Shi En Kim
Climate and Science fellow @ HCN
✍️ Health, environment, space in NatGeo, SciAm, etc.
Formerly C&EN, The Open Notebook, SmithsonianMag
Cofounder @sequencermag.bsky.social
Signal: @shienkim.1721
I go by my last name, Kim • She/her
shienkim.wordpress.com
- Two things I didn't really know about #porcupines until I did a story for @highcountrynews.org about them: 1. They're disappearing across the West. Scientists don't really know why. Thanks to @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social for your SHARP edits, as usual! www.hcn.org/articles/the...
- 2. They're incredibly cute. These goofy gremlins look like they've slept on a balloon. To my POINT, enjoy this video of talkative Teddy, sound on: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGz8...
- Have you seen a porcupine in the wild? Lucky you! I want to hear about it, feel free to drop a comment.
- So proud of my @highcountrynews.org colleague @btoastie.bsky.social for this amazing cover story!
- I read this article based on a comment about it having brought tears (about death metal). What I found was an amazing story of music, community, snd survival. www.hcn.org/issues/57-11...
- Reposted by Shi En KimAbout The Open Notebook, @goesbykim.bsky.social says: “Never would you find a kinder, more caring, and more talented family of peers and veterans who are eager to help early-career journalists like me in navigating the craft and industry.” 🧪
- Today is the last day to share your thoughts on the federal government's plan to revoke the roadless rule on Forest Service lands. When the clock strikes midnight (ET), the comment portal will close. Looking for your Cinderella moment? Go comment now!!!
- I went on @kjzz.org to chat about my @highcountrynews.org story on saguaro flowers!
- Original story here:
- The landmark roadless rule is on the chopping block, endangering 59 million acres of Forest Service lands that still retain some of their wild character. Experts say it's as bad of an idea as it sounds for wildlife. Now that you know, go forth and comment! You have until Sept. 19. to do so.
- Submit your comments here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FS... Again, deadline is Sept 19, 11.59 p.m. ET!
- Reposted by Shi En KimThe public has until September 19 to weigh in on the proposed rescission of the 2001 roadless rule on Forest Service land, a move that experts have said will harm the health and biodiversity of ecosystems. buff.ly/oMa9f05
- Reposted by Shi En KimA new 5-year mission begins! I'm so grateful to everyone at NASA Astrobiology for this opportunity to advance our search for life in the universe with @calebscharf.bsky.social and our team of amazing colleagues at @carnegiescience.bsky.social, NASA Ames, and beyond!
- "We're at the edge of a new era in astrobiology. We've never had more data or more computing power. Now is the moment to bring it all together and finally ask—and maybe answer—the biggest question of all: Are we alone?" -Michael Wong (@miquai.bsky.social) More👇 carnegiescience.edu/news/can-we-...
- Kylie @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social is an awesome editor with an impeccable eye! It was great to work with her on this piece.
- The first story I edited in my capacity as a contributing editor for @highcountrynews.org is up! Consider this lovely piece by @goesbykim.bsky.social as a bit of a palate cleanser, with reeeeaaallly cool photos: www.hcn.org/articles/cou...
- Reposted by Shi En KimResearchers are monitoring saguaro flowers in the Sonoran Desert to understand the environmental cues influencing when and how they sprout, patterns that are fluctuating in the face of climate change. buff.ly/d4Bl13S
- When I visited 🌵 NP in April, I found the saguaro flowers so surreal. Against the saguaro's austerity, they looked decadent, dressing cactuses in flapper chic. Flowers on the cactus arms looked like bouquets offerings to passers-by. I'm so glad @highcountrynews.org let me indulge my curiosity.
- In June, a lynx rewilding project in eastern WA confirmed the first wild kitten litters to be born here. But fate had ironic timing. The same month, the Forest Service announced the repeal of the roadless rule. The lynx birthing grounds would be among those subject to the repeal. Read more here:
- Reposted by Shi En KimAfter a deadly algal bloom, someone has to pick up the pieces, so scientists can put them together.
- Reposted by Shi En KimFederal policies are making it challenging for trail crews from the Forest Service, stewardship organizations and volunteer groups to clean up trails this summer. buff.ly/zSM3CkF
- Reposted by Shi En KimWhen sun hits you, what does it *hit*? It rockets into your RNA, and the sound of colliding ribosomes and potholed RNA signals to your body to do something: produce a sunburn. My latest for @quantamagazine.bsky.social. www.quantamagazine.org/rna-is-the-c...
- While media coverage has often lauded agrivoltaics, i.e. the marriage of solar and farming, reality has proven that it's quite a challenge to get it off the ground. Take Arizona, for example, a place of abundant sunshine and scarce water. From all appearances, agrivoltaics should be a shoe-in here.
- This isn't to say that agrivoltaics isn't a wonderful climate solution! It is! But if we want to make it happen in places that could benefit from it the most, such as in Arizona, more focus should be directed toward the practical challenges, some of the "unsexy stuff."
- Reposted by Shi En KimFederal layoffs are likely to move ahead quickly, with major impacts on conservation and science. buff.ly/XieVRNB
- Reposted by Shi En KimI once met a man named Jacob. He was in his seventies, a small man, stooped and bent, who looked much older than he was. He was kind and gracious, and was used to people being put off by his posture and size. His story of how he ended up like that is informative. 1/
- “The Department of Homeland Security has formally instituted a new requirement that members of Congress and their staff provide a week of notice before they visit immigration detention facilities, a policy that is at odds with a federal law that allows lawmakers to make unannounced oversight trips.“
- "Produced water" isn't "water" in any life-giving sense of the word, environmentalists say, but it's definitely produced—an existential problem of oil+gas's own making. New Mexico is weighing the reuse this toxic waste, and environmental groups are sounding the alarm. Me for @highcountrynews.org
- Just. Wow.
- Confidential records obtained by WIRED & @propertyofthepeople.org show the ag industry deploying moles to infiltrate activist meetings, while functionally serving as FBI informants, in a shadow campaign to brand the animal rights movement America's biggest bioterrorism threat. My latest @wired.com:
- Got woken up by a phone call, took an impromptu interview — braces still in my mouth, voice still scratchy, eyes still not fully open, brain screaming for caffeine — and proceeded to have one of the best chats of my life. My job is cool.
- Republished at @grist.org, my piece illuminates how field scientists at the #ForestService soldier through uncertain times despite the federal assault on research.
- Reposted by Shi En KimThe President's budget request would be devastating to NASA science and our quest for life beyond Earth. But there's still time to act, and your voice matters.
- Reposted by Shi En KimShoutout to USFS R&D 💚 World’s largest forestry R&D studying topics that tie in to our public lands, forests, and trees nationwide. And yes, Chief Shultz, markets, timber products, economics, wildfire, recreation… our scientists study it all.
- You've already heard the impact of federal cuts on health research, but what about research on the environment? That picture isn't exactly pretty either. My latest for @highcountrynews.org, on how the stellar field science at the U.S. Forest Service is under threat.
- You've already heard the impact of federal cuts on health research, but what about research on the environment? That picture isn't exactly pretty either. My latest for @highcountrynews.org, on how the stellar field science at the U.S. Forest Service is under threat.
- An all-at-once damning, touching, and rousing op-ed by @stonemanning.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.org. Please don't sell off America's public lands!
- I love working at HCN. Our stories are often outdoors themed, so one perk of my job is I need to look up all the places that my sources/writers for whom I fact checking mention, and God they're beautiful. I'm going to end up with a massive list of places to visit before my fellowship ends!
- Reposted by Shi En Kim4. The Horses and Mules That Moved Mountains and Hearts (@goesbykim.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.org) "By concentrating on their individual personalities, Kim slowly but surely pulls you into caring about the fate of these mules and horses." www.hcn.org/articles/the...
- For the first time, I tried doing this promotional video thingie for my @highcountrynews.bsky.social article on the Forest Service's horses and mules! www.instagram.com/reel/DIMFDsJ...
- Reposted by Shi En KimIMPT Investigative Report by Grist The unregulated link in a toxic supply chain. From El Paso, #Texas, to Richmond, #Virginia, warehouses are leaking ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical. Almost no one knows about them. grist.org/health/ethyl... #Cancer #Health #Chemicals #Environment
- Reposted by Shi En KimNew podcast episode! 🍄🎙🖖 Science journalist Dr. @goesbykim.bsky.social beams back aboard to talk about how fungi are everywhere—from forests to deserts to cities to Star Trek!
- Drew a little something today, of my little writing companion Tyson when I'm banging out an article on the couch. He'll occasionally twitch when he's sleeping next to me, but, Tyson, it's truly an honor to be kicked in the face by you, you perfect little house cat.
- Reposted by Shi En Kim📡 Signal Boost 📡 It’s a tough time to be a federal researcher. If you know someone willing & able to speak to how *gestures broadly* is impacting federal field research in the West, a reporter at @highcountrynews.bsky.social is looking to tell the story. Please share if able 🙏
- Hi! #journorequest here: For HCN, I'm looking to speak with #federal scientists from the West who are preparing for #fieldwork this upcoming season. How has the federal chaos affect your planning? I'd be happy to offer anonymity. You can reach me at shien.kim@hcn.org or via Signal @shienkim.1721.
- Hi! #journorequest here: For HCN, I'm looking to speak with #federal scientists from the West who are preparing for #fieldwork this upcoming season. How has the federal chaos affect your planning? I'd be happy to offer anonymity. You can reach me at shien.kim@hcn.org or via Signal @shienkim.1721.
- Reposted by Shi En Kim"The stock handlers represent the ancient tradition of animal and human working together to move what feels like literal heaven and earth across harsh terrain, forging lifelong bonds in the process." —@goesbykim.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.bsky.social
- Reposted by Shi En Kim*sung to the tune of Your Body is a Wonderland* 🎵 Your body is a wind instrument www.sequencermag.com/body-mod-lin...
- Reposted by Shi En KimKim’s reporting is essential now. The impact to radical reform by the US government will take years to understand in part because we don’t even know entirely what it has harmed.
- Thank you to my editor @shaun505.bsky.social who didn't bat an eyelash when I filed a 2k-word draft though the assigned word count was 1k. In my defense, who doesn't want to read about the funniest, sweetest, smartest, and most adorable mules and horses? My latest for @highcountrynews.bsky.social:
- Reposted by Shi En KimMules & horses have long been partners w/ @forestservice.bsky.social, especially for use in wilderness areas. With recent DOGE chaos, it's not clear what will happen to the animals. @goesbykim.bsky.social reports for @highcountrynews.bsky.social www.hcn.org/articles/the...
- Thank you to my editor @shaun505.bsky.social who didn't bat an eyelash when I filed a 2k-word draft though the assigned word count was 1k. In my defense, who doesn't want to read about the funniest, sweetest, smartest, and most adorable mules and horses? My latest for @highcountrynews.bsky.social:
- Reposted by Shi En KimThe horses and mules that moved mountains and hearts Forest Service stock animals are indispensable to trail work on public lands.Trump’s radical upheaval is accelerating the death of a dying art. “Some of those old mules could end up in Mexico at a dog food factory.” www.hcn.org/articles/the...
- So proud of this intellectual @miquai.bsky.social who can say in 1 breath "how do we abstract far enough away from life on 🌎 that we’d be able to notice life elsewhere even if it had different chemical specifics, but not so far that we’d be including all kinds of self-organizing structures like 🌪️?"
- Reposted by Shi En KimScientists hope to take advantage of these plant-fungi partnerships to restore threatened ecosystems — learn more from @goesbykim.bsky.social's recent story. knowmag.org/Fungi_BSky #biosky #FungiFriends #fungi
- At long last, here's my final piece in my planets series for Smithsonian Mag, on the worlds beyond our solar system. Here are some of Earth's exotic planetary FRIENDS in the cosmic neighborhood: - The one like cotton candy - The ones that are raging hot - The one with the tail 👉 shorturl.at/wxl3A
- Reposted by Shi En KimHundreds of billions of exoplanets swarm our galaxy. @goesbykim.bsky.social rounds up some of the wildest ones. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
- Reposted by Shi En Kim🚨 Attention NIH & NSF grantees! AAAS is hosting a rapid response webinar this Friday, 12-1 pm ET, on responding to federal research grant terminations. NIH and NSF will be case examples. Register here: aaas.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
- Last week, I attended a hearing of worker unions suing the federal government in SF district court. What the judge ruled and said was nothing short of jaw dropping. As my editor @shaun505.bsky.social told me, I was on "the steps of history." www.hcn.org/articles/jud...
- Reposted by Shi En KimJudge rules federal job cuts ‘unlawful’ The Forest Service, Park Service and other agencies must immediately reinstate workers purged by Trump. By @goesbykim.bsky.social www.hcn.org/articles/jud...
- High Country News is doing something really cool: If you're a federal employee who's been laid off or fired, you can apply for free HCN access. You'll probably be reading a lot of my work too, since I seem to be on the beat of federal chaos.
- An environmental catastrophe is unfolding right before our eyes. Yet there's scant regulation on the perpetrating chemicals that are killing our most charismatic wildlife and more. A piece by me for HCN republished for @sequencermag.bsky.social www.sequencermag.com/turkey-vultu...
- Human's war on rats is a Pyrrhic one, if not Sisyphean. Our use of pesticides has brought severe casualties on our wildlife, especially raptors. By me: CA is the only state with restrictions on some of the worst chemicals, but birds are still testing positive for poison: www.hcn.org/articles/tur...
- "It takes a village to fight fire." @thatsmohrlikeit.bsky.social's latest piece on the impacts of culling the Forest Service workforce is 🔥🔥🔥. www.hcn.org/articles/the...
- Reposted by Shi En KimJokes aside. Uranus deserves attention. @goesbykim.bsky.social shares the coolest things we've learned about the strange planet. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
- Reposted by Shi En Kim[This post could not be retrieved]
- My article for HCN was reposted by @truthdig.bsky.social www.truthdig.com/articles/how...
- Reposted by Shi En Kim"'I am in this for the long haul,' she said. 'Elon Musk can pry my job from my cold dead fingers, and I will never give this up, as long as I have the option to keep doing it.'" ✍🏼 @goesbykim.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.bsky.social
- Due to the Forest Service firings, outdoor enthusiasts are screwed this summer. It's going to be challenging to recreate on public lands. But there's more. Species decline, water contamination, heightened wildfire risks. A piece, by yours truly, to make you angry www.hcn.org/articles/how...
- Reposted by Shi En KimFor @highcountrynews.bsky.social: I loved visiting the Heard Museum's "Space Makers" exhibit on Indian Space Painters. Modern Native art/expression continues to grow & can be witnessed during events like the Native Art Market & the museum's upcoming Indian Fair & Market. www.hcn.org/articles/ind...
- Reposted by Shi En KimC&EN is recruiting for our 2025 Editorial Fellow, to join us in June for about 6 months. This person will report and write stories for an audience passionate about chemistry and related subjects. Applications are open until the end of February. More details here: cen.acs.org/static/about...
- This, and including the federal layoffs over the weekend. High Country News wants to hear from people who have been impacted, and how climate initiatives will take a hit. Please reach out if you want to talk; anonymous is fine. ✉️ shien.kim@hcn.org Signal: @shienkim.1721
- Has your organization been affected by the federal funding freeze? High Country News wants to hear about it! Please reach out: ✉️ shien.kim@hcn.org Signal: @shienkim.1721 I'm especially interested in local environment/decarbonization/climate-related efforts in the Western US. Retweets appreciated!
- Has your organization been affected by the federal funding freeze? High Country News wants to hear about it! Please reach out: ✉️ shien.kim@hcn.org Signal: @shienkim.1721 I'm especially interested in local environment/decarbonization/climate-related efforts in the Western US. Retweets appreciated!
- Wonderful piece by @chadebradley.bsky.social for @highcountrynews.bsky.social. It's comprehensive, nuanced, and deserving of many reads on such an in important topic.
- My latest for @highcountrynews.bsky.social: The Interior approved oil & gas leases sold in a 2019 auction that are situated near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Newly appointed DOI Sec. Doug Burgum looks to fulfill Trump's goal of U.S. energy dominance. www.hcn.org/articles/day...
- @sequencermag.bsky.social is looking for #scicomm beginners (researchers, science students etc.) to write for Sequencer via our inaugural mentorship program! Read more and apply here: sequencermag.com/scicomm-ment... Support our mentorship program here: www.sequencermag.com#/portal/supp...
- Reposted by Shi En KimHello new followers & lovers of independent media. Thank you for being here 🤍 We are 4 independent journalists writing unique science news & essays We send a newsletter every ~week sharing new stories, fun musings & reading recs. no spam signup w/ email OR small paid sub at www.sequencermag.com
- My 1st piece for @highcountrynews.bsky.social: www.hcn.org/articles/the... This was a fun—and nerve-racking—piece to report, as this introvert had to approach strangers on the street for interviews. I'd do it again in a 💓 Thanks @erbenson1.bsky.social @shaun505.bsky.social for edits and guidance!
