Peter Morrell

Great catch! Yeah, delta 8 also exists but I meant delta 9.

Species: Catha edulis
Common Name: Khat
Active Compounds: Cathinone
Medical or Cultural Use: Remedy for fatigue, depression, appetite suppression, and pain
Risks of Use: Grandiose delusions, paranoia, nightmares, hallucinations, and hyperactivity

I count that as "cultural use." Working with a character limit!

My doctor said I should be talking about "The Science of Cannabis" outside the class

- Species: Cannabis sativa
- Common name: marijuana
- Active compounds: delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol
- Medical or cultural uses: pain relief, insomnia, antiemetic
- Risks of use: reduced mental acuity, dependency

Opinion: This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors UConn currently lets every pregnant/expecting individual reinvent the wheel, cobbling together a leave plan with whatever resources and departmental grace they can muster.

I wrote an opinion piece about parental/family leave at UConn. I’m only ~75% happy with it but … something needed to be said. Many things actually. Loudly. Repeatedly. And with as many voices as possible.

“This is UConn: Zero paid family leave for professors”

ctmirror.org/2025/10/21/t...

GENETICS Expands Primers Section Beth De Stasio of Lawrence University will serve as Senior Editor and work with a newly formed team of six Associate Editors to expand the publication of Primers in GENETICS.

I’m excited to contribute as an associate editor for “Primers in Genetics.” The focus is on educational materials. Should be fun!
@genetics-gsa.bsky.social
genestogenomes.org/genetics-exp...

Decoding nature’s grammar with DNA language models | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... - Serguei Pakhomov was a great co-author for this commentary on PlantCaduceus

Very happy with this perspective piece just published. Highlighting how anti DEI has the same impacts as good old racism on educational equity.

This sounds like retaliation. In his defense, it isn’t very flattering photo. He looks both drunk and tired.

My only one-on-one meeting with a higher ed president was after an investigative piece on room and board expenses published in the student paper. Unflattering because costs were high compared to other institutions. Apparently word had reached the admin that I was working on another story.

Also missing Asia, but it’s a small continent.

Around the world? I never realized the planet was a half sphere. You guys don’t know anyone in Australia, South America, or Africa? Don’t people do maize winter nurseries in Chile and New Zealand?

My HPC team at UC Davis is hiring! Looking for an experienced sysadmin to help build and maintain clusters (hardware and software). HPC experience great, but if you’re an experienced sysadmin and willing to learn, please apply!

careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psc/ucdavis/...

Sodium azide mutagenesis induces a unique pattern of mutations Author summary Sodium azide is frequently used as a mutagen for experimental studies in plants. It induces primarily C → T changes. We find that these most often occur when a cytosine (C) is followed ...

New paper w/ @plos.org! @chaochihl.bsky.social identifies a unique mutational pattern among sodium azide-induced mutants. SNPs in 'CC' context and indels. Thanks to @justinfay.bsky.social @lilei0051.bsky.social @giuliafrascarelli.bsky.social @nanoporetech.com et al

journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

A cool trick from AI coding companions. Creating temporary intermediate files in a shell script is pretty easy! Saves IO.

log " -> Convert a GFF of gene positions to a BED file"
intermediate_bed=$(mktemp)
awk '$3 == "gene" {print $1"\t"$4-1"\t"$5}' "${GFF}" > "${intermediate_bed}"

Are you based in the U.S. 🇺🇸 or Canada 🇨🇦 and thinking of doing research in Europe?

ERC grants offer up to €4.5 million to support groundbreaking, investigator-driven frontier research in all fields.

Watch the dedicated info session for researchers in your region👉 youtu.be/92QYink1Lik

#ChooseEurope

“Cutting basic science doesn’t save money.”

Very facts. Very statistics.
bsky.app/profile/jona...

Identification of genetic variation associated with high-temperature tolerance in cowpea https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.09.647789v1

foolish & malicious
"the food you consume is the result of generations of work by agricultural scientists and plant breeders... This work is only possible because of the availability of...extensive collections of plant genetic resources."

Your hair is the same color as some of the kernels right behind you. Coincidence?

Wow, really sad to hear this. She was extremely nice!

New analysis says ~2/3 of unpaid taxes come from the top 10% of households, w/ 28% coming from the top 1%.

The GOP CR would cut $20.2 billion of IRS funding for catching rich tax cheats - because the GOP is laser-focused on helping the rich cheat on their taxes.
budgetlab.yale.edu/research/rev...

Some congregations are giving up Target for Lent after it rolled back DEI commitments NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church about leading a movement to swear off shopping at Target for Lent.

One aspect of this story caught my attention. The interviewee notes that Target pledged to spend $2B with black businesses and rescinded the pledge after the inauguration! Unless the need for investment in the community no longer exists, Target should keep their pledge.
www.npr.org/2025/03/13/n...

www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...

Here’s something concrete you can do to defend science: lots of states need coordinators and organizers for the March 7 rally!

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is firing women and minorities from prominent roles because he thinks they didn’t earn those positions. Did his race or gender play any part in his appointment? Allegations of alcohol and sexual abuse and poor fiscal management can be disqualifying for most jobs!

I never worked for Brandon, but he’s been one of the most important mentors in my life and career. I don’t have to go back very far to see his influence. I had a great conversation with him at the beginning of January. I’m still really impressed by all the terrific scientist he has trained!

National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers as Federal Purge Continues Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.

This is absolutely devastating www.wired.com/story/nation...

Update: They were removed from our reviewer assignments completely. I'm so sorry to all those graduate students. Anonymous to protect the identity of the NIH employee I spoke to...I am on study section next month to discuss F awards. We were just instructed to put the F31-Diversity applications on the bottom of our priority list for review because there is a chance we may not be able to review them. My heart is breaking for the grad students and their mentors that put so much work into these just for them to be disqualified and thrown out.

Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.