Jonathan Raberg, PhD

The Internet as We Knew It Is Over. The Only Thing Left Is to Go Outside. We used to have fun online. Not anymore.

This is right — it’s time to log off

Thank you Ryn! And nice to see you on here. Glad you enjoyed the article.

Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF Efforts to shrink staff, budget, and focus have alarmed members of Congress

Another scoop from Jeff Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social): NSF's ~1400 grant terminations have disproportionately affected PIs from groups underrepresented in science: women, racial & ethnic minorities, & those with disabilities. 1/3
www.science.org/content/arti...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

I talked to Nature about the latest development at NSF, which is a five-alarm fire for American science. The scale of immediate impact is massive. We narrowly escaped this affecting @viralemergence.org for now, but will have to shut down in a few months if this stays.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

NCA6 Update April 28, 2025 Dear NCA6 Participants, Thank you for your participation in the 6th National Climate Assessment. At this time, the scope of the NCA6 is currently being reevaluated in accordance with the Global Change Research Act of 1990. We are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles. As plans develop for the assessment, there may be future opportunities to contribute or engage. Thank you for your service.

Well, it's official. We just received notice that all authors on the Sixth National Climate Assessment have just been released from their roles.

The NCA is a vital, Congressionally mandated resource for our nation as we prepare for the impacts of climate change. This is a huge loss.

the word alert is in a purple circle ALT: the word alert is in a purple circle

ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM

Implementation of Schedule F

This is what a lot of us have been worried about.

This allows for many civil service positions to replaced with political appointees. This could include NIH institute directors and even POs.

BUT THERE IS A COMMENT PERIOD...

1/n

Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduc...

The notice and COMMENT PERIOD OPENED TODAY AND CLOSES MAY 23.

Anyone who would like to register an objection or comment should go to this page and click on the green “public comment” button at the top:

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

6/n

#newarticle by Raynolds et al. on ancient vegetation recently exposed by retreating ice on Baffin Island finds it is similar to modern vegetation nearby. Recolonization depends on substrate and requires hundreds to thousands of years @instaar.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2024.2442776

🌱 ICYMI: Martha Raynolds (U Alaska Fairbanks) led a team including GIFF MILLER & @rabergj.bsky.social to study vegetation killed by glacier advances 100-800 yrs ago & recently exposed by glacier retreat. If sampled within the 1st summer of exposure, detailed plant community data can be collected.

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.

Intact Polar brGDGTs in Arctic Lake Catchments: Implications for Lipid Sources and Paleoclimate Applications Intact polar branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (brGDGT) lipids in soils were distinct from those in lakes In lake sediments, core brGDGTs were lacustrine in origin, and intact monogly...

For context, I had asked DeepResearch to write a paper on brGDGTs and dissolved oxygen. I currently have a paper on the subject in review, so wanted to see how it performed.

Here's the Lake Qaupat paper it was trying to summarize: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

AI-generated bullshit (link.springer.com/article/10.1...) like this is going to make reading and reviewing scientific papers 10x more work. Utterly convincing and utterly false info will inevitably bleed into the literature. Hugely detrimental for science.

Here's how #DeepResearch summarized my paper 🧪.

Beautifully written, but I've never heard of OET or k.

Could not be more excited to announce that I'll be joining the faculty at Claremont McKenna next Jan as an Assistant Professor of Integrated Sciences: Chemistry of Climate,
Energy, and the Environment ⛰️🧪👨‍🏫!!! Truly a dream job ☀️ .

Want to know how long it takes the richest people in tech to earn your salary or earn enough to pay off your largest debt? See this tool, which was in this 2021 (but still relevant) article about why billionaires are a result of policy failure.
simpletexting.com/blog/tech-ce...

Microbial Resuscitation and Growth Rates in Deep Permafrost: Lipid Stable Isotope Probing Results from the Permafrost Research Tunnel in Fox, Alaska

Excited to share a new pre-print where we quantify microbial resuscitation and growth rates in deep subsurface permafrost accessed at the permafrost research tunnel.
With @kopflab.bsky.social @isotopes.bsky.social et al.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

for those who love both ggplot and dual-axis plots, rejoice! #rstats #dataviz #tidyverse

You know how annoying it is to make overlapping plots on the same x-axis but different y-axis in ggplot?

Well…not anymore! 🎉🎉
@tacaro.bsky.social @rabergj.bsky.social

ggstackplot.kopflab.org

Check out our new preprint on how variable oxygen availability in lakes may impact ancient DNA and brGDGT proxy records in high-latitude (or stratified) lakes. Been a fun few years working on this with @rabergj.bsky.social and the rest of the team! eartharxiv.org/repository/v...

😆 what a welcome!! Thanks Nina! Glad to be joining you all!