Brian Lovett
@lovettbr.bsky.social
Upstanding Scientist | Insect Pathologist | Entomologist | Mycologist | He/Him/His | Skies are my own
Pinned
Brian Lovett
@lovettbr.bsky.social
· Oct 1
Today is bittersweet for me, as I have now officially retired from the USDA-ARS.
It is still difficult for me that the doors to the Lovett Lab have closed.
I am so grateful for the community and science we were able to stir up as a research scientist at the USDA.
It is still difficult for me that the doors to the Lovett Lab have closed.
I am so grateful for the community and science we were able to stir up as a research scientist at the USDA.
So what’s next for me?
I am standing up for science full time at @standupforscience.bsky.social. I am so pleased to support their vision and urgency in this moment.
As I tend to, I wear a few hats, but I am happy to still be using data to tell the best stories possible. 💻 📈 🗞️ ✊
I am standing up for science full time at @standupforscience.bsky.social. I am so pleased to support their vision and urgency in this moment.
As I tend to, I wear a few hats, but I am happy to still be using data to tell the best stories possible. 💻 📈 🗞️ ✊
Reposted by Brian Lovett
2 HONEY 2 CRISP
November 29, 2025 at 9:29 PM
2 HONEY 2 CRISP
When a guy who masturbates in front of women without consent reënters the culture, The New Yorker stands ready to lionize them. 🙄
When a cancelled performer reënters the culture, we expect them to offer us a great work, channelling their newfound clarity into the finest art they’ve ever made. With his new comedy show and début novel, has Louis C.K. met the bar?
www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...
www.newyorker.com/culture/crit...
Louis C.K.’s Next Chapter
In a new standup special, and a début novel, the comedian navigates murky, post-#MeToo terrain: not quite exiled, not quite welcomed back.
www.newyorker.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:52 PM
When a guy who masturbates in front of women without consent reënters the culture, The New Yorker stands ready to lionize them. 🙄
Reposted by Brian Lovett
IMPORTANT reminder for when you print zines:
Set your printer to "Scale: 100%"
Many printers automatically resize to 94% or something, which will shrink the image and give you weird borders when you fold the zine.
Scale: 100%.
Set your printer to "Scale: 100%"
Many printers automatically resize to 94% or something, which will shrink the image and give you weird borders when you fold the zine.
Scale: 100%.
November 29, 2025 at 4:35 AM
IMPORTANT reminder for when you print zines:
Set your printer to "Scale: 100%"
Many printers automatically resize to 94% or something, which will shrink the image and give you weird borders when you fold the zine.
Scale: 100%.
Set your printer to "Scale: 100%"
Many printers automatically resize to 94% or something, which will shrink the image and give you weird borders when you fold the zine.
Scale: 100%.
“Back in my day, we ignored basic safety precautions” may not be the silly story you think it is. ☺️
Thanksgiving made remember the time in grad school when we used the autoclave to cook a turkey.
It was good1
It was good1
a cartoon character with its mouth open and the words nom nom nom below it
ALT: a cartoon character with its mouth open and the words nom nom nom below it
media.tenor.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:59 AM
“Back in my day, we ignored basic safety precautions” may not be the silly story you think it is. ☺️
Ultimately, this is an ethics issue. You should have these conversations to learn ethics of new collaborators.
Ethical use of AI requires full disclosure of prompts and use of a closed environment. Full disclosure to collaborators is a no brainer, but it should be disclosed to readers too.
Ethical use of AI requires full disclosure of prompts and use of a closed environment. Full disclosure to collaborators is a no brainer, but it should be disclosed to readers too.
I was chatting to a collaborator about this only last week. We think you need to have a chat with every collaborator and coauthor at the beginning of a research project about whether or not they use LLMs, how (if so) and to be clear if any words have been prepared by LLM.
November 28, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Ultimately, this is an ethics issue. You should have these conversations to learn ethics of new collaborators.
Ethical use of AI requires full disclosure of prompts and use of a closed environment. Full disclosure to collaborators is a no brainer, but it should be disclosed to readers too.
Ethical use of AI requires full disclosure of prompts and use of a closed environment. Full disclosure to collaborators is a no brainer, but it should be disclosed to readers too.
Reposted by Brian Lovett
The amazing community of current and former federal workers organizing to preserve our agency missions in service of the American people.
November 28, 2025 at 1:30 AM
The amazing community of current and former federal workers organizing to preserve our agency missions in service of the American people.
May the odds ever be in your thermodynamic favor.
PSA - if you cook Turkey for your Thanksgiving meal, despite its unfortunate name, spatchcocking a Turkey is one of the most thermodynamically favorable ways to cook it. 🧪 🧵
November 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
May the odds ever be in your thermodynamic favor.
Reposted by Brian Lovett
If any of the allegations are true, Nuzzi covering for RFK Jr. directly played a role in the gutting of America's public health infrastructure, the defenestrating of the CDC and the promotion of the lie that vaccines causing autism.
If the Nuzzi blast radius doesn't impact both the new editor of VF and the NYT profiler, then something wrong. Holy shit.
November 26, 2025 at 11:28 PM
If any of the allegations are true, Nuzzi covering for RFK Jr. directly played a role in the gutting of America's public health infrastructure, the defenestrating of the CDC and the promotion of the lie that vaccines causing autism.
Reposted by Brian Lovett
As someone who purchased three copies of this book for friends, I will say this: it’s a wonderful book and you should buy one for yourself and one for someone else. Mindy is a super talented storyteller! Supporting hardworking writers & artists is not only important but it also makes you feel good!
Do you like zombies + science? I wrote a book about that! It's perfect for anyone who's ever wondered what it takes to mind-control a cockroach, reprogram a spider's web-spinning, or make a cricket jump into water to drown 🧪
And it's 40% off at @hopkinspress.bsky.social, now through 12/7 (HHOL25)!
And it's 40% off at @hopkinspress.bsky.social, now through 12/7 (HHOL25)!
November 26, 2025 at 11:16 PM
As someone who purchased three copies of this book for friends, I will say this: it’s a wonderful book and you should buy one for yourself and one for someone else. Mindy is a super talented storyteller! Supporting hardworking writers & artists is not only important but it also makes you feel good!
Reposted by Brian Lovett
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
DOGE was not a money-saving effort. It was an effort to chase down and prove right-wing conspiracy theories. They went after USAID to prove conspiracy theories about foreign aid. Then they went after SSA to, again, pursue conspiracy theories about Dems paying "illegals" to vote. 1/2
Reposted by Brian Lovett
There's a classic joke list of how different programming language handle shooting yourself in the foot.
In the spirit of that, I'm going to make a collection of how the current media landscape would handle Trump shooting himself in the foot.
I encourage you to submit your own.
In the spirit of that, I'm going to make a collection of how the current media landscape would handle Trump shooting himself in the foot.
I encourage you to submit your own.
www.eecs.yorku.ca
November 26, 2025 at 7:10 PM
There's a classic joke list of how different programming language handle shooting yourself in the foot.
In the spirit of that, I'm going to make a collection of how the current media landscape would handle Trump shooting himself in the foot.
I encourage you to submit your own.
In the spirit of that, I'm going to make a collection of how the current media landscape would handle Trump shooting himself in the foot.
I encourage you to submit your own.
my favorite thing about Thanksgiving is that people stop emailing me for a few days
November 26, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Brian Lovett
“I woke up with the energy of a thousand Dolly Partons!”
TN Democrat Aftyn Behn on learning a new poll has her within clear range of flipping a deeply Republican House seat in 12/2 special election that could deal a huge blow to the GOP.
Read this exclusive interview with @aftynbehn.bsky.social:
TN Democrat Aftyn Behn on learning a new poll has her within clear range of flipping a deeply Republican House seat in 12/2 special election that could deal a huge blow to the GOP.
Read this exclusive interview with @aftynbehn.bsky.social:
Can Aftyn Behn Stun the GOP in Tennessee Next Week?
The Democrat has a real chance to flip a deep-red congressional seat. In an exclusive interview, she explains why her bid is shaking up the politics of 2025 (and maybe 2026).
www.thenation.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:25 PM
“I woke up with the energy of a thousand Dolly Partons!”
TN Democrat Aftyn Behn on learning a new poll has her within clear range of flipping a deeply Republican House seat in 12/2 special election that could deal a huge blow to the GOP.
Read this exclusive interview with @aftynbehn.bsky.social:
TN Democrat Aftyn Behn on learning a new poll has her within clear range of flipping a deeply Republican House seat in 12/2 special election that could deal a huge blow to the GOP.
Read this exclusive interview with @aftynbehn.bsky.social:
And yet, AI has made many aspects of life demonstrably worse.
Still have yet to see AI make my life better in any way
November 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
And yet, AI has made many aspects of life demonstrably worse.
Everyone should enjoy a good late season puffball smashing to help spread the spores, just be sure to avoid inhaling the cloud as doing so can potentially result in something called Lycoperdonosis, a respiratory disease caused by inhalation of large quantities of warty Lycoperdon spores. #Mushrooms
November 26, 2025 at 11:22 AM
It’s easier to date Kash long distance apparently.
Alexis Wilkins has suddenly found fame as FBI Director Kash Patel’s boo, but the aspiring country singer was working in Washington as recently as January.
Keystone Kash’s Girlfriend’s Closest Held Secret Revealed
Her country “career” has taken her to Nashville but it turns out Alexis Wilkins is really a Swamp Creature, our must-read newsletter reveals.
trib.al
November 25, 2025 at 11:27 PM
It’s easier to date Kash long distance apparently.
We can do better than comparing people to arachnids/insects. I hate seeing insects used in this way.
DOGE is not gone, just embedded like ticks in every agency and following orders from Russell Vought
DOGE is not gone, just went a little undercover. But hundreds of thousands of civil servants are gone.
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
We can do better than comparing people to arachnids/insects. I hate seeing insects used in this way.
The AI scientific method:
Dubiously compile old data
Consume a lot of energy
Present true and untrue information with same confidence
Generate a report claiming science has occurred
Dubiously compile old data
Consume a lot of energy
Present true and untrue information with same confidence
Generate a report claiming science has occurred
🚨🚨🚨
Science will be much more efficient without scientists.
Universities are being destroyed because we don't NEED them anymore.
Instead, all existing data will be fed to AI "agents" who will mine them to "test new hypotheses" and "generate scientific breakthroughs". 🤨🤢🤮
#academicsky #edusky 🟦🧠
Science will be much more efficient without scientists.
Universities are being destroyed because we don't NEED them anymore.
Instead, all existing data will be fed to AI "agents" who will mine them to "test new hypotheses" and "generate scientific breakthroughs". 🤨🤢🤮
#academicsky #edusky 🟦🧠
Launching the Genesis Mission
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
November 25, 2025 at 12:21 PM
The AI scientific method:
Dubiously compile old data
Consume a lot of energy
Present true and untrue information with same confidence
Generate a report claiming science has occurred
Dubiously compile old data
Consume a lot of energy
Present true and untrue information with same confidence
Generate a report claiming science has occurred
Reposted by Brian Lovett
🚨🚨🚨
Science will be much more efficient without scientists.
Universities are being destroyed because we don't NEED them anymore.
Instead, all existing data will be fed to AI "agents" who will mine them to "test new hypotheses" and "generate scientific breakthroughs". 🤨🤢🤮
#academicsky #edusky 🟦🧠
Science will be much more efficient without scientists.
Universities are being destroyed because we don't NEED them anymore.
Instead, all existing data will be fed to AI "agents" who will mine them to "test new hypotheses" and "generate scientific breakthroughs". 🤨🤢🤮
#academicsky #edusky 🟦🧠
Launching the Genesis Mission
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
November 25, 2025 at 12:01 PM
🚨🚨🚨
Science will be much more efficient without scientists.
Universities are being destroyed because we don't NEED them anymore.
Instead, all existing data will be fed to AI "agents" who will mine them to "test new hypotheses" and "generate scientific breakthroughs". 🤨🤢🤮
#academicsky #edusky 🟦🧠
Science will be much more efficient without scientists.
Universities are being destroyed because we don't NEED them anymore.
Instead, all existing data will be fed to AI "agents" who will mine them to "test new hypotheses" and "generate scientific breakthroughs". 🤨🤢🤮
#academicsky #edusky 🟦🧠
When I was a grad student I was invited to submit a review by a friend of my PI. I submitted the first draft to the editor, and he spent the entire evening sending me minor text formatting and comma errors in the references. He mused to me and my PI that I must be too stupid to do this. 🙄
I have published more than 70 peer reviewed scientific journal articles. I am a reviewer at 50+ journals, and an editor at one journal.
I cannot for the life of me fathom why some journals care so much about reference formatting style. If I can find the paper, you've cited it fine.
I cannot for the life of me fathom why some journals care so much about reference formatting style. If I can find the paper, you've cited it fine.
a man in a tuxedo is asking why are you booing me i 'm right
ALT: a man in a tuxedo is asking why are you booing me i 'm right
media.tenor.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:13 PM
When I was a grad student I was invited to submit a review by a friend of my PI. I submitted the first draft to the editor, and he spent the entire evening sending me minor text formatting and comma errors in the references. He mused to me and my PI that I must be too stupid to do this. 🙄
Reposted by Brian Lovett
You know what has been a science triumph of epic proportion in my lifetime? The fight to diminish the damage wrought by HIV/AIDS. I really hope this is not the start of Bobby and Bhattacharaya returning us to the ravages of “herd immunity”.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
November 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
You know what has been a science triumph of epic proportion in my lifetime? The fight to diminish the damage wrought by HIV/AIDS. I really hope this is not the start of Bobby and Bhattacharaya returning us to the ravages of “herd immunity”.
Reposted by Brian Lovett
Everyone loves to talk about Mothman, but almost no one including those in the cryptozoology community is willing to talk about the biggest threat to its survival, Akanthomyces, the unapologetic moth-destroying fungus! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends
November 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Everyone loves to talk about Mothman, but almost no one including those in the cryptozoology community is willing to talk about the biggest threat to its survival, Akanthomyces, the unapologetic moth-destroying fungus! #Mushrooms #FungiFriends
Reposted by Brian Lovett
This...is exactly the kind of theory that has been needed for longer than a decade in microbiome-host evolution studies
Treating emergent traits of the microbiome like quantitative genetic traits of the host reveals how environmentally acquired symbionts can contribute to hosts' adaptation
Quantitative genetics of microbiome-mediated traits
Microbiomes, the complex communities of microorganisms associated with multicellular hosts, play a vital role in shaping host traits and fitness. But how d
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This...is exactly the kind of theory that has been needed for longer than a decade in microbiome-host evolution studies
Reposted by Brian Lovett
AND it axed countless research, library, and museum grants! THOUSANDS of student jobs lost and children prevented from learning ~humanities~
hey don't be so hard on yourselves; it delivered oceans of sensitive government and citizen data to billionaires
Musk’s DOGE Quietly Killed Off After Delivering Almost Nothing
The agency disbanded eight months ahead of schedule.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:37 PM
AND it axed countless research, library, and museum grants! THOUSANDS of student jobs lost and children prevented from learning ~humanities~
Reposted by Brian Lovett
Learn more about Terry's mission to find the elusive alternate host of coffee leaf rust.
☕️🍃🔬🍄☠️
#mycomonday #herbarium #fungarium #fungi #coffee #rustfungi
ag.purdue.edu/news/departm...
☕️🍃🔬🍄☠️
#mycomonday #herbarium #fungarium #fungi #coffee #rustfungi
ag.purdue.edu/news/departm...
Terry Torres Cruz - Postdoctoral Scholar Feature
Terry Torres Cruz’s path to mycology – the study of fungi – has been guided by lots of curiosity – and a little bit of fate. Growing up in a rural part of Costa Rica, Torres Cruz wasn’t sure what she ...
ag.purdue.edu
November 24, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Learn more about Terry's mission to find the elusive alternate host of coffee leaf rust.
☕️🍃🔬🍄☠️
#mycomonday #herbarium #fungarium #fungi #coffee #rustfungi
ag.purdue.edu/news/departm...
☕️🍃🔬🍄☠️
#mycomonday #herbarium #fungarium #fungi #coffee #rustfungi
ag.purdue.edu/news/departm...