Matt Bracken

A cluster of orange paintbrush flowers in Casper’s Wilderness Park.

Lovely wildflowers are decorating the foothills of the Santa Ana Mtns. 🖌️🌸 #Castilleja #Bloomscrolling

Now Open: Postdoctoral Research Fellow Role within the BRICONS Project 🌊🔬 The BRICONS Project – Building Resilient Irish Coasts through Oyster Restoration is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PD1 level) to join an exciting, interdisciplinary res…

BRICONS (Building Resilient Irish Coasts through Oyster Restoration) - are looking for a new postdoctoral researcher - deadline 19th February - details 👇
🦪🌊 @drjosemfarinas.bsky.social @annikaclements.bsky.social
briconsproject.com/2026/02/06/n...

New round of NSF GRFP declines without review. If you were affected:
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter

This is the link to the post: bsky.app/profile/noam...

"Seaweed forests are crucial for protecting communities and homes against coastal erosion, providing the bedrock of the food chains, being a nursery for fish populations, while also being a rich part of the heritage and folklore along the west coast."

Excellent work on geographic variation in responses of seaweeds to marine heatwaves! #PhycologyFriday #MarineLife 🌊🦑

Graduated cylinders of various sizes stand in front of a light table which has a seaweed sample spread upon it for measuring functional traits.

Seaweed science! #PhycologyFriday

Hey friends! I’m giving a talk to the Kelp Kulture group on Wednesday the 11th from 12-1 PDT

“From phycology to policy: turning passion into action”

Register here: kelpkulture.com/rsvp-kelpkul...

#phycologyFriday #phycyeah!

#PhycologyFriday #SciArt 🌊🦑🐡

#PhycologyFriday

#PhycologyFriday #SciArt 🌊🦑🐡

A color photograph of kelp in the sand along Torrey Pines State Beach. Distant cliffs reflect in water.

A slice of kelp in the sand at Torrey Pines State Beach, San Diego.

#sandiego #california #southerncalifornia #beach #beaches #sunset #goldenhour #kelp #seascape #sealife #plants #cliffs #coast #coastal #ocean #sea #nature #landscape #photography #photographer #art #artist #sand #reflection

As a keen forager whose speciality is seaweed and sustainable sourcing I beg you to sign this. There are currently two corps with applications to strip the Irish west coast of seaweed. We cannot let this happen.

Please sign and share. #irish #ireland

The calcified “slender coral weed,” Jania crassa, is our seaweed of the week #PhycologyFriday

State of the Kelp Industry: A Decade in Review and the Road Ahead | Ocean Farming Hub
hub.greenwave.org/lms/resource...

Marine Biology Career Advice You asked us questions about marine biology careers, and our panel of experts answered them! In April, I solicited your questions about careers in marine biology, and we received nearly 100 questio…

Last year we published the longest post in the more than 17 year history of our science blog.

It contains a panel of experts (including me) responding to nearly 50 common questions that people have about marine biology career advice.

Please read and share! I'm happy to answer any questions.
🧪🦑🌍

Photo of copepod Neocalanus flemingeri by Dr Russel Hopcroft.

Photo of the University of Alaska Fairbanks research vessel Sikuliaq.

🚨Job Alert🚨
@uafairbanks.bsky.social College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences is hiring a zooplankton specialist.

Apply by February 18. 🧪🌊🦑

careers.alaska.edu/jobs/zooplan...

Employment with Ocean Exploration Trust Full-time Staff Openings None at this time.

🧪📍🌊 🦑🍎 Ocean Exploration Trust is hiring independent contractors for at-sea positions of data engineers, video engineers, and ROV engineers for our 2026 expedition season aboard E/V Nautilus. More information at nautiluslive.org/about/employ.... Questions can be directed to careers@oet.org.

“ Fascism is fear bossing you. Fascism is worse than all of these things, and fascism is more closer to you than I can make you see. I’m trying to wake you up to tell you that you’re sleeping with something ten times more dangerous than a poison-fang snake in your bed.” – Woody Guthrie

Help Us Name Our ROV!

This month, an NSF-supported research team led by DRI, @usf.edu, and @scrippsocean.bsky.social will deploy to the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the R/V Sikuliaq—and their ROV needs a name.

💬 Reply to us with your best suggestion and help us name our new member of the team!

POV: I’m on a rocky shore, looking through an arched rock to the ocean beyond.

The portal beckons…

one of the best things ever is when you see a cat and you just put your hand out and the cat's tail perks up and they trot over and rub their little soft face on your hand

Have you given a listen to White Squall by the mighty Stan Rogers yet? Hop on over to youtube and check it out! www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVnR...

#TheLongestJohns #StanRogers #Winter #FolkMusic

A global map showing that most people don't talk about or hear about climate change regularly (except in Scandinavia - I believe this is the Greta Effect!). Source: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

A global map showing that most people are worried about climate change. Source: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Most people are worried about climate change - but most don't hear or talk about regularly.

That's why I started my free newsletter Talking Climate. Every week I share good news, not so good news, and what people can do.

If you aren't a reader yet, see below. I have 6 different ways to subscribe!

Priority effects inhibit the repeated evolution of phototrophy - npj Complexity npj Complexity - Priority effects inhibit the repeated evolution of phototrophy

New paper out! Here's a puzzle: phototrophy, the ability to use light for energy, is one of life's great innovations. It evolved early and transformed the biosphere. But it evolved 2x. Why not just once, why not more? Our work suggests the answer is priority effects.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Extreme temperature events reshuffle the ecological landscape of the Southern Ocean - Nature Communications Satellite records reveal that Southern Ocean phytoplankton responds in contrasting ways to marine heatwaves and cold spells. These opposing impacts vary sharply by region, exposing distinct ecological...

New study uses #satellite records and shows that #SouthernOcean #phytoplankton responds in contrasting ways to marine #heatwaves and #cold spells. The impacts vary sharply by region, exposing distinct #ecological sensitivity to #climate -driven extremes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

It's "throw beans at the demons to drive them away" day in Japan.
Setsubun is Feb 3, and mamemaki is the act of throwing beans.
Oni wa soto! Devils out!
Fuku wa uchi! Fortune in!
(If only it was this easy to get rid of demons!)

Annotating the Judge’s Decision in the Case of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE (Gift Article) Our critic annotates the barbed wordplay of a decision challenging the Trump administration’s theory of executive power.

Here’s a useful reminder of what our federal courts SHOULD be doing to uphold our constitutional traditions:

Beautiful pink blossoms profusely cover a tree with blue sky in the background

Flowering trees are showing off on the @ucirvine.bsky.social campus rn. As someone who spent most of his life at higher latitudes, I find Southern California’s February “spring” flowers both unsettling & amazing. #Bloomscrolling 🌸

Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks After years of steady sales declines, the format will largely disappear next year.

It's the end of the era of the mass market paperback. This makes me sad.

As a kid these were the first "adult" books I read, the fantasy and sci-fi, and part of the reason I could grab them and gobble them was because they were so CHEAP!
www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter