Kara Hope
@karahope.bsky.social
Working at the intersection of natural history, museums, fundraising, and academia
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Such good advice. Making connections and making a difference in your local community -whatever that looks like for you- is so important these days. Always, but especially now
When you see the headlines and start to spiral about the myriad ways things could possibly get much much worse going forward I cannot more strongly recommend going out and doing some volunteer work about it, I’m drop dead serious
September 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Such good advice. Making connections and making a difference in your local community -whatever that looks like for you- is so important these days. Always, but especially now
Reposted by Kara Hope
This sounds wacky but it is backed up by science.
3. If you see content that disturbs you, immediately (or as fast as possible) go and play 20-30 minutes of Tetris (or any other fast-paced game with your eyes sweeping over the visual field that has caused visual artifacts to linger when you close your eyes for you in the past).
September 10, 2025 at 9:10 PM
This sounds wacky but it is backed up by science.
Reposted by Kara Hope
"This could be the difference whether your child gets cancer. Are you willing for them to die because the therapy for them is delayed?"
Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.
Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.
August 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
"This could be the difference whether your child gets cancer. Are you willing for them to die because the therapy for them is delayed?"
Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.
Powerful video with voices from top US scientists on the very real and devastating impacts of the funding cuts.
Reposted by Kara Hope
Anyway the photos are precious, blended bird families are the best, this is surprisingly great scicomm from People magazine, and this is the kind of story I needed today: people.com/crane-family...
Baby Goose Abandoned by Its Parents Learns to Be a Tall Bird After Finding an 'Unexpected Family' with 3 Cranes
A baby Canada goose abandoned as an egg found an 'unexpected family' with a pair of Sandhill cranes, and their colt, in Madison, Wis., in the spring of 2025. Madison-based photographer Alan Ginsberg h...
people.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Anyway the photos are precious, blended bird families are the best, this is surprisingly great scicomm from People magazine, and this is the kind of story I needed today: people.com/crane-family...
Reposted by Kara Hope
Over 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals.
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
‘Tremendous uncertainty’ for cancer research as US officials target mRNA vaccines
Amid Trump cuts and state-level backlash, experts worry that progress in messenger RNA vaccines could stall
zurl.co
July 14, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Over 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals.
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
Reposted by Kara Hope
I can't stress enough how close U.S. science is to the cliff.
"Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that if Congress approves the cuts to the agency proposed by the White House, the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%" (@science.org)
"Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that if Congress approves the cuts to the agency proposed by the White House, the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%" (@science.org)
‘It’s a nightmare.’ U.S. funding cuts threaten academic science jobs at all levels
“There is a lot of pressure to essentially leave the country or not pursue research,” one Ph.D. student says
www.science.org
July 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I can't stress enough how close U.S. science is to the cliff.
"Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that if Congress approves the cuts to the agency proposed by the White House, the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%" (@science.org)
"Numbers released in May by the National Science Foundation (NSF) indicate that if Congress approves the cuts to the agency proposed by the White House, the number of early-career researchers it supports could fall by 78%" (@science.org)
Reposted by Kara Hope
NEW from me — FEMA staffers say the response to the Texas floods is horrifyingly slow, and it may be because of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's recent increased control over how the agency spends money.
"If this is how they are going to do a major hurricane response, people are fucked.”
"If this is how they are going to do a major hurricane response, people are fucked.”
FEMA response to deadly Texas floods delayed & deficient with Noem in charge
Staffers sound the alarm.
www.thehandbasket.co
July 8, 2025 at 2:58 AM
NEW from me — FEMA staffers say the response to the Texas floods is horrifyingly slow, and it may be because of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's recent increased control over how the agency spends money.
"If this is how they are going to do a major hurricane response, people are fucked.”
"If this is how they are going to do a major hurricane response, people are fucked.”
Reposted by Kara Hope
"The great John Lewis said, 'Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year. It is the struggle of a lifetime.' That's our struggle, no matter what, Mr. Speaker, you decide to do today, that's our struggle…”
July 3, 2025 at 5:42 PM
"The great John Lewis said, 'Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year. It is the struggle of a lifetime.' That's our struggle, no matter what, Mr. Speaker, you decide to do today, that's our struggle…”
Reposted by Kara Hope
It’s why U of F banned bans ‘Gator bait’ cheer.
“According to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Michigan’s Ferris State University, white hunters sometimes used live Black infants to lure alligators during slavery and the Jim Crow era.”
jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/201...
“According to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Michigan’s Ferris State University, white hunters sometimes used live Black infants to lure alligators during slavery and the Jim Crow era.”
jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/201...
July 2, 2025 at 11:08 AM
It’s why U of F banned bans ‘Gator bait’ cheer.
“According to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Michigan’s Ferris State University, white hunters sometimes used live Black infants to lure alligators during slavery and the Jim Crow era.”
jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/201...
“According to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Michigan’s Ferris State University, white hunters sometimes used live Black infants to lure alligators during slavery and the Jim Crow era.”
jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/201...
Reposted by Kara Hope
The truth is bad enough folks!
Let's not play the same games climate deniers were playing a decade ago with cherry-picked time periods and misleading trend lines
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Let's not play the same games climate deniers were playing a decade ago with cherry-picked time periods and misleading trend lines
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
June 28, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The truth is bad enough folks!
Let's not play the same games climate deniers were playing a decade ago with cherry-picked time periods and misleading trend lines
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Let's not play the same games climate deniers were playing a decade ago with cherry-picked time periods and misleading trend lines
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Reposted by Kara Hope
Well the “NOAA Climate” and “NASA Climate” social media feeds - a key tool to communicate the massive challenge of climate change to the world - are now gone.
June 28, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Well the “NOAA Climate” and “NASA Climate” social media feeds - a key tool to communicate the massive challenge of climate change to the world - are now gone.
Reposted by Kara Hope
Austerity means firing staff and teachers and setting aside 500k for a new VP.
Gift link - "Heather Holcombe, a senior lecturer in the English department, said ...That single executive’s salary could fund the hiring of 11 full-time instructors to run 66 classes"
www.startribune.com/university-o...
www.startribune.com/university-o...
University of Minnesota faculty and alumni decry “administrative bloat” despite proposed budget cuts
The U’s Board of Regents will vote on the budget on Wednesday, which includes 7% academic budget cuts and 6.5% tuition increases.
www.startribune.com
June 17, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Austerity means firing staff and teachers and setting aside 500k for a new VP.
Reposted by Kara Hope
7 of 9 planetary boundaries now crossed: “By 2020 the oceans condition were very close to or beyond the planetary boundary for ocean acidification (calcium carbonate levels >20% below preindustrial). The deeper in the ocean they looked, the worse the findings were, the scientists said.”
June 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
7 of 9 planetary boundaries now crossed: “By 2020 the oceans condition were very close to or beyond the planetary boundary for ocean acidification (calcium carbonate levels >20% below preindustrial). The deeper in the ocean they looked, the worse the findings were, the scientists said.”
Reposted by Kara Hope
Important and provocative piece by Michael....one of the top hurricane experts around and not just a talking head
It's been death by a million papercuts to U.S. weather forecasts by the Trump administration, but yesterday's detailed 2026 budget feels like a deathblow. In today's @nytimes.com I ask: How far can we degrade our hurricane forecasting before people end up dead?
Opinion | How Far Can We Degrade Our Hurricane Forecasting Before People End Up Dead?
www.nytimes.com
May 31, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Important and provocative piece by Michael....one of the top hurricane experts around and not just a talking head
Reposted by Kara Hope
NEW: Of the 238 men deported to the prison in El Salvador, DHS data shows:
• 130 had no U.S. criminal histories aside from immigration violations;
• 32 had been convicted of crimes in the U.S.;
• 6 of those were violent crimes.
• 130 had no U.S. criminal histories aside from immigration violations;
• 32 had been convicted of crimes in the U.S.;
• 6 of those were violent crimes.
Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes
Homeland Security records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S. and had only violated immigration laws.
www.propublica.org
May 30, 2025 at 11:40 AM
NEW: Of the 238 men deported to the prison in El Salvador, DHS data shows:
• 130 had no U.S. criminal histories aside from immigration violations;
• 32 had been convicted of crimes in the U.S.;
• 6 of those were violent crimes.
• 130 had no U.S. criminal histories aside from immigration violations;
• 32 had been convicted of crimes in the U.S.;
• 6 of those were violent crimes.
Reposted by Kara Hope
Well said, @friedman.house.gov and @wassermanschultz.house.gov:
“We don't fight antisemitism by making Jews the reason to gut cancer research, or cut scholarships, or deport foreign students.”
“We don't fight antisemitism by making Jews the reason to gut cancer research, or cut scholarships, or deport foreign students.”
Earlier today, some of my Jewish colleagues and I rallied against antisemitism. Regarding the latest abomination from the Trump administration, I'm reminded of the answer my colleague and friend @wassermanschultz.house.gov gave.
May 23, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Well said, @friedman.house.gov and @wassermanschultz.house.gov:
“We don't fight antisemitism by making Jews the reason to gut cancer research, or cut scholarships, or deport foreign students.”
“We don't fight antisemitism by making Jews the reason to gut cancer research, or cut scholarships, or deport foreign students.”
Reposted by Kara Hope
This is completely false. Even the largest university endowment cannot sustain large-scale scientific research.
In my 25 years at my school, the most monumental research fund drive raised $325M in *total*. Federal research here costs $200M per *every year*.
This is an extinction-level event.
In my 25 years at my school, the most monumental research fund drive raised $325M in *total*. Federal research here costs $200M per *every year*.
This is an extinction-level event.
May 17, 2025 at 2:09 PM
This is completely false. Even the largest university endowment cannot sustain large-scale scientific research.
In my 25 years at my school, the most monumental research fund drive raised $325M in *total*. Federal research here costs $200M per *every year*.
This is an extinction-level event.
In my 25 years at my school, the most monumental research fund drive raised $325M in *total*. Federal research here costs $200M per *every year*.
This is an extinction-level event.
Reposted by Kara Hope
More of this, please: Catalogs of Trump's and the Republicans' destruction and the cost to society:
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
www.nytimes.com
May 16, 2025 at 11:27 AM
More of this, please: Catalogs of Trump's and the Republicans' destruction and the cost to society:
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...
Reposted by Kara Hope
Because no one spends as much on science as the US does, destroying NIH, NSF, NOAA, NASA, EPA, USDA, USGS, etc. is leading to a brain drain, but it's not to other countries but rather from science. This senseless destruction of US science will hurt the US and the world for a very long time.
To see why destroying the US science enterprise is so detrimental to the world, we have to realize that the US spends more on research and development than any other country in the world (by far), and if we remove China and Japan, the US spends almost as much as ALL other countries combined.
May 4, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Because no one spends as much on science as the US does, destroying NIH, NSF, NOAA, NASA, EPA, USDA, USGS, etc. is leading to a brain drain, but it's not to other countries but rather from science. This senseless destruction of US science will hurt the US and the world for a very long time.
Reposted by Kara Hope
NSF says they’re capping indirect costs at 15%.
Policy Notice: Implementation of Standard 15% Indirect Cost Rate
www.nsf.gov
May 2, 2025 at 3:50 PM
NSF says they’re capping indirect costs at 15%.
Reposted by Kara Hope
NIH isn’t some bloated bureaucracy—it’s the reason you survived COVID. It’s why cancer treatments keep improving. It's why gene therapy exists.
Now? We’re defunding it. That’s not just foolish. It’s strategic surrender. A thread 🧵
medium.com/@KellenSquir...
Now? We’re defunding it. That’s not just foolish. It’s strategic surrender. A thread 🧵
medium.com/@KellenSquir...
Defunding the NIH: A Betrayal of Taxpayers and America’s Biomedical Future
American taxpayers have spent decades and over $1 trillion building the world’s foremost biomedical research enterprise. The National…
medium.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:36 PM
NIH isn’t some bloated bureaucracy—it’s the reason you survived COVID. It’s why cancer treatments keep improving. It's why gene therapy exists.
Now? We’re defunding it. That’s not just foolish. It’s strategic surrender. A thread 🧵
medium.com/@KellenSquir...
Now? We’re defunding it. That’s not just foolish. It’s strategic surrender. A thread 🧵
medium.com/@KellenSquir...
Reposted by Kara Hope
Bird nests made from anti-bird spikes?! 🤯
Hi, I'm a nest researcher 👋 and new here on BlueSky, sharing the craziest #bird nests I've ever found. 👀 Today, I’m sharing my discovery of rebellious birds that build nests out of anti-bird spikes. And honestly, it's like telling a joke...
A thread. 🧵
Hi, I'm a nest researcher 👋 and new here on BlueSky, sharing the craziest #bird nests I've ever found. 👀 Today, I’m sharing my discovery of rebellious birds that build nests out of anti-bird spikes. And honestly, it's like telling a joke...
A thread. 🧵
February 4, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Bird nests made from anti-bird spikes?! 🤯
Hi, I'm a nest researcher 👋 and new here on BlueSky, sharing the craziest #bird nests I've ever found. 👀 Today, I’m sharing my discovery of rebellious birds that build nests out of anti-bird spikes. And honestly, it's like telling a joke...
A thread. 🧵
Hi, I'm a nest researcher 👋 and new here on BlueSky, sharing the craziest #bird nests I've ever found. 👀 Today, I’m sharing my discovery of rebellious birds that build nests out of anti-bird spikes. And honestly, it's like telling a joke...
A thread. 🧵