Lisa Margonelli
@lisamargonelli.bsky.social
Maine resident. Books: Underbug, Oil on the Brain. Fan of termites, mushrooms, clams, and phylogenetic trees. EIC: Issues in Science and Technology. Opinions are my own.
“Although the late 2020s may feel more like a dumpster fire than a garbage can, there are still many opportunities for policy innovation in today’s turbulent streams and whorls of scandal and reaction,” ISSUES editor-in-chief @lisamargonelli.bsky.social writes. Read: issues.org/mohole-momen...
Mohole Moments
Mohole moments are when an investment in science goes disastrously wrong, revealing the tacit premise of science’s social contract.
issues.org
No one underbabied. Everyone very much babied!
jessica harvey@jessiscah23.bsky.social · 2mo agowhat the fuck
![Adactylidium is a genus of mites known for its unusual life cycle.[1] An impregnated female mite feeds upon a single egg of a thrips, rapidly growing five to eight female offspring and one male in her body. The single male mite mates with all his sisters when they are still inside their mother. The new females, now impregnated, eat their way out of their mother's body so that they can emerge to find new thrips eggs, killing their mother in the process (though the mother may be only 4 days old at the time), starting the cycle again.[2][3][4] The male emerges as well, but does not look for food or new mates, and dies after a few hours.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fvcmzwcs3pydvha2bxknvorw/bafkreib2h7q4wqylcwdia45nvpujlkzahde5fehfgmg4o7kks526zrrakq)
Please join us on Wednesday!
Issues in Science and Technology@issuesinst.bsky.social · 3mo agoHow do Moon missions reflect changes in science’s social contract? Join us on May 20 at 3:30 PM ET for a conversation with Amy Kaminski, @astrokatie.com, Zachary Pirtle, and @monscience.bsky.social (moderator). Register Here: asu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
An environmental knowledge commons could support evidence-based policymaking, but it will require long-term coordination across the many communities monitoring pollution and local conditions. Read @sdosemagen.bsky.social and Gwen Ottinger‘s essay in our Spring 2026 issue: issues.org/environmenta...
Constructing a New Knowledge Infrastructure
A knowledge commons could support evidence-based policymaking, but it will require coordination with the communities monitoring pollution.
issues.org
This article reports some of the possible thinking behind the firing of members of the NSB and the lack of leadership at NSF. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
Board Ouster Raises Further Concerns About NSF’s Future
The White House axed all members of the board overseeing the National Science Foundation Friday, leaving the agency with no board, director or deputy director. It finally provided a reason Monday afte...
insidehighered.com
In the latest installment of our podcast, Edward You, a former special agent in the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, joins ISSUES editor-in-chief @lisamargonelli.bsky.social to discuss how You helped reframe how policymakers understand biosecurity. issues.org/edward-you-p...
“It makes you rethink in history all those heroes,” Ms. Lopez said. “The movement — that’s the hero.”
Gonna hold on to this croissant metaphor for the rest of my creative life
When I was coming up the songs were about nuclear war but the Oreos were stuf of optimism. Not anymore.
EntSoc's Chrysalis Fund gives out grants to K-12 educators for insect-themed projects. Applications due June 1st.
Chrysalis Fund: Apply for Funding
entsoc.org
I spoke with @bloomberg.com about the designation of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk" by the Trump Administration www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCQ0...
Trump Tells US to Stop Using Anthropic Products
YouTube video by Bloomberg Television
youtube.com
Alas, I am not at #aaasmtg because I got Covid! Who’da thunk? But you can visit @issuesinst.bsky.social’s Kelsey Schoenberg and Monya Baker in the (great big) @arizonastateuni.bsky.social booth. Get your own copy of the glorious Buttercow issue!
You got it! That’s exactly what I wanted the book to be about! Thank you.
Sam Dobbie@sam1982379.bsky.social · 8mo ago#NotAloneTalk 2. “Underbug” by Lisa Margonelli, a book about termites.. except it’s really about the scientists who study them… except it’s REALLY about how we do science and why we ask the questions we ask. Like a termite mound, it has many layers.
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered. He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here : www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.
washingtonpost.com
Why was science’s social contract such a useful myth? Let me count the ways… Or, as Heather Douglas says: “a shield can become a weapon.”
Issues in Science and Technology@issuesinst.bsky.social · 10mo agoThe much-discussed “social contract” between science and the federal government, once described by physicist Harvey Brooks as “free of strings,” is now “clearly defunct,” @lisamargonelli.bsky.social writes in her Editor’s Journal for the Fall ISSUES. issues.org/science-soci...
“Rather than saying, as we have traditionally, that engineering is only for people who are good at math and science... It should be more like: ‘Who’s interested in helping invent new things that will solve problems for people?’” —Tsu-Jae Liu, @nationalacademies.org issues.org/engineering-...
“The Ability to Produce Is Just as Important as the Ability to Innovate.”
National Academy of Engineering president Tsu-Jae Liu discusses how engineers can help the United States translate new ideas into practical benefits for the nation.
issues.org
Amid the political upheaval of 1967, a group of bureaucratic innovators within the federal government released a manifesto. Their message: “Invention and innovation lie at the heart of the process by which America has grown and renewed itself.” Read the story: issues.org/nation-of-in...
A Nation of Innovators
The story of how the federal government became an innovation evangelist in the 1960s is an account of fits, starts, and ideological ambiguity.
issues.org
Did you know Bluesky's founder has an #STS degree? In a new article, Erin Burkett and I explain why, despite current threats to humanities and social science, "STEM-in-Society programs" like STS are more important than ever. And we guide funders and university leaders how to better support them.
STEM-in-Society Programs Deserve Institutional Support
STEM-in-society programs have proven their utility and have never been more needed—but they are in jeopardy nationwide.
issues.org
Hello, professors & teachers! Can't believe it's syllabus season already. If you assign Meet the Neighbors—perhaps for your human-wildlife conflict, animal studies, animal intelligence, or environmental ethics course?—I'd be glad to Zoom in for a Q&A. Ping me if you're interested!
My 2019 short story 'The Song Between Worlds', about the paths of a 1 percenter space tourist & an indigenous worker crossing in a Martian city, is republished in @issuesinst.bsky.social for @imaginationasu.bsky.social's Future Tense series, w/ a brief new intro by me:
The Song Between Worlds
Indrapramit Das takes us to a future Mars full of wealthy space tourists to explore how tourism commodifies culture.
issues.org
Sure, anteaters are cool, but this is really a story about how important termites, ants, and social insects are—inspiring evolution all around them. Go termites!
David Grimm@david-grimm.bsky.social · last yr.Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org
“Call it the Vannevar Index: The greater the pressure on the scientific enterprise, the more one hears about Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s science advisor.” Read @lisamargonelli.bsky.social’s Editor’s Journal for the Summer ISSUES: issues.org/innovation-h...
A take worth reading on #scipol reform debate by @issuesinst.bsky.social's @lisamargonelli.bsky.social. Esp by science advocates. Back to Vannevar Bush or to what's next in the Endless Frontier? issues.org/innovation-h...
Innovation’s Hidden Scaffolds
In this time of upheaval, what does it mean that so many advocates for science are pointing to an 80-year-old report by Vannevar Bush?
issues.org