Iranian academic describes US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s universities https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/3/30/iranian-academic-describes-us-israeli-attacks-on-irans-universities?traffic_source=rss

#aljazeera #worldnews #VSN

What happens on Tuesday is a matter of life and death.

The Endangered Species Committee
—composed of the heads of the Interior, Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army, and the Council of Economic Advisors
—can decide that the very presence of an endangered species is an unacceptable obstacle to the oil and gas industry’s balance sheet.

When the "God Squad" grants an exemption, the species in question is put at risk of extinction.

The principal species in question is the Rice’s whale,
a majestic creature that has navigated the Gulf since long before humans named it,
but was only identified as a distinct species in 2021.
As the only baleen whale to live exclusively in American waters, it has earned the nickname “America’s whale”
—and there are only around 50 of them left in our world.
There is a certain irony to the fact that a species so closely identified with America now faces existential risk from policies advanced in the name of putting America first.
https://newrepublic.com/article/208313/trump-god-squad-endangered-rices-whale-extinction-gulf-mexico

Two new studies conclude that stabilizing long-term #climate risks will require sustained net-negative carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions for centuries.

Approaching the problem from distinct perspectives—legal and technological feasibility on the one hand, and #economic optimization under #uncertainty on the other—the research converges on a consistent message: reaching net zero is not enough.

The former study examines how to halt the growth of delayed climate impacts, such as sea-level rise and permafrost thaw, that continue to intensify even if global temperatures stabilize at 1.5°C.

Following the 2025 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice affirming states' obligations to prevent significant climate harm, the authors assess what would be required to stop these impacts from worsening.

Their conclusion is clear: net-zero emissions alone will not stabilize these long-term damages.

The second study addresses how uncertainty in the Earth system should shape optimal climate #policy.

Widely used integrated assessment modeling approaches seldom account for uncertainty when designing optimal climate policies.

Crucially, the results indicate that sustained, potentially century-long net-negative emissions are needed, not to offset temporary overshoot, but to reduce long-term Earth system risks.

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-centuries-net-negative-emissions-required.html

Paper by Gasser et al. (2026):
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-69896-x

Paper by Bednar et al. (2026):
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ae34ca

I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't received any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since grants are typically for 3 years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.

In my 25-year career, I’ve never NOT had funding. I typically have 4 to 8 grants, which you need if you’re running an observation science program and have a technician, students, and postdocs.

Mapping Israel's destruction of Lebanese bridges
By Maryanne Taouk

Israel's expanded invasion of southern Lebanon was at least 12 days in the making, with bridges targeted to effectively cut off the south from the country's centre.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-28/verify-mapping-israel-s-bombing-of-lebanese-bridges/106504560

#War #MaryanneTaouk

'This is an invasion': Lebanon sounds alarm over Israeli operations
https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/03/27/this-is-an-invasion-lebanon-sounds-alarm-over-israeli-operations?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Sci-Tech @sci-tech-euronews

A small set of people are merging changes to various Linux components to make sure every application knows your birth date.

This is being done rapidly by people with questionable justifications and being merged with no youth and few marginalized people involved.

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/accountsservice/accountsservice/-/merge_requests/176#0b07c0cc4d49be119f65cdb2037440f56eed647a