If this ends up being due to some AI screening for banned words (even in different contexts), that would be absolutely shameful. I know program officers are strapped, but the community needs clarity on what happened here from NSF directly. The integrity of the entire proposal system is compromised.

well there’s an instant switch

another look at this generational chart crime

Read the replies.

Not something you see in textbooks very often: tripolar mitosis.

Link card preview #fail.

Everyone brings up a Muppets Christmas Carol as an example of a movie where the human actor plays against Muppets like it’s serious film, but what if we made A completely human movie, however the female lead is Miss piggy, completely straight laced, as if it is Miss piggy’s dramatic acting debut.

Long but good analysis of recent Science editorial. Organizations like AAAS (and so many more) are failing to meet the moment because they cannot imagine the status quo collapsing. They have no "crisis mode."

Conference poster challenge: Your poster in the style of a 1950s jazz album

Hey folks, if you like stories about your heroes turning out to be bad people, and uh, like wizards and shit, I have a book out now.

All my students would immediately read the scale!! A 1% increase (if that, do we trust that number..?) .. #GraphCrimes #ChartsAgainstHumanity #DataVis

At work a coworker didn't like the inhaler their doctor prescribed them. (Thought it sounded too fake) so they asked Copilot if there was more natural alternatives. It recommended mixing bleach and ammonia and breathing in the fumes. That required a very serious talk about not creating mustard gas.

The Unfamiliars is a story about being disappointed by people you once admired. This is theme that may resonate with you. (It certainly did with me.) It's also VERY FUNNY! 😄 Recommended!

But, as they say, there is no time like the present [OK, maybe the 1930s if you want to nitpick] But, with some data wrangling, my first NSF Funding Curves! 2/3

“Why doesn’t the public trust science? Why doesn’t the public like us?” is common sci/comm navel gazing and then there’s this going on the whole while. I’m absolutely disgusted by how many people I met, how many people who acted like gatekeepers telling me what I should do, all tied to this predator

It's really appalling that in the midst of a preventable surge of measles sweeping across several US states, leading national health authorities are not loudly and publicly recommending vaccination. How many more children need to die for this madness to stop?

Sometimes if you cut it down correctly, you can still see the last meal a tree had in its stomach when it died

1. I am tracking graphics and figures in academic journals made gen AI here: bit.ly/academic-slop 2. Keeping gen AI of the sort described here should be a completely solvable problem with run of the mill peer review and editorial oversight. 3. Change research assessment incentives.

Just discovered the wonderful covers of 'Genes to Cells', the journal of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan @mbsj-official.bsky.social – absolutely beautiful! here some examples inspired by mitosis, CRISPR, the DNA helix, and plant pigments

New: Former Texas A&M lecturer Melissa McCoul is suing the university months after Texas A&M fired her over a gender identity lesson. McCoul alleges that administrators knowingly violated her free speech and due process rights to appease political critics.

‘We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery. On a quiz that covered concepts they’d used just a few minutes before, participants in the AI group scored 17% lower than those who coded by hand’ Blog on Anthropic’s site www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...

D&D GM: ...as the villagers perish, the lich hits you all for 75 damage. What do you do? Mage: Fireball. Max level Barbarian: Channel my rage into my axe! HERE I GO! Archer: Overcharged arrows. Called shots. Eyes. Cleric: Turn undead. Let's send him to HELL. Chuck Schumer: I cast "Stern Letter"

Teddy wishes you a happy #GoldenRetrieverDay and would like extra treats The extra treats have nothing to do with golden retriever day He just likes them

I started offering career advice to two junior colleagues today in separate meetings, and both times I caught myself thinking that, if I'm honest, I don't have very good advice on navigating the current funding and job climate. I think it's important to say that no one does.

“There is a deep sense of sadness that this university is going down this path…Whether the regents understand this or not, it’s going to have a devastating effect.” Texas A&M Ends Women’s Studies and Overhauls Classes Over Race and Gender www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/u...

Hey! Spent my Sunday morning creating version number TWENTY-FIVE 2️⃣5️⃣ of my collection of hoaxes! Because an academic got sick of spam, so used software to create a fake paper and got it accepted in a predatory journal. Tale as old as time. Or at least a tale as old as a decade. bit.ly/StingPred

Texas A&M ends its women's & gender studies program while hundreds of syllabi remain flagged and censored under top-down review policies. “I have never seen anything like this.” — Dr. Leonard Bright, @tamu-aaup.bsky.social President @texasaft.org @texasaaup.bsky.social @cwa-tseu.bsky.social

If you are a student whose NSF GRFP application was returned without review for vague 'eligibility' reasons: 1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress 2) Write to your congressional reps. 3) Write to [email protected] to request re-consideration;

I'm at the Willard Hotel where I've been denied entry and kicked out of the Reclaiming Science event with NIH director Bhattacharya & other top agency leaders. @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social and I registered for the event months ago yet were told capacity was full, even as they let in dozens of others.

And especially now that art itself is facing the existential threat of garbage like A.I., the only quality I give a shit about is that a human being fashioned something with care.

Some of the men on here just hate girl shit. So when we gush about sweet little things they have to make it a competition to see who can kill the mood first 😩

I'm hearing from multiple people that students who submitted ecology GRFP proposals are having those proposals rejected without review, despite ecology being listed as an eligible field. If this is a programmatic change, this is devastating. Ecology is the study of Earth's life support systems.

Hi team, I have a help request - I'm sure I've seen folks on here who have either put together or seen a talk on using social media for academic / scientific work. Would you be willing to share those resources or references with me so that I can do something similar for my mentees?

Quote with five jobs you’ve had: Projectionist Snow shoveler Assistant professor Assistant professor Assistant professor (Three different institutions, so three different jobs)

🚨 Requesting help: I am looking for an agent who can facilitate more speaking gigs, podcast appearances, and interviews with journalists I want to more widely share my story and expertise as a trans geneticist who understands the reality and complexity of "biological sex" 🏳️‍⚧️🧬 Please signal boost?

I'm incredibly saddened by the passing of the Hon. Kirsty Duncan this week. The evening I spoke as a witness to the HoC Standing Committee on Science and Research that she championed and chaired was a pivotal night for me, the creation of @supportourscience.bsky.social, and eventually $ for students

Holy moly this chart: Cumulative US measles cases

I was maybe 2.5 years into my position as an Assistant Professor when my phone rang, and it was Kirsty Duncan, the new federal science minister, calling out of the blue. I had never met her. She asked me what she could do for early career investigators. /1

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the H-1B visa program in the state, and directed state agencies and universities to suspend new visa petitions.

🦀 Crab feed

Gutted to learn of the passing of Dr Kirsty Duncan. She was a tireless fighter for the people she served, not only her local community in Toronto but others, especially the science & research & athletics communities too. She championed equity, diversity, inclusion and made change happen. 🤍🙏🏻

mid-16th century illustration of a crayfish (Acocil in Náhuatl) included in the Florentine Codex, the oldest conserved copy of the Bernardino de Sahagún's Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España The work has over 1000 illustrations made by native Mexican artists

The last time it looked like TikTok was going to go down, a whole bunch of people signed up for rednote. I wonder how that app is going tonight do tomorrow?

Hey! Scientists! Did you discover something cool with your eyes lately? Maybe you made an image with a telescope or microscope? Or made an illustrative figure in a paper? That's great! Congratulations! I am BEGGING you to upload a copy to wikimedia commons a rant ⚛️🧪

Jane Richardson was born #OTD in 1941 + Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures) + MacArthur Fellow, 1985 + Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991 + President, Biophysical Society, 2012 #WomenInSTEM

“When researchers analysed the responses to more than 50,000 health-related searches in Germany to see which sources AI Overviews rely on most, one result stood out immediately. The single most cited domain was YouTube.”

Not my photo, but sent to me from South Florida. This is what happens when people release their 4" aquarium fish into the environment.This is an #invasive non-native clown knife fish from an established population in the wild now disrupting the native population. #fishyfriday #fish #nature 😥🐟 🌎

I don't want to license this whacked out arm anatomy illustration, Dreamstime, but thanks for the offer, I guess? 🤖💩