Kevin Childs

Until you get the human on a rail bike

The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom

Remember this one? “Humans aren’t very efficient movers—until you put us on a bicycle, when we become some of the most energy-efficient land travelers in the animal kingdom.” Via Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social #CityMakingMath

Agreed. Its garbage.

Michigan State University is hiring a new Director of our herbarium!

This is an open rank, tenure-stream faculty position, with research focus in plant or fungal systematics, ecology, and/or evolution

Please consider applying and help spread the word!

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Tenure System - East Lansing, Michigan, United States Working/Functional Title Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Tenure System Position Summary The Department of Plant Biology (PLB) at Michigan State University (MSU) seeks applications for a director of...

📢🍄Mycology job alert🍄📢

The Department of Plant Biology at @michiganstateu.bsky.social has a job opening for a herbarium/fungarium director at the Assistant, Associate or Full professor level. Review of applications start on 3rd October 2025.

careers.msu.edu/jobs/assista...

Michigan State University is looking for a Director of the MSU Herbarium. This is an open rank search. This 12-month position includes research, teaching, mentoring as well as administration of the Herbarium. #botany #plants #academicjobs
plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

This is not a coding error.

It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.

Hey #Botany2025 folks -- Asia Hightower @puffballove.bsky.social will be talking about leaf shape G x E x Development in Capsella bursa-pastoris. Tuesday Jul 29 at 9:15 in Mesquite B!!

IN THIS HOUSE, WE BELIEVE: "HOT CROSS BUNS" ON A RECORDER IS MAGICAL CARMEN SANDIEGO IS FINDABLE IF YOU READ A BOOK, YOU SHOULD GET A PERSONAL PAN PIZZA IT'S OK TO DIE OF DYSENTERY THE SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR SHOULD COME TO YOUR WORK THE MITOCHONDRIA IS THE POWERHOUSE OF THE CELL

Welcome to the neighborhood.

No, we will NOT be delivering the expensive and sensitive piece of equipment to Central Receiving where it will then be manhandled a second time.

We will let the bonded and insured professionals move it and then Inventory Control can walk the little barcode stick over to it.

Look, good for this researcher, but private equity is not going to replace the volume and scope of US federal agency funding.

Efficient near telomere-to-telomere assembly of Nanopore Simplex reads Telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly is the ultimate goal for de novo genome assembly. Existing algorithms capable of near T2T assembly all require Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) ultra-long reads w...

Preprint on hifiasm Nanopore-only assembly. Led by Haoyu Cheng: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A green graphic with a headshot of Lauren Stanley and a photo of colorful flowers. The text reads" PLB Seminar Series, Outstanding Postdoc Award, Lauren Stanley, "Endless forms most beautiful: genetic insights into phenotypic diversity in monkeyflowers."

Congratulations to @davidlowry.bsky.social lab postdoc @lestanley.bsky.social, this year’s MSU Danny Schnell Plant Biology Outstanding Postdoctoral Award recipient! 🎉 Lauren has made exceptional contributions to MSU through research, mentorship, and outreach, and PRI is very proud of her!

Elle is a comedic genius.

Screenshot with text that reads: When Trees Testify: Reckoning with Black History Through the Science and Wisdom of Plants

Coming soon... January 2026

How voters on the Griffin List (or anyone concerned about their future votes) can update their voter file - Triangle Blog Blog A group civics blog covering town council, education, transportation, and recreation in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC.

How NC voters on the Griffin List (or anyone worried about their future vote) can update their voter file Please share with everyone in NC you know triangleblogblog.com/2025/04/05/h...

A presenter for the "Exploring Plant Cells" booth demonstrates the different parts of a plant cell to attendees using flash cards.

A child examines a large model of a plant cell held by the presenter at the booth.

A microscope with a screen shows a close-up view of red onion skin.

Come check out our booth "Exploring Plant Cells" at the @msuscifest.bsky.social STEAM Expo Days today and tomorrow until 4pm! Dive into the microscopic world of plants using real microscopes and hands-on models and activities, presented by Jacob in the @rheelab.bsky.social at @msupri.bsky.social! 🔬🌿

The presenters for "Botanical Battlegrounds" pose behind their booth with several tomato plants on the tables.

Several tomato plants in pots on a table or inside a glass case with a sign that reads, "Check out some hungry hungry caterpillars eating away at tomato plants! How many can you spot? Notice any differences?"

A Lego activity with multicolored Legos in bins representing different parts of plants.

The @msuscifest.bsky.social STEAM Expo is in full swing! The Howe lab is highlighting the evolutionary strategies plants use to defend themselves in their booth, "Botanical Battlegrounds: Adapt, Survive, and Thrive!"

Quick reminder that a Wired subscription is dirt cheap and they're doing really important work.

So good. 🤡

@brendanvduke.bsky.social

“Race does not provide an accurate representation of human biological variation,” the statement reads. “Humans are not divided biologically into distinct continental types or racial genetic clusters. Instead, the Western concept of race must be understood as a classification system that emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and discrimination.” “It thus does not have its roots in biological reality, but in policies of discrimination,” the statement says. “Because of that, over the last five centuries, race has become a social reality that structures societies and how we experience the world. In this regard, race is real, as is racism, and both have real biological consequences.”

Trump's 3/27 executive order targets the Smithsonian for advancing "the view that race is not a biological reality but a social construct."

Trump argues that the exhibit's statement, below, is unscientific. He's wrong. As a biology professor and population geneticist, I agree with every word of it.

🌱🌱🌱Big botanical news🌱🌱🌱

Announcing 'Build A Plant' by the Onyenedum Lab at NYU, a video series all about plant anatomy! I had a plantastic time working on this 🥹

4 eps are out now, covering root, shoot, secondary growth, and leaf anatomy:
youtube.com/@joyceonyene...

🧪 #scicomm #botany #plants

Phytophthora = plant destroyer

Who were the two abstentions? Someone needs to talk to those people.

Motion to retain the genus name for #Phytophthora: Of the 265 people registered for the APS Workshop, 166 voted on the Motion over a 14-day post Workshop voting period. Of the 166 responders, 164 (98.8 %) voted for the motion and two (1.2 %) abstained. There were no votes against the motion.

Saudi Arabia Buys Pokémon Go, and Probably All of Your Location Data A company founded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund just bought the most popular AR video game of all time.

Oh www.404media.co/saudi-arabia...

Hi BlueSkyers! I'm an evolutionary biologist, microbiologist, entomologist, lover of nature, and long-time researcher on symbiosis.

I'm realizing that BlueSky is useful and generally non-toxic so here I am (having quit Facebook in Jan 2017, and Twitter in Oct 2022).

Viewpoint: Scientific research is not waste. Funding cuts will harm Michiganders, economy In 2024, over $1 billion in NIH funding went to Michigan, supporting $2.57 billion in economic activity, according to United for Medical Research.

Michigan 🍒 plant scientists sequenced the sour cherry genome in 2023 to protect crops & save farmers money. Now, Food Innovation science, once funded by USAID, is being cut — explains Michigan scientist Madison Plunkert 🧪🏠
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinio...