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"Trump's E.P.A. seeks to deny science."

Views expressed in this science and technology update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 01 March 2025, 1534 UTC.

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.blogspot.com).

 

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In today’s newsletter, Bill McKibben on the Trump Administration’s plan to undermine the E.P.A. But, first, exploring the underwater archeology of the Middle Passage, and then: • Elon Musk’s productivity dogma • The global population implosion • What the “slide” into techno-fascism looks like Dredging Up the Ghostly Secrets of Slave Ships A global network of maritime archeologists is excavating slave shipwrecks—and reconnecting Black communities to the deep. By Julian Lucas Illustration by Michael Kennedy On the way down I saw nothing. The water was a blur of teal fringed with rusty shadows, darkening, about twenty feet below, to a sickly emerald. I followed a rope strung between a buoy and a stake in the seabed, pausing occasionally to pinch my nose and adjust my sinuses to the pressure. Just beyond the thermocline, where the temperature abruptly drops, a hand emerged from the murk and grabbed me by the wrist, dragging me the last few inches to the bottom. The silt was as soft as tapioca pudding. It swallowed my hand, then my arm and shoulder; the deeper I pushed, the more I suspected that it might go on forever. Finally, I touched wood, feeling a chill colder than the water’s as I ran my fingertips over the grooves and splinters of submerged planks. This was the slave ship Camargo, which carried five hundred souls across the Atlantic before it burned. Keep reading, or listen to the story Editor’s Pick  The Lede Trump’s E.P.A. Seeks to Deny Science That Americans Discovered It’s in this country that scientists, funded by or working for the government, came to understand the role of carbon in our atmosphere. By Bill McKibben If you know someone who would enjoy Science & Technology, please share it. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up. Fact-Finding Dept. Illustration by Javier Jaén One Japanese economist runs a conceptual clock counting down to the birth of his country’s final child; the current readout is January 5, 2720. Read Gideon Lewis-Kraus on how birth rates are crashing around the world—and whether we should be worried. Janet Frame published her first book of fiction, “The Lagoon and Other Stories,” in 1951, while she was a patient in a psychiatric institution. Read Audrey Wollen on the novelist whose work explored the edges of normalcy. Our Columnists  Infinite Scroll Techno-Fascism Comes to America The historic parallels that help explain Elon Musk’s rampage on the federal government. By Kyle Chayka  Office Space The Hollow Core of Elon Musk’s Productivity Dogma Silicon Valley has struggled to measure employees’ effectiveness. So how can Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency expect to fix the federal government? By Cal Newport Cartoon by Lee Lorenz More from The New Yorker  Letter from Ukraine The Adventures of a Ukrainian Intelligence Officer Roman Chervinsky’s spycraft has been a decisive factor in Ukraine’s national defense. Why is he under house arrest in Kyiv? By Joshua Yaffa  Under Review The Pope’s Role Has Changed in Our Time. But Has the Church? A new account of the papacy’s recent history reveals the transformation of the office in the mass-media age. By Paul Elie P.S. Michael Lewis, the author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” is drawn to books by authors who never published anything else of note. “There’s a huge accidental quality to really good books,” he says, in describing his recommended one-hit-wonder reads. “You never know where they’re going to come from, or the form they’re going to take. I love that.” 📖

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