Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social
Historian of science, collecting, plants + museums // Professor at Yale // PhD in History of Science from Princeton // Contr. Ed. at Public Domain Review
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Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social
· Dec 2
Excited to launch Thinking With Moss, an NEH-funded project that I've been working on for the past few years with @tega.bsky.social + @aansari86.bsky.social. Bringing in collabs from around the world in a series of workshops, we asked what it might mean to think with moss /
www.thinkingwithmoss.net
www.thinkingwithmoss.net
"When the whole world is tropical, what words will we use to describe and define ourselves?...This binary between crisis and non-crisis demonstrates one of the many ways in which our classification systems fail in the face of climate breakdown"
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
Becoming Subtropical | Broadcast
How do you categorize a crisis?
pioneerworks.org
November 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
"When the whole world is tropical, what words will we use to describe and define ourselves?...This binary between crisis and non-crisis demonstrates one of the many ways in which our classification systems fail in the face of climate breakdown"
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
"I want this job" part 3. Auspicious timing, and Philly is an incredible (and still relatively affordable) city.
We are also currently hiring a curatorial fellow to work with the papers of Rosalind Franklin and others in the History of Molecular Biology Collection!
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
For those with a scholarly interest in Franklin, Watson, and other pioneering researchers in molecular biology, @sciencehistory.org has just opened our new landmark collection of their papers, and applications for research fellowships are currently open:
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
November 9, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"I want this job" part 3. Auspicious timing, and Philly is an incredible (and still relatively affordable) city.
Franklin was extra good this week so on top of his morning hikes I made him a mini dog-safe chicken pot pie and now he has a new favorite food.
November 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Franklin was extra good this week so on top of his morning hikes I made him a mini dog-safe chicken pot pie and now he has a new favorite food.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
TT job posting at UW Madison: History of Science with focus on water & sustainability 💧💧💧
We're hiring in history of science at UW Madison! TT Assistant Professorship with a focus on water. Joint appointment between the History and Integrated Liberal Studies depts, and part of a university-wide hiring cluster on earth/sustainability science. jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/profess... #STS #HSMT
Professor of History - Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...
jobs.wisc.edu
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
TT job posting at UW Madison: History of Science with focus on water & sustainability 💧💧💧
Dream postdoc just dropped. One-year postdoc ($70K) at Yale's @yalewhc.bsky.social for the Franke Seminar in the Humanities on the incredible theme of ROT: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration. Taking folks from #histSTM, food studies, environmental humanities, etc. App due 12/8.
November 7, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Dream postdoc just dropped. One-year postdoc ($70K) at Yale's @yalewhc.bsky.social for the Franke Seminar in the Humanities on the incredible theme of ROT: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration. Taking folks from #histSTM, food studies, environmental humanities, etc. App due 12/8.
If you continue taking away my punctuation towards the ends of paragraph-long Victorian sentences I am going to LOSE MY MINDDD
ChatGPT appears to love the “ ;” .
A) is this semicolon use a tell for student misuse of AI.
B) will we now see a re-popularisation of the “;”?
A) is this semicolon use a tell for student misuse of AI.
B) will we now see a re-popularisation of the “;”?
November 7, 2025 at 12:46 AM
If you continue taking away my punctuation towards the ends of paragraph-long Victorian sentences I am going to LOSE MY MINDDD
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
There's a nice writeup on skeleton leaves BY @eayers0.bsky.social here @publicdomainrev.bsky.social : publicdomainreview.org/collection/p...
Phantom Bouquets: Two Books on the Art of Skeleton Leaves (1864)
These two treatises detail the art of leaf preservation through “skeletonization”.
publicdomainreview.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:14 PM
There's a nice writeup on skeleton leaves BY @eayers0.bsky.social here @publicdomainrev.bsky.social : publicdomainreview.org/collection/p...
"Today’s Quinhagak youth will grow up with an understanding of their history that previous generations didn’t have...“Some of them have their mouths wide open when they first open a drawer,” she said. “I tell them, these are from your ancestors.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
A Storm Hit Alaska. Now, a Native Community Is Racing to Save Its History.
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
"Today’s Quinhagak youth will grow up with an understanding of their history that previous generations didn’t have...“Some of them have their mouths wide open when they first open a drawer,” she said. “I tell them, these are from your ancestors.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
One good thing about working with people across oceans is that when you wake up your inbox is filled with an entire chain of incredible, exciting news (that has already been clarified in back-and-forths) - a nice offset to the usual string of frantic student emails. ❤️
November 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
One good thing about working with people across oceans is that when you wake up your inbox is filled with an entire chain of incredible, exciting news (that has already been clarified in back-and-forths) - a nice offset to the usual string of frantic student emails. ❤️
Looking forward to this evening's book launch event for Bill Rankin (chair of my dept & office neighbor)'s gorgeous Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World. Get your hands on a copy!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
Radical Cartography by William Rankin: 9780525559795 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
“This is it: the full download from a true genius of cartography. Radical Cartography will make you see maps, and, indeed, your place on the planet, with fresh eyes.”—Daniel Immerwahr,...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Looking forward to this evening's book launch event for Bill Rankin (chair of my dept & office neighbor)'s gorgeous Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World. Get your hands on a copy!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
🦇🩸⚰️ Happy Halloween! 🧛🩸🦇
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
October 31, 2025 at 2:51 PM
🦇🩸⚰️ Happy Halloween! 🧛🩸🦇
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Citing a Trump executive order banning "gender ideology," the VA is withholding coverage and treatment for male veterans with breast cancer, an increasing condition among veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during service. 100 male veterans a year are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Citing Trump Order on “Biological Truth,” VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage
A Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica erects new roadblocks to care for veterans with the rare but deadly cancer. The agency cites no new science but relies on an executive orde...
www.propublica.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Citing a Trump executive order banning "gender ideology," the VA is withholding coverage and treatment for male veterans with breast cancer, an increasing condition among veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during service. 100 male veterans a year are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Remind me to pitch a giant Frankenstein 210 thing in 2028
October 26, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Remind me to pitch a giant Frankenstein 210 thing in 2028
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country's biggest social assistance programs will not be issued next month amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 26, 2025 at 2:50 AM
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
Do I like baseball? No. Do I remotely understand it? Absolutely not. Do I know what direction the ball's going in when I "throw" it for my dog? It's always a surprise. But I read whatever @bolman.bsky.social writes, so here we are!
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/br...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/br...
When Baseball Threw Physics a Curve | Broadcast
Sports, science, and collective delusion.
pioneerworks.org
October 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Do I like baseball? No. Do I remotely understand it? Absolutely not. Do I know what direction the ball's going in when I "throw" it for my dog? It's always a surprise. But I read whatever @bolman.bsky.social writes, so here we are!
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/br...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/br...
I guess I'll finish writing my GD moss book
moss is lovely
the history of bathing suits sounds really interesting too
the history of bathing suits sounds really interesting too
October 26, 2025 at 4:20 AM
I guess I'll finish writing my GD moss book
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
What will the creature made all of seadrift do on the dry sand of daylight; what will the mind do, each morning, waking?
October 26, 2025 at 4:11 AM
What will the creature made all of seadrift do on the dry sand of daylight; what will the mind do, each morning, waking?
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
I’m not dead. I sleep sometimes. Sleep comes very close to death, everyone knows that. The dead walk in dreams, everyone knows that. They come to you alive, and they say things. They walk out of death into the dreams.
October 25, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I’m not dead. I sleep sometimes. Sleep comes very close to death, everyone knows that. The dead walk in dreams, everyone knows that. They come to you alive, and they say things. They walk out of death into the dreams.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
“‘Over the next three years or so, unless Congress steps in, the Park Service will be pretty seriously damaged, you might almost say dismantled,’ says former NPS director Jonathan Jarvis, who served as the agency’s head from 2009 to 2017…
What’s the Trump Administration’s End Game for the National Parks?
We saw it in Yosemite. But you have to look beyond the bathrooms.
www.republic.land
October 23, 2025 at 3:54 PM
“‘Over the next three years or so, unless Congress steps in, the Park Service will be pretty seriously damaged, you might almost say dismantled,’ says former NPS director Jonathan Jarvis, who served as the agency’s head from 2009 to 2017…
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
A German newspaper commissioned this piece by Ai Weiwei, but then refused to publish it. It's worth reading in full. | "What I Wish I Had Known About Germany Earlier" hyperallergic.com/1050197/what...
What I Wish I Had Known About Germany Earlier
A German newspaper commissioned an article from me but then refused to publish it.
hyperallergic.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
A German newspaper commissioned this piece by Ai Weiwei, but then refused to publish it. It's worth reading in full. | "What I Wish I Had Known About Germany Earlier" hyperallergic.com/1050197/what...
Man, that Canvas outage yesterday (on the first day back from October "break") was DRAMATIQUE.
October 21, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Man, that Canvas outage yesterday (on the first day back from October "break") was DRAMATIQUE.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
And UCI has a very robust STS community outside of the history department; you can find them in tons of departments #histSTEM
And and Endowed Chair in History of Technology (nice salary) at UC Irvine, due Dec 1.
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09897
recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09897
History Of Technology
University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.uci.edu
October 20, 2025 at 6:21 PM
And UCI has a very robust STS community outside of the history department; you can find them in tons of departments #histSTEM
A couple of job postings in the #histSTM #histsci #histmed realm: Asst Prof in Social Studies of Medicine at Cambridge, due Nov 17.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
Assistant Professor Social Studies of Medicine
This is a joint post 65% Sociology, 35% HPS. The Departments of Sociology and History and Philosophy of Science are looking to recruit an Assistant Professor in the Social Studies of Medicine in a
www.cam.ac.uk
October 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
A couple of job postings in the #histSTM #histsci #histmed realm: Asst Prof in Social Studies of Medicine at Cambridge, due Nov 17.
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
I Tried to Toughen Up My Son. Things Didn’t Go as Planned.
www.nytimes.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:27 PM