Undark Magazine
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Non-profit & editorially independent. Exploring science as a frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of human culture.
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Experts warn that weakening the NRC could compromise safety. “The thrust of those orders is to essentially strip the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its independence,” said Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. https://undark.org/2025/09/08/trump-nuclear-renaissance/
September 10, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Experts warn that weakening the NRC could compromise safety. “The thrust of those orders is to essentially strip the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its independence,” said Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. https://undark.org/2025/09/08/trump-nuclear-renaissance/
The consequences are real. Official forms in Tamil Nadu reject valid surnames due to rigid formatting. Registrars in Peru refuse Indigenous names. Voice systems force users to mask their accents or switch languages entirely.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/07/opinion-ai-language-inequality/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/07/opinion-ai-language-inequality/
August 29, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The consequences are real. Official forms in Tamil Nadu reject valid surnames due to rigid formatting. Registrars in Peru refuse Indigenous names. Voice systems force users to mask their accents or switch languages entirely.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/07/opinion-ai-language-inequality/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/07/opinion-ai-language-inequality/
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August 27, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Subscribe to Entanglements:
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Scientists worry these cuts could eliminate crucial data sources used to study how climate change affects respiratory disease, cognitive decline in the elderly, and preterm births. The agency's chief climate scientist was already let go earlier this year.
August 18, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Scientists worry these cuts could eliminate crucial data sources used to study how climate change affects respiratory disease, cognitive decline in the elderly, and preterm births. The agency's chief climate scientist was already let go earlier this year.
The Trump administration's proposed budget would cut NASA spending to 1961 levels, slashing Earth science funding by more than half. Nearly 4,000 NASA staff have already opted for early retirement amid uncertainty. The White House described cuts as an attempt to refocus NASA on space exploration.
August 18, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The Trump administration's proposed budget would cut NASA spending to 1961 levels, slashing Earth science funding by more than half. Nearly 4,000 NASA staff have already opted for early retirement amid uncertainty. The White House described cuts as an attempt to refocus NASA on space exploration.
In Indianapolis, researchers are using NASA data to track Lyme disease by studying blowfly gut contents. The flies feed on white-footed mice (Lyme reservoirs), and NASA's environmental data helps map where the disease might spread as the climate warms.
August 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM
In Indianapolis, researchers are using NASA data to track Lyme disease by studying blowfly gut contents. The flies feed on white-footed mice (Lyme reservoirs), and NASA's environmental data helps map where the disease might spread as the climate warms.
🧵NASA isn't just about space missions. The agency's satellites collect 25 terabytes of Earth data daily, tracking air pollution, temperature changes, and disease patterns that have become crucial for public health research worldwide.
August 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM
🧵NASA isn't just about space missions. The agency's satellites collect 25 terabytes of Earth data daily, tracking air pollution, temperature changes, and disease patterns that have become crucial for public health research worldwide.
Warsaw uses 8 clams hooked to computers to monitor drinking water quality. When pollutants are detected, the clams close their shells, triggering an early warning system. It all traces back to an accidental Prozac spill in a college lab.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/14/excerpt-prozac-clams/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/14/excerpt-prozac-clams/
August 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Warsaw uses 8 clams hooked to computers to monitor drinking water quality. When pollutants are detected, the clams close their shells, triggering an early warning system. It all traces back to an accidental Prozac spill in a college lab.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/14/excerpt-prozac-clams/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/14/excerpt-prozac-clams/
Historically, cancer research has probed the drivers of the disease’s evolution. But some scientists are widening their scope to study patients who survive against the odds.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/11/cancer-super-survivors/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/11/cancer-super-survivors/
August 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Historically, cancer research has probed the drivers of the disease’s evolution. But some scientists are widening their scope to study patients who survive against the odds.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/11/cancer-super-survivors/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/08/11/cancer-super-survivors/
The numbers are staggering: 59% of U.S. counties lack air quality monitoring sites, leaving more than 50 million Americans in "monitoring deserts." These gaps disproportionately affect rural areas and communities with higher poverty rates.
🔗https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
🔗https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
July 31, 2025 at 2:02 PM
The numbers are staggering: 59% of U.S. counties lack air quality monitoring sites, leaving more than 50 million Americans in "monitoring deserts." These gaps disproportionately affect rural areas and communities with higher poverty rates.
🔗https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
🔗https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
Uri Manor's lab used $1.5M over two years to develop imaging tools for hearing loss research. When his grant was terminated in April, he worried about four trainees "whose careers now hung on a political whim."
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/11/interview-hearing-loss-grant/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/11/interview-hearing-loss-grant/
July 22, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Uri Manor's lab used $1.5M over two years to develop imaging tools for hearing loss research. When his grant was terminated in April, he worried about four trainees "whose careers now hung on a political whim."
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/11/interview-hearing-loss-grant/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/11/interview-hearing-loss-grant/
59% of U.S. counties lack air quality monitors, creating "monitoring deserts" mostly in rural South/Midwest. Counties with higher poverty rates and more Black/Hispanic residents are more likely to lack monitors.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
July 13, 2025 at 1:01 PM
59% of U.S. counties lack air quality monitors, creating "monitoring deserts" mostly in rural South/Midwest. Counties with higher poverty rates and more Black/Hispanic residents are more likely to lack monitors.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
Just 10 years ago, U.S. air pollution was a success story. Now wildfires are "erasing the gains" from decades of emission controls, pushing air quality to hazardous levels hundreds of miles away.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
July 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Just 10 years ago, U.S. air pollution was a success story. Now wildfires are "erasing the gains" from decades of emission controls, pushing air quality to hazardous levels hundreds of miles away.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/07/04/wildfires-aqi-infrastructure/
Opinion: Conservative distrust of science helped set the stage for its dismantling. Can scientists bridge the partisan divide?
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/06/19/opinion-maga-science-divide/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/06/19/opinion-maga-science-divide/
June 22, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Opinion: Conservative distrust of science helped set the stage for its dismantling. Can scientists bridge the partisan divide?
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/06/19/opinion-maga-science-divide/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/06/19/opinion-maga-science-divide/
"I'm not different. I'm not changed," Bhattacharya insists. Yet even supporters question whether he can maintain his principles inside Trump's administration. As one former ally put it: "I think he was overly optimistic."
Read more: https://undark.org/2025/05/27/jay-bhattacharyas-nih-reform/
Read more: https://undark.org/2025/05/27/jay-bhattacharyas-nih-reform/
May 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
"I'm not different. I'm not changed," Bhattacharya insists. Yet even supporters question whether he can maintain his principles inside Trump's administration. As one former ally put it: "I think he was overly optimistic."
Read more: https://undark.org/2025/05/27/jay-bhattacharyas-nih-reform/
Read more: https://undark.org/2025/05/27/jay-bhattacharyas-nih-reform/
Now Bhattacharya faces a contradiction. The free speech champion leads an agency freezing billions in university funding. "This is a loaded gun for the federal government to essentially become provost and president of any university that takes federal funds," warns one First Amendment expert.
May 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Now Bhattacharya faces a contradiction. The free speech champion leads an agency freezing billions in university funding. "This is a loaded gun for the federal government to essentially become provost and president of any university that takes federal funds," warns one First Amendment expert.
His Great Barrington Declaration called for "focused protection" — shielding the vulnerable while allowing others to "build up immunity through natural infection." It "went absolutely viral," but Fauci called it "dangerous." The document made Bhattacharya a hero to pandemic skeptics.
May 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
His Great Barrington Declaration called for "focused protection" — shielding the vulnerable while allowing others to "build up immunity through natural infection." It "went absolutely viral," but Fauci called it "dangerous." The document made Bhattacharya a hero to pandemic skeptics.
🧵 Five years ago, Jay Bhattacharya was a Stanford health economist studying vulnerable populations. Today, he runs the NIH, the world's top biomedical research agency. His journey from pandemic critic to Trump's science chief reveals a story of how COVID-19 reshaped American institutions.
May 28, 2025 at 3:11 PM
🧵 Five years ago, Jay Bhattacharya was a Stanford health economist studying vulnerable populations. Today, he runs the NIH, the world's top biomedical research agency. His journey from pandemic critic to Trump's science chief reveals a story of how COVID-19 reshaped American institutions.
5/7 The proposed 2026 budget would further cut HHS discretionary spending by 26%, including nearly $18B from NIH and halving the CDC budget. The administration states it aims to reduce waste and inefficiency.
May 20, 2025 at 5:02 PM
5/7 The proposed 2026 budget would further cut HHS discretionary spending by 26%, including nearly $18B from NIH and halving the CDC budget. The administration states it aims to reduce waste and inefficiency.
3/7 Domestically, the administration is reducing CDC HIV branch offices and canceling hundreds of federal grants to health departments, universities, and nonprofits working on HIV/AIDS. At least 230 HIV-specific NIH grants have been terminated.
May 20, 2025 at 5:02 PM
3/7 Domestically, the administration is reducing CDC HIV branch offices and canceling hundreds of federal grants to health departments, universities, and nonprofits working on HIV/AIDS. At least 230 HIV-specific NIH grants have been terminated.
1/7 The Trump administration has implemented significant cuts to HIV/AIDS programs both internationally and domestically, potentially threatening recent progress that saw a 12% decline in new HIV infections from 2018 to 2022.
May 20, 2025 at 5:02 PM
1/7 The Trump administration has implemented significant cuts to HIV/AIDS programs both internationally and domestically, potentially threatening recent progress that saw a 12% decline in new HIV infections from 2018 to 2022.
In a new opinion piece, Julia Yarkoni examines alternatives to active-shooter drills, which may contribute to teacher burnout.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/05/15/opinion-alternative-to-active-shooter-drills/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/05/15/opinion-alternative-to-active-shooter-drills/
May 16, 2025 at 4:02 PM
In a new opinion piece, Julia Yarkoni examines alternatives to active-shooter drills, which may contribute to teacher burnout.
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/05/15/opinion-alternative-to-active-shooter-drills/
🔗: https://undark.org/2025/05/15/opinion-alternative-to-active-shooter-drills/
4/ Marcus Munafò, a professor of biological psychology and deputy vice chancellor and provost at the University of Bath and the former editor-in-chief of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, said the impact could affect academic freedom.
May 15, 2025 at 5:03 PM
4/ Marcus Munafò, a professor of biological psychology and deputy vice chancellor and provost at the University of Bath and the former editor-in-chief of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, said the impact could affect academic freedom.
1/ Researchers pulled their paper from a federal journal after editors asked them to remove the word "equitably" and demographic data to comply with executive orders on DEI. "It's the principle," anthropologist Tamar Antin said.
May 15, 2025 at 5:03 PM
1/ Researchers pulled their paper from a federal journal after editors asked them to remove the word "equitably" and demographic data to comply with executive orders on DEI. "It's the principle," anthropologist Tamar Antin said.
4/ Reworld Waste, which runs the incinerator near Grabarek, acknowledges PFAS enters their facility: "We don't market our municipal waste combustors to destroy PFAS, but we know that it's in the waste that comes in." Meanwhile, Grabarek's pleas for stack testing have gone unanswered.
April 30, 2025 at 2:39 PM
4/ Reworld Waste, which runs the incinerator near Grabarek, acknowledges PFAS enters their facility: "We don't market our municipal waste combustors to destroy PFAS, but we know that it's in the waste that comes in." Meanwhile, Grabarek's pleas for stack testing have gone unanswered.