U.S. president Donald Trump called Daylight Saving Time "very costly to our nation" and "inconvenient" in December. Today the Washington Post remembers he'd vowed his Republican party would use their "best efforts" to eliminate it. But it's still proving to be politically difficult... Polls have shown that most Americans oppose the time shifts but disagree on what should replace them... [U.S. political leaders] also say they are grappling with whether the nation should permanently move the clocks forward one hour, an idea championed by lawmakers on the coasts who say it would allow for more sunshine during the winter, or remain on year-round standard time, which is favored by neurologists who say it aligns with our circadian rhythms. That decision would rest with Congress, not the president. The split often reflects regional, not political, differences, based on where time zones fall; a year-round "spring forward" would mean winter sunrises that could creep past 9 a.m. in cities such as Indianapolis and Detroit, prompting many local lawmakers to oppose the idea... [A 2022 Senate vote to make Daylight Saving Time permanent] awoke a new lobbying effort from advocates such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which warned that year-round daylight saving time would be unhealthy, citing risks such as higher rates of obesity or metabolic dysfunction. Some researchers warned of a condition dubbed "social jetlag," saying that internal body clocks and rhythms would be persistently misaligned if human clocks were permanently set forward an hour. The concerted resistance from the health groups — which some congressional aides jokingly referred to as "Big Sleep" — helped kill the measure in the House and has contributed to a stalemate over how to proceed... Today, roughly two-thirds of Americans want to end the clock changes, polls show. But even those Americans don't agree on what should come next. An October 2023 YouGov poll found that 33 percent of respondents wanted year-round daylight saving time, 23 percent wanted permanent standard time, and 9 percent had no preference. The remainder weren't sure or preferred to remain on the current system... The political fight is far from over, with Trump allies such as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) pledging to keep pushing for year-round daylight saving time. Some congressional Republicans also have privately called for a hearing in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with hopes of advancing the Sunshine Protection Act.

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Butterflies "are vanishing from U.S. landscapes at an alarming rate," reports CBS News: A comprehensive study, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that 22% of butterflies in the United States disappeared between 2000 and 2020... The researchers behind the Science study used data from more than 12.6 million butterflies spanning 342 individual species, drawing from 76,000 surveys across 35 nationwide monitoring programs. Funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, the study was the first to integrate such a vast dataset, its authors said. The findings revealed that 33% of butterfly species have experienced significant population declines over the past two decades, with 107 out of the 342 species examined losing more than half of their population — including 22 species that declined by more than 90%. Meanwhile, only 3% of species showed population increases... Ultimately, the butterfly decline is part of a larger global trend of insect population loss, with insects declining by about 1-2% annually, the study's authors said. Butterflies play an essential role in ecosystems, pollinating flowers, crops, and other plants. Their decline could have far-reaching impacts on plant reproduction and the health of ecosystems. Just three months ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said America's western migratory populations of monarch butterflies had declined by more than 95% since the 1980s, putting them "at greater than 99% chance of extinction by 2080." (America's eastern migratory population were estimated to have declined by approximately 80%.) This latest study found that one factor is climate change, according to CBS News, which reduces food sources, disrupts breeding cycles and increases habitat stress. (Another factor is pesticide use, which fortunately can be adjusted with various policy interventions and farming practices.) And one of the study's co-authors tells CBS News that "the things we do in our own backyards actually make a difference." They recommend allowing backyard to "grow wild" with native plants (and reducing pesticide use) — even creating "habitat spaces" for insects like small piles of brush. "Even simple actions — like leaving a strip of wildflowers or planting species that support pollinators — can provide crucial resources for butterflies and other insects."

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The ubiquitous ESP32 microchip made by Chinese manufacturer Espressif and used by over 1 billion units as of 2023 contains an undocumented "backdoor" that could be leveraged for attacks. [...]

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