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bryhtsky.bsky.social
VMHarris
@bryhtsky.bsky.social
330 followers 410 following 110 posts
PhD Candidate/Power Nerd in Geography @ UIowa. Travel, Dendrochronology 💚🌲💍, Paleoclimate, History, GeoScience, 💙 Nevada.💧🌧️⛈️🌤️ 😷

*Opinions own*
*I block any new follower account that I don’t personally or professionally know (DM if you do want to follow)*
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bryhtsky.bsky.social
VMHarris @bryhtsky.bsky.social · May 17
Someone just leveled up 😁🎉
Screenshot of my BlueSky profile. The words “PhD Candidate” are highlighted. For context, it previously said “student” and is an indication that I passed my oral and written exams. There is also the party hat celebration emoji pasted on it.
bryhtsky.bsky.social
And…. I’m done here too
July 3, 2025 at 11:36 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
First fireflies of the year tonight 🥰
June 25, 2025 at 3:59 AM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Happy Gotcha Day to my two wonderful ladies!

16 years and going strong 🥰
Enjoy your special canned tuna, Pesca and Platina!
(Even little Ariel got to enjoy the festivities 😊)
Photograph of my cat Platina, a tortoiseshell tabby, with her face planted in a bowl of canned tuna. Photograph of my cat Pesca, a cream-colored longhair, with her face planted in a bowl of canned tuna. Photograph of my cat Ariel, a Bengal, with her face planted in a bowl of canned tuna.
June 22, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by VMHarris
catsofyore.bsky.social
Someone just scolded me that I should shave Francie in the summer and I want to address that briefly for educational purposes. First of all, our vets do not recommend summer shaving and as far as I know no other vets do, either. 🌟THREAD🌟 www.petmd.com/cat/shaving-...
Screenshot from linked article that says "What Is the Function of Cat Fur? Cat fur serves many purposes. Yes, it helps keep cats warm, but it also protects the skin from injuries, is used in communication (think of an angry cat with her hackles raised), provides sensory input and helps keep cats dry. When temperatures get very hot, cat fur actually helps keep cats cool—the layer of air trapped within the coat can act as a buffer against extreme environmental heat."
June 19, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by VMHarris
msgrumpybunny.bsky.social
February 10, 2025 at 10:16 AM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Huzzah! I love the “dying duck” sound
ntthung.bsky.social Hung Nguyen @ntthung.bsky.social · Jun 13
Can you hear the dendrochronologists in their natural habitat? 🧪

#dendro
June 13, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by VMHarris
drruth.bsky.social
Children exposed to COVID in utero had developmental delays at age 24 months:
🧠36% cognitive delays
🗣️64% communication delays
🏃57% had motor delays

🧪 Specific developmental delays were related to specific inflammation cytokines found in their cord blood at birth. buff.ly/AQSfBm9

#Medsky #Pedsky 🛟😷
on left, pregnancy and sars cov2 infection, leads to cytokine storm in fetus. This affects brain development at age 6 and age 24 months.
June 13, 2025 at 5:01 AM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
This is heartbreaking 😢
June 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
It seems I need to update my pinned tweet again:

Do Not Follow me unless I know you. BlueSky does not allow for a way to politely remove followers, so I am going to block any unknown entity/person.

DM me if you want to follow and I don’t directly know you.

Random follows are unwelcome.
June 9, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by VMHarris
nevadawolf.bsky.social
Just in case folks have reposts from me turned off.

Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Eggs (June 2025)

Affecting restaurants and retailers in California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Indiana, and Illinois.

www.fda.gov/food/outbrea...
Product: Recalled brown cage free eggs and brown certified organic eggs were sold under multiple different brand names at restaurants and retailers. These eggs should no longer be available for sale. Recalled brown cage free eggs and brown certified organic eggs were supplied by August Egg Company, Hilmar, CA. The recalled eggs have a printed Julian Date between “32” and “126” followed by a plant code number “P-6562” or “CA-5330” on the egg carton or package. The recalled eggs sold at retail stores are packed in fiber or plastic cartons, with the above codes printed on one side of the carton. Brands the recalled eggs were sold under include: Clover, First Street, Nulaid, O Organics, Marketside, Raleys, Simple Truth, Sun Harvest, and Sunnyside. Stores Affected Recalled brown cage free eggs and brown certified organic eggs were distributed from February 3, 2025, through May 15, 2025, with sell by dates from March 4, 2025, to June 4, 2025, in California and Nevada to retail locations including Save Mart, FoodMaxx, Lucky, Smart & Final, Safeway, Raleys, Food 4 Less, and Ralphs. The eggs were also distributed from February 3, 2025, through May 6, 2025, with sell by dates from March 4, 2025, to June 19, 2025, to Walmart locations in California, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, Indiana, and Illinois. FDA is working with the firm to determine if eggs were distributed elsewhere and will update the advisory as information becomes available.
June 7, 2025 at 7:52 AM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Saving this for Fall classes. Undergrads need this info so badly.
June 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
I mask every time I teach, and you should too
tkovach.bsky.social PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Worldwide Annually @tkovach.bsky.social · May 27
"We further estimate that the removal of [school mask] mandates during this time contributed to 21800 COVID deaths through the rest of 2022, 9% of the U.S. total that year...the bulk of these deaths were from spillovers to residents in the wider community."
Spillovers from Public Health Policies in Schools: Evidence from COVID Mask Mandates
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
May 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by VMHarris
tdverstynen.bsky.social
Folks at Princeton have put together an aggregator to highlight example of how federally funded research has directly impacted people's lives. They are looking for more studies to highlight, so send along suggestions and help make the benefits of science more visible!

publicusaresearchbenefits.com
Searchable database of tangible benefits that federally-funded research gave us.
A crowd-sourced site. Health and Well-being. National Security. Prosperity.
publicusaresearchbenefits.com
May 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Ariel is too darn adorable 🥰
#CatsOfSTEM
Photograph of my cat Ariel. She is curled up into a tiny circle on top of my couch. She is completely passed out asleep. She looks very cute and small.
May 23, 2025 at 10:28 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Someone just leveled up 😁🎉
Screenshot of my BlueSky profile. The words “PhD Candidate” are highlighted. For context, it previously said “student” and is an indication that I passed my oral and written exams. There is also the party hat celebration emoji pasted on it.
May 17, 2025 at 4:55 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
I passed.
bryhtsky.bsky.social VMHarris @bryhtsky.bsky.social · May 11
Oh, I forgot to mention: I’m defending my dissertation proposal tomorrow. If any of you are interested and want to come, it’s Monday at 10:00am CDT

Please message me, and I’ll send you the Zoom link

(Also very nervous but also “fuck it; I did (I did enough, right?) my prep work” mental level 😬)
May 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Oh, I forgot to mention: I’m defending my dissertation proposal tomorrow. If any of you are interested and want to come, it’s Monday at 10:00am CDT

Please message me, and I’ll send you the Zoom link

(Also very nervous but also “fuck it; I did (I did enough, right?) my prep work” mental level 😬)
May 11, 2025 at 11:57 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
Nerdehumor™️
neorsd.org NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · May 8
the universal language.
Divind Bergh bluesky post in Norwegian: Nerdehumor for mikrobiologer som ogsa synes konklaver er fascinerende [“nerdehumor” is highlighted]
May 9, 2025 at 9:41 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 I literally just did a lab in class asking students to look at this database
May 8, 2025 at 2:09 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
It’s Friday night. I’m exhausted. Finished TA grading for the semester 🤘🏻. Finally graded climate labs 🙂. Scheduled my oral comprehensive exams (May 12th!!). Feel generally good about things.

This week’s reward: 2 hours of pool & pot-stickers

Happy Friday, y’all; you kicked ass another week 😊
Photograph of a pool table in a bar. There are many balls on the table. Photograph of a frying pan with a lot of dumplings frying on a stove. They look crispy and enticing (and did taste delicious).
May 3, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Reposted by VMHarris
fischblog.bsky.social
This is really important. Do NOT use the AI summaries at the top of google searches. Ignore them. This is especially important if you don't have any prior knowledge about the topic, but also a good general rule.

Search sources, scrutinize them carefully and double-check with other sources.
katie-drummond.bsky.social Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · Apr 24
Google’s AI Overviews will not only confirm that a gibberish idiom is a real saying, it will also tell you what it means and how it was derived -- often including reference links.

www.wired.com/story/google...
‘You Can’t Lick a Badger Twice’: Google Failures Highlight a Fundamental AI Flaw
Google’s AI Overviews feature credible-sounding explanations for completely made-up idioms.
www.wired.com
April 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by VMHarris
tdiliberto.bsky.social
Google Earth Engine is also a part of this contract, meaning maps and statistics at places like Drought.gov will ALSO stop working.
April 4, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Reposted by VMHarris
laurenthal.bsky.social
Almost all NOAA Research websites that rely on cloud services - including Amazon, Google and WordPress - are poised to disappear at midnight ET Saturday after a contract was targeted for "early termination." Labs may also feel the effects.

Story for @bloomberg.com (free link):
US Weather Agency Websites to Vanish Under Planned Contract Cuts
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency is poised to eliminate most websites tied to its research division under plans for the cancellation of a cloud web services contract, a move that could s...
www.bloomberg.com
April 4, 2025 at 12:33 PM
bryhtsky.bsky.social
It’s Friday night. I’m not exhausted. It’s been a great week. AAG was fun. It was great to see everyone and hear about cool new tree-ring research. Loved the Dendro Social. TAing went well.

This week’s reward: dinner date downtown

Happy Friday, y’all; you kicked ass another week 🙂
Photograph of the Detroit skyline at dawn
March 29, 2025 at 2:28 AM