Maureen Kearney
@maureenmkearney.bsky.social
Biology, evolution, phylogenetics, biodiversity, sustainability, science, and science policy. Also: nature, music, poetry, history, philosophy and all the good things.
Back on here to thank @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social "It’s as if we launched a war against nature, and that has turned place after place into something that resembles a war zone. The climate movement is a peace movement, a movement to end this war and its casualties." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
We launched a war on nature. Now we are in a climate warzone | Rebecca Solnit
Summer is not what it once was. We have been robbed of one of life’s great joys
theguardian.com
Neil Shubin chooses his words carefully, but the new NAS president would like the National Academies to be more forceful in advocating for science. www.science.org/content/arti...
Paleontologist Neil Shubin vows to keep National Academy of Sciences relevant
New NAS president discusses the future of the beleaguered institution and the precarious state of U.S. science under Trump
science.org
Is equity in science a beautiful lie? At a high-level summit in Germany, RoRI & British Academy Fellow Similo Ngwenya discussed the structural inequalities embedded in global research systems: researchonresearch.org/equity-in-sc...
📢 New RoRI Report: The Future of Peer Review Peer review is at a breaking point. Strained by hyper-competition & AI, we need system-wide reform. Read here: rori.figshare.com/articles/report/The_Future_of_Peer_Review_A_system-wide_perspective/32685351?file=65684898
Had two papers accepted in the last week: 1) "Common Ancestry, Contemporary Phylogenetics, and Process Ontology" in Systematic Biology (co-authored with @maureenmkearney.bsky.social). 2) "A Conventional View" in Biology & Philosophy (co-authored with Katherine Berensen & Peyton Cooper).
BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained. That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social
Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration
Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.
nature.com
The draft Nature Record National Assessment is now open for comment! Take a look and tell us what we got right, what we missed, and what changes you’re seeing where you live. Your perspective will help shape the final record of nature in the U.S. naturerecord.substack.com/p/the-draft-...
The Draft is Ready. Now We Need You.
Share your perspective on the state of nature in the U.S.
naturerecord.substack.com
Care about nature? I know you do! Consider engaging and commenting on The Nature Record via the website's public portal. naturerecord.org Also - today's related article.. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/c...
Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently
nytimes.com
The Nation stands up for the nation. www.thenation.com/article/acti...
“The Nation” Nominates Minneapolis for the Nobel Peace Prize
With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for “the positive affirmation of peace.”
thenation.com
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
Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social · 6mo agoMERE HOURS after the President of the United States posted an AI video of the Obama’s as monkeys, the Science Tech Action Committee (led by @aaas.org and @researchamerica.bsky.social) posted a THANK YOU to TRUMP for SIGNING THE BUDGET. Shot. Chaser. sciencetechaction.org/aboutus/
Ta-Nehisi Coates lays bare in brilliant prose the original sin of the Department of Homeland Security. It is right there in its name. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
“The Homeland” Is War on America: The Blood-and-Soil Nationalism That Killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti
In the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Trump has clarified an inconvenient fact: The culture war is an actual war.
vanityfair.com
This graph makes me want to cry.
David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · 7mo agoThis is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Sometimes, you just really have to contemplate the distinction between gatekeeping and peer review...
Exactly. Not to mention damage to translational science-based policies, or the redistribution of funding away from critical research agendas and towards others.
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 7mo agoThis reflects only the appropriation levels. The damage done to processes and personnel within the science agencies is considerable.
Powerful piece in STAT this morning from some NIH staff members who have resigned www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n... 1/3
The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left
“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity,” write four scientists and administrators who recently resigned from the NIH.
statnews.com
“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.” IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors. — @davidobura.bsky.social , @ipbes.net Chair
“President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the bedrock global treaty to tackle climate change is a new low and yet another a sign that this authoritarian, anti-science administration is determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilize global cooperation." Read UCS Statement:
Trump Sinks to New Low by Announcing US Withdrawal from 66 International Organizations, Including UNFCCC and IPCC
President Trump announced today that he is removing the United States from the UNFCCC and IPCC, as well as 64 other entities or U.N. organizations. Statements by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
ucs.org
This morning, Mavis Staples' "It's a Sad and Beautiful World" came up for me and I thought - pretty apropos right now. And that was before the news of today... Maybe all we have left right now is to document things and tell the truth about what's happening and write heartrending songs, IDK.
You know you really have the right sort of friends, when you receive a gift with a card that reads "CAUTION: Contains mushrooms!"😍
But it is also frequently over-estiamted. Thus I would suggest people look at this new paper (not by me) on this topic: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... "Reassessing Interkingdom Horizontal Gene Transfer Suggests Limited Influence on Plant Genomes"
Reassessing Interkingdom Horizontal Gene Transfer Suggests Limited Influence on Plant Genomes
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has been proposed as an important contributor to plant genome evolution, with hundreds of candidate genes reported across kingdoms. By reanalyzing published cases with ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
From Nina Simone’s lyrical protest of systemic racism to Bad Bunny’s advocacy for immigrants’ rights through song, music has always played a critical role in resistance.
Sounds like activism: musicians who fight for change – in pictures
Photographer Janette Beckman and curator Julie Grahame have organized a one-time fundraiser for the ACLU that showcases images of musicians who have recorded protest songs or are known for their activism
theguardian.com
New Special Issue of #HOPOS on Paul Feyerabend. Featuring a new transcription and critical overview of Paul Feyerabend’s unpublished manuscript “On the Responsibility of Scientists” as well as eight new papers. Link to the special issue: www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/hopos/20...
