iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Signs you might be about to leave to lead a regional field geology class: MAPS ON MAPS ON MAPS…

Image of many rolled geologic maps sitting on a table.

Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I assume the conversation leading up to going with "Super Intelligence" went something like this: Trump: We should call it "American Intelligence" instead, everything should be named after America! Random Aid: Abbreviation would still be AI. Elon: Let's call it "Xtreme Intelligence!"

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Call me petty and childish, but I feel like collectively we should normalize treating reviewers with the same level of (dis)respect they show to the authors of a paper. Give critical but fair feedback in a respectful tone? Get back a respectful response to review. Be a dick, get sass.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Setting aside whether all of the "AI could cause the apocalypse" chatter is really more about forcing other companies to slow down while the big boys continue recklessly lumbering forward, I feel like we're operating with the wrong mental model of what's likely to happen based on the wrong movie.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Cool, a tool to ensure that you understand nearly nothing about a dataset before you start trying to use it for other things. Gross. About all this does is further lowers my opinion of Nature and instill a strong desire to figure out how to insert AI poison into my paper supplements/code.

doi.org

Reimagining research papers as interactive and reliable AI agents - Nature

Paper2Agent converts research papers into interactive artificial intelligence agents by turning manuscripts, code and data into model context protocol-based tool-invoking systems that reproduce origin...

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So the summary of the NSF GEO office hours seemed to be, "We need you to continue to be crabs in a bucket while the bucket is shrinking (but there's only one bucket now! Woohoo!). Oh, and could you become AI experts despite being Earth scientists? That would be great."

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Nathan Brown @oslrocks.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Good news is, despite revoking the NSF EAR postdoc fellowship, they are thinking of postdocs. So I'll tell my students that 👍

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Do you want to do original research to generate new data? Too bad, here's an opportunity to prepare data for an AI to ingest more efficiently. For fucks sake man.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"We need you to waste your time writing proposals that will never be funded." - NSF

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The title doesn't really capture the angst most of us feel, but the first line of the article captures the current zeitgeist of the US scientific community pretty well, "For many U.S. scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency they know and loved died on 10 September."

science.org

NSF memo implementing Trump’s ‘golden age’ of science unsettles researchers

New document emphasizes support for White House priorities over curiosity-driven ideas

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Just another unbelievably stupid policy that will weaken this country.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The further I got into reading this (www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-lea...), the more my mind could pretty much only picture this scene from The Simpsons.

static.klipy.com

The Simpsons: Stop, He's Already Dead Meme

Alt: The Simpsons: Stop, He's Already Dead Meme

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"We've funneled a huge amount of our budget into four squishy initiatives and if your work, or even your entire discipline, isn't covered here, sucks to be you! Maybe try a different career?"

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It would appear that my time in grad school in CA and postdoc in AZ were more formative to the way I speak than growing up in southeastern VA and that after nearly 10 years in LA, I have mostly resisted assimilating.

A map of the US colored by the extent to which your dialect matches showing that for me, it is mostly the southwest and little bits of the central mid atlantic.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I always get a chuckle reading a paper that describes the details of how they sampled for OSL because it always sounds like they're performing some kind of pagan ritual. "Under the inky darkness of a new moon, we removed the spoiled outer layers and placed the object of our desire in a black bag."

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It does feel like we're all trapped in some bad James Bond fan fiction where the premise was, "What if we have a stereotypical Bond villain, but he's like extra stupid and also cringey?"

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

From the other place... I am sure this sort of BS is without consequence...

A post from X about USAID/NASA collaboration being cut by DOGE involving glacier inventory and flood protection in Nepal.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 27/08/2026

The real American 🇺🇸 “brain drain” isn’t that a few established scholars might get new jobs outside the US, it’s the enormous number of grad students - particularly international grad students - who can’t or won’t study in the US now or in years to come. That’s the body blow.

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Robert Mahon @bedform.org · 26/08/2026

I *despise* the notion that came up constantly that "the genie is out of the bottle" or whatever. It wasn't true about CFCs. It wasn't true about DDT. It wasn't (entirely) true about atomic bombs. We don't HAVE to live under the tyranny of horrible inventions just because they've been invented.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

*drags in progress NSF proposal to trash*

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Honestly not sure how to parse the new "GEO Core" NSF program as it's not clear if it's separate from the more discipline specific divisions (e.g., WaLCZ) or literally bundles everything within the "Geosciences" into one program. For example, the WalCZ program (25-519) page still exists, so...

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Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

"I was driving and a cyclist slowed me down because they were on the road." Sounds like you'd be happier if there was a bike lane preventing that. "I was walking and a cyclist hit someone because they were on the sidewalk." Sounds like you'd be happier if there was a bike lane preventing that.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I'd like to say I'm happy that this spineless political opportunist will soon no longer be representing me in the senate, but the person likely to replace him will almost assuredly be worse and my other senator is bad enough to routinely make national news for his folksy brand of nonsense. Sigh.

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I wrote about a reason not to use generative AI in your writing that I haven't seen anyone talking about. Once I realized this, banning GenAI in our lab's writing became a no-brainer. Feel free to share, I think this is probably useful especially for trainees: www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/the...

carlsonlab.bio

The only reason you’ll ever need not to write with AI — The Carlson Lab

Over the last year, our lab has been developing a policy on AI use. To do this, we did three main things: We read a lot of academic publications and tech news. We set up an #ai channel on our la...

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The response to this from our respective university administrations should be, "Get bent", but we all know it won't be.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I wrote my comment (well, actually two cause I had split all the things I had to say about these shit proposals into two to stay under the 5000 character limit), did you?

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This sucks, but it did lead to me finding that GeoLibre exists, which looks like a pretty solid replacement for, the apparently soon to be dead, Google Earth desktop app.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I refuse to believe that the current settings for the HVAC system serving my office, which appear to be: 8 am - 8 pm - blast AC at max 8 pm - 8 am - turn off Is the best solution. It’s certainly not a comfortable one.

Graph of temperature in my office for the last week showing daily swings from ~76F to ~65F.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

New paper from my recently completed PhD student Vivian Grom exploring sources of uncertainty when interpreting sediment provenance from detrital zircon U-Pb age populations using a simple statistical model. Check it out if that sounds like your thing!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Exploring the Uncertainties of Detrital Zircon Provenance Analysis With Statistical Provenance Modelling

This study quantifies the effects of erosion rates, zircon grain size, and zircon fertility on detrital zircon provenance analysis. Synthetic datasets showed increased variance and clearer distinctio...

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European Geosciences Union (EGU) @egu.eu · 01/05/2026

Bringing so-called ‘negative’ results into interactive open access #publications with the new #EGU manuscript formats: LESSONS (Limitations, Errors, Surprises, Shortcomings and Opportunities for New Science)! Find out more: egu.eu/3M3CH1 📸 Debayan Chatterjee on imaggeo.egu.eu

Image description: mountainous background, with text reading:''EGU Publications launches two new manuscript types:
LESSONS (Limitations, Errors, Surprises, Shortcomings and Opportunities for New Science)''

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This entire thread highlights that our "science leaders" are either delusional or more interested in not ruffling feathers than actually reflecting on the current state of the scientific enterprise in the US.

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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Calling all Scientists! Research Administrators! Deans! Fans of Science! No one is coming to save us. Here is your assignment. I have written a step by step, easy to understand "how-to" document to help you comment on the proposed OMB rule. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...

elizabethginexi.substack.com

What We Need to do NEXT: OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule (OMB 2026-10817)

What OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule Means in Practice

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Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 01/06/2026

1/ 🧵 OMB is advancing a proposed rule that would destroy the American scientific enterprise. Randos keep disagreeing with my 'here's how to fight it' I do this for a living. So before the "how," here's the "who" --- and why you should listen to me on this one.

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Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Hello fellow scientists, I see a lot of conversation about this document, encourage you to read it, and would like to reinforce that it is open for Public Comment until July 13. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 29/05/2026

This is bad. Bad for researchers. Bad for science. Bad for universities. Bad for professional associations. For example: 1. Every award would be vetted by political appointees, who could overrule peer reviewers and deny the award if it doesn't advance the president's priorities. 1/🧵

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

This is bonkers and just so counterproductive.

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CIRES @cires.colorado.edu · 21/05/2026

What makes the Rockies rocky? A recent CIRES-led study found that the distribution of bedrock and thin, patchy soils in the Rampart Range in Colorado is controlled by topography, erosion, and forest structure. Read the story: cires.colorado.edu/news/topogra...

cires.colorado.edu

Topography, erosion, and forest structure control where and why the Rockies are rocky

CIRES-led study uses drones and airborne imagery to dig into the transition between soil- and rock-dominated surfaces

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Sure, why not! Introduce yourself with 10 bands/musicians you've seen live! 1. Radiohead 2. The Flaming Lips 3. The National 4. Modest Mouse 5. Wilco 6. Menomena 7. Dismemberment Plan 8. The Helio Sequence 9. Phoenix 10. Sparklehorse

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Real talk, were graduation regalia designed to be completely unbreathable hellish garments? Nothing says fun like layering up in thick, darkly colored polyester in mid May in southern Louisiana, but worth it I suppose to take part in hooding a former student.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Reuters making a play for renaming the new york times pitchbot to the reuters pitchbot.

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

So NSF is taking a large chunk of its already meager budget and using it to fund tech startups instead of researchers at universities and national labs? Am I reading this right? Am I having a stroke? I'm having a stroke and this is some weird nightmare that my brain is inventing, right? JFC.

nsf.gov

NSF announces $1.5B NSF X-Labs initiative to pursue generational breakthrough science efforts

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Probably the only time I've legitimately been happy we use Moodle, good luck to the folks wading through Canvas being down/compromised during finals.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

"The GOP is slashing NSF & NEH grants; imposing bans on books, courses and lecture topics; punishing student protesters; blocking foreign students; waging endless lawsuits on colleges and venerating the grifter who created the Professor Watchlist. I wonder why more professors aren't voting GOP?"

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Tektonika DOAJ @wearetektonika.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

We'll publish soon our first Field Guide paper, now accepted for publication. Stay tuned. ⚒️ Send yours if it's in our scope, i.e. #tectonics. It will be carefully peer reviewed, and, if accepted, published without cost and #open-access. Support free to publish / free to read #DOAJ !

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Adam Forte @topoismyforte.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

So infrastructure week is finally here, but it's war crimes.

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