I have questions.

Connecticut is just…so…BEAUTIFUL in the fall. It’s ridiculous (& poorly captured on old cell phones).

LOOK. WHAT. I. GOT. FOR. ONE. DOLLAR.

A 2-y postdoc position in my former group at University of Copenhagen is available in microbial ecology and bioinformatics. See more: employment.ku.dk/faculty/?sho... Feel free to contact me if you have questions about the environment. Please share the ad.

Is “one Treehouse of Horror episode every night for the month of October” a fun family activity or is it the worst idea anyone’s ever had? Only time will tell… #spookyseason

What. A. Show off.

Cool. Cool cool cool. #nutmegsky #AcademicSky

To Disney+ & Hulu: byyyeeeeeeeeee

Looking at my inbox like

Spent a little time talking w colleagues about if/how they’re having conversations w undergrads about all the current events right now. How to manage controversial topics, conflicting opinions, safety and free speech. Not an easy task, y’all. How about you, fellow profs? What’s your strategy?

“LOOKIT THAT TREE” season feels extra soul replenishing this year.

Some good news today: I was chosen to present at our middle school’s College and Career Readiness Day.

Everything about this makes me sick to my stomach. The ignorance & illegality & unfairness & snowflakery & how right now some people’s hateful “religious beliefs” are triumphing over science, religious freedom, freedom of speech, academic freedom & basic empathy. Sad for USA. Mad for this prof.

SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in a college applicant's file is blatantly unconstitutional ALSO SCOTUS: considering race as one factor in targeting whom to detain and deport is cool cool cool

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Adobe Acrobat Reader telling me “This appears to be a long document. Save time by reading a summary.” with not 1, not 2, but 3 buttons to their AI tools. I’m…offended? Yeah, yep, that’s the right word. “Save time by reading less! Save time by learning less! Save time by thinking less!!”

The world needs more naturalists & science communicators. EVERY WALL COULD LOOK LIKE THIS!

A long time ago, I put Royal Match on my phone so if I was bored I wouldn’t resort to doomscrolling & I just reached a level so high it is genuinely upsetting. There shouldn’t even be this many levels. Is Royal Match infinite? Is this my religion?

Helluva front page at @uconn.bsky.social

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...

it is such an assault to check email after ignoring it for literally any amount of time.

I am very sad & very angry that a grifter with no medical or health-related knowledge got so famous saying “don’t trust the government about health” that he got appointed to the government & now we can’t trust the government about health. Why. Why have we done this.

11:59:00am: I am 100% committed to taking my kids to that Lego place in the mall but not buying anything. 100%. 11:59:01am: I have never beheld a better use for my disposable income than this Lego set. It was made for me and I will die without it. In my defense:

I want to know how much they are saving by cutting (contracted) janitorial services compared to what they spent on the stochastic parrot.

UConn’s budget crisis is this bad: Faculty and staff duties now include emptying their office trash cans. #nutmegsky #academicsky @uconnaaup.bsky.social

Can’t wait to read! 👀 Gillingham et al. 2025. @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social “The costs and benefits of a dynamic host microbiome” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As one can imagine, I have some thoughts. Here’s a thread no one asked for: 1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature. 2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…

One of the benefits/dangers of tenure: I’m using this slide in a lightning talk & no one can stop me.

A terrorist targeted federal workers last week. There wasn’t much reporting on it. But I’m not finished thinking about it! 🧵 An anti-vaxxer fired more than 500 gunshots into CDC Atlanta, shattering 150 “blast-proof” windows on 6 buildings. Employees were pinned down in terror.

chips & salsa = a bunch of vegetable, a little fat, salt a salad = a bunch of vegetables, a little fat, salt therefore, by the transitive property: chips & salsa = a salad

Office “art” update: Welcome Heihei! (Heihei replaced a Lego set from the series by she who must not be named…)

Old lady professor tip: If you are a student sending a document that you have written to someone else for comments - put your last name in the file name. BAD =“qualifyingExam.docx” GOOD = “Hird_qualifyingExam.docx” BEST = “Hird_qualifyingExam_01August2025.docx” Always. Make it a habit.

One of the most common science myths is that we need 10k steps a day...a number originating from a Japanese ad. In general, the more steps the better, right? However, several studies now identify inflection points around 7k as significantly reducing many health risks, from heart to dementia.

Were you just thinking “I wonder what the gastrointestinal tract of an ostrich looks like?” No, me neither. Yet here we are & it’s cool as heck. From”Comparative Animal Nutrition and Metabolism” by Cheeke & Dierenfeld.

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 The National Science Foundation has sent an email out to its members to collect signatures for a dissent declaration similar to the NIH’s Bethesda Declaration and the EPA’s Declaration of Dissent. This comes on the heels of Lee Zeldin putting 139 EPA declaration signers on admin leave

Discovered an amazing piece of UConn history/art. 1891-1991 Celebrating 100 years of Women. The University of Connecticut.

Thoughts? ctmirror.org/2025/07/03/c... #nutmegsky

These are the weak points. You know what to do. First thing tomorrow, use 5calls.org and raise hell.

“Simply because we were licked 100 years before we started, is no reason for us not to try to win.” - Atticus Finch, in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Alternate explanation: they are keeling over in shock & outrage from the SCOTUS decision.

I don’t know how they got like this so the most obvious & parsimonious explanation is that Toy Story is real & these finger puppets were having a blast when I walked into my office.

#nutmegsky #academicsky #sarah-is-so-sad-sky

Protect Transgender Scientists

This is the GRC conference I attended this week, and all these scientists are AMAZING - incredible symbiosis research across so many marine/terrestrial animal systems! Thanks @sarahhird.bsky.social for this starter pack :)

Started a starter pack for the presenters and attendees of the 2025 Animal-Microbe Symbiosis Gordon Research Conference. Let me know if I should add (or remove) you! go.bsky.app/Pnzz1R9

Currently at a conference and wondering why we don’t all wear name tags like all the time. They’re the best.

BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.

“The bill’s process for selling off lands runs at breakneck speed, demanding the nomination of tracts within 30 days, then every 60 days until the arbitrary multi-million-acre goal is met, all without hearings, debate or public input.”

Fun fact: there will be a “No Kings” group marching in the Boombox Parade this year and we’re all invited.