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Lori Palen

@loripalen.bsky.social

Research communicator, social scientist, crafter, gardener, reader, board game enthusiast, wife, mom to humans and cats and dog, fan of social justice and the Oxford comma datasoapbox.com

371 Followers  |  317 Following  |  206 Posts  |  Joined: 19.11.2024  |  2.113

Latest posts by loripalen.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Did You Work on a Terminated NIH Grant? ProPublica Wants to Hear From You. The National Institutes of Health is canceling grants that are seen as conflicting with the Trump administration’s priorities. We want to hear from researchers who have been affected.

Related to our previous post- if you had a grant terminated, Pro Publica wants to hear from you. Your work was funded because it was good, important science meant to help Americans. Reach out, and make your voice heard.

www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

13.08.2025 02:21 β€” πŸ‘ 96    πŸ” 64    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This is the first I've seen it (and it didn't show up when I was doing similar work last week)!

12.08.2025 19:01 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Color picker window indicating whether text and background have good color contrast

Color picker window indicating whether text and background have good color contrast

OMG, did Office implement a color accessibility checker in the past week?!?!

12.08.2025 17:27 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Meet Lori Palen - Bold Journey Magazine We recently connected with Lori Palen and have shared our conversation below. Lori, so many

Thanks for the feature, @boldjourney.com.web.brid.gy! boldjourney.com/meet-lori-pa...

22.07.2025 19:16 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Episode 19 Season 7: Cooling Paints, Anger Management, and Dr. Lori Palen with Data Soap Box - The Science Pawdcast Innovations in science are making daily life better through passive cooling paint and insights into pet interactions. In the Science News section we explore technologies that could transform how ...

Thanks so much to @bunsenbernerbmd.bsky.social (and Dad Guy, Jason) for having me on the latest episode of the Science Pawdcast! Check it out to learn more about some cool paint, furry strategies to prevent work rage, and science communication! bunsenbernerbmd.buzzsprout.com/413041/episo...

23.06.2025 14:54 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Chatbots β€” LLMs β€” do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re β€œright” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

19.06.2025 11:21 β€” πŸ‘ 29262    πŸ” 8575    πŸ’¬ 563    πŸ“Œ 694

I am once again pitching my romantic comedy:

- two academics start dating
- discover they are each other's terrible reviewer
- hijinks ensue

Working title: Love is Double-Blind

18.06.2025 10:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2621    πŸ” 350    πŸ’¬ 97    πŸ“Œ 66

And yay, W&M!! πŸ’šπŸ’›

15.06.2025 02:24 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Small dog sleeping with his front half on a desk and back half on a lap

Small dog sleeping with his front half on a desk and back half on a lap

Office assistant dozing on the job…

04.06.2025 15:11 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes! But one important thing to keep in mind is that, for scientists outside academia (and some within it), defunding = unemployment. It isn’t fair to expect scientists to forge ahead for the greater good when they can’t feed their families.

22.05.2025 22:56 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Among others, my 10-year-old needle-hater is going to be pissed!

22.05.2025 19:53 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I hope this comes to the US soon!

17.05.2025 14:05 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Why Met Gala looks have gotten bigger and bolder A look back at red carpet pictures from the mid-1990s to 2024 shows how exaggerated outfits have become a hallmark of the event.

Dataviz + fashion? Love!! from @reuters.com www.reuters.com/graphics/USA...

14.05.2025 14:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

For presentations, Garr Reynolds uses the analogy of a bento box. If you eat one, you’re left (pleasantly) about 80% full…rather than eating so much that you need to unbutton your pants! 😁

13.05.2025 02:45 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It is a little weird to me countries aren’t more aggressively, formally trying to take advantage of the U.S. science brain drain. Once in a lifetime opportunity to buy low on Non-Dumbass Americans with PhDs who just wanna look into microscopes and quietly cure ass cancer as our country eats shit.

04.05.2025 20:54 β€” πŸ‘ 35081    πŸ” 4865    πŸ’¬ 1252    πŸ“Œ 426
Projected presentation slide on creating effective graphical abstracts

Projected presentation slide on creating effective graphical abstracts

A medical skeleton hanging in the corner of a classroom

A medical skeleton hanging in the corner of a classroom

I enjoyed workshopping with students from UNC’s Curriculum in Toxicology and Environmental Medicine (CiTEM) today! Pretty sure it was my first time with a skeleton in the audience. πŸ’€

02.05.2025 20:36 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I agree, I really love Kitchen Garden Revival! Beautiful and practical. Groundbreaking Food Gardens and Starter Vegetable Gardens also offer great-looking options!

22.04.2025 02:06 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Congressional baseball shooting - Wikipedia

Yeah, that wasn’t enough either: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congres...

19.04.2025 02:48 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
15.04.2025 15:23 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.

15.04.2025 02:56 β€” πŸ‘ 10544    πŸ” 3388    πŸ’¬ 105    πŸ“Œ 269

Ugh, it’s bad enough that they’re fostering hate and ignorance here in the US…why the hell are they bringing their show on the road?!?!

14.04.2025 13:13 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Science keeps your dumb ass alive

Science keeps your dumb ass alive

Sign of the day…

06.04.2025 10:54 β€” πŸ‘ 13183    πŸ” 2591    πŸ’¬ 139    πŸ“Œ 104
16.03.2025 05:15 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Hopefully the contents aren’t raw milk and vitamin A. 🀞🏻

14.03.2025 13:56 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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a woman is standing in front of a blue wall and says that is a fact . Alt: Kamala Harris is standing in front of a blue wall and says that is a fact .
13.03.2025 23:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

So. Much. Winning.

13.03.2025 03:17 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Wooden bee house mounted to a white fence

Wooden bee house mounted to a white fence

Bee cocoons with holes from which the newborn bees escaped

Bee cocoons with holes from which the newborn bees escaped

Been cocoon with a black bee peeking out

Been cocoon with a black bee peeking out

Wooden bee house mounted to a porch railing next to a butterfly garden

Wooden bee house mounted to a porch railing next to a butterfly garden

Despite all of the chaos in the US right now, our native mason bee cocoons are hatching, and this is one of my favorite spring events. See the cute little bee face?! We also hung my Christmas gift in our butterfly garden, a hex bee house from @crown-bees.bsky.social. #MyBeeHouse

12.03.2025 20:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Today’s fascinating science facts, about hippo testicles and fat/muscle:

12.03.2025 18:28 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Human brains > ChatGPT datasoapbox.com/my-job-is-sa...

12.03.2025 18:26 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes!! datasoapbox.com/on-my-soapbo...

12.03.2025 18:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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