Matt Larsen

I will be damned if I allow a bunch of Confederate-waving January 6th apologists give the American people a lecture on flag waving.

There is ZERO reason to enter an argument about patriotism with people who still worship traitors to America 150+ years later.

They. Are. Breaking. The. Law.

New Science paper: 15,845 tracked individuals across 121 species to identify spatial conservation targets www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

led by @anammsequeira.bsky.social

Happy International Day for Biological Diversity from the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group! This year's theme is "Harmony with nature and sustainable development".

#BiodiversityDay #GlobalGoals #KMGBF #shark #ray #chimaera

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.

www.spencer.org/grant_types/...

Under Trump, US retreats from global fisheries and oceans leadership This is Part 2 of a two-part series on fisheries management and oceans governance under the second Trump administration, which took office Jan. 20. Part 1 looks at the potential impacts that cuts and…

Under Trump, US retreats from global fisheries and oceans leadership news.mongabay.com/2025/04/unde...

Why Scientific Collaboration Matters Now More Than Ever • The Revelator As the Trump administration strips away environmental protections, collaboration is more than just a tool — it’s a form of resistance.

Why Scientific Collaboration Matters Now More Than Ever • The Revelator

Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 2, mechanics of the interview By  David Shiffman and Brett Favaro. Many environmental scientists understand that there is value in communicating about their work through the media, as publicity can help raise public awareness o…

Here's part two of my series with @brettfavaro.bsky.social on tips for speaking to journalists as a scientist, this week focusing on things every scientist should know about how interviews work (and do not work). Please read and share!

www.southernfriedscience.com/advice-for-t... 🧪#SciComm

DESANTIS AXES MARINE SANCTUARY RESTORATION PLAN IN STATE WATERS In a move striking a critical blow to the Florida Keys’ marine ecosystem, Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed all components of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary’s (FKNMS’) newly-finalized…

DESANTIS AXES MARINE SANCTUARY RESTORATION PLAN IN STATE WATERS

People with doctorates are the most liberal and progressive. The entire mission of destroying academia is to eliminate entire voting demographics. They explicitly spell this out.

Shutting down PhD programs isn't an accident, it's the goal.

The DOGE Brain Drain Has Begun It’s not just jobs cut and agencies gutted. It’s the talent that will be lost for generations to come.

www.thebulwark.com/p/the-doge-b...

“Rather, it will be felt over the span of decades and defined in metrics like intellectual talent lost.”

‘Researching climate change feels like standing in the path of an approaching train’ Studying the impacts of extreme weather events can exact a heavy mental toll. Finding your ‘happy place’ is an important coping strategy.

How is climate research impacting the mental health of researchers?

I spoke with two researchers on this topic that's incredibly close to my heart.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

(search "Working Scientist" wherever you get podcasts 🎵🧪)

Research finds we're eating younger, smaller cod—and that matters That bag of cod filets you pick up at the grocer comes from fish much likely much smaller and younger than its ancestors that were eaten by people in the distant past, according to a new study that in...

🦑 #Marineresearch

"They found that cod from the 10th to 12th centuries were, on average, 25% larger and up to three times older than the cod we see and eat today."

phys.org/news/2025-02...

NOAA told to search its grants for climate change terms The search would provide a list of NOAA's climate change-related grants.

The Trump admin has sent NOAA officials a broad set of keywords to search grants that would cover most climate change-related projects

Reports @afreedma.bsky.social @axios.com

www.axios.com/2025/02/09/n...

How a Canadian scientist and a venomous lizard helped pave the way for Ozempic - National | Globalnews.ca In 1984, Dr. Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist from the University of Toronto, discovered a hormone that helped pave the way for popular diabetes drugs such as Ozempic.

This is the most relevant article to NIH and research cuts I’ve seen.

Imagine if this was today , how many people would be saying “Why are we studying Gila Monsters and their impact on diabetes ? That’s wasted money !”

globalnews.ca/news/9793403...

🚨Academic scientist friends who are members-ideally leaders- of scientific professional societies, I need your help. 🚨

There is a sign-letter being prepared that will speak out against recent politicization of scientific funding and demonization of scientific researchers.

🧪🌎🦑

The response to this has been overwhelming- thanks! But there’s still time to get *your* professional society involved.

As expected, the Trump team is already deleting climate info from government websites. In anticipation, our team at Urban Ocean Lab created a permanent archive of 100+ key resources and published a permanent archive: www.urbanoceanlab.org/resource-hub 👩🏽‍💻

We’re getting lots of new Bluesky friends!

Please share your favorite science and conservation starter packs as a reply here and I’ll share them. Let’s get our science and conservation friends lots of followers! 🧪🌎🦑

Why we need to transform the Arctic Ocean into a North Pole marine reserve Explorer Pen Hadow is campaigning for a North Pole marine reserve to protect the Arctic’s peoples, its species and its natural landscape.

"Establishing a new North Pole marine reserve where industrial activities such as shipping, oil and gas exploration and fishing are banned could provide an ocean sanctuary for wildlife."

theconversation.com/why-we-need-...

Nine books to help shape your science career in 2025 Researchers seeking to banish workaholic behaviours, boost their pay, have more influence at work or quit academia will find plenty of advice in these books, all published this year.

Nine books to help shape your science career in 2025 https://buff.ly/4g1fiPO 🧪

Scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) IUCN Critically Endangered © Masayuki Agawa_Ocean Image Bank

New #GlobalSharkTrends study published in @science.org reveals #overfishing has more than halved shark & ray populations over the past 50-years causing widespread erosion of ecological function and exceptionally high extinction risk
👉Full article bit.ly/GlobalSharkTrends
🧵1/20

Improper data practices erode the quality of global ecological databases and impede the progress of ecological research The scientific community has entered an era of big data. However, with big data comes big responsibilities, and best practices for how data are contributed to databases have not kept pace with the collection, aggregation, and analysis of big data. Here, we rigorously assess the quantity of data for specific leaf area (SLA) available within the largest and most frequently used global plant trait database, the TRY Plant Trait Database, exploring how much of the data were applicable (i.e., original, representative, logical, and comparable) and traceable (i.e., published, cited, and consistent). Over three-quarters of the SLA data in TRY either lacked applicability or traceability, leaving only 22.9% of the original data usable compared with the 64.9% typically deemed usable by standard data cleaning protocols. The remaining usable data differed markedly from the original for many species, which led to altered interpretation of ecological analyses. Though the data we consider here make up only 4.5% of SLA data within TRY, similar issues of applicability and traceability likely apply to SLA data for other species as well as other commonly measured, uploaded, and downloaded plant traits. We end with suggested steps forward for global ecological databases, including suggestions for both uploaders to and curators of databases with the hope that, through addressing the issues raised here, we can increase data quality and integrity within the ecological community.

1/ Important read for anyone using, contributing, or building large databases by aggregating data sources. Discusses issues with data quality, duplication, credit attribution, etc, and includes recommendations for improvement

doi.org/10.1111/gcb.... #ecopubs

Small Business Saturday!

Grab a JAWsome shark shirt and support @sharks4kids.bsky.social education and outreach programs. Multiple colors and sizes. $25 includes shipping in the continental US.
****Message us for multi-shirt orders or international****
www.sharks4kids.com/sharkshop

Hi All
We started a starter pack for those interesed in sea turtle ecology and conservation. Add a comment if you would like to be added. 🐢🌍🧪🦑 #seaturtles #marineturtles
go.bsky.app/LkUCfem

🚨PhD Opportunity: Come to Edinburgh and study ichthyosaurs with us!
Study Scottish fossils from Skye! New ones & historic specimens!
Project led by Stig Walsh, co-supervised by @davfoff.bsky.social Nick Fraser, Erin Maxwell & me.
Details👇
e4-dtp.ed.ac.uk/e5-dtp/super...

CR2025_08: AI in the Museum – quantifying over a century of change in the geographical ranges of the birds of Madagascar at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - CR2025_08: AI in the Museum – quantifying over a century of change in the geographical ranges of the birds of Madagascar at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com

#PhD alert! 📢 Interested in combining natural history data with AI techniques to assess species distribution & ranges under past, present & future conditions? Apply to work with Prof. Ken Norris & I. Details below
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
#biodiversity #AI #naturalhistory #birds #Madagascar

Calling all those working in #MarSocSci to this starter pack with some folks from the community. Great initaitive, thanks @asterinidae.bsky.social!

go.bsky.app/Sj7NX5D

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are Atlas Obscura Wild Life, Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party, Every Living Thing, Alien Earths, Becoming Earth, and Deep Water

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are Frostbite, The Inner Clock, How to Kill an Asteroid, The Great River, The Last Fire Season, and Hoof Beats

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are The Serviceberry, Not the End of the World, Nature's Ghosts, Meet the Neighbors, The Light Eaters, and Our Moon

A collage of book covers of new nature & science books. Featured here are Turning to Stone, The Weight of Nature, What If We Get It Right?, Waves in An Impossible Sea, The Tree Collectors, and Why We Remember

I was deeply disappointed by the lack of nature/science/climate/enviro on many major end-of-year book lists—so I decided to make my own!

Introducing: ✨🎁📚 The 2024 Holiday Gift Guide to Nature & Science Books ✨🎁📚

Please share: Let's make this go viral in time for Black Friday / holiday shopping!

And also: we’d really like you to stop it.