Yesterday I was fired by Columbia University after eight months as executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. This was the first time in a 25-year career that I've ever been subjected to discipline in a job — much less terminated from one.

De-extinction is Mars colonization for biology nerds. Sorry but it is.

Promoting urban biodiversity for the benefit of people and nature Kowarik+ doi.org/10.1038/s443... "urban biodiversity is people’s primary contact with nature" "Biodiversity-sensitive and socially inclusive urban governance and urban planning are key to developing biodiverse, green cities"

Because Republicans are so evil, it's easy to lose sight of how bad Democrats are on public higher education. They tend to have a deeply condescending, classist view of public education as job training. Intellectual curiosity is to be reserved for those who get into private institutions.

I think some in the Senate have convinced themselves that the backlash to folding will be limited to “the left” and therefore ignorable. Those people are deeply and profoundly misreading the moment and the stakes. Virtually every swing district House Dem walked the plank to vote NO for a reason.

Anybody else annoyed at how universities act like their endowments are fake money? Even if only 15-20% of the funds are unrestricted, that is a lot of $$ for wealthy universities. They need to stop acting like they are Berkshire-Hathaway and protect their people and academic mission.

Columbia U. has an endowment of $14 billion. They should be fighting with all they have rather than capitulating to a dictatorial regime. The federal government is trying to set up an exception to the First Amendment to benefit a single foreign country, Israel. It won't stop there.

Spring peepers but only a few-not the entire chorus yet and no wood frogs

Favorite part of Star Wars was when Luke Skywalker took off his jacket and defeated Palpatine with his T-Shirt that said “Resist”

It often starts with criminalizing the speech of dissidents, journalists, and academics. Recently, professors in Turkey have been jailed for not being sufficiently pro-dictatorship. We're on a speedrun to a general crisis (economic, social, etc)

Sensible Op-Ed about safety issues involved in pathogen research. The public needs to have faith that scientific institutions are not putting them at unnecessary risk: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/03/o...

Is this true? Do it anyway. Academic freedom exists for this reason. As long as you aren't claiming to be a spokesperson for the university then it is fine.

If you have ever dealt with a narcissistic sociopath then you understand Trump's and Vance's hysterical reactions to moderate pushback from Velensky. I still wonder a bit if Vance is acting to keep his benefactor happy but now kind of doubt it.

My state legislators are Republicans because we're in a gerrymandered district that lumps us with ultra-wealthy towns on either side. Last night they had a town hall and a bunch of Democrats came to yell at them about everything. The Repubs acted like they didn't know what is happening at fed level!

Red-winged blackbird males are back today! Over the last 7 years this about the latest they have arrived. Chipmunks are already active and have had a robin already. Usually robins show up in larger numbers later. Wood frogs and spring peepers calling should not be far behind.

Come work with us! The New York Botanical Garden is hiring a Curator at the Assist. or Associate level. Profile: a productive and FUN Mycologist or Cryptogamic Botanist. Happy to talk to candidates about how wonderful one of the best botanical research centers is, easy. www.nybg.org/about/work-w...

Open to idea of taxing huge university endowments. Non-profit universities should not be hedge funds, health care systems, and real estate portfolios that run an education side hustle. But make it productive! Taxes go down as you serve more students, cut administrative bloat, and rein in tuition

We finally have some well-powered whole-genome heritability estimates, including a quasi-behavioral trait (BMI). For height, ~89% of the heritability estimated to reside in common variants. For BMI and WHR, ~100% estimated in common variants. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Baby boomers on local Nextdoor are arguing they shouldn't have to pay property taxes after age 65. The main argument is that more than half of the city budget is for the school system. They didn't like it when I pointed out younger people are already paying for their medicare and social security

Interesting comment in here about converting to a "direct admit" strategy for those Profs with the funds to bring in graduate students. I think we will be seeing a lot more of this, albeit not necessarily publicly announced or revealed.

Nothing better today than a message from our colleague Sergey Gaschack on FB about the recovery of several of his camera traps that were left in #Chornobyl for years, inaccessible due to war. Incredible #ChornobylWildlife footage amid the sound of war. Have a look: www.facebook.com/gaschak/vide...

It may not be cool or hip in some circles, but we legitimately do need a massive amount of people to run for office. Flood the school boards, councils, county seats, state legislatures, Congress, etc. Big changes at the top happen when the ground shifts at the bottom. And that can start now.

🚨PA colleagues: "Senator Fetterman wants to hear from you about how the federal funding freeze is affecting Pennsylvania." "If your project has been impacted, please fill out our constituent impact form:" forms.office.com/g/mFv2JAPxpC Get out your Other Support and share that info!

I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

The University of Pittsburgh confirmed Friday that there would be no new Ph.D. offers of admission while Pitt works to understand how reduced federal aid could impact the institution.

And here it is, my Joker moment. I am insane now.

The Democrats on the House Science Committee have set up a website to collect stories from fired federal employees, anonymously if desired. Please amplify. (This helps the lawyers establish standing for bringing legal cases against the administration!) democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings

Firings happening right now at the NSF.

Me, working on my little articles and book projects in February 2025:

RFK Jr up to no good again

Immediately assigning this new paper to my pop gen students! Waples publishes some real hits - "What is a population?" is another instant classic onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

For decades the dominant Democratic response to electoral setbacks has been "The voters are bad." We did nothing wrong, but look at these swine we have to appeal to! You can't ask the politics judge for a new electorate. You either figure out how to appeal to the one you have or you disappear.

My course (The Future of Tropical Rain Forests) was one of the ones stripped of its GenEd designation. I found out by checking the list linked in the article. I don’t know who reviewed or why it was deemed inappropriate. No one informed me, my Chair, or my Dean. www.alligator.org/article/2025...

Spoiler: The Democrats have learned nothing

😂 is this real? Seems like a psy-op to make fun of progressives www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/m...

this is not the only lichen-like symbiosis with the fungus on the inside - another I learned about from @spribille.bsky.social's textbook on lichens is Mastodia, where the algae forms the thallus - but that's a eukaryotic algae where phyllosymbia is a cyanobacteria en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodia

A few years ago, we started asking if the adaptation of Iberian wolves to anthropogenic landscapes could be associated with ancient introgression from domestic dogs. In our recently accepted paper at @genomeresearch.bsky.social we provide new insights: genome.cshlp.org/cgi/content/... 🐺🧬🐶

Congratulations Lindsay and coauthors! #nativeplants #urbanevolution

It is a massive mistake to completely wall yourself off from the arguments of people you disagree with. Also, the NY Times is doing some of the best reporting of the DOGE dismantling of the federal government. Real reporting costs money. Don't confuse op-eds with reporting.

Portuguese editorial cartoonist Zez Vaz reaches back to Tiananmen Square to call on American defiance.

Kid Rock on Bill Maher last night was better at making a case for his political views than any current Democrat, excepting maybe Bernie and AOC. The party is in shambles!

The dismantling of federal research funding is coming at the same time as the demographic cliff. The freshman class of Fall 2025 marks the beginning of a long period of demographic decline and austerity for US academia.

At faculty meeting a couple of days ago we talked about colleagues being fired at EPA, USDA, etc, and some suggested this presents opportunities for us to hire good researchers. The following morning we got a memo from the provost announcing an immediate and total hiring freeze.

This is so cool, "inverted lichen"! The first subtitle of the result section makes the point "Fungal hyphae embedded within the sheaths of cyanobacteria" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE) If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread. There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.

Just published today! We analyzed the SLOS dilemma for maintaining connectivity through urban sprawl besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🌸🏙️#PlantReproductionWeek The flower does not open in the city: evolution of plant reproductive traits of Portulaca oleracea in urban populations by Tomohiro Fujita et al. in @annbot.bsky.social #openaccess article 👉 doi.org/n5qg @portulaca-oleracea.bsky.social #PlantScience

Termination notices going out this afternoon to more than 300 employees of the National Cancer Institute. Access likely ends today. Four weeks paid leave and that’s it. Strong power move for Team Cancer.