Tara Kirby

Jen Rubin left the Washington Post to found The Contrarian 13 months ago, to stand up to Jeff Bezos and and his refusal to value the ownership of The Post

TO ALL WAPOST journalists: We value your work, and would love for you to join us in independent journalism

Contact us: info@contrariannews.org

Too accurate...

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

Wow. This is devastating.

www.science.org/content/arti...

A photo of Alex Pretti with the text: He was one of us

A photo of Alex Pretti with the text: Honor the memory of Alex Pretty by wearing black this week (ribbons, tape on ID badge, or clothes)

Join us in honoring Alex’s memory this week by wearing black.

Vibrant color portrait of Jane S. Richardson, the visionary biophysicist and artist who revolutionized structural biology with her invention of ribbon diagrams. She gazes warmly at the camera with a bright, knowing smile that radiates quiet brilliance and decades of curiosity. Her silver-blonde hair woven with gentle waves. Large, elegant dangling earrings catch the light, and she wears a richly patterned brown blouse embroidered with intricate turquoise paisley motifs and delicate beadwork that echoes the molecular elegance she has spent her life depicting. Behind her floats a luminous, dreamlike backdrop of glowing molecular structures--interlocking hexagonal and ribbon-like forms in electric blues, teals, and greens--blending science and art in a single, living canvas.

Hand-drawn and hand-colored (by Jane Richardson) scientific artwork known as a Richardson ribbon diagram (or “ribbon model”), one of the iconic visual inventions of Jane Richardson that transformed the way we see and understand protein structures. A graceful, three-dimensional tangle of protein backbone ribbons twists and spirals through space, rendered in soft pencil lines and luminous watercolor hues. Smooth golden-brown coils represent α-helices that curl like elegant ribbons, while broad teal-green arrows trace the flat, pleated strands of β-sheets slicing through the molecule with directional purpose. Thin, looping golden threads connect the secondary structures, creating a delicate, almost dance-like choreography of biology’s hidden architecture. The entire form is framed by a simple olive-green mat and dark border, giving the drawing the quiet dignity of both fine art and precise scientific illustration—a timeless bridge between molecular reality and human imagination.

Jane Richardson was born #OTD in 1941

+ Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures)
+ MacArthur Fellow, 1985
+ Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991
+ President, Biophysical Society, 2012

#WomenInSTEM

Minnesota National Guard members have arrived at a federal building and were directed to distribute donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate to anti-ICE protesters. Guard members were issued reflective vests so they would not be mistaken for federal agents.

Attention folks in the weather, climate, disaster, wildfire, and Earth science communities: NSF has just published a new "Dear Colleague" letter inviting feedback (by Mar 13) on the proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). www.nsf.gov/funding/...

This is getting truly insane.

Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago

YouTube video by PostmodernJukebox Heroes (David Bowie Cover) - Postmodern Jukebox feat. Sara Niemietz

The first song I heard in 2026 and I think this is a pretty good way to start the year, musically speaking

youtu.be/H6VnHVzuBs8

The fact that I haven’t seen anything what that person said tells me all I need to know.

It’s got to be satire, right? Right??

Carol of the Bells in #
Kyiv subway.

Voices of the Embassies of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom came together to perform Shchedryk in the Kyiv metro as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.

Thankful to everyone who stands with us!

Preach.

US plan for $1.6m hepatitis B vaccine study in Africa called ‘highly unethical’ Experts decry ‘neocolonialist’ Guinea-Bissau study after Trump administration changed advice for US babies

I'm still having trouble containing my rage about this. Treating African children as disposable toys in a desperate effort to bolster RFK Jr.'s anti-vax conspiracism. Expanding the moral stain on our nation from the USAID cuts. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Yes, to be clear: with measles, there's a heterogeneous range of combinations of outcomes — but the idea that you can sustain an illness, recover, then have it kill you years later more or less without warning is fairly astonishing considering very powerful people are calling for "natural immunity"

Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.

@bsky.app , do better.

Trump just continually shooting our country in the face. This unwarranted (and likely illegal) destruction of Goddard is madness. It jeopardizes the next several decades of space exploration.

Good things are possible and we don’t have to settle.

This is how they claim you were 'over the line'. They pull you over and start the riot for themselves.

In which @dereklowe.bsky.social is fired up.

www.science.org/content/blog...

a live look this morning at the demolished East Wing of the White House

Disaster.

This is who is paying for the destruction of the White House East Wing, per @wsj.com

Altria Group Inc.
Amazon
Apple Inc.
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.
Caterpillar Inc.
Coinbase Global
Comcast Corp.
Hard Rock International
Google
HP Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Meta Platforms Inc.
1/3

War torn Portland.
I am

I've always said this, but since last November, I've been pointing this out frequently in whatever venues to whatever audiences I can: "The planet NASA studies most is Earth."

When someone defines a woman as an adult human female get them to define each word separately.

‘Biological Female’ is NOT a scientific term, it's a PROPAGANDA TERM used by Putin & other RWNJ politicians!

See you there!