@antsara.bsky.social
Career highlight - a new species of spider has been named after me! Thanks to Ingi Agnarsson for the shout-out.
November 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Career highlight - a new species of spider has been named after me! Thanks to Ingi Agnarsson for the shout-out.
Reposted
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
new paper by Sean Westwood:
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research
Reposted
This is a freaking travesty.
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
Lowell Observatory slashes research funding in the midst of financial struggle
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
buff.ly
November 17, 2025 at 9:59 PM
This is a freaking travesty.
Consider giving donations to the museums you value as holiday gifts this year.
The American Alliance of Museums put out its annual industry snapshot and it's not great. Trump's targeting of museum programming had downstream effects and put a "chill on corporate philanthropy." n.pr/43lIZa7
Museums had a rough 2025: Report shows lower attendance, lost grants, less money
The American Alliance of Museums put out its annual industry snapshot and it's not great. Trump's targeting of museum programming had downstream effects and put a "chill on corporate philanthropy."
n.pr
November 12, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Consider giving donations to the museums you value as holiday gifts this year.
Reposted
Happy #JellyfishDay! The oceans are increasingly full of these gelatinous invertebrates, provoking a range of responses in humans, from disgust to awe. The biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel was most certainly in the latter camp... https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/ernst-haeckels-jellyfish
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Happy #JellyfishDay! The oceans are increasingly full of these gelatinous invertebrates, provoking a range of responses in humans, from disgust to awe. The biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel was most certainly in the latter camp... https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/ernst-haeckels-jellyfish
Reposted
Some charts for those who don't know the extent of the US public (and private) investment in research (particularly in biomedical research) compared to other countries and institutions. The destruction of the US' scientific institutions has global implications.
November 2, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Some charts for those who don't know the extent of the US public (and private) investment in research (particularly in biomedical research) compared to other countries and institutions. The destruction of the US' scientific institutions has global implications.
Basic science matters! If you do not understand how the world works, you have no hope of fixing things when they go wrong, or designing a life-changing innovation. Scientists are in it for the long game, and you should be too. #SaveNSF
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Basic science matters! If you do not understand how the world works, you have no hope of fixing things when they go wrong, or designing a life-changing innovation. Scientists are in it for the long game, and you should be too. #SaveNSF
Reposted
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
It's especially for journalists covering this story!
Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.
Reposted
for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
October 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
for any UVA folks that follow me you should circulate this among your networks balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
Reposted
The Trump Administration’s “Compact of Excellence” for Universities is... far from excellent! Indeed, it’s unconstitutional. In this post, let me count the ways.
blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...
blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...
The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine and the Compact for Excellence
Members of the Trump administration love to say that federal funding is a privilege not a right and therefore something that can be granted or withheld based on changing administrative priorities.
blog.dividedargument.com
October 3, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The Trump Administration’s “Compact of Excellence” for Universities is... far from excellent! Indeed, it’s unconstitutional. In this post, let me count the ways.
blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...
blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...
Reposted
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
www.nytimes.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
When Higher Ed is attacked and diminished, we all lose:
www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...
www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...
Eric Hayot and Paula Krebs: It's not about Palestine, DEI or trans athletes
We are facing a defunding of knowledge production in this country. This isn’t only a problem for academia. Many local economies, like Pittsburgh’s,...
www.post-gazette.com
September 18, 2025 at 11:35 AM
When Higher Ed is attacked and diminished, we all lose:
www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...
www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...
I love Gretchen Wilson's version of Kris Kristofferson's Sunday Morning Coming Down.
youtu.be/EQzr1DPlxdY?...
youtu.be/EQzr1DPlxdY?...
September 15, 2025 at 3:21 AM
I love Gretchen Wilson's version of Kris Kristofferson's Sunday Morning Coming Down.
youtu.be/EQzr1DPlxdY?...
youtu.be/EQzr1DPlxdY?...
A crazy ant story to brighten up your day:
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Ant queen lays eggs that hatch into two species
Bizarre discovery of interspecies cloning “almost impossible to believe,” biologists say
www.science.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:53 PM
A crazy ant story to brighten up your day:
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
The "Oversight" EO will make it impossible to challenge even baldy political funding decisions. Congress needs to include language reasserting the primacy of peer review and career staff evaluation over political appointee "judgement".
September 2, 2025 at 10:49 AM
The "Oversight" EO will make it impossible to challenge even baldy political funding decisions. Congress needs to include language reasserting the primacy of peer review and career staff evaluation over political appointee "judgement".
Reposted
The bill is not posted but multiple sources tell me that it contains a provision that multi-year funding cannot exceed fiscal year 2024 levels.
I will check as soon as it is posted.
I will check as soon as it is posted.
Big highlight was Senator Baldwin calling out the NIH MYF “policy”
July 31, 2025 at 5:04 PM
The bill is not posted but multiple sources tell me that it contains a provision that multi-year funding cannot exceed fiscal year 2024 levels.
I will check as soon as it is posted.
I will check as soon as it is posted.
Reposted
IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE
Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit
Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit
a cartoon of a man and a dog with the words now 's the time for action written on the bottom
ALT: a cartoon of a man and a dog with the words now 's the time for action written on the bottom
media.tenor.com
July 30, 2025 at 11:23 PM
IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE
Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit
Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit
Reposted
July 30, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted
IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
Please watch the workshop video and COMMENT by 5:00 Monday 7/14
This is the source of the "no more model organism only grants in NIH-funded research" decree.
Please watch the workshop video and COMMENT by 5:00 Monday 7/14
This is the source of the "no more model organism only grants in NIH-funded research" decree.
Dear all, PLEASE add comments on the importance of model organism research at this link:
July 12, 2025 at 12:11 AM
IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT
Please watch the workshop video and COMMENT by 5:00 Monday 7/14
This is the source of the "no more model organism only grants in NIH-funded research" decree.
Please watch the workshop video and COMMENT by 5:00 Monday 7/14
This is the source of the "no more model organism only grants in NIH-funded research" decree.
In case you thought basic science was silly. . .
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#saveNSF
@standupforscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#saveNSF
@standupforscience.bsky.social
‘Super-healing’ animals inspire human treatments
Studies of the regenerative powers of worms, zebrafish and lizards suggest ways to improve recovery in people.
www.nature.com
June 26, 2025 at 12:42 PM
In case you thought basic science was silly. . .
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#saveNSF
@standupforscience.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#saveNSF
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Reposted
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
June 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
Reposted
Major US climate website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Major US climate website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired
Exclusive: Climate.gov, which supports public education on climate science, will soon no longer publish new content
www.theguardian.com
June 17, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Major US climate website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted
This would be the largest public lands sell-off in modern U.S. history and it's happening with no hearings, no debate, and no public input.
See what public lands would be available for sale:
www.wilderness.org/articles/med...
See what public lands would be available for sale:
www.wilderness.org/articles/med...
120 million acres of public lands eligible for sale in SENR budget reconciliation package
The bill mandates disposal of over 2 million acres of BLM and National Forest lands; public lands eligible for sale in the bill encompass over 120 million acres, including local recreation areas, wild...
www.wilderness.org
June 16, 2025 at 9:13 PM
This would be the largest public lands sell-off in modern U.S. history and it's happening with no hearings, no debate, and no public input.
See what public lands would be available for sale:
www.wilderness.org/articles/med...
See what public lands would be available for sale:
www.wilderness.org/articles/med...
Reposted
More leadership from the trenches
Project McClintock
Graduate students writing local op-eds
[Gift link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/s...
Project McClintock
Graduate students writing local op-eds
[Gift link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/s...
To Protest Budget Cuts, Young Scientists Try Letters to the Editor
www.nytimes.com
June 17, 2025 at 7:54 AM
More leadership from the trenches
Project McClintock
Graduate students writing local op-eds
[Gift link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/s...
Project McClintock
Graduate students writing local op-eds
[Gift link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/s...
Reposted
🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬
Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025
Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025
June 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬
Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025
Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025