Jason Chen

A year ago today, 168 of my NSF colleagues were fired suddenly & illegally. Half got their jobs back after an intense legal fight, but none of this is over for our small/mighty agency. Even while there are so many things happening everywhere all at once & it’s exhausting, I’m glad to keep pushing.

Oh NO I just saw this one, what a sterling example of an image that says “do not take me seriously”

<steps to microphone>
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Most microbes do not coevolve with *hosts* even when found associated with hosts

Casual botanizing at a Dutch grocery store today: some eye popping Primula hybrids and cut Ornithogalum stalks. Both items I didn't see very commonly when I would browse at most groceries in the US.

Jack Horner Facebook post from 12 Feb. So, while I'm being investigated by SVP, why don't you outraged paleo-people get back to doing some factual science, using the scientific method. You seem to have forgotten how that works, you know, using actual evidence? For Darren, I think this is essential, as I get the impression from his DinoCon disinvite, he's still cheesed off from Kevin and I pummeling him over the whole Darwin sexual selection argument back in 2013. But, I do thank you Darren, for weeding out the invasive nuisances from my social media platforms, I was curious as to how I was going to do that on my own.

For people outside of paleontology:

This senior paleontologist, who married a 19-year-old, visited a convicted pedophile in 2012 & 2016. Is beefing over a conference argument from 13 years ago, angry because he was banned from a family-friendly event across the Atlantic. The level of petty.

I stand with Colette.

WTF

Staying silent would be better than this… a lot better.

He also said that he would sue Harvard for $1B because to NYT hurt his feelings with good reporting.

@standupforscience.bsky.social

A pretty stunning attempt at rewriting the last year. While there are exceptions, legal challenges were largely led by faculty, AAUP, and state AGs, while university leadership and scientific societies almost uniformly attempted appeasement and acquiesced in advance.

A gum bug in orange.

Hello #InsectThursday

Fig. 1. Schematic of the organization of an indeterminate nodule. The persistent meristem in indeterminate nodules produces a cylindrical shape with distinct zones (Vasse et al. 1990).

Editor’s Pick: “Non-Nitrogen-Fixing Sinorhizobium meliloti Can Escape Sanctions in Indeterminate Alfalfa Nodules, Exhibiting Parasitic Growth,” by Amanpreet K. Brar et al. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-06-25-0074-R

I wonder if the New York Times will go after any of the prominent academics in the Epstein files for being rapists as hard as they went after Claudine Gay for being kind of sloppy with citations in her graduate thesis.

If not, why not?

These were the people who held the careers of female scholars in their hands . This is who was shaping or epistemological world

I see no reason not to recognize the result of that work as developing scientific progress equal to, and vital for, our growing but still incomplete understanding of microbial ecology, physiology, and genetics.

have a negative day-to-day impact for those studying particular model strains. If anything, when other microbiologists take on the difficult but underappreciated task of discovering and segmenting the continuum of microbial diversity into manageable units...

Agreed! To me it's also about being precise about strain backgrounds when my work focuses on just one or a few strains. Species assignments, on the other hand, are most useful for undertaking comparative studies of microbes, so I don't buy the argument that shifts in taxonomic status...

Just arrived! A stunning illustrated encyclopedia of Prioninae (Cerambycidae), created with leading experts, featuring 200 species across ~127 genera with high-quality photos 🪲🌍

#Entomology #Prioninae #Cerambycidae

tinyurl.com/yuvjt2nm

and does nothing to either preserve or enhance scientific progress.

I have other positive and critical opinions about this commentary, but this is my off-the-cuff response as a younger microbiologist, at least.

Which is how situations arise where antiquated naming conventions no longer reflect updated knowledge of evolutionary reality. Legitimate debates about the utility of methods used for species delimitation in prokaryotes aside, I would argue that this type of situation only exacerbates confusion...

new names after Burkholderia was split into multiple genera is one example. Rather, what tends to underlie the emotional response (which the commentary acknowledges) to taxonomic updates is an attitude among many biologists that taxonomy is less deserving of recognition than their own field...

scientific progress is being impeded by these changes. Instead, biologists are remarkably good at adapting to changes in naming conventions, and newer generations simply learn to navigate around historical names as they become more steeped in their discipline. The rapid adoption of...

Maybe it's my background as a biologist, but I am not opposed to renaming model bacterial taxa when the decisions are made on a scientifically sound basis. Plenty of other subdisciplines have seen grumbling about their iconic and flagship taxa being renamed, but I have never believed that...

A quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen | PNAS Microorganisms commonly exist in polymicrobial communities, where they can respond to interspecies secreted molecules by altering behaviors and phy...

A quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen

-in PNAS from @anukharelab.bsky.social

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

Within-host adaptive evolution is limited by genetic drift in experimental human influenza A virus infections https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.07.698006v1

NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers Halted training programs, funding chaos, and hiring freezes jeopardize advancement options for early career researchers.

NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers

‘These bottlenecks have gotten so bad that some labs have had to ration gloves and paper towels.’

Ian Morgan for TheScientist

www.the-scientist.com/nih-leadersh...

One day in the lab, we accidentally discovered that the spines of a cactus 🌵 straighten when exposed to fog. I was intrigued and so were my collaborators. How does this work and what can be gained from it? Here are some of the answers in our new preprint:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

One of the first things the Trump regime did on assuming power was murder thousands of children.

The most effective way to oppose this political takeover is collective action from the academic community. If the first universities that sign Trump contracts face strong academic boycotts- no talks, no manuscript reviews, no interviews of graduates- that should dissuade others from signing.

Thank you from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Today is the last day for CPB staff. A team remains to sustain operations at a reduced scale until all obligations are fulfilled. This is a challenging moment for us. Our departing colleagues strengthened the impact of public media & made a profound difference in the lives of the American people. 😥

This is THE CORE reason Trump defeated liberals in the US in 2016 and today.

everyone must understand: we are dealing with bad-faith liars. To beat them we MUST attack their agenda, and yes, who they are: their credentials.

/end

Dual transposon sequencing profiles the genetic interaction landscape in bacteria Gene redundancy complicates systematic characterization of gene function as single-gene deletions may not produce discernible phenotypes. We report dual transposon sequencing (dual Tn-seq), a platform...

This week @science.org Dual #transposon sequencing profiles the #genetic interaction landscape in #bacteria | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🦠🔬🧫🧬

I hate this for the second years who had already been working on applications.

Also the USDA fellowship RFA has still not been issued for this year.

It is harder and harder to find fellowships to support the newest generation of scientists. 🧪

We are shortchanging our future.