Archive for First Nations
heading south [cover]
Posted in Books, pictures, Travel, University life with tags America, Bering Strait, cover, demographic history, ERC, EU, Europe, First Nations, genetic analysis, genomic history, headdress, indigeneous Americans, Latin America, natural selection, Nature, NSF, population genomics on June 4, 2026 by xi'an
as if the US didn’t already have too much ICE…
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Travel with tags 2024 Venice Bienale, Arctic, colonialism, demonstration, Derailed Trump, 🇬🇱, Erfalasorput, First Nations, Greenland, imperialism, Inuits, Kalaallit Nunaat, København, Nordic countries, protests, The North, Trump 2.0, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US politics, Winter is coming, ye Norse farce on January 19, 2026 by xi'an
Nature tidbits [19 June 2025]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags @ScientistTrump, AMOC), Arctic, Atacama, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, axolotls, ban guns, Chile, China, computer vision, cyborg, defence spending, DOGE, Egypt, Elsevier, Europe, face recognition, First Nations, foreign aid, fossils, France, Greenland, gun control, gun lobby, ice age, infectious diseases, life expectancy, Medicaid, Nature, pangolin, Paris, plastic waste, Pontifical Academy of Science, Science, Svalbard, Thousand Talents Plan, transport accidents, University of Warwick, USA, USAid, Vera Rubin Observatory, WHO, World Health Organization on August 9, 2025 by xi'an
News on the incoming Vera Rubin Observatory telescope in Chile—if not close to the Atacama peaks I climbed during ISBA 2004—and its unique technology (with a camera the size of a car!). As well as a highlight on African space agencies (where I discovered that Egypt is the most active). Plus, a rather vague report on ether0 as a “stepping stone towards a reasoning model“, once again playing with words and double meaning on what’s reason(ing). Further entries (alas!) onH ow Trump 2.0 is reshaping science with the impact of barring entry to 19 countries’ nationals and China multiplying calls to attract researchers from abroad and keep students in the country. Including unusually large salaries and benefits. (Pangolins and axolotls make an appearance in both this issue and the next, how unlikely is this?! With the conflicting items of information that the former are primarily hunted for their scales or for their taste.)
The most frightening section of the 19 June issue is however on the threat of a collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which would bring a new Ice Age to Western Europe and dramatic changes in the weather worldwide. Along with several research articles on climate change and its impacts.
Nature tidbits [26 June 2025]
Posted in Books, Kids, Travel, University life with tags @ScientistTrump, axolotls, ban guns, computer vision, cyborg, defence spending, DOGE, Europe, face recognition, First Nations, foreign aid, fossils, France, gun control, gun lobby, infectious diseases, life expectancy, Medicaid, Nature, Paris, plastic waste, Pontifical Academy of Science, Science, transport accidents, University of Warwick, USA, USAid, WHO, World Health Organization on August 1, 2025 by xi'an
Half-a-dozen entries on How Trump 2.0 is reshaping science, from the federal judicial ruling that NIH grants are illegal since discriminatory (with no immediate impact), to the new vaccine panel members set by RF Kennedy with a dearth of experts and the arrival of vaccine sceptics (or worse), to a Nature supplement entitle Science Inc., looking at private funding to compensate for federal disengagement (with France’s Sanofi and Capgemini deserving a mention, for once), to an original Nature—and KFF, a non-profit health-policy research organization from San Francisco— investigation on how to make the US healthy again. If at all feasible.
As expected, the gap with other wealthy (and more healthy) nations is stupendous for many criteria. Caused by much higher death rates associated with COVID-19, substance misuse, chronic diseases, transport accidents (poor public facilities), and gun deaths (of course, even though this latter cause was recently removed from the HSS website). With a significant difference between States and ethnicities. The fixes requiring more federal intervention and money, as well as opposing the gun lobby, it is very very unlikely this is going to happen, witness the recent cut on Medicaid.
“one 5-year-old out of every 20 will die before the age of 45 The comparable figure is one in 50 in the United Kingdom and one in 100 in Switzerland.”
De pierre et d’os
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel with tags aquarelle, Arctic, book adaptation, book review, chamanism, ethnography, Far North, First Nations, graphical novel, Greenland, husky dogs, Inuits, inukshuk, Lille, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Northern lights, Paul-Émile Victor, qimuttoq, sledge dogs, supersition, tupilak on June 30, 2025 by xi'an
