Marianne Alleyne

Important 🧵

Hope you’re ready.

An orange sunset with dark gray wisps of clouds behind the southern edge of downtown

The is a good place. And it should not be under occupation from our own government.

If my followers have been inspired by the fierce resistance the Twin Cities has put up to ICE, you should make it a point to take a trip here (April through October 😬), enjoy the wonderful things MN has to offer and support our small businesses. It continues to be a really tough time for them.

De Lift (1983) - 😬
Jurassic Park (1993) - 🤯

With the shuttering of the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit last year by the US Army we are loosing a lot of expertise and future expertise in insect taxonomy and ecology.

Yup @weratedogs.com is pretty much only reason why I’m still on social media. (I’m now too scared to meaningfully engage with my science skeeters as I am an immigrant scientist mentoring immigrant students)

But I need dog content, even posts like this. 14/10

Also, tell your dog I said hi

this is beautiful

@markdavis79.bsky.social Any suggestions?

Bad Bunny holds a football that says Together, we are America.

Unidos somos América.

All of this. ⬇️

(Fifth - dominoes game. So iconic Carib)

Immediately watching all that again!
So fun.
#BadBunny.

And again.

I thought the same thing!

Maybe they didn’t want to be seen as a royalist? #NoKings I’m reaching here.

Pharmacophagy in insects: Ecological and evolutionary perspectives on the non‐nutritional use of plant specialized metabolites Insects interact with plants not only for nutrition but also to actively seek plant specialized metabolites (PSMs) for chemical defense, reproduction, and self-medication—a behavior known as pharmaco...

Did you know? Insects eat plants as medicine. #OpenAccess
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is funded by the National Science Foundation to create "points of entry" for students interested in research. Students apply from across the country to spend 10 weeks in Bozeman, Montana this summer (May 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026). Admitted students are paired with a faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor for a student's summer project. Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Our program leverages MSU’s unique microbiology expertise, focusing specifically on microbes living with little or no oxygen (like those in the hot springs of nearby Yellowstone). Low oxygen microbes are essential to human and ecosystem health. They influence (or control) such processes as the breakdown of food in the GI tract, removal of toxins from our bodies and the environment, and production of greenhouse gases. They are also models for understanding the origins of life on this planet, and the potential for life on other planets. A key goal of our program is to recruit students from schools with limited research infrastructure. Being in Montana, a state with a vibrant Native American community, we are particularly interested in applications from students at tribal colleges. However, ANYONE with an interest in microbiology - or biology/science in general - can and should apply. If willing and able, please share/tweet/spread the word far and wide. Applications are due February 14, 2026. Full details can be found through our website http://www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University.
www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/

Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided.

Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline
🧫🧪🦠#microsky

The Jim Henson Exhibition – Museum of the Moving Image This dynamic experience explores Jim Henson’s groundbreaking work for film and television and his transformative impact on culture.

Agreed!!!

And when in NYC (Astoria) go visit the Museum of the Moving Image. Great fun. movingimage.org/event/the-ji...

i've seen enough, rewrite the constitution and ship this dude directly to the oval office

But Liam was scared and frequently asked what they had done wrong, where they were and what happened to the little blue knit hat he wore the day he was detained, Conejo said. There wasn’t much he could say to his son, “except hug him and tell him everything would be OK,” Conejo said. Worried about further upsetting his son, Conejo said, he was forced to bite back his own tears.

Liam has since been reunited with his hat and continues to wear it, even inside the house, his dad said Thursday. Asked how he might one day explain to Liam everything that has happened, Conejo said he would tell his son that he had become the face of hope and change. "He was the global figure who did all this so that the voices of the people demanding freedom would be heard, especially those of the children who are still locked up," Conejo said. “I would tell him he was very brave and that I am very proud of him.”

welp, this destroyed me first thing upon waking up

Yeah. I posted my first reaction.
It’s such an interesting finding - sparking more questions. (The least sophisticated question being “huh?”.)

Huh?

Solidarity!

Same = immigrant, proud of my t-shirt, and all my students. And the life I built in the US.

Not quite the same = research in biology, engineering, and entrepreneurship. 🪰🪲🐜🐛🪳🐝🦋🦟🐞 At a different land-grant university. With #scipol experience.

And someday I will write a book.

Scientists have developed a bioinspired policy that enables a multifingered robot to combine visual and tactile cues, like humans, to perform learned and new manipulation tasks even under poor lighting conditions.

Learn more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/4k1ivSt

🔬 Did you know insects carry chemical clues about where they grew and what they ate?

Discover how Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) can trace insect pests like the Asian Longhorn Beetle in our FREE entoLIVE with Katharina Heinrich on Tue 7 Apr 2026 🌍 🧪

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1915871496...

From the UIUC community on Reddit: least insane urbana resident Explore this post and more from the UIUC community

College towns. 🥰

Statue of Lincoln in snowy park where evergreen trees and ground are covered in snow. Sunset peaks through in the background.

As the sun set on another day I wondered what advice Lincoln would have had for how to live through these times.

Urbana, IL

I have the same problem - and I even live in Mpls (part-time)!

We go to restaurants a lot because businesses are hurting. But I want to do more. So I’ll be following this thread.

Thanks Alex!

Owww.

Current conditions in Minneapolis for those abroad that think Americans aren't pushing back.

One benefit of Vikings' never-ending QB woes?

(Holding my breath. Partner lives in Mpls. So proud of Minnesotans for fighting back...every...single...day.)

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...