The countdown begins… ⏰
Sunday at #SICB2026 is already STACKED!
🗂️ Whether you’ve built your itinerary or you’re still deciding, we’ve got you covered with these at-a-glance schedules.
👉 DCB & DVM folks: tag us so we can hype your talks and posters!
More at-a-glance posts coming soon 👀
Here’s what you can expect on the last day of #SICB2026 — let’s finish strong 🧠✨
Shoutout to @armanafzadeh.bsky.social who will be delivering the Gans Lecture !!
Join us for the SICB Closing Celebration to wrap up an incredible week of science, community, and collaboration 🎉
Don’t forget to tag!
Jane Goodall, one of the world's most renowned conservationists, first found fame in the early 1960s for her paradigm-busting work as a primatologist. In 2021, David Marchese interviewed her about making the world place and the usefulness of hope in the face of fear and anger. nyti.ms/3KvuvOn
An incredible resource:
Meme. Drawing of the eels' life cycle, surrounding a map of their migration range, centered on the mid-Atlantic. The drawing shows the evolution cycle: 1. Silver eels spawing 2. Eggs 3. Larval stage 4. Glass eel 5. Elvers 6. Yellow eel 7. Silver eel The inconsistency in singular/plural drives me a little crazy, because it suggests that eels shift from being multiple animals to one animal and back several times over their lives. Which is silly. Nobody does that. Not even my neighbor, Jim. Meme text reads: "There's history in here somewhere"
I love summer, and I hate the change of seasons. But eels change in excellent ways, so let's talk about that, instead!
That's right, friends...it's Big Eel Life Cycle Thread time!
Before we start, let's remember that I'm a historian, not a scientist. But I'll do my best. 1/11
🗃️🧪
Have you ever wondered what goes into making a map, or though about how maps wind up in the books you love?
I draw maps for living, and every week I write about how they come into being. The posts are free and available for anyone to read. So come give them a read!
patreon.com/SurprisedEel...
New Comparative Anatomy Textbook! Completely free to read and open access!
doi.org/10.59319/YHF...
Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution
Award: $265,800 for 3 years worth of full time support
Eligibility: entering or applying for Ph.D. programs in biology or a subfield of the life sciences during fall 2025
Deadline: LOI due July 31, 2025
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
🧪 🧠
Don't use generic "Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion" headings on your conference poster.
Use headings that make simple, clear, declarative statements, so someone can understand the gist of the poster just by scanning the headings.
🆕 Blog post! betterposters.blogspot.com/2025/05/maki...
Social media postcard that says: Are you an early-career researcher within five years of your first appointment to a faculty position? You could be eligible for our new grants for junior faculty staff The Journal of Experimental Biology logo is in the bottom left corner. The Kickstart grant logo, two hands shaking, is in the bottom right corner.
If you're a new PI within 5 years of your first faculty position, here are two fantastic grants to help develop your research: the Kickstart Travel Grant and ECR Visiting Fellowships Find out more at biologists.com/grants/#jeb The next application deadline is 6 June
Please repost
Webinar on Responding to NSF Grant Terminations Join the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) on Friday, May 9th, at 2:00 PM ET for an informative webinar on responding to NSF grant terminations. We will discuss the rules, procedures and available options for grantees who have had their grant terminated.
🧪 If you had your NSF grant terminated, I'd *highly* recommend going to this Friday's webinar.
Friday May 9 at 2-3 pm ET
Will talk about both the appeals process, in addition to allowable closeout costs. Share widely.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Thread with an email being sent to @asn-amnat.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @systbiol.bsky.social members today calling for a Tri-society week of action for NSF:
Dear members:
The tri-societies (ASN, SSE,SSB) are running a ‘Week of Action for NSF’. Your engagement is crucial.
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
I’m sorry to hear this Lisa.
Excerpt from an early modern alphabet primer for the letter E. There is an uppercase E in the upper left corner, and a lowercase e in the upper right. Along the top, between these letter, it reads: "Eel, live Eels." Below this is a black and white drawing of a woman (we'll call her Evoxagret), sitting in front of a large wicker basket, handing an eel to a small girl. The woman is perched on a stool of some sort, and has a scale in her hand for weighing out eels. She has a hat, and an apron, and a shirt with what might be polkadots. Or they might be little ladybugs (except she's English, so they're probably ladybirds). She has a somewhat smug smile on her face; as smug as eels, really. The girl (we'll call her Jesmerolda) is holding a basket in her right hand, and is reaching out for the eel with her left. Odds are she's gonna pop the eel in the basket, and hope it doesn't slither out. She's wearing a plain dress and a hat or bonnet and little black shoes. Eel-gettin' togs.
I'm going to have a busy day today, and I'm not going to have the time for a historical eel post.
Instead, I want to take a moment and say how much I appreciate all of you. Y'all are the best.
Here: take an eel out of the barrel. You've earned it.
I keep seeing heartbreaking stories about people who spend years in grad school, apply to jobs, and only then learn that their dream job needs a skill they didn’t learn during grad school.
Looking at job ads *now*, years before you’re applying, can help identify skills to develop.
🧪🌎🦑🐠
Congratulations from all of us at the Society to our President, @evoswami.bsky.social, on being appointed Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs!
www.linnean.org/news/2025/04...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...
Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Assistant professors in Organismal Biology and Systems Biology needed!
FAU is hiring two assistant professors, applications are due April 30th. Please find the ads here:
fau.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FAU/de...
(Req 19892)
and here:
fau.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FAU/de...
(Req 19893)
Meme. Painting of St. Patrick, standing on a cliff's edge by the sea, pointing at a bunch of serpents. Patrick is dressed like a bishop with a green cope and mitre. His robes beneath are white, and he's wearing a lovely blue stole. The mitre is set with jewels and chased with gold. His crozier curls into a delicate leaf pattern at the top. He is, in the words of ZZ Top, a sharp dressed man. He either has a halo, or the sun is behind his head. It's hard to say. With the two fingers of his right hand he's pointing towards the ground at is feet, where there are 7 snakes (one for each deadly sin, perhaps?). Patrick's bearded face is kind, but resolute. The snakes look confused and a little pissed. They seem to be having a conversation: "I'm casting you out." says the saint, with some kindness "Where can we go?" wail the snakes "Australia," says the saint. "I have plane tickets for you right here." "Not again!" says Samuel Jackson. Meme text reads: "If you guys were eels we'd be cool"
There aren't snakes in Ireland, but there are eels! And with no serpents, eels made for good metaphorical stand-ins. Super-useful. Need a snake to represent Satan, but don't have one? Use an eel!
Good thing Patrick left the eels, isn't it?
🗃️🧪🐍☘️
Great opportunity for a Vertebrate Paleontologist - Collections Manager at the Los Angels County Museum. workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
Meme. Painting of Julius Caesar being assassinated. Caesar is dressed in harvest-gold robes, with a dusty red wrap above them. He is surrounded by conspirators, and he's falling backwards and reaching out with his left hand. His right arm is tangled in his toga. His forearm is tremendously muscled, and his hand is outstretched like he's just thrown a tub of ice cream at a lion. He has a laurel wreath crown in his grey hair, and his expression is weirdly calm. Intense, but calm. You'd expect more anguish, given the situation. The situation is that he's surrounded by white-togaed senators who are in the process of stabbing him to death. Their knives are raised, their muscles are tight and full of hateful motion. One of them -- likely Brutus -- has locked eyes with Caesar. They are having a moment. But it won't last, 'cause Brutus's fist is clenched and his short sword is hungry. This is a lion that won't be appeased with ice cream. Meme text reads: "Do you want an eel too, Brute?"
It’s the #IdesOfMarch, and so I must tell you that Julius Caesar once purchased 6,000 eels to feed to his guests at a victory feast.
It was an eelaborate party.
Hey Bluesky! @sicb.bsky.social 's Divisions of Comparative Biomechanics and Vertebrate Morphology are here! We're here to share any position opportunities and keep you updated on DCB and DVM activities. Give us a follow and feel free to send any postings our way.
Cover image of Nature Ecology and Evolution showing a micro-CT scan of an anglerfish looking generally menacing
We got the cover of Nature Eco Evo for our anglerfish study!! Shoutout to our graduate student HoWan Chan for the slick image. Read to study here www.nature.com/articles/s41...
What better way to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay than to spotlight ICB’s
partnership with (W.O.S.) Women In #Ocean #Science ! 🙌
Be sure to see their post via www.instagram.com/p/DG8D8XhxJe...
& follow their Instagram.
Evolution 2025 logo. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Caregiver Award - up to $500 toward caregiver costs while attending the annual Evolution meeting (in person or virtually) - Deadline: March 15, 2025.
Need extra funds to help cover costs of caring for someone while you attend #Evol2025? Apply by March 15 for the SSE Caregiver Award - up to $500 US. Funds can be used as the awardee wishes to facilitate attendance virtually or in-person. buff.ly/4ayQxbG
@evolmtg.bsky.social
Today, a broad coalition of scientific professional societies who represent over 92,000 scientists are speaking out against the politicization and demonization of Federally funded science and government scientist jobs.
It was an honor to help the Union of Concerned Scientists with this! 🧪🌎
#Job at Boston University in #Biology:
"Teaching responsibilities include 2, month-long, experiential courses in Marine Semester each fall, & 2 lecture &/or lab-based courses in area of #Ecology each spring. Successful candidate will have a PhD in biology or a related field" #evobio #marinebio 🧪 🌏
Most of the fellows in CDC’s highly competitive Laboratory Leadership Service were fired last weekend.
The ultracompetitive, 2-year program, which trains Ph.D. scientists in the intricacies of public health laboratory work. scim.ag/4gPy0te