Fruit stands with various fruits.

Gotta love a conference fruit stand! #worldagritech #farmersmarket

My 11-year-old sitting with her pile of Halloween candy, sorting it into a bar graph

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

🤔 While we need to focus on combatting the effects of climate change, hyper focusing on treating the effects and telling ourselves that increased emissions won't be the end of civilization isn't going to fuel the passion and endeavors we need to pursue to prevent the introduction of new issues.

Noooo Jane Goodall died!

She was one of the best exemplars of something I believe to my very core: that empathy is often an essential ingredient in good science.

"If we lose hope, we're doomed."

We must continue Dr. Jane Goodall's mission and all fight for the future of the planet.

In terms of good things...

Public media is under threat. Millions depend on the NPR Network every day. Silencing journalism is one way to silence truth and erode the power of the people. Donate now.

A few days ago, President Trump issued an executive order seeking to block all federal funding to NPR, the latest in a series of threats to media organizations across the country.

One Bird Nest, 30 Years of Human Trash A coot’s nest reveals that what humans throw away doesn’t really go away.

WE MADE IT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES!!! 🐦📰

I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.

An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write - Nature Biotechnology Nature Biotechnology - An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write

Well worth the read for writers at all levels: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Full page showing a large circle filled with dots. Each dot represents ten thousand dollars. Small groups of dots are shown within the larger circle, representing, say, the average cost of a year of college, or the median price of a house in the U.S. in 2024.

Close up of a text label indicating that Elon Musk’s worth is 400 pages worth of the big circle, and other facts.

Close-up of some of the smaller groups of dots within the big circle, for example for the price of a house.

Close-up of label saying that according to Forbes magazine, there are at least two thousand seven hundred and eighty people in the world with at least a billion dollars.

Kudos once again to the @nytimes.com kids’ section editors. Today’s issue is all about the colossal (including big trees, buildings, waves, etc). Their infographic on “billion” rocks. 🧪 #numeracy #math

Image of nine napa cabbage plants in a field.

Just when I thought I'd left the plant life...

Assessing microplastic and nanoplastic contamination in bird lungs: evidence of ecological risks and bioindicator potential Microplastics (MPs, 1 µm–5 mm) and nanoplastics (NPs, < 1 µm), collectively termed micro(nano)plastics (MNPs), are pervasive airborne pollutants with …

🪶🧫 Birds are breathing plastic.

A new study finds micro- and nanoplastics in the lungs of 51 bird species.

Larger, land-dwelling birds had higher levels – showing birds may be bioindicators of airborne plastic pollution.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#SciComm #PlasticPollution 🧪

This is figure 1, which shows the time required to detect a new pathogen with a global surveillance network at airports.

A study in Nature Medicine shows how global aircraft-based wastewater surveillance networks would perform in identifying sources of pandemic outbreaks and what the optimal location of monitoring sites would be. https://go.nature.com/3QkT549 #Medsky 🧪

Some very specific words not included on this list. Can you guess which? Also, as a microbiologist “community” and “community diversity” is kind of an important concept.

Uhhh...

Has Bluesky replaced X for scientists? Take Nature’s poll The research community has flocked to the social-media platform Bluesky. Tell us about your experience.

Nature is keen to find out how scientists are using Bluesky and whether it has become their go-to soc media platform. Do you use Bluesky? Has it replaced X for you? Tell us about it: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Biden Officials Prepare for Potential Bird Flu Outbreak With Added Money The administration is committing an additional $306 million toward battling the virus, and will distribute the money before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.

The Biden administration, in a final push to shore up the nation’s pandemic preparedness infrastructure before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, announced that it is committing an additional $306 million toward efforts to ward off a potential outbreak of bird flu in humans.

NPR and PBS Stations Brace for Funding Battle Under Trump Republicans in Congress have tried to defund public media for decades. With the help of Elon Musk, could they finally make good on their threat?

Elon Musk, in his new role advising President-elect Trump, has floated eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding that the government funnels to PBS and NPR stations.

How to make your home merry and bright in an environmentally friendly way Metallic tinsel, glittery ornaments, plastic holly that really stays green forever – they look good on your Christmas tree, holiday table, mantel or front door. They’re not such a good look for the pl...

This time I got to talk about holiday decorations! (another helpful hint - hold on to your decoration donations till October - Goodwill et al don't want to store them for the year for us!)
www.pbs.org/newshour/sci...

When you finally reach a flow with your dissertation writing...and it's December 23rd...🎄⛄❄️

‘A place of joy’: why scientists are joining the rush to Bluesky Researchers say the social-media platform — an alternative to X — offers more control over the content they see and the people they engage with.: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03784-6

There are already many articles for which there is more attention on Bluesky than on other comparable micro-blogging sites, meaning the academic community and the general public have clearly adopted Bluesky as one of its core places to disseminate and discuss new research.

A Place of Joy.

Thank you!

Has this happened yet?? Shall we start one?

Can I be added as well?

Hey, fellow ecologists but especially #soil scientists! A complete novice asking: is there a field-based method to measure the approximate age profile of soil organic #carbon E.g., estimate how much is input from very recent years vs. decades vs. hundreds years ago? (1/2)

The Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California Davis, School of Medicine, invites applications for a full-time faculty position in Microbiome Sciences. Apply by December 11th at:

recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF06847

The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments Cities create challenging environments for many nonhuman species, and the presence of nonhumans in cities influences the health and well-being of the humans with which they share the environment. Dist...

The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environments www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thanks! scholar.google.com/citations?us...

An example of scientific writing that is harder to understand because of the use of a lot of acronyms, and the use of scientific names instead of common names.