@CBMDP

Science stuff @Gizmodo lately. Misc bylines @techreview, @thenation, @sciam, @newrepublic, @Gawker (RIP), etc. Leak to me on Signal, please: matthew_d_phelan.16

 New York
Joined April 2009
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685Media
I sorta loathe doing this—meaning an earnest thread on XDotCom—but there are some key updates/added context to my NYTs story about DOGE’s cuts over at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center: i.e. the office that’s helped NASA land safely on other planets since the Apollo era (1/26)
Matthew Phelan@CBMDP14 Apr 2025
There’s a lot more that I could and probably will say here about the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, but (for starters) here’s some reporting on it that I did for The New York Times. nytimes.com/2025/04/14/scien…

DOGE Cuts Hobble Office That Would Aid NASA and SpaceX Mars Landings (Published 2025)

The Astrogeology Science Center, which has helped astronauts and robots reach other worlds safely, is facing a substantial number of job reductions.

nytimes.com
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John Ganz@lionel_trolling1h
more evidence for my perversion theory
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Saul Staniforth@SaulStaniforthOct 27
"Do you worry [Abdul El-Sayed] is a bit too left wing to win in Michigan?" Michigan voter "At this point what do we have to worry about? Anything but what we have. We're on our way to hell so at this point socialist, socialise, social, dont matter to me, lower my cost of living"
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Ed Opperman
@oppermanreportOct 26
Replying to @mark_slapinski
My client and 2016 lawsuit named it today's Judiciary Democrats’ Report Details Mounting Evidence Linking Trump to Epstein’s Criminal Activities and DOJ’s Cover-Up; Specific Accounts Involving 11 Women Provide More Evidence of Potential Sex Crimes patreon.com/oppermanreport/p…

Judiciary Democrats’ Report Details Mounting Evidence Linking Trump to Epstein’s Criminal Activit...

Judiciary Democrats’ Report Details Mounting Evidence Linking Trump to Epstein’s Criminal Activities and DOJ’s Cover-Up; Specific Accounts Involving 11 Women Provide More Evidence of Potential Sex...

patreon.com
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Derek Thompson
@DKThompOct 27
It’s a very good movie but if your takeaway is that Elizabeth Holmes might be a neurodivergent victim I think you have forcibly disconnected yourself from reality. More specifically, she *obviously* gets The Who’s on First joke—and is profoundly motivated to pretend she doesn’t.
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Susan Collins is such a freak. I'm trying to imagine any other person for whom a corrupt, self-dealing dirty coal baron "Independent" would be their thrilling, admirable endorsement. apnews.com/article/collins-m…

Maine Sen. Collins enlists ex-Democratic colleague Manchin in effort to highlight her independence

Republican Susan Collins is campaigning with a former Democratic colleague in the late stage of the Maine senator's tight reelection campaign.

apnews.com
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Joe Manchin likes you, Susan Collins? You mean, the guy who was poisoning his own constituents to make a buck off crypto mining? typeinvestigations.org/inves… eenews.net/articles/a-coal-p…
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They are emptying America's dankest, foulest-smelling parents' basements to invade our Nation's capital.
hannah gais@hannahgaisOct 22
sorry, what?
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🚨 Actualización | Fueron encontradas 12 iguanas de Galápagos presuntamente trasladadas de manera ilegal hacia el continente. Una de ellas ya falleció y varias presentan entumecimiento en sus extremidades debido a las condiciones en las que estaban siendo transportadas. Desde este momento, los animales están bajo custodia de @EcuadorMAE para su análisis, estabilización y atención especializada.
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Matthew Phelan retweeted
mindy🌷@mindyisserOct 16
how is this legal!!!!! nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/po…

$137 Million in A.I.-Generated Ads Flood the Midterms

Republicans have used A.I.-generated content more often than Democrats, ranging from subtle enhancements to convincing deepfakes.

nytimes.com
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Love seeing this one researcher proudly holding up his giant prehistoric fungus. 😇
Gizmodo
@GizmodoOct 15
Meet 'D. Rex,' the Monster Fungus Born in the Wake of the Dinosaur Apocalypse gizmodo.com/meet-d-rex-the-m…

Meet 'D. Rex,' the Monster Fungus Born in the Wake of the Dinosaur Apocalypse

Scientists just found a record-setting new fungal species, the largest now known in the sprawling Ascomycota phylum. It may have feasted off dying forests during the Chicxulub mass extinction event.

gizmodo.com
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Matthew Phelan retweeted
Scott Stedman
@ScottMStedmanOct 13
Outlets covering the arrest are missing a major piece of this. This story is going to blow up:
Scott Stedman
@ScottMStedmanOct 13
The man arrested for planting a secret recording device at OpenAI's headquarters is a Venture Partner of a VC firm alongside the son of a senior Saudi intelligence official:
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Co-signed.
pramitheus@pramitheusOct 8
i'm telling people to watch digger in theaters not in the hopes that it'll recoup its money. i'm telling people to watch digger in theaters because every aspect of the film (especially the sound design) is best experienced in the theater; it simply won't be the same at home.
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Can you believe this shit? Not me. "All told, nearly two-thirds of Gulf oil production and 57% of natural gas production had been shut by noon Thursday, according to the U.S. Marine Minerals Administration." nbcnews.com/business/energy/…

Gas prices face new threat as Hurricane Isaias forces widespread Gulf oil shutdowns

Nearly all U.S. offshore oil production is in Isaias’ path, one analyst wrote, which means “the impact, even short-lived, can be significant.”

nbcnews.com
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Matthew Phelan@CBMDPSep 19
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I miss the era when only stuff like this went viral online.
Trixie Mattel™
@trixiemattelOct 5
Michael Jackson's Geology (PC / 1995) youtu.be/SjMun8O6Oww?is=luG8… via @YouTube

Michael Jackson's Geology (PC / 1995)

https://www.patreon.com/c/JadaPaigeExplore the world of geology w...

youtube.com
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Matthew Phelan retweeted
Bhaskar Sunkara@sunraysunrayOct 4
I wrote about one of my favorite bits of left-media history: in the '80s, MoJo editor @MMFlint objected to Paul Berman's Contra quasi-apologetics, Mother Jones fired him for it, he used his wrongful termination settlement cash to fund Roger & Me. jacobin.com/2026/10/how-a-fi…

Getting Fired from Mother Jones Made Michael Moore

In 1986, Michael Moore didn’t want to run Paul Berman’s article on Nicaragua. Getting pushed out of Mother Jones turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to his career.

jacobin.com
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The Hollywood Reporter
@THROct 3
Tom Cruise Stands Up for 'Digger' Amid Tough Box Office: "I'm So Proud of What We Created" hollywoodreporter.com/movies…

Tom Cruise Stands Up for ‘Digger’ Amid Tough Box Office: “I’m So Proud of What We Created”

Alejandro G. Iñárritu helmed the big-budget Warner Bros. release that is struggling in its opening weekend.

hollywoodreporter.com
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Matthew Phelan retweeted
Seth Harp@sethharpesqOct 1
Holy shit. America’s premier national police force and domestic intelligence agency had ALL of its personnel files stolen by a French hacking collective, including the job assignments of FBI agents in counterintelligence and undercover narcotics. How is this not bigger news?
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xitter.cf/DavidDecosimo/status/2…
David Decosimo
@DavidDecosimoOct 1
This is deeply disturbing: Anthropic secretly invited religious leaders to SF to advise them on AI safety, had them sign NDAs, but then primarily tried to convince them Claude has a soul & moral standing, all while wining & dining them to the max. 1/ tinyurl.com/preview/296b5z8z
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