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GNR for Tuesday, June 24, 2025 — We're standing up for each other [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-24
Good morning, Gnusies. So here we are heading into a war because Lil’ Donny Tantrump’s Uuu ge Perade was a flop and everyone laughed at him. And now Iran may block the Strait of Hormuz — and if so, whoopsie, prices that are already climbing because of the idiotic tariff nonsense will absolutely skyrocket. And Tantrump is scared enough to be begging China to get Iran to back off.
My crystal ball is a little cloudy this morning, so I’m not going to try to predict where any of this is going. My focus in this GNR, as always, is on us — ordinary Americans (and some extraordinary ones) who are working selflessly and tirelessly to protect and lift up their neighbors. I’ll start with this beautiful little film from L.A. Grab a tissue if you’re inclined to get teary:
BTW, Anthony Orendorff, the brilliant young videographer who made this video, was arrested by the LAPD for filming a raid. Because of course he was.
Here’s an action we can take:
Our beloved @aodream was taken in by lapd! Thursday 6/19 Please call @mayorofla (213) 978-0600 @MRodCD7 (213) 473-7007 & @CD6LosAngeles (213) 473-7006 to demand the release of Anthony Orendorff from Van Nuys jail.
Now settle in for a lot more inspiring stories of neighborly love and righteous resistance, plus good news on other subjects. I found a ton of wonderful items and couldn’t bear to eliminate any of them!
Opening music
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Good news in the Resistance
Anti-war resistance:
x YouTube Video
Anti-ICE resistance:
Federal agents thought they could stay at LA-area hotels. Communities are trying to make sure they can’t
From Los Angeles Public Press:
Protesters confront police officers through a broken window during a demonstration at the DoubleTree by Hilton Whittier Los Angeles on June 11, 2025. Community organizers have been targeting hotels across the Los Angeles area where federal immigration agents are believed to be staying. It started as an “ICE sighting” on the morning of June 8. Someone had sent in a photo of federal immigration vehicles parked at the AC Hotel in Pasadena that circulated in rapid response group chats and on social media. The community members, including day labor and faith-based organizers who first rushed to the hotel, found most of the workers had left out of fear. And those who remained were “pretty upset” that federal agents were asking people about their immigration status “in an aggressive way,” said Jose Madera, the director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, a day laborer center. ✂️ But the workers were not alone. In response to a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations that began in the Garment District nearly two weeks earlier, people felt drawn to rally around them. Slowly at first, and then quickly, people started turning up. By early afternoon, hundreds of people were there. They were noisy, buoyed by the sounds of a band born out of a 1995 ICE raid, Los Jornaleros Del Norte, singing “chinga la migra,” to a familiar pop tune, “La Del Moño Colorado.” ✂️ ...The protest resulted in immigration enforcement vehicles driving out of the hotel that evening to the cheers of protesters yelling “fuera ICE.”[This] protest...is likely the first of its kind and has opened a new front of resistance against the immigration raids that have roiled LA County since June 6. People now frequently turn out in the evenings at hotels where ICE agents are believed to be staying, to bang on pots and pans and play sounds on bullhorns to prevent the agents from having a good night’s sleep. They also hope that the disruption will put pressure on hotel management to turn immigration officials away. The rally at the AC Hotel kickstarted more protests the next day... Protests now happen daily across Los Angeles and its surrounding cities. ✂️ Danielle [, a member of the Foothill Community Democrats club,] described the effort to get ICE out of hotels as “very strategic” compared to mass demonstrations and marches. ...She said that… Foothill Community Democrats have also spread the word about doing a calling campaign, in which volunteers call area hotels to ask if ICE is staying on site and to tell those hotels that ICE is not welcome. She said that while there is not always verification of whether ICE is staying there, the calls are meant to put pressure on hotels not to consider hosting them.
x In Pasadena, protesters ran ICE out of a hotel. The hotel insisted ICE leave. Protesters slashed tires of many of the vehicles and local tow companies refused to assist. /
[image or embed] — LorennaCleary.bsky.social (@lorennacleary.bsky.social) June 21, 2025 at 12:09 PM
x WATCH: “This is f*cking kidnapping! That’s not your badge… I do have a little bit of education… get the f*ck out of here, racial profiling is illegal…” A brave woman melts ice 🧊 💪🏽 www.instagram.com/reel/DLOWbEs...
[image or embed] — The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 7:53 PM
NWSL's Angel City Wears T-Shirts Reading `Immigrant City Football Club'
Want one? Here’s the link: shop.angelcity.com/...
From U.S. News and World Report:
Angel City, the National Women’s Soccer League team based in Los Angeles, distributed T-shirts to fans on Saturday that proclaimed “Immigrant City Football Club.” Women's Soccer League team based in Los Angeles, distributed T-shirts to fans on Saturday that proclaimed “Immigrant City Football Club.” Members of the team and the coaching staff also wore the shirts before their game Saturday night against the North Carolina Courage in solidarity with immigrants in the city who have been targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The back of the shirts said “Los Angeles is for Everyone” in English and Spanish. The team said some 10,000 shirts were distributed. Last week Angel City issued a statement on social media addressing the protests. "We are heartbroken by the fear and uncertainty many in our Los Angeles community are feeling right now,” it said. "At Angel City, we believe in the power of belonging. We know that our city is stronger because of it's diversity and the people and families who shape it, love it and call it home."
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Good news in politics
Japan pulls out of talks with Trump administration after ‘being ordered to spend more on defence’
The world is learning how to handle Tantrump demands: just walk away.
This is also a glaring example of this administration’s ignorance of history.
From The Independent:
Japan has cancelled an annual security meeting with the US after the Donald Trump administration told the country it had to spend more on defence. US secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth were set to meet the Japanese defence minister Gen Nakatani and foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya in Washington on 1 July for annual “2+2” security talks, a reference to the two senior ministers involved on each side. However, Japan cancelled the meeting after the US demanded Japan increase its defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, an increase on an earlier request of 3 per cent, according to a report on Friday by the Financial Times. This new demand was made the third-most senior official at the Pentagon Elbridge Colby, the paper added. ✂️ In March, Mr Trump had said: “We have a great relationship with Japan, but we have an interesting deal with Japan that we have to protect them, but they don’t have to protect us. That’s the way the deal reads. We have to protect Japan. And, by the way, they make a fortune with us economically. I actually ask, who makes these deals?” The deal Mr Trump is referring to is the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, signed by Japan and the US in 1951 and revised in 1960, which requires the US to defend Japan if attacked. The deal combined with Japan’s post-war pacifist constitution to provide the country with security guarantees, given it was obliged not to have an armed forces of its own. It did not include an obligation for Japan to defend the US in return.
Florida Dem who posted huge special election fundraising set for Senate run
This story was published before the Iran bombings. I think the prediction at the end is now much, much more likely.
From Politico:
Florida Democrat Josh Weil, the once little-known progressive teacher who stunned the political world in March by raising nearly $14 million for a failed congressional special election bid, is now running to become the Sunshine State’s next senator. Weil is the first major Democratic candidate to file for the 2026 Senate race. “I’ll be everywhere,” Weil said of his planned campaign tour across the state, which kicks off Wednesday at a veterans center in conservative Clay County. By entering the race, Weil hopes to replace Sen. Ashley Moody, a Republican selected by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January to replace Marco Rubio once he became secretary of State. ✂️ Trump’s involvement in the state he calls home could make Weil’s Senate bid more difficult. ...[However,] Weil said that in the next 17 months Trump’s favorability could fall, even in Florida, citing his tariff announcements as an example. “By this time next year,” Weil said, “we could see Ashley Moody trying to distance herself from Trump to save her political campaign.”
Former US ambassador to Ukraine who resigned in protest launches run for Congress in Michigan
We Dems are getting some amazing candidates to step up!
From AP:
U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink speaks during a news conference in Izmail, Ukraine, April 26, 2023. Bridget Brink, who stepped down as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine this year in protest of what she said was President Donald Trump’s unfair treatment of the the war-torn country, announced Wednesday that she’s running for Congress in one of Michigan’s most competitive districts. ...“My next mission: to fight for what’s right here at home,” she said. Trump picked Brink to be the country’s ambassador to Slovakia in 2019 and Biden tapped her to be ambassador to Ukraine shortly after Russia invaded the country in 2022. She resigned in April, saying in an op-ed published in the Detroit Free Press that Trump continues to pressure Ukraine and not Russia. “Appeasing a dictator never has and never will achieve lasting peace,” she said in a video announcing her candidacy. “And it’s just not who we are.” Having worked as a diplomat under five presidents, Brink said that if elected, she would take on “extremists” and powerful influences such as Elon Musk. She criticized Republicans for cutting government funding and programs.
Virginia Candidates Show You Can Try to Kill DEI, But You’ll Fail
Most people understand that when you erase DEI, what you wind up with is mediocre white men. And we’re all seeing the results of that in DC right now.
By Jill Lawrence on The Bulwark:
Virginians have chosen their candidates for this fall’s election—and if you are trying to murder DEI, they are your worst nightmare. The demographic diversity is spectacular in both parties. In a state whose first two governors were Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, two women will face off for the top job: former congresswoman and CIA officer Abigail Spanberger, a white Democrat, and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, a black Republican, Jamaican immigrant, and Marine Corps veteran. In the lieutenant governor race, it’s conservative talk-radio host John Reid, a Republican who recently came out as gay, vs. Democratic state Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi, an Indian immigrant. As for attorney general, Democrat Jerrauld “Jay” Jones, a black former state legislator, will challenge the Hispanic Republican incumbent, Jason Miyares. Is this (still) a great country or what?
x For those seeking out much-needed good news, the Senate Parliamentarian is rejecting parts of the GOP’s big ugly budget bill left and right:1 SNAP, CFPB, judicial actions, EV rules, climate.
[image or embed] — TrumpsTaxes (@trumpstaxes.com) June 22, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Despite the headline sounding like it’s from The Onion, here’s the most important of the Senate Parliamentarian’s rulings:
GOP Provision That Makes Trump A King Breaks Senate Rules, Says Parliamentarian
For a concise, enlightening lesson on how reconciliation works, check out bilboteach’s terrific diary, Reconciliation: A Procedure That Limits Congressional Resistance.
From Huffpost:
A provision in the GOP’s tax-and-spending bill that would make it nearly impossible for anyone to sue the Trump administration for breaking laws is on track to be stripped from the bill after the Senate parliamentarian said it violates the chamber’s rules. This provision, which is in Senate Republicans’ version of the One Big Beautiful Act, would require anyone seeking an emergency court order ― that is, a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction ― against the federal government to first post a bond that covers all the costs and damages that would be sustained to the federal government. Judges grant emergency orders to temporarily halt actions like deportations, bans or drilling, while a case is being decided. They typically waive bonds in public interest cases, but under the Senate GOP’s bill, public interest groups, or even individual plaintiffs, would have to cough up millions if not billions of dollars in order to seek an emergency court order against the Trump administration ― money they definitely don’t have. In short, this provision would allow Trump to serve as a king, free to ignore the courts amid his lawlessness. The Senate parliamentarian, the chamber’s nonpartisan adviser on Senate rules, determined Saturday that this provision is not related to budget matters. Republicans are using a process called budget reconciliation to expedite passage of their tax bill, which allows them to advance it with 51 votes instead of 60. But this process is only for budget-related bills, so any language in the bill that the parliamentarian flags as unrelated to budgets is subject to 60 votes.
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🍿 Repellent Republicans Rushing toward Ruin 🍿
Biggest Fail and Self-Own of the Maladministration (so far):
x 1. Trump announces where he will bomb in Iran to destroy its nuclear inventory. 2. Iran moves its nuclear inventory from those locations. 3. Trump bombs those locations. 4. Trump: "Yay! Our strikes were a COMPLETE success! Mission accomplished!!!" 5. Iran rolls its eyes & jacks up US gas prices. — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Here’s a blast from the past. Oliver North should be the poster boy for the RepubliCONs.
x You want to talk about stupidity and irony. Here we are. I remember watching Iran Contra hearings for weeks on TV. This is how ridiculous Republicans are to this day. Some things never change. #wtpBLUE #DemVoice1 #ProudBlue #VOTEBLUE2025
[image or embed] — auntmeme (@auntmeme.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 11:45 AM
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Musical break
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The media messing up
The NYTimes opinion piece cited here was written by their in-house MAGA tool Bret Stephens.
x Can you think of another topic with just 5% approval that gets this kind of platform in our country’s major newspapers and TV?
[image or embed] — Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM
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The alt-media making good trouble
EXCLUSIVE: The Onion calls out ‘cowardice’ of Congress in full-page NYT ad
From Marisa Kabas on Substack, The Handbasket:
In timing that’s almost too absurd to be real, The Onion has a full page ad in Sunday’s New York Times print edition featuring part of an editorial titled, “Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice.” As the world wakes up to the news of the US bombing Iran, NYT subscribers perusing the news section will find this ad from the renowned satirical publication, meant to highlight the utter fecklessness of this country’s lawmakers. The ad features a portion of a longer editorial that appears in The Onion’s newest print edition, copies of which are waiting in the mailboxes of every single member of Congress when they return from their current recess on Monday. Also waiting for them is a copy of a letter from Bryce P. Tetraeder, the fake CEO of Global Tetrahedron, the real parent company of The Onion, explaining the significance of the Editorial Board’s stance. “We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state,” the editorial reads. “That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing.” It continues: “Now is not the time for bravery or valor! This is the time for protecting your own hide and lining your pocket. Now is not the time for listening to your idiotic constituents drone on about what’s happening to their precious democracy. This is the time for getting down on all fours and groveling.”
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Musical break
In honor of the millions who participated in the “No Kings” march.
🎩 to Mathy Kathy for putting this in Saturday’s comments.
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Good news from my corner of the world
ICE increases presence, detentions in Central Oregon [but we’re fighting back!]
From The Bend Bulletin:
The Latino Community Association of Central Oregon has closed its offices in Bend and Redmond while immigration agents operate in both locations. “ICE has been in the community,” said Mary Murphy, deputy director of the nonprofit. Murphy said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been knocking on doors, visiting businesses and showing up at work sites across Deschutes County since late last week. Some people have been detained and transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington and later deported, she said. ✂️ Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels said that he has not seen any uniformed ICE agents at the county courthouse, but the Latino Community Association says that ICE agents have been wearing plain clothes and driving in unmarked vehicles. Murphy said staff noticed unmarked vehicles parked outside the organization’s offices in both Bend and Redmond and decided to close both locations and shift to virtual appointments with their clients. The organization has turned to social media to disseminate information and counsel immigrants on their rights. ✂️ Murphy said she has advised Hispanic people to have documentation — passport, green card, license — on their person in case they encounter ICE agents. She also recommended people carry a “red card,” distributed by the association, that spells out the rights all individuals have when interacting with immigration officers. Murphy also said noncitizens should know their “A-number” and share with their family and legal representatives. An “A-number” is assigned to noncitizens while they navigate the U.S. immigration system. If someone is detained and incarcerated, that number is one of the few ways that people can track them and try to help. “We are seeing a lot of people disappear for days and then show up somewhere,” said Murphy. “That number helps us be informed and able to respond.”
How an Oregon garden is saving butterflies and creating a wildlife ‘land bridge’ at 5,500 feet
From The Oregonian:
When hikers on the famous Pacific Crest Trail reach Mark Newberger’s land on Mount Ashland, they’re welcome to fill their water bottle from a well spout and kickback at a shaded picnic table. Here, they also have a front-row seat of Newberger’s award-winning butterfly garden thriving at an elevation of 5,500 feet. Monarch butterflies lay eggs on showy milkweed. Pale swallowtail, echo azure and Lorquin’s admirals are intentionally lured in by tower rockcress plants’ small creamy flowers, and California marble butterflies land on caterpillar host plants in the garden that is less than 5 miles upslope of California’s northern border. ✂️ Nature was helped here by Newberger, who transformed two, once-bare acres around his log house into a buzzing native plant garden for pollinators to feed on the flowers’ nectar and caterpillars, and use the leaves as shelters. More than 60 species of butterflies have been documented on the property, prompting the editors of Butterfly Gardener, a publication for members of the North American Butterfly Association, in 2024 to deem it the Butterfly Garden of the Year.
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Good news from around the nation
Supreme Court says family can sue over wrong-house raid by FBI
“A stopped clock...” etc.
From ABC News:
The Supreme Court on Thursday said innocent victims of wrong-house raids and other abuses by federal law enforcement can seek compensation for emotional and physical harms, upholding a key exception to sweeping legal immunity that has long protected the government from being sued. The Court's decision resuscitates a lawsuit brought by Trina Martin and Toi Cliatt whose Atlanta home was mistakenly raided by the FBI in 2017, traumatizing Martin's then 7-year-old son and incurring $5000 of damage from burned carpet, broken doors, and fractured railings. Agents quickly acknowledged they had stormed the wrong address due to a faulty GPS direction, but the FBI refused to provide any restitution. Lower courts later tossed out the family's liability claims, citing sweeping protections under federal law.
Southern Ute tribal member elected to chair Colorado water policy board in historic first
More proof that anti-DEI policies are irrelevant.
From The Colorado Sun:
The Colorado Water Conservation Board, one of Colorado’s top water policy agencies, has a new leader: Southern Ute tribal member Lorelei Cloud. The 15-member board sets water policy within the state, funds water projects statewide and works on issues related to watershed protection, stream restoration, flood mitigation and drought planning. On May 21, board members elected Cloud to serve a one-year term as chair, making her the first Indigenous person to hold the position since the board was formed in 1937. Cloud said her new role gives Indigenous people a long-sought seat at the table where water decisions are made. “This is history,” Cloud said during the meeting. “What a moment. What a great moment for the state of Colorado.” ✂️ Decision-makers in the Colorado River Basin have a history of excluding tribal nations that dates back to the 1922 Colorado River Compact.
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Good news from around the world
The stunning reversal of humanity’s oldest bias
These introductory paragraphs end with a question: “So how, exactly, have we overcome a prejudice that seemed so embedded in human society?” For the answer, click the link.
From Vox:
Perhaps the oldest, most pernicious form of human bias is that of men toward women. It often started at the moment of birth. ...Female infanticide has been distressingly common in many societies — and its practice is not just ancient history. In 1990, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen looked at birth ratios in Asia, North Africa, and China and calculated that more than 100 million women were essentially “missing” — meaning that, based on the normal ratio of boys to girls at birth and the longevity of both genders, there was a huge missing number of girls who should have been born, but weren’t. Sen’s estimate came before the truly widespread adoption of ultrasound tests that could determine the sex of a fetus in utero — which actually made the problem worse, leading to a wave of sex-selective abortions. These were especially common in countries like India and China; the latter’s one-child policy and old biases made families desperate for their one child to be a boy. The Economist has estimated that since 1980 alone, there have been approximately 50 million fewer girls born worldwide than would naturally be expected… The preference for boys was a bias that killed in mass numbers. But in one of the most important social shifts of our time, that bias is changing. In a great cover story earlier this month, The Economist reported that the number of annual excess male births has fallen from a peak of 1.7 million in 2000 to around 200,000, which puts it back within the biologically standard birth ratio of 105 boys for every 100 girls. Countries that once had highly skewed sex ratios — like South Korea, which saw almost 116 boys born for every 100 girls in 1990 — now have normal or near-normal ratios. Altogether, The Economist estimated that the decline in sex preference at birth in the past 25 years has saved the equivalent of 7 million girls.
Honda successfully launched and landed its own reusable rocket
As a commenter on Bluesky said, “why did we let anyone other than the engineers of the noble honda civic even attempt building for space flight?”
Let’s hope they succeed and give us one more way to get out from under Elon’s spaceship monopoly.
From The Verge:
Honda successfully conducted a “launch and landing test of an experimental reusable rocket” developed by its research and development subsidiary, the company announced this week. It was the first time Honda landed a rocket after it reached an altitude of 890 feet, according to a press release. The launch took place at a Honda test facility in Taiki Town, Japan, which the company says “has been developing itself as a ‘space town’ through the joint efforts of public and private sectors,” including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The nearly 21-foot tall rocket, weighing over 2,800 pounds at launch, flew for 56.6 seconds before ”landing within 37cm of the target touchdown point” on its four retractable legs that also supported it at liftoff. ✂️ “Although Honda rocket research is still in the fundamental research phase, and no decisions have been made regarding commercialization of these rocket technologies, Honda will continue making progress in the fundamental research with a technology development goal of realizing technological capability to enable a suborbital launch by 2029.” A suborbital flight – upwards of 62 miles above sea level – will be a big achievement for the company, but that’s not enough altitude to successfully put a satellite into orbit. Honda will need to decide, based on what it takes to reach its 2029 goal including the cost of the program, if it wants to take the next step and compete with other private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin that are capable of conducting orbital flights.
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My favorite recent quotes, memes, and cartoons
The first two are from Jay Kuo’s “Just for Skeets and Giggles”:
x They seriously called the bombing raid on Iran "Operation Midnight Hammer" I'm assuming the rest of the war will be Operation President Trump's Penis Is Really Big Why Are You Laughing — Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 12:33 PM
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Good news in medicine
Compound in Rosemary and Sage was Turned into Alzheimer’s Treatment That Boosted Memory and Cut Amayloid
From Good News Network:
The herb rosemary has long been linked with memory, so it’s fitting that researchers would study a compound found in rosemary and sage for its impact on Alzheimer’s disease, especially the inflammation that often leads to cognitive decline. Carnosic acid is already an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound that works by activating enzymes that make up the body’s natural defense system. While pure carnosic acid is too unstable to be used as a drug, scientists at Scripps Research have now synthesized a stable form called diAcCA—which is fully converted to carnosic acid in the gut before being absorbed into the bloodstream. The research, published this year in Antioxidants, showed that when diAcCA was used to treat mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, it led to enhanced memory and synapse density (more connections between nerve cells in the brain). Because the decline of neuronal synapses is closely correlated to dementia in Alzheimer’s disease, this approach could counteract the progression of cognitive decline. It also reduced key disease biomarkers, including amyloid-β and phosphorylated-tau proteins. Analysis of tissue samples showed the drug also markedly cut inflammation in the brain. This unique drug is activated by the very inflammation that it then combats and thus is only active in areas of the brain undergoing inflammatory damage. This selectivity limits the potential side effects of carnosic acid, which is on the US Food and Drug Administration’s “generally regarded as safe” (GRAS) list, easing the way for clinical trials.
Tens of millions of nanoneedles could replace painful cancer biopsies
From King’s College London:
A patch containing tens of millions of microscopic nanoneedles could soon replace traditional biopsies, scientists have found. [It] offers a painless and less invasive alternative for millions of patients worldwide who undergo biopsies each year to detect and monitor diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. Biopsies...are invasive, can cause pain and complications, and can deter patients from seeking early diagnosis or follow-up tests. Traditional biopsies also remove small pieces of tissue, limiting how often and how comprehensively doctors can analyse diseased organs like the brain. Now, an interdisciplinary team of scientists at King’s have developed a nanoneedle patch that painlessly collects molecular information from tissues without removing or damaging them. This could allow healthcare teams to monitor disease in real time and perform multiple, repeatable tests from the same area – something impossible with standard biopsies. Because the nanoneedles are 1,000 times thinner than a human hair and do not remove tissue, they cause no pain or damage, making the process less painful for patients compared to standard biopsies. For many, this could mean earlier diagnosis and more regular monitoring, transforming how diseases are tracked and treated. ✂️ This technology could be used during brain surgery to help surgeons make faster, more precise decisions. For example, by applying the patch to a suspicious area, results could be obtained within 20 minutes and guide real-time decisions about removing cancerous tissue. Made using the same manufacturing techniques as computer chips, the nanoneedles can be integrated into common medical devices such as bandages, endoscopes and contact lenses.
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Good news in science
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's first images are stunning — and just the start
The biggest, most exciting science story of the week.
From NPR:
A powerful new observatory has unveiled its first images to the public, showing off what it can do as it gets ready to start its main mission: making a vivid time-lapse video of the night sky that will let astronomers study all the cosmic events that occur over ten years. This image combines 678 separate images taken by NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in just over seven hours of observing time. Combining many images in this way clearly reveals otherwise faint or invisible details, such as the clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth. This image shows another small section of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory's total view of the Virgo cluster. Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies (lower right), three merging galaxies (upper right), several groups of distant galaxies, many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more. "As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But a snapshot doesn't tell the whole story. And what astronomy has given us mostly so far are just snapshots," says Yusra AlSayyad, a Princeton University researcher who oversees image processing for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. "The sky and the world aren't static," she points out. "There's asteroids zipping by, supernovae exploding." And the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, conceived nearly 30 years ago, is designed to capture all of it. ✂️ Built with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, the facility will collect a mind-boggling amount of data on the entire southern night sky during a decade-long survey slated to start later this year. ✂️ The Rubin Observatory on Cerro Pachón in Chile at sunset. Named after an astronomer famous for her research related to dark matter, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is perched on a mountaintop in Chile. It's equipped with a specially-designed large telescope, as well as a car-sized digital camera that's the biggest such camera in the world. The camera is controlled by an automated system that moves and points the telescope, snapping pictures again and again, to cover the entire sky every few days. Each image is so detailed, displaying it would take 400 ultra high-definition television screens.
New theory proposes time has three dimensions, with space as a secondary effect
This is the most intriguing science story of this point in spacetime! And way, waaaaay over my head. 🤔
From Phys.org:
Time, not space plus time, might be the single fundamental property in which all physical phenomena occur, according to a new theory by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist. The theory also argues that time comes in three dimensions rather than just the single one we experience as continual forward progression. Space emerges as a secondary manifestation. "These three time dimensions are the primary fabric of everything, like the canvas of a painting," said associate research professor Gunther Kletetschka at the UAF Geophysical Institute. "Space still exists with its three dimensions, but it's more like the paint on the canvas rather than the canvas itself." Those thoughts are a marked difference from generally accepted physics, which holds that a single dimension of time plus the three dimensions of space constitute reality. This is known as spacetime, the concept developed more than a century ago that views time and space as one entity. Kletetschka's mathematical formula of six total dimensions—of time and space combined—could bring scientists closer to finding the single unifying explanation of the universe. Dimensions of time beyond our everyday forward progression are difficult to grasp. Theoretical physicists have proposed many variations. Kletetschka's work, published April 21 in Reports in Advances of Physical Science, adds to a long-running body of research by theoretical physicists on a subject outside of mainstream physics. He writes that his mathematical framework for three-dimensional time improves on others' proposals by making testable reproductions of known particle masses and other physical properties. "Earlier 3D time proposals were primarily mathematical constructs without these concrete experimental connections," he said. "My work transforms the concept from an interesting mathematical possibility into a physically testable theory with multiple independent verification channels."
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Good news for the environment
The Ocean Cleanup launches 30 Cities Program to cut ocean plastic pollution from rivers by one third by 2030
From The Ocean Cleanup:
The Ocean Cleanup, the international non-profit with the mission to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, today announced, at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), its plan to rapidly expand its work to intercept and remove ocean-bound plastic pollution.
The 30 Cities Program will scale the organization’s proven Interceptor™ solutions across 30 key cities in Asia and the Americas, aiming to eliminate up to one third of all plastic flowing from the world’s rivers into the ocean before the end of the decade.
This evolution follows five years of learning through pioneering deployments across 20 of the world’s most polluting rivers and represents a key next step in the organization’s mission and the global fight against ocean plastic pollution. With the 30 Cities Program, The Ocean Cleanup will transition from single river deployments to citywide solutions, tackling the main plastic emitting waterways within each selected city. This follows a key learning from deployments in Kingston, Jamaica, which showed it is possible to scale faster when projects encompass whole cities, as the same set of partners can be involved with all deployments. To date, The Ocean Cleanup has already prevented 29 million kilograms of trash from reaching the ocean. The organization currently intercepts an estimated 1–3 percent of global river-borne plastic emissions. With the first 20 river deployments close to being fully operational, it is now poised to reduce the plastic pollution flowing into the ocean from rivers by up to a third.
Pacific island nations launch plan for world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve
From Mongabay:
Off Ulawa Island, Solomon Islands, a circle of Indigenous fishermen catch scad by forming a circle, honoring the ocean’s gift. The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have announced their commitment to create a massive multinational Melanesian Ocean Reserve. If implemented as envisioned, the reserve would become the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve, covering an area nearly as big as the Amazon Rainforest. Speaking at the U.N. Ocean Conference underway in Nice, France, representatives of both countries said the vision for the ocean reserve is to cover at least 6 million square kilometers (2.3 million square miles) of ocean and islands. The reserve will include the combined national waters of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, and extend to the protected waters of New Caledonia’s exclusive economic zone. All of the island countries, largely inhabited by Indigenous Melanesians, are located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, within the region known as Melanesia. ✂️ Melanesia is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, hosting an incredible diversity of both land and marine species, including an estimated 75% of known coral species and more than 3,000 species of reef-associated fish. ✂️ The details of the reserve are yet to be worked out, but it aims to “permit only sustainable economic activities consistent with Indigenous values in these waters,” the press release noted. It’s unclear, though, how Papua New Guinea’s deep-sea mining plans, despite community opposition, fit within the vision for the reserve.
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rascal and Margot, and the beautiful spirits of Rosy and Nora.
UK Zoo Helps Hatch Three of World’s Rarest Birds–Blue-Eyed Doves–with Only 11 Left in Wild
Regular readers of my GNRs know that Rascal loves stories of conservationists boosting the populations of critically endangered birds. He thinks these beautiful doves are especially worth preserving!
From Good News Network:
Columbina cyanopis, or the blue-eyed dove, in the Rolinha do Planalto Natural Reserve A UK zoo is celebrating after helping to hatch three of the world’s rarest birds in what could be a breakthrough moment in saving the critically-endangered species from extinction. The trio of blue-eyed ground dove chicks were successfully hand-reared in Brazil, boosting the survival odds of one of the most endangered birds on the planet, only 11 of which are thought to remain in the wild. An international team, including British experts from the Chester Zoo, managed to rear the birds in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, the only place they are found. The team, also featuring Brazilian and American conservationists, say their arrival could provide a vital lifeline for the ultra-rare species by boosting their insurance population. The blue-eyed ground dove was a species shrouded in mystery, with no confirmed records for more than 70 years, until its rediscovery in 2015. “It’s a real privilege for Chester Zoo to be involved in the work to help conserve the blue-eyed ground dove,” said Andrew Owen, Chester Zoo’s head of birds. “This unique species is on the brink of extinction and without the dedication and passion of all the conservationists involved, including Chester Zoo’s bird staff, this bird may be lost forever. ...This year saw the successful hand-rearing of three blue-eyed ground doves – building on the successes of 2023 and 2024 and doubling the conservation-breeding insurance population.”
Wonderful pencil drawings of cats
In the absence of any hard news stories about cats this week, Margot chose some delightful minimalist pencil drawings by Chinese artist Shou Xin. Thanks, Bluesky!
[Stage whisper from me: the last one looks a lot like her...]
Just a dog getting into a hammock
Rosy would have loved being in a hammock, though I’m not sure she would have loved getting into it.
And a bonus story about a cute little critter who is fortunately not extinct!
Attenborough’s echidna rediscovered by combining Indigenous knowledge with camera-trapping
I especially love that this discovery involved the active collaboration of the indigenous tribe that has cared for the forest for millennia.
From Nature:
When species go undocumented for sustained periods of time this raises extinction concerns. ...those for which no genetic, photographic, or audio evidence has been recorded in over a decade are called ‘lost species’. Currently there are more than 2,000 so-called lost species. Some may well be extinct – casualties of a global biodiversity crisis – but rediscoveries offer hope that others survive, especially in places where biological research has been limited. On the world’s largest tropical island, New Guinea, numerous species rediscoveries have recently been made, including in the remote North Coastal Ranges (NCR)... Among the NCR, the Cyclops Mountains is the only known location in which another lost species, Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, Zaglossus attenboroughi..., has been recorded in modern times, when the holotype specimen was collected in 1961. ✂️ Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna captured by a hidden camera. Countering concerns that Z. attenboroughi went extinct after the collection of the holotype in 1961, a team discovered ‘nose pokes’ (echidna trace signs created when they forage for underground invertebrates...) in the Cyclops in 2007, and Indigenous communities reported echidna sightings in the previous twenty years. In 2017 and 2018, researchers used participatory mapping and Indigenous and local knowledge surveys to assess the probability that echidnas persist. The study recorded numerous sightings, and extinction date estimation analysis indicated that echidnas were likely extant in 2020. In 2022 and 2023, we deployed camera-traps in the Cyclops Mountains, guided by the results of Indigenous and local knowledge surveys, in an attempt to gather photographic evidence of the survival of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna. ✂️ ...from the 2023 survey, we obtained 110 echidna photographs from 26 independent capture events, taken by six different cameras deployed at higher elevations in the Cyclops Mountains. We also captured 15 videos. ✂️ In the Terpera language of Yongsu Sapari and Yongsu Dosoyo, Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna is called Payangko, and our camera-trap images demonstrate the potential importance of Indigenous and local knowledge in biodiversity research. Our success in capturing the first photographic evidence of the species was built on the Indigenous and local knowledge of communities in the Cyclops, which informed us on echidna behaviour and habitat, where to place camera-traps, how to search for echidna signs and, fundamentally, gave us confidence the species was still extant. Indigenous and local knowledge in the Cyclops is part of a broader knowledge system and local cosmology that informs issues such as land stewardship, sustainable hunting practices, and resource management. The community of Yongsu Sapari, for example, has for centuries maintained no-hunting and no-logging areas that support sustainable forest management. This underscores the need for Indigenous and local knowledge to be recognised not as an ancillary resource but as a fundamental and complex backdrop to developing a conservation strategy for Z. attenboroughi and the Cyclops Mountains.
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