I'm teaching about the structure of DNA, genes, and chromosomes. If you're in the same boat, consider bringing the DNA Landscape into your class! It can be tricky to "see" how representations of DNA are related, so we created animations to make it more visible! sites.google.com/view/dnaland...

Clickbaity headline: I've been wrong about Prince for 41 years! gregcrowther.com/2025/09/20/p...

I set out to avoid the News by writing about academia, but it got dark: The function of higher education is split between credentialing and actual education, and the angst around academia mostly oozes from the gap between them: open.substack.com/pub/chadorze...

If you’re not antifa then I’m sorry, you’re profa

I agree with the post below, with the possible exception that Redford's writing for his Sundance catalog was (IMHO) not especially successful. gregcrowther.com/2008/08/23/t...

Good stuff, as always, from Dan Drezner. I often find Nate Silver smart and funny and interesting to read, so I'm also interested when other smart people explain why they think he's wrong about something.

This point from Sotomayor: what Kavanaugh is proposing to shift administrative burdens from the state to the individual, with the widely-agreed upon expectation that the burdens will fall heavier on some groups more than others.

I know, I know, but: The president of the US saying, literally, "we're going in" in reference to sending the military to an American city for no reason beyond terrorizing the local population should be the most immediately impeachable shit imaginable

A good, balanced essay. Yes, keep working on critical thinking, but make sure there's room for exploration and absorption. slate.com/life/2025/09...

Trump continues to shout fire when there isn’t even smoke. There is no “crime emergency” in DC In our latest @contrariannews.org piece, Tom Joscelyn & I outline how Trump illegally declares emergencies in his quest to amass power & bull doze democratic checks

Slightly diminish a band: Huey Lewis and the Weather

This week's delightful shock: learning that an @apsphysiology.bsky.social colleague, on my radar since 2018 as an excellent physiology educator, is also an excellent jazz vocalist! Do her students know how cool she is?!? lavallejazz.com/LisaQuartet/...

Attention @uwnephrology.bsky.social: If you've enjoyed @loggyleila.bsky.social's biostatistics song summaries of her Renal Grand Rounds presentations, you should check out her latest "single" about a bad spinal-cord breakup. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZN...

Here is my new science music video: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together . . . the biology version. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZN...

These Americans served with honor for more than a decade. Put their lives on the line. Trump fired them, just for being who they are-and now is denying retirement benefits our nation promised them for their service. Treating troops this way is dishonorable, unfair, & harmful to national security.

Yet another helpful explainer to counter the ignorant disinformation spouted by the unqualified extremist who is currently destroying the HHS

I am pretty sure that Kamala Harris wouldn't have taken vaccines away from the American people.

We should be very clear that these attempts to manipulate government data (e.g. census counts, labor statistics, etc.) in order to concentrate power are textbook authoritarianism.

Here at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon for the USA Track & Field championships, I was tickled that, on the electronic scoreboard for the pole vault, the current vaulter's current attempt is represented as a *blinking cursor* until they make it (O) or miss (X).

More good news: "Senators from both parties endorsed a $400 million *increase* to the budget of the NIH on Thursday, in an Appropriations Committee vote that represents a clear rebuke of President Trump’s plan to dramatically reduce the agency’s spending." www.statnews.com/2025/07/31/n...

Trump is finding every lever he can to misuse his power and kill any speech that's critical of him—whether that’s the media, universities, or law firms. These groups are the independent guardians of our democracy. We must speak out to preserve free and independent speech.

Well done, Napa Auto Parts of Pullman, WA!

This is sick. Our prison camps have merch. Yes, we're really here. From @marisakabas.bsky.social www.thehandbasket.co/p/alligator-...

I've been briefed on the intelligence - there is no evidence Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States. That makes this attack illegal. Only Congress can declare preemptive war.

"Trump is using the Guard and the military to enforce his will, not the law....When rioters were on his side, he didn’t call in the Guard. He embraced the criminals, pardoned them, and purged the law enforcement officials who prosecuted them. He’s a despot and a scofflaw." -- @saletan.bsky.social

New "data" from my human physiology class.... In response to the test question below, three students wrote "eww!", one wrote "yikes!", one wrote "Danny needs a new team." The other 17 didn't comment on the disgusting premise.

My approach to pop culture and humor in biology class, as summarized in one exam question....

Today my 8-year-old played Hangman with my 6-year-old for the first time (I think). The 8yo's word for the 6yo to guess was "Sigma."

Today during a cardiovascular lecture I used the phrase "straight from the heart." At the break I played a bit of the Bryan Adams song and asked my students if they had heard it. The only 2 who said yes had heard it via their GRANDparents! Either I am super-old or their grandparents rock hard.

Anyone following me here but not on LinkedIn? If so, here's the latest call for participants in our project for helping 2-year-college STEM faculty improve their exams.... www.linkedin.com/posts/ben-wi...

Alternative graders! I'm working on a blog post about "rookie mistakes" -- the things that new alt. graders most commonly do that cause them trouble. My list so far: - Unlimited reassessments - Too many standards - Super-duper complex system What would you add?

Chekhov's gun rule applied to parenting: if there's an open beverage container in Act 1, it will definitely get knocked over and make a mess in Act 2 or Act 3.

There are so many more implicit trust relationships than any of us realize. Even the most prestigious/rigorous scholarship depends on most things *not* being bullshit.

The administration's understanding of the "merit-based hiring" that is supposed to replace DEI is to fire a Black woman with relevant professional qualifications and replace her with a personal crony from a different profession entirely who is literally a guy named White.

I will block any arms sale to a nation that is doing direct personal business with Trump. We should have a full Senate debate and vote. UAE's investment in Trump crypto and Qatar's gifting of a plane is nuclear grade graft. An unacceptable corruption of our foreign policy.

Surprisingly chilling sight of the evening: a lone Lego minifig head floating in my son's bathwater. President Business, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?

Report from @science.org: • NSF staff told that its 37 divisions are being abolished. Programs within to be drastically reduced. • Layoffs expected, details via memo Friday 5/9. • Another round of grant terminations expected. (Already 1400 cancelled ~$1bn) www.science.org/content/arti...

My 8-year-old has reached the stage where, when he hears the phrase "Ural Mountains," he immediately changes it to "Urinal Mountains." Sigh.

The new NIH director said grants “canceled because they’re DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion]-based science … [which does] not actually have anything to do with promoting the health of the American people” www.science.org/content/arti... So let’s take a quick look at some of his past papers… 🧵

I'm sure that the question below (from my last Human Physiology exam) represents the peak of SOMETHING, though not necessarily the peak of great teaching.

Time to catch up on the past week’s news about science and medicine in the US. Whew. 1/10

A reminder that every small bit of good you do - whether it be putting art into the world, helping a friend or stranger, donating to a good cause, or just listening to someone who needs to vent - offsets all the evil in the world just a little bit. And sometimes that's just what the world needs.

What are "NSF priorites"? I suppose they're what you get when you warp NSF priorities almost beyond recognition.

This was such a good read -- very well-reported and very poignant.

In true academic fashion, here's me getting bent out of shape over a minor semantic issue: gregcrowther.com/2025/04/25/w...

The NSF discontinuing “misinformation” research b/c it threatens free speech is laughable. 9/

One of my Human Anatomy students, to her table-mates, as she exited the muscle lab today: "Good luck with the sarcoplasmic reticulum, everybody! Enjoy the sarcolemmas!" I heard this and thought: "Her work here is done. And so is mine."

I had an intense flash of rage & grief when I just checked that yes, covid.gov is abhorrent. I want to talk about how to handle toxic content from an evidence-based comms perspective. Because I do want to discuss that site, but I do NOT want to amplify their propaganda for them.

This AM's parenting win: my 6yo can't leave for school until he has a specific little Lego piece, and, searching a pile of 1000 pieces on the floor, I FIND THE DESIRED PIECE IN THE NICK OF TIME. That's my "Rocky on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art" moment for the week, if not the month.