Megan Barkdull
@meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Asst. Curator of Entomology @nhm.org | evolution, genomes, museums | @cornelluniversity.bsky.social & New College of Florida alumna | she/her. | views are my own. mbarkdull.github.io
This is an excellent article by Irene Ngun at @standupforscience.net I commented about these issues in my NSF comment, which is here: www.regulations.gov/comment/NSF-... If you did not do so there's still time. You can submit multiple comments.
How the National Science Foundation is Closing the Door on Opportunity in Science — Stand Up for Science Foundation
At the National Science Foundation, the recent rescinding of Title VI disparate-impact regulations, termination of equity-focused STEM education programs and broadening-participation grants, and...
standupforscience.foundation
'All told, spending by nearly all of NSF’s eight main directorates is being curtailed by between 20% and 40% relative to the previous year. These reductions have come despite Congress’s directive that the agency not reduce spending for any of its directorates by more than 5%'. 1/3
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
nature.com
Hey folks, this hasn’t gotten much attention, but remember those proposed OMB rule changes we all commented on recently? There’s a new attempt to sneak them just for NSF. We have three days to comment. Please don’t sleep on this!
Noam Ross@noamross.net · yesterdayThree more days to comment on NSF's attempt to smuggle in OMB's already-rejected policies of terminating any grant without cause, gutting civil rights obligations and restricting international collaborations. Submit your comment today! Then call your representatives. 🧪
The US National Science Foundation will award about 30% fewer new research grants this fiscal year than in the last one, Nature has learnt. go.nature.com/3UcGoNW
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
go.nature.com
Another PhD opportunity in my lab! Interdisciplinary NSF-funded project developing a new framework and tools for understanding and valuing ecosystem services, with a focus on crop #pollination. Details: cos.unt.edu/biology/lich... 🌐🌎👩🏿🔬
Opportunities
Interested in joining the Lichtenberg Lab? See below. The Lichtenberg lab is committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment to trainees from diverse backgrounds.
cos.unt.edu
[JOB!] I'm hiring for a really exciting postdoc position. A combination of breeding experiments, conservation genomics, and student mentorship. Room/board at the @amnh.org Southwestern Research Station each summer, 40 months of support, new science building at BSU. Share broadly! ad: bit.ly/4hKaUIL
Doing a bioacoustics project somewhere in the eastern US? For a large-scale study exploring how bird communities react to disturbance across regions/habitats, we are looking for daytime recordings at consistent sites over 2+ years, during the same season(s) each year. Please get in touch!
People who don’t know the difference between ‘entomology’ and ‘etymology’ bug us in ways we cannot put into words.
Had fun chatting with the @latimes.com about figeater beetles for this piece! 🪲
Los Angeles Times@latimes.com · 4d agoThis clumsy green beetle is buzzing all over L.A. It might just crash into your face
Also, new this year: MolCellDevBioJobs! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
molcelldevbiojobs 2026-27
docs.google.com
EcoEvoJobs 2026-27 just opened for business and we've already got 79 faculty / permanent jobs listed. Please repost! ecoevojobs.net
ecoevojobs.net 2026-27
ecoevojobs.net
Officially recruiting postdocs at GW. If you are interested in genetic novelty, structural variation, or evo genetics please get in touch! We have data sets on mulitple organisms with large population sizes (Drosophila, Megalonaias nervosa) and species in decline (fireflies, mussels, elephants).
Major #Botany2026 FOMO, but the drive MA->OR starts this week. So, sharing from afar: I’m recruiting grad students for my new lab at OSU! Info: www.mckenzie-lab.org . We're going to have FUN with systematics, speciation genomics, methods, natural history, and more in North Am angiosperms. Reach out!
At #Botany2026, I was hoping to start recruiting for my lab group. If you are interested in polyploidy and population genetics, please reach out.
Because the 1st is a Saturday, “How is it August already?!” will be observed today, Friday, July 31, 2026. Please panic accordingly.
Vought is still at it. Despite the thousands of comments submitted opposing his OMB grants rule, he quietly submitted changes to the policy and procedures guide for NSF grants that would implement those same unpopular changes. Send a comment and write your MOC 👇 @alt-nihscience4all.altgov.info
Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net · 4w agoRegister for the webinars to learn about the key NSF changes, analyze the implications, draft strong public comments, and identify target messaging for the Hill: zurl.co/TRIP1 And, leave your public comment: zurl.co/QVxp5
Just hit a new record for number of reviewers invited -- 24, and still counting. (If you're reading this and want to review a plant macroecology paper, lmk?)
We (@rileyshultz.bsky.social) tracked a recessive mutation from birth to death in honey bees. It causes ivory eyes. We collaborated across the continent to identify the mutation and it's downstream effects. Ultimately it is purified through selection on drones. We think Hamilton would be pleased!
Molecular Biology and Evolution@molbioevol.bsky.social · 3w agoShultz @beeharpur.bsky.social et al. documented the trajectory of a spontaneous deleterious mutation from its origin in a single queen to its extinction, directly observing how haplodiploidy exposes recessive alleles to immediate purifying selection 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag156 #societyjournal
From collections to conservation: the indispensable role of natural history museums The IUCN Species Survival Commission has published a Position Statement on the vital role of biological collections in biodiversity conservation iucn.org/news/202607/...
From collections to conservation: the indispensable role of natural history museums
The IUCN Species Survival Commission has published a Position Statement on the vital role of biological collections in biodiversity conservation: a formal acknowledgement that natural history museums,...
iucn.org
Finally posted an ad for the postdoc position on my new NSF-funded project—come help build a new method to study plants' responses to environmental variation in space and over time, and figure out interesting ways to use it! Apply by 23 August to ensure consideration. Details: buff.ly/qTvaqvD
Any invertebrate zoologists: looking for resources to store and properly curate extant specimens. Anything from boxes to advice. Have a teaching collection that needs love, because this type of thing makes me sad. I want to teach this part of the animal kingdom as best I can!
New grad student opportunity in my lab (PhD or MS)! Part of a USDA grant determining impacts of ranch management on #pollinators, plants, and soil microbes. Details: cos.unt.edu/biology/lich... 🌎👩🏿🔬🌐
Opportunities
Interested in joining the Lichtenberg Lab? See below. The Lichtenberg lab is committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment to trainees from diverse backgrounds.
cos.unt.edu
1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.
The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science
As a labor-augmenting technology, large language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate scientific activity across the research pipeline. But even if LLMs perform on par with human experts at ...
arxiv.org
After four years, several updates and a handful of CRAN releases, 𝗹𝘁𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗥-𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲, reached a version I feel genuinely good about sharing with the community. github.com/loukesio/ltc...
Looking for collections experience? Love plants? Living in the Chicago region? If YES! then be an @mortonarboretum.bsky.social short-term research technician position in the Herbarium and Forest Ecology Lab's wood collection. Msg with questions, apply today: careers.hireology.com/themortonarb...
The natural history collections at the University of Texas, holding maybe 5 million specimens, is partly closed down because our buildings are falling apart and UT is doing the bare minimum of life support. We could fix it for 1/5th the price of a vanity purchase of a single dinosaur specimen.
AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · last mo.🦖 A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed 'Gus' sells for $50.1 million at Sotheby's in New York, making it the most valuable dinosaur fossil bought at auction after a 10-minute battle between seven bidders u.afp.com/SKv4
Ento Alert! A collecting net and monarch butterfly in the next emoji updates! www.engadget.com/2215190/the-...
