I voted!! Remember PA folks control of the State Supreme Court is on the ballot and PA’s richest man is trying to buy the election. Vote yes to retain all 3 justices if you don’t want him to succeed.

It seems every time I log onto Bluesky there is a new story of video of ICE doing something horrible. Its all so horrific and I can't help but feel hopeless, having no idea how to stop it. So I'll do one of the few things I can, share some of what is happening to make sure folks are aware.

I shall never understand the obsession with mums when we have such spectacular fall blooming #nativeplants

I missed World Dense Breast Day. I have a family history of breast/ovarian cancer & extremely dense tissue. I am lucky to have insurance that covers supplemental screening with no copay/deductible. Though we recently switched to self insured which exempts us from state law, so 🤞 that remains true.

Supposed to be talking about DNA cloning in my Gene Editing FYS tomorrow, but... students are working on a misinformation paper, so how do we not talk about Autism and Tylenol?!?!? Then the Huntington's Gene Therapy news dropped, and how amazing is that... So much to talk about, so little time.

Would normally wait until later in fall but didn’t want to chance ACIP further restricting COVID vaccine access so got my flu and COVID shots today. They came with free goodies and now I want snacks with shots to be a regular thing.

I am at a PUI where faculty have limited funds to pay for publications. That fact has not caused our institution to consider alternatives to peer reviewed publication when reviewing our scholarship, rather we're expected to find a way to publish anyway. bsky.app/profile/prac...

What I did over summer vacation... Part 1. A 4 day mule-supported trek through the Sierras.

What a week to have been teaching about the horror of the eugenics movement, and whether its still alive and well...Though, as far as I know, I'm not being cancelled. I feel grateful to be at a place where we can have difficult conversations in the classroom.

We've reached the week where I teach eugenics in my FYS. I always poll the students to see how many have learned about the US eugenics movement prior to our class...only 1 student had this semester, and she came upon it on her own working on a research project. It's always only been 1 or 2 if that.

I made the mistake of going off script and managed to reach the voicemail length limit because I had things to say bsky.app/profile/bach...

Thank you Google for this gem to use for Tuesday’s AI chat with the students

What I did over summer vacation... Part 1. A lovely weekend in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

Jim Hudspeth has died 💔 I am so sad. He was probably my favorite hearing researcher of all time. Absolute genius and also generous - he spent hours on the phone advising me on my career even tho we barely knew each other. May his memory be a blessing. www.ted.com/talks/jim_hu...

I didn’t know him personally but certainly knew his science. His passing is a loss to the hearing research community bsky.app/profile/rock...

Some July photos from my #NativePlants garden

Hugely grateful to @alleninstitute.org for their Coding for Undergrad Educators workshop. Learned sooooo much and am feeling confident that there will be some coding in Neurobio in the spring! Highly recommend my fellow educators get on their mailing list and keep an eye out for future workshops.

Traded the lakes of Madison for the lakes of Seattle. This week’s adventure is a coding workshop for undergraduate educators put on by @alleninstitute.org.

At the #IZFC2025 community session we talked about the importance of communicating to the public the value of what we do. In my hotel elevator afterwards was asked why I was in town and I got to give my literal elevator pitch. Mission accomplished... though wish I had time for a bit more details.

Made it to Madison. Looking forward to seeing fellow fishy folks soon. #izfc2025

Excited to be heading off to #IZFC2025! Less excited about my choice of a 6:30am flight.

Also got my first monarch photo in the yard of this year.

Some of my favorite scenes from my summer hikes thus far.

Not as exciting as my plants, but I also officially became an Associate Professor today.

Time for the June native plant photos.

I called Dave McCormick again today about this bill. I think it’s really easy to feel hopeless right now but speaking up can make a difference, we got the public land sales off the bill. We have to at least try to get some of the other stuff off as well. bsky.app/profile/ampo...

Are you interested in a mentored science writing experience? For early career zebrafish researchers consider writing a Scince Spotlight article for the next IZFS News Spash newsletter. DM or email me ([email protected]) and/or Karuna Sampath ([email protected]) and let’s get started!

These are some of the places I've visited that could be put up for sale if the Senate Reconciliation bill passes with its requirement to sell 2-3.3 million acres of public lands over the next 5 years. You can see the lands eligible for sale here: wilderness.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant...

Can’t compete with the big cities but a lot of folks came out in Easton to say #NoKings

My first spice bush swallowtail caterpillar!!

Huge amount of respect to all those at the NIH signing onto the Bethesda Declaration condemning the politicization of science. You can read their letter and sign on to a letter of support here: www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

Made the mistake of asking one of my students if she knew why the save icon looks the way it does. Now I feel old.

Putting out the #zebrafish batsignal (or I guess fish signal). Does anyone in the US have ccdc40 mutant embryos they would be willing to send me? Also potentially interested in mutants in other motile cilia genes.

With another month coming to an end figured I would show off my May blooming native plants

Speaking of things to comment on in the next 3 days. Schedule F will reclassify large amounts of federal employees, including those handling grants, as "policy making positions" essentially making them political appointees. Read the full linked thread for more details. bsky.app/profile/jere...

It is looking increasingly likely that COVID boosters will be limited to those 65+ unless you have a preexisting condition. If this is something you disagree with I'd encourage you to submit a public comment prior to VRBAC meeting: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD..., comments close in 3 days.

My Bioinformatics Bootcamp turned blog! Enjoy this collection of free #zebrafish resources, now posted on @the-node.bsky.social. While not comprehensive, it gives an assortment of cools tools available to researchers. Feedback would be appreciated! thenode.biologists.com/bioinformati...

Proud of my three students Amanda, Maddy and Tess for successfully defending their senior theses. They all came up with great projects and worked their butts off this semester completing them. It has been a pleasure watching (and I'd like to think helping) them grow as scientists in their time here.

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

An informative thread on the benefits of the NSF and what’s currently happening to it. I would encourage everyone to read it and the use the info to reach out to your elected officials

An undergraduate in a colleague's lab has had a rough go of finding a postgraduation position in the current craziness. Had a grad school offer rescinded and other positions disappear due to funding concerns. Anyone out there looking for a tech? He has experience working with drosophila.

If you haven't seen it yet, what is currently happening at the NIH got attention last night on both 60 Minutes (www.cbsnews.com/video/nih-cu...) and Last Week Tonight (youtu.be/8H34jcpEsFs?...)

I wrote about how we must stand and fight against the threat of eugenics. Fueled by white nationalism and scientific racism, these beliefs are factually wrong and ethically abhorrent. This fight includes supporting efforts to diversify our workforce & science. To stop now would be a deep betrayal.

Exciting to see my native plants coming back in bloom!

I have to run 2 space heaters over the winter to keep my fish room at temp. This has regularly led to the fish room overheating from time to time. I complained about this on Twitter last year and someone recommended thermostat controlled outlets. They worked!! Not a single overheat all winter.

Well if nothing else this dire wolf thing is going to lead to quite the how the news media covers science discussion in my FYS on gene editing in the fall.

For the first time I have students going to NCUR!!! Amanda and Tess will be talking about their thesis work, swing by if you will be there. Amanda have a warmup presentation at the Lafayette Spring poster session yesterday. She's investigating whether there is a gut-hair cell connection

Well, that glimmer of hope was fun while it lasted. Seems this is related to the firing of the Comms teams. It is much easier to gut scientific funding when you don't have folks talking about all the good scientific funding produces for society. bsky.app/profile/arde...

Thank you @booker.senate.gov for showing there are still Democrats willing to stand up to fight for us. I still feel a lot of fear and concern for the future of our country, but I also felt a little glimmer of hope today, and it's been a while since I've felt that bsky.app/profile/atru...

As spring approaches it seems a good time to inform folks that may not know that lilies are EXCEEDINGLY toxic to cats, it doesn't take much exposure to cause kidney failure. This is no where near as well publicized as it should be given the prevalence of lilies in floral arrangements.