Joe Polidoro
@joepolidoro.bsky.social
Independent science writer. Scientific American, Science News, The Dispatch.
The Bone Collector: another beautiful piece of natural history by Richard Conniff:
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
The Bone Collector
How a caterpillar makes its strange living in the lion's den.
open.substack.com
April 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
The Bone Collector: another beautiful piece of natural history by Richard Conniff:
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
open.substack.com/pub/richardc...
Neat overview of U.S. energy infrastructure by @_brianpotter--one conclusion being "it probably means completely rethinking how our energy infrastructure works."
Energy Cheat Sheet
Building an intuition about energy
www.construction-physics.com
December 20, 2024 at 5:33 PM
Neat overview of U.S. energy infrastructure by @_brianpotter--one conclusion being "it probably means completely rethinking how our energy infrastructure works."
The Black Spatula Project—@climateer.bsky.social’s “fun little project” to use AI to spot errors in 1K rando scientific papers. WhatsApp, Discord, and GitHub repo provided.
The Black Spatula Project
Fixing flawed scientific papers, 5000 tokens at a time
amistrongeryet.substack.com
December 19, 2024 at 1:36 PM
The Black Spatula Project—@climateer.bsky.social’s “fun little project” to use AI to spot errors in 1K rando scientific papers. WhatsApp, Discord, and GitHub repo provided.
“So, from my phone, I pasted in the text of the PDF and typed: ‘carefully check the math in this paper.’ That was it. o1 spotted the error immediately (other AI models did not).”
In one moment, @emollick.bsky.social finds the bad math in the black plastic utensil paper.
In one moment, @emollick.bsky.social finds the bad math in the black plastic utensil paper.
What just happened
A transformative month rewrites the capabilities of AI
www.oneusefulthing.org
December 19, 2024 at 1:15 PM
“So, from my phone, I pasted in the text of the PDF and typed: ‘carefully check the math in this paper.’ That was it. o1 spotted the error immediately (other AI models did not).”
In one moment, @emollick.bsky.social finds the bad math in the black plastic utensil paper.
In one moment, @emollick.bsky.social finds the bad math in the black plastic utensil paper.
A compact history of one small city’s fight to save its largest natural space, at the peak of the U.S. highway-building frenzy.
Save Our Reservoir: The Fight to Stop I-291 - We-Ha | West Hartford News
West Hartford Historian Tracey Wilson first wrote this article in 2018. It was revised in 2024 and submitted for publication to We-Ha.com.
By Tracey Wilson
Have you ever noticed the four-level stack...
we-ha.com
December 18, 2024 at 1:05 PM
A compact history of one small city’s fight to save its largest natural space, at the peak of the U.S. highway-building frenzy.
Stone wall ecosystems: beautiful piece by @richardconniff.bsky.social
Stone Walls, Lost Souls, & Wildlife
Looking twice at a neglected biological hotspot
richardconniff.substack.com
December 14, 2024 at 3:39 PM
Stone wall ecosystems: beautiful piece by @richardconniff.bsky.social
Reposted by Joe Polidoro
The #UNESCO #eDNA project in marine World Heritage sites sets new global standards for biodiversity monitoring. 🌊 The project identified nearly 4,500 marine species. 🌍 #Flanders played a key role, supported by DKBUZA, EWI, VLIZ, and KU Leuven. 🔬
Read more: www.unesco.org/en/edna-expe...
Read more: www.unesco.org/en/edna-expe...
Environmental DNA Expeditions in UNESCO World Heritage Marine Sites
Environmental DNA Expeditions in UNESCO World Heritage Marine Sites
www.unesco.org
December 12, 2024 at 10:26 AM
The #UNESCO #eDNA project in marine World Heritage sites sets new global standards for biodiversity monitoring. 🌊 The project identified nearly 4,500 marine species. 🌍 #Flanders played a key role, supported by DKBUZA, EWI, VLIZ, and KU Leuven. 🔬
Read more: www.unesco.org/en/edna-expe...
Read more: www.unesco.org/en/edna-expe...
Sorry, I happen to like phony Beatlemania. And fake fake jazz.
December 13, 2024 at 7:50 PM
Sorry, I happen to like phony Beatlemania. And fake fake jazz.
Just finished this on audio--loved it and absolutely recommend.
A Field Guide to Lies by Daniel J. Levitin: 9780593182512 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
Winner of the National Business Book Award From the New York Times bestselling author of The Organized Mind and This Is Your Brain on Music, a primer to the critical...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
December 12, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Just finished this on audio--loved it and absolutely recommend.
Reposted by Joe Polidoro
A majority of tree species depend on underground symbiotic fungi, called ectomycorrhizal fungi, for the nutrients and water they need to survive. Their absence could contribute to trees' failure to adapt.
Why trees are failing to adapt to climate change
Certain fungi give trees nutrients and water, but heat and drought are putting both at risk.
www.sciencenews.org
December 9, 2024 at 11:00 PM
A majority of tree species depend on underground symbiotic fungi, called ectomycorrhizal fungi, for the nutrients and water they need to survive. Their absence could contribute to trees' failure to adapt.
Maybe so. I finally moved here after reading some really awful, stupid replies to an innocuous tweet by @pauloffit.bsky.social. So far so good. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/o...
Opinion | Bluesky Is Different From X. For Now.
Users are looking for a more curated experience on a platform that is not constantly trying to get them to interact with brands.
www.nytimes.com
December 7, 2024 at 3:03 PM
Maybe so. I finally moved here after reading some really awful, stupid replies to an innocuous tweet by @pauloffit.bsky.social. So far so good. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/o...
Reposted by Joe Polidoro
Tweeting about politics undermines scientists’ credibility in the eyes of the public — gotta leave the takes to trained professionals.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...
warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...
December 6, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Tweeting about politics undermines scientists’ credibility in the eyes of the public — gotta leave the takes to trained professionals.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...
warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...
For the naysayers claiming this was a crappy choice, there is no ugly color—only ugly color uses. Colors are tools, people. www.dezeen.com/2024/12/05/m...
"Unpretentious" Mocha Mousse named Pantone's colour of the year 2025
Pantone has announced Mocha Mousse as its 2025 colour of the year – a chocolately brown hue that reflects the importance of "little treat culture".
www.dezeen.com
December 6, 2024 at 1:39 PM
For the naysayers claiming this was a crappy choice, there is no ugly color—only ugly color uses. Colors are tools, people. www.dezeen.com/2024/12/05/m...
Reposted by Joe Polidoro
Go to earthquakes.usgs.gov for the Northern California 7.0 offshore earthquake details M 7.0 - 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino, California Earthquake. There is a tsunami warning.
December 5, 2024 at 7:58 PM
Go to earthquakes.usgs.gov for the Northern California 7.0 offshore earthquake details M 7.0 - 2024 Offshore Cape Mendocino, California Earthquake. There is a tsunami warning.
“Websets is aimed at power users who need to look for things that other search engines aren’t great at finding…”
The startup trying to turn the web into a database
Search firm Exa wants to use the tech behind large language models to tame the wildness of the web.
www.technologyreview.com
December 4, 2024 at 2:17 AM
“Websets is aimed at power users who need to look for things that other search engines aren’t great at finding…”
It really doesn’t get any better than this.
December 4, 2024 at 1:41 AM
It really doesn’t get any better than this.