so democratic socialism is good

Democrats@democrats.org · 2d ago

HUGE: Under Mayor Mamdani, New York City just recorded its safest first 7 months of a year in history—and its safest July ever. In July: Major crime dropped 13% Murder dropped 32% Robberies dropped 15% Vehicle thefts dropped 25% Democratic mayors are putting public safety first.

Not a great economy alert! Wall Street Bets users think Palantir spiked today because The Onion story titled “Palantir Acquires Pentagon for $800 Billion” hit their front page. They’re guessing trading bots indexed the top post on the subreddit reddit not understanding source.

It often feels like the modern understanding of indigeneity and tribal life is stuck in the 19th century so as a reference point: my hapū are currently tracking h5n1, giving us updates on seabird migrations, and providing biosecurity advice and contact numbers.

yesterday, jonathan greenblatt of the ADL claimed 85% of jews support israel. it was a claim that was so obviously bogus on its face, but then completely blown out of the water when the most jewish district in the country picked a progressive jew over a pro-israel one. don’t tell us what we believe.

NY-10 is, according to the Jewish Electorate Institute, the second most Jewish Congressional district in the US. (www.jewishelectorateinstitute.org/p6611) It voted overwhelmingly for a candidate who says Israel is committing genocide. That should challenge assumptions about what American Jews want.

Adil Haque@adhaque.bsky.social · last mo.

“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights. And I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews. Those are not two different jobs. They are the same job,” Brad Lander said.

every time you see a headline that begins with “we have to,” replace the “we” with “you” and you’ll immediately understand the purpose of the piece and the power dynamics at play

Although my poster only had space for some of the pop gen results, the rest is available as a preprint! We surveyed wild eastern oyster genomics from 40 pops across thousands of miles of seascape to characterize genetic structure, adaptive loci, structural variants, and human mediated impacts. 🦪🌊

Range-wide genetic population structure and environmental adaptation in the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) provides insight for aquaculture

Selective breeding in aquaculture is necessary to establish food security and meet demand for sustainably produced protein. An informed selective breeding program requires understanding how population...

biorxiv.org

Hey, Red! Milwaukee Mining Bee came to sit with me a while 🌿🐝 #invertebrates

Great electrofishing workshop for my summer stream ecology course kindly provided by a colleague!

FYI avoid Springer Nature as much as possible. It's pioneering new avenues for slop, such as this book, translated with AI: link.springer.com/book/10.1007.... Complete with an AI cover, which of course is nonsense. Also includes a 4 page chapter on millipedes which includes a misidentified photo.

From the CEO of AAAS: “If this rule becomes final, Americans' hopes for future cures, national security and economic strength will rely on the scientific sensibilities of the nation's chief bureaucrat. Alzheimer's disease will not be cured by a budget analyst from either political party.”

Mark Peifer (He, him)@peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I have often been critical of the leadership @aaas.org but they just took action on the new OMB rules that will politicize science, speaking out and notifying members. I hope all take the time to follow their advice, contact Congress, and most important, post a comment www.aaas.org/news/aaas-st...

The list of Ecology/Evolution/Marine Bio Labs recruiting grad students for Fall 2027 is live! PIs enter your position info here: forms.gle/MAGd4ohyPeoY... students (and PIs not recruiting) share the composite list: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... Please share widely! 🧪

Ecology/Evolution/Marine Biology labs recruiting for Fall 2027

Please complete this form if you are a PI recruiting graduate students for a Fall 2027 start. If you are NOT recruiting, feel free to share the response sheet with prospective students looking for lab...

forms.gle

Another amazingly insightful piece by @marisakabas.bsky.social

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I waited a while to write this one. The time finally felt right.

Finally! After 9 years as Department Chair, scrabbling and scrounging for resources, I have managed to upgrade the department to having BINOCULAR compound microscopes for all our labs. Can't believe it took that long. The Leeuwenhoek era is FINALLY over! Now I can stop being chair.

religiondispatches.org/2026/05/26/l...

Leo XIV Links AI to Histories of Enslavement and Exploitation

Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical this week, on the 135th anniversary of his eponymous predecessor’s landmark Rerum Novarum, or Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor. And like Leo XIII befor...

religiondispatches.org

NOW: I’m outside the Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ where protesters are supporting detainees inside who are on a hunger and labor strike because of inhumane treatment. Follow this thread for updates.

Happy Black Birders Week! 🫶🏾

My campus just had to make across-the-board 7% budget cuts (after making cuts last year as well) yet UMS found $1.39 million for a 2-year contract with OpenAI.

Maine public universities nears $1.39M deal for systemwide AI tool

The two-year contract will cost about $1.39 million and serve an estimated 25,200 students and 5,600 employees, likely starting in July.

themainemonitor.org

My students do a sci comm project where they take an idea from class and come up with a communication piece to explain the topic to non-scientists. Winner for "wow factor" from aquatic #entomology: #macroinvert nails! Trying to convince her there's a market for these.

We have been doing quite some chemodiversity work in recent years, but often focus on the plot-level environment. However, we also have a pretty neat stock-garden of Tansy lines, where last summer we did an intensive sampling (17 events) of plant growth and insect colonization. (1/2)

Terrestrial Ecology Research Group - TUM@terrecolgroup.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Today, @robinheinennl.bsky.social presented results from the temporal Tansy chemotype stock garden sampling in 2025. While our work often centers around chemodiversity effects on arthropods, the talk also emphasized that chemodiversity is part of a bigger set of drivers of variation to be considered

I tell my students that an important part of good communication is to avoid misleading terms and jargon. Therefore, from now: "capitalism" => "profiteering" "socialism" => "community-centered governance." That way people actually understand the difference.

Here’s another bee! The Blue Mason Bee (Osmia caerulescens). The males seem to be territorial and this one has claimed the herb garden as his. He chases away any other insects that try to land there!

Same energy:

Well this was not an angle on entomophagy (insect eating) that I expected biblicalprotein.com/product/holy...

Two nights ago, I said Trump had been using our troops as pirates in Iran and a Republican got mad. Well… the president just admitted it. He literally bragged about doing piracy.

My Uni buys a book in honor of each Academic Achievement Award winner. One award winner from our department had taken #entomology with me because she was afraid of insects; mastered her fear and the class. They got the perfect book in her honor: A Secret Life of Flies by @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

This semester I developed and taught a course on applied population genomics. Lab activities proceed from the basics of the command line and Git to variant calling with workflow managers and a suite of downstream analyses (e.g., ADMIXTURE). All materials can be found here: elinck.org/genomics_eco...

Any administrators who claim faculty only work 10 months per year because they have a 10 month contract are lying to themselves.

Robin on her nest Me projecting Hitchcock's Birds So she won't be bored Robin on her nest House painting will have to wait Nest on my ladder