On Monday, some employees at the EPA’s Office of Research and Development began receiving emails detailing that they had been assigned new positions within the EPA. "There is no action you need to take the reassignment, and there is no option to decline.”

Amidst all the drama at the EPA, we’re still trying to do science. Buying reagents has been prohibitively difficult, but on the bright side, we finally got some new supplies today! That we ordered on April 30…. Most of this is focusing fluid for our flow cytometer, nothing costly or unusual 🧪

Just a few more days until the deadline! If you're planning to apply to Bio-based PhD programs this year, considering joining us at the Biology Preview Program where we'll walk you through the PhD application process and help you polish you application materials! Apply here: bit.ly/4n4Nxtu

Not pictured: the small shout and large flinch when this spider—inevitably—jumped on me. #jumpingspider #macrophotography 🧪

Not an April Fool's joke: The CDC has been gutted. Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a RIF. www.wired.com/story/cdc-gu... from @makenakelly.bsky.social @leahfeiger.bsky.social @knibbs.bsky.social

Whenever I move somewhere new, for some reason, people love to tell me about how bad their allergy season is. I do think North Carolina takes the cake though. Footprints and tire tracks in pollen is a whole new level.

This weekend I went out in search of some fun things to look at on my microscope and found some flowers that I thought would be cute. And they are cute, but even better, they were COVERED in aphids. Probably not great for the plants, but a very fun surprise for me. #microscopemondays #microscopy 🧪

Think corn was the first crop to be domesticated in the US? Think again. 🌽 In my latest video for @scishow.bsky.social, I dive into the story of America’s lost crops—ancient plants that were farmed in what is now the US long before corn took over. youtube.com/watch?v=VjFT... #SciComm 🧪

A pie graph worth keeping in mind as the NIH budget plummets jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... for 356 new FDA drugs approved

The wildflowers around my apartment are quickly becoming my favorite microscope muses 🧪 #microscopemondays #microscopy

From 2010 to 2016 (latest data I have ), NIH research contributed to EVERY drug approved by the FDA

One of my favorite tools for designing pretty graphics for my science is coolors.co which can help you build a color palette for your poster or figures. If you have some colors embedded in your work already (like these microscopy images I had) you can build a color scheme around them #scicomm 🧪

This week I had been planning to attend the @sotoxicology.bsky.social annual meeting for the first time. However, DOGE had other plans. But the science-sharing must go on! So here is my poster plus a thread with some details of what I’ve been doing. #2025SOT 🧪

This is what many cities in the U.S. looked like before the EPA. Why the heck would anyone celebrate deregulating it?

Love finding out that I’m probably going to lose my job by seeing someone post this story on Instagram 🫠🫠 This is very bad. Not just for me and others who do research at the EPA, but for the health and safety of everyone who lives in the US. 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/c...

The flowers have started blooming in North Carolina, including this teeny one I’ve seen popping up all over the place. 🧪 #microscopemondays #microscopy

This is a sad day for the EPA. However, I know that many of us at the EPA are dedicated to the true mission: to protect human health and the environment. And we’ll do our best to keep fighting for that. 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/c...

Pine needles are much prettier than I realized #MicroscopyMonday #microscopemondays #sciart #microscopy 🧪

March 7 @standupforscience.bsky.social happened. I now have a question. Reply to this thread w ur answers! What do we do with this momentum? Think innovative, creative, mundane, give us all your ideas. We have ideas, but this is for EVERYONE. I want everyone’s ideas.

NC friends of science. Join me tomorrow in Raleigh on Halifax Mall by the State Capitol for the Stand Up For Science Rally--talks begin at 12:30. Let's remind our neighbors and our politicians that science solves societal problems, develops disease treatments and creates jobs! 🧪 Please share

Found out yesterday that no one from the EPA’s Office of Research and Development can attend the upcoming Society of Toxicology meeting—presumably to cut costs. Not as dire as mass layoffs, but still a real loss for science and transparency 🧪

Science fuels economic opportunity—creating jobs, driving education, and supporting mobility. We're standing up for science to protect the critical infrastructure that makes this possible. Stand Up for Science with us on March 7th! #scienceforall #standupforscience2025

Dandelions: basically tiny, fancy bouquets if you zoom in enough. #MicroscopyMonday #MicroscopeMondays 🧪

Made some signs tonight to get ready to #standupforscience 🧪 @standupforscience.bsky.social

Cane toads are surprisingly good navigators and can travel home even when moved a kilometer away. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🫠🫠 “Trump said the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, had said he might reduce headcount at that agency by 65%.” 🧪 www.reuters.com/world/us/mus...

🚨⬇️🧵 What’s Going on With Medicaid? A Breakdown of Congress’s Budget Fight The House just passed a budget resolution that could lead to $880 billion in spending cuts—and Medicaid is on the chopping block. Here’s what you need to know:

Classroom/Library enrollment was down pretty bad in February. National chaos and uncertainly likely has something to do with it. Can you help me make sure that all the educators on bluesky know Skype a Scientist exists and is ready to connect them with scientists? Every RT helps! #EduSky #STEMEd

Well it seems like this spending limit has reached the EPA. We just want to be able to buy supplies to do research to figure out whether or not chemicals are toxic, is that too much to ask? 🧪

🔬 #MicroscopyMonday 🍄 🧪 The underside of this little fungus looks like a mini coral, which apparently means it’s toothed? Found growing on a log in North Carolina. I’m not sure what it is—any mycologists out there recognize it? #Fungi #Mycology #Nature #MicroWorld #microscopemondays

DOGE is slashing federal science jobs—harming public lands, research, & safety. See this thread for agency budgets & workforce details, then download state-specific info cards linked below. Call Congress & fight for science! #FundScience #SaveOurAgencies

1/ I am seeing a lot of comments on the slashing of NIH support along the lines of “universities should just spend their huge endowments.” I’m the last person to cheer on the institutional stratification rising endowments have contributed to. But let me explain why this is not a solution.

When you definitely should have thrown out the bouquet last week… but the fungi got a head start on decomposition. 🧪 #MicroscopeMondays #MicroscopyMonday

Want a break from the doom and gloom of the news? Please enjoy this video I wrote for @scishow.bsky.social about octopuses and their powers of persuasion youtu.be/Ou-tbidf5GY?... 🧪

Young researchers mobilize to protest Trump administration’s science policies  www.statnews.com/2025/02/13/r... via @statnews.com @cdelawalla.bsky.social @samschuelstein.bsky.social @emmalovesscience.bsky.social @leslie-bern.bsky.social @standupforscience.bsky.social

During my PhD, I created Roots to STEM, a podcast about the many paths that lead to a career in science. Scientists come from all backgrounds, and meandering journeys are just as valid as direct ones. Sharing this as a resource for anyone who feels like they don’t belong in science.

📣 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT 🔬 I made this short comic to explain what the #NIH cuts mean in practice because behind the abstract label of #overheadcosts are real people, doing important work! #AcademicSky #resist #organize #scicomm

Some worm wiggles for your Monday morning 🧪 #microscopemondays #microscopymonday

Cutting the indirect costs paid by the NIH will put an enormous cost burden on universities, cutting into resources available for doing the actual research. This move is a huge blow to scientific progress by American researchers. 🧪 www.statnews.com/2025/02/08/n...

I’ll be live posting about this on Thursday from the @sconc.bsky.social account, but I recommend checking out the talk in person or virtually if you can make it! 🧪 #scicomm

A little ciliate from a stream near my house. If you look closely you can see the cilia beating along its body so that it can swim #microscopemondays #microscopymonday 🧪

In a time when America’s scientific institutions are being questioned, I want to highlight some of the important work the EPA does that often flies under the radar. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I had no idea the EPA did this kind of work until I saw my current position advertised. #scicomm 🧪

The sphagnum moss from our Venus fly trap has some (very brief) Dune-style worm riding by a little mite #microscopemondays

I asked for a microscope for Christmas so why not share some of what I’ve been looking at? 🧪 Suggestions for future things to image are very welcome #microscopemondays

Hello, little friend. #invertebrates #macrophotography

Excited to see my PhD research featured on the cover of Current Biology - and it's an extra bonus to see it paired with a photo I took. These little frogs have been a central part of my life for the past six years, so it’s great to see them get some cover time. 🧪🐸🦠🧫

Love this write up from @jakebuehler.bsky.social about my dissertation work. www.sciencenews.org/article/bact...