my biggest scientific achievement this week was brain-worming my friends so that they *also* mutter the journal name "PNAS" to the tune of Gwen Stefani singing B-A-N-A-N-A-S in 2005's "hollaback girl".

I've been a reader and member of @talkingpointsmemo.com for literally decades and it's one of the most impressive independent media operations in the country. Amazing how long it's been going, producing great reporting and analysis. Indispensable. talkingpointsmemo.com/memberships

Read my dear friend's new paper on the effects of habitat management for population dynamics of a threatened bird species! Per usual, Ana leverages badass data science skills * prodigious field experience to reveal complexities in conservation 😍 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Thanks to @drkatemarvel.bsky.social for speaking with me this morning about why she decided to leave NASA, the work she was doing, her concerns about federal science and also what gives her hope. 🧪

@kristymferraro.bsky.social led me, Julia Monk, & @andrewabraham.bsky.social in this *epic* new publication about how large mammals move nutrients around, creating hot spots (and hot moments) of fertility. Give it a read! This one was so fun. 🦌🦬🐘🦙 nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across. If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers. If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.

Consistently love Terry McGlynn's thoughts and am grateful for some of the hopeful elements in today's letter.

A lot of people seem to be realizing that some of their scientific heroes are, at best, creeps.

utterly disgusted. The trust between a student and their professor was grossly abused to the point of potential for, if not outright, trafficking into a job/position that would have placed the student in harm's way.

Looking for sources for a @nature.com story about how researchers are coping in the midst of current events: If you're a PhD or other academic who's struggling to focus with everything that's happening in the world and would like to be interviewed for this story, please get in touch ASAP!

slowly learning how to watercolor (omg it's hard) and figured i'd start with some of Newfoundland's weirdest flora (purple pitcher plant). the prettiest predator you'll ever see!

We recently tested ~ a dozen public statements from a diverse set of Democratic elected officials on the murder of Renee Good and this was the top testing one

I think about this CONSTANTLY. Maybe I'm naive, but "why not both" seems SO attainable if a bit more bandwidth was given to profs - research success would be even more contingent on our students' success, then, incentivizing *good* mentorship and education not just tons of overextended versions.

caribou crew 🤘🦌🌲

New analysis of the major qualitative differences between natural and artificial intelligence (via LLMs). LLMs and humans form judgments differently across seven epistemological stages 🧵 osf.io/preprints/ps...

I feel SUPER strongly I'm the scientist I am bc I started an art major, took tons of history and writing major classes, before declaring biology halfway thru. *not saying I'd be a bad scientist without liberal arts, but I like the one I've become and I'm good at thinking critically because of it.

When I do career panels, people often ask me what about my PhD was most valuable for becoming an award-winning* science journalist. Sure, I have a PhD in science But I have a bachelor's in Philosophy and I use it every day of my life. *not big awards, but still, I'm not terrible at my job.

“It is not acceptable to recruit a variety of students into the laboratory, subject them to a variety of stress tests and abuses, and then keep the students who thrive under abuse and get rid of the students who aren't able to thrive in the lab. That's straight-up exploitation.” 👏👏👏

If a politician: -Has never cared at all about whales before; -Is in the pocket of big oil, an industry which has a financial incentive to oppose alternative energy; and -is a well-documented liar, You don't have to take their "we have to stop offshore wind to save whales" claims seriously.

The President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, PPFP, has been a jewel in the crown for faculty development and recruitment at the University of California for years and the results have been an expanded faculty with almost 100% tenure rates — unprecedented success.

Dr. Orrick is one of the MOST thoughtful people I know about co-existing with predators. Can't wait for more from this team!!

www.hcn.org/issues/57-9/... thinking more and more about the essential links between unmanaged (if such a thing exists) land and explicitly managed farmland. The connections are so much more important than we realize; as an ecologist, it's impossible to care about one and not the other.

I OBVIOUSLY feel that this work is so cool, and so important! congrats on this publication!!

Animals don’t just live in their environments—they transform them. And in doing so, they may also shape their own evolutionary trajectories. Our new paper in Trends in Ecology & Evolution introduces a framework for zoogeochemical niche construction. A thread 👇

www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪🦑🐠

Worked with Dr. @kristymferraro.bsky.social, Tony Ferraro, and Dr. Julia Monk on animal welfare in zoos! Big takeaway for me in the process: interrogate whether we're talking individual care, or population care -- a critical difference when it comes to decision making. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Omg I had the best time talking about #seaweed with Alie Ward this week @ologies.bsky.social We talk evolution, anatomy, cooking, tattoos and more. Let the seaweed love wash over you. www.alieward.com/ologies/macr...

Quoted by @evertlindquist.bsky.social on the intersections between wildlife communities and carbon in the ecosystems they're found in 🦌🌲 Thanks for the wonderful conversation, Evert!

DEEP DISH COMMUNION WAFERS

I followed the San Jose State volleyball controversy as it happened, and this detailed account, with the participation of the trans athlete involved, is utterly heartbreaking. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/m...

Folks, if any ocean scientists, educators, or conservation professionals are interested, I've had some guest spots open up on upcoming shark field work. No cost to you (other than getting yourself to the boat). I invite guests to talk to my grad students about their career paths. That can be you!

For the right person, this is a unicorn dream job Head, IUCN Global Ocean Team

My last PhD thesis chapter is published after three years of revisions, and reframing, to make it clear that it's not a soil science paper; it's not an animal community paper; it's BOTH. Excited for you all to read it! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Here’s today’s #OceanOptimism apnews.com/article/lobs...

fucking around hath occurred; finding out has commenced

This *is* illegal, and threatens the very foundations of scientific inquiry. (Not only that, it's the broadest of brushes; so many of these words are just...words you'll find in an average methods section. This kind of complying in advance will shut us all down, whether we're funded by NSF or not.)

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.