Adriana Darielle Mejía Briscoe

YouTube video by Lee Dyer Hexapodcast3 Diversity With Matt Forister (with images)

If you need a break from bad news, our little unpolished hexapodcast about insects is an ok 25 minute listen. youtu.be/0KKGcgw75gQ?...

😢 #Seaweed #MarineLife 🌊🦑

Sex and the sea snail: how a plucky marine lab brought a mollusk back from the brink Once abundant in California, the white abalone had all but vanished. Now, thanks to an innovative breeding program, it’s staged a remarkable comeback

Wonderful work being done by former UCI EEB PhD student Alyssa Frederick to save California’s abalone. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Science Advances’ special issue on women’s health highlights a growing wave of research focusing on women’s unique biological and psychological experiences. Articles cover a range of studies from the interplay between menopause and Alzheimer’s risk to the menstrual cycle’s influence on the brain-heart connection. It also describes the opportunities pregnancy provides to research aspects of both physical and mental health. By prioritizing women’s unique physiological and psychological experiences, research can expand the frontiers of knowledge in ways that benefit everyone.

In #ScienceAdvances last year, a special issue on #WomensHealth highlighted a growing wave of research focusing on women’s unique biological and psychological experiences.

Learn more on #InternationalWomensDay: https://scim.ag/4b5vlLq

I am very happy that Lotte van Lingen - Williams started her PhD this week in the Lab of Entomology at Wageningen Plant Research. Lotte is the frist to join our VIDI project on the function and regulation of butterfly taste receptors 🐛 🦋!

#AcademicSky 🧪

Infographic highlighting the contributions of twelve women in chemistry history. Full alt-text available at the link in the post.

On #InternationalWomensDay, here's another edition of Women in Chemistry History. This edition features women whose achievements in chemistry include the creation of synthetic emeralds, the impact of diet on intelligence and health, and more: www.compoundchem.com/2026/03/08/i...

#ChemSky 🧪

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

Thanks to everyone who did the work: Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/c...

The impacts of Trump's attacks on science can be found in every nook and cranny of the discovery pipeline. This chart from @joshuasweitz.bsky.social shows that even with a funding INCREASE in 2026, LESS SCIENCE is being funded.

That means fewer cures and treatments.

#standupforscience

Year 2, Week 10 Feb 28-Mar6, 2026 - time (for) change

Each Friday night, I write a briefing on what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪

Mar 6 (Year 2, Week 10)
- NIH revoking certification of early career workers union
- FDA 'chaos' & Prasad out (again)
- even more delay & interference in NIH funding
& so much more

buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Emotional and psychological stresses beleaguer conservation professionals (commentary) Nested within the current biodiversity crisis sits an equally complex and concerning human crisis, but one that receives even less attention: the poor mental health and well-being of the conservation…

[COMMENTARY]

A new op-ed warns of a growing mental health crisis among conservationists, driven by ecological loss, funding pressures and a culture of self-sacrifice.

The authors call for greater investment in workforce well-being and support.

** Views are authors'.

NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie will give Hays Press-Enterprise lecture at UCR

The event, scheduled for April 2, will take place in the University Theatre.

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

The report highlights the grim state of freshwater ecosystems, degraded marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the risk of extinction for many species. But it also emphasizes the potential for improvement through conservation, restoration, and renewed connections between people and nature.

Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) performing a mating display with an interested female 💞💞💞😍

for World Book Day

A new paper out led by @sridharhalali.bsky.social on eye size evolution in temperate butterflies! Does eye size evolve in response to habitat? Based on an amazing dataset of microCT scans of 443 individuals of 59 spp, Sridhar shows that no, phylogeny explains most!
doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Scientists discovered a caterpillar that murders insects and stitches their dismembered body parts onto its back as armor

You’re welcome. Happy day! 😆

Exciting news:
Our RNA community in @uniregensburg.bsky.social is set to grow!

We are opening a Junior Group Leader position in RNA biochemistry / ribonucleases / RNA stability. A great opportunity to start your own team within our collaborative RNA network.

Details & application 👇

On sabotage of our young scientists, by @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A photo illustration of a robot's hand holding a Petri dish with bacteria growing in it while standing in front of a laboratory desk.

In-Person Classes Aren’t Safe From the AI Cheating Boom

One professor was surprised to learn how easy digital technology makes it for students to cheat on class participation assignments and some exams. https://bit.ly/408Y6Sj

#EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd

How the ‘wrong story’ ends up harming nature, and how we can change it Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta (Apalech clan (Wik) Lostmob Nungar) joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail the Aboriginal perspectives behind his latest book, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures…

[PODCAST]

Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta says the stories societies tell shape how people treat land and each other.

On the Mongabay Newscast, he explains how “wrong stories” fuel exploitation, and how Indigenous knowledge and “right story” thinking could guide a more sustainable future.

iNaturalist-facilitated rediscovery of Monarda mexicana (Lamiaceae) in high-elevation habitats of Durango, Mexico | Phytotaxa

the "lost" species Monarda mexicana is still out there! Known from just 2 historical collections (most recent from the 1950s). Imagine my joy in stumbling on a picture of it on @inaturalist.bsky.social !!! We've now documented the first known modern populations and revived the species name:

Cambridge is hiring an Assistant/Associate Professor in Sociology - great opportunity for colleagues looking for positions in the UK. The job listing shows it's with Caius & Homerton colleges. Worth checking out for those on the academic job market. #AcademicJobs #sociology

jobs.ac.uk/job/DQ...

It arrives in the middle of a solidarity action: we (3000 French academics) just published an op-Ed in @liberation.fr newspaper in solidarity with @standupforscience.bsky.social, highlighting how French academia faces very similar issues if less spectacularly.

The Hidden History of Native American Enslavement Indigenous slavery, which lasted for centuries, has gone by many names. A new public history project wants us to see it for what it was.

The story of slavery we tell in the United States is Black and White. But Europeans also enslaved Indigenous people of the Americas. And our enslavement, spanning over four centuries, helped build the institution of slavery itself. www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

" ... up to 52% of future surface temperatures and 38% of air temperatures in the Amazonian lowlands can cause heat mortality in half of the studied community. Our data suggest a limited capacity of insects in the Earth’s most biodiverse regions to buffer future warming" 🧪🌡️📈🦋

UCI Podcast: Women in science In 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month,” intended to honor “women of every race, class, and ethnic background” who have made “historical contributions t

A good listen: #UCI Chancellor's Professor Cailin O'Connor on what is holding back women in #STEM. soundcloud.com/theucipodcas...

Delays in awards and funding calls worry NIH-funded researchers Many programs may be pushed into the next fiscal year, and some could face funding gaps

NIH funding is back in limbo, and it’s a mess. Between a 90% drop in new funding notices and White House spending blocks, only about 800 new awards have been made, less than a third of the usual rate.
If these "spend plans" don't clear soon, we’re looking at a major gap in biomedical research.

This Brazilian frog might be the first pollinating amphibian known to science Nectar-loving tree frog likely moves pollen from flower to flower

It’s the first time a frog—or any amphibian—has been observed pollinating a plant, researchers reported in 2023.

Learn more on #WorldWildlifeDay: https://scim.ag/4riUU1G