und mein Kommentar zu Chancen und Grenzen, Ökosystemleistungen zu bepreisen. zeitung.faz.net/data/948/rea...
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 03/09/2026
A marine bacterium which disrupted Israel’s desalination plants has prompted the government to increase freshwater pumping from the Sea of Galilee and aquifers.
bloom.bg
Israel Leans On Galilee as Marine Bacterium Limits Desalination
A marine bacterium which disrupted Israel’s desalination plants has prompted the government to increase freshwater pumping from the Sea of Galilee and aquifers.
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
“Five of Israel’s six desalination plants along the Mediterranean coast remained out of operation Tuesday morning because of unusually high seawater turbidity, which researchers believe may have been caused by a microalgae bloom originating near Egypt’s Nile Delta.”
ynetnews.com
Nile Delta algae suspected in shutdown of five Israeli desalination plants
Five Mediterranean facilities are offline after severe seawater turbidity, forcing irrigation restrictions as researchers investigate a suspected microalgae bloom originating near Egypt’s Nile Delta
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Lauri Myllyvirta @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Given falling oil demand, continued decline in real-estate construction and slower growth for coal-chemicals, China's emissions could still fall this year. The emission trend remains a race between energy demand growth and clean-energy growth, both of which have slowed down.
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Simon Dalby @simondalby.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
We are in climate overshoot, as today's UNEP report clearly documents. The gap between what needs to be done and current state of geopolitics is alarming but needs to be faced. www.unep.org/resources/li...
unep.org
Limiting Overshoot - Navigating exceedance of 1.5°C and pathways towards return
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C remains a cornerstone of the Paris Agreement, yet under current policies and alternative near-term trajectories, exceedance of 1.5°C is now widely assessed as unavoida...
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Alfred Wegener Institute @awi.de · 02/09/2026
New study by the SCAR-Action Group “Rings” with AWI participation warns: Major gaps in knowledge along Antarctica’s coasts – where the ice sheet and the Southern Ocean interact – are now one of the biggest obstacles to reliably projecting future global sea level rise. Photo: Thomas Ronge
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Helen Millman @helenmillman.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If you'd like to read more, we have a pre-print on what is and isn't a permafrost tipping point: eartharxiv.org/repository/v... Hopefully coming soon to a journal near you...
eartharxiv.org
Permafrost degradation as a heterogeneous mosaic of tipping and non-tipping behaviour
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
“Heatwaves and wildfires are not just scorching forests, they are adding to the tipping point risks in the world’s vast permafrost regions, which contain three times more carbon than all the living vegetation on Earth.”
theguardian.com
The threatening thaw: climate professor on heatwave risks to tipping point of permafrost
Prof Gustaf Hugelius warns wildfires could accelerate release of methane and carbon as vast regions approach irreversible thresholds
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Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Population ecology Professor Tim Benton on why next year's El Nino could cause even more extreme weather and crop losses. He tells DW what fundamental changes are needed to make food supplies more stable and resilient in the face of geopolitical threats and increasingly extreme weather.
youtu.be
Will food insecurity spark 'large-scale conflict?' | DW News
YouTube video by DW News
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Lukas Wagner @lukaswagner.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
We're hiring a PhD student in Marburg 🔬☀️ Topic: predictive #ageing of #perovskitePV. Nobody can yet predict how long they last, and that is the challenge standing between this technology and your roof. Deadline 13 Sept. 👉 uni-marburg.de/k7ffBi More below 🧵
uni-marburg.de
Doctoral Researcher/PhD candidate
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Prof Friederike Otto @frediotto.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Europe’s seas are experiencing heat that would have been virtually impossible in a pre-industrial climate. In the Mediterranean, summer SSTs have intensified by 3°C, far exceeding global warming, destroying marine life & dramatically altering our seas. www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-chan...
a map of sea surface temperature anomalies in July 2026 around the European coast showing very warm anomalies in the Atlantic and Mediterranean
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Science Magazine @science.org · 17/08/2026
Nearly 400 Argentine researchers have been left jobless and uncertain about their future in science after a delay in the process for securing permanent research positions in the country. Learn more: scim.ag/4gzFjs6
Budget cuts and delays leave hundreds of Argentine postdocs in limbo
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404 Media @404media.co · 17/08/2026
SCOOP: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it. What did we find? It ended up at an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Yes. This is literally the logo outside the Amazon warehouse door. Read now:
404media.co
We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility
We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.
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Erin Sikorsky @erinsikorsky.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Cascading climate risk example: "several dozen tons" of jellyfish shut down a nuclear plant in France during a heat wave. Jellyfish swarmed due to unusually warm waters.
politico.eu
Swarming jellyfish overrun French nuclear plant on same date two years in a row
The jellyfish invasion is the latest in a series of climate change-driven incidents that have affected a record number of French nuclear reactors over the summer.
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Garry Peterson @resiliencesci.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
“Rising climate costs erode sovereign creditworthiness, which in turn limits the fiscal capacity to spend on adaptation and mitigation, leading to still larger costs in future” giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Alarm bells are ringing for investors on climate
Damage wrought by wildfires in Europe should be a wake-up call to pay more attention to environmental risk
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Garry Peterson @resiliencesci.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Climate change and nature loss are currently disrupting economically vital European ecological infrastructure www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/b...
nytimes.com
Drought Threatens a Vital Economic Artery in the Heart of Europe
The Rhine conveys vessels and cargo that power European industry. Record low water levels are disrupting supply chains, adding costs and presenting fresh risks to growth.
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Frank Kuhn @frankkuhn.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
In der Süddeutschen Zeitung wirft der Ökonom Moritz Schularick, Präsident des Kieler Instituts für Weltwirtschaft (IfW), dem Bundesministerium der Verteidigung vor, in die falschen Waffensysteme zu investieren. Dabei zeigt er eindrücklich, dass seine militärische Kompetenz Lücken aufweist. 🧵
sueddeutsche.de
Ökonom kritisiert Pistorius: „Das 700-Milliarden-Programm droht zu verpuffen“
Der Ökonom Moritz Schularick hält nichts von den Plänen der Bundesregierung für die Bundeswehr. Für die Modernisierung müsse gezielt in Waffensysteme der Zukunft investiert werden – und nicht in alte ...
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Philip Lewis @pslewis.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
👋 @britishacademy.bsky.social is launching a new international policy programme on ‘Humanity, Climate & Nature’. 🎬 We are starting with a call for discussion papers. Proposals are welcome from practitioners, policymakers and researchers from anywhere in the world at any stage of their career
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Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) @friasunifreiburg.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Europe experiences another record-breaking heatwave and devastating wildfires 🌡️🥵🔥. Why should we look at Antarctica now? Our YAS-Member @ptrckflmm.bsky.social shares the valuable lessons the frozen continent has to offer when we choose to listen. More about YAS: uni-freiburg.de/frias/resear...
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Too much of everything. Too little of what matters. #whatthefinal
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
It really baffles me how very smart European colleagues can be full of Schadenfreunde over England‘s loss for reasons that have little to do with football, while they are totally blind to the nationalist jingoism and racism displayed by a large number of Argentinian football fans…
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Australian Antarctic Program Partnership @antarctic.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
🌊 New Antarctic research shows the deepest layer of the Southern Ocean – Antarctic Bottom Water, or AABW – is shrinking faster than scientists realised, with the rate of change accelerating over the past decade. This is important because we all depend on it. ▶️ aappartnership.org.au/antarctic-ch...
aappartnership.org.au
Antarctic change drives slowdown of global ocean circulation - AAPP
Deepest layer of the Southern Ocean is shrinking faster with accelerated change
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
A giant has passed. Kia ora and vale. www.rnz.co.nz/life/people/...
rnz.co.nz
Actor Sir Sam Neill dead at 78
The Kiwi star died on Monday in Sydney, Australia, his family says.
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PRIF @prif.org · 02/07/2026
📣The Antarctic Treaty has long been a model of peace, science & environmental protection. Yet, in a world of rising tensions, the system seems incapable of living up to its own commitments. On #PRIFBlog, @ptrckflmm.bsky.social asks: How can Antarctica remain a space for peaceful cooperation?
blog.prif.org
Sitting on Emperor Penguins: The Discomfort of Protecting a Peaceful Antarctica - PRIF BLOG
Patrick Flamm attended the Atlantic Treaty’s most recent diplomatic gathering in Hiroshima as an advisor to the German delegation. He argues that, because of the significant uncertainty and instabilit...
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Simon Dalby @simondalby.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Geopolitics, it seems, is now a key consideration in the geoengineering discussion, as I try to summarise in a new online piece: Simon Dalby “Geoengineering: Infrastructures for a Global Climate?” Oxford: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Society. 2026. 16pp. lnkd.in/gUebMZkY
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
From 8-9 June, the Ecology, Climate & Conflict research group at @prif.org organised a workshop on sustainability, peace, & security. We were very excited to have @mattuq.bsky.social, Solveig Richter, Chloe Vongyer, Judith Nora Hardt, & @frederic-hanusch.bsky.social with us!
A group photo of 9 workshop participants standing around a PRIFstanding display.
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 07/06/2026
We need ~30 years of data from the AMOC to be able to finally determine if it's actually collapsing. We're at 20 years of data. Removing this now means we can't definitively determine a potential AMOC collapse that could result in substantial climate disruptions. www.livescience.com/planet-earth...
livescience.com
Tump administration to remove 900 deep sea monitoring instruments that would have studied the collapsing Atlantic current
The Ocean Observatories Initiative has been collecting data on physical, chemical, geological and biological conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past decade
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PRIF @prif.org · 29/05/2026
AI infrastructure needs freshwater for cooling. As many data centers are already located in water-stressed areas, proposals to move computation into the orbit arise. However, this could risk international security, writes Sarah McKee on #PRIFblog. Read the full piece here ⬇
blog.prif.org
Escaping the Heat? The Politics and Problems of Orbital Data Centers - PRIF BLOG
What happens when digital systems outgrow the Earth that sustains them? Computing has always consumed energy and water, but the growing ambitions of the AI industry are pushing demand to an unpreceden...
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
“The film closes with a quote from Eisenhower, who allegedly told John F. Kennedy that the Allies won the war because, "We had better meteorologists than the Germans."”
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Zia Weise @ziaweise.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Update: The Polish government yesterday announced defensive nature restoration efforts, including a ban on clear-cutting of border forests, and millions in cash for restoring bogs and other wetlands: www.gov.pl/web/klimat/k...
gov.pl
Komponent przyrodniczy Tarczy Wschód - Ministerstwo Klimatu i Środowiska - Portal Gov.pl
Zmiana gospodarki leśnej na terenach przygranicznych, odbudowa ekosystemów i renaturyzacja zasobów wodnych - Polska wykorzystuje naturalny potencjał do tworzenia unikalnej na skalę europejską bariery,...
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
“Relations have deteriorated since; it has become clear that normalising ties will be harder than during past feuds. Backchannels that once helped ease the relationship are bunged up. And growing warmth between America and China bodes ill for chances of a rapprochement.” (Gift article)
economist.com
Why Japan and China will struggle to end their feud
Warming relations between America and China bode ill for Japan
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
“The Gulf’s shallow sandy seabed and warm waters have put ships at anchor or adrift there at risk of sand and sea creatures clogging up gratings that protect the vessel’s internal pipework. Seafarers are also struggling to get hold of critical parts when systems have broken down.”
ft.com
Barnacles and jellyfish infest ships trapped in the Gulf
Sea life could impede the ability of vessels to leave the region when the conflict ends
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
“The government in Beijing has turned the greatest crisis facing humanity – climate breakdown – into an opportunity to finally lay to rest the “humiliation” of the opium war.”
theguardian.com
The American epoch of oil is collapsing. What comes next could be ugly | Jonathan Watts
China is dominating the energy transition with astonishing result, while fossil fuel fascists in the US try to turn back the clock
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/s...
koreatimes.co.kr
Blade threat at Korea's Antarctic base puts crew member under police investigation - The Korea Times
A member of a Korean Antarctic research team threatened fellow crew members with a blade at Jang Bogo Station, raising concerns about conduct and o...
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
“The most consequential element is the proposed sovereignty designation, which would mark a departure from the 1951 U.S.-Denmark Defence Agreement under which Washington currently operates in Greenland with Danish consent.” www.arctictoday.com/us-pushes-fo...
arctictoday.com
US pushes for three new Greenland bases, with 'sovereign territory' status on the table - ArcticToday
The United States is in advanced, closely-held talks with Denmark and Greenland to open three new military bases in southern Greenland, with U.S. officials floating an arrangement that would designate...
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
On my way to Hiroshima now for the 48th Antarctic Treaty Consultative meeting, and just saw that this great Politico piece about the plight of Ukrainian Antarctic researchers these days is online now (with a short quote from the interview I did with Emily Schultheis.) Give it a read!
politico.com
The 14 Scientists and a Penguin Colony Fighting for Ukraine
How a mint-green research base, 14 scientists, and a gentoo penguin colony became part of Ukraine's war strategy.
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PRIF @prif.org · 06/05/2026
One chokepoint, global compounding effects: 18 PRIF researchers show how the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz affects different regions and intersects with conflict dynamics. Read now on #PRIFblog ⤵️ blog.prif.org/en/2026/05/0...
blog.prif.org
The Strait of Hormuz in Perspective: One Global Chokepoint, Multiple Vulnerabilities, Compounded Effects - PRIF BLOG
The Strait of Hormuz has been blocked by both Iran and the US. The result is a disruption of a large share of the supply of global crude oil and gas, but also petrochemical feedstock materials for fer...
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Patrick Flamm @ptrckflmm.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Together with 17(!) PRIF colleagues, we looked at how this crisis ripples and rips through different economies and societies, with an eye also to emerging, compounding, and cascading second-order effects.
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Prof. Sam Lawler @sundogplanets.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 04/05/2026
I have a really nice (horrifying) image stack that one of my research team members made, that powerfully demonstrates what a huge problem satellite streaks are for wide-field imaging. This is a 3 hour stack of star-subtracted 5 minute exposures using the […] [Original post on mastodon.social]
A mosaic of a bunch of rectangles showing a huge image of a starfield.  It's a science image, so it's not very pretty. There are lots of long diagonal lines crisscrossing across the whole image, these are satellite streaks.  Wherever one of those satellites has flown through, we lost data.
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