Josh Knecht

Very much a #proudPI moment when your PhD students @michellezavala.bsky.social and @krlopicc.bsky.social give such lovely presentations of their research. So glad to have the opportunity to join the #EvolTREE meeting and share our ongoing research and learn from diverse systems across Europe.

A five panel figure, with four showing photographs of a putative hybrid warbler between a mourning warbler and a common yellowthroat. The final panel shows an illustration of the bird by David Sibley

A three panel figure showing the genetic composition of the hybrid and the putative parental species. Two panels show points on a principal components analysis, with the hybrid falling intermediate. The final panel shows bars illustrating genome-wide admixture, with the hybrid having intermediate ancestry between the two.

I mean, the title says it all: Genetic confirmation of an “uncommon mourningthroat” (Geothlypis philadelphia  ×  G. trichas): A rare but persistent hybrid warbler. Fun stuff with @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social and Kurt Gielow, OA in @wilsonornithsoc.bsky.social!
🦉 🧪
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Study after study shows that using LLMs is bad for cognition, bad for learning, bad for understanding, bad for mental health. So why are our schools and universities still relentlessly pushing them?

A student recalled adaptive radiation as “radioactive speciation,” and I love it!

Yeah, I've been feeling a similar deep sadness I think, just about like..... how aggressively, how loud our society is shouting at us all that love and kindness don't actually matter

“you want to do a lottery for every high school graduate?”

yes

we also know the sat removes any questions that too many black kids answer right because they have admitted to doing it in the name of normalization

Research Associate-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United States Position Summary The Lowry Lab at Michigan State University is searching for a postdoctoral research associate to conduct molecular and physiological experiments to understand the causes of genetic va...

I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

A block of text that says “publishers marketplace deal report. Nearby nature by sarah mcanulty imprint:storey squid biologist and founder of Skype a scientist sarah mcanulty phd’s NEARBY NATURE, an illustrated guidebook on observing and caring for the natural world found right in our backyard from building bat houses to growing native plants to welcoming possums, to Kristin Hewitt at storey in an exclusive submission for 2027 by Eric Smith at neighborhood literary

Big news: I’m writing a book!!

I’ll be writing & illustrating a beginner’s guide to appreciating wildlife in cities/suburbs, & how all of us can make our neighborhoods better for those animals.

Thank you to my book agent @ericsmithrocks.bsky.social & the folks at Storey for believing in this book!

Bill Cassidy should be required to have this shit framed and hung where he can see it every time he sits at his desk

this is the bargain you made, asshole

you knew better and you did this to the rest of us anyway

Yes, Trump is an extraordinary pathology in American politics. But it’s run-of-the-mill GOP politicians who have empowered RFK Jr to kill innumerable children with his lunacy.

the nuzzi story is fun and all but at the center of it is the elevation of a man who has dedicated his life to making children catch preventable diseases to a position where he can enact harm at enormous scale

Autism and Vaccines QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS PAGE 2 OF 9 | ALL PAGES J For Everyone NOV. 19, 2025 KEY POINTS • The claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism. • Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.

HHS Research on Plausible Biologic Mechanisms between Vaccines and Autism HHS will evaluate plausible biologic mechanisms between early childhood vaccinations and autism. Mechanisms for further investigation include the impacts of aluminum adjuvants, risks for certain children with mitochondrial disorders, harms of neuroinflammation, and more. * The header "Vaccines do not cause autism" has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website.

CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”

Oak Galls Exhibit Ant Dispersal Convergentwith Myrmecochorous Seeds

par.nsf.gov/servlets/pur...

To Survive the Next Pandemic, Walk More, the NIH Says The agency is picking up Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s argument that a healthy immune system can keep even pandemic germs at bay.

The only way to understand this is to realize that they are eugenicists.

Sampling and common garden design.

Climate and hybridization shape #stomatal trait evolution in #Populus

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Zavala-Paez et al.

@WileyPlantSci @michellezavala.bsky.social @jillahamilton.bsky.social

Would be nice to see just once in his life John Roberts getting what he deserves rather than what he wants

I mean, look, I'm not a reporter, so who am I to talk?

But on a day where the president both just called a woman reporter "Piggy" and is celebrating someone who had people bone saw apart one of my colleagues, I might just be a little ready to defend my colleagues and profession.

But that's just me

an image of Katie Wilson standing in a button-up shirt and slacks riding the bus in the morning while holding on onto a rail

After much deliberation and a grueling interview process, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve accepted a new job and will not need any financial support from my parents to cover the high costs of childcare going forward. #AmericanDream #ThisIsYourCity

Everything that actually made America great is being destroyed

the Post is just fully and utterly cooked, huh

Wow, lol. I sat next to her mom at journal club last week without even knowing!

a man in a white shirt is standing in front of a pink fence ALT: a man in a white shirt is standing in front of a pink fence

Just because an LLM can give you an output that’s not immediately and obviously wrong doesn’t mean it is a USEFUL or correct output

I think we need to spend a LOT more time thinking about whether the lack of trust/verification of these outputs is a dealbreaker

(I’d guess…it is)

a small animal is yawning on a rock Alt: a small pika is shouting on a rock

THAT INCREASE IN PRECISION OF YOUR ESTIMATE COMES AT THE COST OF MORE ASSUMPTIONS AND/OR OUTSIDE INFORMATION.

MAKE SURE THOSE ASSUMPTIONS ARE GOOD!!!

#pikasShoutStats

Climate and hybridization shape stomatal trait evolution in Populus Stomata play a critical role in regulating plant responses to climate. Where sister species differ in stomatal traits, interspecific gene flow can influence the evolutionary trajectory of trait vari...

Congratulations to @michellezavala.bsky.social on the publication of one of her PhD. This research builds on #NSF-funded #PopUpPoplar research using WGS and replicate common gardens to understand how climate and hybridization influence stomata evolution
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

i remain shocked at just how badly elite higher ed admins have stewarded universities. these presidents and chancellors and provosts, supposedly accomplished people, have collectively overseen a staggering nationwide collapse in every respect.

Another bonus of having a $30 million coach, while cutting academics and research...

DHS tweet: Womp womp, cry all you want. These criminal illegal aliens aren’t getting released. Like clockwork, violent rioters have arrived at the Broadview ICE facility to demand the release of some of the worst human beings on planet earth. Get a job you imbecilic morons.

If these people are ever thrown out of power, I hope we all understand there is no reformist pathway for institutions like this as much as Dems might desperately wish and claim there is.

I know Dr. Fiumera and have heard a little about this project. It should be fun!

Join the Anthony Fiumera lab at Binghamton University for a Ph.D. focused on nanoplastics' effects on Daphnia. Interested? Email afiumera@binghamton.edu with your CV. Info: https://afiumera.wixsite.com/anthony-fiumera-lab. #gradstudent