Aramati Casper
@aramaticasper.bsky.social
Interdisciplinary biologist/ecologist/social scientist
The first three years of Weird Sisters magazine are now available in an online archive. As Arminta Skip Neal used to say, here tis.
weirdsistersmagazine.wordpress.com
weirdsistersmagazine.wordpress.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:28 AM
The first three years of Weird Sisters magazine are now available in an online archive. As Arminta Skip Neal used to say, here tis.
weirdsistersmagazine.wordpress.com
weirdsistersmagazine.wordpress.com
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Wham bam CAM!
Former lab member @njorisfleck.bsky.social and colleagues just showed that some carnivorous plants do CAM photosynthesis! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🌱☀️🧪
🌱☀️🧪
Yes, we CAM! First evidence of CAM photosynthesis in a carnivorous plant
Evidence for weak, facultative CAM is reported for the first time in a carnivorous plant, i.e., in Mexican representatives of Pinguicula (Lentibulariaceae).
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Wham bam CAM!
Reposted by Aramati Casper
This is a wiiiiiiild system!
Iberian harvester ant queens clone ants **of a different species** to maintain a supply of their sperm. “They then mate with those ants to produce hybrid workers that take care of the colony... In effect, M. ibericus has domesticated M. structor and its genome”
Iberian harvester ant queens clone ants **of a different species** to maintain a supply of their sperm. “They then mate with those ants to produce hybrid workers that take care of the colony... In effect, M. ibericus has domesticated M. structor and its genome”
woah this is genuinely, utterly WILD
Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers!
This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Ant queens of one species produce males of another species, so she can then mate with them and produce hybrid workers!
This is so gloriously weird I can't quite compute it 🤯🧪🐜
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother
Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 1:27 PM
This is a wiiiiiiild system!
Iberian harvester ant queens clone ants **of a different species** to maintain a supply of their sperm. “They then mate with those ants to produce hybrid workers that take care of the colony... In effect, M. ibericus has domesticated M. structor and its genome”
Iberian harvester ant queens clone ants **of a different species** to maintain a supply of their sperm. “They then mate with those ants to produce hybrid workers that take care of the colony... In effect, M. ibericus has domesticated M. structor and its genome”
Reposted by Aramati Casper
There's a reason why sports teams don't chant "I believe that we will lose" before a game, a reason so obvious that I'm pretty sure it needs no explanation. Which is why it makes my head explode when people surrender in advance verbally, which they do all the time about politics.
On Not Surrendering in Advance, or During, or At Any Point Thereafter
There's a reason why sports teams don't chant "I believe that we will lose" before a game, a reason so obvious that I'm pretty sure it needs no explanation in that context. Words have power. They not ...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
August 20, 2025 at 6:12 PM
There's a reason why sports teams don't chant "I believe that we will lose" before a game, a reason so obvious that I'm pretty sure it needs no explanation. Which is why it makes my head explode when people surrender in advance verbally, which they do all the time about politics.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Heads up 🧪science folks. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to generate some examples of issues in how Chat-GPT 5.0 answers intro bio type things. I'll stick at least some of them here in a thread so you're free to use them, rather than having to waste resources asking it stuff we know it gets wrong
August 15, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Heads up 🧪science folks. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to generate some examples of issues in how Chat-GPT 5.0 answers intro bio type things. I'll stick at least some of them here in a thread so you're free to use them, rather than having to waste resources asking it stuff we know it gets wrong
Reposted by Aramati Casper
"The rise of fascism in the United States convinced the Guthrie family and their associates that the music scene needed a dose of Guthrie’s anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, Nazi-punching ethos." #woodyguthrie #folkmusic #antifascist
New Music from Anti-Fascist Folk Singer Woody Guthrie Released
With this reveal of 22 previously unheard songs, the Guthrie family hopes the radical messages in “Woody At Home” will inspire the next generation of protest songwriters.
inthesetimes.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:51 AM
"The rise of fascism in the United States convinced the Guthrie family and their associates that the music scene needed a dose of Guthrie’s anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, Nazi-punching ethos." #woodyguthrie #folkmusic #antifascist
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Cannot stop laughing at this
August 14, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Cannot stop laughing at this
Reposted by Aramati Casper
MAHA ignores the real causes of poor health in the US, but Defend Public Health doesn’t.
Our report has 11 pillars of actions for Improving the Health of Americans Together, like reducing gun violence, combating scientific misinformation, and removing RFK Jr. from office.
Our report has 11 pillars of actions for Improving the Health of Americans Together, like reducing gun violence, combating scientific misinformation, and removing RFK Jr. from office.
‘Distracting the public’: group of health professionals call for RFK Jr to be removed
Ahead of the second Maha report, grassroots Defend Public Health warns that everything HHS is doing is ‘horrifying’
www.theguardian.com
August 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
MAHA ignores the real causes of poor health in the US, but Defend Public Health doesn’t.
Our report has 11 pillars of actions for Improving the Health of Americans Together, like reducing gun violence, combating scientific misinformation, and removing RFK Jr. from office.
Our report has 11 pillars of actions for Improving the Health of Americans Together, like reducing gun violence, combating scientific misinformation, and removing RFK Jr. from office.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Just to give the TL;DR on this one:
*The* main purpose of the EO is to move funding priorities and decisions away from experts and career professionals over to political appointees. With the ultimate power held by Vought / OMB.
*The* main purpose of the EO is to move funding priorities and decisions away from experts and career professionals over to political appointees. With the ultimate power held by Vought / OMB.
This is literally some of the craziest shit I have ever read.
And that's saying a lot.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
And that's saying a lot.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal
www.whitehouse.gov
August 7, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Just to give the TL;DR on this one:
*The* main purpose of the EO is to move funding priorities and decisions away from experts and career professionals over to political appointees. With the ultimate power held by Vought / OMB.
*The* main purpose of the EO is to move funding priorities and decisions away from experts and career professionals over to political appointees. With the ultimate power held by Vought / OMB.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Scientists of Bluesky, help me!
Do you have an example of a question that was (1) studied using both observational and experimental methods, and (2) the observational results are far more trustworthy because of the circumstances and/or quality of design?
#AcademicSky #PhDSky #Science
Do you have an example of a question that was (1) studied using both observational and experimental methods, and (2) the observational results are far more trustworthy because of the circumstances and/or quality of design?
#AcademicSky #PhDSky #Science
August 6, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Scientists of Bluesky, help me!
Do you have an example of a question that was (1) studied using both observational and experimental methods, and (2) the observational results are far more trustworthy because of the circumstances and/or quality of design?
#AcademicSky #PhDSky #Science
Do you have an example of a question that was (1) studied using both observational and experimental methods, and (2) the observational results are far more trustworthy because of the circumstances and/or quality of design?
#AcademicSky #PhDSky #Science
Reposted by Aramati Casper
The Trump administration effectively created a de facto bathroom ban at Brown University and none of the major media is covering it, and if they do, they character it as about sports. This is how the trans visa ban was enacted and characterized.
www.advocate.com/news/transge...
www.advocate.com/news/transge...
Brown University is ‘functionally inaccessible’ to transgender students after Trump settlement
“Everyone I talked to thought it only applied to sports. But it applies to everything," one transgender student told The Advocate.
www.advocate.com
August 6, 2025 at 3:55 AM
The Trump administration effectively created a de facto bathroom ban at Brown University and none of the major media is covering it, and if they do, they character it as about sports. This is how the trans visa ban was enacted and characterized.
www.advocate.com/news/transge...
www.advocate.com/news/transge...
Reposted by Aramati Casper
We need your email power to support Dept of Agriculture! USDA is opening a 30-day public comment period on the Department's reorganization plan now through Aug. 26, 2025.
Say yes to SNAP!
Say yes to Research!
Say yes to conservation!
To submit feedback, please email reorganization@usda.gov.
Say yes to SNAP!
Say yes to Research!
Say yes to conservation!
To submit feedback, please email reorganization@usda.gov.
www.usda.gov
August 2, 2025 at 2:42 AM
We need your email power to support Dept of Agriculture! USDA is opening a 30-day public comment period on the Department's reorganization plan now through Aug. 26, 2025.
Say yes to SNAP!
Say yes to Research!
Say yes to conservation!
To submit feedback, please email reorganization@usda.gov.
Say yes to SNAP!
Say yes to Research!
Say yes to conservation!
To submit feedback, please email reorganization@usda.gov.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
We share your excitement @jacanamama.bsky.social 🙌thanks for spreading the word & thanks for being part of SICB Portland.
August 1, 2025 at 12:30 AM
We share your excitement @jacanamama.bsky.social 🙌thanks for spreading the word & thanks for being part of SICB Portland.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
I'm SOOOO EXCITED for this Sex(es) Across Origins Symposium at #SICB2026!!!! I just submitted an abstract for the complementary session (on bird plumage and social selection with @gamaevo.bsky.social), and I hope you consider applying, too! @sicb.bsky.social @sicbjournals.bsky.social
Hey SICB 2026 @sicb.bsky.social! Don't forget about the Sex(es) Across Origins Symposium 🍄🦠🐌🌽
If you'd like to give a talk or poster session or poster session in our ✨complementary sessions✨, make sure to specify that in your abstract submission when you submit! (deadline, Aug 27)
If you'd like to give a talk or poster session or poster session in our ✨complementary sessions✨, make sure to specify that in your abstract submission when you submit! (deadline, Aug 27)
July 31, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I'm SOOOO EXCITED for this Sex(es) Across Origins Symposium at #SICB2026!!!! I just submitted an abstract for the complementary session (on bird plumage and social selection with @gamaevo.bsky.social), and I hope you consider applying, too! @sicb.bsky.social @sicbjournals.bsky.social
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Hey SICB 2026 @sicb.bsky.social! Don't forget about the Sex(es) Across Origins Symposium 🍄🦠🐌🌽
If you'd like to give a talk or poster session or poster session in our ✨complementary sessions✨, make sure to specify that in your abstract submission when you submit! (deadline, Aug 27)
If you'd like to give a talk or poster session or poster session in our ✨complementary sessions✨, make sure to specify that in your abstract submission when you submit! (deadline, Aug 27)
July 28, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Hey SICB 2026 @sicb.bsky.social! Don't forget about the Sex(es) Across Origins Symposium 🍄🦠🐌🌽
If you'd like to give a talk or poster session or poster session in our ✨complementary sessions✨, make sure to specify that in your abstract submission when you submit! (deadline, Aug 27)
If you'd like to give a talk or poster session or poster session in our ✨complementary sessions✨, make sure to specify that in your abstract submission when you submit! (deadline, Aug 27)
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Signal boosting:
Has anyone had any success with Zotero for multi-lingual bibliographies where one or more of the languages uses a non-Latin script such as Japanese? In particular, cases where entries must contain, e.g., titles in translation, Latin text transcription, and the source language?
July 28, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Signal boosting:
Reposted by Aramati Casper
From @aaas.org check-in with Sudip Parikh: a letter by 14 Republican senators urge the Office of Management and Budget to release NIH funding. If this includes your state (AL, ME, WV, SC, KY, KS, AR, PA, NC, IN, AK), Sudip recommends contacting & thanking them for being American science leaders.
July 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
From @aaas.org check-in with Sudip Parikh: a letter by 14 Republican senators urge the Office of Management and Budget to release NIH funding. If this includes your state (AL, ME, WV, SC, KY, KS, AR, PA, NC, IN, AK), Sudip recommends contacting & thanking them for being American science leaders.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
If you haven't picked up this book, you're really missing out on a charming and beautiful piece of writing. #BookSky 🧪 #scicomm
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726129...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726129...
Sharks Don't Sink by Jasmin Graham: 9780593685273 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
The uplifting story of a young Black scientist’s challenging journey to flourish outside the traditional confines of academia, inspired by her innate connection to nature’s most misunderstood...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
July 21, 2025 at 3:37 PM
If you haven't picked up this book, you're really missing out on a charming and beautiful piece of writing. #BookSky 🧪 #scicomm
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726129...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726129...
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Are you a PhD student, have an offer, or have had an offer recently rescinded from a US university? If so, Western (in London, ON, Canada) has a new scholarship program for you! Check out this news story. I can vouch for this university! You will love it.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Western University launches program to capitalize on shrinking U.S. research funding | CBC News
Western University is looking to capitalize on massive shifts in the academic landscape of the United States with a new initiative designed to turn a difficult situation into a brain gain for both the...
www.cbc.ca
July 19, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Are you a PhD student, have an offer, or have had an offer recently rescinded from a US university? If so, Western (in London, ON, Canada) has a new scholarship program for you! Check out this news story. I can vouch for this university! You will love it.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by Aramati Casper
What is also ludicrous about this idea is that scientists love being scientists! It’s our pleasure to do the work! Replacing us with AI makes no more sense than having AI watch movies or read novels for us! #science #academicsky
The entire point of good reporting or good scholarship is to tell us something we didn’t already know and the idea that they could ever be replaced by AI tools that rely on scraping the internet database of what we *do* know is just ludicrous.
it really is both insanely inaccurate and also wildly offensive to assume that scientists and reporters can be readily replaced with passive sensors
July 19, 2025 at 7:17 PM
What is also ludicrous about this idea is that scientists love being scientists! It’s our pleasure to do the work! Replacing us with AI makes no more sense than having AI watch movies or read novels for us! #science #academicsky
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Everyone, please repost this very important numbers. They could’ve lives.
Keep these numbers handy:
Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
Trevor Project: 866-488-7386
Next Rung: 833-698-7864
LGBT Hotline: 888-843-5464
LGBT Youth Hotline: 800-246-7743
LGBT Elder Hotline: 888-234-7243
TrevorText: 678 678
Remember: LGBTQIA+ means family. Family means no one gets left behind.
Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
Trevor Project: 866-488-7386
Next Rung: 833-698-7864
LGBT Hotline: 888-843-5464
LGBT Youth Hotline: 800-246-7743
LGBT Elder Hotline: 888-234-7243
TrevorText: 678 678
Remember: LGBTQIA+ means family. Family means no one gets left behind.
July 17, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Everyone, please repost this very important numbers. They could’ve lives.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Our Bodies, Our Decisions: A Response to Andrew Sullivan’s NYT Essay nursingclio.org/2025/07/16/o...
Our Bodies, Our Decisions: A Response to Andrew Sullivan’s NYT Essay
In a recent New York Times, author Andrew Sullivan, a conservative British-American political commentator and former editor of The New Republic, argues that the trans movement has gone too far, pro…
nursingclio.org
July 17, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Our Bodies, Our Decisions: A Response to Andrew Sullivan’s NYT Essay nursingclio.org/2025/07/16/o...
Reposted by Aramati Casper
Call your senator TONIGHT or tomorrow morning if they are on the appropriations committee and encourage them to support the subcommittee recommendation - i just did!
🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding.
Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.
See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.
🧵 1/3
Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.
See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.
🧵 1/3
Subcommittee Markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
www.appropriations.senate.gov
July 10, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Call your senator TONIGHT or tomorrow morning if they are on the appropriations committee and encourage them to support the subcommittee recommendation - i just did!
Reposted by Aramati Casper
We finally got to see the hardcopies of ‘Nature Selecting’ the #evolution book I wrote for kids (around 6th grade level and up) and illustrated by my 14 year-old daughter Anjali
Free pdf here www.lsu.edu/mns/news-and...
We plan to send hard copies to local schools and teachers for free.
Free pdf here www.lsu.edu/mns/news-and...
We plan to send hard copies to local schools and teachers for free.
July 6, 2025 at 2:08 AM
We finally got to see the hardcopies of ‘Nature Selecting’ the #evolution book I wrote for kids (around 6th grade level and up) and illustrated by my 14 year-old daughter Anjali
Free pdf here www.lsu.edu/mns/news-and...
We plan to send hard copies to local schools and teachers for free.
Free pdf here www.lsu.edu/mns/news-and...
We plan to send hard copies to local schools and teachers for free.
Reposted by Aramati Casper
There’s a live “State of the People” all night marathon happening tonight to encourage our community engaged in opposing this bill that will harm all of us NOW. You have to reach out to your representative (202-224-3121). But first get energized by tuning in.
www.youtube.com/live/uax8jmJ...
www.youtube.com/live/uax8jmJ...
LIVE State Of The People Marathon
YouTube video by State of the People
www.youtube.com
July 3, 2025 at 1:38 AM
There’s a live “State of the People” all night marathon happening tonight to encourage our community engaged in opposing this bill that will harm all of us NOW. You have to reach out to your representative (202-224-3121). But first get energized by tuning in.
www.youtube.com/live/uax8jmJ...
www.youtube.com/live/uax8jmJ...