Anyone looking to do grad school in fields related to ecology/evolution should consider applying!

Patterns and drivers of diatom diversity andabundance in the global ocean rdcu.be/ehlG4

Many of us who don’t work on space science directly were inspired to become scientists because of NASA. Also, about 30% of NASA's science budget is for Earth and climate science, and they run one of the global climate models that's used by the IPCC. What happens at NASA will affect all of us.

The Trump administration just withdrew the US from two global climate programs: the loss and damage fund, which aids countries hit by climate disasters, and the Just Energy Transition Partnership, which helps developing countries transition from coal.

Judith Butler: "Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?"

Our paper is out, and it is distressing. Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Stand up for Science on March 7th. Find your local rally or organize one yourself! standupforscience2025.org #Science #Sciencenotsilence

⚠️A recent study reveals that a novel acidic organelle in the marine phytoplankton Scyphosphaera apsteinii plays a dual role in both phagocytosis and autophagy, highlighting its multifunctional catabolic capabilities. #coccolithophores 🌊 #protistsonsky nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Access to the GPM database removed for US researchers 😬

Crowds are massive in Silver Spring, Maryland…the home of NOAA. People chanting, “Save NOAA Now!” and “We will not weather the storm.” Make your voices heard and keep it up. #NOAA #NWS Severe Weather is on its Way. And so is hurricane season. 🌀 🧪

As my friend @drshepherd2013.bsky.social says, asking why we need a National Weather Service when we have apps and the Weather Channel is like asking why we need potato farmers when we can buy fries at McDonalds.

Our latest on the genetic content carried within different populations of DNA-containing particles in the oceans! Vesicles and viruses likely play distinct roles in microbial horizontal gene transfer networks. Grateful to all collaborators www.nature.com/articles/s41... #MicroSky

Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

Francis Collins, longtime NIH director with bipartisan bona fides*, retires as of yesterday. He returned to NIH in 2023 to focus on research in his own lab, in the NIH in-house intramural research campus. His letter seems to imply he wasn’t ready to leave. NIH is being torn down. 1/🧪 #academicsky

This is sad www.science.org/content/arti...

Ted Cruz said he’d found $2 billion in “woke” science grants, but his team used keyword searches that flagged things out of context, like a grant to develop a device to treat severe bleeding that mentioned “victims” and “trauma.” www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

Hero

All the folks who exited NBC today. Seen together, hoo boy. Message received.

THE conference of diatom molecular and cell bio is happening in Ghent this year ! Make sure to submit an abstract ! Flora

Two obsessed mathematicians spent 20 years and finally solved one of the biggest outstanding problems in the field www.quantamagazine.org/after-20-yea...

At this point, doing science is resisting.

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

NEW: NSF confirmed that they fired 168 employees today, out of their staff of ~1,500 feds. This includes some people who'd finished their 1-year probationary periods, which were extended to 2-years last month without explanation. More to come.

Firings are happening right now at the National Science Foundation. Essential staff are being cut. This isn’t about the budget. If it was, they’d be going after the military (17%) or state appropriations (38%). NSF is 0.7% of the federal budget. All federal employees make up only 4% of the budget.

People in tech talk about the idea of a “10x programmer” — someone whose work is worth that of 10 others. I get the impression Musk etc think they can apply it all over the federal workforce but like… there’s no such thing as a 10x ATC navigational aid maintenance worker. Some jobs just need people.

I wrote a column in my hometown newspaper about the importance of keeping SCIENCE FUNDING in our community 🧪 More soon about the power of writing back HOME 🏠 www.chicagotribune.com/2025/02/15/g...

I'm starting to hear that NSF firings have begun. If you're affected and want to talk, please reach out via signal @jonlambert.12

Dear NSF scientists and staff: If you're looking to talk to a journalist about what's going on at the agency, please reach out (from a non-governmental phone/computer) via signal @jonlambert.12

Firings happening right now at the NSF.

Part 2 of Dr. Young’s story

I am forever grateful for the strength, bravery, and determination Dr. Young had in the face of great adversity. No one should have to face what she did. #BlackHistoryMonth

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth friends! Let’s talk about Earnest Everett Just (part 1)

Paper out in Ecology Letters from @akrinos.bsky.social : onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... Exploring intraspecific diversity of thermal performance of G. huxelyi in lab experiments and ocean ecosystem models 🧪🌊🌡️#protistsonsky

I was thinking about this today. Our lab uses BLAST all the time. Scientists pull genomes from NCBI to do comparison studies to identify new genes or figure out what genes do. Pubmed is an important tool to find published studies on most medical topics. These have to be up to date to be useful. 🧪

Jesus Christ

Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

A review of quorum-sensing and its role in mediating interkingdom interactions in the ocean www.nature.com/articles/s42... #jcampubs 🌊

Observed declines in upper ocean phosphate-to-nitrate availability www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... #jcampubs 🌊

Sabotage. Criminal sabotage. "[The NSF] is planning to lay off between a quarter and a half of its staff in the next two months, a top National Science Foundation official said Tuesday." www.eenews.net/articles/sci...

Happy to share our latest paper led by Will Boulton just out in 'Scientific Data'. Significant effort including #Alfred-Wegener-Institute, @jgi.doe.gov, @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social ++ Metagenome-assembled-genomes recovered from the #Arctic drift expedition #MOSAiC www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Make the government make you take down articles @asm.org Don’t do it in advance as a precaution because of loss if funding or whatever. Hell, I would’ve paid way higher membership dues if I knew it would help you take a stand and if you gave us that choice vs whatever this is. Now, not so much

What the NSF is doing this week is damaging *generations* of scientific researchers and American investments in science. Billions of US tax payer dollars in investment, being thrown away, because of a fucking fishing expedition that is intended to terrorize and set the stage for a real witch hunt.

🧑🏽‍🔬Hey #undergrad juniors and seniors! Seeking paid, hands-on experience in #marinescience + #engineering? Spend the #summer doing research with a WHOI #SummerStudentFellowship! 📲 Applications are due Feb. 5 - get the details: go.whoi.edu/ssf-program

This is not business as usual. It’s not just a change in funding priorities going forward; it is the reneging on funding agreements and is profoundly disruptive for even those grants that will be found to be compliant. Meanwhile, trainees who often live paycheck to paycheck are going unpaid.

⚠️ Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08458-x 🐘🐅🦜🐋🪲

NSF Career Award supported invention of Foldscope - now reached 3 million kids globally with ~1 million kids in US - bringing joy of science to grassroots & communities with very little support. It’s brought communities working together on global problems. www.goldengooseaward.org/01awardees/f...

Post the amazing science things you have done with federal funding.

Medicaid is shut down across the country. One of my daughters is reliant on nursing care to attend school (she requires a one-on-one nurse to be safe). Nursing is only covered by Medicaid— our private insurance pays for none of it. Without Medicaid I can’t work and she can’t go to school.