Chris Friesen

Trump’s terror memo (audio) It is about regime change

On Trump’s terror memo and regime change. Basic points on the rule of law, phantom conspiracies, big lies, and civic action.
(Audio)
snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-ter...

Justice Dept. Official Pushes Prosecutors to Investigate George Soros’s Foundation

This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how Putin and Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Why do headlines say "norms shattered" when what is meant is "laws broken" or "Constitution violated"?

Kind of feels like a big deal that a Reform/Brexit Party former MEP has been convicted of taking bribes to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, and it feels like a bigger deal that this isn’t being treated as the major scandal that it clearly is.

Huckabee’s rhetorical sleight of hand: smuggling theology into public law under the guise of shared values. But murder and theft were punished long before Moses—and in cultures that never heard of him. The rest? Mostly thought-policing and worship logistics—the 10 Cs are NOT the basis of US law.

Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Graduate Research Excellence Grants. Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards, Deadline: September 15, 5:00 PM Eastern.

Applications now open for the SSE GREG Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 to expand your dissertation work. Submit your proposal by September 15!
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

“That any Australian government should seek to make getting a humanities degree more difficult is upsetting … but the idea that a Labor government would do nothing at all to right this wrong is utterly mystifying,” —Winton. Indeed.

Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000 * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Tim Winton knows what it’s like to be the first in a family to go to university – “what a breakthrough that is, the kind of opportunities it provides”. It was at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, studying arts, that he wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, launching a four-decade writing career. Continue reading...

Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students

We need Democratic leaders who are willing to cast America’s billionaires not as success stories of American capitalism, but as parasitic oligarchs robbing the people blind, dismantling the country, undermining western democracy, and burning the whole world just to keep their taxes low.

1. Here's a fish swimming upstream. Nothing unusual about that.

What's unusual is that this particular fish is *dead*. Vortices in the water as it flows past the fish cause the fish's body to flex, maintaining orientation and actually propelling it forward.

(D. N. Beal et al 2006 J. Fluid. Mech.)

Former ANU chancellor says proposed uni cuts 'gobsmacking' Former Australian National University chancellor, Gareth Evans, says proposed cost-saving cuts to the institution have "ignored or gravely under-valued the significance of ANU's very distinctive natio...

Former Australian National University chancellor slams 'gobsmacking' proposed university cuts www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Why do they hate us? That’s the question academics in the humanities are asking. - Graeme Turner This is the question I was asked last week. Why are government, the media, even university administrations, so carelessly participating in the gradual demolition of one of the foundation stones of our...

The ability to understand what makes us human - from a science and social sense - is being eroded at the nation’s university. Soon it’ll be too late to reverse the cack-handed cuts. Nobody can say they weren’t warned. We warned you. graemeturner.org/2025/07/20/w...

2025: Researchers receive $1 million to protect amphibians and power clean energy - University of Wollongong – UOW

Congratulations Prof Phillip Byrne, Dr Aimee Silla, Dr Chris Friesen, and Dr Damien Esquerre. An amazing achievement! We look forward to seeing the outcomes of your important research.

Read more via the below UOW media release. @cpictus.bsky.social

www.uow.edu.au/media/2025/r...

Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük Combining 131 paleogenomes with bioarchaeological and archaeological data, we studied social organization and gendered practices in Çatalhöyük East Mound (7100 to 5950 BCE), a major Neolithic settleme...

Dr. Eline Schotsmans recently published groundbreaking work using ancient DNA to reveal the malleable nature of social organisation in Neolithic villages

Read more via the below

@elineschotsmans.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Ever wondered by dolphins jump out of the water? Dr Katharina Peters explains in her latest article in the Conversation 🐬

kjpeters.bsky.social

theconversation.com/curious-kids...

The idea that we can "easily" overthrow the regime in Iran is a fantasy of people that have never served. Afghanistan is back in the hands of the Taliban after 20 years of slaughter. Iraq still isn't peaceful. Libya is a war zone that's been in civil war since we dropped bombs. History is screaming!

America’s Great Brain Drain “A few years ago, no one would have imagined that one of the biggest democracies in the world would cancel research programs under the pretext that the

www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/09/a...

Adaptation and gene flow are insufficient to rescue a montane plant under climate change Climate change increasingly drives local population dynamics, shifts geographic distributions, and threatens persistence. Gene flow and rapid adaptation could rescue declining populations yet are seld...

Adaptation & gene flow are insufficient to rescue a montane plant under climate change. Need to model evolutionary dynamics under #climate change. Implications for SDMs. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

say it again:

4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities

ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x

demolishing higher education is economic sabotage

Elon Musk’s regulatory troubles? Vanishing fast. Since Trump returned to the White House, federal agencies that once scrutinized Musk’s empire are being gutted or redirected. At the USDA, Trump fired the official investigating Neuralink.

A chocolate cake with red and white decorations and lit candles shaped as the number 75. Bold text reads: ‘The NSF Turns 75 Today. What has it done over the past 7 decades?’ The background is a celebratory red with a spray-paint texture.

HAPPY 75th, NSF!

We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond.

Read on 🧵(1/11):

The Birdman of Skomer With English captions.

Here is a great film "The Birdman of Skomer" about my friend Professor Tim Birkhead and his 50+ year study of guillemot's on the island of Skomer - please share! vimeo.com/1063680641/2...

IOB
"Our study demonstrates that other non-model #nothobranchids can be used as comparative #species to N. furzeri in the study of #aging, #neurogenesis, and life history."

doi.org/10.1093/iob/...

@chijing-leow.bsky.social & Piller

#science #fish #evolution #biology

Endangered axolotls bred in captivity can survive in wild, study finds The findings could aid conservation efforts for the beloved species, which is found in only one Mexico City lake.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO; AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO; SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL-CIO; AFGE LOCAL 1122; AFGE LOCAL 1236; AFGE LOCAL 2110; AFGE LOCAL 3172; SEIU LOCAL 1000; ALLIANCE FOR RETIRED AMERICANS; AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION; AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION; CENTER FOR TAXPAYER RIGHTS; COALITION TO PROTECT AMERICA’S NATIONAL PARKS; COMMON DEFENSE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT; MAIN STREET ALLIANCE; NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL, INC.; NORTHEAST Case No. COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF Stacey M. Leyton (SBN 203827) Barbara J. Chisholm (SBN 224656) Danielle Leonard (SBN 218201) ALTSHULER BERZON LLP 177 Post Street, Suite 300 San Francisco, CA 94108 Tel.: (415) 421-7151 sleyton@altber.com bchisholm@altber.com dleonard@altber.com Elena Goldstein (pro hac vice application forthcoming) Skye Perryman (pro hac vice application forthcoming) DEMOCRACY FORWARD FOUNDATION P.O. Box 34553 Washington, D.C. 20043 Tel.: (202) 448-9090 egoldstein@democracyforward.org sperryman@democracyforward.org Case 3:25-cv-03698 Document 1 Filed 04/28/25 Page 1 of 115 COMPLAINT, No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION, INC.; VOTEVETS ACTION FUND INC.; WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT; COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA; CITY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COUNTY, WASHINGTON; HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS; CITY OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND; and CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA Plaintiffs, v. DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States; UNITED STATES OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET; RUSSELL VOUGHT, in his official capacity as Director of U.S. Office of Management

Huge tonight: ‼️

A coalition led by @democracyforward.org files a massive lawsuit asserting DOGE actions are illegal and unconstitutional.

"When the President takes for himself the legislative power of Congress to recreate federal agencies in the manner he sees fit, he violates the Constitution."

The Research Council of Norway The Research Council of Norway is the government`s research policy advisor and the ministries, and allocates NOK 10 Bn. annually for research and innovation.

Maybe contact The Research Council of Norway? They have set up a taskforce to help America researchers. If not help directly, I am sure they can advice on fora to gather up. www.forskningsradet.no/en/

What DEI threatens isn’t merit. It’s monopoly. Political science professor Hakeem Jefferson argues for DEI's importance to de-monopolizing universities.

A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.

I hope you’ll read and share the piece.

stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...

Moreover, these funds serve the public interest. Universities do things private companies with research capacities cannot: train research talent, conduct basic research with uncertain payoffs, and distribute knowledge as a public good. And the rewards have been enormous. Everything from the internet to pharmaceutical and health care innovations evolved from such investments. We are richer and healthier for the investment.

The trope that universities are "dependent" on the federal government fundamentally misunderstands how vital this partnership has been for the US. The private sector can't replace it. If we kill it, we're all worse off. From @donmoyn.bsky.social and me: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...

A wonderful read about the career trajectory of an inspiring #cnidarian researcher.

ICB blog
Diving into Discovery: A #Researcher’s Journey in Marine #Biology, #Regeneration and #Evolution - Christine Schnitzler

By Lisa Mesrop, SICB Mangum recipient, #scientist/blogger, UCSB (Oakley lab)

integrativeandcomparativebiology.wordpress.com/2025/04/22/d...

#science #fluorescence