Ethan Linck
@elinck.bsky.social
Biologist, writer. Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology at Montana State University. Interested in evolution, conservation, genetics, and ecology. https://elinck.org + https://ethanlinck.substack.com
Pinned
Ethan Linck
@elinck.bsky.social
· Jun 11
maybe my favorite paper I've written, I have a synthesis out today early access in @asn-amnat.bsky.social today that attempts to answer a simple but slippery question: what is an elevational range? doi.org/10.1086/737130
graphic design standards at science have slipped precipitously over the last 50 years
November 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
graphic design standards at science have slipped precipitously over the last 50 years
I suspect this is a sign of things to come—that opportunities to pursue an open-ended Ph.D. in EEB (i.e., a project not tightly tied to a particular grant) will be increasingly rare (www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...)
October 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I suspect this is a sign of things to come—that opportunities to pursue an open-ended Ph.D. in EEB (i.e., a project not tightly tied to a particular grant) will be increasingly rare (www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...)
anyone have experience fragmenting DNA for WGS library prep with a Qsonica Q800R3? effective covaris alternative, or ineffective trap for cheapskates?
October 17, 2025 at 5:32 PM
anyone have experience fragmenting DNA for WGS library prep with a Qsonica Q800R3? effective covaris alternative, or ineffective trap for cheapskates?
I have organized my life around not having to drive regularly since ~2009. we're about a week into having to do so for childcare, and man this blows
October 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I have organized my life around not having to drive regularly since ~2009. we're about a week into having to do so for childcare, and man this blows
Reposted by Ethan Linck
September 24, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I can't help but notice polarization and societal dysfunction have increased since we stopped making websites like this
September 23, 2025 at 8:31 PM
I can't help but notice polarization and societal dysfunction have increased since we stopped making websites like this
today is your last chance to comment on the feds' plan to rescind the roadless rule, which I urge you to strongly oppose on recreational and scientific grounds: www.regulations.gov/document/FS-...
Regulations.gov
www.regulations.gov
September 19, 2025 at 9:09 PM
today is your last chance to comment on the feds' plan to rescind the roadless rule, which I urge you to strongly oppose on recreational and scientific grounds: www.regulations.gov/document/FS-...
it's time for my class to learn about some Guys
August 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
it's time for my class to learn about some Guys
Reposted by Ethan Linck
Plant genome sequencing needs to go tropical. Check out this commentary I wrote with Felipe Zapata (UCLA) and María José Sanín (Montgomery Botanical Center) out today in Nature Reviews Biodiversity 1/5 www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Plant genome sequencing needs to go tropical
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Whole-genome plant sequencing is heavily biased towards species from temperate regions and species with utilitarian values. An expansion of efforts to include tropical...
www.nature.com
August 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Plant genome sequencing needs to go tropical. Check out this commentary I wrote with Felipe Zapata (UCLA) and María José Sanín (Montgomery Botanical Center) out today in Nature Reviews Biodiversity 1/5 www.nature.com/articles/s44...
i keep a facebook account open for the usual reasons (marketplace, that one aunt) and about two years ago began getting deluged with friend requests from random birders / nature guides around the world. when did this cultural norm get established?
August 17, 2025 at 5:12 PM
i keep a facebook account open for the usual reasons (marketplace, that one aunt) and about two years ago began getting deluged with friend requests from random birders / nature guides around the world. when did this cultural norm get established?
my university information security office sends out fake "happy birthday!" phishing emails from an official address with a QR code and if you scan the QR code they enroll you in mandatory training
August 13, 2025 at 8:57 PM
my university information security office sends out fake "happy birthday!" phishing emails from an official address with a QR code and if you scan the QR code they enroll you in mandatory training
up for retention this semester; working off examples of dossier materials from colleagues. how are you people so productive??
August 4, 2025 at 6:03 PM
up for retention this semester; working off examples of dossier materials from colleagues. how are you people so productive??
Reposted by Ethan Linck
Know an Evolutionary Genomicist looking for a faculty position? Join us in EEB @utknoxville.bsky.social Position is open for studying any organism, but personally I have some botany bias. 🌱 Apply before Sept 19 for full consideration. apply.interfolio.com/170735 Please share widely. Thanks!
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
August 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Know an Evolutionary Genomicist looking for a faculty position? Join us in EEB @utknoxville.bsky.social Position is open for studying any organism, but personally I have some botany bias. 🌱 Apply before Sept 19 for full consideration. apply.interfolio.com/170735 Please share widely. Thanks!
looking for successful examples of applied / practical evolutionary / population / conservation genomics courses, at the graduate or advanced undergrad level. have you taught something like this? what worked?
July 17, 2025 at 10:32 PM
looking for successful examples of applied / practical evolutionary / population / conservation genomics courses, at the graduate or advanced undergrad level. have you taught something like this? what worked?
Reposted by Ethan Linck
1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint.
This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.
This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.
Will anyone review this paper? Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review
Scholarly publishing relies on peer review to identify the best science. Yet finding willing and qualified reviewers to evaluate manuscripts has become an increasingly challenging task, possibly even ...
arxiv.org
July 16, 2025 at 3:13 AM
1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint.
This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.
This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.
Reposted by Ethan Linck
🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding.
Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.
See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.
🧵 1/3
Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.
See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.
🧵 1/3
Subcommittee Markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
www.appropriations.senate.gov
July 10, 2025 at 12:23 AM
🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding.
Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.
See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.
🧵 1/3
Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.
See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.
🧵 1/3
the undergrad in my lab saw a wolf while doing bird surveys today. casual Montana morning
July 8, 2025 at 10:35 PM
the undergrad in my lab saw a wolf while doing bird surveys today. casual Montana morning
the ad is up! applications due 7/15: evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
July 7, 2025 at 2:06 PM
the ad is up! applications due 7/15: evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldi...
trying to figure out the best way to cite "The Voyage of the Beagle" and descending into madness
July 6, 2025 at 10:23 PM
trying to figure out the best way to cite "The Voyage of the Beagle" and descending into madness
parenting pro tip: babies LOVE glacial lakes
July 2, 2025 at 12:37 AM
parenting pro tip: babies LOVE glacial lakes
ad to come, but I'm looking for an M.S. student to study the conservation genomics of swift foxes on the American Prairie Reserve in Montana beginning 9/1. this is a collaboration w/ Smithsonian & Justine Becker; strong candidates will have prior genomics experience and be up for remote fieldwork
June 26, 2025 at 9:30 PM
ad to come, but I'm looking for an M.S. student to study the conservation genomics of swift foxes on the American Prairie Reserve in Montana beginning 9/1. this is a collaboration w/ Smithsonian & Justine Becker; strong candidates will have prior genomics experience and be up for remote fieldwork
Reposted by Ethan Linck
The 500 additional GRFPs NSF awarded were not very evenly distributed across fields, it seems.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
June 25, 2025 at 6:16 PM
The 500 additional GRFPs NSF awarded were not very evenly distributed across fields, it seems.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Ethan Linck
A process server delivered a letter regarding my "hostile" and "defamatory" attacks on #ColossalBio co-founder Ben Lamm, insinuating I'm a misogynist and a failed scientist. Nothing I've said is defamation, but you can read it a judge for yourself. I've redacted my home address 1/n
June 24, 2025 at 1:33 AM
A process server delivered a letter regarding my "hostile" and "defamatory" attacks on #ColossalBio co-founder Ben Lamm, insinuating I'm a misogynist and a failed scientist. Nothing I've said is defamation, but you can read it a judge for yourself. I've redacted my home address 1/n
really nice map of inventoried roadless areas, now under threat
good news: mike lee greatly reduced the amount of land eligible for sale in his bill. bad news: Trump's UDSA secretary is ending protections for Inventoried Roadless Areas, possibly the most important public lands you've never heard of. new map here
jtommins.github.io/ira_web_map/
jtommins.github.io/ira_web_map/
June 24, 2025 at 6:08 PM
really nice map of inventoried roadless areas, now under threat