Nita Noor
@nitanoorad.bsky.social
i am here because i loathe that x guy and his ilk. my interests are varied, and this ‘description’ will change over time...
biophile | truth | beauty | integrity | in appreciation of the Absurd
unless otherwise stated, all photos are mine.
biophile | truth | beauty | integrity | in appreciation of the Absurd
unless otherwise stated, all photos are mine.
Pinned
Reposted by Nita Noor
Each Friday, we’re sharing highlights from our “Top of the Charts”, a look back at our most popular charts, articles, & more in 2025.
Today we give you our top 5 most-read data insights from this year. 🧵
Check out the full list if you haven’t already: ourworldindata.org/top-of-the-c...
Today we give you our top 5 most-read data insights from this year. 🧵
Check out the full list if you haven’t already: ourworldindata.org/top-of-the-c...
December 19, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Each Friday, we’re sharing highlights from our “Top of the Charts”, a look back at our most popular charts, articles, & more in 2025.
Today we give you our top 5 most-read data insights from this year. 🧵
Check out the full list if you haven’t already: ourworldindata.org/top-of-the-c...
Today we give you our top 5 most-read data insights from this year. 🧵
Check out the full list if you haven’t already: ourworldindata.org/top-of-the-c...
Reposted by Nita Noor
Edward Honaker, self portrait
December 16, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Edward Honaker, self portrait
Reposted by Nita Noor
December 15, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Reposted by Nita Noor
Because the issue of population change is so widely misunderstood, here's a short thread which seeks to lay it out simply.
It explains why there is almost nothing anyone can do to change the global population trajectory, both as numbers rise, then as they fall.
🧵1/13
It explains why there is almost nothing anyone can do to change the global population trajectory, both as numbers rise, then as they fall.
🧵1/13
December 15, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Because the issue of population change is so widely misunderstood, here's a short thread which seeks to lay it out simply.
It explains why there is almost nothing anyone can do to change the global population trajectory, both as numbers rise, then as they fall.
🧵1/13
It explains why there is almost nothing anyone can do to change the global population trajectory, both as numbers rise, then as they fall.
🧵1/13
Reposted by Nita Noor
Mist-kissed pea flower.
#flowerreport #bloomscrolling #droplets #pnw #garden #macro #photography #eastcoastkin
#flowerreport #bloomscrolling #droplets #pnw #garden #macro #photography #eastcoastkin
December 13, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Mist-kissed pea flower.
#flowerreport #bloomscrolling #droplets #pnw #garden #macro #photography #eastcoastkin
#flowerreport #bloomscrolling #droplets #pnw #garden #macro #photography #eastcoastkin
Reposted by Nita Noor
Just like Sartre said: we are unfinished beings, always becoming, never done.
Yesterday I listened to people praising “national identity,” as if humans were tidy textbook entries rather than unfinished creatures who never quite match themselves — which makes all those wars “for identity” look absurd before they even start.
December 7, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Just like Sartre said: we are unfinished beings, always becoming, never done.
Reposted by Nita Noor
We're half a decade into studies finding that improving airflow in classrooms will reduce disease transmission enormously, and that bleaching surfaces etc. does very little. And yet nothing changes. Waves of flu and colds wash over schools, and the schools pretend it's an act of God.
The relative contribution of close-proximity contacts, shared classroom exposure and indoor air quality to respiratory virus transmission in schools - Nature Communications
The relative importance of close-proximity interactions, shared space and air quality to the transmission of respiratory viruses is not well understood. Here, the authors investigate this question by ...
www.nature.com
December 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
We're half a decade into studies finding that improving airflow in classrooms will reduce disease transmission enormously, and that bleaching surfaces etc. does very little. And yet nothing changes. Waves of flu and colds wash over schools, and the schools pretend it's an act of God.
Reposted by Nita Noor
Armorial Roundel
German, ca. 1500
On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 19
German, ca. 1500
On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 19
December 8, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Armorial Roundel
German, ca. 1500
On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 19
German, ca. 1500
On view at The Met Cloisters in Gallery 19
Reposted by Nita Noor
This is an excellent read. The more you know. #Science 🧪
“… we were advancing toward elimination of hepatitis B in the United States,” says Ward “I am deeply concerned that if the ACIP rescinds this policy, they’re going to contribute to the spread of hepatitis B rather than its elimination.”
“… we were advancing toward elimination of hepatitis B in the United States,” says Ward “I am deeply concerned that if the ACIP rescinds this policy, they’re going to contribute to the spread of hepatitis B rather than its elimination.”
Hepatitis B vaccine guidance set to be rolled back for US babies: what the science says
A panel of US vaccine advisers voted to rescind a recommendation that all newborns should receive a hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
www.nature.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:29 PM
This is an excellent read. The more you know. #Science 🧪
“… we were advancing toward elimination of hepatitis B in the United States,” says Ward “I am deeply concerned that if the ACIP rescinds this policy, they’re going to contribute to the spread of hepatitis B rather than its elimination.”
“… we were advancing toward elimination of hepatitis B in the United States,” says Ward “I am deeply concerned that if the ACIP rescinds this policy, they’re going to contribute to the spread of hepatitis B rather than its elimination.”
Reposted by Nita Noor
All it takes is a few days where your phone is broken and you realize
"Oh I'm not addicted to *my* phone, I literally am not allowed to do most stuff if I don't have one"
"Oh I'm not addicted to *my* phone, I literally am not allowed to do most stuff if I don't have one"
December 5, 2025 at 1:46 PM
All it takes is a few days where your phone is broken and you realize
"Oh I'm not addicted to *my* phone, I literally am not allowed to do most stuff if I don't have one"
"Oh I'm not addicted to *my* phone, I literally am not allowed to do most stuff if I don't have one"
Reposted by Nita Noor
Another huge issue, and I don't think people even know this is a thing, is that just about everything is done with smart phones now. And many (most?) seniors literally cannot work their phones. Signing things, texting, dealing with spam and fraud or even using the basic functions? They're often lost
December 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Another huge issue, and I don't think people even know this is a thing, is that just about everything is done with smart phones now. And many (most?) seniors literally cannot work their phones. Signing things, texting, dealing with spam and fraud or even using the basic functions? They're often lost
Reposted by Nita Noor
Not trying to burst any bubbles; but Spotify is over.
They are airing ICE recruitment ads, the CEO has been investing in military/AI tech, they barely pay their artists; sometimes a percentage of a cent per stream, they promote “fake/AI artist” playlists, and there’s major concerns about data use.
They are airing ICE recruitment ads, the CEO has been investing in military/AI tech, they barely pay their artists; sometimes a percentage of a cent per stream, they promote “fake/AI artist” playlists, and there’s major concerns about data use.
December 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Not trying to burst any bubbles; but Spotify is over.
They are airing ICE recruitment ads, the CEO has been investing in military/AI tech, they barely pay their artists; sometimes a percentage of a cent per stream, they promote “fake/AI artist” playlists, and there’s major concerns about data use.
They are airing ICE recruitment ads, the CEO has been investing in military/AI tech, they barely pay their artists; sometimes a percentage of a cent per stream, they promote “fake/AI artist” playlists, and there’s major concerns about data use.
Reposted by Nita Noor
Time to tap the sign again bsky.app/profile/loui...
This is a great example of the need for us to collectively develop critical water media analysis:
a) Why was this segment produced
b) why now
c) who came up with the idea
d) who is the “bad guy” in this take
e) who does that make the “good guy” (extra points if the answer is same as c)
a) Why was this segment produced
b) why now
c) who came up with the idea
d) who is the “bad guy” in this take
e) who does that make the “good guy” (extra points if the answer is same as c)
A cheeseburger uses a lot more water than a ChatGPT request 🍔
Actual farms, not the data center variety, are sucking up groundwater more quickly than surface water, explains @markgongloff.bsky.social 🎥
Actual farms, not the data center variety, are sucking up groundwater more quickly than surface water, explains @markgongloff.bsky.social 🎥
November 27, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Time to tap the sign again bsky.app/profile/loui...
Reposted by Nita Noor
Exciting new #Zebrafish research from the #WeinsteinLab, led by Jong Park!
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
December 2, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Exciting new #Zebrafish research from the #WeinsteinLab, led by Jong Park!
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
For the multilateral system to survive, international institutions and norms “need to be updated and reformed to better reflect the growing economic and political power of the global South and the global East,” argues Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
fam.ag/4rG7nOj
fam.ag/4rG7nOj
The West’s Last Chance
How to build a new global order before it’s too late.
fam.ag
December 3, 2025 at 3:50 AM
For the multilateral system to survive, international institutions and norms “need to be updated and reformed to better reflect the growing economic and political power of the global South and the global East,” argues Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
fam.ag/4rG7nOj
fam.ag/4rG7nOj
Reposted by Nita Noor
Eyvind Earle
Amethyst
Amethyst
December 2, 2025 at 4:18 AM
Eyvind Earle
Amethyst
Amethyst
“The real tragedy isn’t that students use ChatGPT to do their course work. It’s that universities are teaching everyone—students, faculty, administrators—to stop thinking. We’re outsourcing discernment. Students graduate fluent in prompting, but illiterate in judgment...”
Today in Current Affairs, professor Ron Purser exposes how AI's destruction of the university is even worse than you think, and goes well beyond students cheating with ChatGPT: www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 2, 2025 at 12:04 AM
“The real tragedy isn’t that students use ChatGPT to do their course work. It’s that universities are teaching everyone—students, faculty, administrators—to stop thinking. We’re outsourcing discernment. Students graduate fluent in prompting, but illiterate in judgment...”
“It never occurred to Doherty that his effort to fix the water problem would provoke the ire of a group of local officials who resented scrutiny of their role in the pollution. ... And he never imagined that one of the world’s largest tech companies — Amazon — could play a part in the crisis.”
There is a movement to "prove that the datacenter water issues is fake". If you venture into Muskrat's hell site, you can see the community note these people put on this great piece of investigative journalism, accusing them of unfairly implicating datacenters.
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
'The Precedent Is Flint': How Oregon's Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis
Amazon data centers constructed in eastern Oregon's farmland have worsened a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages.
www.rollingstone.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
“It never occurred to Doherty that his effort to fix the water problem would provoke the ire of a group of local officials who resented scrutiny of their role in the pollution. ... And he never imagined that one of the world’s largest tech companies — Amazon — could play a part in the crisis.”
Reposted by Nita Noor
Very cool radioactive fungus news
From @chelleraiser.bsky.social
www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-fu...
From @chelleraiser.bsky.social
www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-fu...
Chernobyl Fungus Appears to Have Evolved an Incredible Ability
The Chernobyl exclusion zone may be off-limits to humans, but ever since the Unit Four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded nearly 40 years ago, other forms of life have not only move...
www.sciencealert.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Very cool radioactive fungus news
From @chelleraiser.bsky.social
www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-fu...
From @chelleraiser.bsky.social
www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-fu...
‘The process is known as “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS). The reason it is allowed to override domestic law and the decisions made by parliaments is that this provision has been written – without public consent, and often in conditions of extreme secrecy – into trade treaties.’
Sovereignty? Democracy? Sorry, but we can't afford those anymore. We'll be sued if we try to defend them.
This week's column is about a massive but scarcely-covered scandal.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This week's column is about a massive but scarcely-covered scandal.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Hello, foreign oligarchs and corporations! Please come and sue the UK for billions | George Monbiot
The case of a planned Cumbrian coalmine shows how governments around the world are being threatened by litigation in shadowy offshore courts, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:11 PM
‘The process is known as “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS). The reason it is allowed to override domestic law and the decisions made by parliaments is that this provision has been written – without public consent, and often in conditions of extreme secrecy – into trade treaties.’
Reposted by Nita Noor
Flyer by John Giorno published by Visual AIDS in 1993 for Day Without Art.
December 1, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Flyer by John Giorno published by Visual AIDS in 1993 for Day Without Art.
“They appropriate left-wing points of view and they mutate them for their own propaganda, for their own to obfuscate what the real message is,” she continued. “This is what fascism does. And so, of course, that’s going to happen.”
“In her interview with Hearon, Wachowski said that she was unsurprised conservatives have latched onto the film because ‘right-wing ideology appropriates absolutely everything.’”
Lilly Wachowski Has Learned to “Let Go” of the Right Wing Co-opting Her Work
During an interview with podcaster Caleb Hearon, the ‘Matrix’ codirector talked about conservatives embracing the concept of being “red-pilled”: “This is what fascism does.”
www.vanityfair.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
“They appropriate left-wing points of view and they mutate them for their own propaganda, for their own to obfuscate what the real message is,” she continued. “This is what fascism does. And so, of course, that’s going to happen.”
Reposted by Nita Noor
Youngsters today can have little idea of how frightening it was to be an adolescent in the 1980s.
It took years to understand how HIV was transmitted and the process it took to develop into AIDS
The TV drama 'It's A Sin' gives a glimpse into that era
#WorldAIDSDay
www.netflix.com/gb/title/815...
It took years to understand how HIV was transmitted and the process it took to develop into AIDS
The TV drama 'It's A Sin' gives a glimpse into that era
#WorldAIDSDay
www.netflix.com/gb/title/815...
December 1, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Youngsters today can have little idea of how frightening it was to be an adolescent in the 1980s.
It took years to understand how HIV was transmitted and the process it took to develop into AIDS
The TV drama 'It's A Sin' gives a glimpse into that era
#WorldAIDSDay
www.netflix.com/gb/title/815...
It took years to understand how HIV was transmitted and the process it took to develop into AIDS
The TV drama 'It's A Sin' gives a glimpse into that era
#WorldAIDSDay
www.netflix.com/gb/title/815...
Reposted by Nita Noor
You don’t need to use the silly energy/water-guzzling, truth-distorting pet robots into creating beautiful images when said images, and many of them, have existed for a very long time and are there for you to use everywhere you like (with proper attribution and alt-text).
DYK? 16 years' worth of pictures of the week are available on our Hubble website, a testament to the incredible treasures that this NASA/ESA telescope has uncovered for us all.
Enjoy them here 👉 https://esahubble.org/images/potw/
🔭
Enjoy them here 👉 https://esahubble.org/images/potw/
🔭
November 28, 2025 at 7:58 PM
You don’t need to use the silly energy/water-guzzling, truth-distorting pet robots into creating beautiful images when said images, and many of them, have existed for a very long time and are there for you to use everywhere you like (with proper attribution and alt-text).
Reposted by Nita Noor
This handsome and feisty praying mantis near Tarragona yesterday. Mantis religiosa in Spanish, Pregadeu in Catalan.
November 28, 2025 at 8:34 AM
This handsome and feisty praying mantis near Tarragona yesterday. Mantis religiosa in Spanish, Pregadeu in Catalan.