Phoebe Cohen

I will fund this.

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

📖❤️ NEWS: You can now pre-order my book! "Unlocking Justice confronts America’s unfair legal system with data—and humanity." It's accessible, optimistic, and in the spirit of Ida B. Wells, who said “the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” I wrote it for each of you. Also, ⬇️

Boston and Camberville! See you Thursday! I am 99% done with this epic book and so excited to blather with @peterbrannen.bsky.social about it at @harvardbookstore.bsky.social

My employer, Williams College—A PRIVATE INSTITUTION—has its flags at half-staff for Charlie Kirk. There is a MA state proclamation but it applies only to public/state/military buildings. We are not any of those.

What.

The.

Actual.

F***.

I am sick to my stomach.

www.mass.gov/info-details...

Opinion | Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way

I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Charlie Kirk’s ultimate goal, which he said time and time again, would have been the suppression, through threat of violence and the use of state power, of the rights of those he disagreed with, including freedom of expression.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/o...

Grateful for this thoughtful and generous review! Captures some of the admitted madness of the book

Or maybe like funky turbidite beds with larger grains at the top (topic sentence) then smaller grains in the middle and larger grains again at the bottom?

a cartoon of mickey mouse walking down the street ALT: a cartoon of mickey mouse walking down the street

🎶🎶 blame capitalism 🎶🎶

ooh love this analogy! thank you!!

I'm incredibly lucky to have a secure job where I'm allowed to do "slow" science. Often I think about all the good work that isn't being done because we're so beholden to capitalist restrictions that push us to produce more, faster, with less. Another way that science is, indeed, very political.

I am SO CLOSE to being ready to submit a paper that's been more than a decade in the making. It will be (I think) an important contribution, and was done with the help over 12+ undergrads and a bunch of collaborators over many years in the field and the lab. Sometimes, science is slow.

News PhD and MSc positions in Phylogenetic, Computational, and/or Evolutionary Paleobiology [Posted September 2025. Deadline is January 15, 2026. See below for information about the lab, student opportu…

I'm hoping to take 1 MSc & 1 PhD student next year in the areas of Phylogenetic, Computational, and/or Evolutionary Paleobiology. Please reach out if you are interested in joining the @oupaleobiology.bsky.social, especially if interested in working on fossil echinoderms. Link for more info below. 🧪

a cartoon drawing of snoopy sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper ALT: a cartoon drawing of snoopy sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper

This fall I'm teaching a new mini-course for our senior thesis students and the first class is about organizing your thoughts / ideas & getting writing done - what tools & tips do you all use? I want to give them a broad array of ideas & options beyond things like outlines & scheduling writing time.

Being on social media is fine but if it’s getting in the way of you doing deep reading and deep thinking, then your balance of how you spend your time is off

Lots of interesting threads here and none of them are a substitute for reading a good book or essay

When you are living under a eugenicist dictatorship hell bent on disabling and killing as many people as possible, lying to get a vaccine is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT MORALLY JUSTIFIED

Happy pub day to @peterbrannen.bsky.social and The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything! Thanks for knowing how much this inscription would piss me off 🥰 #notboring #stillabillion

I've spent all morning making ggplot cross plots of confusing min/geochem on billion year old+ rocks and I have no idea what's going on but GOSH DO I LOVE DOING IT. Anyway if anyone wants to explain to me why there's an inverse relationship btwn TOC & kaolinite hit me up

@chrisjunium.bsky.social

Happy publication day to @peterbrannen.bsky.social !

The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything.

And really, it is.

This book is astounding, weaving together the whole history of Earth with our modern climate predicament. If you're into science, history, politics...check it out!

“Anyone who tells you they know what even 4° C of warming or more in a century will actually mean—or what that will look like on a planet gripped by ice ages for the past 3 million years—is full of shit. Especially if they’re an economist.”

Wise words from @peterbrannen.bsky.social’s great book.

A sea lion sticking its head up above the water

OK so I've been pretty quiet on here for quite some time. I'm still trying to figure out how best to use this place in a way that is generative, sustainable, and (at least sometimes) fun.

Here's a sea lion I met last week at Carmel River Beach on a family trip to CA.

AND I'm getting to read the book early because I am prepping for this event in just a few weeks! Boston area friends - come out! @harvardbookstore.bsky.social @peterbrannen.bsky.social

People. This book is SO GOOD. Truly -- I am about 70% the way through and the way Peter explains and synthesizes and expands and provides fresh perspective is truly stunning.

New Open Interval Cohort Will Explore Symmetry Through Art and Science New Open Interval Cohort Will Explore Symmetry Through Art and Science on Simons Foundation

Very happy to share that @squeakybuffalo.bsky.social, with artist Anna Scime and scientist Neil Patterson J, has been selected as one of the 15 cohorts for the Open Interval Program, part of the Simons Foundation's Science, Society & Culture division. www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/05/19/n...

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...

We are excited to join BlueSky at the this exciting time for the program.
The Living Snow Project is going global in 2025!
Anyone anywhere (in mountainous and polar places) can help us study snow algae !
#LivingSnowProject #WatermelonSnow #CitizenScience #ClimateScience #SnowAlgae #glacierblood

In Search of the First Animals A fossilized ocean reef on a mountaintop may hold clues to the evolution of complex life

After writing a book about very young fossil reefs, I got to learn about very old fossil reefs while reporting this story for @nautil.us featuring ⚒️🧪science by @phoebefossil.bsky.social and her collaborators and edits by @kristenfrench.bsky.social nautil.us/in-search-of...

🚨 Our terminated NSF grant tracker now includes 434 grants that were terminated last Friday. We think this is all of them for now.

Link to the tracker: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

Huge credit to @noamross.net for this. Contact me via Signal at sdelaney.84 for questions or corrections.

NOAA just announced a long list of datasets that are going away🧪⚒️🌊: www.nesdis.noaa.gov/about/docume...
Download what you need asap and send comments to: ncei.info@noaa.gov

My amazing department at Williams College is hiring a 3 year full time visiting assistant professor in ocean/climate/surface processes! apply.interfolio.com/166059 - we will begin reviewing applications May 2nd - feel free to reach out w/ questions.