Every American needs to watch this:

I have my intro biostatistics students a challenge: create the ugliest graph you can given the data and your current skill set. Here are the top contenders. Warning: they are ugly. #rstats

Come work with us at UW-Green Bay! We're hiring a tenure-track ecologist with a focus on global change biology. 🧪🌎🪶 wisconsin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UW_Com...

I am hiring a research assistant (vampire bats), a Panama fieldwork coordinator (vampire bats), and also considering postdoc apps (social behavior, any species): socialbat.org/2026/02/19/h...

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Happy Black History Month! I am sharing a permanent and continuously updated list of inspiring Black scientists! Check it out! Huge thank you to the folks who gathered this info. Thank you to @drstarbird.bsky.social and the rest of the Index Committee! www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...

Nature and Science journalists denied entry to event featuring NIH Director

Sunday: Contact my senators and rep, watch birds and squirrels from inside the house, watch the snow, drink hot coffee, repeat. (Hamilton Co., IN, USA)

Too cold to go outside, but I can still get photos from the warmth of my kitchen! (Hamilton Co., IN, USA)

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.

The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.

Great to see some bipartisan support for science in Congress in this budget cycle. www.reuters.com/world/us-sen...?

Update on some of our decades long cowbird research in @audubon.org magazine: www.audubon.org/magazine/got...

I'm gearing up to teach a non-majors "Evolution and Society" class for the first time. One unit will be on debunking myths and misconceptions about evolution. Which ones do I absolutely have to include?

My final paper from my postdoc with @trevorrife.bsky.social is out! If you've ever manually counted or sorted seeds, sampled tissue with a hole punch, filled tubes or plates with beads/seeds this is for you! dx.doi.org/10.1002/csc2... Get the designs free here: www.printables.com/model/135088...

Dr. No Funding

🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 Marine Scientist Position – Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), full-time, permanent Marine Scientist position based in Panama. Application review begins February 15, 2026 (open until filled). Early-career researchers are strongly encouraged to apply. www.stri.si.edu

The past few years I've given my students assignments to create Wikipedia pages on various topics. This semester's Fisheries Management students were assigned to write about an ichthyologist/fisheries manager that didn't have a page, with emphasis on women or POC encouraged. I'm sharing them here:

I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students. I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...

Cool fun fact: The word "bladder" comes from an old Feline word that translates roughly as "Push here until the human gets up"

I chair a STEM-based lecture series, and I am always looking for good speakers. If you have any suggestions, please pass them along! Think "TED" style talks. www.butler.edu/arts-science...

Happy International Day of LGBTQIA+ People In STEM! How are you celebrating it? #LGBTQSTEMDay #PrideInSTEM

We had the pleasure of hosting @deepseadawn.bsky.social for last week's Butler University Woods Lecture Series event!

Attended the Indiana DNR herpetological technical advisory committee meeting hosted by the Indianapolis Zoo. Great to hear from state herpetologist Nate Engbrecht, Global Center for Species Survival here coordinator Andrea Echeverry-Alcendra, and Ind. State Univ. student Bethannie Perrine.

Nothing humbles my ecology students like a little Lotka-Volterra on a nice afternoon.

About 470 miles of driving (yellow lines) to visit a dozen different prairie remnants/restorations for the last sampling trip of the season. Phew!

I'm excited about the Ecological Society's new Fakhri A. Bazzaz and Steward T.A. Pickett Mentorship Award for Enhancing Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in Ecology. Nominate your colleagues who have been outstanding mentors! Due Nov. 13 esa.org/about/awards... @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social

Indianapolis, 10.18.2025

More trips to more restored/protected tallgrass prairie habitats in northern Indiana. This time I was at Fisher Oaks, Prophetstown, Weiler-Leopold, and others. These properties are made possible by land trusts like NICHES and the Indiana State Parks system and Indiana DNR.

Pumped to share our work on bird behavior and the 2024 Eclipse, in today's @science.org. 100k bird vocalizations + 10k continent-wide observations from the public = really fun collab led by Liz Aguilar, with @juncowren.bsky.social @mathcancer.bsky.social @imillercrews.bsky.social #NSF

🚨🚨🚨 We found a new genus of aquatic fungi right here in Indiana! 🚨🚨🚨 Learn more in this blog post! 👇

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ― Jane Goodall (1934-2025)

🌱Tenure-track Assistant Professor Position OPEN🌱 -Plant Interkingdom/Environment Interactions & Plant Immunity- at The Univ. Texas at Austin, Molecular BioSciences. Deadline Nov 1st. Please spread the words and APPLY! Contact me if you have any questions. apply.interfolio.com/175001

If only we could each make a fraction of the difference she made in her life -- Rest in Power Jane Goodall -- you've inspired multiple generations of scientists and activists to make the world a better place

White House Funding Cuts to the National Science Foundation Threaten America’s Global Leadership in Science joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/white-hous... new long-form post joint with @malar0ne.bsky.social, @cl10.bsky.social and @asinclair.bsky.social

We're hiring TWO (two!) tenure-track assistant professors in my Biology department: cellular/molecular biology and plant biology. Within those categories, we are very open to research focus. Come work with me! And please spread the word! fa-exer-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

I put about 300 miles on my car, and twice that on my feet, visiting several Indiana nature preserves (Nature Conservancy and IN div. of nature preserves, INDNR) for some research. The bottle gentian was a new one for me. The toadflax, while non-native, sure is pretty. More details in alt-text

Exam is written, printed, and stapled with OVER 30 minutes until class starts. #winning

**PhD POSITIONS** I am recruiting 1-2 PhD students to work on sociality and cognition in Monk Parakeets, starting Fall 2026. Full ad is here: hobsonresearch.com/index.php/20... (please help spread the word!)

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Whoa—my book is up for pre-order! 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭 & 𝐌𝐋 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Rstats 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #PyData The book presents an ultra-simple and powerful workflow to make sense of ± any model you fit The web version will stay free forever and my proceeds go to charity. tinyurl.com/4fk56fc8

How it started/How it's going. 😒 #fieldwork

I saw a standardized normal distribution in the wild today on my way to work! Even the mean and three standard deviations were visible!

We lost Mark Norell today. Dinosaur hunter extraordinaire. The coolest dude alive. My PhD supervisor. Wherever you are, raise a glass of your favorite lager or single malt, as it is what Mark would want.

The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn't a strongman, he's a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.

We start reviewing applications in a month (October 3). If the teacher-scholar model appeals to you, check us out! Primarily undergraduate institution with great research support too. (please repost 🙂)

Read the full article at firsthandaccounts.org !

If you are a researcher whose lab uses FlyBase, consider a tax-deductible personal contribution. A lot of $100 contributions would help bridge the gap until we can set up a user fee system, and even $10 donations send the folks there the message we're behind them. Please share