That fable about the scorpion and the frog comes to mind right now...

Forty days from now:

This is the food distribution line at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas 11/7/25. This is what Trump doesn't want you to see.

While they’re still screwing about with SNAP, it’s a good idea to donate to pet shelters, too. If you dare show up with “poor people shouldn’t have pets”, I will tear such a new one it generates a black hole. apnews.com/article/pets...

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

Why are ICE agents being paid during the shutdown, but not air traffic controllers? 🤨

There’s a young southern woman on tt doing an experiment: calling churches & asking if they can help her get baby formula, saying she can’t afford it. Of the 30+ she’s called, nearly every church has said no. The ones who said yes were: Black Baptist Churches A Mosque A small Appalachian church

'Maybe we'll cancel SNAP and 10-20% of all flights through *Thanksgiving* and *Christmas*' is just an insane political position. You do that and the annual Turkey fryer injuries won't be from turkeys, but from folks attempting to fry whole GOP senators for Thanksgiving.

Trump’s aid cuts are killing far more Nigerian Christians than Islamic terrorists are. Independent monitors in Nigeria report 33 deaths this year in attacks against Christians (fewer than the 88 Muslims killed). But Trump cut off aid that helped save 270,000 lives a year in Nigeria. 270,000 > 33.

The absolute gall of this administration full of Christian dominionists suddenly, well, getting religion on the separation of church and state because clergy is embarrassing them. (Also obviously they are wrong on both the law and morality)

To be fair it's usually your own work that you find the fatal flaw in and the comic is just a repeat of the guy on the left

To put this in scale, Elon Musk's salary from Tesla alone could fund the SNAP program for the entire country into 2034.

Direct File made tax season easy and free for Arizonans. Ending it will only mean higher costs and more headaches for taxpayers. I’ll keep fighting to restore free, simple filing.

Was this the best use of my time today? No. Is it the most amusing way I could have spent the last 90 minutes? Absolutely. Pattern is free here: bit.ly/4nGGCGc

What to call your prof

Don’t think of it as “starving”, think of it more like “repetitive fasting”

Just under a month left—apply by December 5 through the link on my website!

Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…

Right before the holidays, the Trump administration is making sure that poor families starve and that no one can go visit their moms. 👍

🌿🌱 We’re hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor (potentially open rank) at the Institute of Plant Sciences @unibe.ch in Plant Population Ecology 🌻🌳 Be our colleague and join us in beautiful Bern, Switzerland Apply by Jan 23 2026 👉 ohws.prospective.ch/public/v1/jo...

NEW: Children faced more risk of rare heart problems after Covid-19 infection than they did after taking the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine, a big three-year study of under-18s in England has found. Important evidence for debates over vaccine safety, particularly in the US. www.ft.com/content/231d...

I hope someone is writing "12 Hangry Men" about the sandwich guy jury

FLIP, FLIP, FLIP! Democrats Dominate The Vote!

Risky link but worth the click

Sam Corcos, who entered government with DOGE earlier this year, decided to kill DirectFile after one meeting with with tax software lobbyists. www.wired.com/story/doge-d...

WE HEAR HE'S A FUN GUY! #IRegretNothing You can attend in person or via Zoom! #EvMed

this is so cool! I've never seen 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘢 like that 👀 #MicroSky

Turning Point USA continues to carry on the sainted work of Charlie Kirk by singling out innocent high school teachers for death threats.

A new study provides unprecedented insights into the cellular architecture of over 200 species of plankton using ultrastructure expansion microscopy >>> www.biotechniques.com/imaging/expa... 🧪

Your spiritual beliefs are important. I respect that and will fight to the death to preserve your rights there. But they are completely irrelevant to the function of government and the creation of policies relevant to the function of government is a hill that I will also be willing to die upon.

Good morning. I don't know who did this, but I love you.

Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n #ProtistsOnSky tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

Halloween costumes to scare scientists (by @twisteddoodles.bsky.social) 🧪

Manu Prakesh ($1 #foldscope fame) guest stars on #TheMicroscopists. Quite incredible drive & desire for making science hands-on & accessible. He also talks about his passion for fieldwork, & explains why he has barnacles growing in his bathroom! Stream bit.ly/microscopist... @prakashlab.bsky.social

FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.

In addition to L.A. food banks, pantries, community fridges, and other food donation programs, we see free Cambodian chicken rice porridge, kids goodie bags, and a program that allows you to buy a meal for someone at a growing chain. The full story: lataco.com/free-food-la... By Hadley Tomicki

Science needs to be part of our day to traditions. For many years - I have continued to give Foldscope @teamfoldscope.bsky.social with the candy on Halloween. Try it out and surprise the kids with the capacity to see and discover real #microMonsters crawling on our planet. 🎃👻 #FoldscopeHalloween

Here it is. www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

It is depressing, frustrating, and scary that we need food pantries on campuses. Just got an email reminding us of the food pantry for postdocs in the face of SNAP cuts. Also spare a thought for the pets that will potentially be abandoned or surrendered if things get worse

"In the U.S., 30 to 40 percent of the food supply is never eaten, wasting the resources used to produce it & creating many environmental impacts. Food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated in the U.S." -US EPA In the Land of Plenty, scarcity must be enforced by police.

ATTN: Two faculty positions are available in my department (neuroscience) at the University of Minnesota. This is a general search with no topic focus. November 20th application deadline. Apply here: hr.umn.edu/jobs/Find-Job Assistant Prof job code: 364920 Associate/Full Prof job code: 364921

Hey plant developmental biologists! Want to do great science with a great guy in a great place? @oconnord.bsky.social is looking for a postdoc to join his lab at Colorado State: oconnorlab.colostate.edu/wp-content/u... #devbio #plantscience #botany #bioimaging #microscopy

Almost forgot about daylight savings time ending this weekend - something I generally didn’t think about when living in AZ

My PhD work is up on bioRxiv! Read all about the #actin and #microtubule #cytoskeleton of the Rhizarian #amoeba Filoreta ramosa here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I love Rebecca DOWN. Known as Dollar Tree Dinners. Her “Meal in a Bag” is meant to provide ppl with a complete meal that is $8 or less, is shelf stable, & can be made without access to a full kitchen. I love this as a direct aid option. Good for neighbors & elders who can’t/wont go to a pantry.

good grief.

The A–C linker structure!!! 🤩 Beautiful work. Even if you’re not as centriole-obsessed as we are, you’ll appreciate the elegance and complexity. Amazing to see U-ExM proteins in human centrioles fitting right into these densities. Congrats to all!