Tom Stewart

The evolution of hominin bipedalism in two steps - Nature The human pelvis exhibits distinct spatiotemporal ossification patterns and an ilium cartilage growth plate that is shifted perpendicularly compared with those of other mammals and non-human primates—...

1) I am delighted to present this terrific tour de force research conducted by my post-doc Dr. Gayani Senevirathne @gayani.bsky.social and published today in Nature -
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is happening to students at colleges & universities nationwide. Their status is bring terminated & visa revoked. Often, the student has no obvious history to justify the govt's actions. Affected students should seek knowledgeable immigration counsel immediately.

The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow.

The Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has gutted a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums nationwide.

This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.

BREAKING: We're suing the National Institutes of Health over their politically-motivated purge of research grants.

This is an unlawful attack on scientific progress that puts lives at risk.

The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow.

The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums. www.wired.com/story/instit...

‘One of the darkest days’: NIH purges agency leadership amid mass layoffs In shock move, four institute directors at the US biomedical agency are removed from their posts.

🚨🚨🚨 Four NIH institute directors have been removed from their posts and some offered reassignments to the Indian Health Service, effective today.

These institutes include NIAID (Jeanne Marrazzo), NIMHD (Eliseo Pérez-Stable), NICHD (Diana Bianchi), and NINR (Shannon Zenk).

The Structure Equation Model (a fancy kind of Path model) from the paper, constructed of four factors influencing body size: elevation, which acts indirectly via its effect on temperature and precipitation; temperature, which acts directly only weakly, but more strongly via a direct effect on humidity; precipitation, which acts directly on body size but also has a significant relationship with humidity; and humidity, which has a direct influence. It's an elegant figure. There's a salamander representing body size, illustrated by one of the coauthors, Fleming.

Blown away by this paper on body size variation among 11,264 (!!!) measured plethodontid salamanders over an elevational gradient. Super surprised to see that it is not temperature that has the main explanatory role, but mostly humidity and precipitation 🧪🦎
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Trump officials will screen NIH funding opportunities Staff at biomedical agency worry about political interference in setting priorities

“DOGE and HHS will determine whether a particular NOFO can be published, even if it has already been approved by an NIH advisory council of independent scientists who normally review such programs…’How is that decreasing regulation/bureaucracy?’”

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

Trump Admin Plans to Cut Team Responsible for Critical Atomic Measurement Data The team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology publishes measurement data crucial for advanced research in areas like astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and semiconductors.

SCOOP: As the Trump administration continues its efforts to slash the US federal workforce, the team responsible for publishing data used in advanced research in astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and other fields appears to be on the chopping block.

UCL Genetics Institute UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) is a multi-faculty Centre dedicated to the analysis of Big Genetic Data.

UCL is a fantastic place to work, London a great city to live in, in the UK.

From the UCL Genetics Institute (UGI) we are happy to support applications to work on genetics and genomics of populations, broadly speaking.

www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/...

Stunning New Fossil Find Shows Stomach Contents and Color of Ancient Fish An unusually well-preserved Australian fossil reveals details about the diet, behavior, and appearance of a 15-million-year-old aquatic species.

Stunning New Fossil Find Shows Stomach Contents and Color of Ancient Fish www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth...

13. And anyone who has been part of this grand humanist tradition is someone who will not lie down and cower before these sad bullies.

I don't know what happens to science in the US over the next four years, but I have no doubt as to where the arc of history bends.

We aren't going anywhere.

fin

Dear Colleagues, On behalf or the Editor-in-Chief and my fellow Guest Editors, I am pleased to announce a special issue in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society titled Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South. Details are available on the journal website https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/pages/mobilizing-natural-history-collections Key details Submissions are welcomed from authors around the globe, but the manuscript must include research/findings on Global South NHCs (including the lack of infrastructure or NHCs). Global South researchers are particularly encouraged to submit to the issue. Accepted manuscripts in this special issue will be a standard publication that is free of APC (Article Publication Charge). Bilingual articles are encouraged, with one non-English version as supplementary material. Submission close: 31 March 2025

Caros Colegas, Em nome do Editor-Chefe e dos meus colegas Editores Convidados, tenho o prazer de anunciar uma edição especial do Biological Journal of the Linnean Society intitulada Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South. Os pormenores estão disponíveis no sítio Web da revista https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/pages/mobilizing-natural-history-collections Detalhes principais São bem-vindas submissões de autores de todo o mundo, mas o manuscrito deve incluir investigação/conclusões sobre NHCs do Sul Global (incluindo a falta de infra-estruturas ou NHCs). Os investigadores do Sul Global são particularmente encorajados a submeter trabalhos para esta edição. Os manuscritos aceites para esta edição especial serão uma publicação padrão isenta de APC (Taxa de Publicação de Artigos). Os artigos bilingues são encorajados, com uma versão em língua não inglesa como material suplementar. Encerramento da submissão: 31 de março de 2025 Anexei também um anúncio e um PDF com pormenores adicionais. Estão incluídas versões não inglesas (francês, espanhol e português) (aviso: com base em tradutores em linha). Partilhe amplamente e não hesite em enviar-nos quaisquer perguntas.

Estimados colegas, En nombre del Editor Jefe y de mis colegas Editores Invitados, me complace anunciar la publicación de un número especial en la Revista Biológica de la Sociedad Linneana titulado Movilizando la Colección de Historia Natural en el Sur Global. Los detalles están disponibles en el sitio web de la revista https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/pages/mobilizing-natural-history-collections Detalles principales Se aceptan colaboraciones de autores de todo el mundo, pero el manuscrito debe incluir investigaciones o hallazgos sobre las CNH del Sur Global (incluida la falta de infraestructuras o CNH). Se anima especialmente a los investigadores del Sur Global a participar en este número. Los manuscritos aceptados en este número especial serán una publicación estándar libre de APC (Article Publication Charge). Se fomentarán los artículos bilingües, con una versión en lengua no inglesa como material suplementario. Plazo de presentación: 31 de marzo de 2025 También he adjuntado un anuncio y un PDF con detalles adicionales. Se incluyen versiones en otros idiomas (francés, español y portugués) (descargo de responsabilidad: basado en traductores en línea). Por favor, difúndalo y no dude en hacernos llegar sus preguntas.

Chers collègues, Au nom du rédacteur en chef et de mes collègues éditeurs invités, j'ai le plaisir d'annoncer un numéro spécial du Biological Journal of the Linnean Society intitulé Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South (Mobiliser les collections d'histoire naturelle dans le Sud). Les détails sont disponibles sur le site web du journal https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/pages/mobilizing-natural-history-collections Principaux détails Les soumissions d'auteurs du monde entier sont les bienvenues, mais le manuscrit doit inclure des recherches/constatations sur les collections d'histoire naturelle du Sud (y compris le manque d'infrastructures ou de collections d'histoire naturelle). Les chercheurs des pays du Sud sont particulièrement encouragés à participer à ce numéro. Les manuscrits acceptés dans ce numéro spécial feront l'objet d'une publication standard exempte de frais de publication d'article (APC). Les articles bilingues sont encouragés, avec une version non-anglaise comme matériel supplémentaire. Date limite de soumission : 31 mars 2025 J'ai également joint une annonce et un PDF avec des détails supplémentaires. Les versions non anglaises (français, espagnol et portugais) sont incluses (avis de non-responsabilité : basé sur des traducteurs en ligne). N'hésitez pas à diffuser largement l'information et à nous faire part de vos questions.

Reminder @irorotanshi.bsky.social and other are putting together a special issue of the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society @linneansociety.bsky.social titled 'Mobilizing Natural History Collection in the Global South'

Details available here: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/p...

The Continuing Crisis, Part IX: Inside the NIH Now

What it's like inside the NIH under current conditions: not good. Terrible uncertainty and low morale, and an inability to order even basic materials because of trouble with the purchasing department:

Like fossil #sharks? Check out our new preprint from work @naturalis.bsky.social where we combine digital/hands on approaches with fossil/extant taxa to describe the 3D skeletal anatomy of Cretaceous collared carpet sharks from the English Chalk. Paper out soon, thanks to all collaborators! 🦈

Rescinded NIH & NSF Grants

Substantial updates to the list of cancelled grants👇

- THANK YOU to all who have contributed. Crowdsourcing restores faith in humanity.

- It's still a work in progress. You'll see more updates shortly.

- There are multiple teams & efforts engaged in tracking & advocacy. More to come soon!

Lungfish xkcd.com/3064

Brown University advises all international community members to postpone, reconsider travel One week before spring break, Brown advised international community members, including green card holders and permanent residents, to postpone international travel in a campus-wide email sent on Sunda...

Chilling report from Brown University.

Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities.

Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.

Happy to share this new paper! We explored the relationships of head shape and feeding mechanics in dinosaurs. A cascade of changes from big brains, to reoriented muscles, to a breakdown of linkages resulted in avian powered kinesis, but not until neognathes.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Is flat 15% fair? An NIH funding policy is misguided and damaging

"university indirect cost rates are analogous to operating expenses divided by R&D expenditures. For 2023, these ratios were 60% for Merck, 138% for Pfizer, and 105% for Roche...cutting governmental indirect costs to 15% for medical research conducted in universities is clearly unfair."🧪⚕️

I need every single academic to read this AP article asap. Trump is making extreme demands of Columbia that threaten all of us. I believe the 50 universities being "investigated" are next to see this, especially if Columbia caves. Heads up.

as I tell my Genetics class every year, this breakthrough is based on 70 years of NIH-funded, basic research, commercialized by biotech
bsky.app/profile/need...

At NIH, ‘everyone is on edge’ as they brace for deep cuts and more centralized control As the NIH braces for cuts of up to 5,000 of its 20,000 positions, “people are scrambling and freaking out,” a researcher said.

NIH “is expected to cut between 3,400 and 5,000 positions from its workforce of 20,000 in coming days.” Story by @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...

Our preprint is out! Kudos to @josanesousa.bsky.social, @gabrielalima19.bsky.social, @perezlouise.bsky.social and undergraduate prodigy Hannah Shof! By comparing Polypterus fin and axolotl limb we find shared and new regeneration programs. @lsuscience.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Your re-segregation of the day.

Universities: We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately

The single most important laboratory in climate science, the tool that is telling us the story of our time, is now in the MAGA crosshairs. Not surprising. But sad, stupid, and tragic in the saddest and stupidest and most tragic way.

Inside the fossil hunt: Digging for the monsters of Illinois’ Mazon Creek From batch sales of unopened rocks on eBay to discreet phone calls to higher-dollar patrons, Illinois’ commercial fossil trade is alive and well.

Guard those concretions!
www.wbez.org/museums/2025...

Elisabeth Vrba obituary: palaeontologist who solved a problem that vexed Darwin The biologist’s theories about how environments prompt rapid species evolution and extinction propelled her onto the world stage.

Elisabeth Vrba has died. May her memory be a blessing.

Here’s an obituary by @nilese.bsky.social.

🌱🐋🧪🗃️🧠🦫🦋 #EvoBio #HistSTM

Impact on postdocs from Executive Branch Actions (87% of postdocs funded by the fed); 54% of postdocs impacted by executive branch actions; 78% say their position is threatened or research delayed

37% of postdocs had research cut!

graphs showing impact on postdocs in the US - outlook is bad, see alt text in first image

Sharing this from the National Postdoctoral Association
HT - American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)

No bueno.

87% of postdocs in the survey are funded by the fed; 54% of postdocs are impacted by executive branch actions; 78% say their position is threatened or research delayed!