Dan Graur

Among the members of the the UN so-called "Human Rights Council" are China, Cuba, Burundi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Egypt. Need I say more? The UN is a joke that is not even funny. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/26/w...

The bioluminescence of the deep sea spider Colossendeis tasmanica. Photo: Jérôme Mallefet.

Thirty-two years after we showed that whales and dolphins are close relatives of ruminants, @newscientist.com published a cartoon based on this finding. academic.oup.com/mbe/article/... www.newscientist.com/article/2593...

The El Niño of 1877–1878 with a peak of +2.44°C resulted in an excess of 50 million deaths. How many people will die during the current El Niño, with a predicted peak of +3.50°C?

The pedo party

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is punishing the heathens. Priest Dies After Crucifix Falls on Him During Livestreamed Mass www.nytimes.com/2026/10/19/w...

A vegetarian eats vegetables and now a Trump envoy calls Putin a humanitarian. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/21/u... via @NYTimes

Macabre.

‘I’m Personally Sorry’: Cornell’s President Acknowledges Missteps. “He also indicated he would not resign…” Which means he is not taking responsibility and that @governor.ny.gov who serves on the board of trustees should put together the votes to fire him. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/n...

How #cancer cells survive chemo: researchers in #Israel find ‘guardian proteins’ protect tumors. To all the brain-washed antisemites who scream #apartheid whenever an Israeli institution is mentioned, look at the makeup of this lab at @bengurionu. www.timesofisrael.com/how-cells-su...

Earth is getting less dusty – which is both good (for your lungs) and bad (more global warming). www.newscientist.com/article/2589...

Ancient Chinese legal texts describe cutting off a person’s nose as one of the “Five Punishments”, along with decapitation, limb amputation, castration and facial tattooing. A 700-year-old skeleton offers the first physical evidence of this practice. www.newscientist.com/article/2589...

The body temperature of Tyrannosaurus rex was ~36°C, similar to large modern mammals but below many modern birds. www.newscientist.com/article/2589... www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Mice with half brain were given human brain organoids. What is less known is that in a reciprocal experiment, men with half brain were implanted with mouse brain organoids. The result was the Chi Phi frats at @Cornell. www.newscientist.com/article/2589...

Ecologists have assumed that climate change-driven range shifts would be largely one way: into colder places. Contrary to expectations, many species are going the other way. www.newscientist.com/article/2589...

A new upper temperature record for a eukaryote. Incendiamoeba cascadensis grows at 63°C. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

For #Hanukkah: A menorah bong. The recommended song is Am Israel High.

#DEI? @stanforduniversity.bsky.social Stanford University used AI to alter picture. The White male student on the right was turned into a Black female, and the Asian female student on the left was slimmed and “beautified.” Beside the non-apology, was anyone fired? Too much to ask?

At my age, if you wake up in the morning and nothing hurts, it means you died in your sleep.

#Falconry #Pigeons timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-o...

US Research Cuts Drive Scientists to Germany www.the-scientist.com/us-research-...

#NewToMe: Synchronous Dichogamy in Avocado flowers. Each individual flower contains both ♂ and ♀ parts. Flowers open twice over two days, functioning either as ♀ during the first phase and ♂ during the second phase or as ♂ during the first phase and ♀ during the second phase.

In the 1980s, San Francisco hairdresser Maurice Cohen used static electricity to give his clients shocking ’dos. The technique and style didn’t catch on, but our fascination with static electricity—which, incidentally, is still not fully understood by physicists—is still going strong.

The consensus for >40 y has been that the number of insect species on Earth ~6,000,000. Using genetic information for 1.6 million individual insects, it is now conservatively estimated that the true number of insect species is at least 14 to 20 million. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Is a centuries-old apple tree on Verona Island in Maine the grandmother of all North American apple trees? www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

Cornell Vows That Rapists Will Be Forced To Write Much Longer Essays In The Future theonion.com/cornell-vows...

“Here at Cornell, we prepare our students for a wide breadth of challenges. Recent criticism has made us reflect on our approach. It is our responsibility to teach Cornell students what a good Rape Essay looks like. Rape Essays 101 is the answer.” www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/ann...

Will heads roll at @Cornell?

The same Ithaca Mayor and Cornell graduate, who now calls for a moratorium on all student events, presided over a meeting with Ithaca residents and Cornell students calling for the annihilation of Israel. www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

A damage-control spokesman for @Cornell denies that the gang-rapists evaded punishment by writing essays... they were also asked to perform an interpretative dance. www.cornellsun.com/article/2026...

"The value of the Sword of Damocles is that it hangs—not that it drops." Thurgood Marshall

Wrong! @sciam.bsky.social claims that Earth's fungal hyphae in the topsoil (110 quadrillion km or ~12,000 light years) is enough to cover the distance from earth to Proxima Centauri and back. Well, the distance is 4.25 light-years. So the fungal hyphae will suffice for more than 1411 such trips.

The title of this photo by Andrea and Maceo Grammatico is Biting Back.

Today, I am exactly as old as Charles Darwin was when he died: 26,729 days. Depressing how little I have achieved by comparison. On the other hand, at my age, Mozart was already dead for more than 37 years.

Females were cloned out of males. The feat was possible because males have all the chromosomes needed to make a female, but females lack one chromosome needed to make males. So, the the Genesis story of Eve and Adam's rib may be possible with CRISPR. www.newscientist.com/article/2585...

I am a cathemeral animal, i.e., an animal whose activity pattern is irregular throughout a 24-hour cycle, rather than following a strict daytime or nighttime schedule. I am proud to belong to the exclusive cathemeral club, which includes lions, lemurs, and coyotes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catheme...

People aged 110 or older seem to have a disproportionately high number of immune cells that fight off cancer and infections. www.newscientist.com/article/2585... www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Re: Addiction to antidepressants. No industry wants to help people stop using their products.

The Great Chain of Being for #Antivaxxers.

The great chain of being in reverse.

And now the pro-Hamas idiots will add him to the list of innocents killed by Israel.

When did furry primates started adopting furry friends. www.newscientist.com/article/2583...

Dwarfed by her dinner, a female polar bear feasts on the carcass of a sperm whale more than 100 times her mass. www.newscientist.com/article/2584...

I can only imagine the macabre jokes. "Heart surgery cured a man’s skin cancer – and gave him a bee allergy." www.newscientist.com/article/2584...

Unrivalled brilliance from 1962 His voice The backing vocals The orchestration [btw, there are many great books on the intertwined Black and Jewish history of jazz] youtu.be/WBugBEWVnpA?...