iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Help needed!! The summer got the best of me in terms of getting my shark sculpture to Minnesota, but now I really REALLY need some help! If anyone is making road trip legs between Baltimore or Pittsburgh towards the Midwest, PLEASE let me know! My fish lab would love to see this happen! Thanks 🦈

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

71.5% cut to BIO. Just...jesus fucking christ on a bike

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Gen Wojcik @genandgenes.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Come meet me to transfer a shark sculpture! It fits in my Honda Odyssey, so any vehicle with at least that much space would work. The first leg is to Pittsburgh and I can meet you halfway. In this hellscape, bring a little good to your world. Also, my kids think I'm moderately cool now.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Hi folks, I've got a follow up request about my large (~10ft) shark sculpture 🦈 Can this network help me come up with a caravan of folks who can transport the sculpture from the Baltimore area to the Illinois/Wisconsin/Minnesota area? The sculpture fit in a minivan! And I can help w/ gas money

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

alright i have my laptop, guess i'm livetweeting the dire wolf preprint. so a quick reminder: this is not yet peer-reviewed, so there's some different expectations re: quality. also let's be clear, i'm a hella biased reader, bc i don't trust the hype they're courting

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Joe Heras, Ph.D. @sebastesinblue.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Thanks RC @rchoover.bsky.social for giving a really toothy talk about dentition in Stichaeids to my ichthyology class, today! Also, special thanks to the research mentors as well! @kassthefish.bsky.social, @karlycohen.bsky.social, and @cmdonatelli.bsky.social

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Science Sam @samanthayammine.com · 08/04/2025

Scientists love to debate and argue, but if there are 3 things every scientist absolutely agrees on, it's that: 1. Climate change is real 2. Vaccines work 3. Those are NOT dire wolves 😤 🧪

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Dr. Headbutt 🌈🧪 @nicoleackermans.com · 08/04/2025

And this is why science communication and science literacy is so important. 🧪

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Darren Incorvaia @megadarren.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

“De-extinction” is to biodiversity loss what “Mars colonization” is to climate change—wishful thinking that is at its core impossible but nevertheless sucks up attention and resources from actual solutions to these crises (which, ultimately, might be the whole point)

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

All jokes I've made about species concepts during my career aside.... YIKES. This is BS.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

The NSF's flagship fellowship program typically gives offers to 2,000+ young scientists. This year, in the face of looming budget cuts, that number was halved: only 1,000 received an offer. Our story on what that means for the science talent pipeline: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

NSF slashes prestigious PhD fellowship awards by half

US National Science Foundation announces lowest number of Graduate Research Fellowship Programme recipients in 15 years.

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Heather Randell @heatherrandell.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Well, UMN has officially been hit. We just got an email from our president that an international grad student was detained yesterday. No further details provided. This. Is. Crushing.

Dear students, faculty and staff,

We are writing to inform you about a deeply concerning situation involving one of our international graduate students at the University of Minnesota.

We learned that, on March 27 at an off-campus residence, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained a graduate student enrolled on our Twin Cities campus. We are actively working to gather more details about this incident.

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Bell Museum @bellmuseum.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Congratulations to Bell affiliate @pjhundt.bsky.social on his recent publication, which describes several new species of studfish! Peter Hundt has added many fish specimens to the Bell’s collections. Read more about his research in our blog post: www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/blog/newly-d...

mapress.com

Phylogenomic species delimitation of studfishes (Fundulidae: Fundulus ): evidence for cryptic species in agreement with the central highlands vicariance hypothesis | Zootaxa

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Trying to come up with the words to say. I'm terrified for our students. We just received an email that an international grad student at UMN has been detained. Minnesota has laws stating police are not required to provide info to ICE. Admin claims no info was given. How can we protect our people?

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

TransGENETIC ≠ TransGENDER Say it again louder for those in the back (and apparently also those in the front who are unable to read things correctly)

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Okay huge ask/question. Do I know anyone in the Baltimore area who could store a ~10ft shark sculpture for me? I was supposed to go pick it up this month but my schedule has gotten chaotic. I could pick it up later in the spring or early summer 👀 It should fit in a mini van or Suburban for transit

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Yay!! A federal judge in California sided with a coalition of unions, temporarily barring the Office of Personnel Management from ordering federal agencies to terminate probationary workers, stating that the firings were ‘illegal, should be stopped, and rescinded.’

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Today was the kind of day where a turkey visits your office window 🦃 It *really* wanted to be let into the building 😂

Large turkey sitting on a railing right outside my office window

Turkey taking flight from a railing outside my office window. Some pencils are visible in the foreground.

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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

BREAKING: The mass firing of upwards of 1,800 workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including top climate scientists and weather forecasters, has begun. The firings reportedly include workers at the National Weather Service.

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Firings at the NWS will kill people

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Research universities are often the largest employers in their region. They are often the primary health care providers to communities. This funding shift will not only reduce US research leadership, it will put working people out of work and reduce healthcare access.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 08/02/2025

The NIH announced it will slash billions of dollars of support to universities and research centers. This is one of the biggest attacks on science we have ever seen. It could dismantle the biomedical research system, shut down clinical trials, and halt development of treatments.

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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

This is going to be absolutely catastrophic for academic research. The amount of support public universities get from grants is astronomical, so those universities can be functional. It's not a waste; it literally supports our country's medical research. Science is valid!!!

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Not the university changing to a new HR & purchasing system (called PEAK) to make things more "centralized." Sadly the E in PEAK doesn't stand for Efficiency 🤦🏾‍♀️ My folks are dealing with late pay, missing research checks, incorrect tuition reimbursements, and lack of health insurance 😬

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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

While Trump has been distracting America with everything else, Elon Musk’s staffers are quietly taking over NOAA and the Department of Labor. They are also using AI to help rewrite a significant portion of the federal government’s computer systems.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Hi everyone. Just a reminder that it's okay to not be okay. I'm overwhelmed by everything and very much LIVID at what's happening. Things are bad and unprecedented. Know I love you all. Science is real. Trans people deserve life and happiness. Your feelings are valid. YOU are valid.

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Katie O'Reilly @drkatfish.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

how it feels to be a new PI writing grants and papers right now

A golden retriever types on a laptop while the apocalypse happens in the background

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

This is how you do it. Thank you @sicbjournals.bsky.social Read their whole email to membership here mailchi.mp/sicb.org/sic...

an email from the society for integrative and comparative biology that reads "Attn SICB Members:

The past few weeks have been a stressful time in our scientific community, and we want to make our position clear: The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology unequivocally condemns recent attacks on scientific integrity, funding for scientific research, and the importance of broadening participation in science."

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Dr. Aubree Jones @sensiblyaubree.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I am continually proud to be a member of SICB. Great science 🤝 great people

A portion of the Statement from the society for integrative and comparative biology reading: “The past few weeks have been a stressful time in our scientific community, and we want to make our position clear: The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology unequivocally condemns recent attacks on scientific integrity, funding for scientific research, and the importance of broadening participation in science.”

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Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Note to fellow professors: it’s perfectly fine to let attendance slide if your students are out participating in protests to stop a coup in your country. After all, education is liberatory practice.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

I probably don't even need to say this, BUT. Me not posting about every nightmarish thing is not because I am not internally (or externally!) screaming multiple times per day, i just figure you heard about it from 100 other people posting about each new nightmare. I assure you, my soul is cracking.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Grants = SALARIES Grants = clinical trials Grants = equipment for critical research Grants fund your health, your way of life, and our knowledge of the world. Freezing grants will halt crucial science and will be catastrophic.

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Dr. Solomon David @solomonrdavid.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Offering a brief reprieve from the crushing anti-science news with this juvenile sturgeon. Hang in there friends!🧪🐟

A fish scientist holds a juvenile Lake Sturgeon; he hopes the fish will serve as a brief reprieve from all the anti-science happening around us, even just today. Hang in there folks!

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Dr. Aubree Jones @sensiblyaubree.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Don’t let this go down without us raising a ruckus. This is blasphemy.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ocasio-cortez.house.gov · 22/01/2025

SHARE WIDELY. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights. You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one. (1/3)

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Ologies with Alie Ward @ologies.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

BONKERS to me that Elon's double nazi salute isn't the leading news story today. What in the fuck kind of world

A billionaire immigrant oligarch standing before an United States inaugural podium doing a Third Reich salute, sporting a white man overbite of triumph and exertion

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Dr Zoë Ayres @zjayres.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

The Royal Society continuing to have Elon Musk as a Fellow is atrocious

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Snuggly kitty picture for a difficult day. Ajax/Beans 🫘 gives all of you amazing & strong folks a virtual hug ❤️

Ajax (black cat) snuggled deep into a colorful fleece blanket. His paw is covering his face and he has on a purple pheromone collar.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

What to watch instead of the inauguration? Wicked? The Eras Tour? Homecoming? Literally anything would (and will) be better.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

In 2016 I threw myself into local work because I couldn't sit there and The Cheeto win. I got burnt out because I didn't understand PhD/life/politics balance. I don't regret that work. I don't care that I could've been more "scientifically productive" if I hadn't done that work.

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Just in time for the polar vortex (so it won't be temps above 0°F until Tues), my radiator heating system has stopped working. The landlords are contacted, but over/under for how long it takes for my house to get to 50°? We're already at 54° 👀 At least Beans and I have blankets and I can make tea 😂

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Cassandra Donatelli @cmdonatelli.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Join us tomorrow (Jan 5) for our Bioinspired design symposium! It will be a great space to think about how biologists and engineers work together to produce great science and innovative designs. 📍 Location: Marquis C 🕣 Time: 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM 🔗 #SICBioinspired #SICB2025 @karlycohen.bsky.social

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

When scientists are about to show your their big graph and they say “You ready?” right before they click to reveal the results? Yeah. I like that.

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Braasch Lab @ Michigan State University @fishevodevogeno.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Thanks @solomonrdavid.bsky.social and @garlab.bsky.social for hosting me! And also thanks to @kassthefish.bsky.social for the help! Shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus) sampling for #garnomics: check!✅ Who’s next? #EndlessFishMostBeautiful

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

So, #AcademicSky, are you telling international students/other mentees not to travel after Jan 20th? I have a postdoc from China I am worried about, trying to figure out what to put into place in case she is deported. Based on this article and others: wesleyanargus.com/2024/11/18/u...

wesleyanargus.com

University Responds to Potential Immigration Challenges Under Trump Administration

Wesleyan University's twice-weekly student newspaper since 1868.

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RC Hoover @rchoover.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Fish/ Wet collection folks! Where do you source your largest jars from (5-10g+)? Please rt!

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Dr. Kassandra Ford @kassthefish.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Trying to make my way over here after a hiatus from That Place.... Hi everyone! I'm Dr. Ford, a new-ish prof in Minnesota, studying evo of fish skulls. Let me know who you are and I'll do my best to follow folks back! I want to try to curate another awesome scientific and leftist network 💜💙

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RC Hoover @rchoover.bsky.social · 08/10/2023

Had a great visit to Minnesota with @kassthefish.bsky.social!

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Caroline Lenette @carolinelenette.bsky.social · 25/09/2023

It's been a few months in the making... & it's now finally ready: The Anti-Colonial Research Library hosts 400+ open-access articles and books, websites, YouTube videos on practical examples of Indigenous and anti-colonial research methodologies. Use and share widely! anticolonialresearchlibrary.org

anticolonialresearchlibrary.org

Anti-Colonial Research Library

Welcome to the Anti-Colonial Research Library This Library holds a collection of open-access articles and books, websites, and YouTube…

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