Help needed!! The summer got the best of me in terms of getting my shark sculpture to Minnesota, but now I really REALLY need some help! If anyone is making road trip legs between Baltimore or Pittsburgh towards the Midwest, PLEASE let me know! My fish lab would love to see this happen! Thanks 🦈

71.5% cut to BIO. Just...jesus fucking christ on a bike

Come meet me to transfer a shark sculpture! It fits in my Honda Odyssey, so any vehicle with at least that much space would work. The first leg is to Pittsburgh and I can meet you halfway. In this hellscape, bring a little good to your world. Also, my kids think I'm moderately cool now.

Hi folks, I've got a follow up request about my large (~10ft) shark sculpture 🦈 Can this network help me come up with a caravan of folks who can transport the sculpture from the Baltimore area to the Illinois/Wisconsin/Minnesota area? The sculpture fit in a minivan! And I can help w/ gas money

alright i have my laptop, guess i'm livetweeting the dire wolf preprint. so a quick reminder: this is not yet peer-reviewed, so there's some different expectations re: quality. also let's be clear, i'm a hella biased reader, bc i don't trust the hype they're courting

Thanks RC @rchoover.bsky.social for giving a really toothy talk about dentition in Stichaeids to my ichthyology class, today! Also, special thanks to the research mentors as well! @kassthefish.bsky.social, @karlycohen.bsky.social, and @cmdonatelli.bsky.social

Scientists love to debate and argue, but if there are 3 things every scientist absolutely agrees on, it's that: 1. Climate change is real 2. Vaccines work 3. Those are NOT dire wolves 😤 🧪

And this is why science communication and science literacy is so important. 🧪

“De-extinction” is to biodiversity loss what “Mars colonization” is to climate change—wishful thinking that is at its core impossible but nevertheless sucks up attention and resources from actual solutions to these crises (which, ultimately, might be the whole point)

All jokes I've made about species concepts during my career aside.... YIKES. This is BS.

The NSF's flagship fellowship program typically gives offers to 2,000+ young scientists. This year, in the face of looming budget cuts, that number was halved: only 1,000 received an offer. Our story on what that means for the science talent pipeline: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Well, UMN has officially been hit. We just got an email from our president that an international grad student was detained yesterday. No further details provided. This. Is. Crushing.

Congratulations to Bell affiliate @pjhundt.bsky.social on his recent publication, which describes several new species of studfish! Peter Hundt has added many fish specimens to the Bell’s collections. Read more about his research in our blog post: www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/blog/newly-d...

Trying to come up with the words to say. I'm terrified for our students. We just received an email that an international grad student at UMN has been detained. Minnesota has laws stating police are not required to provide info to ICE. Admin claims no info was given. How can we protect our people?

TransGENETIC ≠ TransGENDER Say it again louder for those in the back (and apparently also those in the front who are unable to read things correctly)

Okay huge ask/question. Do I know anyone in the Baltimore area who could store a ~10ft shark sculpture for me? I was supposed to go pick it up this month but my schedule has gotten chaotic. I could pick it up later in the spring or early summer 👀 It should fit in a mini van or Suburban for transit

Yay!! A federal judge in California sided with a coalition of unions, temporarily barring the Office of Personnel Management from ordering federal agencies to terminate probationary workers, stating that the firings were ‘illegal, should be stopped, and rescinded.’

Today was the kind of day where a turkey visits your office window 🦃 It *really* wanted to be let into the building 😂

BREAKING: The mass firing of upwards of 1,800 workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including top climate scientists and weather forecasters, has begun. The firings reportedly include workers at the National Weather Service.

Firings at the NWS will kill people

Research universities are often the largest employers in their region. They are often the primary health care providers to communities. This funding shift will not only reduce US research leadership, it will put working people out of work and reduce healthcare access.

The NIH announced it will slash billions of dollars of support to universities and research centers. This is one of the biggest attacks on science we have ever seen. It could dismantle the biomedical research system, shut down clinical trials, and halt development of treatments.

Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.

This is going to be absolutely catastrophic for academic research. The amount of support public universities get from grants is astronomical, so those universities can be functional. It's not a waste; it literally supports our country's medical research. Science is valid!!!

Not the university changing to a new HR & purchasing system (called PEAK) to make things more "centralized." Sadly the E in PEAK doesn't stand for Efficiency 🤦🏾‍♀️ My folks are dealing with late pay, missing research checks, incorrect tuition reimbursements, and lack of health insurance 😬

While Trump has been distracting America with everything else, Elon Musk’s staffers are quietly taking over NOAA and the Department of Labor. They are also using AI to help rewrite a significant portion of the federal government’s computer systems.

Hi everyone. Just a reminder that it's okay to not be okay. I'm overwhelmed by everything and very much LIVID at what's happening. Things are bad and unprecedented. Know I love you all. Science is real. Trans people deserve life and happiness. Your feelings are valid. YOU are valid.

how it feels to be a new PI writing grants and papers right now

This is how you do it. Thank you @sicbjournals.bsky.social Read their whole email to membership here mailchi.mp/sicb.org/sic...

I am continually proud to be a member of SICB. Great science 🤝 great people

Note to fellow professors: it’s perfectly fine to let attendance slide if your students are out participating in protests to stop a coup in your country. After all, education is liberatory practice.

I probably don't even need to say this, BUT. Me not posting about every nightmarish thing is not because I am not internally (or externally!) screaming multiple times per day, i just figure you heard about it from 100 other people posting about each new nightmare. I assure you, my soul is cracking.

Grants = SALARIES Grants = clinical trials Grants = equipment for critical research Grants fund your health, your way of life, and our knowledge of the world. Freezing grants will halt crucial science and will be catastrophic.

Offering a brief reprieve from the crushing anti-science news with this juvenile sturgeon. Hang in there friends!🧪🐟

Don’t let this go down without us raising a ruckus. This is blasphemy.

SHARE WIDELY. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one. (1/3)

BONKERS to me that Elon's double nazi salute isn't the leading news story today. What in the fuck kind of world

The Royal Society continuing to have Elon Musk as a Fellow is atrocious

Snuggly kitty picture for a difficult day. Ajax/Beans 🫘 gives all of you amazing & strong folks a virtual hug ❤️

What to watch instead of the inauguration? Wicked? The Eras Tour? Homecoming? Literally anything would (and will) be better.

In 2016 I threw myself into local work because I couldn't sit there and The Cheeto win. I got burnt out because I didn't understand PhD/life/politics balance. I don't regret that work. I don't care that I could've been more "scientifically productive" if I hadn't done that work.

Just in time for the polar vortex (so it won't be temps above 0°F until Tues), my radiator heating system has stopped working. The landlords are contacted, but over/under for how long it takes for my house to get to 50°? We're already at 54° 👀 At least Beans and I have blankets and I can make tea 😂

Join us tomorrow (Jan 5) for our Bioinspired design symposium! It will be a great space to think about how biologists and engineers work together to produce great science and innovative designs. 📍 Location: Marquis C 🕣 Time: 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM 🔗 #SICBioinspired #SICB2025 @karlycohen.bsky.social

When scientists are about to show your their big graph and they say “You ready?” right before they click to reveal the results? Yeah. I like that.

Thanks @solomonrdavid.bsky.social and @garlab.bsky.social for hosting me! And also thanks to @kassthefish.bsky.social for the help! Shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus) sampling for #garnomics: check!✅ Who’s next? #EndlessFishMostBeautiful

So, #AcademicSky, are you telling international students/other mentees not to travel after Jan 20th? I have a postdoc from China I am worried about, trying to figure out what to put into place in case she is deported. Based on this article and others: wesleyanargus.com/2024/11/18/u...

Fish/ Wet collection folks! Where do you source your largest jars from (5-10g+)? Please rt!

Trying to make my way over here after a hiatus from That Place.... Hi everyone! I'm Dr. Ford, a new-ish prof in Minnesota, studying evo of fish skulls. Let me know who you are and I'll do my best to follow folks back! I want to try to curate another awesome scientific and leftist network 💜💙

Had a great visit to Minnesota with @kassthefish.bsky.social!

It's been a few months in the making... & it's now finally ready: The Anti-Colonial Research Library hosts 400+ open-access articles and books, websites, YouTube videos on practical examples of Indigenous and anti-colonial research methodologies. Use and share widely! anticolonialresearchlibrary.org