Karolina Heyduk
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kheyduk.bsky.social
Karolina Heyduk
@kheyduk.bsky.social
Assistant Prof UConn EEB | CAM photosynthesis keeps me up at night | made of cookies | She/her. Views my own.
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
If the Super Bowl isn’t your cup of tea, our tenth-annual photo collection of superb owls just might be. Take a look at these magnificent birds via The Atlantic Photo:
Superb Owl Sunday X
A special Sunday event: our tenth-annual photo collection celebrating these magnificent birds of prey. If you have some time before the big game (or are skipping the event entirely), we invite you to have a look.
bit.ly
February 8, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Dunno who needs to know this, but you can fit 10' (1/2" diameter) PVC pipes in a Subaru forester. You're welcome.
February 8, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Lord grant me the confidence of a dog who rearranges all the blankets on a freshly made bed with clean sheets.
February 8, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
NYT confirming MS NOW reporting:

Prosecutors began investigating Renee Good's killing, then Washington told them to stop.

Federal prosecutors had a warrant to collect evidence from Good's vehicle, but Trump leaders said to drop it. About a dozen prosecutors have since departed.
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good’s Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
Minneapolis: A protester near the Whipple Federal building lies on the ground bleeding after being thrown to the ground by Minnesota State Patrol... more to come at VisuNews.Substack.com and Patreon.com/ZDRoberts
February 7, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
ICE has grabbed so many people from their vehicles that there are abandoned cars across Minnesota.

This tow truck driver returns the cars for free as a public service, and he’s been getting death threats.

They hate the helpers.

Which is why must keep helping.
Twin Cities tow truck driver returns abandoned vehicles to families after ICE arrests
Juan Leon sends a "chase" car to check out where abandoned vehicles are located and arranges discreet drop-offs. Since late December, he estimated they have dropped off 250 cars.
www.cbsnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
Nominations are open for the 2026 BSA Young Botanist Awards! 🌿

Recognize an outstanding graduating senior in botanical science and introduce them to the global BSA community.

Deadline: April 1, 2026.

For more information, visit: botany.org/home/awards/...

#BSAStudentAwards
February 6, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
We’re excited to share the Pan-genomes Doorstep Meeting @ #PEQG26! Join this 3-hour workshop on evolutionary applications of pangenomics, covering construction, analysis, phylogenetics, annotation & graph QC. Register separately or as an add-on to PEQG: genetics-gsa.org/peqg-2026/do...
Pan-genomes Meeting - 2026 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference
Visit our website to learn more.
genetics-gsa.org
February 6, 2026 at 6:03 PM
ITS ALIVE?!
Holy shit: it's an RFP for the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB). Hello old friend www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)
www.nsf.gov
February 5, 2026 at 11:58 PM
BOTANY 2026 abstract submission is open!!! @botsocamerica.bsky.social
kermit the frog is standing in front of a red curtain and dancing .
Alt: kermit the frog is standing in front of a red curtain and dancing with extreme excitement.
media.tenor.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:48 PM
My grad student, who got RWR and appealed, got an email from GRFP program today that said "Your application was screened by NSF program officers with expertise in your proposed field of study and was determined to be ineligible according to the solicitation requirements."

No details were given. 😡
Reposting again because according to Reddit threads, another round of RWR emails went out today.
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
February 4, 2026 at 11:35 PM
Reposting again because according to Reddit threads, another round of RWR emails went out today.
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
February 4, 2026 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
After a >1 yr hiatus, the #fern tree of life (FTOL) #phylogeny is back with another update! 🌿 🌏 🧬

For the first time including >1,000 whole plastomes and >6,000 fern species!

Available at fernphy.github.io/downloads.html
Downloads – Fern Tree of Life
Current and past versions of FTOL available for download
fernphy.github.io
February 3, 2026 at 8:20 AM
Man everything on instagram is 3000% funnier at 11:30 pm on a Monday night.
February 3, 2026 at 4:22 AM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
February 2, 2026 at 5:58 PM
everything is bad but the shortbread I made is super good so there's that.
February 2, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
Okay! This has already inspired a bunch of DMs, so I made a page on the website. If you have 50,000+ Skymiles and would be willing to book flights to get someone home, please fill this out.
Donate Your Skymiles — Stand With Minnesota
Donate your Delta Skymiles to get people home from Texas
www.standwithminnesota.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
4 federal agents pull over an elderly US citizen for the suspected crime of being brown, break her car window, throw her to the ground, then drive off after they find her US Passport in her purse. The Salem Police, when called, say there’s nothing they can do. www.salemreporter.com/2026/01/31/u...
U.S. citizen injured by federal agents in Salem who demanded to see “papers,” union says - Salem Reporter
A home care worker and union worker was pulled from her car and injured by federal agents Thursday according to a statement by SEIU 503. To comment on this story, use the form at the end of the repor...
www.salemreporter.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Write a couple hundred words about myself? No thanks, I'd rather clear snow from the grass for no reason.
January 31, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
ICYMI, Rice University students have developed a free online map to track ICE activity throughout the country.

Find it here: www.icemap.dev.

Gift link to @houstonchronicle.com story about it:
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
Rice students create nationwide ICE tracker to monitor immigration enforcement
The students had been teaching weekly children's classes as volunteers. One day, the kids stopped showing up.
www.houstonchronicle.com
January 31, 2026 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
interested to learn what “at my direction” means because it sounds like “without a warrant”
January 30, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
These are all Black people. The regime is betting that you wont care Jamael & Trahern the way you care about Alex & Renée
feds have arrested jamael lundy alongside journalists georgia fort and don lemon for the protest at a st. paul church led by an ICE agent

lundy is currently running for state senate district 65 in minnesota. his wife is anika bowie, a st. paul city councilmember

www.jlundyforsd65.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Please if you know of others being returned without review let us know! No clear pattern that I can tell.

Fwiw my student sent an appeal to email listed in rejection message and got a (form) response that their app was being further evaluated.
A number of our students got the following comment back on a rejection for the NSF GFRP. They are in an eligible STEM field. Is this something people in other places are getting too? Is it a quirk or targeted?
January 29, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Karolina Heyduk
Calling all OrthoFinder users!

We’ve just released GLADE, a tool to infer gene gains, losses, duplications, and ancestral genomes across a phylogeny.

GLADE runs directly on OrthoFinder results.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
github.com/lauriebelch/...

(1/10)
www.biorxiv.org
January 29, 2026 at 12:07 PM