Rachael Orben

USGS’ biological research arm could vanish next week - High Country News Trump is on a multipronged mission to eliminate a science agency that conservationists, toxicologists, universities and more call irreplaceable.

USGS’ biological research arm could vanish next week www.hcn.org/articles/usg... via @highcountrynews.org

Redefining "harm" in the Endangered Species Act could undo decades of habitat protection for threatened species. The public has until May 19 to comment on the Trump Administration proposal to exclude habitat destruction from the definition. An ecologist and a law professor explain: buff.ly/Lguz0su

Effective May 5, 2025, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will decommission its snow and ice data products from the Coasts, Oceans, and Geophysics Science Division (COGS). As a result, the level of services for affected products below will be reduced to Basic—meaning they will remain accessible but may not be actively maintained, updated, or fully supported. This includes Sea Ice Index, Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) Data Products, Glacier Photograph Collection, U.S. National Ice Center Arctic Sea Ice Charts and Climatologies in Gridded Format Gridded Monthly Sea Ice Extent and Concentration, 1850 Onward World Glacier Inventory. If you rely on these products in your work, research, education, or planning, we invite you to share your story at nsidc@nsidc.org. Your input can help us demonstrate the importance of these data sets and advocate for future support.

This is horrible. I don't even know what to say. Some of our most key polar data.

"As a result, the level of services for affected products below will be reduced to Basic—meaning they will remain accessible but may not be actively maintained, updated, or fully supported."

nsidc.org/data/user-re...

Journal editors struggling to find reviewers — there are some bloody good reasons why I used to think it was merely a post-COVID19 hiccough, but the extensive delays in receiving reviews for submitted manuscripts that I am seeing near constantly now are the symptoms of a much larger problem. That problem is, in a nutshell, how awfully journals are treating both authors and reviewers these days. I regularly hear stories from editors handling my papers, as well as accounts from colleagues, about the ridiculous number of review requests they send with no response.

Journal editors struggling to find reviewers — there are some bloody good reasons why

I used to think it was merely a post-COVID19 hiccough, but the extensive delays in receiving reviews for submitted manuscripts that I am seeing near constantly now are the symptoms of a much larger problem. That…

The scientific community is at a pivotal moment right now. And we are seeing things start to shift. Now is the time for scientists and scientific institutions to step up. No one is coming to save us. 🧵

Massive, Unarchivable Datasets of Cancer, Covid, and Alzheimer's Research Could Be Lost Forever Days before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that 10,000 HHS staffers would lose their jobs, a message appeared on NIH research repository sites saying they were "under review."

Petabytes of critical government research that is marked for possible deletion cannot be archived because of technical and legal restrictions, meaning it is very likely to be lost forever:

www.404media.co/nih-archives...

Proposed Rocket Test Site Could Jeopardize Pacific Seabird Nesting Refuge The U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) recently issued a notice proposing the construction and operation of two commercial rocket landing pads on Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, home to n...

“Installing rocket landing pads on Johnston Atoll cannot occur without significantly disrupting wildlife and harming the important bird colonies found there,” said Michael J. Parr, President of ABC. Read more at abcbirds.org/news/johnsto...

Dark cormorant with turquoise eye and red around the beak gapes wide against a white background

Pelagic cormorant 🪶

So many years in the making, and finally it's out! Enjoy the second baby of my (now ancient) PhD, a labour of love and... well labour of so many people!

I could see it being especially helpful for round TDRs. For the typical GLS with notches for the zip-ties it seems somewhat unnecessary. Maybe it depends on the species? I skipped it in my attachments for kittiwakes and we never re-caught or re-sighted a bird missing a logger.

Or skip the self-amalgamating tape altogether! I tend not to use it and I wonder if it really is necessary.

Small storm-petrel in-hand at night. Exposed legs showing colour tape around metal band on one leg and Global Light Sensing logger attached to a band on the other leg

Image of South Pacific with Australian land mass on far left and a series of red dots indicating the movements of a tracked seabird

The White-bellied Storm-petrel trip also gave up one of two deployed GLS loggers. 1st ever track. Aust. to Chile (10K km) and down towards the Antarctica coast. Unprecedented?! So hard to access remote colonies with over 80 island-days available (2009-2025) but only 8 landings possible.#Seabirds 🪶

Just heard that Trump is putting an end to atmospheric monitoring site NY67 that is run out of my lab. This is one of the oldest NADP sites in the US, continually measuring acid rain and other pollutants since 1977. Closing it down is tragic.

Exploring R Package Usage in Academia I am running a quick survey to find out which R packages academics use the most in their research and teaching. The goal is to see which tools are essential, spot any gaps, and maybe even discover som...

Hi there, my student is making a survey about the use of R packages in Ecology, could you please spend two mins on filling it 🥹 Very appreciated! And if you could spread it further (RT), that would be just awesome. ❤️

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Merkley: "The best time to take on a tyrant is as early as possible. And this is the moment."

benthos-dashcams/ornitela_portal_downloader at main · dswinters/benthos-dashcams Scripts and services for automated biologging data processing - dswinters/benthos-dashcams

This is a link to an older version (I didn't write it). You do need a list of the internal database numbers for each tag.

Yes, we have a python script that downloads data automatically for us.

We do.

Cement-perlite nesting burrow with White-bellied Storm-petrel adult sitting in nest within

Cement-perlite burrow with slotted drain pipe tunnel protruding into a nest containing a recently hatch white-bellied Storm-petrel

Person in foreground carrying two buckets and a third bucket in a backpack on their back, up a steep slope. Sooty Terns fly about in the air above. The background is dominated by two large mountains, with cloud caps and a stretch of calm ocean between the two sites.

Two circular concrete caps sit atop cylindrical nesting chambers set in grass tussocks, with weighty rock semi/collapsing a tunnel entrance in the foreground. Background shows two peaks on a steep slope with ocean behind.

It’s taken 2 years but our hard work on Roach Is. off Lord Howe has been successful. Providing habitat for White-bellied Storm-petrels- safe from larger Little Shearwaters that take over natural burrows during chick provisioning. A slow burn project with many collaborators invested in success.

Adult Swallow-tailed Gull Creagrus furcatus, highlighting the distinctive eye of this species.

The owl gull: exclusively nocturnal foraging by the Swallow-tailed Gull Creagrus furcatus in Galápagos. by Sebastian M. Cruz et al.
#seabirds #OpenAccess

www.marineornithology.org/PDF/53_1/53_...

I would read this book.

4. Anti-Consumerism: Reject the commercialisation of science. Advocate for open access to scientific knowledge and oppose profit-driven research agendas. Knowledge should be shared freely, not hoarded for profit.

"Research shows what I’ve noticed throughout my career: women leaders are collaborative, inspiring, effective, and foster positive working environments."
@dochpjones.bsky.social writes a blog post for #IWD2025 🤝

See here👇
buff.ly/LQmcouU

NOAA Costs You $14 A Year - Privatizing Its Services Will Cost You Much More I still remember the phone call that changed everything.

This isn’t about reducing waste. This is about dismantling one of the best public services your tax dollars have ever paid for — and selling it back to you at a premium."

#fisheries #oceanography

medium.com/@david.ruck/...

Excited to have contributed to this study where we tracked 29 sperm whales in the North Atlantic! 🐳

Some traveled nearly 8000km and dove deeper then 1000m! 🛰️🌊 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is one of my favorite photos taken during this fieldwork of a 🐳 diving under the midnight sun 🌞

48 Scientific Societies Representing Almost 100,000 Scientists Ask Congress to Protect the Future of Science 48 scientific societies representing almost 100,000 scientists signed on to a letter asking Congress to protect the future of science

Today, a broad coalition of scientific professional societies who represent over 92,000 scientists are speaking out against the politicization and demonization of Federally funded science and government scientist jobs.

It was an honor to help the Union of Concerned Scientists with this! 🧪🌎

New stove that plugs into a normal wall outlet could be major gain for health and the climate For 47 million American households, cooking means a gas stove. Gas stoves generate gases that aren't good for people's health and the gas itself contributes to climate change.

47M Americans use gas stoves that emit cancer-causing pollutants. Additionally, their climate impact is comparable to the CO2 emissions of 500k cars, according to Rob Jackson.
Read more:
A new #ClimateSolution via @apnews.com: bit.ly/43gRqnG
Jackson's research: stanford.io/3QJ30As

Please enjoy my last ever post at Climate.gov/ENSO Blog. This afternoon I was fired by the Trump Administration 15 days before my 2yr probationary period ended on March 13.
I have worked at NOAA since 2010, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work I did. If anyone wants a quote, let me know.

A Lady Professor with brown hair and glasses, wearing a scarf in red, green, yellow, & black, a gift from an incredible lactation consultant, sitting in in front of cactus.

I escaped poverty because I am a scientist.

And I am a scientist because of the National Science Foundation.

A 🧵:

Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠

sciencehomecoming.com