John Spear

@michaelbennet.bsky.social

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

Insanity, the dominant paradigm, will disintegrate world class health and science research in America.
What say you Congress?
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

How to Winogradsky from 2025 Microbial Diversity @mblscience.bsky.social

Monitor image of a stromatolite’s top from Yellowstone National Park; microbially complex; builders and tenants present. Thx @mblscience.bsky.social for a nice tool in the toolbox!

Science is Art.
Art is Science.
Not a bad afternoon with scanning electron microscopy @mblscience.bsky.social with Microbial Diversity!

Never ceases to amaze how one can pull an entire lab out of 2 closets; conduct and teach science to 20 Amazing! students at the Microbial Diversity Course and have great science produced @mblscience.bsky.social
…stay tuned for publications….

CBS Canceling ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ After Next Season

I once had a joyful evening in the Ed Sullivan Theater watching magic happen in front of me. An educated, civil, democratic society values the jesters—Stephen Colbert is a master teacher we all learn from.

Apparently CBS Paramount does not, enhancing our decline.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/b...

Need to see the live action!

Week two on Microbial Diversity. One of our course directors, John Spear, spoke about H2 and sulfur metabolism, including his adventures doing research in caves.
@mblscience.bsky.social

A media extravaganza at Microbial Diversity ‘25 @mblscience.bsky.social difficult to pull off anywhere—Thank you Juan Parales et al.!

Thanks!

Hey George—took it last year, Jenn is TA-ing this year. We are almost ready for mayhem to start tomorrow evening. Hope all is well your way!

At @mblscience.bsky.social preparing for Microbial Diversity ‘25; takes a lot of preparation for both aerobic and anaerobic cultivation of amazing microbiota from diverse environments.
(and yes, this is what this course has ‘diversity’ in the title…)

Hydrothermal Hazards on Display in Yellowstone National Park - Eos Tourists and officials were startled by a hydrothermal explosion at Black Diamond Pool in July 2024. Geoscientists are working out how and why it occurred to better understand these hazardous events.

When doing field work, or being anywhere, always important to pay attention to your surroundings. Nice writeup on Biscuit Basin @yellowstonesv.bsky.social 2024: eos.org/features/hyd...

Not the America I grew up in, nor one any of us should condone. Speak up on the wrongs!

God Only Knows…
Good Vibrations.
etc., etc., etc….
Brian Wilson dented the universe.
Passed. Sad. 😅 😎

In today’s world, my job, your job, is to embrace, and share, the vibe.
The world needs us—to do that.
Be the Beach Boy.
Make A Dent.🙏

Hey world—like to breathe?
Me too.
Don’t follow the insanity of American air pollution rollbacks.
Step up and lead ‘cause we ain’t.
Trump’s EPA announces major rollbacks to power plant pollution limits - The Guardian

If you are into subsurface microbiology, hydrogen and serpentinization, this is a great read (in my biased opinion) from Dan Colman.
See what you think!
Microbial ecology of serpentinite-hosted ecosystems url:https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/19/1/wraf029/8019724

You know what’s the best thing in the world?
People: your family; your co-workers; your neighbors; those encountered on your travels, etc.
Then, there is fascism, particularly in leadership, that ruins it all.
The U.S. is exporting citizens, naturalized, green card holders, etc.
Not good.
Stand up!

Congratulations to the new Dr. Carmen Villarruel!
Ph.D. work on wildland-urban interface wildfire and the mobilization of metals—an important story of our climate-changing (there, I wrote it) times.

You can worry about the world, but sometimes best to focus on what is right in front of you.

Temperatures at north pole 20C above average and beyond ice melting point Scientists say unusually mild temperatures linked to low-pressure system over Iceland directing strong flow of warm air towards north pole

After Svalbard’s warmest summer on record, we have shocking winter warming underway right now in the Arctic
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

An important, key, element of American democracy passed today; former Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming.
A republican centrist (today’s world a democrat) who did so much. Lesson served, educate yourself on how we can make our own local world’s better—by looking at the role models.

Presidential Address to a joint session of Congress; not sure if my liver can take these next 4 years.
Insanity, is the dominant paradigm in America.

America, 28 February 2025:

Hey! Welcome to my house.
First, my dog takes a dump on your foot (did not happen).
Then, my partner yells at you.
Next, I’m going to scream at you.
Last, I throw you out of the house and let you fend for your self.
Good luck.

Adults, please enter the room.
Needed….

U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.

Isn’t the goal of being a human being, to make humanity, better?
As a microbiologist, we know that it is the ‘little things,’ life that can only be seen with some variety of microscope, that matter.
Fix what is being broken.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h...

Question for all:
Where are the adults in the room?

EPA, to be gutted up to 65% of work force.
Like clean water via Clean Water Act?
Like clean air via Clean Air Act?
Like to have an environment that supports your lifestyle via the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)?
Me too.
Step up y’all.

The Fork in the Road | Mark Greif There may well be normalcy again. But it lies on the other side—not in accommodation to this malevolent insanity, run by lackeys and toads. The risk of overreaction is trivial compared to the risks of...

A well written and timely must-read! : www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

NIH announces new funding policy that rattles medical researchers The National Institutes of Health has dramatically changed its grant-making terms by limiting how much it will disperse for costs such as equipment and administration.

If the amazing thing that U.S. research is as a collective machine that has done great things and transformed the world--
Say goodbye to the machine with indirect costs capped at 15%.
Please be vocal to your representatives.
America does not need this.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Microbial Diversity | Marine Biological Laboratory The goal of the course is to teach professors, postdocs and advanced graduate students how to discover, cultivate, and isolate diverse microorganisms catalyzing a breadth of chemical transformations, ...

Want to dive into all-things-microbial in one of the best ways possible?
Join us for the Microbial Diversity Course @mblscience.bsky.social this summer! We have extended application deadline to 10 February.

www.mbl.edu/education/ad...