Michael Sheehan

Yes! Well, kind of, IMO. The brain is for allostasis first - the maintenance of bodily states within a viable range. But one means of such control is through behavior. And a good way to figure out what to do is through cognition. (And a good way to do cognition is to do it consciously... 😊)

Federal officials telling social media companies to take down posts was supposedly a free speech crisis. It’s not even really hypocrisy, since the right was lying about much of it.
And this isn’t misinformation, foreign influence ops, or public health, just 1A-protected speech the govt doesn’t like.

This. And this again.

I must explain that this is not accurate, particularly the part about Ellis Island. I cannot speak to the Chinese diaspora angle, but many of us have family whose names were expressed in non-Roman alphabets when they immigrated. This is a long thread, but I literally do this for a living. 1/

Obama: "When you see an administration suggest that ordinary street crime is an insurrection or a terrorist act, that is a genuine effort to weaken how we have understood democracy."

If you're wondering whether or not to get a flu shot, I didn't get one in time, and I just had a fever dream where I was in the Drew Carey Show because several days ago I was on the Wikipedia page for the Drew Carey Show. You don't have to do this to yourself.

My quote of the day

Science is the search for truth, that is the effort to understand the world: it involves the rejection of bias, of dogma, of revelation, but not the rejection of morality.

Linus Pauling

Macro photograph in side view of a small ant carrying a bit of tree bark in her mandibles, her gaster tucked tightly under her body pointed forward. The ant's head, antennae, gaster, coxae, and femora are black, the thorax and petiole are red, and the tibiae are bright yellow.

Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is one of the more colorful ant species I have photographed.

My quote of the day

Nobody ever thanks you for saving them from the disease they didn't know they were going to get.

William Foege

Post docs who bring their own funding

The nominative determinism of this specific atrocity is off the charts here.

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Echinopsis tubiflora an Argentinian endemic Cactaceae, night blooming, open <18 hours (120x = 2 hours) #timelapse #cactus #flower #sweetsmell

my cousin had the family over tonight for a party whose theme was “everyone make a cake and then we will sit around in the backyard and try all the cakes” and honestly like, we should do this once a month

In the American system of government, a legislature of the people’s elected representatives decide how to allocate the people’s money, then an unelected appointee in the executive branch called “OMB Director” decides if he feels like distributing the people’s money that way or if he’d rather not.

One time, I interviewed the Secretary of Agriculture. I worked for about a week to make sure that I didn’t ask a question that would violate the Hatch Act.

Meanwhile, these MFers exist…

# of paragraphs for news orgs to mention there's no discernable need to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon

The Guardian: 1st paragraph
BBC: 4th paragraph
AP: 5th paragraph
Time: 6th paragraph
Politico: 8th paragraph
NPR: 9th paragraph
CNN: 10th paragraph
NBC: 12th paragraph
Fox News: never mentions

This only happens to you once

Your yard doesn’t have to be a sterile hellscape of turf grass.

Its WORLD WASP DAY!

Wow! If this holds up, it will be a triumph of science (i.e., of many hundreds of dedicated scientists over decades) over a devastating disease.

YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live Jimmy Kimmel is Back!

How many recognized @jimmykimmel.com's opening line was a tribute to Jack Paar? "As I was saying before I was interrupted," was Paar's opener upon his return after walking off the Tonight Show for 7 weeks in 1960 when NBC censors cut a joke about a water closet (bathroom). youtu.be/c1tjh_ZO_tY?...

A nice Polistes mimic!!

Ecology and sexual conflict drive the macroevolutionary dynamics of female-limited color polymorphisms in damselflies

doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

It’s blowing my mind that we’re seeing 45% less weeds when we inoculate a new prairie with mycorrhizal fungi. Greater native early and late successional establishment.

Martha N. and John C. Moser Chair in Arthropod Biosystematics and Biological Diversity Screen reader users may encounter difficulty with this site. For assistance with applying, please contact hr-accessibleapplication@osu.edu. If you have questions while submitting an application, pleas...

OSU insect systematics chair!! This sounds like a DEEPLY cool job with a fantastic collection attached: osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/j...

Yes, do this.

"You cannot arrest someone because they are Hispanic" is worth fighting for. It's worth shutting down the government for. And it's worth attracting attention to.

I care for children in the hospital on inpatient & consult services.

Most weeks there are at least a few kids admitted with vaccine preventable diseases.

Often in children who can’t get vaccinated themselves.

15 years in pediatrics and I’ve never seen a single one admitted with vaccine injury.

Massive, Near-Complete Mammoth Skeleton Discovered In Natural Trap Cave The latest discovery in Natural Trap Cave in the Bighorn Mountains, considered one of the world's premier Ice Age fossil sites, is the nearly complete…

For #MammothMonday: new article out about paleontological excavations led by @sabercatwoman.bsky.social at the famed Natural Trap Cave fossil site in northern Wyoming. Recent discoveries include remains of mammoth! 🧪 cowboystatedaily.com/2025/09/06/m...