Posts by Rachel Savage
In the last two weeks, 1% of new NSF awards were in biology. Just one grant of 97. One.
Biology in the US is on hold until there’s a regime change.
Many parasitic plants produce tiny seeds as light as dust: you can barely even see them. But zoom in with a powerful enough microscope, and suddenly they reveal a hidden trove of jewels.
(Thanks to Renata Piwowarczyk for the photos; microscopy by Justyna Kasińska)
Genome for Agalinis fasciculata, coming up! 🧬
@pedropezzi.bsky.social
‘Dispersification’ of Agalinis (Orobanchaceae) Into South America Is Associated With Hummingbird Pollination and Perennial Life-History Shifts
@pedropezzi.bsky.social @soltislab.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Latvis lab just arrived in Baton Rouge for the SSB conference! Excited to try Elsie’s plate and pie. @pedropezzi.bsky.social @chukwumaemma.bsky.social #SSB2026
Promotional graphic on a red background featuring two black-and-white raglan shirts from the Botanical Society of America’s “Stranger Plants” collection. One shirt shows a large illustrated plant scene; the other displays a grid of illustrated unusual plants. White text reads “We love the Stranger Plants BSA SWAG!” Below, descriptive text explains that the shirts highlight strange plants, with common and scientific names listed on the back in a concert-style format. A QR code labeled “Scan to Shop” appears at the lower right, along with BSA logos and text promoting additional BSA apparel.
We 💚 the Stranger Plants—and now they’re on #BSAswag!
The shirts feature bold illustrations by BSA’s own Catrina Adams, with a list of each species by common & scientific name on the back.
BSA members (exp. 2026+) get 10% off—email aneely@botany.org for code.
www.bonfire.com/store/bsa-wi...
An overview shot of a portion of the collection: a long window box with wooden frames filled with glass models of plants carefully arranged and labeled on white backgrounds, as though part of a 3D herbarium. From this distance, they are indistinguishable from real plants.
Glass model of maple leaves, featuring blended molten glass that mimics the red hues of autumn foliage
A glass model of a Columbine (Aquilegia) with parsley-like leaves and pendulous, faintly red and yellow flowers that look like swans huddled together, necks touching and wings flared out.
Glass model of a Potentilla with almost ferny foliage and simple, open-faced yellow flowers with fuzzy centers.
Recently visited the Glass Flowers at Harvard, a collection of 4,300 extraordinarily realistic glass models of plants crafted by the Blaschkas, a father and son team of sculptors
That’s right, these are all made primarily of GLASS — a fact difficult to accept given how accurate & lifelike they are
Fieldwork highlights from Italy: to understand what a species is PhD student @rlsavage.bsky.social is taking a integrative approach using morphological, genomic & ecological data to determine what a species is in Rhinanthus
@maribethlatvis.bsky.social and Emily Carter helped with the fieldwork
Congrats!! See you soon at UARK! 🐗
We have several exciting events lined up for the 150th anniversary of the UARK herbarium!
Check out all the events with this link: biology.uark.edu/herbarium/ev...
Trinity College Dublin Herbarium
Calling botanical researchers, the School of Natural Science at Trinity College Dublin is hiring a tenure track Assistant Professor in Plant Biodiversity and Conservation.
I know this is someone's dream job, so let me know if that is you and you want to chat!
my.corehr.com/pls/trrecrui...
Fieldwork in Brazil to understand how new plant species evolve? Pedro Pezzi @pedropezzi.bsky.social and Maribeth Latvis @maribethlatvis.bsky.social are taking a multi-pronged approach in Agalinis to understand morphological shifts and species interactions during rapid diversification
Any suggestions on bringing back pressed plant specimens thru customs?
Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature.
https://go.nature.com/44Ugf9V
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.
As a curator at a natural history museum, I'm gutted to learn about the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. If anything, we need to fund, protect and preserve museum collections and uphold institutions of scientific and cultural knowledge now more than ever.
@phylojennatics.bsky.social and @rlsavage.bsky.social, botanists and PhD students with the @maribethlatvis.bsky.social Lab in the Dept. of Biological Sciences at the @uarkansas.bsky.social recently taught students about botany, plant collecting, and biodiversity at the Holcomb Elementary STEM Night!
NSF fact sheet
The National Science Foundation benefits communities in every state.
Hey! We’re looking for a woman in science who is actively promoted and supported women in biology to give a talk or lead a workshop. Let me know if you have any recommendations! #womeninstem
Good to see an #herbarium study from @newphyt.bsky.social featured on NPR, with an assessment of what we stand to lose when herbaria are closed.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
www.kcur.org/news/2025-02...
Includes quotes from @barbarathiers.bsky.social, Jordan Teischer, Lynn Clark.
darlin youre a shooting star
honey, youre irresistable
youre golden to me
i carex about you a bunch
Native prairie plant valentines for your friday
I originally made these for www.plantlovestories.com ages ago!
CFPB - closed
USAID - closed
Medicaid - under attack
NIH cancer funding - frozen
Department of Education - under attack
But do you know who just got a NEW government contract for $38,858,978 literally today?
SpaceX — owned by Elon Musk