Rachel Mitchell
@funeco.bsky.social
Plant ecologist at University of Arizona, professor, plant and pet lover, parent, baker. Expect ecology, pet, plant, and baking content.
Reposted by Rachel Mitchell
18-29 year olds: bless your heart, you were duped so badly. From +5 to -51 (!!!)
NEW Economist/YouGov
Net favorability of Donald Trump [at the start of his second term | now] among U.S. adult citizens by age
18-29: +5 | -51
30-44: -6 | -17
45-64: +12 | 0
65+: -4 | -16
today.yougov.com/politics/art...
Net favorability of Donald Trump [at the start of his second term | now] among U.S. adult citizens by age
18-29: +5 | -51
30-44: -6 | -17
45-64: +12 | 0
65+: -4 | -16
today.yougov.com/politics/art...
![A multiple line chart of YouGov polling data with the headline: "Views of Donald Trump by age in his second term."
The chart has the sub-headline: "Do you have a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the following people? [Donald Trump] (% with a very or somewhat favorable opinion minus the % with a very or somewhat unfavorable opinion)."
The chart has the note: "Note: Responses of "don't know" are not shown."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ke6f766al4swdugyvmvyipuo/bafkreice6rjq6mvpaycdopmaqmtmb2edur6svduensmqmaklljyu72ug7i@jpeg)
October 30, 2025 at 2:49 AM
18-29 year olds: bless your heart, you were duped so badly. From +5 to -51 (!!!)
Just in case you ever forget that #rejectionistherule this was the ranking on a grant declined yesterday by the NSF.
September 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Just in case you ever forget that #rejectionistherule this was the ranking on a grant declined yesterday by the NSF.
I was literally just thinking about this. You know how they could, but don't screen for testicular cancer? Wonder why? Your modern doctor doesn't mean to cause pain, but our technology is a legacy of ignoring women's pain and discomfort. AND mammograms are inaccurate and lead to painful biopsies
I can’t believe medicine hasn’t come up with a better way to do mammograms. That is some primitive shit right there.
September 3, 2025 at 9:39 PM
I was literally just thinking about this. You know how they could, but don't screen for testicular cancer? Wonder why? Your modern doctor doesn't mean to cause pain, but our technology is a legacy of ignoring women's pain and discomfort. AND mammograms are inaccurate and lead to painful biopsies
Reposted by Rachel Mitchell
Are you a natural resource or agricultural economics PhD or postdoc interested in real world policy work? Come work with CEPP's growing food team on quantifying subsidies in the dairy and beef industry!
If not, pass the word!
careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/food-sy...
If not, pass the word!
careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/food-sy...
Food Systems Resource Economics Fellow, Stanford Law School in School of Law, Stanford, California, United States
*NOTE: This position has been deemed critical/has specific funding, has been approved by the Law School for posting, and is exempt from the hiring...
careersearch.stanford.edu
July 21, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Are you a natural resource or agricultural economics PhD or postdoc interested in real world policy work? Come work with CEPP's growing food team on quantifying subsidies in the dairy and beef industry!
If not, pass the word!
careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/food-sy...
If not, pass the word!
careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/food-sy...
Cutting until you hit something vital is the capitalist way.
July 10, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Cutting until you hit something vital is the capitalist way.
Who is this article kidding? Error prone, probabilistic, hallucinating AI is coming for my University job!
#AcademicSky “Universities can no longer rely on scarcity setting the price for the curated and credentialed form of information that used to be hard to obtain.”
theconversation.com/ai-is-drivin...
theconversation.com/ai-is-drivin...
AI is driving down the price of knowledge – universities have to rethink what they offer
Universities have relied on expert knowledge being scarce, but AI is changing that. Tuition now needs to focus on human skills that machines still struggle to copy.
theconversation.com
July 10, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Who is this article kidding? Error prone, probabilistic, hallucinating AI is coming for my University job!
So many ecological processes are highly tied to VPD. Here, Atmospheric aridity strongly influences fire behavior.
"Vapor pressure emerged in our analysis as the dominant predictor of burn severity, pointing up the crucial role of atmospheric moisture in influencing fire behavior, and creating conditions conducive to extreme wildfires [in CA]." www.nature.com/articles/s44... 🌏
Global burn severity in forest ecoregions: trends, climate drivers, and predictive insights - npj Natural Hazards
npj Natural Hazards - Global burn severity in forest ecoregions: trends, climate drivers, and predictive insights
www.nature.com
July 10, 2025 at 3:16 AM
So many ecological processes are highly tied to VPD. Here, Atmospheric aridity strongly influences fire behavior.
#terriertuesday #outoffocus Midge says "smile!"
July 8, 2025 at 3:38 AM
#terriertuesday #outoffocus Midge says "smile!"
Reposted by Rachel Mitchell
The percentage of tasks AI "agents" are currently failing at may spell trouble for the industry... futurism.com/ai-agents-fa...
The Percentage of Tasks AI Agents Are Currently Failing At May Spell Trouble for the Industry
The best AI Agents are currently failing about 70 percent of the tasks assigned to them, as investments are expected to drop off a cliff.
futurism.com
July 6, 2025 at 2:04 AM
The percentage of tasks AI "agents" are currently failing at may spell trouble for the industry... futurism.com/ai-agents-fa...
You can't make this stuff up folks:
retractionwatch.com/2025/06/30/s...
retractionwatch.com/2025/06/30/s...
Springer Nature book on machine learning is full of made-up citations
Would you pay $169 for an introductory ebook on machine learning with citations that appear to be made up? If not, you might want to pass on purchasing Mastering Machine Learning: From Basics to Ad…
retractionwatch.com
July 1, 2025 at 1:57 PM
You can't make this stuff up folks:
retractionwatch.com/2025/06/30/s...
retractionwatch.com/2025/06/30/s...
Taught Fire Ecology for the first time this past semester. Just checked my course reviews: my work here is done.
June 24, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Taught Fire Ecology for the first time this past semester. Just checked my course reviews: my work here is done.
For me, the biggest concern with these plants in the Sonoran basin and range is their transformative nature; increased fuel loads and continuity in a fire sensitive system during the pyrocene will transform the Sonoran.
"Once thought resistant to invasion, California’s deserts are losing native plants to aggressive weedy species like Saharan mustard. New research shows its spread is disrupting biodiversity and reducing the desert’s ability to recover from extreme climate swings."
envnewsbits.info/2025/06/24/i...
envnewsbits.info/2025/06/24/i...
Invasive weed threatens Southern California’s deserts
Read the full story from the University of California Riverside. Once thought resistant to invasion, California’s deserts are losing native plants to aggressive weedy species like Saharan mus…
envnewsbits.info
June 24, 2025 at 5:06 PM
For me, the biggest concern with these plants in the Sonoran basin and range is their transformative nature; increased fuel loads and continuity in a fire sensitive system during the pyrocene will transform the Sonoran.
Today a bronzed cowbird sang to me at very close quarters. One of the most bizarre bird songs I have ever heard from the gorgeous little parasite.
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/45159
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/45159
ML45159 - Bronzed Cowbird (Bronzed) - Macaulay Library
Macaulay Library ML45159; © Geoffrey A. Keller; Arizona, United States
macaulaylibrary.org
June 23, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Today a bronzed cowbird sang to me at very close quarters. One of the most bizarre bird songs I have ever heard from the gorgeous little parasite.
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/45159
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/45159
Reposted by Rachel Mitchell
my hottest educational take is that schools should actively, non-punitively teach students how to admit when they don't know something, aren't sure or have made a mistake, with various teaching frameworks adapted to support this ideal, because people who can't admit fault are breaking the world
June 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
my hottest educational take is that schools should actively, non-punitively teach students how to admit when they don't know something, aren't sure or have made a mistake, with various teaching frameworks adapted to support this ideal, because people who can't admit fault are breaking the world
Post an insect that looks like it's generated by AI, but isn't!
I found one of these in my yard for the first time ever after being an Arizona resident for 30 years. Giant mesquite bug (5th instar; Thasus neocalifornicus)
Glamor shot vs the one in my yard. #inverts
I found one of these in my yard for the first time ever after being an Arizona resident for 30 years. Giant mesquite bug (5th instar; Thasus neocalifornicus)
Glamor shot vs the one in my yard. #inverts
June 18, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Post an insect that looks like it's generated by AI, but isn't!
I found one of these in my yard for the first time ever after being an Arizona resident for 30 years. Giant mesquite bug (5th instar; Thasus neocalifornicus)
Glamor shot vs the one in my yard. #inverts
I found one of these in my yard for the first time ever after being an Arizona resident for 30 years. Giant mesquite bug (5th instar; Thasus neocalifornicus)
Glamor shot vs the one in my yard. #inverts
#terriertuesday #terriertuned Midge's theme song is Donna Summer's "Bad Girl", deployed liberally when she is chewing something she stole underneath a bed
June 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
#terriertuesday #terriertuned Midge's theme song is Donna Summer's "Bad Girl", deployed liberally when she is chewing something she stole underneath a bed
June 15, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Rachel Mitchell
I still cannot get over a woman who shows up to a jungle prison in full glam make up complaining about “political theater.”
June 13, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I still cannot get over a woman who shows up to a jungle prison in full glam make up complaining about “political theater.”
No words
(Reuters) - FEMA staff left baffled after the disaster agency’s head said during a briefing that he hadn’t been aware the US has a hurricane season. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fema-staff-confused-after-head-said-he-was-unaware-us-hurricane-season-sources-2025-06-02/
June 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM
No words
Sprocket; leopard gecko lady, Aged 12-13.
June 1, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Sprocket; leopard gecko lady, Aged 12-13.
My partner is at a NASA event and someone just presented linear regression as AI and machine learning. Which 1) tells you where we are in the hype-cycle and 2) illustrates how woefully ignorant of statistics many parts of astronomy are
May 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
My partner is at a NASA event and someone just presented linear regression as AI and machine learning. Which 1) tells you where we are in the hype-cycle and 2) illustrates how woefully ignorant of statistics many parts of astronomy are
