Vikram Baliga, PhD

Look, I understand why we can't, and I'm not even really saying we *should*, but thesis and dissertation defenses would probably be a lot less stressful if we could bring wine.

I dropped queso on my phone screen and have confirmed that you can, in fact, accidentally like an Instagram post with your tongue. These kinds of important data and discovery are the reason I became a scientist.

Clothing company: Our shirts look great on guys of all shapes and sizes! *Models are 6'3" with 6-packs and the ability to speak to animals*
Me: ...It'll probably be fine, I'll just find it in my size... *Looks like a manatee draped in a tarp, unable to talk to the other manatees about it*

Thank you!!

This whole CEO concert affair thing is just a ploy by Big Coldplay to get you to buy more clocks.

Anyway, I'm hoping to launch the show in January and will have a lot more info soon!

I'm in charge of starting a podcast for my College about the work we do and how it impacts the community. I have a colleague doing fascinating work on bats and ecology. It'll be great, but I already know I can't title it, "It's Frickin' Bats," and I'm terribly sad in advance, deep in my soul.

The book cover of The Tree of Life. It features pink text over tree branches and leaves. Some animals such as squirrels and birds are in the scene as well. The book cover is set against a dark green background.

The Tree of Life by Nalini Nadkarni is out in the USA today! 🎉

I couldn't think of the word "hip" just now and went with "leg shoulder." Things are clearly going well.

"Fire ze missiles" is like a Millennial dog whistle. Also, it still holds up 22 years later. I checked.

I went out with friends tonight *starting* at 7:30. What am l, a 30 year old? Absurd. Wonderful.

Oh my god, right?!

Every now and then, I'll go back and watch clips from the Mexican Food episode of Great British Bake Off, just to feel something*

*The something is a weird combination of horror, rage, and disappointment

Plants are political. Nature is political. Food is political. The struggle for our planet is the struggle for liberation and equity.

a woman in a suit says everything hurts and i 'm dying . Alt: a woman in a suit says everything hurts and i 'm dying .

After running non-stop for the past month on primarily caffeine, adrenaline, and spite, I'm finally getting to decompress for a few hours today. Fam, I should have just kept moving so the consequences of pushing too hard couldn't catch me.

Airports are their own weird little urban ecosystems that aren't bound by normal conventions. Want to get a martini and Panda Express orange chicken at 7:02 am? Sure thing. Need a laptop and an entire Lord of the Rings box set? You bet. Wanna pay less than $46 for a cup of coffee? Lol cute, bestie.

We share an atrium with another department, and a high pitched alarm keeps going off somewhere in their offices. That feels like more than enough reason for me to just work from home all summer.

Thanks for sharing!!

What's Your Value? The intersection of accomplishments and values

If you’re looking for an encouragement and meaning in life, I really appreciated the thoughts of my colleague @theplantprof.bsky.social here.

As I often say, they won’t put your academic CV on your tombstone. So what really matters in life?

Welcome to Office Hours! Questions, answer, and photosynthetic chaos

I'm out of writing practice, and thought finally starting a Substack would be a good way to get back into working out those muscles again. You'll get a deeper look inside my brain (I'm so sorry) and more detailed answers to your plant and academic questions! Welcome to Office Hours!

bit.ly/3ZnvYL2

I couldn't remember the word bacon just now, so I ordered "maple donuts with meat sprinkles." They looked at me weird, but I got the right thing so 🤷🏽‍♂️

I need more coffee.

I just watched a grad student (in my department, but not my student) respond to a not-question with, "ah, I understand, that's more of a suggestion than a question. I think the suggestion is debatable, but I appreciate the thought." Then he moved on. It was awesome, I'm very impressed.

I get to interview so many amazing people for Planthropology that remind me how much I still have to learn about being a scientist, educator, and human. It's genuinely one of the greatest joys in my life to talk with a community of folks who always inspire me to be better!

Can I just tell you how happy it makes me to get tagged in this stuff

Checking out at the grocery store:

Me: Geez, $300?! I just bought essentials!
Also me: ...bro, you bought 4 bottles of wine and enough oreos to kill a rhino.
Me again: *checks news notification* I said what I said.

you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.

We are experiencing an assault on science unparalleled by anything I’ve seen in my life. It’s not one issue or another anymore, the entire institution is under attack by the most powerful individuals in the country.

This Friday, where will you be?

standupforscience2025.org

YouTube video by MicrobeTV TWiV 1195: Dickson Despommier, parasitologist without borders

TWiV 1195 is a tribute to our late co-host Dickson Despimmier 🤍 youtu.be/2PRYLYwgCmo?...

Dickson Despommier Dies at 84; Championed Farming in Skyscrapers A Columbia microbiologist, he popularized “vertical farming” — raising crops in tall buildings — to remediate climate change and feed more people.

Passionate about everything from parasitology to vertical farming and ecology, Dr. Despommier seems to have been a brilliant scientist and a good man. We have to support the sciences and the innovators and educators who are going to carry us into the future! 3/3

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/s...

The other hosts posted an episode reminiscing about him today, and I can only hope to walk through my life and career in such a way that my friends, colleagues, and students talk about me the way they're talking about him. 2/3