Chelsea Cook

Congratulations Dr. Justine Bich Lien Nguyen on successful PhD defense! — The Cook Lab Congratulations Dr. Nguyen!!

🎉🎉 I graduated my first PhD Student!! Dr. Justine Nguyen successfully defended her dissertation yesterday. I couldn't be more proud. I haven't been stressed giving a talk in many years, but introducing her made me so nervous!! 🐝🐝 @jlotusnguyen.bsky.social
thecooklab.org/news/drjustine

And thank you @kerrigantobin.bsky.social gor making the card and poem, and @biorender.bsky.social for the card inspo!!

Happy holidays from the Cook Lab! — The Cook Lab Happy holidays 2025!

🎉 Happy Holidays from The Cook Lab! 🎄 This year was incredible - hired our first postdoc, published several papers, gave many talks, traveled internationally, developed new techniques, submitted several grants, developed collaborations, and learned so much! 🎉 🐝 ♥️
thecooklab.org/news/holiday...

Macro photo of a large, slender, skinny black ant walking on the ground with her mandibles stuffed full with several termites.

On Thantsgiving, the ants eat too much.

Researchers reported last year that Ethiopian wolves enjoy licking nectar from red hot poker flowers, documenting this behavior for the first time in a large predator.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4ocqSuW #ScienceMagArchives

Graph showing global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 versus global carbon dioxide levels from 1979 to 2023. Includes a trend line indicating rising temperatures as CO₂ levels increase. Data from NOAA and NASA.

Imagine how scary it’d be if we didn’t know why global temperatures were rising.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Thats 216 biomedical PhD students for their whole degree, or 140 2 year R21 grants, or 30 5 year R01 grants, or one fired football coach...

Voyager 1 is almost one light-day from Earth. The intrepid #spacecraft will cross a major distance milestone in November 2026 - 16.1 billion miles. #Voyager1 #lightday Link for more information: https://www.popsci.com/science/voyager-one-light-day-earth/

Voyager 1 is almost one light-day from Earth. The intrepid #spacecraft will cross a major distance milestone in November 2026 - 16.1 billion miles. #Voyager1 #lightday

Link for more information: www.popsci.com/science/voya...

Kilauea erupting at around 9:20 PST on 11/25/2025

Kilauea being badass right now on USGS Live Feed:

www.youtube.com/live/tk0tfYD...

Large wood ant mound on the edge of a plantation forest

These wood ants are edge specialists... but not all edges are equal. Jacob Podesta used a decade of population expansion data to show that wood ants spread more quickly along certain edges, depending on the edge orientation. Currently available open access here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Minnesota Zoo is hiring an Animal Behavior & Wellbeing Specialist to work on their animal welfare team! A new position, bachelors-level with at least 3 years experience. Apply by Oct 28.
#job #animalwelfare #zoo #captivewildlife #aza

www.aza.org/jobs?job=48841

Temple Grandin Endowed Professor (Assistant/Associate) in Applied Animal Behavior and Well-Being - Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States Temple Grandin Endowed Professor in Applied AnimalBehavior and Well-Being Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural ResourcesOklahoma State University – Stillwater, Oklahoma The Department of Anim...

What an honorable title! @okstate.edu is hiring a Temple Grandin Endowed Professor in Applied Animal Behavior & Well-Being. 75% research 25% teaching.
#job #phd #animalwelfare #agriculture #farmanimalwelfare
jobs.okstate.edu/jobs/temple-...

Join the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona for our 2026 Dendrochronology Intensive Summer Course (DISC)! Spend 3 great weeks (May 18th to June 5, 2026) in the field, lab, and classroom learning first-hand how tree-ring research is done! ltrr.arizona.edu/summerschool

Interested in building research infrastructure and contributing to a culture of open and reproducible science? Verena is looking for a full stack developer for the Pathogen Harmonized Observatory (PHAROS)! See the Verena website for more details and to apply […]

🚨 Job alert 🚨 Postdoc position in ecological forecasting 📈 as part of the Horizon Europe OSCARS call. The postdoc will be based in lovely Sevilla (fantastic place to live) and will include working closely with several European forecasting projects. Apply by Dec 11! 🌎🧪 globalchangeeco.com/jobs

I am looking for a Senior Researcher (at least 2 years postdoctoral exp.) for the LivePlatforms project into how people make livelihoods in the platform economy; a 5-year FT post based in the School of Info and Communication Studies at UCD. Do share widely!

universityvacancies.com/university-c...

** Recruiting a postdoc ** We are looking for a postdoc to work on emotion, mental health, and interoception, based in London at @ucl.ac.uk in my lab (Clinical and Affective Neuroscience). Part of a large Wellcome Grant (co-led with the brilliant @camillanord.bsky.social)

Scientists now know that bees can process time, a first in insects | CNN Bumblebees can process the duration of flashes of light and use the information to decide where to look for food, a new study has found.

Our study of time processing in bumblebees 🐝 covered by @cnn.com here edition.cnn.com/2025/11/12/s... . Our summary is here youtu.be/hsGxU65OMQk and the original paper royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.... @royalsocietypublishing.org

A picture of a frog on a leaf with the SICB and Skype a Scientist logos on the bottom right with the following words on top: "Call for Artists!" Learn about the latest animal research adn create art inspired by the science at the SICB meeting in Portland, OR. Deadline to apply: dec 12, Project dates Jan 3-7, Stipend $1000"

ARTISTS!
I need your help!

In collab. w/the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology, I'm organizing a group of artists to come to our Jan. meeting! We're looking for artists to create based on what they learn at the conference. $1000 stipend.

Application is V short! forms.gle/ah1i8KwNJinZ...

How Climate Change is Affecting Insect Biodiversity Scientists gathered at a symposium at Entomology 2025 to share research on climate change and insect biodiversity and identify persistent knowledge gaps.

Temperature, precipitation, habitat loss, and more: The interacting forces of climate change are driving shifts in insect populations and biodiversity. Scientists gathered at a symposium at #EntSoc25 to share current research on climate change and insect biodiversity and identify knowledge gaps.

Job add for genetics/genomics: text is https://jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/83638

Job add for freshwater fisheries biology. Text is at https://jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/83637

Job add for biology education position. Text is at https://jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/83639

Wanna be my colleague? We've got TT positions open!

1 in genetics/genomics jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/83638.
1 in biology education / open jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/83639.
1 in freshwater fisheries biology jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/83637

Date of first consideration is Jan 4 2026

Earlier on the expedition we found the most beautiful flower, and here, my friends, is the biggest: Rafflesia arnoldi seen in full bloom today in the Sumatran jungle. This is the largest flower on earth and one of the greatest wonders of the natural world.

You both are queens! 👸

Wow this is rad. Wisdom is like 74 years old! Still having babies!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_...

A quote by Greta Thunberg stating that, "The one thing we need more than hope is actoin. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere." It's in white font on a blue sky background with puffy white clouds.

Nearly every panel I spoke on this year ended with the same question: "What gives you hope?"

My friends, that question expired years ago. (If you need receipts, my book Saving Us is literally a 300-page answer.)

The real question is: How are you PRACTICING hope?

Because Greta is right ..

Great photos - thanks for sharing!!

Two Sandhill cranes in flight in a clear sky on a beautiful Fall day.

Many Sandhill Cranes taking off from a farm field during migration.

A few, five, Sandhill Cranes in flight in a view from underneath them.

The migrating Sandhills were very far into the farm fields again this year, (drats from a photog perspective) but some flew overhead occasionally. Here's a few pics of some cranes in flight. I really love seeing the spectacle of migration.
#birds #SandhillCranes

Anyone looking for a Australia-based postdoc? Like animal behaviour / coding / birds? My fantastic collaborator, Iliana Medina, is advertising a position researching bird nests:

unimelb.wd105.myworkdayjobs.com/en-GB/UoM_Ex...

Underwater world huge poisonous Jellyfish #poisonous #jellyfish #fish #nature #marine #life HA28167

The twisted secret behind a chameleon’s oddball eyes Coiled nerves allow the reptiles to move their peepers in multiple directions at once without moving their heads

Coiled nerves allow chameleons to move their eyes in multiple directions at once without moving their heads. https://scim.ag/3LLUFgk