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Spencer T Behmer

@stbehmer.bsky.social

ENTO Prof at Texas A&M. Physiology, Ecology, Behavior, Evolution, and Locusts. Always pay attention. Get outdoors!

10 Posts131 Follower271 Folgt
Phil Stevenson@philstevenson.bsky.social · last mo.

Invertebrate of the year. Bombus dahlbomii, a giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse, is in decline in its native Patagonia due to commercial farming www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Panda of the insect world’: the moscardón bumblebee creates buzz for invertebrate of the year

Bombus dahlbomii, a giant ginger bumblebee fondly known as the flying mouse, is in decline in its native Patagonia due to commercial farming

theguardian.com

Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD@prasad.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This piece by @jtimmer.bsky.social does an outstanding job of contextualizing OMB's latest attack on American science. Current OMB policy is already choking American science, as this WSJ op-ed points out. The status quo is moribund. www.wsj.com/opinion/get-...

Last August, the Trump administration issued an executive order intended to fundamentally alter how grant funding is handled by the US government. Under the system that had made the US a scientific superpower, peer reviewers rated the scientific quality and feasibility of grant applications, and subject-matter experts within the funding agencies used these ratings to determine which grants got funded. Under the proposed rules, political appointees would have the final say, and they were specifically instructed not to “routinely defer” to peer reviewers. In the interim, the administration has lost many court cases because it turns out that issuing executive orders doesn’t circumvent legal requirements, and the orders can be vacated if they lack strong justification. To avoid that same fate, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has decided to merge the executive order with other administration priorities and send it through the formal federal rulemaking process. The result is a horror show for US science research. Not only is peer review made a secondary consideration, but the new rules would allow any federal agency to cancel any grant at any time based on the vague assertion that it isn’t in the “national interest.” The document would also ban any grants on a number of culture war topics, limit international collaborations, and block spending on things like publishing papers and attending conferences. It is, in short, a recipe for how the government can finish the job of crippling American science.
Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"The document itself is an odd grab-bag of micromanaging grant processes, assertion of presidential power, and airing of cultural grievances... Its lack of coherence, however, will not prevent it from causing staggering damage to the US scientific system." 👇 arstechnica.com/science/2026...

Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted. What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards. Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
Phil Stevenson@philstevenson.bsky.social · 9mo ago

New paper alert! Sterol content of pollen directly influences solitary bee development & indicates that Osmia larvae are efficient in accumulating sterols or can biosynthesise or modify them, which challenges previous studies. @rbgkew.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Pollen and sterol content differentially affect solitary bee development

Pollen sterols are essential micronutrients for bees, with roles as membrane components, hormone precursors and for regulating gene expression. It is …

sciencedirect.com

Leslie Rissler@ljrissler.bsky.social · last yr.

“This Executive Order is nothing short of obscene," said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). "In what world does Donald Trump think that Americans want political appointees – who, need I remind the President, are unelected bureaucrats – making decisions on what science gets funded?”

Ranking Member Lofgren Calls Trump Out for Corrupt Executive Order Requiring Political Appointees to Approve Federal Grants | House Committee on Science, Space and Technology

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology

democrats-science.house.gov

iNaturalist@inaturalist.bsky.social · last yr.

This new paper documents a tenfold increase in research papers using community-collected iNaturalist data over just five years: tr.ee/89Ot3I According to the study, here are four key ways that iNaturalist data directly powers science 🧵⤵️

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@barbararogan.bsky.social · last yr.

Beloit, WI revitalized its waterfront and chose this way to celebrate it: by bringing to life Georges Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

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Oliver@oliver48.bsky.social · last yr.

"This was an experiment by a kindergarten class. They dropped seeds in the cracks of the sidewalk to see what would happen. This would help our bees " via I Love Bees

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Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social · 2y ago

Side note. There are eight members of the joint chiefs. the chair is black. the CNO (navy) is a woman. the other six are white guys. chair and the cno got fired tonight.

Jonathan Lambert@jonlambert.bsky.social · 2y ago

NEW: NSF confirmed that they fired 168 employees today, out of their staff of ~1,500 feds. This includes some people who'd finished their 1-year probationary periods, which were extended to 2-years last month without explanation. More to come.

Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 2y ago

As DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem would enforce Trump’s mass deportation agenda. In her own state, she’s banned from tribal lands after spreading lies: cartels “holding up shop” on reservations and are “recruiting tribal members.” Tribal leaders see it what it is: racist, dehumanizing fear-mongering.

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 2y ago

🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court DENIES Trump's bid to stay his criminal sentence in NY. Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh dissent.

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 2y ago

Jeffries: In our nation's history, 25% of our nation's debt was accumulated during the four years of the former president, 25%. How dare you lecture America about fiscal responsibility ever.