Neil Pederson

PlugShare and a Better Route Planner are great apps to make the long trips pretty easy

We have 2 EVs (both Kia EV6) and live in MetroWestBoston. I've taken them various long trips in all season in the NE US. No real problems. Range anxiety is surveyed to be the highest just before purchase and then rapidly dissipates once one is an owner

“Trans children are perfect.”

Tree Rings Reveal Origins of Some of the World’s Best Violins

'A study of the tree rings in Stradivarius violins, published in the journal Dendrochronologia, revealed the most likely origin of the violins: wood from high elevation trees in northern Italy.'

Free gift article from The NYTimes www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/s...

Gah! Such a bummer. We have two EV6’s, but I know my partner wanted something a bit smaller

If I remember correctly, I think the Kia plant in GA was to produce these, or maybe it was the EV3? They were investing in the plant to bring an affordable, small EV to the U.S.

How ‘mass timber’ is reshaping housing in downtown Tupper Lake
https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/housing/how-mass-timber-is-reshaping-housing-in-downtown-tupper-lake/

Fundraiser by John Bowey | Help Ukrainian climate scientist's community in this freezing winter John Bowey Needs Your Help | Can you help climate scientist Svitlana and her community keep warm in this brutal Ukraine winter? Dr Svitlana Krakovska is Ukraine’s pre-eminent climate sci...

In our news magazine series Climate Repair Café, we feature the courageous Dr Svitlana Krakovska, top Ukrainian climate scientist, as she drives her hard work during a brutal, exhausting war.

Yet she always thinks of her neighbors' freezing flat first.
Can you help? whydonate.com/fundraising/...

Images of conversants and book cover with details described in post

Hello #BookSky! I’m sharing details for my first two book tour stops, one of which has a virtual option 🤩

On April 6 @ 7 pm I will be in Washington, DC talking with Camonghne Felix at an event jointly put on by Lost City Books and @loyaltybooks.bsky.social!

lostcitybookstore.com/event/2026-0...

For the first time, we now know how many Black-owned bookstores exist in the U.S. The National Association of Black Bookstores has released the “first comprehensive national report” on the state of America’s Black-owned bookstores.

There has never been an official, comprehensive record of Black-owned bookstores across the United States — until now

Black Oak trees glazed in ice being lit up by the rising Sun

Black Oak trees glazed in ice being lit up by the rising Sun

A snow covered and ice-glazed landscape in a tree-filled suburb of MetroWest Boston

How bamboo recruits underground allies to conquer forests Yaoxing Wu, Zhiying Tang, Jiahuan Guo, Lizheng Fang, Huilin Shu, Lin Yu, Gong Zhang, Jun Deng, Lianghua Qi This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be fou…

📰Published📰How bamboo recruits underground allies to conquer forests🌳

buff.ly/i94hbII

🧪🌍️

The West has been in a 32-year drought. But it may be worse than that A drought has a beginning and an end. What's happening in the West doesn't seem to have an end, so what is it?

“Droughts, by definition, have beginnings and ends,” said Michael Crimmins, a climatologist at the University of Arizona. “Aridification is a systematic shift that doesn’t necessarily have an end to it.”

www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

"2021–2023: Extreme Years of Global Drought in the Context of Long- and Short-Term Hydroclimate Trends"

New work, led by LDEO PhD student Aandishah Samara (w/ JE Smerdon, R Seager):

journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...

Large-scale patterns of tropical forest embolism resistance mapped across space and angiosperm phylogeny.

Combining measurements across the Amazon with 100s of floristic samples, Julia Tavares & colleagues report remarkable variation in vulnerability to drought.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Just resharing this.

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

Being pro-trans makes you gain votes, not lose them.

The Trump Administration Can’t Kill Black History Month We don’t need permission from the government to commemorate a complex past.

Last week, my mother took me and my kids to see the school where, 60 years ago, she was among the first wave of Black students to integrate a previously all-White school. We wanted to remind my kids that Black history is not just famous people in textbooks, it is often the people right next to you.

NSF Intent to Restructure Critical Weather Infrastructure

The US NSF has put out a "dear colleagues" letter that is essentially a yard sale list for @ncar-ucar.bsky.social

It asks questions such as, who'd like to take over some of NCAR's programs? Is anyone interested in commercial use of the Mesa Lab?

If you have thoughts, send them to NSF_NCAR@nsf.gov

Joint probabilistic estimates of temperature and precipitation from tree ring-based reconstructions of the last millennium Abstract. An understanding of Earth's past climate can help put current and future changes into historical context. Widely used tree ring-based drought atlases generally target the Palmer Drought Seve...

This is very cool - @drkatemarvel.bsky.social et al. 'Joint probabilistic estimates of temperature and precipitation from tree ring-based reconstructions of the last millennium' ascmo.copernicus.org/articles/12/...

New #causalinference paper just dropped! As an ecologist, I was trained to ask: "What do the data tell me?"

This paper: there are only specific instances when this question is appropriate—when you lack domain knowledge, which we often have!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The only way you can think AI does lit reviews better is if you’re not interested in making an intellectual argument or building theory … which uh, is pretty key to the advancement of knowledge

Hurricane Helene damage in a forest showing trees fallen down across a trail

Research biologist position at Clemson for work on forest wildlife/habitat recovery post-Hurricane Helene in western NC. Full time, multi-year position. Will be working with David Jachowski & myself, includes field work, analysis, writing.

**Apply by March 9**

Job posting bit.ly/cuhhftpos 🧪🌎

Okay, folks- I know we all have plenty to do, but if you're at all concerned about the White House & historic preservation, please consider submitting public comment on Trump's ballroom project; info in this thread. First, a direct link for submitting written statements: www.ncpc.gov/participate/...

From the newengland community on Reddit: Remembering the Great Snow of 1717 in New England - New England Historical Society Explore this post and more from the newengland community

Snow attention now on the occuring New England storm. I got some experience with old New England historical data. The 1717 storms really stand out as likely the worst ever. I got a diary with zodiac symbols which I've never been able to fully interpret.
www.reddit.com/r/newengland...

Boundary Waters mining ban vote: What to know Efforts overturn the ban in Superior National Forest may come to fruition in late February. A rollback could send a lifeline to the Twin Metals proposal in northern Minnesota.

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote this week on whether to overturn a 20-year ban on mining next to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Simply incredible work. Among other findings- about half of all migration stopover hot spots are in urban areas! 🤯

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

Worst of the worst? No, this retired UK citizen who was in the US as a tourist had committed no crime, had no criminal record, not even a parking ticket. ICE and Trump are just our of control.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Studying Old-Growth Forests in Virginia Old-growth Forest Research Assistants We are seeking old-growth forest research technicians to assist with research efforts to study and document old-growth forests during late-Spring & Su…

see more here:

broadleafpapers.wordpress.com/studying-old...