Tom Langen
@calocitta.bsky.social
parent, birder, story teller, ecologist, academic
A moving essay about being a faculty member at a good but inviable small college.
#academicsky
#academicsky
The Long Goodbye: Leaving Northland College
One faculty member’s story of exigency, heartbreak, and finding a path forward
substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:25 PM
A moving essay about being a faculty member at a good but inviable small college.
#academicsky
#academicsky
Reposted by Tom Langen
"Behavioural scientists are increasingly calling for context as a key to addressing pressing problems caused by human behaviour. However, despite its powerful ability to generate contextual hypotheses on the basis of relatively simple rules, ecological thinking is rarely applied to human behaviour"
Behavioural sciences need behavioural ecology - Nature Human Behaviour
Behavioural scientists want to see more consideration of context — so why are they not using tools derived from ecology, the science of all life in context? We invite behavioural scientists to align t...
www.nature.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:34 AM
"Behavioural scientists are increasingly calling for context as a key to addressing pressing problems caused by human behaviour. However, despite its powerful ability to generate contextual hypotheses on the basis of relatively simple rules, ecological thinking is rarely applied to human behaviour"
In 5,000 years, almost all texts and video / audio recordings from our century will be lost to time. Future historians will pore over what remains, which will consist mostly of fragments from the Epstein files.
December 31, 2025 at 3:21 PM
In 5,000 years, almost all texts and video / audio recordings from our century will be lost to time. Future historians will pore over what remains, which will consist mostly of fragments from the Epstein files.
I finished my patch of the Canton-Potsdam NY CBC
-11 C with 30 kph wind. Roads very icy and blowing snow.
24 species
First bird: Raven
Last New Bird: House Finch
Most abundant species: Snow Bunting (of course) at 113
Best birds: 4 Bald Eagles, a Red-bellied Woodpecker
🦉🌿
-11 C with 30 kph wind. Roads very icy and blowing snow.
24 species
First bird: Raven
Last New Bird: House Finch
Most abundant species: Snow Bunting (of course) at 113
Best birds: 4 Bald Eagles, a Red-bellied Woodpecker
🦉🌿
December 30, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I finished my patch of the Canton-Potsdam NY CBC
-11 C with 30 kph wind. Roads very icy and blowing snow.
24 species
First bird: Raven
Last New Bird: House Finch
Most abundant species: Snow Bunting (of course) at 113
Best birds: 4 Bald Eagles, a Red-bellied Woodpecker
🦉🌿
-11 C with 30 kph wind. Roads very icy and blowing snow.
24 species
First bird: Raven
Last New Bird: House Finch
Most abundant species: Snow Bunting (of course) at 113
Best birds: 4 Bald Eagles, a Red-bellied Woodpecker
🦉🌿
An excellent essay on human evolution, and the reevaluation of 'archaic' humans. I don't agree with all (bow & arrow wasn't a key adaptation; the first people in the Americas came without it), but it's worth reading if you are curious about how our lineage is the only hominid that remains on earth.
Why one branch on the human family tree replaced all the others | Aeon Essays
We are just one branch of a diverse human family tree. Aside from Neanderthals, who were they – and why did we replace them?
aeon.co
December 28, 2025 at 3:49 AM
An excellent essay on human evolution, and the reevaluation of 'archaic' humans. I don't agree with all (bow & arrow wasn't a key adaptation; the first people in the Americas came without it), but it's worth reading if you are curious about how our lineage is the only hominid that remains on earth.
The warm winter days are the worst
Snow clings to skis like a bad thought
Today is cold and powder snow
Sun peek-a-boo-ing behind clouds
Down the old gravel road, I glide
And focus on the stride and slide
#poetry
Snow clings to skis like a bad thought
Today is cold and powder snow
Sun peek-a-boo-ing behind clouds
Down the old gravel road, I glide
And focus on the stride and slide
#poetry
December 27, 2025 at 8:21 PM
The warm winter days are the worst
Snow clings to skis like a bad thought
Today is cold and powder snow
Sun peek-a-boo-ing behind clouds
Down the old gravel road, I glide
And focus on the stride and slide
#poetry
Snow clings to skis like a bad thought
Today is cold and powder snow
Sun peek-a-boo-ing behind clouds
Down the old gravel road, I glide
And focus on the stride and slide
#poetry
As we ski along the hedgerow,
The ash saplings, boughs uplifted,
Pay homage to the snowy sky.
Winding through the floodplain forest
The alder cones dangle and swing
Like tiny Christmas ornaments.
The ash saplings, boughs uplifted,
Pay homage to the snowy sky.
Winding through the floodplain forest
The alder cones dangle and swing
Like tiny Christmas ornaments.
December 25, 2025 at 11:47 PM
As we ski along the hedgerow,
The ash saplings, boughs uplifted,
Pay homage to the snowy sky.
Winding through the floodplain forest
The alder cones dangle and swing
Like tiny Christmas ornaments.
The ash saplings, boughs uplifted,
Pay homage to the snowy sky.
Winding through the floodplain forest
The alder cones dangle and swing
Like tiny Christmas ornaments.
Reposted by Tom Langen
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.
🧵 1 of 9
🧵 1 of 9
December 21, 2025 at 2:51 AM
It’s the “season of love and giving”…but this year, doesn’t it seem more like a “season of fear and taking”? Like many of you, I’ve been saddened by the human impact of draconian government budget cuts and how angry many housed Americans are at unhoused Americans.
🧵 1 of 9
🧵 1 of 9
Massena NY, USA Christmas Bird count
My patch:
Temperature -11 to -2 C
Number of species: 30
First Bird: American Crow
Last new species: Red-breasted Merganser
Most abundant species: Common Merganser (420)
Best species: Common Loon, Northern Shrike
Notable: 17 Bald Eagle, 79 Trumpeter Swan
🦉🌿
My patch:
Temperature -11 to -2 C
Number of species: 30
First Bird: American Crow
Last new species: Red-breasted Merganser
Most abundant species: Common Merganser (420)
Best species: Common Loon, Northern Shrike
Notable: 17 Bald Eagle, 79 Trumpeter Swan
🦉🌿
December 20, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Massena NY, USA Christmas Bird count
My patch:
Temperature -11 to -2 C
Number of species: 30
First Bird: American Crow
Last new species: Red-breasted Merganser
Most abundant species: Common Merganser (420)
Best species: Common Loon, Northern Shrike
Notable: 17 Bald Eagle, 79 Trumpeter Swan
🦉🌿
My patch:
Temperature -11 to -2 C
Number of species: 30
First Bird: American Crow
Last new species: Red-breasted Merganser
Most abundant species: Common Merganser (420)
Best species: Common Loon, Northern Shrike
Notable: 17 Bald Eagle, 79 Trumpeter Swan
🦉🌿
An important study that demonstrates what we should already know: we must be very cautious about inferring the phenotypic consequences of single gene variants to human evolution.
While stories of singular DNA changes that drove evolution of human brain/behaviour remain seductive, advances across multiple fields of biology cast doubt on such simplistic narratives of our origins. A new paper from my lab shows how biobanks may speak to this fundamental question.🧪
Explainer🧵👇1/n
Explainer🧵👇1/n
Evaluating the effects of archaic protein-altering variants in living human adults
Promise and pitfalls of using large biobanks to study impacts of archaic protein-coding variants in living humans.
www.science.org
December 19, 2025 at 1:30 PM
An important study that demonstrates what we should already know: we must be very cautious about inferring the phenotypic consequences of single gene variants to human evolution.
Some days it’s like dragging
A heavy sack of birdseed
Along a sidewalk
Today I glide down-trail
like a snow-swallow
The golf-course my Greenland
#poetry 🌿
A heavy sack of birdseed
Along a sidewalk
Today I glide down-trail
like a snow-swallow
The golf-course my Greenland
#poetry 🌿
December 14, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Some days it’s like dragging
A heavy sack of birdseed
Along a sidewalk
Today I glide down-trail
like a snow-swallow
The golf-course my Greenland
#poetry 🌿
A heavy sack of birdseed
Along a sidewalk
Today I glide down-trail
like a snow-swallow
The golf-course my Greenland
#poetry 🌿
Reposted by Tom Langen
Is it all in the hips? Scientists break down woodpeckers’ head-hammering moves. Plus, what makes one ant a queen and another a worker: buff.ly/0fOLcp3
December 7, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Is it all in the hips? Scientists break down woodpeckers’ head-hammering moves. Plus, what makes one ant a queen and another a worker: buff.ly/0fOLcp3
Here is a sweet story with a local angle here in the North Country of NY, for folks who like Stranger Things.
Teachers and high school arts programs make a difference.
Teachers and high school arts programs make a difference.
From Beaver River to the Upside Down
If you have tuned in to Netflix this week, you may have spotted a familiar north country face.
www.nny360.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Here is a sweet story with a local angle here in the North Country of NY, for folks who like Stranger Things.
Teachers and high school arts programs make a difference.
Teachers and high school arts programs make a difference.
Reposted by Tom Langen
"Overlooked and extensive ghost forest formation across the US Atlantic coast" -- wow what a comprehensive analysis by Yeung, @xiyang.bsky.social et al. 🎉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Overlooked and extensive ghost forest formation across the US Atlantic coast - Nature Sustainability
Large swathes of standing dead trees or ‘ghost forests’ can form owing to rising sea levels in coastal areas, but the extent to which this occurs is unclear. This study maps ghost forests at the indiv...
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
"Overlooked and extensive ghost forest formation across the US Atlantic coast" -- wow what a comprehensive analysis by Yeung, @xiyang.bsky.social et al. 🎉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Freakin' birds. This seems so obvious, I'm grumpy that I never thought of this before.
Cool paper suggesting that naturally higher body T˚ in birds leads to flu viruses originating in birds being pre-adapted to resist mammalian fever as a defence mechanism...
Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals
Host body temperature can define a virus’s replicative profile—influenza A viruses (IAVs) adapted to 40° to 42°C in birds are less temperature sensitive in vitro compared with human isolates adapted t...
www.science.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Freakin' birds. This seems so obvious, I'm grumpy that I never thought of this before.
Some of the nicest students I have met were immigrants or children of immigrants from Somalia.
The President & VP are rancid racists, duplicitous as the gutter segregationists of old, but far more dangerous, leading a red hat army of vicious, bigoted Americans. To stay silent is to abet the rot.
The President & VP are rancid racists, duplicitous as the gutter segregationists of old, but far more dangerous, leading a red hat army of vicious, bigoted Americans. To stay silent is to abet the rot.
Trump calls Somali immigrants ‘garbage’ as US reportedly targets Minnesota community
US president’s xenophobic rant comes amid reports of ramped-up deportation efforts in Ilhan Omar’s district
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Some of the nicest students I have met were immigrants or children of immigrants from Somalia.
The President & VP are rancid racists, duplicitous as the gutter segregationists of old, but far more dangerous, leading a red hat army of vicious, bigoted Americans. To stay silent is to abet the rot.
The President & VP are rancid racists, duplicitous as the gutter segregationists of old, but far more dangerous, leading a red hat army of vicious, bigoted Americans. To stay silent is to abet the rot.
I'm with Team Franklin.
December 2, 2025 at 2:50 AM
I'm with Team Franklin.
Getting rough in higher ed. Rider U. in NJ (private, 4000 students) announced it is firing 25% of its faculty this month, raising teaching loads to a 4-4 (5-5 instructors, 3-3 for chairs), 14% salary cuts, ending retirement contributions, tuition remission, & sabbatical support.
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
Announcement of Rider restructuring
Background on the March to Sustainability Plan
www.rider.edu
December 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Getting rough in higher ed. Rider U. in NJ (private, 4000 students) announced it is firing 25% of its faculty this month, raising teaching loads to a 4-4 (5-5 instructors, 3-3 for chairs), 14% salary cuts, ending retirement contributions, tuition remission, & sabbatical support.
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
Due to the cupidity of Elsevier and the unethical ambition of the scientist - editor, the once excellent journal Science of the Total Environment is now a predatory junk publication.
🧪 #AcademicSky
🧪 #AcademicSky
The fall of a prolific science journal exposes the billion-dollar profits of scientific publishing
One of the 15 publications that put out the most studies globally has been expelled from the indexing system for irregularities. Its publisher, Elsevier, has a 38% profit margin that reached $1.5 bill...
english.elpais.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Due to the cupidity of Elsevier and the unethical ambition of the scientist - editor, the once excellent journal Science of the Total Environment is now a predatory junk publication.
🧪 #AcademicSky
🧪 #AcademicSky
Optimist peepers
Chirping like it’s Spring
On late November’s
Last warm and damp day
Soon these frogs will freeze
Dead the winter long
‘Til resurrection
In the first March rains
#poetry 🌿🐍
Chirping like it’s Spring
On late November’s
Last warm and damp day
Soon these frogs will freeze
Dead the winter long
‘Til resurrection
In the first March rains
#poetry 🌿🐍
November 26, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Optimist peepers
Chirping like it’s Spring
On late November’s
Last warm and damp day
Soon these frogs will freeze
Dead the winter long
‘Til resurrection
In the first March rains
#poetry 🌿🐍
Chirping like it’s Spring
On late November’s
Last warm and damp day
Soon these frogs will freeze
Dead the winter long
‘Til resurrection
In the first March rains
#poetry 🌿🐍
Reposted by Tom Langen
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 AM
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Reposted by Tom Langen
"The high-income admissions advantage at Ivy-Plus colleges is driven by....(1) preferences for children of alumni, (2) weight placed on non-academic credentials, and (3) athletic recruitment" which are "uncorrelated or negatively correlated with post-college outcomes" unlike SAT/ACT scores
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges,” by Chetty (@Oppinsights), Deming, and Friedman: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges*
Abstract. We use anonymized admissions data from several colleges linked to income tax records and SAT and ACT test scores to study the determinants and ca
doi.org
November 23, 2025 at 9:29 PM
"The high-income admissions advantage at Ivy-Plus colleges is driven by....(1) preferences for children of alumni, (2) weight placed on non-academic credentials, and (3) athletic recruitment" which are "uncorrelated or negatively correlated with post-college outcomes" unlike SAT/ACT scores
Reposted by Tom Langen
A reminder to anyone interested in #brains #birds or behaviour, our new book is available for FREE as an ebook in addition to print copies.
#neuroethology #neuroskyence #ornithology 🧪🧠🪶
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
#neuroethology #neuroskyence #ornithology 🧪🧠🪶
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Bird Brains and Behavior: A Synthesis
From two avian neurobiologists, a captivating deep dive into the mechanisms that control avian behavior.The last few decades have produced extensive resear
direct.mit.edu
November 20, 2025 at 11:58 AM
A reminder to anyone interested in #brains #birds or behaviour, our new book is available for FREE as an ebook in addition to print copies.
#neuroethology #neuroskyence #ornithology 🧪🧠🪶
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
#neuroethology #neuroskyence #ornithology 🧪🧠🪶
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Reposted by Tom Langen
Unpaid internships reproduce the class problem in conservation. I don’t blame individuals for taking them (though would encourage them to reflect on who can/can’t afford to do so). I do find organizations offering them problematic - it shows me their politics. But you already know all this :)
November 17, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Unpaid internships reproduce the class problem in conservation. I don’t blame individuals for taking them (though would encourage them to reflect on who can/can’t afford to do so). I do find organizations offering them problematic - it shows me their politics. But you already know all this :)
OK, how weird is nature? Here is a species of ant for which the queen lays eggs that produce males of two species - her own and a distantly-related congener - and eggs that produce daughters of her species and daughters who are hybrids. 🌿🧪
The Ants That Broke Biology
YouTube video by 7 Days of Science
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
OK, how weird is nature? Here is a species of ant for which the queen lays eggs that produce males of two species - her own and a distantly-related congener - and eggs that produce daughters of her species and daughters who are hybrids. 🌿🧪