How can a single cell learn without a brain? We explore this in my paper with @wallaceucsf.bsky.social! We discovered that single cells may learn using molecules similar to those that animal brains use to learn, like CaMKII. Cells can also propagate memory states to their progeny!
Major update from #SCIMaP, including
* Impact analysis of White House's FY 2027 proposed cuts to NIH and NSF.
* Fact sheets showing impacts in Congressional districts.
* New analysis on how baseline science funding benefits the economy and jobs in local communities.
More via scienceimpacts.org
You can use it as an outdoor compost bin, especially if you cut a small "hatch" at the bottom so you can put compost in at the top and take it out at the bottom. You can also add worms and have a nice worm farm.
Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.
A diagram showing that 24 annually funded grants becomes only 15 funded grants if 50% of the funds for competitive grants are used for multi-year funding.
I was preparing for a talk I gave last evening to a lay audience and came up with this graphic to explain multi-year funding and why it leads to fewer competitive awards and funding investigators and projects.
6/8
LOL. LMAO even. Or maybe laugh til I cry since only new faculty and new buildings are the future of research at Rutgers. Oh, and our uncompensated community outreach that isn't considered in tenure and promotion, of course. 🧪 www.investmentreports.co/interview/wi...
A frequent problem! Fortunately he also just loves any kind of human attention, so he’s easily pleased.
A grey dog sits in his car seat outside Rita’s licking a vanilla sprinkle cone. I already licked the sprinkles off that side, so he’s just getting vanilla soft serve. For anyone concerned, he got 4-5 licks, he’s not going to be sick.
Goose and I deserved a lil treat after our yard work. 🐶 🍦 ☀️ 💐
A small grey dog stands on red brick steps contemplating a purple watering can
A small grey dog comes to look at a hole I dug to plant leftover Easter flowers. I know you’re meant to wait til fall but I’ll forget time so they get to fend for themselves!
The garden helper
I'm so sorry for your loss. She has been a wonderful presence in my online-science-life for many years.
If you think legislation that targets “low enrollment degrees” only impacts the humanities please look at this list. Degrees in chemistry, math, physics, political science, data analytics, psychology and economics are being eliminated. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/04/16/o...
Recently my lab members have been joining Bluesky in a suspiciously coordinated manner, given what I know of their penchant for getting up to shenanigans. Just know that I see y’all… 👀
What I wouldn't give for morale to be improved by October!
I refuse to "like" this
NIH funded / aspirant peeps: “The percent of applications discussed in most meetings will be reduced to 30-35%, instead of the usual ~50%.”
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
N.B. I do provide typed lecture notes for every class with clickable links to papers and book chapters from which I source key diagrams and images.
One more complaint or demand from my class that they "need" access to lecture slides on Canvas to study and I will go full retro-mode and diagram everything by hand on the whiteboard. Take your own notes. Draw your own pictures. That is literally how you learn.
That's where editors should be working to filter out and desk-reject things that shouldn't be going out to review at all! Certainly more paid editorial staff would improve the experience for everyone - authors and reviewers alike.
As a junior Covid prof, I’ve submitted 3 in the last 4 years. So I’m well over 3X my own submissions!
Putting my journal editor hat on: this has become a huge problem since covid. I don’t know what senior faculty are thinking about how they benefited from willing referees in their own career and now just won’t/can’t/sorry-I’m-too-busy. Others ghost editors who write to inquire about late review.
Senior professors - if you want to help your junior colleagues in these times, I am begging you, review our papers. I have done 25 manuscript reviews in the last 6 years. But my own manuscript is stalled out waiting for reviewers. Relatedly, I won't be doing any more reviews until tenure. 🧪
As some of y’all know, I’m in a humanities/ STEM mixed marriage 😝. So excited that my husband’s got a book coming out this summer! If you love Philly history, women’s history, or the centennial exhibition, you’ll love Anna’s diary. www.brooklinebooks.com/978195504168...
The SciArt Feed here on Bluesky is gated so I can keep Gen AI out.
If someone posts AI, I boot them and it disappears. I think it’s happened twice in 2.5 years. A worry-free feed.
Pin & Like here:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
A small dog in the driver’s side of a sedan.
Goose was ready to drive himself to lab so he can meet @rnareylab.bsky.social ! Don’t worry, he rode in his car seat and I did the driving. 🪿 🐶
I have been pretty skeptical of the value of spending money on space stuff but now I see that is is actually not unlike spending money on the humanities—value beyond ”value”
Love to see the…checks notes…National Academies of Science Engineering and Math meeting the moment with appropriate rigor and critical analysis 💀
Gift article written by @drkatemarvel.bsky.social What happened/is happening at NASA is happening throughout US sponsored science. The impacts on our trainees/young faculty will take decades to rectify. also as she notes, be wary of this year's western fire season.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/o...
I hope they waste the government’s time by reporting every single kid with a nickname every time it’s used. Full government names for everyone all the time, or else.
Went to the NJ state museum for a cool planetarium show about telescopes of all kinds. The production, “Messengers of time and space,” was funded by NSF, as were many of the telescopes featured. Like LIGO, which is facing steep cuts. www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...
Yep! I got Gil as a lil tadpole and have had her for 7 years. Hedy is a rescue from someone who got an axolotl for a small child and subsequently realized an axolotl is not a good pet for a small child. He's ~4 years old and I've only had her for ~1 year.
