Chris Cappa
chriscappa.bsky.social
Chris Cappa
@chriscappa.bsky.social
Professor, Scientist, Engineer, Human. In no particular order. Views my own, of course.
Reposted by Chris Cappa
The @nytimes.com Lost Science series continues. Here's my Q&A with a scientist who was studying how wildfire smoke threatens human health when the EPA decided that her research was no longer a funding priority. Gift link: nyti.ms/4jhpw14
December 27, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
I usually love seeing my friends quoted in the NYTimes, but the reasons for @marinavance.bsky.social being the focus of this story are so sad. The damage to US science is terrible.
The @nytimes.com Lost Science series continues. Here's my Q&A with a scientist who was studying how wildfire smoke threatens human health when the EPA decided that her research was no longer a funding priority. Gift link: nyti.ms/4jhpw14
December 27, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
Look, I'm sure that Nolan's adaptation of "The Odyssey" will be fun, but I highly doubt it will be as good as the original.
December 25, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
December 23, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
Journal article: “the data are available on request”

The data:
December 20, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
I am hiring a 3-year fully funded postdoc to start 1 May 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter. The postdoc will look at wildfires in the stratosphere and their impact on chemistry, ozone, and climate!

Further details can be found here: www.au.dk/om/stillinge...

@atmchemaerojobs.bsky.social
Postdoc in Atmospheric Modelling of Wildfire Impacts on the Stratosphere and Climate - Ledig stilling på Aarhus Universitet
Ledig stilling ved Institut for Miljøvidenskab - Atmosfæriske Emissioner og Modellering, Aarhus Universitet
www.au.dk
December 18, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
These people are nuts. NCAR developed the GPS dropsonde, which revolutionized the understanding of TC structure, improved forecasts, and validated remote sensing platforms, as documented in over 400 peer-reviewed publications in the last 25 years. And that’s just one of NCAR’s countless advances.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
I think about this quote from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social a lot:

“The idea that some people may freely poison others is one of the most astonishing but least contested aspects of modern life.”
We are being poisoned every day, so why do we keep voting for more pollution? Ask a lobbyist | George Monbiot
The dirty industries that dominate politics deceive us into accepting dangerous pollutants such as ammonia as part of life, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
well… your skin lipids undergo ozonolysis pretty much continuously with ambient ozone, creating an array of ketones and aldehydes that you then breathe.

(Us indoor chemists can ruin anything. You’re welcome.)
December 10, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
BAY AREA! Hey folks, I'll be doing a live show and book signing at KQED in January with @romanmars.bsky.social . Come on out and BE ENTERTAINED.

www.kqed.org/event/5912
KQED | News, Radio, Podcasts, TV | Public Media for Northern California
KQED provides public radio, television, and independent reporting on issues that matter to the Bay Area. We’re the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California.
www.kqed.org
December 9, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
My love for em dashes is as old as the hills and as mighty as my inability to make a transition between thoughts literally any other way and I will be damned if I let the clankers take that from me
December 10, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
It's time to talk to you about my cat.
Vital Cat Update
It’s time to talk about my cat. To which you might be saying, “Chuck, I didn’t know you had a cat!” and I’d respond with, “I didn’t know I had a cat either…
terribleminds.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
NREL has produced 1000 patents and 50,000 publications and billions of dollars in economic benefit and the people in charge probably want to kill it
NEW: I heard from a bunch of NREL employees after the announcement of a name change yesterday. They're not thrilled.

"Morale is bad. Funding is tenuous.... I've been through two W administrations, many R congresses, and [the first] Trump admin. This is the worst."
'A Collective WTF': National Renewable Energy Laboratory Gets a Trumpian Name Change
NREL employees, many of whom joined the lab specifically to work toward its clean energy mission, are not happy about the oil-soaked leadership's moves.
www.gravityisgone.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
I am once again asking cities to install usable bike parking instead of whatever this is. Could you imagine if cities installed car parking spots that were based on art versus functionality?
November 25, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
A reminder that cars aren’t a technology problem. They’re a geometry problem.
Waymo privatized another public street:

Chanel approaching 4th, San Francisco

Possibly queued for a Billie Eilish show at Chase Center ~half mile away.

The light rail train on 4th seen passing in front of this roboherd has more passenger capacity than all of them combined.

OP: .tiktok.renaspam18
November 25, 2025 at 4:16 AM
I think we can crowd source this. Sacramento.
November 24, 2025 at 1:52 AM
I went roller skating for the first time in ~20 y yesterday and I think my legs are going to remember it for the next ~20 years.
November 24, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
I’m not going to pretend it’s easy to say something in the moment when you witness the president do this and you’re aboard Air Force One with all the uniformed officers and secret service and fancy wood accents, but this is really an instance where you should. people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:42 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
As all this disgusting Epstein shit starts surfacing more and more, I hope we don't lose sight of the fact that apparently every major media outlet knew everything and instead spent their time money and energy attacking the trans community.
November 13, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
New air cleaner paper! @airqing.bsky.social challenged an oxidation-based cleaner with an air freshener, and saw tons of chemistry. In particular, ethanol (a common ingredient in cleaning products, and ubiquitous indoors) oxidized to form acetaldehyde and formaldehyde.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Changes in Volatile Organic Compound Composition from an Oxidation-Based Air Cleaner
Air cleaning devices, or “air cleaners”, have the potential to improve indoor air by decreasing levels of air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in indoor environments. Many comm...
pubs.acs.org
November 11, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
Really thankful for this, from @winterjessica.bsky.social—a long-overdue corrective to an exhausting discourse. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
What Did Men Do to Deserve This?
Changes in the economy and in the culture seem to have hit them hard. Scott Galloway believes they need an “aspirational vision of masculinity.”
www.newyorker.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by Chris Cappa
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women

🧵
November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM