Howard Lee
@hlee.bsky.social
Geologist and Science Writer: If you want to see what climate change can do to the planet just look at Earth's past!
https://h-lee.com/
https://h-lee.com/
Pinned
Howard Lee
@hlee.bsky.social
· Aug 11
How old is the earliest trace of life on Earth?
A recent conference sees doubts raised about the age of the oldest signs of life.
arstechnica.com
My latest article 👇 gets into how hard it is to date stuff in some of the oldest rocks on the planet, and why it matters ⚒️🧪
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Howard Lee
Thanksgiving has a complicated origin story, but it remains a great opportunity to express gratitude. Morning Edition host Michel Martin explains why that is. n.pr/4ptlq7M
Michel Martin reflects on Thanksgiving. And, revisit Susan Stamberg's cranberry relish
Thanksgiving has a complicated origin story, but it remains a great opportunity to express gratitude. Morning Edition host Michel Martin explains why that is.
n.pr
November 27, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Thanksgiving has a complicated origin story, but it remains a great opportunity to express gratitude. Morning Edition host Michel Martin explains why that is. n.pr/4ptlq7M
Reposted by Howard Lee
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:55 AM
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Banana republic level stuff. Te entire point of this country is supposed to be that the law applies equally to everyone
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Georgia prosecutor ends 2020 election interference case against Trump, allies
Prosecutor Peter Skandalakis deemed the prosecution flawed and impractical.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Banana republic level stuff. Te entire point of this country is supposed to be that the law applies equally to everyone
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Howard Lee
Here's what The Counteroffensive is reading today:
Putin signed a decree aiming to have 95% of those in territory occupied since 2022
identify as Russian by 2036.
Ukrainians in occupied territory are increasingly subjected to 'russification' and cultural erasure.
Putin signed a decree aiming to have 95% of those in territory occupied since 2022
identify as Russian by 2036.
Ukrainians in occupied territory are increasingly subjected to 'russification' and cultural erasure.
www.reuters.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Here's what The Counteroffensive is reading today:
Putin signed a decree aiming to have 95% of those in territory occupied since 2022
identify as Russian by 2036.
Ukrainians in occupied territory are increasingly subjected to 'russification' and cultural erasure.
Putin signed a decree aiming to have 95% of those in territory occupied since 2022
identify as Russian by 2036.
Ukrainians in occupied territory are increasingly subjected to 'russification' and cultural erasure.
Reposted by Howard Lee
WBUR seems to have the only actual decent reporting that bothered to try and preserve what Wu was trying to communicate:
www.wbur.org/news/2025/11...
www.wbur.org/news/2025/11...
Wu says no thanks to 'bromance' with Trump after New York's Mamdani visits White House
Mamdani has called Wu the most effective Democrat in America. But on Monday, in response to reporters, Wu said she's "not interested in a bromance with the federal regime."
www.wbur.org
November 26, 2025 at 1:41 PM
WBUR seems to have the only actual decent reporting that bothered to try and preserve what Wu was trying to communicate:
www.wbur.org/news/2025/11...
www.wbur.org/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Howard Lee
The answer to this Guess the Gem is spinel!! This one was part of the Treasury of Saint-Denis in France. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎
Guess the Gem time!! What mineral do you think this gem is? Hint: in the past gems of this mineral were called rubies, though now the term refers to corundum. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎
November 26, 2025 at 12:41 PM
The answer to this Guess the Gem is spinel!! This one was part of the Treasury of Saint-Denis in France. #GuessTheGem #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪💎
Reposted by Howard Lee
The use of AI to describe everything from LLMs to regression on big data sets is a bit problematic. It's used by the folks creating AI slop to claim credit for ML successes based on totally different architectures & we are now at the point where normal people hear AI & think chatbot (argggh!).
November 26, 2025 at 1:37 PM
The use of AI to describe everything from LLMs to regression on big data sets is a bit problematic. It's used by the folks creating AI slop to claim credit for ML successes based on totally different architectures & we are now at the point where normal people hear AI & think chatbot (argggh!).
Reposted by Howard Lee
Stupidest man alive has a thought.
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Stupidest man alive has a thought.
Not something I had on my bingo card for a holiday wishlist
We like that there is no bucket large enough to transport some grease balls. A bucket maker in Ohio needs to step up. We need grease ball buckets.
November 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Not something I had on my bingo card for a holiday wishlist
Reposted by Howard Lee
Trump’s Vendetta Against Wind is Gutting Jobs and Raising Prices
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Trump's Vendetta Against Wind is Gutting Jobs and Raising Prices
Unionize workers are fighting Donald Trump's attacks on wind energy. In Baltimore, they're preparing for the “Green Workforce of the Future."
www.rollingstone.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Trump’s Vendetta Against Wind is Gutting Jobs and Raising Prices
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Howard Lee
In case you missed this, the BBC edited a historian's speech about Trump to remove the claim that he's "the most openly corrupt president in US history." This came after Trump had threatened a $1 billion lawsuit.
Elite capitulation continues.
Read all about it here:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Elite capitulation continues.
Read all about it here:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump Angrily Threatened to Sue BBC. Then Things Took a Darker Turn.
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:30 PM
In case you missed this, the BBC edited a historian's speech about Trump to remove the claim that he's "the most openly corrupt president in US history." This came after Trump had threatened a $1 billion lawsuit.
Elite capitulation continues.
Read all about it here:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Elite capitulation continues.
Read all about it here:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Reposted by Howard Lee
Heres steve witkoff helping the Russians, get a deal with Donald Trump
November 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Heres steve witkoff helping the Russians, get a deal with Donald Trump
Reposted by Howard Lee
If you’re a climate/energy person, I will take your portrait pro bono.
After far too many years, I've got myself a new Guardian byline pic, very kindly taken pro bono by Nick Bowring. It was getting like The Picture of Dorian Gray in reverse.
Embrace the ravages of time!
Embrace the ravages of time!
May 23, 2025 at 6:13 PM
If you’re a climate/energy person, I will take your portrait pro bono.
Reposted by Howard Lee
OTD in 1939 USSR staged the Mainila incident. A false flag to justify invading Finland as per our alliance with Nazis. We claimed Finn's attacked us just as a few hundred thousand of our soldiers were massed on their former border.
Imagine such brutality being tolerated & excused today.
Imagine such brutality being tolerated & excused today.
November 26, 2025 at 10:59 AM
OTD in 1939 USSR staged the Mainila incident. A false flag to justify invading Finland as per our alliance with Nazis. We claimed Finn's attacked us just as a few hundred thousand of our soldiers were massed on their former border.
Imagine such brutality being tolerated & excused today.
Imagine such brutality being tolerated & excused today.
"All of our lectures are live streamed and are open to anyone to join us online" 🏺
Come for our free lecture at 5pm this Thursday & hear from Dr Fabio Silva & Prof Clive Ruggles FSA about the 13 towers of Chankillo that form part of a monumental complex built in the Peruvian coastal desert in the 3rdC BC! ✨🔭⭐ Organised w/ @royalastrosoc.bsky.social
www.sal.org.uk/event/ras-le...
www.sal.org.uk/event/ras-le...
Robust Methodologies in Skyscape Archaeology: Case Studies from Malta and Peru - Society of Antiquaries of London
Evening lecture organised jointly with the Royal Astronomical Society. Learn about the thirteen towers of Chankillo which form part of a monumental complex built in the Peruvian coastal desert in the ...
www.sal.org.uk
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
"All of our lectures are live streamed and are open to anyone to join us online" 🏺
Reposted by Howard Lee
Engineered T cells that have been used to treat ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus show promising results
go.nature.com/3MaSKC9
go.nature.com/3MaSKC9
‘They don’t have symptoms’: CAR-T therapies send autoimmune diseases into remission
Engineered T cells that have been used to treat ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus show promising results.
go.nature.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Engineered T cells that have been used to treat ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus show promising results
go.nature.com/3MaSKC9
go.nature.com/3MaSKC9
Reposted by Howard Lee
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:37 AM
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
Reposted by Howard Lee
It's been a long wait.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
BBC World Service - Science In Action, An armada for asteroid Apophis?
Friday, April 13th 2029 – mark it in your calendar...an asteroid is coming
www.bbc.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 11:21 AM
It's been a long wait.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Reposted by Howard Lee
330 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️
Phlogopite:
- A mica group mineral
- Forms in igneous rocks and via contact metamorphism
- Its name comes from the Greek word "φλογωποζ/phlogopos" (resembling fire) because of its reddish tint #minerals
Phlogopite:
- A mica group mineral
- Forms in igneous rocks and via contact metamorphism
- Its name comes from the Greek word "φλογωποζ/phlogopos" (resembling fire) because of its reddish tint #minerals
November 26, 2025 at 10:18 AM
330 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️
Phlogopite:
- A mica group mineral
- Forms in igneous rocks and via contact metamorphism
- Its name comes from the Greek word "φλογωποζ/phlogopos" (resembling fire) because of its reddish tint #minerals
Phlogopite:
- A mica group mineral
- Forms in igneous rocks and via contact metamorphism
- Its name comes from the Greek word "φλογωποζ/phlogopos" (resembling fire) because of its reddish tint #minerals
Reposted by Howard Lee
Subsurface rock beneath the Appalachians shows a mantle heat mass that formed during the Greenland and North America split ~80 Ma. It migrated ~1,800 km and now lies ~200 km under New England.
#Tectonics
#MantlePlume
⚒️🧪
Paper
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/...
#Tectonics
#MantlePlume
⚒️🧪
Paper
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/...
Giant hidden heat blob slowly travels beneath the U. S.
An immense pocket of hot rock deep beneath the Appalachians may be a wandering relic of the breakup between Greenland and North America 80 million years ago. Researchers suggest this slow-moving “mant...
www.sciencedaily.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Subsurface rock beneath the Appalachians shows a mantle heat mass that formed during the Greenland and North America split ~80 Ma. It migrated ~1,800 km and now lies ~200 km under New England.
#Tectonics
#MantlePlume
⚒️🧪
Paper
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/...
#Tectonics
#MantlePlume
⚒️🧪
Paper
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/...
Reposted by Howard Lee
“Margraten” is a WWII military cemetery in the Netherlands. It has been ordered to remove or adjust information material pertaining to black liberator soldiers. American members of congress are protesting
Ook Amerikaanse Congresleden komen in verweer tegen de aanpassingen bij het oorlogsmonument in Margraten
Ook Amerikaanse Congresleden komen in verweer tegen de aanpassingen bij het oorlogsmonument in Margraten
Amerikaanse Congresleden van de Democratische Partij hebben via een brief laten weten dat ze het niet eens zijn met het weghalen van panelen in Limburg die aandacht vragen voor de dubbele strijd van zwarte soldaten – tegen het nazisme en segregatie.
www.nrc.nl
November 26, 2025 at 11:36 AM
“Margraten” is a WWII military cemetery in the Netherlands. It has been ordered to remove or adjust information material pertaining to black liberator soldiers. American members of congress are protesting
Reposted by Howard Lee
It's the most wonderful day of the year for paleo-philes: #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge Day! Based on the preview & advance buzz, looks like a stunning series about our much-more-recently departed megafaunas. 🧪🦥🦣🦘🦬
Years of work involving an amazing team at BBCSstudios Framestore AppleTV, our series #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge is out now on #AppleTV. Huge thanks to everyone involved. All 5 eps have been released!
November 26, 2025 at 11:54 AM
It's the most wonderful day of the year for paleo-philes: #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge Day! Based on the preview & advance buzz, looks like a stunning series about our much-more-recently departed megafaunas. 🧪🦥🦣🦘🦬
Reposted by Howard Lee
Looking forward to this conversation with @rupertread.bsky.social, Brian McLaren, John Izzo and others!
eldersaction.org/event/podcas...
eldersaction.org/event/podcas...
The Climate Crossroads: Why Haven’t We Changed — and How We Do Now - Elders Action Network
Tuesday, December 2 8:00 – 9:30 am PT / 11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET A live event from The Way Forward Regenerative Conversations Podcast We know the science— still […]
eldersaction.org
November 26, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Looking forward to this conversation with @rupertread.bsky.social, Brian McLaren, John Izzo and others!
eldersaction.org/event/podcas...
eldersaction.org/event/podcas...
Reposted by Howard Lee
The disclosure in a court filing is the first time the Trump administration has said who was responsible for the March decision that drew the ire of a federal judge.
Kristi Noem made final call on deportation flights after judge ordered planes to turn back, DOJ says
The disclosure in a court filing is the first time the Trump administration has said who was responsible for the March decision that drew the ire of a federal judge.
nbcnews.to
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 PM
The disclosure in a court filing is the first time the Trump administration has said who was responsible for the March decision that drew the ire of a federal judge.