Joe Rojas-Burke
@rojasburke
I'm a #ScienceWriter based in Arizona (most of the time) and in Brooklyn. Sharing stuff about science, journalism, politics, beloved plants and animals, #RockClimbing, #Bicycling, #Gardening...
Without saying your age, what's your favorite movie that came out when you were 18?
"Every day going forward, until runoff from the 2026-2027 winter snowpack begins next spring, a new record low will likely be set. This is a significant moment in the evolving Colorado River water supply crisis." www.inkstain.net/wp-content/u...
"it looks like this year’s El Niño is not only very likely to be the strongest event since reliable records began – it may end up the strongest by a truly mind-blowing margin." www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-strong...
Note the *huge* jump in payloads launched into orbit since 2020, ~five-fold
Average cost of launching payloads to orbit: 1960: $87,000/kg 2025: $3,868/kg That's based on a comprehensive standardized dataset of rocket launches since Sputnik by all the major spacefaring nations. Could be as low as $300/kg by 2040, researchers project. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
“When federal agents come to your door and ask you to stop engaging in political speech,” Morris said, it “is an act of intimidation that the Constitution doesn’t tolerate.” DHS tried to suppress, but only amplified well-phrased criticism. #StreisandEffect www.washingtonpost.com/documents/39...
Pope Leo stops at "Door of Europe" memorial as he visits the island of Lampedusa, a key entry point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, on July 4, 2026. - Remo Casilli/Reuters
The rate of deaths in ICE custody under Trump is nearly 4 times the rate during the Biden administration, and >2.5 times higher than in first Trump administration. Full report: www.hrw.org/report/2026/...
Peaceful moment in Prospect Park last month. (Sculpture by Risha Gorig)
eloquent pool guy quoted in this story on the algae instantly repopulating the Reflecting Pool
"We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top…” www.eia.gov/todayinenerg...
Derrick Coleman, former NBA power forward, will not stay quiet about the suppression of Black voters in his native Alabama www.syracuse.com/orangebasket...
we got rock squirrels here in the Sonoran desert and here is one appropriately posing on a rock
I was delighted to find wild lupines hitting in January this year in the Sonoran Desert, my first winter here
Astonishing: "Not alive, but not dead: disembodied human brains used for drug testing" www.science.org/content/arti...
I've visited this whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) a few times on Mount Hood in Oregon. The species was listed as threatened in 2022, prey to an onslaught of blister rust disease, pine beetles and climate-altered fire regimes. #EndangeredSpeciesDay
Telling details not disclosed until the very end in this WSJ story on the #RightToRepair lawsuits against Deere www.wsj.com/business/rig...
