I’d like to propose an educational exchange program where climate change deniers are dropped “Naked and Afraid” style into the UK during a heatwave 🧪
Sarah Schwartz
@flaskandquill.bsky.social
Environmental microbiologist + science writer. Researcher @ Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University 🧫🧬🌱🏞️ Previously: UC Berkeley, MIT, Science News, UCSD. She/her, opinions my own, likes/saves aren't endorsements. sarahlschwartz.com
Lovely time of year for fieldwork in Switzerland. 🧪🇨🇭
If you have loved ones/colleagues in the northern UK, today is the day to ask us for things. We’ve had consecutive warm days. We’re flooded with Vitamin D. Plants are blooming. Birds are singing. WWIII was postponed. We’ll give advice! We’ll help you move! We’ll join your collaboration!
Me, fixing a batch file for the sixth time: I hate phylogenetics Me, talking to literally anybody about phylogenetics: 🧪
No new PFAS restrictions in CA cookware, food packaging, dental floss, children's playpens and strollers, and other everyday products. 1/3 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/c...
Newsom Vetoes California’s Ban on ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Cookware
nytimes.com
MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration. MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone." orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart
orgchart.mit.edu
Please be extra patient with your friends and colleagues in the Bay Area today. Most of us were up at 3 am for the earthquake, and to make matters worse, the Earth DIDN'T finish the job and swallow us whole
Small joys: The Campanile today, singing the song of angry men.
Last week, the EPA rolled back regulations on 4 of 6 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that were strictly regulated in drinking water under the previous administration. (1/8) 🧪 tinyurl.com/y3bdhbkz
Trump Administration to Uphold Some PFAS Limits but Eliminate Others
nytimes.com
If you give a plant some silicon...it might make a pest-killing goo? Many thanks to the experts who told me about the complex science of silica supplementation. www.sciencenews.org/article/sili... 🧪
How silicon turns tomato plants into mean, green, pest-killing machines
Treated plants fight pests without the need for toxic pesticides, oozing a "larval toffee" that stunts tomato pinworms’ growth and attracts predators.
sciencenews.org
I can’t believe this needs to be said. TransGENIC mice are not TransGENDER mice
New writing! For @sciam.bsky.social, I talk about misleading memes. If you understand evolution enough to know this already, great! But memes/youtubes/etc reach folks with no biology background. Science has been twisted to justify bad things, such as eugenics, before. NOT IN CRABS' NAME. 🦀🧪🦑⚒️
Crab Memes Amplify Mistaken Ideas about Evolution
Memes about repeated evolution of crabs have been co-opted to joke about technology and “ultimate forms.” They’re hilarious, but they oversimplify natural variation, giving bad arguments a scientific ...
scientificamerican.com
If you also feel like displaying the NSF's "banned words" wherever you go, you can get them on a t-shirt, tote, or mug. The proceeds are donated to various science and research nonprofits in the US. www.bonfire.com/store/nerd-b... 🧪
Nerd Behavior | Official Merchandise | Bonfire
By researchers, for everyone. All proceeds donated to support research in the USA.
bonfire.com
I work in a group studying PFAS. These compounds are nearly everywhere on Earth now, are EXTREMELY hard to clean up or break down, and have been repeatedly linked to a ton of health risks--cancers, heart issues, immune/ neuro/ hormonal effects, etc. Not what you want in your water. 🧪
Trump Promises Clean Water. Will He Clean Up PFAS?
Public health advocates worry that Donald Trump could unravel federal clean water efforts, including restrictions on lead pipes and chemicals known as PFAS.
nytimes.com
So, which necessary and seemingly-benign scientific entities have gradually become your sworn enemies? I'll go first: 1. Pure glycerol 2. Conda environments 3. eRA. Commons. 🧪 🦠 😒
On a dark road in Massachusetts last night. Absolutely incredible. 🧪
The SDS for a chemical I just received is offered in two forms of English. What are the chances that the European version lists exposure hazards entirely in Cockney rhyming slang? 🧪
Imagine if "peers" were more literal, and THIS had to be the whole jury
The lab supply chain in a nutshell: The redox reagent that was scheduled to arrive today actually arrived last week, but what did arrive today was the bicarb that I ordered 8 months ago
The Biering Lab at UCSD is now hiring! Lab Manager: employment.ucsd.edu/lab-assistan... Lab Technician: employment.ucsd.edu/sra-1-126961... Postdocs and grad students should also reach out for more info! Learn more here: bieringlab.biosci.ucsd.edu Please repost
"Combining experimental and bioinformatic approaches" 🧪 🦠
It's that time of year again. Halidon. Fall. Mix. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPR... Science 🧪 + writing peeps (skeeps?), this is *elite* working music. Your copy will be cleaner, your data more significant, your self-worth higher. Treat yourself
Classical Music for Autumn
🎵 Buy the MP3 album on the Official Halidon Music Store: https://bit.ly/45XcNIM🎧 Listen to our playlist on Spotify: http://bit.ly/ClassicalAutumn💿 Order "...
youtube.com
It's September 21...can we also chase the *smoke* away? Asking for a friend. Also for myself. Also for the whole Bay Area