@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
  • Tweets4.9K
  • Following2.7K
  • Followers1.4K
684Media
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
1
2
2
14
2,386
🚨 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.
48
173
32
310
42,924
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
1
20
1
252
27,792
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
1
65
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:
36
313
7
2,570
277,253
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.
2
138
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
127
Matthew Phelan retweeted
Matthew Phelan@CBMDPSep 19
1
2
132
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
2
96
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
2
27
2
240
16,181
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
8
1,712
11
21,702
248,989
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?
51
617
39
2,658
46,224
1
1
5
125
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
41
The greatest political ad in the history of political ads. Nothing comes close. Putting Tim Robinson, in the hot dog skit, into any ad, is genius.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
@AbdulElSayedSep 28
Mike Rogers is a corporate sellout who moves back to Michigan every few years to run for office to take another swing at the revolving door of corporate politics.
36
954
9
18,736
1,362,609
Matthew Phelan retweeted
Gizmodo
@GizmodoSep 29
This Gene-Tech Is More Impressive Than the Extinct Dire Wolves It Created. Here's Why gizmodo.com/this-gene-tech-i…

This Gene-Tech Is More Impressive Than the Extinct Dire Wolves It Created. Here's Why

Colossal Biosciences brought back 20 key segments of extinct dire wolf DNA into living, breathing, wolf pups—and the tech used to do it could change conservation and paleontology for good.

gizmodo.com
2
2
1
8
15,088
Matthew Phelan retweeted
Sharareh Drury@shararehdrurySep 27
If you like this tweet + support a Free Palestine ((if you don’t please leave)), sharing the Chuffed campaign for my friend Nermeen who is a medical student in Gaza. All donations support her and her displaced family 💜 chuffed.org/project/176680-s…

Support Nermeen and Her Family in Gaza

Hi, my name is Sharareh Drury. I am based in California, and I created this fundraiser for my friend Nermeen Ziyad Abo Mostafa, a 22-year-old Palestinian medical student living in Gaza.

chuffed.org
6
21
132
33,290
Matthew Phelan retweeted
Alex Gibney
@alexgibneyfilmSep 26
Will X allow ads for the trailer for my film “Musk,” about the self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist?”
Will 🦥 Menaker@willmenakerSep 26
206
1,351
31
5,948
185,607
Matthew Phelan retweeted
Adam Johnson@adamjohnsonCHISep 27
Yes Amodei saying AI “may be deserving of important rights” and—when asked about Anthropic’s role in the Minab school bombing—saying it was “a use case that doesnt even violate our red lines” perfectly captures how our ruling class thinks about human welfare in the coming decades
Nathan J Robinson@NathanJRobinsonSep 26
unfortunately AI safety is in the hands of lunatics who believe that if you shut down a computer you might be "killing" it and violating its rights
15
585
8
2,598
46,960
Matthew Phelan retweeted
Jake@jacobkleinmanSep 26
I saw GODZILLA MINUS ZERO earlier this week. It's probably the best Godzilla movie ever made. The special effects are stunning. The story is soul-crushing. The WW2 symbolism is scathing. I hope Takashi Yamazaki never stops making Godzilla movies.
20
329
22
3,580
95,758
子弹打穿了耳朵，但我还能听到党的声音
40
Load more