Adriana Darielle Mejía Briscoe

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

Muller glia (green) regulate local retinoic acid signalling to specialise photoreceptor outer segments (magenta)for high acuity visual function

Excited to share our new manuscript from the Yoshimatsu and MacDonald labs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... We found that my favourite glial cells can regulate local retinoic acid signalling to specialise cone photoreceptors for high acuity visual function.

After 5 years of developing, a new preprint from the lab - introducing our workflow for comparative insect connectomics, aimed at democratizing connectomics. @erc.europa.eu @lundvision.bsky.social @biologylu.bsky.social Read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Fear that herbicides are poisoning Orange County creeks blows up on social media A group of residents is demanding answers from Orange County officials about herbicide spraying in waterways.

The last thing we need is herbicide sprayed in our urban waterways. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Surprising finding: If Latinos in the U.S. were their own country they’d have the 5th largest GDP in the world. newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/us-...

Richard C Lewontin lab 1976:
See Russ Lande, top left; Jerry Coyne bottom right. Who are the three others? Help me folks!

I had a friend in grad school who tried and failed to find bicoid outside Diptera. This paper sums up why.

“UCLA neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf has shown that deep reading, defined as sustained immersion in a text, builds the cognitive circuits required for critical analysis, empathy and perspective-taking in ways that skimming, scrolling and short-form video simply cannot.”

🦋✂️🧬 🧪 New preprint! Led by @donyaniyaz.bsky.social CRISPR‑Cas9 knockouts of ABCG transporters across butterflies & moths reveal how pigment pathways shape color during development. #CRISPR #Lepidoptera #pigmentation
Feedback welcome 👩‍🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...