Before getting into my science topic of the day, here is an item I received this morning from the  New York Times .  There are fewer international students coming to the U.S. Why? The decline is occurring as the Trump administration has   delayed visa processing , instituted   travel bans   or restrictions for 19 countries,   threatened to deport   international students for   pro-Palestinian speech , and   heightened the vetting   of student visa applicants . The New York Times  also reported: The civil war in Sudan has displaced 12 million people and may have killed about 400,000. It is, as Declan Walsh, our chief Africa correspondent, called it, “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” Experts call it a genocide. Read more about   the escapees from El Fasher . And finally a third story: Baby Shark:   In news from the world of apex predation, a pod of killer whales in the Gulf of California   hunts juvenile great wh...

But first, tidbits about Juneteenth ( today is a national holiday, and tomorrow will be the first day of summer ) and the Israel-Iran War. Time  magazine agrees with my  Tuesday posting  that, Juneteenth or not,  the struggle for civil rights still continues . President Donald Trump has said his decision to join Israel on strikes against Iran will wait for two weeks. He  says Iran needs some time to decide for itself if it really wants to be decimated .  Fat chance that they will agree to stop trying to become a nuclear power.  And, by the way, there are now nine of them:  US, Russia, China, France, UK, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. The Gerald Ford Task Force has not left Norfolk, Virginia yet, and will probably arrive in the Mediterranean in just about two weeks. Trump seems to be facing some MAGA backlash.  Important elements don't want to join a foreign war.  Yet, most probably would also like to see Iran drop their nuclear...