Tom Stewart
@tomstewartscience.bsky.social
evolutionary developmental biologist
assistant prof at Penn State
www.tomstewartscience.org
assistant prof at Penn State
www.tomstewartscience.org
Reposted by Tom Stewart
1) I am delighted to present this terrific tour de force research conducted by my post-doc Dr. Gayani Senevirathne @gayani.bsky.social and published today in Nature -
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The evolution of hominin bipedalism in two steps - Nature
The human pelvis exhibits distinct spatiotemporal ossification patterns and an ilium cartilage growth plate that is shifted perpendicularly compared with those of other mammals and non-human primates—...
www.nature.com
August 27, 2025 at 3:13 PM
1) I am delighted to present this terrific tour de force research conducted by my post-doc Dr. Gayani Senevirathne @gayani.bsky.social and published today in Nature -
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
This is happening to students at colleges & universities nationwide. Their status is bring terminated & visa revoked. Often, the student has no obvious history to justify the govt's actions. Affected students should seek knowledgeable immigration counsel immediately.
“Stanford learned today that four students and two recent graduates have had their student visas revoked. The University learned of the revocations during a routine check of the SEVIS database. Stanford notified the students of the revocations and made external legal assistance available to them."
April 5, 2025 at 8:30 PM
This is happening to students at colleges & universities nationwide. Their status is bring terminated & visa revoked. Often, the student has no obvious history to justify the govt's actions. Affected students should seek knowledgeable immigration counsel immediately.
Reposted by Tom Stewart
The Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has gutted a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums nationwide.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow.
www.wired.com
April 2, 2025 at 6:16 PM
The Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has gutted a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums nationwide.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
Reposted by Tom Stewart
BREAKING: We're suing the National Institutes of Health over their politically-motivated purge of research grants.
This is an unlawful attack on scientific progress that puts lives at risk.
This is an unlawful attack on scientific progress that puts lives at risk.
April 2, 2025 at 8:03 PM
BREAKING: We're suing the National Institutes of Health over their politically-motivated purge of research grants.
This is an unlawful attack on scientific progress that puts lives at risk.
This is an unlawful attack on scientific progress that puts lives at risk.
Reposted by Tom Stewart
The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums. www.wired.com/story/instit...
The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow.
www.wired.com
April 2, 2025 at 3:24 PM
The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums. www.wired.com/story/instit...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
🚨🚨🚨 Four NIH institute directors have been removed from their posts and some offered reassignments to the Indian Health Service, effective today.
These institutes include NIAID (Jeanne Marrazzo), NIMHD (Eliseo Pérez-Stable), NICHD (Diana Bianchi), and NINR (Shannon Zenk).
These institutes include NIAID (Jeanne Marrazzo), NIMHD (Eliseo Pérez-Stable), NICHD (Diana Bianchi), and NINR (Shannon Zenk).
‘One of the darkest days’: NIH purges agency leadership amid mass layoffs
In shock move, four institute directors at the US biomedical agency are removed from their posts.
www.nature.com
April 1, 2025 at 5:39 PM
🚨🚨🚨 Four NIH institute directors have been removed from their posts and some offered reassignments to the Indian Health Service, effective today.
These institutes include NIAID (Jeanne Marrazzo), NIMHD (Eliseo Pérez-Stable), NICHD (Diana Bianchi), and NINR (Shannon Zenk).
These institutes include NIAID (Jeanne Marrazzo), NIMHD (Eliseo Pérez-Stable), NICHD (Diana Bianchi), and NINR (Shannon Zenk).
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Blown away by this paper on body size variation among 11,264 (!!!) measured plethodontid salamanders over an elevational gradient. Super surprised to see that it is not temperature that has the main explanatory role, but mostly humidity and precipitation 🧪🦎
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
March 28, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Blown away by this paper on body size variation among 11,264 (!!!) measured plethodontid salamanders over an elevational gradient. Super surprised to see that it is not temperature that has the main explanatory role, but mostly humidity and precipitation 🧪🦎
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Tom Stewart
“DOGE and HHS will determine whether a particular NOFO can be published, even if it has already been approved by an NIH advisory council of independent scientists who normally review such programs…’How is that decreasing regulation/bureaucracy?’”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump officials will screen NIH funding opportunities
Staff at biomedical agency worry about political interference in setting priorities
www.science.org
March 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM
“DOGE and HHS will determine whether a particular NOFO can be published, even if it has already been approved by an NIH advisory council of independent scientists who normally review such programs…’How is that decreasing regulation/bureaucracy?’”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
SCOOP: As the Trump administration continues its efforts to slash the US federal workforce, the team responsible for publishing data used in advanced research in astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and other fields appears to be on the chopping block.
Trump Admin Plans to Cut Team Responsible for Critical Atomic Measurement Data
The team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes measurement data crucial for advanced research in areas like astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and semiconductors.
www.wired.com
March 25, 2025 at 3:38 PM
SCOOP: As the Trump administration continues its efforts to slash the US federal workforce, the team responsible for publishing data used in advanced research in astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and other fields appears to be on the chopping block.
Reposted by Tom Stewart
UCL is a fantastic place to work, London a great city to live in, in the UK.
From the UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) we are happy to support applications to work on genetics and genomics of populations, broadly speaking.
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
From the UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) we are happy to support applications to work on genetics and genomics of populations, broadly speaking.
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
UCL Genetics Institute
UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) is a multi-faculty Centre dedicated to the analysis of Big Genetic Data.
www.ucl.ac.uk
March 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
UCL is a fantastic place to work, London a great city to live in, in the UK.
From the UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) we are happy to support applications to work on genetics and genomics of populations, broadly speaking.
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
From the UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) we are happy to support applications to work on genetics and genomics of populations, broadly speaking.
www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Stunning New Fossil Find Shows Stomach Contents and Color of Ancient Fish www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth...
Stunning New Fossil Find Shows Stomach Contents and Color of Ancient Fish
An unusually well-preserved Australian fossil reveals details about the diet, behavior, and appearance of a 15-million-year-old aquatic species.
www.discovermagazine.com
March 20, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Stunning New Fossil Find Shows Stomach Contents and Color of Ancient Fish www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
13. And anyone who has been part of this grand humanist tradition is someone who will not lie down and cower before these sad bullies.
I don't know what happens to science in the US over the next four years, but I have no doubt as to where the arc of history bends.
We aren't going anywhere.
fin
I don't know what happens to science in the US over the next four years, but I have no doubt as to where the arc of history bends.
We aren't going anywhere.
fin
March 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM
13. And anyone who has been part of this grand humanist tradition is someone who will not lie down and cower before these sad bullies.
I don't know what happens to science in the US over the next four years, but I have no doubt as to where the arc of history bends.
We aren't going anywhere.
fin
I don't know what happens to science in the US over the next four years, but I have no doubt as to where the arc of history bends.
We aren't going anywhere.
fin
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Reminder @irorotanshi.bsky.social and other are putting together a special issue of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society @linneansociety.bsky.social titled 'Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South'
Details available here: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/p...
Details available here: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/p...
February 27, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reminder @irorotanshi.bsky.social and other are putting together a special issue of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society @linneansociety.bsky.social titled 'Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South'
Details available here: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/p...
Details available here: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/p...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
What it's like inside the NIH under current conditions: not good. Terrible uncertainty and low morale, and an inability to order even basic materials because of trouble with the purchasing department:
The Continuing Crisis, Part IX: Inside the NIH Now
www.science.org
March 19, 2025 at 5:30 PM
What it's like inside the NIH under current conditions: not good. Terrible uncertainty and low morale, and an inability to order even basic materials because of trouble with the purchasing department:
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Like fossil #sharks? Check out our new preprint from work @naturalis.bsky.social where we combine digital/hands on approaches with fossil/extant taxa to describe the 3D skeletal anatomy of Cretaceous collared carpet sharks from the English Chalk. Paper out soon, thanks to all collaborators! 🦈
March 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Like fossil #sharks? Check out our new preprint from work @naturalis.bsky.social where we combine digital/hands on approaches with fossil/extant taxa to describe the 3D skeletal anatomy of Cretaceous collared carpet sharks from the English Chalk. Paper out soon, thanks to all collaborators! 🦈
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Substantial updates to the list of cancelled grants👇
- THANK YOU to all who have contributed. Crowdsourcing restores faith in humanity.
- It's still a work in progress. You'll see more updates shortly.
- There are multiple teams & efforts engaged in tracking & advocacy. More to come soon!
- THANK YOU to all who have contributed. Crowdsourcing restores faith in humanity.
- It's still a work in progress. You'll see more updates shortly.
- There are multiple teams & efforts engaged in tracking & advocacy. More to come soon!
Rescinded NIH & NSF Grants
docs.google.com
March 18, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Substantial updates to the list of cancelled grants👇
- THANK YOU to all who have contributed. Crowdsourcing restores faith in humanity.
- It's still a work in progress. You'll see more updates shortly.
- There are multiple teams & efforts engaged in tracking & advocacy. More to come soon!
- THANK YOU to all who have contributed. Crowdsourcing restores faith in humanity.
- It's still a work in progress. You'll see more updates shortly.
- There are multiple teams & efforts engaged in tracking & advocacy. More to come soon!
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Chilling report from Brown University.
Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.
Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.
Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.
Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.
Brown University advises all international community members to postpone, reconsider travel
One week before spring break, Brown advised international community members, including green card holders and permanent residents, to postpone international travel in a campus-wide email sent on Sunda...
www.browndailyherald.com
March 17, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Chilling report from Brown University.
Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.
Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.
Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.
Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Happy to share this new paper! We explored the relationships of head shape and feeding mechanics in dinosaurs. A cascade of changes from big brains, to reoriented muscles, to a breakdown of linkages resulted in avian powered kinesis, but not until neognathes.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
March 17, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Happy to share this new paper! We explored the relationships of head shape and feeding mechanics in dinosaurs. A cascade of changes from big brains, to reoriented muscles, to a breakdown of linkages resulted in avian powered kinesis, but not until neognathes.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
"university indirect cost rates are analogous to operating expenses divided by R&D expenditures. For 2023, these ratios were 60% for Merck, 138% for Pfizer, and 105% for Roche...cutting governmental indirect costs to 15% for medical research conducted in universities is clearly unfair."🧪⚕️
Is flat 15% fair?
An NIH funding policy is misguided and damaging
www.science.org
March 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
"university indirect cost rates are analogous to operating expenses divided by R&D expenditures. For 2023, these ratios were 60% for Merck, 138% for Pfizer, and 105% for Roche...cutting governmental indirect costs to 15% for medical research conducted in universities is clearly unfair."🧪⚕️
Reposted by Tom Stewart
I need every single academic to read this AP article asap. Trump is making extreme demands of Columbia that threaten all of us. I believe the 50 universities being "investigated" are next to see this, especially if Columbia caves. Heads up.
“It’s an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,” said Joan Scott, a historian & member of the academic freedom committee of the AAUP. “Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.”
apnews.com/article/colu...
apnews.com/article/colu...
Trump demands unprecedented control at Columbia, alarming scholars and speech groups
The Trump administration has delivered an extraordinary ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently end federal funding to the school unless it cedes control of an international studi...
apnews.com
March 16, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I need every single academic to read this AP article asap. Trump is making extreme demands of Columbia that threaten all of us. I believe the 50 universities being "investigated" are next to see this, especially if Columbia caves. Heads up.
Reposted by Tom Stewart
as I tell my Genetics class every year, this breakthrough is based on 70 years of NIH-funded, basic research, commercialized by biotech
bsky.app/profile/need...
bsky.app/profile/need...
March 15, 2025 at 6:49 PM
as I tell my Genetics class every year, this breakthrough is based on 70 years of NIH-funded, basic research, commercialized by biotech
bsky.app/profile/need...
bsky.app/profile/need...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
NIH “is expected to cut between 3,400 and 5,000 positions from its workforce of 20,000 in coming days.” Story by @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...
At NIH, ‘everyone is on edge’ as they brace for deep cuts and more centralized control
As the NIH braces for cuts of up to 5,000 of its 20,000 positions, “people are scrambling and freaking out,” a researcher said.
www.statnews.com
March 15, 2025 at 5:00 PM
NIH “is expected to cut between 3,400 and 5,000 positions from its workforce of 20,000 in coming days.” Story by @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Our preprint is out! Kudos to @josanesousa.bsky.social, @gabrielalima19.bsky.social, @perezlouise.bsky.social and undergraduate prodigy Hannah Shof! By comparing Polypterus fin and axolotl limb we find shared and new regeneration programs. @lsuscience.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Our preprint is out! Kudos to @josanesousa.bsky.social, @gabrielalima19.bsky.social, @perezlouise.bsky.social and undergraduate prodigy Hannah Shof! By comparing Polypterus fin and axolotl limb we find shared and new regeneration programs. @lsuscience.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Tom Stewart
Your re-segregation of the day.
The first Native American and second woman to Chair the National Endowment for the Humanities, Shelly C. Lowe, has stepped down from the role “at the direction of President Trump.”
Trump Pushes Out First Native Chair of National Endowment for the Humanities
Shelly C. Lowe has left her position at the NEH “at the direction of President Trump,” the agency said.
hyperallergic.com
March 14, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Your re-segregation of the day.