that’s right

Shoot this into my veins.

When @omearabrian.bsky.social saw the manuscript, he described it as: ‘What if this figure could be an entire paper?’ I choose to interpret that as high praise. Now accepted at AmNat: The geometry of macroevolution (with Dan Rabosky). www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Explain to Congress how important it is to keep multiyear funding of NIH grants in the funding bill. This protects against Russell Vought's trick, which is to make this year's NIH budget cover multiple years of research in advance. Tell your Congresscritter. US Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Feeling very Not Today lately www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8_2...

Kennedy has backed off cancelling $2 billion in substance abuse and mental health grants @delauro.house.gov’s statement:

Dark chocolate wedge, obvs

With Trump going full authoritarian on Venezuela-Greenland, ICE, and the Fed, the response has to be serious. Four Republican senators (Tillis, McConnell, Murkowski, Collins?) could announce they’ll caucus for now with the Dems to give them control of the Senate to check Trump.

The death penalty without a trial by jury is the punishment for a lady saying “I’m not mad at you, dude.”

In my world, there's a certain reluctance to being merely, or in a knee-jerk way, a resist lib. That's understandable, even commendable. On the other hand, let's be clear: It's a hell of lot better, morally and intellectually and politically, to be a resist lib than a Vichy conservative.

A family member let me know about this church that is packing food boxes for families in the Twin Cities that can’t go to work because of the ICE invasion. Please join me in donating: www.dhhmn.com

Our new commentary on @blackrim.bsky.social et al's fascinating work in @newphyt.bsky.social, using simulation and analysis of empirical data to scale microevolutionary process to macroevolutionary patterns. Punchline: death rate and max age are driving. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

If you haven't done it yet, you can understand a lot of what's going on by reading Kate Manne's Entitled misogyny isn't "hatred of women"; it's enforcement of what women as supposed to do/say/acquiesce to www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/608442...

I've come back to this thread a few times through the years - it always makes more sense to me every time I read it, even for the ones I disagree with - but I also have a thesis, which is that you can condense about 2/3 of these into a single Sondheim lyric:

Remembering today that having your heart broken is a necessary step on the path to becoming fully human. Whichever heartbreak is your first, it’s probably critical that a state break your heart so that you can develop a political imagination. If this is your first, I’m sorry and also welcome.

they're doing it for gender, imo

Renee Nicole Good

Preprint up now! With @ferrisifolius.bsky.social, we found positive selection on leaf shape plasticity across the altitudinal range of the cutleaf monkeyflower. This experiment was a HUGE personal undertaking. If you give it a read, I’d love to hear your thoughts! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Yes, and likely to be coyote-wolf hybrids. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/c...

Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over

today is for the ladies to have fun. its new years eve not new year's steve

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, or Alice In Chains. Surprising zero people, my choice

The National Science Foundation starts 2026 with a new management structure that affects every scientist with--or applying for--NSF funding. Here's what you need to know. www.science.org/content/arti...

Spittle bugs on the cover!

My Friends The Correspondent Sirens The Safekeep

No woman I know in academia would be surprised by this, but its good to see it documented like this, I guess.

In case you need a positive reminder: How effective is protesting? According to historians and political scientists: very www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This story is absolutely wild. Did you know that avocados change sex over the course of a day? And that it's controlled by a single ancient balanced polymorphism? This is flat our crazy

I’ve wondered about the polymorphism for years, but I never got around to doing anything about it. I look forward to reading this.

Wishing everyone a Merry Chirstmas with many snacks and walks. Peace out.

“I voted once for Trump in 2016 — I’ve learned right wing media is just a propaganda machine… ask yourself if the principles of this administration are actually in line with the teachings of Jesus. All they’re doing is exploiting the poor for the benefit of the billionaires.”

See, this is how I know I'm not built to have a proper "star" career, because if this had happened to me, I would've left. (Not a value statement.)

Look some people just have this, and like I said, more power to them, but to EXPECT this of some scholars when other scholars don’t have to experience this (or to the same degree) is just WILD and is a definite explanation for underrepresentation at some universities

Yeah, it was from our cover article on stickleback parasites, not AI in writing. Thanks for the nod. And my $0.02 on reviews and opinions for whatever it is worth- they shouldn't be viewed as something in lieu of data papers, but an addition that enriches our understanding through synthesis.

I’m at the stage in my career when I’m already starting to see people forget papers exist. Being a reliable aggregator is sometimes important! Opinions and reviews can be helpful.

From @veroiriart.bsky.social !! 🎉 🎉🎉

I think reviews from trusted voices will become even more important. Unfortunately, this is going to amplify certain privileges/barriers. I think the only other way for this to work, is to have post-publication commentary become more informed. Currently, it's merely a search for image fraud.

I haven't written a ton of reviews over my career. ~3? Two from me & one from a lab effort. I don't have a good reason for this other than I prefer to focus on the data...Something something produce papers the tax payers have subsidized, and I don't have all the time in the world. Crankypants.gif

Very excited to share the capstone of my postdoc work with @stepheniwright.bsky.social, co-led by Wright lab grad student Cassandre with contributions from many others. We combined new methods with high-quality Rumex assemblies to dive into the remarkable history of rearrangement in this genus.

A final new paper out from the lab, work from Steve Johnson, @joannarifkin.bsky.social & @stepheniwright.bsky.social We asked what maintains the striking variation in floral color, size, and shape within and among populations of Dame's Rocket, Hesperis matronalis

New preprint from the lab on bioRxiv, led by Grace Zhang! Quick summary: Lots of studies have examined costs and benefits associated with resistance. Most focus on a single stressor, leaving unclear how resistance shapes fitness and evolution under multiple interacting stresses.

Newly posted updates to recent resurrection work from the lab, led by Sasha Bishop (w/ @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social )

Curator of Education job (tenure-track Assistant Professor) at the Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado Boulder! Salary $90-$100K, 9 month full time position. Apply by Jan 21. jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...

Trump critic George Conway files to run for NY House seat

Good morning. Immigrants are #HereToStay.

Is bioRxiv down for everyone? Did I break it by checking for manuscript updates too often? 😬🤣

Susan Monarez was fired after less than a month as Director of the CDC for holding the line on scientific integrity She is part of Nature's 10 - our list of people who shaped science in 2025 go.nature.com/4pJXoGh

Things are Terrible, but this isn't. Be weird.

So many. Right now, after losing one of my closest friends, I am re-reading my favorites from Fredrik Backman: A Man Called Ove, My Friends, Anxious People, etc. He captures the messiness of friendships, love, connection, in a way that is both simple and lands like an anchor

When I'm feeling particularly hopeless about the future of professoring as a profession, I try to remind myself: That's what they want. They want us to not want to be professors anymore.