Reposted by Gavin LeightonMark Histed @markhisted.org · 03/10/2026Killed. NSF’s SBE was killed, in violation of law. The President does not have the power to choose to kill programs at a whim by defunding them. The imperial presidency was a mistake and we are in a separation of powers constitutional crisis. 151452529
Reposted by Gavin LeightonJeremy Van Cleve @vancleve.theoretical.bio · 29/09/2026My group is recruiting a Ph.D student for Fall 2027! We're a friendly group of mathematically-minded and computationally-inspired biologists studying topics including social evolution, host-pathogen interactions, genetics, and demography. See vancleve.theoretical.bio for more info!vancleve.theoretical.biovan cleve research groupVan Cleve Research Group – theoretical evolution & ecology at the University of Kentucky 05370
Reposted by Gavin LeightonDavid Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 15/09/2026NSF has reduced the research budget for all atmospheric, ocean, and earth sciences by ~80%. 80%! A lot of us will not be conducting new research or training new students for the foreseeable future. 201444722
Reposted by Gavin LeightonAlex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Ultimately, this letter from NSF is an announcement that universities will be funded a lot less and politically-connected industry will be funded a lot more. Fancy words around old-fashioned corruption.nsf.govNSF leadership in a new golden age of scienceThe U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has... 8323170
Reposted by Gavin LeightonDan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Grantmaking has leveled off, so it looks like NSF will make around 6,200 new grants—down from an average of ~11,000. That's a historic low, not seen since the 1980s, when NSF was a far smaller organization. Left was our projection three weeks ago, right is the current data. 12125
Reposted by Gavin LeightonNature @nature.com · 20/08/2026The US National Science Foundation will award about 30% fewer new research grants this fiscal year than in the last one, Nature has learnt. go.nature.com/3UcGoNWgo.nature.comExclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decadesThe US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project. 4137106
Reposted by Gavin LeightonAnna Allen @akallen10.bsky.social · 17/08/2026New NSF BIO solicitation is live.... this replaces the previous IOS, MCB, DEB solicitation www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... 45883
Reposted by Gavin LeightonDrug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Holy shit. “the final overall impact score or percentile on which the categorization was based would not be released to any of these parties. “ 43920
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026He seems to think faculty don't want to talk about class but our SUNY union had faculty fighting for improvements for staff and adjuncts. Perhaps TAH could leave his elite bubble and see that his caricatures are incomplete at best. 160
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026I don't know man, Tyler Austin Harper is a fairly uninspired reactionary that is respooling grievances from several years ago. If he thinks "Woke 1" is the biggest threat to colleges/universities in the year of our lord 2026 then he's either deluded or an even bigger grifter than at first glance. 3110
Reposted by Gavin LeightonBirds of the World | The Cornell Lab @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social · 10/08/2026The Cornell Lab invites applications for Edward W. Rose Postdoctoral Fellowships. These competitive awards support innovative, independent research by early-career scholars of exceptional promise. Two to four awards are made in each cycle. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32334academicjobsonline.orgCornell University, Lab of Ornithology Job #AJO32334, WDR-00059934 Rose Postdoctoral Associate, Cornell University, Ithaca NY, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US 14243
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 06/08/2026Thank you! Glad it was (mostly) well received. 010
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 06/08/2026If you're at #AOS26 and want to hear about continent-wide tests of mimicry predictions in woodpeckers and the curious results, I'll be speaking tomorrow (08/06) in the Behavior 3 session at 4 PM (room 163)! 040
Reposted by Gavin LeightonCarl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 23/07/20261. The new Trump / Kratsios plan for US science appears explicitly designed to destroy US universities. Diverting money to tech donors is probably just a bonus. Gift link.nytimes.comTrump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science. 5120231141
Reposted by Gavin LeightonJake Berv @jakeberv.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Happy to share this 'capstone' project from my time as a postdoc @umich.edu, where we show that hierarchically nested bursts of body-shape evolution may underlie much of perching-bird diversification over ~50 million years. Free access link here: rdcu.be/fuxB1rdcu.beRates of passerine body plan evolution in time and spaceNature Ecology & Evolution - A reconstruction of the evolutionary history of passerine body plans over the past ~50 Myr shows rare bursts of phenotypic innovation near the origin of major... 314165
Reposted by Gavin LeightonBen Allen @evodynamics.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Congrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...bostonglobe.comTrump administration limits student visas to four years, changing longstanding policy - The Boston GlobeThe new rule, which also restricts the international students’ ability to transfer schools or change majors without approval in their first year, will go into effect in mid-September. 12939531520
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Pouring on more and more defenders that aren't there to keep possession will go down as perhaps the worst managerial mistake of this tournament. Only O'reilly was defensible as a sub that could get regain the ball for the team. 010
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026The submitted grant was squarely within animal behavior so it doesn’t seem likely it would fit better elsewhere under the previous structure. 030
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Submitted a grant recently to IOS in the NSF and got this recent email. I’ve tried to stay up to date on the how the NSF has had to “restructure” after draconian budget cuts, but has anyone heard if IOS has been closed? The IOS solicitation/webpage is still nominally open. 130
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026So that's one way to connect actual genes/alleles to larger traits that are relevant for fitness. You could also use the foraging gene in Drosophila or the orco gene in Harpegnathos. Though the Darwin's Finch example is more connected from gene to studies in the field/fitness. 010
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026One option to consider is using a system where at least some of the genetic structure of a trait is known. For instance, you could use BMP4 and CaM genes in Darwin's Finches since thre is evidence they shape beak development. Beak size influences survival and song in Darwin's finches. 230
Reposted by Gavin LeightonMark Histed @markhisted.org · 29/06/2026Sotomayor’s dissent is an obituary for science, NIH, and NSF. “Seldom, if ever, has this Court worked such a profound bait and switch on a coequal branch: For more than 90 years, Congress believed, with this Court’s express approval, that it was allowed to create a workable Govern- ment…” 212463
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026'They really do like technology,' Lamm says of the Trump administration. 'They seem to like making money and saving money.' Sure man. The admin is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on an unnecessary ballroom but they love saving money. 100
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026"Working with both sides of the aisle, while they have different views on things like climate change, they do agree that a world without species is bad,” he says." Is that really the main takeaway from comparing admins? This sort of stuff from the CEO of Colossal is insufferable unctuousness. 110
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Has anyone at Colossal provided even a remotely plausible about how de-extinction is supposed to work without habitat protection or restoration? If they don't have some robust plan then you can probably bet on this company going under at some point and all these samples being lost. 110
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 25/06/2026These are really excellent water color representations. The water color images are surely better than some of the fairly rare but anti-inspiring arrow and line figures you see in some places. 130
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026Genuinely enjoying this PhyloMonet rendering of branches/traits. 030
Reposted by Gavin LeightonScience Magazine @science.org · 22/06/2026Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. scim.ag/4xY2KCmscience.orgExclusive: NSF slashes research programs to support new tech initiative, insiders sayUnexpected shift in funds has meant sharp drop in grants this fiscal year 10345290
Reposted by Gavin LeightonJeffrey Mervis @policyhound.bsky.social · 02/06/2026NSF uses staffing cuts to strip Inspector General's office of its ability to investigate research misconduct www.science.org/content/arti...science.orgExclusive: NSF watchdog unit is no longer investigating research misconductNew policy hands universities the reins in probing allegations against faculty 5143102
Reposted by Gavin LeightonSusana Wadgymar🌿🔬 @smwadgymar.bsky.social · 30/05/2026Truly the death of science as we know it, as well as any societies and journals dependent on funding from U.S. scientists. **Public comments accepted through July 13.** 🧪 🌍 Email and call your representative every day, on top of leaving public comments here: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...federalregister.govRegulation for Federal Financial AssistanceThe Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposes to revise the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance to improve government- wide policies and requirements related to the management of grants, co... 22730
Reposted by Gavin LeightonCarl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 29/05/2026Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says. 331657977
Reposted by Gavin LeightonRoss @rossengineer.bsky.social · 23/05/2026Worked at JPL while studying at Caltech back in the early 1990s. This is a nightmare-level theft of a planetary science & exploration powerhouse. It makes no sense whatsoever. Republicans' continued vandalism of NASA's science centers is intolerable. 26043
Reposted by Gavin LeightonJingyi Yang @jyang19.bsky.social · 20/05/2026Happy to see my PhD work on birdsong complexity published today! doi.org/10.1098/rspb... 🐦⬛ 🎶 ⬇️ Why are some birdsongs simple and some extremely complex? The answer is long thought to be ‘sexual selection favouring complex signals’. But - really?doi.orgSong complexity in suboscine birds: evolutionary drivers and ecological constraintsAbstract. Acoustic signal complexity varies widely in animals, from single notes to highly sophisticated vocal displays. In birds, vocal complexity can evo 1045355
Reposted by Gavin LeightonNathan Butterworth @butterworthbugs.bsky.social · 18/05/2026How do courtship dances evolve? Paper out now in Behavioral Ecology 🪰 "Courtship choreography is stabilized among genetically isolated populations" doi.org/10.1093/behe... Video of our study species the dancing dune fly (Apotropina ornatipennis) below.youtu.beThe courtship display of Apotropina ornatipennis (Diptera: Chloropidae)YouTube video by Nathan 084
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 14/05/2026Here's the screenshot of who to contact for this: 010
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 14/05/2026If you click through to the 'contact' info for this program you'll see the contact email is "xlabs@nsf.gov" and the contact phone number is "(blank)". The actual text of this solicitation is barely coherent. 100% a scheme to funnel critical NSF money to private companies with no oversight. 130
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 10/05/2026That behavior is probably a worker carrying her sister to a new nest site or potentially to a new resource. www.antwiki.org/wiki/Social_...antwiki.org 120
Reposted by Gavin LeightonDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/05/2026This is basically harassment of scholars willing to question the Trump administration’s targeting of Chinese colleagues. Innes already had the FBI investigate his lab and was given the all clear. Now USDA is shutting down the Lab, which focuses on making fungus-resistant plants. 20765317
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 30/04/2026Thanks Catherine! I’ll extend your congrats to author Catherine as well. 000
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 30/04/2026Thank you! Really stellar work by Catherine as well as this was her undergrad research project. 010
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 29/04/2026Link to the paper here: rdcu.be/ff1hH [3/3]rdcu.beEvolutionary dynamics of size and plumage dimorphism in birds 030
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 29/04/2026There might be a constraint on increased sexual size dimorphism contingent on nest types. Closed nest types did not see increased sexual size dimorphism whereas open nest types more readily allowed for increased sexual size dimorphism with increasing body size (Bold lines are significant) [2/3] 2102
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 29/04/2026Research from the lab on the evolution of size and plumage dimorphism in birds! Grad student Catherine Alverson examined how species move between size and plumage dimorphism categories. While those results largely recapitulated previous work, there was an intriguing new finding [1/3] 24118
Reposted by Gavin LeightonCarl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 28/04/2026More details on the firing of the National Science Board. The NSF now has no director, deputy director, or board. They have issued almost no new awards in 2026. The plan appears to be to completely destroyed the agency. The details are horrifying and have Russ Vought written all over them.insidehighered.comBoard Ouster Raises Further Concerns About NSF’s FutureThe White House axed all members of the board overseeing the National Science Foundation Friday, leaving the agency with no board, director or deputy director. It finally provided a reason Monday afte... 6821741329
Gavin Leighton @gavinleighton.bsky.social · 07/04/2026I think the unambiguous quantitative evidence is that there were more pieces on Walz and his service than pieces on the dire consequences of Trump launching a war of choice with Iran. You might say journalists didn’t collude to do this but none of the explanations for the discrepancy are good. 060
Reposted by Gavin LeightonMike Kaspari @mikekaspari.bsky.social · 06/04/2026NSF LTER program “archived”. LTER=“Long Term Ecological Research”. This program has been incredibly successful, incredibly frugal for what they accomplish, and…of course…targeted by evil know-nothings. My heart is breaking. 18384185
Reposted by Gavin LeightonCatherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · 25/03/2026Are you (or something you know) looking for a PhD? Like trait macroevolution but also yearn for an applied topic? Think plants are neat? Want to live in beautiful northeast Scotland?! 🌊🐬⛰️🏴 I'm advertising a PhD in my lab! Deadline April 22, email me any questions. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...findaphd.comQUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen on FindAPhD.comPhD Project - QUARTILES DLA CASE: Trait-based drivers of the ornamental plant trade at University of Aberdeen , listed on FindAPhD.com 1821