Perimenopause in a single image:

Cutest conference I've been to all year! Elementary school STEM Fair is the cutest STEM Fair.

Had a wonderful visit at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Nutrition Obesity Research Center, to give a two-speaker translational seminar with my colleague, Dr. Jennifer Nasser. Here we are in front of Dr. Kathryn Whyte's shiny, new human metabolic chambers. So cool!

Watching the big game

Trying this new thing where I *don't* bail my family out of every mess they make for themselves (forcing them to figure it out on their own) and I think this could actually be a good growth opportunity for all of them

We just lost power and it's 26 F outside, so we're off to a strong start in 2026 🫠

Wishing everyone a peaceful 2026

A thing I wish more applicants to STEM PhD programs would understand is that, no matter how good your GPA is and how much research experience you have, there is still no such thing as a "safety school".

And he's PHinisheD! Congratulations to the newly-minted Dr. Brody Carpenter! Wishing you all the best in your post-doc.

Hold up. "Jessica" is the new "Karen"?! This is very not cool.

Probably a niche question: Can anyone point me to research that shows the benefits of having a research compact for biomedical trainees?

Step 1: Take home your '90s CD tower from your parents' house. Step 2: Acquire a CD player through your local Buy Nothing group. Step 3: Joy.

People who don't accelerate out of a turn and just ride their brake the whole time: WHY?!

Welp, I just rescheduled my UAB seminar visit that was supposed to happen next week

When you happily start the day with not a single meeting scheduled but only manage to write one paragraph of your manuscript because of all the little things that came up during the day

Oh, good. Another day of me being super productive in order to avoid doing the one, necessary BIG THING

I can't believe I missed their birthday on Wednesday! Happy Birthday, Gritty!

When you're reading a paper that clearly got ideas directly from your work but doesn't actually cite you at all:

Moment of appreciation for the reviewers and editors at @psychopharmacology.bsky.social for their extremely kind reviews (!!!). Hoping to have good publication news soon!

Real academic parent moment: Getting shamed by my 9 year old for having too many tabs open on my computer 🙄

I'll be mourning mine for quite a while. It was with a PO who has managed my funded grants before, and I had never heard them be more excited about likelihood of funding than this one.

This is an official Skype a Scientist HQ Mayday Alert to all Archaeologists. We've already gotten more requests for archaeologists than we have archaeologists. We have 38. We need a lot more than 38! Dig yourself into this database, we NEED ya www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

As best I can tell, NIAAA in all of 2025 has issued a total of three new R01s and zero new R21s. Do I have that right?

Does anyone else close their office door so they can just eat their lunch like a goblin? Is it just me?

I remember one year in the early 90s when every single male member of my extended family at different times slapped me on the butt. I was 12.

Here is the application to for duty-free entry of scientific equipment www.trade.gov/sites/defaul... If you are buying something this summer or fall, this is a good document to look at regardless, so you know what kind of due diligence is required to request the tariff waiver.

Some journals are claiming that you need to pay big $$ for gold open access to comply with NIH's new public access policy. FYI that is total bs. You can comply by depositing the Accepted Manuscript into PubMed Central on the Date of Publication without embargo. Pass it on.

I found it. I found the end of the rainbow.

Really pulling for a "Posters in PJs" session if we get to have an #RSA_ISBRA2025 next year. Let's make it happen!

Immensely proud of Brody Carpenter for his Gordis talk at #RSA_ISBRA2025

The kid who won the Science Fair this year clearly just fully copied my son's experiment from last year's Science Fair, and I never thought I could be this angry at a 4th grader.

Honored to have received the 2025 Faculty Professional Development, Sponsorship and Allyship Award from Drexel University College of Medicine ❤️

Had a great time as an external examiner for the Swarthmore Honors Thesis process. Thank you to (BlueSky-less?!) Dr. Wambura Fobbs for the invitation

Brody doesn't quite look like himself here, but I'm still proud of him!

Hey reviewers: If you're going to make multiple, factually incorrect statements about something you're reviewing, can you at least not be mean about it? We're all running a little thin these days...

In about the last year, three different women neuroscientists I have known, all at various career stages, have committed suicide. Something is so very, very wrong...

We're having our first day of data collection for the 9s' science fair project. Ended up having to explain what a pilot study is, so I think you can tell how well it's going 🫣

We were finally able to save ONE of Zippy the Pond Snail's babies from Floppy the Loach. Meet Jet. She is currently in her own baby tank.

The Penultimate Unicorn

Heard from a former (undergrad) student who just defended her PhD. Students: tell your old profs about your successes and achievements. It's not bragging, and we love to hear about it. It's one of the best parts of being an educator. #academicsky

Both of my MS mentees have successfully defended their thesis this semester. I am very proud of them

Everything is terrible, but my mentees are doing so well right now, and I am so grateful for these little moments of escape 💖

How are the science supply vendors doing right now? The uptick in their marketing emails is... notable.

Was notified this morning that the study section for which I was a reviewer, AA-4, has been dissolved and the SRO is now without a job. What resources are there for NIH employees to help with finding new employment?

Attention addiction researchers:

My Eppendorf pen just ran out of ink, and if that isn't just the biggest effing metaphor...

Does anyone know if the NIAAA Council actually met yesterday?

Had a few seconds when I first woke up this morning where I could not actually remember who I was. Best few seconds of the last few weeks.