The professor is in!

Twelve years (and 2.1 billion views) ago, when my brother and I decided that we could make videos that could maybe help people in their high school and college educations and then give them away for free, no one was there to tell us we were crazy, and I am very glad for that...🧵

Word of the day is ‘forswunk’ (13th century): exhausted from too much work. I like to think that ‘foreswunk’ is to be exhausted before you even begin.

In Pope Francis’s last public address, he preached care of the marginalized, the vulnerable, and migrants, saying: “I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves.” May we heed his wish.

This would be utterly disastrous not just for climate research, but this data is very interwoven into the fabric of our economy. As the story notes, farmers and fisheries depend on it. It is *crucial* to the insurance industry.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for another INCREDIBLE MARCH MAMMAL MADNESS! #2025MMM Please help defend the Arctic and protect Polar Bears! www.defendthearctic.org

Time has NOT run out, & each of us can make an impact protecting our communities & recovering our ecosystems- through our time, through our effort, through our choices, through our political engagement, through our thoughtful conversations with loved ones. #2025MMM

March Mammal Madness would not be possible without MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES, & the Department of Education!!! Protect theses essential foundations of our society. These are the fulcrum moments of history on which our future TILTS. #2025MMM

Further- March Mammal Madness would not be possible without the incredible achievements of scientists the world over, so many funded by those engines of excellence- the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration #2025MMM

Real Talk: you hear from me A LOT, but March Mammal Madness is made possible by the most incredible teaMMM of the very awesomest people you will ever have the honor of knowing and collaborating with! #2025MMM

Recent weeks, months, years have been full of challenges and heartbreak. For everyone. For all of you here tonight, we are so happy and thankful that you are joining us in this celebration of our natural world. #2025MMM

The funding for these long COVID research grants was given back bc disability activists urged us to contact our reps persistently, in high volume, and we did. Remember that these tactics work the next time someone tries to get you to passively react instead of taking an active part in organizing!

RAMPANT TAIL ENVY IN MY TIMELINE #2025MMM

I have spent three hours trying to solve a problem with census data and ArcGIS so I can extract data for a colleague’s dissertation research. I am somehow no closer to a solution now than I was when I started. I’m going home, we’ll try again tomorrow.

WOW WHAT A NIGHT! Polar Bear Narwhal Gelada Sun Bear Gingko & Rhizzo Alligator Gar Addax & Puma ADVANCE to Tomorrow Night's ELITE TRAIT and the beginning of RANDOM HABITATS! Who will triumph? WHO WILL FALL? #2025MMM

Y’all wanted carnage… #2025MMM

Such an epic battle! Though I sort of got attached to frilled shark and those terrifying teeth… #2025MMM #NoSleepOnlyShark

I can't believe I actually spent time making this mmmeme #2025MMM

AND A BIG WARM WELCOME FROM THE #2025MMM COMMMUNITY for our special GUEST NARRATOR FOR THIS NEXT BATTLE... @solomonrdavid.bsky.social

#InspirationalIntermission #2025MMM

NOW THEY'RE PEEING JUST FOR FUNSIES #2025MMM

AARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? #victoriousInaction #galumphing #copiousUrination #2025MMM

Next Up: 1-seed Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) and Rhizzo (Rhizophagus aggregatum) vs. 5-seed Ringed Seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) #2025MMM

Does anyone in my network happen to have a successful Spencer Foundation Small Research Grant on Education proposal that they would be willing to share? #STEMEd #BioEd #STEMEducation

I'm prepared to be otterly devasated #2025MMM

#InspirationalIntermission #2025MMM

Another day. By Creative Amir. #bcvammm #2025MMM

Next Up: 3-Seed Frilled Shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) vs. 11-Seed Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) #2025MMM

Y'all, getting to narrate battles for #2025MMM is literally a dream come true. I started playing in college and fell in love with animal biology, scicomm, and education. Nearly a decade later, I have a PhD in ecology and am doing a post-doc in science communication education. What a beautiful thing.

#2025MMM I had so much fun painting these. The sturgeon skin particularly!

Next Up: 6-seed Starry Sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) vs. 11-seed Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) #2025MMM

I'm having tardigrade flashbacks... #2025MMM

I was on a plane during my first ever #2025MMM Battle, but I had so much fun writing it! Though as an eternal fan of the plants- it broke my heart to say goodbye to our friend the fern!

Yet another dedicated scientist and public servant, this time from US Fish and Wildlife, showing up unpaid after she was fired to volunteer to protect an endangered species. What are we even doing here. 🎁 link: 🧪

A confession suitable for this Ash Wednesday, written by Howard Thurman (many decades ago):

#2025MMM libguides.asu.edu/MarchMammalM...

Highlights of really cool new research coming out of ESA journals, would highly recommend checking all of these out-- especially the one about seed sourcing for restoration :) esa.org/blog/2025/03...

I had the flu last week (0/10 don't recommend, get your flu shot!) and it happened to correlate with a week where a million very big things happened in my life. Therefore, this week I am playing the world's worst game of catch-up and struggling to not succumb to the desire to just go back to bed...

🧪🚨 NSF's Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) has halted making nearly all new awards since inauguration day. Among *many* other things, EDU runs the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). We need to protect the education & training of the next gen of scientists #StandUpForScience Thread👇🧵

I escaped poverty because I am a scientist. And I am a scientist because of the National Science Foundation. A 🧵:

The #2025MMM DIVISIONS!!!

The White House has just rescinded a memo ordering a "temporary pause" on federal funding. It's an astonishing reversal, a day after officials defended the funding freeze as necessary to ensure government spending was aligned with the president's vision. Read more from @axios.com ⬇️

Today, I wrote a list of all the ongoing projects I currently have on the whiteboard in my office. Let's see if forcing myself to look at the absurd list will force me to actually say no sometimes. #AcademicSky

I'm having the kind of day where I'm bouncing between about 10 different tasks, which is nothing new working in academia. What is new is the feelings of excitement and fulfillment that are coming from this rather than stress. Every day is a step closer to where I want to be.

The most wonderful time of the year! So excited!!!

I am a former incarcerated firefighter. I served in a California fire camp from 2009 to 2012. Misinformation is afire on the internet, so here are facts about the prison firefighter program, all in one place. A thread.

Guys, I think I’ve finally learned how to read for fun again! I’ve read four books so far this year, which is more fiction than I read all last year (and most years of grad school tbh). I’m so happy to be reading again.

Listening to people speak about the life and legacy of Jimmy Carter and feeling deeply how much we need people like him in leadership today. Honest, hardworking, and dedicated to improving the world for ALL people.

Occasional reminder that there’s no, “it’s too late, its over” for anthropogenic climate change. Every molecule of CO2 that doesn’t go into the atmosphere makes a difference. Preventing 0.1 degree of warming makes a difference. Every bit of climate resilience we build together makes a difference.