Kinsey Brock

World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 World Athletics says its genetic test for women ensures ‘the integrity of women’s sport’ – but science does not support this overly simplistic idea.

The Olympics dropped SRY sex testing in 2000, but a quarter century later, World Athletics brings it back as a 'reliable proxy for determining biological sex'.
Biological sex is much more complex than one gene, writes Andrew Sinclair who discovered SRY theconversation.com/world-athlet...

What the Columbia Settlement Really Means

This post, from the Knight Institute at Columbia, is worth reading:

"Those of us at Columbia should understand how our university is being transformed, and those at other universities contemplating similar settlements should understand how much is at stake."

knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

Congratulations!

*ALERT! GLOBAL GENETIC DIVERSITY TREND RE-ANALYSIS*

"Signals of consistent genetic diversity decline are not yet measurable in global meta-analysis" doi.org/10.1101/2025...

NYT pantsed by the Crimson

A+

Evolutionary Genomics, Assistant Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Fall 2026 The University of Tennessee - Knoxville: Knoxville Academic Units: College of Arts and Sciences: Division of Natural Sciences & Mathematics: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Open date: July 28, 2025 Description The Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, seeks applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Evolutionary Genomics. We invite applicants whose research leverages modern genomic tools and statistical approaches to address fundamental questions in evolutionary biology. We are particularly interested in candidates working on functional and evolutionary genomics in any system—plant, microbe, or animal (including humans)—who bring innovative, integrative approaches to large-scale genomic data analysis. [more on description excluded due to character limit on bsky: please see ad at https://apply.interfolio.com/170735 ] Candidates must hold a Ph.D. in Biology, Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Genomics, Bioinformatics, or a related field at the time of appointment and should demonstrate a strong record of scientific accomplishment, including peer-reviewed publications. Excellent communication skills and a commitment to effective and modern teaching practices are required. Applications will be reviewed beginning September 19, 2025, and will continue until the position is filled. This position has an anticipated start date of August 1, 2026. Interested applicants should submit via Interfolio (apply.interfolio.com/170735) a cover letter, curriculum vitae, two-page statement of research accomplishment and plans, two-page description of teaching experiences and interests, and contact information of at least three individuals who could write letters of reference. Please direct any questions to the search chair, Dr. Elizabeth Derryberry (ederryb1@utk.edu).

Tenure-track faculty job in Evolutionary Genomics in my department, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at U of Tennessee, Knoxville.

• Any system (even humans)
• Interdisciplinary, collaborative folks welcomed
• Review starts Sep 19, 2025
• Details at apply.interfolio.com/170735

#AcademicSky

A fun reminder that a loss of 60,000 jobs in and around academia is ~50% more than all coal mining jobs in the entire country.

Text that says "How do we even know what success and failure actually look like in a funding landscape like this? Is “put your head down and just apply for more grants/fellowships/programs/jobs” honestly the best advice we can give right now? How do we make decisions about what’s worth doing when our whole mental model needs to be adjusted?"

Funding commitments, success and failiure - and the demolition of grant-making standards in the US. From @lizneeley.bsky.social 's excellent Newsletter on the beleaguered scientific landscape in the US (+ resonance far beyond). Sign up here: buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Any whispers about when the NSF GRFP due dates and program information will be posted? Last year it was mid-July....

Frontiers' Research Integrity team uncovers peer review manipulation network Frontiers Research Integrity Auditing team has uncovered a network of authors and editors who conducted peer review with undisclosed conflicts of interest and w

Fox finds raccoons in henhouse.

www.frontiersin.org/news/2025/07...

Bracing analysis from Columbia Law School’s David Pozen about the significance and implications of Columbia’s settlement with Trump. balkin.blogspot.com/2025/07/regu...

hey! I've got an extra copy of @bengoldfarb.bsky.social's CROSSINGS, an important book to understand the influence of roads on wildlife & what we can do about it. Interested? Like/reskeet & I'll randomly pick someone on Friday Aug 8 2025, & mail to the winner for free. US addresses only. #booksky 🌍

No AP News alerts, no Union-Tribune alerts or articles, no emails from UC either. I work at a UC and I would not know that UCLA lost all grant funding last night if I wasn't on Bluesky or in union group chats.

Self-preserving silence and general complacency are becoming more common.

Trump freezes $200 million in UCLA science and medical research funding, citing antisemitism The Trump administration has frozen roughly $200 million in National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and other federal agency-funded research at UCLA, citing allegations the school d...

www.latimes.com/california/s...

Multicity research networks are needed to address global One Health challenges Urban areas are Earth's fastest growing land-use type (Gao and O'Neill 2020) and face unique One Health challenges at the intersection of human, animal, an

Urban green spaces can support both biodiversity & human wellbeing—but we need coordinated, place-based research across cities to inform effective, equitable policy.

📄 Read more: doi.org/10.1093/bios...
🌍 #UrbanWildlife #UrbanBiodiversity #conservation 🌐🧪🌱

Motherfucking wind farms…

Announcing a New Track in the Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) Program: Biological Research, Understanding and Solutions for a Resilient Planet

According to a friend who went to the Evolution conference: The archiving is normal (for now) and there is a new track as described in this DCL (www.nsf.gov/funding/info...). But if archived in Sept that could be bad… Stay vigilant - I will write my reps about how important this fellowship is.

A little smooth scaled lizard with a brown body and bright iridescent blue tail. 😍

A gorgeous wee Japanese five-lined skink (Plestiodon finitimus) from Meiji Jingu, Tokyo 💙

I hope so…

Absolutely heart breaking. My postdoc was funded by a PRFB. They've trained so many amazing scientists. Just devastation to the US scientific enterprise for absolutely no reason. Callous, heartless, evil

This is an absolute shame. First the DDIG now the PRFB. Opportunities to support students and postdocs in EEB are already so limited. The PRFB was life changing for me - it provided the freedom and opportunity to chase interesting questions and grow as a PI.

I have been VERY lucky with NIH funding, with continuous funding since ~2015. I have never scored anywhere below 10%. Paylines like this mean a lot of labs like mine never launch

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)

Devastated to see the NSF postdoctoral research fellowship in biology archives. This is a transformative creative opportunity and a path to the professorship for many (including myself). Postdocs are highly trained and often in the newest techniques which spur innovation.
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵

This is because it takes a lot of work to keep a university running. Research gets the glory, but in a healthy institution, senior academics are actively involved in decisions about curriculum, policy, admissions, hiring, IRBs, awards, promotions, and a million other essential functions.

Really happy to share this article I'm grateful to have been a part of: 'Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience' coauthored with @kevinlala.bsky.social, @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social and Marcus Feldman. Check out a preprint here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#ScientificRacism #Antiracism

This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1

Columbia University to pay over $200 million to resolve Trump probes Columbia University said on Wednesday it will pay over $200 million to the U.S. government in a settlement with President Donald Trump's administration to resolve federal probes and to have most of its suspended federal funding restored.

Another bribe.

Columbia University to pay over $200 million to resolve Trump probes - www.reuters.com/world/us/col...

Does anyone know the answer to this? Will Canvas data (such as assignment prompts, student work, lecture slides, etc.) be used to train AI as well?

Very pleased to say we have an Assistant Professor job opening (tenure track) in the Department of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin! 😀
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOA399/a... - deadline is August 19th! Please repost!