Elena Bray Speth
@elenabrayspeth.bsky.social
Biology professor and lifelong learner. Often found in rabbit holes, marveling at life and science.
♥️ teaching, coffee shops ☕️ , libraries 📚, plants 🌱, dogs 🐶, zentangling, stitching and audiobooks.
♥️ teaching, coffee shops ☕️ , libraries 📚, plants 🌱, dogs 🐶, zentangling, stitching and audiobooks.
Pinned
Remember small things add up.
Offer rides. Check in on your people.
Keep your community going.
Offer rides. Check in on your people.
Keep your community going.
This. A little every day.
Reposted by Elena Bray Speth
Goodnight, friends.
It’s a time of transition, as I wrap up teaching for the semester. One class met earlier this evening, the other will meet tomorrow afternoon. It’s always bittersweet to bid farewell to the students I’ve shared this time with. I always learn so much from them.
I love you.
It’s a time of transition, as I wrap up teaching for the semester. One class met earlier this evening, the other will meet tomorrow afternoon. It’s always bittersweet to bid farewell to the students I’ve shared this time with. I always learn so much from them.
I love you.
May 6, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Goodnight, friends.
It’s a time of transition, as I wrap up teaching for the semester. One class met earlier this evening, the other will meet tomorrow afternoon. It’s always bittersweet to bid farewell to the students I’ve shared this time with. I always learn so much from them.
I love you.
It’s a time of transition, as I wrap up teaching for the semester. One class met earlier this evening, the other will meet tomorrow afternoon. It’s always bittersweet to bid farewell to the students I’ve shared this time with. I always learn so much from them.
I love you.
Rules have always been my “safety guard” and comfort zone. But I get this, now. When the rules are hurting people, when the rules break moral code… rules can be bad and rules can be wrong
Once again I am suggesting that you break some rules for practice. Get comfortable with breaking rules. When the rules are hurting other people, the right thing to do is break them. We need people who follow their moral code over the rules of their society, university, employer, and government.
March 6, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Rules have always been my “safety guard” and comfort zone. But I get this, now. When the rules are hurting people, when the rules break moral code… rules can be bad and rules can be wrong
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In case anyone was wondering if anything bad happened to scientists today… 😓
In case anyone was wondering if anything bad happened to scientists today… 😓
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
www.nature.com
March 6, 2025 at 2:43 AM
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In case anyone was wondering if anything bad happened to scientists today… 😓
In case anyone was wondering if anything bad happened to scientists today… 😓
Thank you for saying all of this! It’s a very good ‘rant’… open.substack.com/pub/emilypit...
Against “Efficiency”
A rant
open.substack.com
February 19, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Thank you for saying all of this! It’s a very good ‘rant’… open.substack.com/pub/emilypit...
“The scientific literature is an essential ocean of knowledge, in which floats an alarming amount of junk. Think of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but the trash cannot be identified without special knowledge and equipment.” - The Atlantic
February 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM
“The scientific literature is an essential ocean of knowledge, in which floats an alarming amount of junk. Think of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but the trash cannot be identified without special knowledge and equipment.” - The Atlantic
This thread. Moonstruck and fruit. I can pick my fruit, can I? It will be ripe persimmons and figs. And books, all the books 🌙😶🌫️ Thank you
We could just be reading great books, watching good movies, and eating fruit. Instead we have to survive/fight miserable power hoarders. What a waste of limited time.
February 13, 2025 at 5:47 AM
This thread. Moonstruck and fruit. I can pick my fruit, can I? It will be ripe persimmons and figs. And books, all the books 🌙😶🌫️ Thank you
This is devastating
🧪 #PlantScience Ted Cruz posted a list of "woke DEI" NSF grants, which included many REU programs. REU = Research Experience for Undergraduates.
A 🧵 thread of sadness:
www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/2/cruz-...
A 🧵 thread of sadness:
www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/2/cruz-...
Cruz-Led Investigation Uncovers $2 Billion in Woke DEI Grants at NSF, Releases Full Database
www.commerce.senate.gov
February 12, 2025 at 5:59 AM
This is devastating
😂
I didn't watch but it is my understanding that Drake lost the Super Bowl
February 11, 2025 at 5:59 AM
😂
I couldn’t find better words. This hits straight to the core of the issue. This whole thread says it all. The love, the heartbreak, the loss, the anger. It’s about one’s core values and identity ❤️🩹
Thinking back on all this I better understand the pain I feel to see science under devastating attack here. It’s not just about my livelihood or my university. It’s about my identity. And it’s about a pursuit that I see as standing along with art, literature, and music as among our highest callings.
February 8, 2025 at 11:20 PM
I couldn’t find better words. This hits straight to the core of the issue. This whole thread says it all. The love, the heartbreak, the loss, the anger. It’s about one’s core values and identity ❤️🩹
Reposted by Elena Bray Speth
This website shows you how many jobs NIH funding creates for your state along with the overall economic activity generated.
www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...
www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...
NIH In Your State - United For Medical Research
Select a state on the map to see the impact of NIH funding across America.
www.unitedformedicalresearch.org
February 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This website shows you how many jobs NIH funding creates for your state along with the overall economic activity generated.
www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...
www.unitedformedicalresearch.org/nih-in-your-...
Some awesomeness to counter the devastation
February 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Some awesomeness to counter the devastation
Reposted by Elena Bray Speth
Just a couple of weeks since fire took out half of my town, Altadena. Zero stories about it in the national news today. We are already forgotten. 😢
January 26, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Just a couple of weeks since fire took out half of my town, Altadena. Zero stories about it in the national news today. We are already forgotten. 😢
This. A little every day.
Remember small things add up.
Offer rides. Check in on your people.
Keep your community going.
Offer rides. Check in on your people.
Keep your community going.
January 25, 2025 at 8:24 PM
This. A little every day.
Wonderful thread! Now of course I need to go and read about Vavilov…
The world has been through anti-science cycles before, to disastrous results
On a detour on my lit review, a mosey through the history of our familiar friend, the standard onion (Allium cepa) brought me right to one of botany's greatest cautionary tales of what happens when ideology overrides data
On a detour on my lit review, a mosey through the history of our familiar friend, the standard onion (Allium cepa) brought me right to one of botany's greatest cautionary tales of what happens when ideology overrides data
January 24, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Wonderful thread! Now of course I need to go and read about Vavilov…
#highered
I didn’t go to Medical School, didn’t even ever think about it. Still, I write dozens of letters in support of former students’ applications for med school. Honest question: how does one rate a student’s “suitability for medical/health studies” on a Likert scale??? (1/ )
I didn’t go to Medical School, didn’t even ever think about it. Still, I write dozens of letters in support of former students’ applications for med school. Honest question: how does one rate a student’s “suitability for medical/health studies” on a Likert scale??? (1/ )
January 20, 2025 at 7:29 PM
#highered
I didn’t go to Medical School, didn’t even ever think about it. Still, I write dozens of letters in support of former students’ applications for med school. Honest question: how does one rate a student’s “suitability for medical/health studies” on a Likert scale??? (1/ )
I didn’t go to Medical School, didn’t even ever think about it. Still, I write dozens of letters in support of former students’ applications for med school. Honest question: how does one rate a student’s “suitability for medical/health studies” on a Likert scale??? (1/ )
Reposted by Elena Bray Speth
We live in the ✨ world of tomorrow ✨
January 16, 2025 at 4:34 PM
We live in the ✨ world of tomorrow ✨
When a student from your new course (which has only met twice so far) stops by to say hello and cheerfully informs you that they *hate* both Notion and Perusall, but you literally built the entire course on them 😬😰. We’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine…..
January 16, 2025 at 11:38 PM
When a student from your new course (which has only met twice so far) stops by to say hello and cheerfully informs you that they *hate* both Notion and Perusall, but you literally built the entire course on them 😬😰. We’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine…..
😢😢😢
I have taken
the resources
that were in
the budget
and which
you were probably
saving
for higher education
Forgive me
they were needed
to feed the AI bubble
and to dismantle the humanities
the resources
that were in
the budget
and which
you were probably
saving
for higher education
Forgive me
they were needed
to feed the AI bubble
and to dismantle the humanities
January 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
😢😢😢
Saving this awesome graphic for my course on Living Systems and Complex Questions!
Cool graphic from KWS on the #GenomeEditing timeline.
Impressive how few years passed between the first use of CRISPR/Cas9 in a crop plant (2013) to the first release of an edited crop ( #GABATomato ) (2021). Trad. #PlantBreeding can take decades! 😮
www.kws.com/corp/de/inno...
#PlantScience
Impressive how few years passed between the first use of CRISPR/Cas9 in a crop plant (2013) to the first release of an edited crop ( #GABATomato ) (2021). Trad. #PlantBreeding can take decades! 😮
www.kws.com/corp/de/inno...
#PlantScience
January 15, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Saving this awesome graphic for my course on Living Systems and Complex Questions!
Classes start tomorrow, and I have literal butterflies about my new upper level course on SSIs and wicked questions. The structure is mostly set, but I am leaving a few things open for discussion in the syllabus (TBD ON Day one) 🦋🦋🦋
January 12, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Classes start tomorrow, and I have literal butterflies about my new upper level course on SSIs and wicked questions. The structure is mostly set, but I am leaving a few things open for discussion in the syllabus (TBD ON Day one) 🦋🦋🦋
This 👇🏼
I said yesterday in a climate meeting that I'm done referring to #ClimateChange conversations as "challenging" or "difficult." Screw that.
Wildfires destroying cities is difficult. Losing neighborhoods is difficult.
Conversations are NECESSARY.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Wildfires destroying cities is difficult. Losing neighborhoods is difficult.
Conversations are NECESSARY.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded
Conditions for a January firestorm in Los Angeles like this have not existed before now, writes a meteorologist and climate journalist
www.theguardian.com
January 9, 2025 at 1:47 PM
This 👇🏼
This is a brilliant perspective! We didn’t stop assessing children’s ability to do math just because calculators could get it done faster and better! Assessment needs to drive student learning and growth.
If we are setting assessments that a robot can complete, what does that say about our assessments?
Does ChatGPT mean we have to change how we assess?
open.substack.com
January 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
This is a brilliant perspective! We didn’t stop assessing children’s ability to do math just because calculators could get it done faster and better! Assessment needs to drive student learning and growth.
Reposted by Elena Bray Speth
We lost our home and everything we own in the Eaton Canyon fire. Climate change is real and it’s a bitch.
January 9, 2025 at 2:19 AM
We lost our home and everything we own in the Eaton Canyon fire. Climate change is real and it’s a bitch.
Quoting from Paul Hanstedt’s book, what I want for my students is “that they be capable of changing the world” 🥹 🧙🏼♀️ www.routledge.com/Creating-Wic...
Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World
In Creating Wicked Students, Paul Hanstedt argues that courses can and should be designed to present students with what are known as “wicked problems” because the skills of dealing with such knotty pr...
www.routledge.com
January 5, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Quoting from Paul Hanstedt’s book, what I want for my students is “that they be capable of changing the world” 🥹 🧙🏼♀️ www.routledge.com/Creating-Wic...