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Loren Cassin Sackett

@cassinsackett.bsky.social
303 followers 618 following 23 posts

Evolutionary biologist meets conservation geneticist meets aspiring bioinformatician. Lover of bicycles and mountains. #Fulbright🇨🇴 alum | #NatGeoExplorer Lab website: www.cassinsackett.com

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Reposted by Loren Cassin Sackett
Erin Hotchkiss @fluvialbenthos.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We (Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech) are #hiring TWO tenure-track Molecular Microbiology professors! Review of applications starts 1 Nov. I'm happy to answer questions about the department, VT, life in Blacksburg, etc.! More info / to apply: jobs.apply.vt.edu/jobs/assista... 🧪👩‍🔬🦠 #academicjobs
jobs.apply.vt.edu
Assistant/Associate Professor - Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
Job Description The Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Science at Virginia Tech seeks applicants for two (2) tenure-track research and teaching positions at the Assistant/Associate ...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 25/09/2026
Oil giant BP not only funded the research behind an influential climate science paper, but company execs even tried to revise versions of it. “Chaps, I have had a go at rewriting the paper,” a BP climate adviser wrote the researchers at one point. (Published June w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social)
propublica.org
How BP Execs Influenced a Climate Study That Shaped a Generation of Global Policy
BP sponsored an elite Princeton research center to address the climate problem without getting off fossil fuels. Its key work, a paper known as “Wedges,” guided climate discourse for a generation.
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High Country News @highcountrynews.org · 13/09/2026
Western cattlemen are poised to lose almost all opportunity to comment on oil and gas development underneath their property. buff.ly/zJyKeOd
hcn.org
The BLM may stop notifying landowners about drilling under private land. Ranchers are alarmed - High Country News
Western cattlemen are poised to lose almost all opportunity to comment on oil and gas development underneath their property.
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I am a descendant of a relative of John Cassin. I study birds & I use museum specimens to understand evolution & species' potential for adaptation in our ever-changing world. I am devastated by the decision to close the Academy of Natural Sciences museum. #SaveTheAcademy @savetheacademy.bsky.social
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Dan MacGuigan @dmacguig.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
New paper in Systematic Biology! We show how micro-synteny can help resolve a tricky fish #phylogenetic problem where traditional sequence-based analyses fall short. Genomes archive evolutionary history in more than just their basepairs. doi.org/10.1093/sysb... #fish #genomics #evolution
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Fantastic work by the inimitable Michael Campana: a Big Bang of adaptive radiation, inter-species gene flow, and catastrophic extinction in Hawaiian honeycreepers. Grateful to be part of the team with Madhvi Venkatraman, Mirian Tsuchiya, Rob Fleischer and many more!
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 05/08/2026
One of the most-viewed PNAS Nexus articles in the last week is “Emphasizing society's expectations enhances charitable giving in NGO advertisements.” Explore now: ow.ly/voL950ZwbB5 To submit your own research, visit PNAS Nexus at ow.ly/a9nO50ZwbzC.
Experimental flow. A) The flow of the experiments and measurements conducted in this project. B, C) Windows for the first online experiment (study 1). The introduction of WaterAid was displayed (B) followed by the display of one of the 13 short nudge messages (Table 1) and one of the three photos (C): UC, HC, and HA. D) A screen image of the Yahoo advertisement (study 2, n = 288,460).
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Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
On August 1, 1931, Harriet Creighton and Barbara McClintock published the first experimental proof that genes are physically located on chromosomes—a discovery that transformed genetics. 1/3🧵
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Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I’ve been yelling about it this all year. Municipalities still act like these are unfortunate incidents instead of what they are. They’re attacks on critical infrastructure. We’ve underinvested in modernizing essential systems and infrastructure while degrading cybersecurity.
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Monte Neate-Clegg @mhcneateclegg.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
🚨Out today in @society4conbio.bsky.social, in my new paper with @birdmapper.bsky.social, we show a positive relationship between exinction risk and colourfulness across the world's passerine birds! conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The link between colorfulness and extinction risk across the world's passerine birds
Many of the functional traits that mediate extinction risk across the range of biodiversity relate indirectly to a species’ ability to persist in a changing world, yet certain traits such as colorati...
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 18/07/2026
Let's do some Canadian pipeline-wildfire math. The Canadian Energy Center says growing oil exports by 1.5M barrels/day **could** boost GDP by ~31B annually. Meanwhile, wildfire smoke health costs alone - just the health costs, nothing else - averaged 23B/year, past tense. And they're growing fast.
nowtoronto.com
Ontario hardest hit as wildfires cost Canada billions | NOW Toronto
A new report estimates wildfire smoke has cost Canada $231 billion since 2014. See how much each province has spent.
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Evidence that fighting pathogens requires more than the immune system: Great work by my collaborator @johnneddermeyer.bsky.social showing that evolved resistance to avian malaria in O'ahu 'amakihi is due not only to immune genes, but also calcium flux genes. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Evolution of Resistance to Avian Malaria Infection in an Endemic Hawaiian Honeycreeper
Hawaiian honeycreepers, a group of endemic song birds, represent one of the most stunning examples of an adaptive radiation. An evolutionary history devoid of malaria-causing parasites has made them ....
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 17/07/2026
UPDATE: ProPublica is tracking the increase in immigrants filing claims that their detention is illegal — known as habeas cases. While new cases are being added at a somewhat slower rate, there are still far more than ever before: propub.li/4yiYGwu
A bar chart shows the number of detention challenges filed each week since January 2025. The number of cases grew somewhat slowly from almost none to just under 1,000 at the end of 2025, then it jumped rapidly to a peak of 2,291 cases per week in February of 2026. Since then, new cases have dropped a bit to 1,774 per week in July 2026.
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LCV – League of Conservation Voters 🌎 @lcv.org · 17/07/2026
This week, Trump cut Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments to less than 10% of their current size. Trump and Republicans in Congress are gutting our public lands so their billionaire drilling and mining buddies can get even richer. Public lands belong to us, not them.
nytimes.com
Trump Sharply Cuts the Size of Two National Monuments in Utah
Native American tribes and environmental groups are expected to challenge the move to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments.
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Awesome paper by a fantastic group of people 👏
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Great thread—link to article at the end.
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Peter Andolfatto @pandolfatto.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
1/n Check out our new paper, spearheaded by @fborne.bsky.social, just out in PLoS Genetics doi.org/10.1371/jour....
doi.org
Epistasis among clustered lineage-specific amino acid substitutions in the Drosophila Trio protein
Author summary Proteins fold into three-dimensional structures that are essential for their function. Because these structures depend on interactions among amino acids, the fitness effect of a mutatio...
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Dr. Carly Kenkel @drcarl.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Aspiring Eco-Evo PhD students - check out the Simons Graduate Fellowships! it's a full ride!! 🧪https://www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons-graduate-fellowships-in-ecology-and-evolution/
simonsfoundation.org
Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution
The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...
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Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 03/05/2026
There's an autism crisis, all right -- a "crisis of public trust" as RFK Jr and other high-profile officials fuel misinformation, advocates say. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US ‘drowning in misinformation’ under RFK Jr, autism advocates say
Health officials in Trump administration were accused of fueling ‘crisis of public trust’ over autism and vaccines
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Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
The cover of GBE's May 2026 issue features the study by @lorenalf.bsky.social et al. on the genomics of adaptation of lynx species. 🔗 academic.oup.com/gbe/issue/18/5 📷 Jorge Monje Martín (@jrgmonje) #genome #evolution
Genome Biology and Evolution | May 2026 cover

An individual of Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) shown in its natural habitat. In this study, we investigate genome-wide patterns of selection across lynx species, revealing largely species-specific adaptive signals. Photo credit: Jorge Monje Martín (@jrgmonje). https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag086
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 03/05/2026
This product should not exist. www.wsj.com/us-news/chat...
“The OpenAI team debated alerting law enforcement about a teen that some in the review meeting believed was contemplating shooting classmates at his Texas high school, the people said. 
Often when he came home from school, the chat logs indicated, the teen asked ChatGPT to role-play a scenario in which he would shoot his teachers and classmates. He uploaded images of himself with a gun.”
““The kid would tell ChatGPT let’s fantasize about shooting up my school,” one person familiar with the conversations recalled. “And ChatGPT would play along.”
He uploaded a map of the layout of his school, as well as photos of cheerleaders whom he said he wanted to imagine killing, along with their boyfriends, the people familiar with the matter said. In hourslong sessions, he asked ChatGPT to create scenarios, such as how he would enter the school, which victims he would encounter, and when he would open fire.”
“ChatGPT remembered the names of the classmates he said he wanted to imagine killing, and advised the teen on where he would enter and exit the building, and what he could say when cops arrived, the people said.
OpenAI leaders ultimately decided not to contact authorities about the Texas teen. He hasn’t committed any acts of violence that employees are aware of.”
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Center for Reproductive Rights @reprorights.org · 02/05/2026
UPDATE: After yesterday's 5th circuit ruling, which reinstated outdated restrictions on mifepristone, medication manufacturer Danco has asked the SCOTUS to immediately restore full access to the medication.
nytimes.com
Supreme Court Asked to Restore Access to Abortion Pill by Mail
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Jay Bhattacharya pulls a study because he doesn’t like the conclusions. I cannot explain how bad this is and how it reeks of the stench of ideological zealotry and has no basis in science. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/u...
nytimes.com
C.D.C. Cancels Publication of Study Showing Benefits of Covid Vaccines
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LEECASSIN @leecassin.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
www.propublica.org/article/trum... The most heartless thing our government has ever tried to do. If you are very poor, have an adult child with Down’s syndrome living with you, the govt will cut your benefits. WTH
propublica.org
The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families
A rule change pushed by White House officials would slash benefits or end support for as many as 400,000 Supplemental Security Income recipients with Down syndrome, dementia and other disabilities who...
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Doc Edge @docedge.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Please repost: My department at USC is hiring for a teaching-track faculty position. We are looking for someone principally to teach statistics for biologists, but there will be opportunities for other courses in statistics & algorithms applied to biology usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-ange...
usccareers.usc.edu
Full-Time, Teaching-Track Faculty Position in Quantitative and Computational Biology at USC
Learn more about applying for Full-Time, Teaching-Track Faculty Position in Quantitative and Computational Biology at USC
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Fascinating and disturbing theintercept.com/2026/04/23/c...
theintercept.com
ChatGPT Confessed to a Crime It Couldn’t Possibly Have Committed
A renown criminologist’s experiment with ChatGPT demonstrates the destructive power of police to elicit false confessions.
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John Wares @johnwares.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Save the US Forest Service from destructive “restructuring” peer.org/letter-tell-...
peer.org
LETTER | Tell Congress to Save America’s National Forests and the Science That Protects Them
Sign our letter calling on Congress to to take immediate action to protect the U.S. Forest Service and the public lands it stewards.
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Noam Ross @noamross.net · 16/04/2026
HHS just published an update to its Scientific Integrity Policy. Notably, it has removed the concept of political interference, and no longer calls it out as something specifically to be prevented. www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul... (deletions in red, insertions in green)
Highlighted in red: "Political interference is inappropriately shaping or interfering in the conduct, management, communication, or use of science for political advantage or such that it undermines impartiality, nonpartisanship, or professional judgement""HHS works to promote a culture of scientific integrity by creating an empowering environment for innovation and protecting scientists and the process of science from inappropriate interference. Scientific findings and products must not be suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes and must not be subjected to political interference or inappropriate influence. The responsible and ethical conduct of research and other scientific activities requires an environment that is safe and free from harassment and discrimination" Highlighted in red are "suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes", "subjected to political interference", and "inappropriate influence.""HHS works to promote a culture of scientific integrity by creating an empowering environment for innovation and protecting scientists and the process of science from inappropriate interference. Scientific findings and products must not be subjected to interference or inappropriate influence and must not be inappropriately suppressed, delayed, or altered. The responsible and ethical conduct of research and other scientific activities requires an environment that is safe and free from harassment and discrimination." Highlighted in green are "subjected to interference or inappropriate influence" and "inappropriately suppressed, delayed, or altered."Text, with "political" highlighted in red to indicate removal:

I. Protecting Scientific Processes
Scientific integrity fosters "honest scientific investigation, open discussion, refined understanding, and a firm commitment to evidence" (OSTP 2010). It also enables consideration and documentation of differing scientific opinions. Practices that support scientific integrity may include peer review and open science.
Science, and public trust in science, thrives in an environment that prevents political interference and inappropriate influence from impacting scientific data and analyses and their use in decision making.
It is the policy of HHS to:
1. Prohibit political interference or other inappropriate influence in the design, proposal, conduct, review, management, evaluation, communication about, and use of scientific activities and scientific information.
Prohibit inappropriate restrictions on resources and capacity that limit and reduce the availability of science and scientific products (e.g., manuscripts for scientific journals, presentations for workshops, conferences, and symposia) outside of normal budgetary or priority-setting processes or without scientific, legal, or security justification.
3. Require that leadership and management ensure that covered individuals engaged in scientific activities can conduct their work objectively, free from political interference or other inappropriate influence, and free from retaliation.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
New in @science.org ‼️ In the most comprehensive study to date, we show that wildlife trade is driving animal-to-human zoonotic spillover at a planetary scale, with +1 spillover per host every 10 years. Live animal markets and illegal trade pose even greater risks. 🔓 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years
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Wendy Valencia Montoya @wendyssae.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
My PhD paper on my beloved cycads and beetles on the cover of Science!!! Check out how we studied thermal infrared as a pollination signal, from molecular mechanisms to the wonders of behavior... science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Submit symposium proposals for the 2027 ASN meeting in Long Island by April 30, 2026. Topics should advance biology and promote diversity. More info: www.amnat.org/announcements/ASN-mtg… #conference
amnat.org
The ASN is coming to the East Coast!
The ASN is coming to the East Coast!
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Jill M. Love, PhD 🏳️‍🌈 @jillmlove.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Preprint up now! With @ferrisifolius.bsky.social, we found positive selection on leaf shape plasticity across the altitudinal range of the cutleaf monkeyflower. This experiment was a HUGE personal undertaking. If you give it a read, I’d love to hear your thoughts! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Phenotypic plasticity is broadly adaptive across an elevation gradient in the Cutleaf Monkeyflower
Phenotypic plasticity is a key mechanism by which organisms can cope with environmental heterogeneity, but its evolutionary consequences depend on how plastic responses align with the broader adaptive...
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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Bay Area Popgen. FREE awesome popgen conference. Registration and application for talks now live on our website!
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19/02/2026
Biden would’ve been instantly impeached in a bipartisan vote if he put his face on the freakin’ Department of Justice building
Picture via a CNN reporter of a banner with Trump’s face going up on outside of DOJ building
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Loren Cassin Sackett @cassinsackett.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
What we are doing to these children is criminal. 💔
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Catalina Palacios @palaciosdcata.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Les esperamos este jueves a las 5:00pm. #COLEVOL
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 09/02/2026
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken. Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
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Democratic Activists @democratswin.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
equalitees.me Are you passionate about democracy? WEAR IT!
equalitees.me
Subtle Pride & Ally Apparel | Equalitees
Inclusive apparel for LGBTQIA+ allies and community members. Subtle pride shirts, stickers, and gifts — designed for comfort, meaning, and equality.
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
And where Texas and Florida go, so too will Oklahoma and the rest. I was on an H1B at the university of Oklahoma. The thing that gets me is the relative silence of the Democrats on this. Its not on any kind of list of policy priorities either, for them, to redress the damage being done to higher ed
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Keep applying pressure.
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Michael Sainato @msainato.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired
Following the killing of AFGE Member Alex Pretti and the subsequent slanderous rhetoric that followed from top Trump administration officials, AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement:

“Yesterday, AFGE brought together labor and faith leaders from Minneapolis and across the nation to mourn our fallen brother from Local 3669, Alex Pretti. We honored his life and legacy and lifted up his family, his friends, his union, Minneapolis, and our nation in prayer.

“Today, we demand accountability.

“In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a “domestic terrorist.” Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a VA hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota.

“Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately. If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them.
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Beth S Linas, PhD, MHS @bethlinas.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
You’ve got to be kidding me
reuters.com
US set to quit World Health Organization
The U.S. is due to officially exit the World Health Organization on Thursday, in the face of warnings it will hit both U.S. health and global health and also in violation of a U.S. law that requires W...
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Professor Mary J O'Connell @evol-molly.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Interested in pangenomics ? This paper just out from Alan Beavan (not on socials), @blackpassiflora.bsky.social and @jomcinerney.bsky.social is a must: doi.org/10.1093/bioi...
doi.org
PanForest: predicting genes in genomes using random forests
AbstractMotivation. The presence or absence of some genes in a genome can influence whether other genes are likely to be present or absent. Understanding t
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Emily L. Hauser (she/her) ❌👑 @emilylhauser.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
"Fourth graders spent the week building walls of snow at recess to protect their classmates from ICE."
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Noam Ross @noamross.net · 14/01/2026
We are collecting information on terminated SAMHSA grants at Grant Witness: grant-witness.us/submit-samhs... If you worked on one of these programs, please let us know at the link! And please share with your colleagues. We need a comprehensive record of these terminations to fight back!
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Veronika Meduna @veronikameduna.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Not a single day in 2025 was cooler than the 1991-2020 average, on a global scale. @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social
A graph showing daily temperature anomalies since the 1940s
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 11/01/2026
A riddle wrapped in an enigma: parasitic lice as clues to the evolutionary puzzle of Sapayoa (Aves) royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article... | #BiologyLetters #Evolution #MolecularBiology #Taxonomy
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Ben Silverstein ❌👑 @bensilverstein.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
Once again, Trump is using hunger as a political weapon. In other contexts this would be called a war crime. In this context, you can just call it evil as all fuck. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Freezes Food Stamps in Minnesota
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