Alys Jarvela PhD

Mourning a box turtle that I found on a hike and took to a wildlife rehab center. He didn't respond to antibiotics treatment and passed away after a week in care. I am grateful to the professionals who do their best. They do not receive govt funding so please donate to a center near you.

I'm giving a lunchtime presentation at work on monarch fall migration and my six year old says "that sounds like a nice lil' treat.... For YOU"

You heard the squid emperor, everyone. Leave those leaves!

Dear Fly Community, In May 2025, the NIH terminated all grant funding to Harvard University, including the NHGRI grant that supported FlyBase. This grant also funded FlyBase teams at Indiana University (IU) and the University of Cambridge (UK), and as a result, their subawards were also canceled. The Cambridge team has secured support for one to two years through generous donations from the European fly community, emergency funding from the Wellcome Trust, and support from the University of Cambridge. At IU, funding has been secured for one year thanks to reserve funds from Thom Kaufman and a supplement from ORIP/NIH to the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (BDSC). Unfortunately, the situation at Harvard is far more critical. Harvard University had supported FlyBase staff since May but recently denied a request for extended bridge funding. As a result, all eight employees (four full-time and four part-time) were abruptly laid off, with termination dates ranging from August to mid-October depending on their positions. In addition, our curator at the University of New Mexico will leave her position at the end of August. This decision came as a shock, and we are urgently pursuing all possible funding options. To put the need into perspective: although FlyBase is free to use, it is not free to make. It takes large teams of people and millions of dollars a year to create FlyBase to support fly research (the last NHGRI grant supported us with more than 2 million USD per annum). To help sustain FlyBase operations, we have been reaching out to you to ask for your support. We have set up a donation site in Cambridge, UK, to which European labs have and can continue to contribute, and a new donation site at IU to which labs in the US and the rest of the world can contribute. We urge researchers to work with their grant administrators to contribute to FlyBase via these sites if at all possible, as more of the money will go to FlyBase. However, we appreciate that some fu…

https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase Our immediate goals are: 1. To maintain core curation activities and keep the FlyBase website online 2. To complete integration with the Alliance of Genome Resources (The Alliance). Integration with the Alliance is essential for FlyBase’s long-term sustainability. For nearly a decade, NHGRI/NIH has supported the unification of Model Organism Databases (MODs) into the Alliance, which we aim to achieve by 2028. Therefore, securing bridge funding to sustain FlyBase over the next three years is crucial for successful integration and the long-term access to FlyBase data. At present, our remaining funds will allow us to keep the FlyBase website online for approximately one more year. Beyond that, its future is uncertain unless new funding is secured. We will, of course, continue pursuing additional grant opportunities as they arise. Given the uncertainty of future NIH or alternative funding sources, we are relying on the Fly community for support. Your contributions will directly help us retain the staff needed to complete this transition and to secure ongoing fly data curation into the Alliance beyond 2028. We at FlyBase are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community during this challenging time. Your encouragement has strengthened our resolve and underscores how vital this resource remains to Drosophila research worldwide. Sincerely, The FlyBase Team

The community of Drosophila researchers is amazing, mutually supportive and collaborative. Right now a key resource for our community, @flybase.bsky.social , is threatened by the cancellation of its NIH grant and is seeking community help in raising short term funds 1/n 🧪 please share

Challenge: post your last photo taken in DC to show what a hellhole it is

Child- can you send that caterpillar picture to my mom so she can send it to Miss Alys and ask what it is?
Me- ......I am Miss Alys.....

As a scientist who recently turned down a reorganizarion move to Kansas City, I think they are going to hemorrhage a lot of good people (and that's the point)

One thing to emphasize strongly is that funding to science is like oxygen to the brain. Temporarily restricting oxygen flow for ten minutes (while you figure your shit out) is going to have the same outcome as shutting oxygen off permanently.

We are close to the ten minute mark.

Multiple ebony jewelwing sightings today 🎉

Open Letter in Support of Science — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

www.standupforscience.net/open-letter-....

It turns out I still don't really know any Japanese after a whole year

Elsevier sent me a survey asking "what parts of scientific inquiry should we offload onto AI?" This included deciding which scientific questions to pursue. I can't imagine a bleaker future than one where science is not driven by human curiosity but is simply humans executing the vision of computers

My garden is my small act of rebellion where I find a bit of hope these days

With war spreading through the world, Trump’s plan to use the US Army exclusively against American protesters is looking savvier by the day.

Bethesda Declaration — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Support NIH Staff Now!

The new leadership of NIH is dismantling long standing biomedical science programs & putting in their place scientifically questionable ideas. A courageous group of current NIH employees pushed back, publishing “The Bethesda Declaration” 1/2

www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

Happy birthday to these little scamps who are eating all of my dill even though I have tons and tons of zizia

This lady comes for breakfast every morning and it's the best

The US scientific enterprise is about to collapse unless we do something about it.

🤷‍♀️ I came to you when I thought maybe my native plant could be trans

Mine (from Earth Sangha) is going!

Ooo looks like a new follow and a new addition to my very long book wishlist

It is! Ravaged by aphids last year, but it bounced back nicely without intervention. Such a tough plant

So exciting!!! Snowberry clearwing caterpillars at my little lepidopteran b&b

Increased ERC funding for top global researchers moving to Europe now confirmed The European Research Council (ERC) decision to increase its support for leading researchers moving to Europe has today been formally adopted. On top of its standard grants, the ERC offers additional ...

Let the brain drain begin!

erc.europa.eu/news-events/...

A wolf with white, red-brown, and dark brown fur stands in snow and looks off in the distance behind the viewer. Other wolves are out of focus in the background.

A close up photo of white, slipper-shaped flowers on thick brown stems.

May 18 is the deadline for #PublicComment regarding weakening the #EndangeredSpeciesAct by redefining harm to #wildlife ( #animals & #plants) as NOT including destruction of habitat. Please comment at www.regulations.gov/commenton/FW... 🌿🦤 #EndangeredSpecies #extinction #NativePlants RS OK

What a treat to spend a work day behind the scenes learning plant propagation tricks at the national arboretum

Federal research cuts impact local economies, and stall progress.

Publish an opinion piece in your hometown paper on June 16th to SPREAD THE WORD about how scientific research contributes to the everyday health and wealth of the general public.

#McClintockLetters

blogs.cornell.edu/asap/events-...

Today I was cautioned to not use the word 'asexual' to describe a hydra (cnidarian) in a public school classroom and wow this is all going to get so much worse before it gets better

The IUCN Red List has 47,187 living species that are currently threatened with extinction, but here is a genetically engineered big dumb wolf thing that serves absolutely no functional ecological purpose and isn't even close to being the thing that we pretend it is. 🧪🌏