Never say Basal Again

Oh the cognitive dissonance of a "center for resilience" housed in one of the most unsustainable cities in North America. If the truth hurts just say ouch and be done with it.

First met Lúcia back in grad school days, and was really excited to see her take the reins of the garden. All of us used to walk by the President's house there on Tower Grove and think how cool it would be to run the place. GenX power!

In dark times, there is always comedy. www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

You know how you tell your students that one should bring as many datasets to bear as you can? This is a study you should show them.

That didn't take long. The only difference between this and Trump's "Mexico will pay for the wall," is that hiring more teachers is actually a good idea. But both are lies that people told to get elected. www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

If any of you have ever been to the Hyrcanian forests of Iran and Azerbaijan, this is really bad news: www.rferl.org/a/iran-hyrca...

Mixed feelings today about starting my Gen Bio II lectures on natural selection dressed as Jim Jones.

Enjoyed running a chromosome counting workshop for @mossmatters.bsky.social and his students at TTU this weekend. Also enjoyed working with Xanthisma texanum, which has one of the lowest chromosome numbers in plants (2n = 8). #GunsUp

Purple thumb Thursday- meiotic chromosome count of Iva annua (Sedgwick Co., KS). 34 chromosomes at prophase I, then 17 chromosomes in the haploid cells of anaphase II.

If you've never seen any of Teri's exquisite cytological work, you should start now.

Those Democrats tired of getting their teeth knocked down their throats should read this. Those that are fine with that should feel free to ignore it. www.thirdway.org/memo/was-it-...

Let me be the (perhaps) the first to promote this job on bsky. BRIT is a super important herbarium run by some of the nicest folks I've met in Botany. I'd love to have another great colleague in this neck of the woods... www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.p...

The GOP is about to discover the precise limits of the American work ethic. www.politico.com/live-updates...

My #McClintockLetters to the editor was published last week in my hometown newspaper- the Hickman Co. (KY) Times. Thanks to @cornellasap.bsky.social‬ for coordinating this effort.

Somewhere LBJ is smiling watching MAGA Republicans realize they can't touch Medicaid without feeling 100,000 volts.

Everyone eventually ends up where they belong. www.rferl.org/a/russia-sno...

Besides the gross AI angle here, there's an uncomfortable geographic component to this story. Best of luck getting anyone to talk about that.

A comprehensive yet remarkably concise review of the systematics of Brassicaceae. Bonus- written by the mustard godfather and perhaps the nicest person in botany, Ihsan Al-Shehbaz.

Instead of pulling out the hacksaw to add it to the voucher, I think @sutherlandbl.bsky.social probably wants the large Claytonia virginica tuber on the left for cultivation. Didn't know they got this large- FNA says up to 20cm! Sumner Co., KS.

Many of my fellow faculty appear surprised at the speed with which universities have capitulated. Consider that the only layer between us and the federal government consists of ladder-climbing admins and university lawyers.

See Harpo's post below. I've not met Arnold Clifford, but have seen many many of his specimens. He's more or less legendary in SW botanical circles. His collection on the Navajo Nation needs our help to get into a secure, permanent building.

My latest picture of "Snowball," the piebald fox squirrel on WSU campus.

One of the saddest and perverse legacies of communism is its failure to build a tolerant society, despite this being a central goal. This is the map of the winners of each of Germany's constituencies yesterday. Blue is the AfD, and yes that is the former East Germany.

Extremely important advice for anyone who wants us (blue America) to govern again anytime soon. There are _many_ phrases we use that cause most Americans to immediately stop listening. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Been posted many times before, but simply too good (or bad) not to post again.

Another headline that absolutely no one could have seen coming. The stupidity here is honestly breathtaking. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Is this Science writer trolling, really naive, or perhaps just stoned? If this shit wasn't cringe enough, now they have a special AI category where no actual PhD need be completed. www.science.org/content/arti...

This is what losing sounds like. There are things we can do that make winning (and governing) more likely. But it might mean acknowledging that the issues that get us (highly educated, largely secular/urban/wealthy/white) worked up are waaayyy down the list for most Americans.

I hate to promote charismatic megafauna, but this is pretty awesome. Happy hunting my feline friends. www.rferl.org/a/elk-snow-l...

This thread went a very different way than I expected. Seems frighteningly clear that people aren't ready to talk about how this many people in this dry an area is never going to turn out well.

Welcome Dr. Lúcia G. Lohmann, the Garden’s new president! 📸 Nathan Kwarta #MOBOTGarden

Good. Nature bats last. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...

Travel awards (up to $5,000) are available to support the study of collections in the United States National Herbarium. Applications are due on 15 January: naturalhistory.si.edu/research/bot...

We already have a leader for the least surprising headline of 2025. www.politico.com/news/2025/01...

Plant conservation idea. If someone is planning on describing a new, rare species from an area threatened by mining, ranching, home building etc.... Find out the name of the president of the mining company, etc. and name the new species after their mom.

Let's make this one hurt.

5000 stainless beads = 2500 herbarium specimen extractions

Herbarium folks- what is the easiest way to search for imaged specimens in public databases and easily cruise through the images - i.e. thumbnails? I'm currently using GBIF and the filters are giving me spooky results. Is there a better data compiler and/or are there any magic filter settings?

The past 2 months seems like a Twilight Zone episode. First, it seems highly likely that our University president ripped off a considerable part of his dissertation, which was met by a collective shrug by folks around here. Then 11/5. Now a GTA in our Chemistry Dept. has been arrested for rape. ???

Please remember this the next time you're considering attending a conference in China. www.politico.com/news/2024/11...

Interested in target capture sequencing? @madiraibullock.bsky.social and I are happy to announce a new service at TTU. Send us DNA, get reads enriched for your probes. Angiosperms353, GoFLAG, Compositae1061 & more! Funds go to grad student stipends and tuition! mossmatters.com/blog/TargetC...

I need to stop reading the "personal life" section of Wikipedia pages. It would appear that ca. 50% of famous male boomer scientists are married to former students.

It's that time, choose your jam. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGc9... www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbU...

As we enter the accelerating zeitgeist whirlpool of national terror, here is a photo of an Inuit girl with her puppy.

Just imagine that some of these halfwits are going to be college graduates in a few months. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

WTF is up with Marsilea vestita's distribution in AR and LA? Is it really just following the Arkansas then Mississippi Rivers? Why isn't it restricted to rivers in other areas? Why isn't it found farther north along the Mississippi? Some sort of crazy collection bias? What am I missing?

Had my students evaluate native (subsp. americanus) vs. invasive (subsp. australis) Phragmites australis. Looks like invasive stuff in Wichita. Now to genotype KS herbarium material...