Please repost: My department at USC is hiring for a teaching-track faculty position. We are looking for someone principally to teach statistics for biologists, but there will be opportunities for other courses in statistics & algorithms applied to biology usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

Pollution levels in Paris after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.

Another new paper for the reading pile: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... They find that the partisan shift in support for higher ed “began at the national level and was instigated by nationally oriented ideological activists rather than mass-level demands…“

That fireside chat with Jay Bhattacharya: a view from across the pond - “In his answers to difficult questions, Bhattacharya revealed himself as someone who gets very uncomfortable when confronted with inconsistencies in his behaviour or views.”

My first Trillium of the year. T. erectum along the path in Merrow Meadows Park, Mansfield, Connecticut

#SilentSunday Perkins Cove Marina, Ogunquit, Maine

Trump 1 vs. Trump 2: The role of the two other branches of government (legislative and judicial)

Hey regional friends, UConn's Titan arum is blooming next week! Follow the botanical conservatory (instagram: @uconnbotanicalconservatory) and come visit! We'll have extended hours on the night of the bloom. 🪰👃🌿

R version 4.6.0 "Because it was There" (source version) has been released. It should be on CRAN by now. #rstats The choice of codename is in remembrance of R Core member Tomàš Kalibera (1978-2026). Among many other things, he was a keen mountain climber.

Michael Roth's thoughts on the Yale report - Yale Has Come Up With a Surefire Way to Make a Terrible Situation Worse www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/o...

Sarcasm alert! - If that CDC report had just included some fake citations and some crazy dietary advice, the boss would surely have approved it for publication. | Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/04/22/i...

Leopold did not imagine nature as a pristine wilderness untouched by human hands. We are here, and have put ourselves in a position where we cannot but act in and on the world. But even if we have no option but to “tinker,” we must do so with reverence and humility. 🌱🐋🦋🦫🧪🌎 #HistSTM #PhilSci

This news is not a surprise, but it is scary. Global energy markets are on the verge of a disaster

Current grad students: Submit your research proposal by May 18th to be considered for a Graduate Research Excellence Grant! Learn more about how to craft a strong proposal on our website: www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

My quote of the day I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts. Abraham Lincoln

I am hiring a popgen postdoc! Looking for a creative scientist to join us at USC to investigate recessive variation and complex traits in model or non-model species. The project is funded by a multi-year NIH grant, contract can be renewed. Job add & details 👇🏽 usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...

“I have seen the future of science. It is ruled by bitter competition instead of collaboration, pageantry instead of exploration. Bright minds … will be taught to debase their training for drudgerous pursuit of meaningless metrics.” statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/04/20/94/

I know from an earlier discussion that @stephenbheard.bsky.social would agree with you (and I do too). Stephen convinced me that even in the rare case where “utilize” might be more appropriate, it is likely to be misinterpreted.

With the help of the Sandy Hook families, The Onion has reached a long-awaited deal to take over InfoWars. We've enlisted the help of @timheidecker.bsky.social, who will be InfoWars' Creative Director. Please stand by for more.

Epstein Craved Harvard Connections. Many There Were Eager to Help. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/u...

I went to the library to get a book on Pavlov's dog and Schrodinger's cat. The librarian said that she thought it rang a bell but wasn't sure if it was there or not!

Lawmakers Question Publish-or-Perish Culture of Research www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Every once in a while there’s some good news. Renewable energy is the future. - For the First Time in the U.S., Renewables Generate More Power Than Natural Gas e360.yale.edu/digest/us-re...

As evidence of how little attention US news media pays attention to the rest of the world, I give you this. I wasn't even aware that special elections were coming or that they could give Careny a majority. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/w...

Spread the word! UChicago BSD is currently searching for an instructional professor (open rank) to help develop and support graduate training in quantitative biology at UChicago. This is an Instructional Professor position (open rank). apply.interfolio.com/183517.

It's looking increasingly likely that I'll be hiring a 3-year computational pop-gen postdoc/PhD-level scientific programmer to start this Fall (2026). If you or someone you know is defending soon, and looking for a position, please DM/write to me! Thanks!

Hampshire College in Amherst will permanently close in the fall

I’m sure that @bcdreyer.social will agree with this: You cannot go against the grain of people’s intuitions about how their language works and expect to win. But I wonder what he thinks about the rest. I wince at most of the examples.

My quote of the day I've paid my dues Time after time I've done my sentence But committed no crime And bad mistakes I've made a few I've had my share of sand kicked in my face But I've come through (We're gonna go on and on and on and on) Freddy Mercury www.youtube.com/shorts/CFrXM...

Good news from Hungary — A take on the election news and thoughts about the future of Trumpim from down under crookedtimber.org/2026/04/13/g...

One year ago today

The attempt to cap overhead costs at 15 percent is dead. - Trump administration ends court battle to cap NIH indirect costs

Shocking, I know, but investigators found that X's algorithmic feed "increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions". They "found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Four years ago as @gbif.org passed 2 billion records, I tweeted that GBIF was, to a first approximation a database of birds x.com/rdmpage/stat.... Four years later we have nearly twice as many records (3.6 billion) and... it's still a mostly a database of birds www.gbif.org/occurrence/t...

They should have called it Straight of Schrödinger: it is both open and closed depending on whom you talk to and when.

Hero rat who sniffed out over 100 land mines is honored with giant statue

What proportion of the sunflower genome has an indel in at least one individual? Basically all of it -- there's almost no sequence (at least at the 100kb window scale) found in all sunflowers!

Reposting because we all need a moment

The Department of the Interior is proposing to cut more than $150M in funds for tribal colleges and universities. - Interior Department Proposes Axing Tribal College Funds

If you want to follow NSF funding yourself and you have a bit of familiarity with R, check out rnsf from Brian O’Meara

LTER has been archived for about a year now. It’s normal between solicitations. LTER is still here.

I have been hiding in the desert, clamoring on rocks while taking tips from lizards on the best way to collect seeds from the Death Valley Sage. @npr.org came along for the ride and it was amazing. www.npr.org/sections/the...

I look forward to buying and reading this when it becomes available.

NSF LTER program “archived”. LTER=“Long Term Ecological Research”. This program has been incredibly successful, incredibly frugal for what they accomplish, and…of course…targeted by evil know-nothings. My heart is breaking.

No agenda, no meeting

Cherry blossoms in Japan.

#SilentSunday Near Shenipsit Lake, 31 May 2025

!! Wow, NPR article highlighting botanist @naomibot.bsky.social !!

Morning iced tea bottle cap wisdom

The world just lived through the 11 hottest years on record — what now? www.nature.com/articles/d41...