Claudia Geib

Some days I think my job is pretty normal, and then other days I find myself paging through an obscure Flemish herbal written in the 1500s

🧵 3/3 Bottom line for 🧪:

The last remaining fight over the Billionaires' Bill is this week (*right now*) and in the House.

The fight for science funding in FY26 starts *next week* in the House and will continue during the summer.

So: don't lose hope...it's a *summer-long* fight for science!

You can read the original story that inspired this episode at: hakaimagazine.com/features/rai...

Baby Shark Radiolab · Episode

Back in 2021, I came across a strange story about some folks raising baby sharks taken from dead mothers caught by fishermen. That story became a feature for Hakai Magazine, and today, it's in @radiolab.bsky.social as part of their "Week of Sharks" !! open.spotify.com/episode/2SkQ...

The cuts to NSF, NASA and the NIH come just as interest in STEM fields is booming. This administration is literally crushing the dreams of young people in the USA. Not to mention the impact on the STEM workforce. 🧪 ⚛️ 🎢

The Coyote Next Door What urban wildlife can teach us about cognition, survival, and how to be good neighbors.

I adored this fascinating, hopeful @betsymason.bsky.social story for @biographic.bsky.social about the intelligence of urban wildlife, and how we can coexist: www.biographic.com/the-coyote-n...

Are baby whale sharks "holding their breath" to hide from predators and bulk up after birth? www.biographic.com/whale-sharks...

It was a joy to work with @colinschultz.bsky.social once again for this, my first story in @biographic.bsky.social!

Whale Sharks’ Low-Oxygen Advantage - bioGraphic Whale shark babies seem to find safety in dangerous oxygen minimum zones.

Whale Sharks’ Low-Oxygen Advantage

Whale shark babies seem to find safety in dangerous oxygen minimum zones.

by @cgeib.bsky.social

www.biographic.com/whale-sharks...

Today I was overjoyed to hear the first peepers and the first returning osprey of the season...and then I also found the first two ticks of the season 🙃 guess that's spring in New England, baby

A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls “Woke.” The senator flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like “female” and “diversify.” A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught up in his crude meth...

“We are really trying very, very hard ... to move our world forward" through "foundational, sometimes groundbreaking research, and then you get flagged and blacklisted because there is a word like ‘female’ in your project.”

My latest, w/the brilliant Agnel Philip

www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025!

Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide!

#scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

"Phenology" has been a big scary word for me for a while now. There's something about shifting seasonal cycles, and species out of alignment, that makes me nervous. But most stories I've read about climate change and phenology have felt distant, abstract.

Not this one.

A book on a wooden desk, with an ombre orange-yellow-blue cover: The Craft of Science Writing, selections from The Open Notebook, edited by Siri Carpenter.

Could anyone use a copy of @theopennotebook.bsky.social's Craft of Science Writing? I've taught it for 4 yrs & we recently upgraded to the new edition, but it's still an excellent resource! Would love to send it (free!) to a student or someone just breaking into the biz.

The scramble to save critical climate data from Trump's war on DEI Researchers and activists are archiving websites and data because “policymakers and the public need good information to make the best policy."

Every day the news is terrible but I'm so grateful for the folks out there doing the work. grist.org/politics/the...

Turning the Tide: A kelp farm run by Shinnecock women is helping to clean the waters off Long Island On Long Island, a group of Shinnecock women are nursing A bay back to health and, in the process, reclaiming traditions.

In June, I had the pleasure of spending a day observing the kelp harvest of the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, the first Indigenous-owned kelp farm on the East Coast. My story on their work, to restore local waters and reclaim land & water sovereignty, for @nature.org: www.nature.org/en-us/magazi...

Follow that Bird! How Drones Are Helping Scientists Track Wildlife A research project to keep tabs on Sharp-tailed Grouse shows the potential benefits of a promising but elusive technology.

Bird researchers are combining the age-old tech of radio tracking with the newer advances of aerial drones—my first story for @audubon.org magazine, and the second produced with the support of a generous grant from @ijnr.bsky.social: www.audubon.org/magazine/fol...

If you're in New England and wondering if you just felt an earthquake, yes, you did! (Me, too!)

Who Watches the Watchers? - bioGraphic The recent charging of prominent documentarians in British Columbia court is raising important questions about the ethics of wildlife videography.

Say hello to @biographic.bsky.social's first news story:

Who Watches the Watchers?

The recent charging of prominent documentarians in British Columbia court is raising important questions about the ethics of wildlife videography.

www.biographic.com/who-watches-...

Two redline airedale terriers, large reddish brown dogs with scruffy, curly fur, relaxing in a gray-carpeted hallway. One is cozy in his travel crate, while the other sprawls beside him on the ground. Now retired from bear-chasing, life is good for these two.

This reporting was supported by a grant from @ijnr.bsky.social, which enabled travel to Montana to see these drone professionals at work—and, importantly, meet two of my favorite characters in this story: Huck and Gum, the retired bear-hazing dogs. More stories from that travel coming soon!

Get away, grizzly: why scientists are chasing bears with drones Wildlife experts in US west have found small aircraft are ideal for protecting humans and livestock from predators

I have a new story up in @theguardian.com: how drones are showing promise in scaring predators, like grizzlies & wolves, away from human spaces in the American west—a way to keep both humans and animals safe as predator populations grow there. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Scientists Built an Artificial Shark Uterus | Hakai Magazine Preemie sharks that would otherwise die get by with a little help from a human-made womb.

In honor of @hakaimagazine.com merging with biogGraphic (a crossover event made for science journalists!), here are some of our favorite alumni pieces from both outlets:

First up, @cgeib.bsky.social, '16, explores the wild world of artificial shark uteruses: hakaimagazine.com/news/scienti...

When Is “Recyclable” Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means. Companies whose futures depend on plastic production are trying to persuade the federal government to allow them to put the label “recyclable” on plastic shopping bags and other items virtually guaran...

The plastics industry wants to market plastic bags as "recyclable," even though they're virtually guaranteed to end up in a landfill or incinerator. Their logic: the bags are "capable" of being recycled.

My latest: www.propublica.org/article/plas...

w/incredible art by Max Erwin

In sub-Saharan Africa, ‘forgotten’ foods could boost climate resilience, nutrition For many people across sub-Saharan Africa, Cleome gyandra, commonly known as the spider plant, is not food: it’s a weed. A tall, leggy plant with stars of almond-shaped leaves and clusters of white fl...

Forgot to share this really fascinating piece I did for @mongabay.bsky.social on one of my favorite intersections, food and climate change! How edible plants mostly seen as weeds or survival food could help make African food systems more resilient: news.mongabay.com/2024/07/in-s...

Blood in the Water, Food on the Table, Protesters on the Shore | Hakai Magazine A centuries-old traditional whale hunt in the Faroe Islands remains in the crosshairs of animal rights activists.

This latest @hakaimagazine.com feature is fascinating and nuanced and has one of the best headlines I've seen in a long time: hakaimagazine.com/features/blo...

Scientists Built an Artificial Shark Uterus | Hakai Magazine Preemie sharks that would otherwise die get by with a little help from a human-made womb.

When @colinschultz.bsky.social asks if you want to write about researchers that built an artificial uterus to save sharks, you absolutely say yes. hakaimagazine.com/news/scienti...

Scientists Built an Artificial Shark Uterus | Hakai Magazine Preemie sharks that would otherwise die get by with a little help from a human-made womb.

When a shark is born prematurely, salt water is toxic to its tiny body. A preemie baby shark can’t its regulate the salt levels and often die, so researchers in Japan built an artificial uterus to simulate a mother shark’s womb.

By Claudia Geib.

hakaimagazine.com/news/scienti...

The Food That Makes You Gay Too many people grow up fearing what food might reveal about themselves. Maybe it’s time we embrace self-discovery.

Happy pride! I wrote about the food that makes you gay, from jokes about ice cream to worries about soy, the long history of colonial fears about bodies and selves being able to change via food, and why that needn't be feared at all www.eater.com/24162871/foo...

On foot and by drone, radio tracking helps rehabilitate pangolins in Vietnam When the organization Save Vietnam’s Wildlife receives a pangolin rescued from the wildlife trade, it can take months to remind the scaly, housecat-sized mammal how to be a pangolin again. After treat...

More cool radio tracking for @mongabay.bsky.social! My latest, on the work done by Save Vietnam's Wildlife to rehabilitate and research pangolins rescued from the illegal wildlife trade: news.mongabay.com/2024/05/on-f...

Me too!! It would be incredible to see other groups using this case as precedent.