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Sarah Hird, PhD

@sarahhird.bsky.social

Associate Professor at University of Connecticut studying evolution & bird microbiomes. More importantly: I’m an aspiring anti-racist, raging feminist & trying to ACT NOW on the climate crisis. Please read The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg et al.

653 Posts3409 Follower2594 Folgt
Sarah Hird, PhD@sarahhird.bsky.social · 3w ago

Amazing new go-to insult: “Isn’t it humiliating to <do this thing you’re doing>?”

Kelso Reacts with 'BURN!'

Alt: Kelso Reacts with 'BURN!'

static.klipy.com

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

OSSOFF: Who won the 2020 election? CLAYTON: Uhm, you know, I'm not going to do this with you O: This is a job interview. You have an obligation to be honest with the committee. Who won the 2020 election? C: I'm not gonna get into that with you O: You're not being honest or forthright C: ...

Jacquelyn Gill@jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 4w ago

Monday is the deadline for public comment! The Heritage Foundation has been mobilizing its members to leave comments in favor of the rule change, so every unique comment matters (don’t use a form letter or copy/paste—similar comments are batched and treated as one).

Bethany Brookshire@beebrookshire.bsky.social · 4w ago

There's an OMB rule change that would require political oversight of scientific grants, and could pull any that don't "reflect presidential priorities" Another country has tried this before! It was the USSR and it was called Lysenkoism. By @thsaey.bsky.social www.sciencenews.org/article/omb-...

Kate Clancy@kateclancy.bsky.social · last mo.

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:

Third, faculty salaries are falling even if we statistically control for faculty rank and institution. By our analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data, tenured and tenure-track salaries are down 10 percent in real terms since 2016 and are lower today than they were in 2002; nontenured faculty salaries are down 4 percent since 2016 and are at 2002 levels today. To put this plainly: Suppose sharply increased teaching loads enabled institutions to cut one out of every seven full-time faculty. (That’s roughly what we saw last year in severe cuts announced at West Virginia, Western Illinois, and St. Cloud State Universities.) The associated savings in salary and benefits even through such drastic action would amount to less than 2.5 percent of total institutional expenditures for the typical university. The upshot? If you think higher education has a cost problem, squeezing more teaching out of faculty is not the first place you should look.
Sarah Hird, PhD@sarahhird.bsky.social · last mo.

Food for thought, #nutmegsky, by @joshforct.bsky.social “The average Connecticut household now spends about $2,485 a year on electricity, second only to Hawaii and nearly $700 more than the national average. Those bills are up roughly 28% since 2020.” www.ctinsider.com/opinion/arti...

Josh Elliott (opinion): Connecticut doesn't have an energy problem. It has a monopoly problem.

Josh Elliott explains how Wallingford, Norwich and Groton customers get the same electricity for 23-64% less than Eversource and UI customers.

ctinsider.com

Sarah Hird, PhD@sarahhird.bsky.social · last mo.

👀📖👀📖👀📖👀📖👀📖👀 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ MUST READ: Sarkar et al. 2026. The island biology of the host microbiome. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👀📖👀📖👀📖👀📖👀📖👀

The island biology of the host microbiome

Microbiomes perform critical functions for their hosts, and understanding microbiome variation is important for both basic and applied science. Howeve…

sciencedirect.com