Nicole M. Baran, Ph.D.
@nmbaran.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Biology at Davidson College | Evolution & development of songbird social behavior, neuroendocrinology, & comparative genomics | STEMinist | Mostly here for the reading recommendations. (she/her) 🐦🧠🧬🌎🔬🌿🎺
NPR asked an aspiring scientist in Philadelphia to interview an adult who is living his dream about his career in conservation science.
We asked a first grader to interview his hero: A bird scientist
NPR asked an aspiring scientist in Philadelphia to interview an adult who is living his dream about his career in conservation science.
n.pr
Still thinking about genderfluid avocados
Jeff Groh@jeffgroh.bsky.social · last wk.Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Great piece here by @brendonstuff.bsky.social on the need for widespread use of bird-safe glass to prevent window collisions theconversation.com/bird-safe-gl...
Bird-safe glass must become the norm to prevent collisions with buildings
In Canada, tens of millions of birds are killed annually by crashing into glass on buildings.
theconversation.com
Shoutout to all of my swampwise homies.
Okefenokee becomes Georgia's first UNESCO World Heritage site
The Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, just the 27th such site in the U.S. and the first natural site in the country to be added in three decades. It’s Georgia’...
wabe.org
"Hey Jess, why do you spend so much of the classroom time of your genetics course talking about ethics?"
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 2w agoWhat a harrowing story and an incredible work of #scicomm in the reporting. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
Have kept thinking all day about this story, full of starving moms and grandmothers trying to feed 3-6 kids each on virtually nothing and Republican men cheering and patting themselves on the back for kicking them off food stamps. Congrats, boys, you really did it
Andrew Russeth@russeth.bsky.social · 2w ago"Four months into an appeal, Ms. McDonald, a cancer survivor who weighs 69 pounds, bustles to food banks, stretches ground turkey with oatmeal, and skips meals to feed three teenage boys." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...
So the U.S. has gotten itself into a situation where the State Department is now warning Americans about traveling...anywhere. "The Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution." travel.state.gov/en/internati...
travel.state.gov
In 2021, there were roughly 101 gender clinics offering care to transgender youth offering a full range of gender affirming care. By July 2026, there are only about 31 left that still prescribe hormones and puberty blockers.
Well, this article is incredibly depressing for cooking enthusiasts. The short version: private equity has, over the last couple of decades, quietly bought up most of the classic brands you’ve heard of and then traded on their names while drastically cutting quality and closing American factories
@laperry2.bsky.social · 2w ago
I'm heartbroken to share that Marvin (known to readers of There Is No Place for Us as Maurice) died earlier today in a workplace accident. He was 43. Natasha (Natalia in the book) asked me to share this news because she is too devastated to do so herself. We are all in shock.
This, exactly. And I wish people understood that hormones and neurotransmitters are so much more complicated than how they are depicted in popular culture.
Gaybidorian Rainbow@garbodoriangray.bsky.social · 2w agoHumorism is back btw The new humors are estrogen, testosterone, dopamine, and cortisol Once you notice this you'll see it everywhere
Both Marco Rubio and Elon Musk, who led the effort to sunset the foreign aid agency, have said that no deaths have been linked to the cutting of its funding. These parents tell a different story.
Trump's team says 'no children' died from USAID cuts. Consider these 3 cases
Both Marco Rubio and Elon Musk, who led the effort to sunset the foreign aid agency, have said that no deaths have been linked to the cutting of its funding. These parents tell a different story.
n.pr
I hope the college students who protested the US-funded massacre of Palestinian civilians, while being vilified by their universities and politicians and even the president, understand that they are actually having an impact, just much slower than they hoped
Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · 3w agoWow www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/u...
If only a dedicated group of scientists had warned us about the record heat, torrential flooding, continental scale wildfires, and apocalyptic orange skies
Thank god there are no gender studies classes anymore otherwise we might be able to figure out what's going on here.
Matthew Gault@mjgault.bsky.social · 3w agoHegseth announced they're gonna start screening for T and administering testosterone treatment for warriors found wanting
Don't be left out! Join us
Phil Plait@philplait.bsky.social · 4w agoWhoa, over a quarter million people (so far!) have left a comment on the egrgious openly fascist takeover attempt of the OMB. You can too! @standupforscience.net has instructions and everything you need. It's not hard, and it's critically important to science. fight2win.standupforscience.net
Monday, July 13th is the LAST DAY that you can leave a public comment on Russell Vought's science-destroying OMB Grant Proposal. Join us from 2 - 3PM ET to learn what comes next, hear from experts, and learn how the proposal will affect you. Register at the link in our bio or go here:zurl.co/tH8hn
This feels like a good time to note that, indeed, USWNT is the winningest team in international sports history (win percentage: 84) the18.com/en/soccer-en...
Where Does The USWNT Rank Amongst The Winningest Teams Of All Time? | The18
The USWNT is quite good — that's what all our number crunching has led us to believe.
the18.com
Schatzi Page@schatzipage.bsky.social · 4w agoDon’t send a man to do a woman’s job
On the 4th of July: It’s hard to hold a clear view of reality in one hand and hope for better in the other, and to fully commit to both of these things at the same time. This is the hard work of “a Republic, if you can keep it.” Patriotism is to use our freedoms to make America more free for ALL.
What a great article not only on faculty workloads, but how little our salaries actually factor in to most university budgets. A few highlights. First, our salaries are falling:
New for @undark.org: Mathematicians have signed the Leiden Declaration for AI. I argue that the life sciences needs one: built for noisy, context-dependent systems, w/ disclosure, human accountability, wet-lab validation, & rules that evolve as fast as the tools do. undark.org/2026/07/02/o...
Biologists Should Articulate Their Position on AI
Opinion | In the Leiden Declaration, mathematicians issued a treatise on how AI challenges their field. Others must do the same.
undark.org
Texting my family back home in Denver, Colorado....
The term "biological sex" was adopted widely only in the last decade as a reaction to mainstream acceptance of trans people. It was rarely if ever used before that. By any metric, from legislative usage to search query usage, it's plainly evident this is a novel term only made popular by the right.
Jessica Kant@jessdkant.bsky.social · 5mo agoI think people think we're exaggerating when we say the widespread use of the term "biological sex" as a term itself isn't organic. This data isn't anomalous, it comports with everything we've seen about the specific use of the term.
I’m mad about today. I’m mad that justices can’t do the bare minimum to uphold the Constitution. I’m mad that the law and our history, which I have dedicated so much of my life to, is an inconvenience than an inheritance to many. I’m mad that the academy, which I love, rewards and enables it.
It’s important to keep today’s birthright citizenship decision in context. First, SCOTUS left the status of a fundamental, explicitly articulated constitutional right uncertain for over a year all to affirm what was clear from the issuance of Trump’s EO. Birthright citizenship cannot be abridged.
