Karen Yip
banner
kbyip.bsky.social
Karen Yip
@kbyip.bsky.social
Geo! Enviro! Oceans! weather! STEM! 2YC! wildflowers!
Anti gun violence, pro gun safety.
she/her
Thanks, UPS, for delivering my “do not bend” package from @skypeascientist.bsky.social after it appears to have been run over in a puddle leaving it mangled. 😱👎
At least the scratch-off boxes of the Eel Facts aren’t marred.
(I don’t think I’ve received a mangled package before so this isn’t normal)
November 23, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.

Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
November 21, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
Please help build some public-facing interpretive signage at Siccar Point. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/siccar-point
The campaign is very close to 2/3 of their goal, with 9 days to go...
@thenoblegasbag.bsky.social
⚒️
Building the James Hutton Deep Time Trail
We are raising vital funds for a new Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point to celebrate the life and legacy of James Hutton for his Tercentenary.
www.crowdfunder.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
#Wisdom is back!
The world’s oldest known living banded bird, Mōlī (Laysan albatross) queen, has returned to Kuailhelani (Midway Atoll). #Birds
November 20, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
An abandoned uranium mine on a Navajo reservation.

This is why environmental justice and social justice are mutually inextricable.
Filming at an abandoned uranium mine in Arizona. The mining waste is uncontained, open to the winds. Professor Kearfott, University of Michigan, telks me the Geiger counter readings I took here are similar to those remaining around Chernobyl.

vimeo.com/ondemand/thi...
November 17, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
⚒️🧪 Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (among other programs) to be eliminated at University of Nebraska-Lincoln #UNL. A tragedy all around. #Geosciences
They are really planning to go through with these cuts at Nebraska, despite recommendations not to. Unbelievable.

If you want to hire highly qualified, very successful earth and atmospheric sciences faculty in teaching and research, quite a few are probably looking for jobs for next year.
Final Budget Reduction Plan | Budget Process | Nebraska
budgetprocess.unl.edu
November 17, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
November 17, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
321 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Biotite:
- A mica group mineral
- Forms in igneous and metamorphic rocks
- Can be used to date rocks
- Named after Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862), a physicist who studied the optical properties of mica #minerals #MineralMonday
November 17, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
We just planned this canyon and now we are diving to explore and collect samples.

Watch live here - www.youtube.com/@SchmidtOcea...

#AsgardArchaea
@schmidtocean.bsky.social
@moorefound.bsky.social
@texasscience.bsky.social
@utmsi.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
Goods stuff here. We really need to be talking about this topic more. I obviously talk a lot about climate change issues. But this subsidence problem (for Houston & many other places) is also a very, very big deal -- *especially* when compounded by climate change issues.
Multiple Houston suburbs are sinking fast as a rapidly growing population is creating rising demands for groundwater. Here are the billion-dollar solutions Texas officials are working on to mitigate this mostly irreversible phenomenon.
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
November 14, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
NOAA cut funding for critical parts of the tsunami and earthquake detection system in Alaska, primarily in the Aleutians. I spoke to Wash Post about negative impacts. But, hey, what are the chances of a deadly tsunami being triggered in Alaska? (Gift article, not behind paywall) ⚒️ wapo.st/4qKvavQ
This lab is key for tracking deadly waves. Its sensors are about to go offline.
After NOAA cut funding to the lab that’s been monitoring seismic activity for more than 25 years, nine stations tracking tsunami-causing earthquakes for the agency will go offline by the end of the mo...
wapo.st
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
"include scaling back how much information manufacturers need to provide for a proposed chemical" - look back at industry repeated failures to comply (chems we all have in us now) - DuPont, 3M, Chemours, Monsanto, etc. yet
Zeldin is OK to trust them again?! 😱#PFAS
www.thenewlede.org/2025/11/epa-...
Health and labor groups say proposed EPA chemical review rollbacks endanger communities, workers
Health, environmental and labor groups are voicing their opposition to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed changes to the nation’s premier chemical safety law, saying the changes w...
www.thenewlede.org
November 11, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
Texas A&M reinventing "prior restraints"

www.texastribune.org/2025/11/10/t...
November 10, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Anyone know why credentials are needed for the EIA interactive map now? atlas.eia.gov or www.eia.gov/state/maps.php
indicates credentials needed? it used to be available to everyone. My students need this page to complete an assignment.
ArcGIS Hub
Discover, analyze and download data from ArcGIS Hub. Download in CSV, KML, Zip, GeoJSON, GeoTIFF or PNG. Find API links for GeoServices, WMS, and WFS. Analyze with charts and thematic maps. Take the n...
atlas.eia.gov
November 10, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast ⚒️
www.nbcnews.com/science/tsun...
U.S. tsunami warning system, reeling from funding and staffing cuts, is dealt another blow
Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast.
www.nbcnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
🚨🚨 Texas A&M Board of Regents is meeting next week and set to approve a new policy requiring pre-approval of courses on race and gender. This is a blatant violation of academic freedom.
November 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
A Chinese research vessel docked in the Cook Islands Saturday as it probed the Pacific nation's deep-sea mining potential, a fledgling industry of mounting interest to both Beijing and Washington.

u.afp.com/Sno5
November 8, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
In 1979, a Mining Test Ravaged the Pacific Seafloor— 44 Years Later, New Evidence Reveals It’s Likely Forever

dailygalaxy.com/2025/11/in-1...
In 1979, a Mining Test Ravaged the Pacific Seafloor— 44 Years Later, New Evidence Reveals It’s Likely Forever
A 1979 deep-sea mining test left marks on the Pacific seafloor that remain nearly untouched over four decades later. New research uncovers what really happened in the ocean depths—and why it matters m...
dailygalaxy.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Karen Yip
309 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Ruby:
- The red/pink variety of corundum
- Its colour is caused by chromium
- Heat treatment can improve its colour
- 9 on the Mohs hardness scale
- Its name comes from the Latin word "ruber" (red) #minerals
November 5, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
That TX prop 15 about parental rights passed, which opens the door to a lot more abuse of minors, esp lgbtqia+ youth. Great job, parents. Y'all really do exercise zero critical thinking, and it shows
November 5, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
The two FL counties where the M4L founders originated have ousted M4L hate mongers from their school boards. If blood red Indian River County can do it, Leon County *should* be able to do it, too. @leondems.bsky.social
In 2023, I interviewed the parents who organized this effort to oust Moms for Liberty. If you want to know more — and maybe learn from them! — check it out.

Congrats to them for getting rid of them all!

www.salon.com/2023/10/10/m...
November 5, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Karen Yip
Eight years ago, 26 people were killed and 22 more were injured in a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Call your Members of Congress at (202) 224-3121 to urge them to support the assault weapons ban NOW.
November 5, 2025 at 11:41 AM
I took structural geology, a tectonics seminar, and Geology of North America from Ed Beutner while at Franklin & Marshall College. I will never forget him. Heart Mountain was one of his big professional puzzles.
Hope you are smiling from beyond, Ed.
pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulle...
November 5, 2025 at 3:12 AM