I always hate looking ahead at a week like that. I’m on a recovery week right now after an exceedingly busy one.

Excellent idea. Maybe some driving snacks might help overcome at least a little of the leave the house at 4am-ness.

Trying to talk my non-biologist spouse into getting up at 4am in a couple weeks so we can go see lekking Greater Prairie Chickens in Illinois. Seems to be a tough sell even after I showed him videos of how awesome they are. This seems like a no-brainer adventure to me.

In a world of AI-assisted assignments it’s almost refreshing to see some old fashioned plagiarism while grading.

Got to spend the morning outside with the St. Louis Neighborhood Foresters in my neighborhood’s monthly tree blitz. Always a fun day of the month. Learned lots from the arborist with us. Finals week was brutal, and I definitely needed some tree time.

Oh wow. That would feel so exposed!

Same.

Last class complete of my Evolution of Cognition course this fall. This year we've ended with a module on welfare following the module on sentience, and it made for a great capstone topic. Really fantastic discussion. Looking forward to the oral exams next week to see what people have learned!

That is a great cover!

Oh wow. Something to read for sure!

Honoring Alice Wong's life and legacy with gratitude, in solidarity and sorrow, this morning. I was a fan; thinking of all who loved and knew her personally.

Alice's words speak to us still. As a chronically ill person, I will keep listening. What a beautiful, bold, *brilliant* life well lived.

Alice Wong on Instagram: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it ... 423 likes, 73 comments - alicatsamurai on November 14, 2025: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the t...

I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.

Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...

At #EntSoc2025 and really the highlight has been meeting awesome students. If you run into me, tell me about your super cool research!

I met him a few times some years ago while taking a month-long course at Cold
Spring Harbor. Three of us went to talk with him. He literally sexually harassed the woman I was with. I joked that I had the full Jim Watson experience but… he caused some real harm.

Doctoral candidate Becky Hansis-O’Neill’s research helps build understanding of tarantulas - UMSL Daily The Saint Louis Zoo and Missouri Department of Conservation have taken an interest in her work.

My lab mostly works on the cognitive ecology of insects, but Becky has introduced our lab to tarantulas and its been a fun 4 years (so far) getting to know them better. Fascinating animals, with better cognitive skills than most people realize. blogs.umsl.edu/news/2025/10...

Wow. Awesome work pulling all of that together!!

This is really great! Both are books that really stick with you for a long while. Looking forward to his next projects.

Congratulations!!!

The biggest downside of a partial administrative appointment is the sheer amount of time spent (wasted) on various products of bureaucracy. Everything seems to be getting more difficult by the week. Extra hoops. Hoops with flames. Hoops that seem to involve interdimensional travel...

This was the coolest part of my summer. Its also very cool to have teaching, mentoring, and outreach appreciated. So much of the pressures of our jobs are all about grants and papers but its validating to have the other ways in which we choose to spend our time and energy be noticed and appreciated.

Please share — Michigan State Plant Biology is searching for an Herbarium Director! Tenure stream, open rank faculty position balancing research, teaching, service, and admin responsibilities. Join us! Reach out to me or @emjo.bsky.social with questions!

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

Have an awesome sabbatical!!

Teaching a class this fall that I haven't taught in a while and I'm thanking past me for already making the syllabus digitally accessible. Now I have to add all my AI guidelines to it and the required new syllabus sections on stuff that's already in there but not under the newly required headers.

Oh no. This is terrible!

Holy fricking A.

1. Sciences aren't remotely apolitical, from who gets to do research to which research projects are funded to how findings are interpreted.

2. Who is going to write the reports/papers without humanities?

3. Science is also a target!! Ask the CDC researchers who were shot at!

I just had my office, one small storage room, and animal behavior lab (which is all crammed into the new room and is a mess). If my research lab had been on that list… yikes. You definitely did a TON. Hope all the new spaces are awesome!

That’s right- you all have lots of renovations and moving around happening! It’s shocking how much time moving an office can take once you add up all the little tasks and everything.

I have resolved that when I retire, on that blessed year, I will be cleaning all my lab crap out and not leaving it for other people "in case they want it." The antique equipment we have found has been really impressive. And heavy. And often next to questionable jars of unlabeled contents.

Excited about our new College of Engineering. Moving to a new office because of renovations and shifting rooms sucked but worked out super well for me. Having our Biology faculty working multiple days to clean a bunch of junk out of old teaching labs and random storage rooms is just super crummy.

To have this paper appear the same day that RFK Jr is canceling all mRNA vaccine funding is further indication that irony is not dead, even though we might all be soon.