Lisa Margonelli
@lisamargonelli.bsky.social
Maine resident. Books: Underbug, Oil on the Brain. Fan of termites, mushrooms, clams, and phylogenetic trees. EIC: Issues in Science and Technology. Opinions are my own.
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
This is how you blurb
October 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
This is how you blurb
Why was science’s social contract such a useful myth? Let me count the ways… Or, as Heather Douglas says: “a shield can become a weapon.”
The much-discussed “social contract” between science and the federal government, once described by physicist Harvey Brooks as “free of strings,” is now “clearly defunct,” @lisamargonelli.bsky.social writes in her Editor’s Journal for the Fall ISSUES. issues.org/science-soci...
No Longer Free of Strings
Federally funded science now comes with strings attached—scientists must understand what happened before they can respond.
issues.org
October 23, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Why was science’s social contract such a useful myth? Let me count the ways… Or, as Heather Douglas says: “a shield can become a weapon.”
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“Rather than saying, as we have traditionally, that engineering is only for people who are good at math and science... It should be more like: ‘Who’s interested in helping invent new things that will solve problems for people?’”
—Tsu-Jae Liu, @nationalacademies.org issues.org/engineering-...
—Tsu-Jae Liu, @nationalacademies.org issues.org/engineering-...
“The Ability to Produce Is Just as Important as the Ability to Innovate.”
National Academy of Engineering president Tsu-Jae Liu discusses how engineers can help the United States translate new ideas into practical benefits for the nation.
issues.org
October 8, 2025 at 10:27 PM
“Rather than saying, as we have traditionally, that engineering is only for people who are good at math and science... It should be more like: ‘Who’s interested in helping invent new things that will solve problems for people?’”
—Tsu-Jae Liu, @nationalacademies.org issues.org/engineering-...
—Tsu-Jae Liu, @nationalacademies.org issues.org/engineering-...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
Amid the political upheaval of 1967, a group of bureaucratic innovators within the federal government released a manifesto. Their message: “Invention and innovation lie at the heart of the process by which America has grown and renewed itself.” Read the story: issues.org/nation-of-in...
A Nation of Innovators
The story of how the federal government became an innovation evangelist in the 1960s is an account of fits, starts, and ideological ambiguity.
issues.org
August 28, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Amid the political upheaval of 1967, a group of bureaucratic innovators within the federal government released a manifesto. Their message: “Invention and innovation lie at the heart of the process by which America has grown and renewed itself.” Read the story: issues.org/nation-of-in...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
Did you know Bluesky's founder has an #STS degree? In a new article, Erin Burkett and I explain why, despite current threats to humanities and social science, "STEM-in-Society programs" like STS are more important than ever. And we guide funders and university leaders how to better support them.
STEM-in-Society Programs Deserve Institutional Support
STEM-in-society programs have proven their utility and have never been more needed—but they are in jeopardy nationwide.
issues.org
August 20, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Did you know Bluesky's founder has an #STS degree? In a new article, Erin Burkett and I explain why, despite current threats to humanities and social science, "STEM-in-Society programs" like STS are more important than ever. And we guide funders and university leaders how to better support them.
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
Hello, professors & teachers! Can't believe it's syllabus season already.
If you assign Meet the Neighbors—perhaps for your human-wildlife conflict, animal studies, animal intelligence, or environmental ethics course?—I'd be glad to Zoom in for a Q&A. Ping me if you're interested!
If you assign Meet the Neighbors—perhaps for your human-wildlife conflict, animal studies, animal intelligence, or environmental ethics course?—I'd be glad to Zoom in for a Q&A. Ping me if you're interested!
August 15, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Hello, professors & teachers! Can't believe it's syllabus season already.
If you assign Meet the Neighbors—perhaps for your human-wildlife conflict, animal studies, animal intelligence, or environmental ethics course?—I'd be glad to Zoom in for a Q&A. Ping me if you're interested!
If you assign Meet the Neighbors—perhaps for your human-wildlife conflict, animal studies, animal intelligence, or environmental ethics course?—I'd be glad to Zoom in for a Q&A. Ping me if you're interested!
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
My 2019 short story 'The Song Between Worlds', about the paths of a 1 percenter space tourist & an indigenous worker crossing in a Martian city, is republished in @issuesinst.bsky.social for @imaginationasu.bsky.social's Future Tense series, w/ a brief new intro by me:
The Song Between Worlds
Indrapramit Das takes us to a future Mars full of wealthy space tourists to explore how tourism commodifies culture.
issues.org
August 14, 2025 at 3:09 PM
My 2019 short story 'The Song Between Worlds', about the paths of a 1 percenter space tourist & an indigenous worker crossing in a Martian city, is republished in @issuesinst.bsky.social for @imaginationasu.bsky.social's Future Tense series, w/ a brief new intro by me:
Sure, anteaters are cool, but this is really a story about how important termites, ants, and social insects are—inspiring evolution all around them. Go termites!
Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org
‘Things keep evolving into anteaters.’ Odd animals arose at least 12 separate times
Findings speak to the dramatic impact ants and termites can have on mammalian evolution
www.science.org
July 28, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Sure, anteaters are cool, but this is really a story about how important termites, ants, and social insects are—inspiring evolution all around them. Go termites!
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“Call it the Vannevar Index: The greater the pressure on the scientific enterprise, the more one hears about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s science advisor.”
Read @lisamargonelli.bsky.social’s Editor’s Journal for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/innovation-h...
Read @lisamargonelli.bsky.social’s Editor’s Journal for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/innovation-h...
July 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
“Call it the Vannevar Index: The greater the pressure on the scientific enterprise, the more one hears about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s science advisor.”
Read @lisamargonelli.bsky.social’s Editor’s Journal for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/innovation-h...
Read @lisamargonelli.bsky.social’s Editor’s Journal for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/innovation-h...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
A take worth reading on #scipol reform debate by
@issuesinst.bsky.social's @lisamargonelli.bsky.social.
Esp by science advocates.
Back to Vannevar Bush or to what's next in the Endless Frontier?
issues.org/innovation-h...
@issuesinst.bsky.social's @lisamargonelli.bsky.social.
Esp by science advocates.
Back to Vannevar Bush or to what's next in the Endless Frontier?
issues.org/innovation-h...
Innovation’s Hidden Scaffolds
In this time of upheaval, what does it mean that so many advocates for science are pointing to an 80-year-old report by Vannevar Bush?
issues.org
July 17, 2025 at 5:57 PM
A take worth reading on #scipol reform debate by
@issuesinst.bsky.social's @lisamargonelli.bsky.social.
Esp by science advocates.
Back to Vannevar Bush or to what's next in the Endless Frontier?
issues.org/innovation-h...
@issuesinst.bsky.social's @lisamargonelli.bsky.social.
Esp by science advocates.
Back to Vannevar Bush or to what's next in the Endless Frontier?
issues.org/innovation-h...
ChatGPT is Joe Gould!
This is fascinating: www.reddit.com/r/OpenAI/s/I...
Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
Someone “worked on a book with ChatGPT” for weeks and then sought help on Reddit when they couldn’t download the file. Redditors helped them realized ChatGPT had just been roleplaying/lying and there was no file/book…
From the OpenAI community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the OpenAI community
www.reddit.com
July 16, 2025 at 9:31 PM
ChatGPT is Joe Gould!
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“Trust in science has lately emerged as the Snark of American politics.”
#STS scholar Sheila Jasanoff employs two Lewis Carroll characters—the Snark and the Boojum—in explaining the “strangely undefined” quest to understand public trust in science. issues.org/snark-boojum...
#STS scholar Sheila Jasanoff employs two Lewis Carroll characters—the Snark and the Boojum—in explaining the “strangely undefined” quest to understand public trust in science. issues.org/snark-boojum...
If Your Snark Be a Boojum
Does the American public distrust science—or have citizens lost trust in a political system that attempts to use science to resolve problems?
issues.org
July 8, 2025 at 4:06 PM
“Trust in science has lately emerged as the Snark of American politics.”
#STS scholar Sheila Jasanoff employs two Lewis Carroll characters—the Snark and the Boojum—in explaining the “strangely undefined” quest to understand public trust in science. issues.org/snark-boojum...
#STS scholar Sheila Jasanoff employs two Lewis Carroll characters—the Snark and the Boojum—in explaining the “strangely undefined” quest to understand public trust in science. issues.org/snark-boojum...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“Ironically, although universities unleashed an age of massive technical innovation,” ASU’s Michael Crow, William Dabars, and David Rosowsky argue, “they failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.”
Read their piece in the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/universities...
Read their piece in the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/universities...
It’s Time for Universities to Redesign Their 75-Year-Old Contract
American research universities have unleashed an age of massive technical innovation—but they’ve failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.
issues.org
July 9, 2025 at 3:37 PM
“Ironically, although universities unleashed an age of massive technical innovation,” ASU’s Michael Crow, William Dabars, and David Rosowsky argue, “they failed to innovate their own designs to meet the changing needs of society.”
Read their piece in the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/universities...
Read their piece in the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/universities...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“Our commission envisions a future in which Americans engage with biotechnology the same way they do with cell phones and computers.”
We spoke with Indiana senator Todd Young, chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/interview-se...
We spoke with Indiana senator Todd Young, chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/interview-se...
July 7, 2025 at 2:22 PM
“Our commission envisions a future in which Americans engage with biotechnology the same way they do with cell phones and computers.”
We spoke with Indiana senator Todd Young, chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/interview-se...
We spoke with Indiana senator Todd Young, chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/interview-se...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
Our latest podcast features the story of Cosmos, a deformed cormorant who’d groom his rescuer’s sideburns (it was the ’80s) and turn the pages of his science journals.
@brandonkeim.bsky.social & @lisamargonelli.bsky.social talk animal personhood, policy, and cormorants: issues.org/brandon-keim...
@brandonkeim.bsky.social & @lisamargonelli.bsky.social talk animal personhood, policy, and cormorants: issues.org/brandon-keim...
What Does a Cormorant Feel?
Brandon Keim discusses animal personhood, movements around animal representation, and cormorants—one named Cosmos in particular.
issues.org
July 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Our latest podcast features the story of Cosmos, a deformed cormorant who’d groom his rescuer’s sideburns (it was the ’80s) and turn the pages of his science journals.
@brandonkeim.bsky.social & @lisamargonelli.bsky.social talk animal personhood, policy, and cormorants: issues.org/brandon-keim...
@brandonkeim.bsky.social & @lisamargonelli.bsky.social talk animal personhood, policy, and cormorants: issues.org/brandon-keim...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
i’m at the taco bell
i’m at the urgent care
i’m at the combination taco bell and urgent care
i’m at the urgent care
i’m at the combination taco bell and urgent care
June 29, 2025 at 12:21 AM
i’m at the taco bell
i’m at the urgent care
i’m at the combination taco bell and urgent care
i’m at the urgent care
i’m at the combination taco bell and urgent care
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
In other disaster-related news, today marks 45 years since publication of the @science.org article by Walter & Luis Alvarez, Frank Asaro, & Helen Michel arguing that the dinosaurs were killed off by the impact of a massive asteroid or comet: www.lindahall.org/about/news/s... #HistSci 🔭 🧪
Walter Alvarez
Walter Alvarez, an American geologist, was born Oct. 3, 1940. His father, Luis Alvarez, was a physicist at Berkeley who was an important part of the Manhattan Project and who...
www.lindahall.org
June 6, 2025 at 10:15 PM
In other disaster-related news, today marks 45 years since publication of the @science.org article by Walter & Luis Alvarez, Frank Asaro, & Helen Michel arguing that the dinosaurs were killed off by the impact of a massive asteroid or comet: www.lindahall.org/about/news/s... #HistSci 🔭 🧪
There is not enough popcorn in the world.
June 5, 2025 at 11:11 PM
There is not enough popcorn in the world.
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress
I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.
time.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:19 AM
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
How do we make scientific voices more impactful in policymaking? Read my new article out today ⬇️
Scientific information does not flow into policy the way most scientists think. Twenty years after her jarring first day as a fisheries-biologist-turned-Senate-staffer, @sheril.bsky.social lays out what every scientist hoping to influence policy on the Hill needs to know: issues.org/information-...
May 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
How do we make scientific voices more impactful in policymaking? Read my new article out today ⬇️
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“Libraries are a trusted source. Let the books battle it out on the shelves. We have different perspectives, and you can choose.”
Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...
Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...
May 9, 2025 at 3:27 PM
“Libraries are a trusted source. Let the books battle it out on the shelves. We have different perspectives, and you can choose.”
Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...
Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...
Reposted by Lisa Margonelli
“The growing national climate of exclusion resonates deeply and personally for me.” David Asai tells his own story, calls on scientists and educators to “insist that inclusion remains at our core,” and recommends steps for doing so: issues.org/inclusive-sc...
Inclusive Science Education Is Not Zero-Sum
Including everyone in science education improves the scientific enterprise and is essential for the democratization of personal agency.
issues.org
May 5, 2025 at 8:43 PM
“The growing national climate of exclusion resonates deeply and personally for me.” David Asai tells his own story, calls on scientists and educators to “insist that inclusion remains at our core,” and recommends steps for doing so: issues.org/inclusive-sc...
I mean, I watched bugs for 10 years. (Thank you @arthursmid.bsky.social for posting! Sometimes I forget that I had a life before @issuesinst.bsky.social .)
Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
by Lisa Margonelli @lisamargonelli.bsky.social
bookshop.org/books/underb...
"What begins as a natural history of the termite becomes a personal exploration of the unnatural future we're building."
by Lisa Margonelli @lisamargonelli.bsky.social
bookshop.org/books/underb...
"What begins as a natural history of the termite becomes a personal exploration of the unnatural future we're building."
Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
bookshop.org
April 28, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I mean, I watched bugs for 10 years. (Thank you @arthursmid.bsky.social for posting! Sometimes I forget that I had a life before @issuesinst.bsky.social .)
Watching bugs will improve your life. I swear.
Bugwatching: The Art, Joy, and Importance of Observing Insects
@bugeric.bsky.social
@princetonupress.bsky.social
press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...
@bugeric.bsky.social
@princetonupress.bsky.social
press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...
April 28, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Watching bugs will improve your life. I swear.