Join us in supporting these undergraduate presenters from the Johnson Lab @mossmatters.bsky.social at #Botany2026!

Faculty groups sued Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton + the system’s regents Wednesday, asking a federal judge to block classroom restrictions they say have censored professors who teach about race, gender identity and sexual orientation + intentionally discriminated against Black faculty.

Texas Tech sued over limits on race, gender instruction

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to halt the restrictions as discriminatory, improperly vague and a violation of free speech.

texastribune.org

🫡

ID4 in Real Time@1996id4.bsky.social · last mo.

It is believed that the American fleet has run out of ammunition. This may be the end. (OK, it probably IS the end. Of everything.)

One more comment about this. You thought A&M was bad for censoring Plato's Symposium? Well, Texas Tech said "hold my beer" and banned Plato's REPUBLIC from a philosophy class because there's a brief mention of homosexual love in it.

Society for Classical Studies@scsclassics.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The SCS has signed onto @historians.org's statement opposing new Texas Tech University Course Content Guidelines which prohibit content related to “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” in core and undergraduate classes, without defining those terms. Read more: www.historians.org/news/aha-opp...

You’ve heard of Moon Joy, but have you ever considered: BOG JOY?!

M’Kayla Motley@mkaylamotley.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The project has been in planning and contract phase for the last 3 months is finally in implementation phase! This week we finally got to install 1/3 water monitors into the Nature Conservancy’s Splinter Hill Bog Preserve in Baldwin Co, Alabama. @nature.org

#Artemis II lunar flyby images are showing up! 😍 A crescent Earth setting behind the Moon.

TFW you studied lunar geology for your PhD and you just heard the Artemis II crew describe lunar meteor impact flashes from the far side of the moon science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/kels...

I went back to capture what the astronauts said in full when the clock was stopped at T-10 minutes and they were asked if they were go for launch: This is Victor. We are going for our families. This is Christina. We are going for our teammates. This is Jeremy. We are going for all humanity.

Dr. Jessie Christiansen@aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"OUTSTANDING."

Did you know it costs us $64 a month to host Biology PhD stipends? Excited for this upgrade which takes our hosting costs to $0! mlgaynor.com/BiologyPhDSt...

Me when I mess up my R plot

Here is a link to a video of the speech. xcancel.com/netflix/stat...

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My quote of the day Harrison Ford SAG-AFTRA awards, March 1, 2026

Guess who’s got two thumbs, a sword, and tenure? 🎉🍾 grateful to the wonderful friends and colleagues and collaborators who have enabled me getting here 💕 @mossmatters.bsky.social

Good news is hard to come by, so I must celebrate a great week: • Paper accepted • Paper submitted • 3 of my lab undergrads got into grad school • Scholarship offers to both of my prospective PhD students • My faculty development leave approved for Spring 2027 • @lisalimeri.bsky.social got tenure!

SPrOUT: A computational and targeted sequencing approach for mixed plant DNA identification with Angiosperms353 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.20.707031v1

New from our lab! Introducing SPrOUT: Species Prediction of Unknown Taxa. We developed and tested a novel method to ID plants in mixed DNA with Angiosperms353 using cumulative phylogenetic distances. >98% accuracy to family level for in silico and real test data. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

www.texastribune.org/2026/02/04/t...

Texas Tech struggles with new policy on gender, race

The system’s chancellor meant to instill clarity and accountability, but three weeks into the spring semester, some instructors say the standards have led to “censorship.”

texastribune.org

A number of our students got the following comment back on a rejection for the NSF GFRP. They are in an eligible STEM field. Is this something people in other places are getting too? Is it a quirk or targeted?

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.

Keung Hui@keunghui.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools and colleges. This leaves in place a federal judge's ruling that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment and federal procedural rules. (Via AP) apnews.com/article/dei-... #ncpol #nced

Reflecting today on this quote etched into a bench on campus, as I wonder how many on that campus understand its message. "You died when you refused to stand up for right, you died when you refused to stand up for truth, you died when you refused to stand up for justice." youtu.be/pOjpaIO2seY?...

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

two men are looking at each other in front of a window that says peacock

ALT: two men are looking at each other in front of a window that says peacock

media.tenor.com

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

Here to stay, I’m afraid

Ryan North@ryannorth.ca · 3y ago

*walking in a winter wonderland* ME: where's bluebird? BIRD: gone ME: w... who are you? *bird looks around shiftily* BIRD: I'm new bird

We 💚 the Stranger Plants—and now they’re on #BSAswag! The shirts feature bold illustrations by BSA’s own Catrina Adams, with a list of each species by common & scientific name on the back. BSA members (exp. 2026+) get 10% off—email aneely@botany.org for code. www.bonfire.com/store/bsa-wi...

If Stranger Things were released today, it would be set in 1992. Feeling old yet?

Will also feature Sofia Rodriguez, an undergraduate researcher in my lab who attended COP30. Should be a fun conversation! Link below👇

Katharine Hayhoe@katharinehayhoe.com · 8mo ago

Join me and my @texastech.bsky.social Climate Center colleagues for a breakdown of all things COP30, in an hour. Nick is an ecologist, Ting is an engineer, Bryan is a humanities scholar, and you know me: so it should be a great discussion. Free & virtual! www.eventbrite.com/e/inside-cop...

Join me and my @texastech.bsky.social Climate Center colleagues for a breakdown of all things COP30, in an hour. Nick is an ecologist, Ting is an engineer, Bryan is a humanities scholar, and you know me: so it should be a great discussion. Free & virtual! www.eventbrite.com/e/inside-cop...

Our paper “Giant chromosomes of a tiny plant” is out in @gigascience.bsky.social! We present a T2T genome assembly of the simple thalloid liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia with truly giant chromosomes. 🌱🧬 #plantgenomics #T2T #liverworts @nanoporetech.com Thanks @ncn.gov.pl ! tinyurl.com/m8tkkxd3

Giant chromosomes of a tiny plant - the complete telomere-to-telomere genome assembly of the simple thalloid liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia (Jungermanniopsida, Marchantiophyta)

AbstractBackground. The liverwort A. endiviifolia, a dioicous, simple thalloid species, is notable for its cryptic diversity, habitat adaptability, genomic

tinyurl.com

Everyone is sure to remind my dad of the time he packed up the leftover turkey in Ziploc bags but for lack of counter space placed them… in the open dishwasher. This was discovered only hours later after the dishwasher ran. The Ziploc bags were open.

Claire Willett@clairewillett.bsky.social · 8mo ago

yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore I feel like we need this

New paper just posted with @rschley.bsky.social et al: doi.org/10.1111/nph.... (1/n)

The frequency and importance of polyploidy in tropical rainforest tree radiations

The presence of two or more copies of the genome in an organism, termed ‘polyploidy’, is a crucial force in plant evolution, generating genetic, phenotypic and ecological diversity. The Amazonian tr...

doi.org

Update: the university is now allegedly offering compensation to faculty who move their exams because of a football game we're not even guaranteed to play in yet.

Matt Johnson, PhD@mossmatters.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Because the Big XII championship game is during final exams, our Provost suggests faculty choose from ideas including "exempt students from the exam" and "change your whole method of assessment" with 1 week notice More than usual I'm feeling I work for a football team with a school on the side.

There's got to be SOME hypothesis that makes our experiment useless. THINK! COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/stats-3 PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com