Karen R. Lips
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karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips
@karenrlips.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.8K following 260 posts

Ecology, global change, wildlife disease, tropical biology, science policy & diplomacy.

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Karen R. Lips is a professor of biology at University of Maryland, College Park. Lips' work in the 1990s eventually contributed to the identification of the chytrid fungus as the primary cause of frog decline worldwide. .. more

Environmental science 54%
Geography 14%
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karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· Dec 10
πŸ§ͺ🌎. Our short film "The Waiting" 🐸πŸŽ₯🐸🎬 is been awarded as a Vimeo Staff Pick, so since yesterday it's publicly accessable on Vimeo! vimeo.com/1036802517?s...
The Waiting
Karen Lips is researcher and lives for several years in a tiny little shack in Costa Rica to observe frogs. When she leaves the cloud forest for a short time and…
vimeo.com

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 17h
physicstoday.aip.org/news/what-th...
What the National Center for Atmospheric Research means to the atmospheric sciences
Born out of a time of great need for the federal government, NCAR plays a role with few analogues.
physicstoday.aip.org

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

peterbakernyt.bsky.social
Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social Β· 20h
Navalny was most likely killed by a poison drawn from toxin found in a South American frog not natural to Russia, European governments conclude, debunking Moscow's story that he died in prison of natural causes. @lynseychutel.bsky.social Anton Troianovski www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/w...
Navalny Was Poisoned With Frog Toxin, European Governments Say
www.nytimes.com

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 22h
Interesting talk by Chief Scientist of NATO who recommeded this share.google/WQmElmkXBm6d...
Science & Technology Trends 2025-2045
Welcome to the Science & Technology Trends Report 2025-2045. Discover how emerging innovations will guide strategic decision-making for the future.
share.google

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 1d
At @munsecconf.bsky.social talking #pandemic preparedness & finding common ground (& language) among health, defense, research sectors @cepi.net panel

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 1d
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and β€˜biodefense’ from the agency’s website.
www.nature.com

Reposted by Julie L. Lockwood, Richard D. Gregory, Keith C. Hamer , and 1 more

rheisman.bsky.social
Rebecca Heisman @rheisman.bsky.social Β· 2d
New by me! I spoke to Northern Gannet researchers in the UK about what it was like to see HPAI rip through seabird colonies there and how things have gone since. πŸͺΆπŸŒŽπŸ§ͺ www.biographic.com/after-the-ou...
After the Outbreak - bioGraphic
A northern gannet colony devastated by avian influenza is slowly recoveringβ€”and so are the researchers who witnessed the virus’s wrath.
www.biographic.com

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

benardmf.bsky.social
Mike Benard @benardmf.bsky.social Β· 7d
It’s been a cold, snowy winter here in Cleveland. In 2923 and 2024, we caught our first salamanders around February 10th. I am now wondering if we won’t see them until late March this year? What’s your guess?
Scatterplot, with average daily winter temperatures in x-axis (-3 degrees c to 7 degrees C) On the y-axis is the first date of breeding (from 6 February to 9 April). Data points are for years 2012 to 2025. The points form a negative relationship so that coldest winters have latest breeding in late March to early April, and warmest winters have earliest breeding around 10 February. A photo in top right of figure shows a large salamander held in two gloves hands.

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 7d
πŸ§ͺ🌎🦈 πŸŒŠπŸ”¬πŸ§¬https://www.nature.com/articles/s44358-025-00120-2.epdf?sharing_token=1JKd0veTEld2aHcaWT_Y-dRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0O7ae5zrE1sAojMR9RQhcHaAyE_rgYw-_1Rv786sgQ5wLBew2xt_li9XLtrMiUDEleSPBC_XwkPFwjAWzHdJhv7jTbFzdr1xJCYn7IvNpzIlahiVu19lqAm7agLmGJrDrk%3D
Bending back the curve of shark and ray biodiversity loss
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Global shark and ray populations have declined sharply, driven by expanding fisheries and inequitable gaps in catch, trade and distribution data. This Review assesses...
www.nature.com

Reposted by Karen R. Lips, Annalee Newitz

lizneeley.bsky.social
Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social Β· 8d
For example: if 84% of people already agree that scientific research aimed at advancing knowledge is usually a worthwhile investment over time...

Why are you so sure that the real problem is that people "just don't know enough about why research matters"
www.pewresearch.org/science/2026...
Pew Research graph, titled "Most say U.S. government investment in scientific research is worthwhile" Bar graph shows that 84% of respondents say that government investments in scientific research aimed at advancing knowledge are usually "worthwhile investments for society over time". (93% of Dem/Lean Dems, and 76% of Rep/Lean Reps) Source: survey of US adults conducted Oct 20-26, 2025

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

dominikanow.bsky.social
Dominika Noworolska @dominikanow.bsky.social Β· 8d
ohhh that pairs nicely with @himal.bsky.social's piece
The Cost of Noticing First
Why regulation determines whether early signals become insight or burnout
himalmandalia.medium.com

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

rodschoonover.bsky.social
Rod Schoonover-Rey @rodschoonover.bsky.social Β· 9d
phys.org/news/2026-02...
Skua deaths mark first wildlife die-off due to avian flu on Antarctica
More than 50 skuas in Antarctica died from the high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the summers of 2023 and 2024, marking the first documented die-off of wildlife from the virus on the con...
phys.org

Reposted by Katharine Hayhoe, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop , and 47 more

histoftech.bsky.social
jennifer uncoolidge @histoftech.bsky.social Β· 9d
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientistβ€”because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
www.nature.com

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

himal.bsky.social
Himal Mandalia @himal.bsky.social Β· 10d
Burnout and disengagement aren’t individual failures. They’re signals of systems under strain.

When effort replaces capacity and responsibility is pushed down without authority, people adapt. Some burn out. Others disengage.

Until conditions change, transformation only reproduces the same risks.
Burnout and Disengagement Are Signals
Why exhaustion and disengagement are signals, not failures
medium.com

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 11d
blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...
The brutal geography of global elite scientific research - LSE Impact
In theory where you are from is not meant to determine the quality of your research. The geography of elite research shows this to be untrue.
blogs.lse.ac.uk

Reposted by Neil Pederson, Karen R. Lips

andrewlhipp.bsky.social
Andrew Hipp @andrewlhipp.bsky.social Β· 12d
Shifting prairie-forest ecotone over the course of the holocene.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 13d
πŸ§ͺπŸŒŽπŸ”¬πŸ§¬πŸΈ (Almost) 50 Years of Effort on a Catalogue of Living Amphibians www.iucn-amphibians.org/celebrating-...
Celebrating 9000 described species of amphibians – IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group
www.iucn-amphibians.org

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 13d
πŸ§ͺπŸŒŽπŸ”¬πŸ§¬πŸΈ 9000 species of #Amphibians have been described: summary of trends, challenges & opportunities 🐸 www.iucn-amphibians.org/wp-content/u...
www.iucn-amphibians.org

Reposted by Brian J. Enquist, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Patrick A. Jansen , and 2 more

natureportfolio.nature.com
Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com Β· 14d
A study in Nature Ecology & Evolution shows the long-term changes in tree species diversity across tropical forests in the Andes and Amazon. go.nature.com/45FPc1M 🌍 πŸ§ͺ
This is figure 3, which shows forest plot and regional changes in richness.

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

himal.bsky.social
Himal Mandalia @himal.bsky.social Β· 15d
Latest piece on systems, culture and sustainable change.

Before strategy or transformation, norms are already doing the real work. Not plans, programmes or tech.

What gets normalised decides what’s possible.

Norms are cultural infrastructure and preconditions for transformation.
Norms Before Transformation
How β€œthe way things are” quietly decides whether change is possible
himalmandalia.medium.com

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

science.org
Science Magazine @science.org Β· 15d
Trains may be transporting cobras and other venomous snakes to new parts of India. https://scim.ag/3Z3Dg6i
Snakes on a train? Deadly reptiles may be hopping railcars in India
Trains may be transporting cobras and other venomous snakes to new parts of the country
scim.ag

Reposted by Brian J. Enquist, Jesse H. Kroll, Karen R. Lips , and 9 more

klangin.bsky.social
Katie Langin @klangin.bsky.social Β· 19d
How many STEM Ph.D.s were lost from the U.S. federal government last year?

My colleagues @mghersher.bsky.social and @policyhound.bsky.social dug into a recent data release to find the answer. A @science.org exclusive.

www.science.org/content/arti...

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 20d
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
The Economics of Infectious Diseases
(December 2025) - We synthesize the literature on economic epidemiology, the interdisciplinary field that draws on the ideas and methods of economics to analyze individual behavior, aggregate disease ...
www.aeaweb.org

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 20d
On a GalΓ‘pagos island, a β€˜restoration project on steroids’ www.science.org/content/arti...
On a GalΓ‘pagos island, a β€˜restoration project on steroids’
A multimillion-dollar plan aims to undo centuries of destruction on islands made famous by Darwin
www.science.org

Reposted by Karen R. Lips, Richard M. Carpiano

techiewonk.bsky.social
Jeff Alexander @techiewonk.bsky.social Β· 23d
My colleague Ivy Estabrooke and I from @rti.bsky.social penned an editorial for @science.org on some of the potential implications if U.S. state governments boost funding of scientific #research as federal funding declines: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (not paywalled). #scipol #sciencepolicy
States pioneer a new frontier in US science funding
Thirty-five years ago, a survey of university faculty concluded that despite relatively stable public funding, the research environment in the United States had deteriorated to the point that β€œa major...
www.science.org

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

klangin.bsky.social
Katie Langin @klangin.bsky.social Β· 23d
"What we’re … seeing is the toll of the uncertainty."

My latest story for @science.orgβ€”part of a package that explores how the U.S. scientific community has changed under Trumpβ€”includes new numbers on graduate enrollment and faculty hiring.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Reposted by Karen R. Lips, Robert Wolfe, Beatriz Gallardo PaΓΊls , and 1 more

science.org
Science Magazine @science.org Β· 23d
In a new special issue, Science’s news reporters take stock of the impacts that Trump's year in office has had on research and the scientific workforce, forecast what lies ahead, and assess the scientific community’s efforts to mitigate or reverse the harms. https://scim.ag/4pPtks0
In the year since Donald Trump returned to the White House, U.S. science has experienced unprecedented disruption. In this special issue, Science’s news reporters take stock of the impacts on research and the scientific workforce, forecast what lies ahead, and assess the scientific community’s efforts to mitigate or reverse the harms.

Reposted by Karen R. Lips

davidmalakoff.bsky.social
David Malakoff @davidmalakoff.bsky.social Β· 24d
I actually wrote something for a change: a look at how the US scientific community is trying to push back on Trump policy changes they oppose. | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
In the age of Trump, are U.S. scientists β€˜bringing white papers to a gunfight’?
An unprecedented assault has forced researchers to rethink their advocacy tactics
www.science.org

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 25d
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains
A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.
www.nature.com

karenrlips.bsky.social
Karen R. Lips @karenrlips.bsky.social Β· 25d
Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security UK πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/696e0e...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

Reposted by Karen R. Lips, Joshua S. Weitz

policyhound.bsky.social
Jeffrey Mervis @policyhound.bsky.social Β· 25d
One year into Trump's second term, we parse the lasting impact of his policies and executive orders. Here's the first of a four-story package appearing this week. www.science.org/content/arti...
Which of Trump’s upheavals to U.S. science are likely to stick?
A future president could reverse many changes, but greater White House control of science agencies may be here to stay
www.science.org