💬 Don’t miss the latest Evolution Exchange, in which SSE President Dr. Gina Baucom talks with Evolution Letters EIC Dr. Judith Mank about the use of AI and LLMs in scientific publishing: www.evolutionsociety.org/the-evolutio... @gbaucom.bsky.social @judithmank.bsky.social @evolletters.bsky.social

Then why can’t we automatically register people to vote?

Always exciting to see the Avignon Papacy in the news

me: *sees the avignon papacy* pop up in political news also me: THIS IS MY MOMENT

fine, I will also learn about the Avignon Papacy

I'm thinking about all the people googling "Avignon papacy" or looking it up right at Wikipedia, and I love this for all of us. It gives me hope.

This is the way

all these universities kept axing medieval history departments as if they thought tyrants beefing with the Pope was going to stop being relevant

I'm going in person to #Evol2026 (and probably will have a poster) but I'm currently planning to give a talk in the virtual meeting: I want to reach all the people who will not be traveling to Ohio for various reasons and help support the welcome & inclusive move to virtual.

Who’s coming to #Evol2026 in Cleveland this June? I’m going! Cleveland’s a great town—good food, great lakefront, and plenty to explore between sessions. Show of hands? ✋ Early registration closes soon ⏰

A KU freshman is opening a Mexican food truck focused on birria dishes this month to help her pay for nursing school. lawrenceks.news/4dxVV2u

“Make good use of the power given to you, and remember that whatever you do to another human being, especially to the small and vulnerable, you do unto me.” cruxnow.com/vatican/2026...

After taking time to connect with the Pretti family and with their consent, we are honored to share that we have created the Alex Pretti Nursing Scholarship. For those interested, you can learn more and make a gift here: crowdfund.umn.edu/campaigns/Al...

Four students from Lawrence High School have earned gold medals from the Scholastic Art Awards, a longstanding national competition for teen artists. lawrenceks.news/41LyefQ

This.

NEW: The President once again called to eliminate federal library funding in his federal budget proposal. We have been here before. And when we make our voices heard, we can overcome this again. Tell your Senators to reject the cuts & #FundLibraries in next year's federal budget: ala.org/showup

Of course, exactly what I want for my children- a more unaffordable life and endless war. What mother wouldn’t be overjoyed?

I saw a post today that referred to the “Trump Regime” instead of Trump administration, and I felt that in my bones. We do not have a functioning democracy. That this year marks 250 years since the founding of this country is the bitterest, bitterest irony.

I am shocked to see this language from the NSF. “The U.S. National Science Foundation's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request reflects a strategic alignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment while eliminating woke and weaponized grant programs that previously funded radical DEI projects.”

I don’t have words. Just astounding.

The goal is honestly nothing less than the destruction of American science.

Here are more details for our #AGA2026 President's Symposium, all about Polygenic Adaptation in a Changing World! This symposium will promote a broad, synthetic discussion of adaptive evolution for complex traits, bringing together theoreticians & empiricists working on diverse organisms. 1/2

I keep thinking we can’t go lower, but of course we can.

For #NSF and #NIH watchers, Grant Witness now has interactive data on numbers of grants and total funding obligations, broken down by institute and directorate, new awards and non-competitive renewals. The stranglehold on new awards is still a disaster. grant-witness.us/funding_curv...

NEW: Democrats have officially claimed a second upset in Florida's recent special elections. The AP just declared Brian Nathan, an electrical workers union leader, to be the winner of a tight state senate contest in reliably Republican West Tampa.

Congratulations to Dr. Maurine Neiman, recipient of the 2025 ASN/SSE/SSB IDEA Award! She will present her work during the IDEA Award plenary at the virtual Evolution meeting this May. #Evol2026 www.evolutionsociety.org/news/display... @maurineneiman.bsky.social

Ok, but nice burn.

I’m finishing my tenure as Chief Meeting Organizer for the Evolution Meetings. Apply to replace me! Without a doubt, this is my favorite service I’ve ever done. In trying times, it was a real balm to get together weekly with a group devoted to making the best meetings we can for students.

While the situation is grim at NIH, it's closer to catastrophic at NSF. They're just not able to move any money out the door. It appears OMB has them on lockdown. www.science.org/content/arti....

One of my favorite pictures of me with all of my favorite boys! Happy birthday, Michael!

In case you were wondering, yes, democracy is dead. www.npr.org/2026/03/25/n...

A new paper suggests that grant terminations from the NIH over the past year may have further punctured the so-called "leaky pipeline" because women were more impacted by grant terminations than men www.statnews.com/2026/03/23/n...

My cannibals? Both fine and young.

🧪Typically, the NIH approves roughly $5.3 billion in cancer research funding every fiscal year. The amount that’s been distributed so far this year has alarmed researchers. At just under six months into the current fiscal year, only $541 million in cancer research grants have been delivered. 👇👇👇👇

Taking good care of my health this year so that if a certain event happens I can dance in the streets with my friends.

I hope his child hates him forever and never forgives him.

Submitted a letter of rec today- one of my favorite professor activities. Antidote to all the depressing stuff!

KU IRACDA has three postdoc positions open iracda.ku.edu. Eligible applicants must demonstrate interest in teaching, have a biomedically-relevant research focus, and an identified KU faculty sponsor. www.employment.ku.edu/staff/32261BR .

Evolution is faster with stronger selection, but this may come with a demographic cost. Xu & Osmond characterized conditions when the chance of evolutionary rescue increases with the strength of selection across different scenarios. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Apropos of everything, if you want to do something tangible that I promise REALLY makes a difference, throw some quarters at @colinmcroberts.bsky.social ‘s campaign to unseat a MAGA bootlicker in the heat of ruby-red Kansas. colinforkansas.com

🌿 Postdoc opportunity in plant evolutionary ecology/genetics! My lab in the Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to start Fall 2026. We study plant adaptation, using weeds as model systems. #Postdoc #EcoEvo Pls RT!

I've been on SSE council since 2022 -- first as a council member and now as SSE President. I've loved every minute of it and have learned so much. If you're an SSE member and are interested in serving on council, let us know by self-nominating!

It turns out the U.S. did a “double tap” attack just as emergency responders were arriving at the girls’ elementary school. This is what the Russians do routinely in Ukraine. That’s a war crime under international humanitarian law.

Newly released footage shows an ICE agent killing Rubin Ray Martinez, 23, in his car in Texas. "He was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger." www.bbc.com/news/article...

I am super excited to announce that after a tumultuous period of uncertainty, KU MARC marc.ku.edu has been awarded another five years of funding! news.ku.edu/news/article....

If you research or are simply interested in human genetic variation, ancient and modern, read my and Noah Rosenberg's latest in GENETICS academic.oup.com/genetics/art... 1/2

KU has recently been awarded a $2.2 million Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) grant from the NIH that will carry on this tradition for another five years. news.ku.edu/news/article...

Leipzig U and the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) have an open faculty position (W2) in evolutionary population genetics! This position is tenured and comes with generous core funding. We are eager to welcome a new colleague! Deadline March 11. www.uni-leipzig.de/en/newsdetai...

"There is perhaps no stronger evidence of the [Trump] administration’s objectives to reduce the quality of the US scientific workforce than its treatment of the [NSF]’s flagship Graduate Research Fellowship Program," writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4d0fi3N