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The last good website.

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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

Philly, D.C.: Meet Defector at the Ballpark

Vintage Baseball Stadium Postcard

Defector at the Ballpark

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Albert Burneko

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

RFK Jr. senate testimony

Politics

Setting Aside The Incorrect Claim About Herd Immunity

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Typing

Sabrina Imbler

A CVS pharmacy store on February 28, 2025 in San Diego, California

CVS Pharmacy In San Diego

Science

How Are You Supposed To Get The COVID Vaccine Now? An Explainer

President Trump Meets With His Cabinet At The White House

RFK Jr. Is Making His Bid To Become One Of American History’s Biggest Killers

Screwworm larva. Tusklike mandibles protruding from the screwworm larva's mouth rasp the flesh of living warm-blooded animals.

Screwworm_larva

Make America Wormy Again

Eva Holland is a freelance writer and editor based in Whitehorse, Yukon. She&#8217;s a correspondent for Outside magazine and the author of the books Nerve and <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/no-sleep-til-fairbanks#/">No Sleep &#8216;Til Fairbanks</a>.

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Eva Holland

Kluane Up High

Why Did National Geographic Disappear Its Own Documentary About A Queer Climate Scientist?

Editorial intern
https://www.instagram.com/20grade

Capture

Lucy Bloom

GettyImages-2212133682(1)

Bills Week

Bill Nye Isn’t Fun Anymore

headshot

Barry Petchesky

The Space Shuttle Discovery, aboard a specially modified NASA Boeing 747, flies over the Washington, DC, April 17, 2012, as seen from Arlington, Virginia. NASA is transferring the Shuttle, which completed 39 missions and spent 365 days in space, to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo by Saul LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

US-SPACE-SHUTTLE DISCOVERY

The “Big Beautiful Bill” Is Trying To Steal A Space Shuttle

Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in Ithaca, N.Y. She writes <a href="https://www.404media.co/author/becky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.404media.co/author/becky/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1740083778769000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_mk31dNhas5lklZb38a6k">The Abstract</a>, a weekly science column for 404 Media. Her book First Contact, about the search for alien life, will be out in fall 2025.

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Becky Ferreira

Sun over dying Earth. Illustration of the Sun, around 5 billion years in the future, heating a dying Earth. The oceans have evaporated, leaving salt-encrusted rocks. The Moon is seen passing in front of the massively swollen Sun. This stage of the Sun's life, known as its red giant stage, will begin when the Sun exhausts the hydrogen fuel in its core. It will then begin burning hydrogen in a shell surrounding the core, causing the Sun to expand. The expanding Sun will engulf the inner planets, and possibly the Earth. If the Earth survives this stage of the death of the Sun, it will freeze as the Sun collapses into a white dwarf star.

Red giant Sun, illustration

Are You Team Fiery Sun Death Or Team Lifeless Husk?

LHASA, CHINA - OCTOBER 23: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) streaks across the sky on October 23, 2024 in Lhasa, Xizang Autonomous Region of China. (Photo by Jiang Feibo/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Streaks Across The Sky In China

A Comet From Another Solar System Is On Its Way

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 24: A 5-story Titanosaurus towers over Rockefeller Center to promote the film "Jurassic World: Rebirth" on June 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Giant Dinosaur On Display In Rockefeller Center For The Upcoming Movie

Arts And Culture

Just Give Me Some Normal Damn Dinosaurs

a headshot of Laura Mata López, a psychiatric nurse and doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University

Laura Mata Feb 2025-15

Interviews

An Interview With A Psychiatric Nurse Whose Research Funding Was Cut By The Trump Administration

Joy Binion, formerly a social science analyst at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMSHA

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An Interview With A Terminated Analyst At The Substance Abuse And Mental Health Administration

a photo of Patrick Kelly, a Doctoral Candidate at Brown University School of Public Health, whose NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse funded doctoral research was terminated

An Interview With A Public Health Researcher Whose Funding Was Terminated By The Trump Administration

Mamta Patel Nagaraja, a fired NASA associate chief scientist for exploration and research, giving a keynote at the Department of Transportation for a White House event

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An Interview With A Fired NASA Associate Chief Scientist

Picture of Colossal’s Dire Wolves; Romulus and Remus at age three months. Born 10/1/2024

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Creaturefector

Colossal Biosciences Can’t Have It Both Ways

Claire Sneed, a recently fired US Forest Service hydrologic technician

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An Interview With A Fired U.S. Forest Service Hydrologic Technician

UNITED KINGDOM - MAY 30: Saturn, by Jamie Cooper. This image showing Saturn with six of it's moons was taken on 26th January 2006 at 22:11 hrs UT using a webcam attached to a 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The moons are from left to right: Titan, Mimas,Tethys, Rhea, Enceladus and Dione. (Photo by Jamie Cooper/SSPL/Getty Images)

Saturn, by Jamie Cooper.

Why Is This So Good?

I Implore You To Look At Saturn Through A Telescope

A headshot of Madyson Miller, a fired NOAA program analyst, in a blue sweater and golden light