ermorris.bsky.social
@ermorris.bsky.social
🧬 Biology at Baker University
And yet. It really happened 💔
let's all gather at the hospital during a massive snow storm to get stuck and watch dad die sounds like the plot of an oscar bait movie. and yet.
January 25, 2026 at 5:00 AM
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EDM HARRY BEST HARRY
January 23, 2026 at 12:40 AM
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This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Just saw oracs while on the ferry in Seattle. My first! Only crappy videos because I was using my binoculars the whole time 🥹
January 16, 2026 at 11:51 PM
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The final Calvin and Hobbes, which appeared in papers 30 years ago today.
December 31, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Well bummer. Black on the Air podcast with Larry Wilmore aired its last episode. I always enjoyed his interviews.
December 31, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Morning coffee realization: I actually have to WRITE that final exam for Friday.
December 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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The delta between what Biden did and how much anger he got for it and the absolute crickets Trump has gotten for making the student loan landscape *magnitudes worse than it was before* is absolutely one of the most enraging things about this entirely enraging era.
December 9, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Furniture rearranging with mom and @awesomejuice.bsky.social while dad is in the hospital (but doing OK) is a fantastic 1am activity.
November 30, 2025 at 7:38 AM
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NEW: An analysis finds that NIH funding cuts have disrupted at least 383 clinical trials, affecting over 74,000 participants that were enrolled in studies that were testing treatments for conditions including cancer, heart disease and brain disease.
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Just got served an IG Black Friday ad for whole genome sequencing 🧬🧬
Options range $300-$700 🤔
November 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
I was just about ready to get up and start my day.
November 15, 2025 at 5:28 PM
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🦣🧬🦣🤯💥We are pleased to share our new paper about ancient RNA expression profiles from the Woolly Mammoth, now published in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

If you want to know more, read the 🧵 below:
November 14, 2025 at 4:08 PM
39,000 year old RNA.
RNA???!!!
Amazing.
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Nov 14
Scientists have extracted the oldest RNA molecules out of a wooly mammoth, gaining a snapshot into the processes at work in the extinct mammal's body just before it died. n.pr/4patABW
Scientists pull ancient RNA from a wooly mammoth's body
Scientists have extracted the oldest RNA molecules out of a wooly mammoth, gaining a snapshot into the processes at work in the extinct mammal's body just before it died.
n.pr
November 14, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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Please read this on Jim Watson, by his most thorough biographer
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 9, 2025 at 12:24 AM
This obit is appropriately critical and full of history. He had decades to learn from his own discovery, instead he clung to old racist ideas. (I recommend the 1980’s BBC movie staring Jeff Goldblum was Watson if you want a decently accurate retelling of the story.) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
James D. Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:28 PM
RE LRT: I wouldn’t say most Franklin takes are stupid, but most of the details of her role in the discovery of the double helix are not widely known. The linked article brings them all to one place. Pretty good read.
November 8, 2025 at 6:27 PM
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If you believe either that Franklin discovered the double helix, and / or Watson and Crick stole her data, ask yourself how you know this. Then take a read of this article.
November 8, 2025 at 7:32 AM
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A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.
September 29, 2025 at 8:18 PM
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An evergreen thread: Race/Ethnicity is *not the same* as genetics, and you can't use Race/Ethnicity as a sort of stand-in for genetics. These two concepts are connected via aspects like skin colour, but the connection is alot less profound and categorical than most people think.
August 29, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Solved the NYT crossword with zero hints! It’s been a while 😜
September 17, 2025 at 2:09 AM
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Biology Department

xkcd.com/3140/
September 11, 2025 at 9:24 PM
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Here is UW - Madison's budget. Our <largest> funder is the federal government. 25%. It used to be the state. Either way, the university in its current form ceases to exist if these federal cuts really happen. But The. Public. Doesn't. Know. This. And our leaders are absent from the public debate.
March 8, 2025 at 8:47 PM
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There is a bird flu vaccine for vultures and condors. There is a bird flu vaccine in development for cattle (by Moderna, for one). But a bird flu vaccine for humans by Moderna has been cancelled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): wapo.st/43kxnVf (gift article).
HHS cancels funding for Moderna to develop vaccines to combat bird flu
The department cited Moderna’s use of the messenger RNA technology, which it said “remains under-tested,” for the cancellation of the funding.
wapo.st
May 30, 2025 at 2:30 AM
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May 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM