Dr. Michael Tift
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uncwtiftlab.bsky.social
Dr. Michael Tift
@uncwtiftlab.bsky.social
Physiologist at UNCW. Research focuses are on the physiology of vertebrates in extreme environments, endogenous carbon monoxide (CO), hypoxia, marine mammals, diving physiology, Antarctic biology. https://michaeltift.weebly.com
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🚨Job Opportunity in Marine Science - Please repost🚨

The University of North Carolina Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Program is looking for an Internship Coordinator for our paid summer internship program. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

jobs.uncw.edu/postings/35027
Marine Mammal Stranding Program Internship Coordinator
We are looking for a candidate who has a background working with marine mammal stranding programs, scientific outreach experience, and familiarity working with adults and children of all backgrounds. ...
jobs.uncw.edu
Exciting new work from our group highlighting the brain lymphatic system in the bottlenose dolphin.
🚨New Pub in Nature! Highly collaborative work! This article describes the anatomical features associated with a functional glymphatic system in bottlenose dolphins. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@uncwtiftlab.bsky.social
August 25, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Great work by @chrismcknight.bsky.social and team on the potential for seals to sense oxygen, instead of carbon dioxide as the stimulus to return from a dive to breathe.
New study reveals why seals don't drown
Seals can directly sense the oxygen in their own bloodstream, new research in the journal Science finds.
www.npr.org
March 20, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
We're looking forward to the @biologists.bsky.social Biologists @ 100 conference #biologists100 starting on Monday 24 March @ the ACC Liverpool with the
@sebiology.bsky.social satellite and JEB symposium

We hope to see you there!

100yearsconference.biologists.com
Biologists @ 100
The Company of Biologists is committed to championing positive and progressive discovery.​ The last 100 years has been a period characterised ​​by pioneering discovery.​​ The next 100 years promises t...
100yearsconference.biologists.com
March 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
New publication from our group highlighting the primary structures of the brain lymphatic system in common dolphins. This is the first direct evidence of the brain lymphatic system in a marine mammal.

The brain lymphatic system was only discovered in rodents and humans in 2015!
Meningeal Lymphatic and Glymphatic Structures in a Pelagic Delphinid (Delphinus delphis)
The glymphatic system, an analog of the peripheral lymphatic system in the brain, and the meningeal lymphatic system are critical to central nervous system health. The glymphatic system functions to d...
www.mdpi.com
March 5, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
DOGE recommends cuts to the FAA.

Hundreds of workers get fired, including those tasked with producing air traffic navigation maps.

Now Starlink is reportedly in line to take over a $2 billion contract to upgrade the nation's air traffic control systems.

See how this works?
February 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
Scientists work for *years* to get National Science Foundation funding. It’s extremely competitive.

If you do, it pays your students. Pays their rent, food & tuition while they do science in your lab.

Right now, it’s being ripped away for reasons having nothing to do with efficiency or merit.
February 25, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
This is the National Science Foundation. We can’t access #Antarctica without expert pilots, logistics experts, mountaineers, etc. We all bring our skills to bear. I bring being an ice nerd who understands how polar logistics and science teams come together…
February 25, 2025 at 6:05 AM
There is a prewritten email in the link below to tell your congressman or congresswoman that you support not getting rid of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It’s EASY and FAST. Please help out and share widely.
February 23, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
Use this form to tell us how the new US administration is affecting your research, or suggest future coverage

https://go.nature.com/3EYNA8C
Are the Trump team’s actions affecting your research? How to contact Nature
Use this form to share information with Nature’s news team, or to make suggestions for future coverage.
go.nature.com
February 22, 2025 at 9:08 AM
🚨Job Opportunity in Marine Science - Please repost🚨

The University of North Carolina Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Program is looking for an Internship Coordinator for our paid summer internship program. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

jobs.uncw.edu/postings/35027
Marine Mammal Stranding Program Internship Coordinator
We are looking for a candidate who has a background working with marine mammal stranding programs, scientific outreach experience, and familiarity working with adults and children of all backgrounds. ...
jobs.uncw.edu
February 19, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
I heard that some of you people prefer to receive your snarky science fact-checking of viral news stories in meme format, and I am here to help.
February 14, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Not only is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) important for weather predictions, but they are critical agencies for the protection of marine mammals, and other marine species. This is likely to have long-lasting negative effects for several marine species.
Trump admin halts NOAA-sponsored studies as DOGE work speeds up
The termination orders to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine curtail research on equity in fisheries management and diversity in
www.eenews.net
February 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Evidence of propeller wounds on a North Atlantic Right Whale. One of the most endangered marine mammal species on our planet. They need protection. The new administration is dismantling every agency that works to protect them. It would not surprise me if they go extinct in my lifetime, due to humans
February 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
🚨Job Opportunity in Marine Science - Please repost🚨

The University of North Carolina Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Program is looking for an Internship Coordinator for our paid summer internship program. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

jobs.uncw.edu/postings/35027
Marine Mammal Stranding Program Internship Coordinator
We are looking for a candidate who has a background working with marine mammal stranding programs, scientific outreach experience, and familiarity working with adults and children of all backgrounds. ...
jobs.uncw.edu
February 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
The cycling world is at it again! Cyclists are using carbon monoxide inhalation to simulate hypoxia (low oxygen) and cause the body to upregulate red blood cell production.
February 5, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Spring 2025 semester Lab Goals. Let’s goooo!!
January 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Terrifying
Just published: highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N5 in an Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) found dead in Svalbard, Norway, in 2023.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
January 30, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
When I moved to DC in 2019, there were ads touting the climate change benefits of taking public transit.

One, which I had to walk by every day, claimed climate change made sharks bite people more. That's nonsense. I investigated.

It turns out this ad was misquoting some of *MY* research!
Is Climate Change Causing Sharks To Bite Humans? Metro Thinks So
Taking public transit reduces greenhouse gas emissions. But does it change shark behavior? Scientists are dubious.
wamu.org
January 28, 2025 at 8:21 PM
NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science seeks a candidate for a Research Specialist. The candidate will be employed via a contract to work as part of the Coastal Resilience, Restoration, and Assessment Branch located in Beaufort, North Carolina.
Research Specialist - Beaufort, NC - CSS, Inc Jobs
NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) seeks a highly qualified candidate for a Research Specialist position on an interdisciplinary research team of contract
cssinc.isolvedhire.com
January 28, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
Steller's sea cows were utterly enormous - reaching up to 9 metres long. This skeleton in Paris dwarfs the dugong and manatee skeleton below it, and they are pretty big beasts themselves.
Just 27 years after they were first encountered by Europeans in 1741, they were hunted to #extinction.
January 24, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
Posting this again, for reasons. 🧪
No, Offshore Wind Isn’t What’s Killing Whales
Politicians and nonprofit groups have blamed offshore wind turbines for whale deaths, but the science doesn’t support those claims—at all
www.scientificamerican.com
January 21, 2025 at 4:02 PM
🙄
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Jan 11
Prominent right-wing influencers are claiming that the response to the Los Angeles wildfires was hampered by workplace diversity policies. It's part of a wider strategy to discredit those policies.
Why right-wing influencers are blaming the California wildfires on diversity efforts
Prominent right-wing influencers are claiming that the response to the Los Angeles wildfires was hampered by workplace diversity policies. It's part of a wider strategy to discredit those policies.
www.npr.org
January 12, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
I fear there is deep truth here.
January 11, 2025 at 8:47 PM
The UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Program recently responded to a deceased manatee in the Cape Fear River in NC. Click the link to hear the whole story. www.whqr.org/local/2024-1...
A manatee was found deceased in the Cape Fear off of River Road, what happened?
On Tuesday, December 3, UNCW researchers responded to an emaciated manatee who had died in the Cape Fear River. He was found near the waters of the River Lights neighborhood, and they brought him back...
www.whqr.org
December 11, 2024 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Dr. Michael Tift
15 November 2024: Report of unusual mortality of crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) on fast ice at Active Sound (Antarctic region, 56.42°W 63.55°S), at the north tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Important to rule out highly pathogenic avian influenza. scar.org/library-data...
November 17, 2024 at 6:22 AM