Guin Wogan

Restoring an endangered species takes more than improving genetic diversity. This week on the @science.org podcast, we visit the endangered Pacific pocket mouse breeding facility at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to learn about their reintroduction project.
www.science.org/content/podc...

a black and brown bird with a red head is perched on a wire fence . Alt: A black and brown bird with a brownhead is perched on a wire fence. It fluffs feathers, swelling in size, and hops to one side.

This is the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), native to North America. And it runs a PROTECTION SCHEME.

It's 'connected', see, A Wise Guy, an Avian Cosa Nostra, a Made Bird. "Nice nest here, be a shame if something happened to it."

Let's talk about the MAFIA HYPOTHESIS & brood parasitism.

Lots of coughing & sniffles going on around you? Stay purr-fectly protected by wearing a mask! 😷🐈

Wearing a high-quality N95 mask protects you from respiratory viruses like flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

📲 https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Respiratory-Viruses/When-and-Why-to-Wear-a-Mask.aspx

‘Completely shattered.’ Changes to NSF’s graduate student fellowship spur outcry The announcement comes months later than usual, leaving many would-be applicants stranded

Science news article about 2nd year grad students being unceremoniously dropped from the GRFP eligibility with no explanation or warning:
www.science.org/content/arti...

Economic loss from the White House's NSF FY 2026 Proposed Budget

New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget.

Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide.

Report: osf.io/e8rnc

a 🧵

Ancient hybridization underlies tuberization and radiation of the potato lineage Genomic and functional analyses reveal that the potato lineage originated from a homoploid interspecific hybridization event between the Tomato and Etuberosum lineages 8–9 million years ago. The alter...

Potatoes are hybrid, tuberized tomatoes.

Plants are so *weird* , man.

Missed our #SnakeWeek webinars? You can watch the recordings here: www.youtube.com/@SnakeWeek

Picture of bird. Text is Plain Chachalaca. Ortalis vetula. To 2 ft. (60 cm) Comment above reads "Les flamboyant relative of the Boom Chachalaca"

I didn't do it, but I wish I had.

SCOOP

www.importantcontext.news/p/national-s...

Science Makes the U.S. a Great Nation History tells us what happens when great nations attack science

Science Makes the U.S. a Great Nation

Biodiversity loss is a climate change multiplier. Every species we lose, every ecosystem we destroy weakens the planet’s resilience capacity.

The Meselson and Stahl experiment demonstrated in 1958 that DNA replicated semi-conservatively.

Meaning, each of the two strands of DNA serves as a template for a new copy to made of the complementary strand.

Foundational finding, elegant experimental design.

We finally got to see the hardcopies of ‘Nature Selecting’ the #evolution book I wrote for kids (around 6th grade level and up) and illustrated by my 14 year-old daughter Anjali

Free pdf here www.lsu.edu/mns/news-and...

We plan to send hard copies to local schools and teachers for free.

Freedom from kings.
Freedom from fascism.
Power to the people forever. ♥️

Happy Independence Day 🇺🇸

When history marks the point where we lost the future to China, this will be it.

"A reduction in federal research funding on the scale currently contemplated for fiscal year 2026 will have a catastrophic effect on the advancement of biomedical & biotechnology capabilities in the United States."

This is utter madness. Massive cuts to US scientific research will harm everyone.

It is difficult to describe just how disastrous it would be if just-released NOAA budget proposal (or even large portions) were to be enacted: It would involve a wholesale dismantling (decimation, really) of entities relevant to weather, climate, & ocean research & prediction.

Schedule F by Another Name Is Still a Threat to Science Should this rule take effect, civil service protections would be stripped from much of the federal workforce, all but dismantling the merit-based system we’ve had for more than a century.

Schedule F may be a little wonky of a term, but if we lose an independent merit-based civil service system and have it replaced with political appointee hacks, your life will be worse. 🧪

blog.ucs.org/joseph-reed/...

📣📣📣 So pleased to see @vdbijl.bsky.social's stunning analysis of the inheritance and genetics of guppy color diversity out today @natecoevo.nature.com! Deep learning reveals the complex genetic architecture of male guppy colouration. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A million kids won’t live to kindergarten because of this disastrous decision The world’s war on child death was going well. Then RFK Jr. came along.

A million kids won’t live to kindergarten because of this disastrous decision www.vox.com/future-perfe...

a completely unresolved majority rule consensus phylogeny (i.e., the massive polytomy is comb-shaped)

Become ungovernable

Dear Colleague, The National Snow and Ice Data Center was informed yesterday that the Department of Defense (DoD) will cease processing and delivering the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) data no later than 30 June 2025. Impact on Data Products: Since SSMIS data serve as input to the Sea Ice Index, this product will also stop processing by the same date. What This Means For You: Our records indicate that you use this dataset. Users should expect a gap in data availability during the transition to alternate sources. We understand this sudden change may significantly disrupt your operations and research. Our Response: We share your concern about this abrupt timeline and are actively evaluating possible alternative data sources, including AMSR2. We will communicate updates as soon as they become available. AMSR2 Alternative: Users may wish to explore the AMSR2 portion of the Near-Real-Time NOAA/NSIDC Climate Data Record of Passive Microwave Sea Ice Concentration. As documented in NSIDC Special Report #27, the AMSR2 data are a prototype and are not yet fully intercalibrated with the older data. Users will notice differences in sea ice extents because AMSR2’s higher resolution provides better ice edge detection than SSMIS. These data may serve as an interim alternative while we develop a fully intercalibrated version of AMSR2 for the Sea Ice Index. We are committed to supporting you through this transition. Please reach out to nsidc@nsidc.org with any questions or concerns. Warm regards, NOAA@NSIDC User Services

With each passing day, this administration further degrades U.S. scientific capabilities. If we stop collecting climate data, it will not alter reality. It will make us less prepared to address the damage & pain human-induced, climate change generates. This does not make us great. 🧪🔌💡🌊 ☀️💨🔋

Since Trump’s inauguration, the National Science Foundation has awarded about half as many grants as it did in the same period in 2024, according to a Post analysis of the NSF database. The agency has terminated about 1,700 grants in the past few weeks and slowed new funding to a trickle, according to public records, internal data obtained by The Post and an employee familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. So far this year, the agency has received only $6.5 billion of the congressionally appropriated $9 billion that it is supposed to spend on research, according to the employee and the records. No money at all has gone into a “facilities” spending account that is supposed to contain $230 million for fiscal 2025, the employee said and the records show. Because of the halt in funding, new research in areas including environmental science and neuroscience is not getting underway, the employee said. The agency is also mostly not giving out awards this year, the employee said. The Office of the Director will not “release money into our accounts to do anything,” the employee said. “Essentially, money has been vaporized.”

Beyond today's annexation of the NSF building, this new budget detail in WaPo is also 🤯 and needs investigation:

"So far this year, [NSF] has received only $6.5 billion of the congressionally appropriated $9 billion that it is supposed to spend on research"

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Taking over the NSF building to put in a private dining room, a gym, and FIVE?? parking spaces for the HUD secretary's use means displacing 1800+ staff who, as federal employees, have to pay for their own water cooler if they want one in the office

It's not just #NIH. It's not just #NSF. It's not just #NASA.

The whole scientific community has to make clear that all science across fed agencies is being destroyed in the US.

We can't just ask for our particular piece of the pie. The whole pie is being thrown out - saving your bit won't work.

Enigmatic lizards somehow survived near Chicxulub asteroid impact The night lizards may have been the only terrestrial vertebrates that survived in the region of the asteroid impact 66 million years ago, which led to the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs

Enigmatic lizards somehow survived near Chicxulub asteroid impact www.newscientist.com/article/2485...

Claudia representing us at #evol2025!

Public Land Sales Blocked From Inclusion in Trump’s Tax Bill A Senate proposal to sell millions of acres of public land to help pay for President Donald Trump’s massive package of tax cuts and spending has been blocked by the Senate’s rule keeper.

‘NOT FOR SALE’
It turns out that not many Americans wanted to see our country’s public land sold — with polls showing 75-80% opposed — even 65% of Republicans

Late Monday, that proposal got the axe 🪓
news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-...

Unexpected skull found in Texas dates back millions of years The specimen will eventually be displayed at a Texas museum.

The specimen will eventually be displayed at a Texas museum.

A map showing what BLM and USFS lands would be up for sale in the western CONUS.

An image taken of Colorado's Maroon Bells from the still lake before it. In the foreground is the glass lake mirroring the landscape and sky above. A long log on the water reaches out from the left of the frame toward its center. On the other end of the lake is a lush green forest, with the forest stretching up the steep hills that bracket the image. Sitting right in the center of those hills are the Marron Bells - mountain peaks - partially coated in snow, and bathed in the saturated orange glow of the just-rising Sun. Overhead are blue skies with numerous puffy white clouds, some of which are still in the shadow of other mountains.

Millions of acres of public lands are eligible for sale in the Senate budget reconciliation package (as of 6-14). This would be the largest public lands sell-off in US history, and would bypass traditional safeguards such as public hearings & environmental reviews. 1/x
map: tinyurl.com/Lands4SaleMap