iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Thanks to Rutgers infrastructure, we are now a wasp lab. Or we were until I took them both outside.

Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Some STEM Ed journal needs to publish these! I'm grateful he's made them available through Zenodo because they've been really helpful as I've worked on crafting lab AI policies.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Always. Rest assured there’s always a new scheme.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

In the current administration, scientists gotta always be commenting. I miss the blissfully ignorant days when I didn’t even know what the federal register was. 🧪

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

If you're an unemployed scientist - also comment! More of those than there used to be under the current admin...

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

I know scientists love to submit on the deadline. TODAY is the deadline! Get off Bsky and and go submit your comment. rfi.grants.nih.gov?s=6a2b1c22c3...

rfi.grants.nih.gov

Request For Information

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Managing my Libby hold queue is my most delightful weekend chore! I always max out my holds so I have an audiobook and a kindle book on tap.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

The NIH proposal to conceal reviewer scores from program officers, investigators, and advisory councils is ill-conceived, introduces disproportionate weight to small percentile differences, diminishes the role of scientific peer review, and should be withdrawn in its entirety. a 🧵

joshuasweitz.substack.com

What is NIH Leadership Trying to Hide from Researchers & the Public?

A NIH proposal to conceal reviewer rankings of investigator-initiated research grants is ripe for misuse & demands a collective response (by October 13).

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Me usually: I love running! Being outside makes me feel energized and improves my mental health! Me after a bad night’s sleep followed by 11 miles in steady cold drizzle: This is a stupid hobby practiced only by people with clear mental problems. I need a nap. #sundayrunday

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 10/10/2026

Correct. Vought and Bhattacharya want to do to NIH what they have gotten further with at NSF- turn it into a slush fund for their political preferences. But peer review is popular, and it is required by law. So they are slowly chipping away at peer review process in an effort to break it.

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Coalition for Life Sciences @c4lifesciences.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The deadline is approaching! NIH is proposing changes to how peer review is used in funding decisions and how outcomes are reported and they want to hear from you. Comments are due by October 13! Comment here: grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Better flies than other animals… and we’re so creative about it!

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Doing some very important talk prep before I go visit @joshdubnau.bsky.social at Stony Brook next week. With sincere apologies to the creators of this once-adorable childrens' book, I present the Barber Lab Limited Edition: 🧪🪰

Cover of a childrens book originally titled "I wouldn't Hurt a Fly" by MS Bennet with a yellow seal from "The Bully Project." Cover illustration shows a cute water color fly above some other insects. The title has been modified to say "We WOULD hurt a fly" and the bully project seal now reads "The Barber Lab."

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It’s simply unimaginable that CDC Director Dr. Erica Schwartz has just bowed to RFK Jr. and approved funding for an utterly unethical clinical trial that will withhold the birth dose of HepB vaccine in Guinea Bissau. It is to be conducted by researchers accused of academic misconduct.

rollingstone.com

CDC Is Moving Forward With a Previously Shelved Controversial Hepatitis B Vaccine Study

“It’s a wholly unethical trial, and it shouldn’t be allowed,” says Dr. Paul Offit of Guinea-Bissau study

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Reposted by Annika Barber

Cambridge Day @cambridgeday.com · 07/10/2026

MIT professors bedazzle cameras to protest expanding surveillance network Tenured faculty are using rhinestones and googly eyes to demonstrate against 500-plus new cameras and plans to potentially implement AI capabilities....

cambridgeday.com

MIT professors bedazzle cameras to protest expanding surveillance network

Tenured faculty are using rhinestones and googly eyes to demonstrate against 500-plus new cameras and plans to potentially implement AI capabilities.

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Matthew Buckley @physicsmatt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

My thoughts on the 700+ LLM papers on math and mathematical physics is less concern that LLMs can replace me and more concern that everyone from leaders to the population at large is willing to pretend that LLMs can replace me because "stop supporting research" seems have worldwide appeal.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Come IRL if you need spooky snuggles!

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In addition to spending less money and making fewer new grants, SBE also dramatically narrowed where it made those new grants. Areas such as economics, sociology, and archaeology received few to no grants.

Grantmaking gutted
The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) awarded far fewer new awards than typical in fiscal year 2026—just 91. (The fiscal year runs from 1 October to 30 September.) Most of the new grants focused on cognitive science and artificial intelligence, in alignment with White House priorities; offices that support fields such as economics, sociology, and research ethics, as well as postdoctoral fellowships, awarded no grants at all.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A senior colleague told me that as a young looking woman I needed to try for a more academic tone in my talks. He genuinely meant well. But truly I am not capable of it!

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

“T-shirt with no pictures or writing on it” is my idea of dressing up for faculty meeting.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I’ve blocked so many of these who have replied or followed. If I even *suspect* it’s a bot, I’ll block. Sorry to any real humans, but if you seem that botty we were never gonna be buds.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I'd have been booted long ago if this was a key criterion. Time management? ✅ Accurate and timely communication? ✅ Professional presentation without making memes, using gifs, and being flippant about scientific pet peeves? ❌ Professional attire in lab? ❌ Avoidance of pranks and shenanigans? ❌

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I hate every app that doesn't just let me upload my letter. I don't want a rating scale. I don't want longform text boxes to answer a million questions. I don't want to tell you that a student is in the top 0.001% of all humans. I already wrote a letter!

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I love it so much I want to frame it!

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Goose is now an enjoyed shape! 🤩

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This one was funny to me- Goose so fluffy and licky and the cabinet so square.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

It is almost time! Counting the minutes til sunset! ☠️

Annika on a ladder stringing lights, a skeleton’s top half visible behind her.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Nowadays, as soon as I suspect AI I return to the editor with a “sorry if a human didn’t write it, this human doesn’t review it” message. And I won’t re-review a new version. Fooling me once is enough!

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Happy October! This spooky little stained glass was made by one of my husband’s former students. 👻

4 pane stained glass panel with a ghost, bat, pumpkin, and candy on the different quadrants.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Idk anything about beans but these are the most beautiful beans I’ve seen in my whole life. And I’d bet that like purple carrots and purple potatoes, they are delicately delicious. 💜

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 03/10/2026

Higher ed leaders are doing "decline of public trust" discourse in order to avoid talking about all the things they've done to undermine their institutions, including exploiting contingent faculty labor, attacking student protest, and underfunding the humanities

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Reposted by Annika Barber

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

~Approximately no one in the general public knows because the leaders of the R1 research universities - whose budgets, programs, & personnel are entirely or significantly dependent on federal funding - have been totally absent from the public square in explaining & collectively protesting this.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

When you want to sleep in but the attention-needer needs attention:

Small grey dog stands on a bed and gazes directly at you in stern disappointment that he is not receiving snuggles.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

They do in Jersey! I’ve stopped at many such.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The way US science funding is trending, it might be time for scientists to get back to clowning.

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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sort of insane fact about how broken US urban planning is—America now spends more building *just the lights for roads and highways* than on all subways & ground mass transit combined Spending on roadway *pavement* is 18x transit spending

a graph of roadway and mass transit lights

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Reposted by Annika Barber

Cole Donovan @colesci.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So if I'm going to seriously ask the question if the government is using its R&D resources wisely, it makes sense to spend a lot of time focusing on business and federal internal expenditures, as opposed to relentlessly focusing on less than a quarter of the overall pie.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m so worried about how the USPS may handle or be compelled to handle mail-in ballots. So even tho I’ve gotten mine, I will drive to put it in an official dropbox instead of mailing it. 😭

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Time to get my husband out riding! After all, his pizza consumption has been on This American Life! 😅

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Maybe not if I’m…giving congressional testimony or something?

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Tbh, IRL I'm probably gonna say fuckery.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Accurate professional communication is so important! 😜

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I worry buffoonery conveys the possibility of incompetence leading to a bad outcome. Whereas skulduggery implies deliberate ill intent.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In professional settings where using the word "fuckery" would be ill-advised, I have been substituting the word "skulduggery," which has proved quite satisfying.

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

All things considered, it’s the best way it could have come down! We’ve been talking for years about how to add an accessibility ramp to the deck for some family members. So I guess this is the opportunity!

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Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Terrifying wake up at 1:30 am as a massive oak tree blew over and obliterated our deck. 🌳 The wind is still scary.

Big snapped off tree trunk. A brick house in the background. A former deck obscured by leaves at right. Annikas unscathed car in the corner!

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