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Natasha Mhatre

@natashamhatre.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1K following 105 posts

I introduce Biology to Physics, Science to Art. Good things happen. I like thinking about thinking. Canada Research Chair in Invert Neurobio @ Western U. Views always my own.

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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 1h
Reminder:
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Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · 3h
When my father was faculty at Cornell he was stopped by the police chief in the street & asked who he was & where he was going. When he balked at the fact that no one but him, an Arab man, was being asked, the chief said “I’m just protecting students” Same guy failed to investigate 7 rapists.
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McTeagle74 @mcteagle74.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In April Amazon workers in an OR facility were asked to ignore and continue working around a fellow coworker who collapsed dead, where the body remained for at least an hour. #capitalism www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news... atlantablackstar.com/2026/04/23/a... www.btimesonline.com/articles/177...
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Dustin A. Chacón @lingdustin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:
Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads: 

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."
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🦋 Alie of the Woods 🦋 @humanbyweight.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I found a cricket leech after work today! :0 Cricket leeches are the larval form of solitary wasps in the family Rhopalosomatidae, which is the ancestral branch of all paper and potter wasps.
A photo of a dark bean-like entity stuck to the side of a cricket between its body and left hind leg. The cricket's posture looks like if a basketball player was trying to hide the fact that they got bit by a tick the size of a poodle, carrying it casually under one arm. The wasp may not directly kill its host, but the loss of so much hemolymph will likely reduce the cricket's lifespan. A photo of the same unfortunate pair from further away, so you can see the scale of the parasite. The cricket is gravid and will likely lay her eggs soon, parasitic wasp be damned. #girlpower
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Travis McEnery @travismcenery.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I don't know who lives in this house but they've made a pretty great Halloween spider. As Halloween spider decorations go, it's pretty good! It seems to be missing pedipalps, but I'll overlook that for its sheer size and the details it got right.
A giant spider statue (looks like a black widow) in front of a suburban house.
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Jim Woodgett @jwoodgett.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We're in turbulent times in health research with unprecedented advances coupled with funding challenges. CIHR is at the cross-roads of this and is looking for a special advisor to the President (2 days a week, secondment). Be part of the solution. cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54823.html
cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Special Advisor to the President - CIHR
Canada has exceptional health research talent and a strong record of scientific discovery. The challenge—and the opportunity—is to ensure more discoveries lead to better health, stronger health systems, new therapies and technologies, and a globally competitive life sciences sector.
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Andrea Grimes @andreagrimes.com · 01/10/2026
If you ruin the ~ bright futures ~ of Ivy League rapists, who will you rely on when you need a wet signature for state-sanctioned murder?
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Emily Lakdawalla 🏳️‍⚧️ Uranus Expert @elakdawalla.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
PSA: My doctor emailed me last week to say she's already seeing flu cases in her practice and to go ahead and get the shot. In the past she's advised to wait until later in October because efficacy wanes over time but this year she says go ahead and get it ASAP.
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Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🚨Postdoc job alert: Come work with my paleontology & evolution group in Edinburgh! Researcher in Cognitive Evolution Over Deep Time. You'll study how brains & neurons have evolved over time, and predict neuron count in extinct species! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DTC355/p...
jobs.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time at The University of Edinburgh
Apply for the Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I am pretty disappointed by the lack of public acknowledgment from the American Alliance of Museums about the situations at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel (which was AAM-accredited!) & the Sternberg. There are lots of museum crises right now, but these are particularly serious.
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Oh really? When were their trials?
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
This is nicely put. The machine that subordinates all life to its own algorithm of self-expansion is already operating: It’s called capital. www.newyorker.com/science/anna...
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Andrew D Wilson @adw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Bird
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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
. @biologists.bsky.social is offering 20 funded places for ECRs from the Global South to attend the Integrative Ecological Neurobiology in Changing Environments Workshop in Argentina, 1-5 August 2027 Application deadline: 6 Nov 2026 Don't miss out! 🔁 www.biologists.com/workshops/au...
Workshop
Integrative Ecological Neurobiology in Changing Environments
Organisers: Martin Berón de Astrada, Sebastián Eduardo Sabatini, Martín Tresguerres, Maria Soledad Yusseppone
Early-career reserachers apply for funded places
1-5 August 2027
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Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association says that AI is already driving *up* healthcare costs, as hospitals use the technology to find instances where they can bill more for the same level of care." - Joe Weisenthal www.bcbs.com/about-us/ass... x.com/TheStalwart/...
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JoeMyGod @joemygod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
joemygod.com
Insurer's Study Finds AI Is Driving Up Hospital Bills - Joe.My.God.
Blue Cross And Blue Shield writes: New analysis from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) finds that hospital systems are increasingly billing patient hospital stays as more medically comple...
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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!
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Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For every story like the Cornell gang rape, there are thousands more that couldn’t make it into the light. I wrote about a few dozen of them at one university in On the Wrong Side. The university’s treatment of survivors is eerily similar to what Jane Doe at Cornell experienced.
bookshop.org
On the Wrong Side: How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual Violence
"Bedera dispels deeply ingrained campus rape myths and puts the innate violence of the campus sexual assault reporting process into focus."--Jezebel"The book's grim conclusions are tempered with a hop...
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Middle East Eye (Unofficial) @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Labour conference blocks motion to cancel Palantir contract over Israeli army links - www.middleeasteye.net/news/labour-c…
middleeasteye.net
Labour conference blocks motion to cancel Palantir contract over Israeli army links
Palantir has a £330m contract to process the UK's National Health Service data
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River Ranch Dog @riverranchdog.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We saw a record two-mile-long line of cars at our food bank in rural Oklahoma last week.
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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Why isn't there more money and advocacy for urban buses and light rail? Everyone points to cities with strong bike culture, but they're most successful where reliable, fast, efficient mass transit reduces the need to have a car first.
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
nyti.ms
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Are you looking for a postdoc exploring the cell biology of development, defining how cells change shape and move? Do you want to develop a research program & teaching skills preparing you for a position at a college or small University? Our new NIH grant will support those goals 1/n Please share
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Portugues Lab @portugueslab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University is hiring! Come and do cutting edge research on the neural basis of natural behaviors at NBB (nbb.cornell.edu). No animal too small, no behavior too strange! Apply here: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32592
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I am not going to spend another twenty posts discussing how this is an exploitive, neo-colonial policy frame shamelessly used by conservationists to exploit global health for their own objectives, because I've been writing about it my entire fucking career. www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/rou...
carlsonlab.bio
Is a river cleanup a vaccine? — The Carlson Lab
This and other questions posed by the One Health approach, on the twentieth anniversary of its first adoption.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This narrative is part of a broader one that places the blame for pandemic risk on the Global South, and demands that they think less about how colonialism has entrenched poverty and denied them vaccines, and think more about how to responsibly manage their rainforests and wildlife populations.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We all saw this coming: erosion of EDI in research program and greater emphasis on applied research. The last big push for applied research was under Harper and widely acknowledged as a waste of money. universityaffairs.ca/news/remove-...
universityaffairs.ca
Remove EDI from research funding decisions, parliamentary committee says - University Affairs
The Standing Committee on Science and Research says ‘discriminatory’ EDI policies are ‘weakening the quality of Canadian research’.
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💢Marx Was Right.🕊 @paulwalker44.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
They’re coming for #SocialSecurity.
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Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Boasting of an illegal war and the war crime of pillage.
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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨We're hiring a new Curator of Mammals!!🚨 🦍🐕🦝🐅🦓🦌🐃🐖🐏🐫🐘🦏🦛🐿️🦔🦇🦥🦦🦨🦘🦡🐋🦭🦒🧸 Come join the Vertebrate Unit at @nhmdk.bsky.social—a fantastic team in the heart of Denmark's beautiful capital! Amazing collections, incredible history. Please share widely! 🧪🏛️ candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
candidate.hr-manager.net
Tenure Track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor and Curator of Mammals
Tenure Track Assistant Professor / Associate Professor, and Curator of Mammals at Natural History Museum Denmark The Natural History Museum Denmark wishes to ap
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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Texas is halting all data center environmental permits amid grid audit qz.com/texas-data-c...
qz.com
Texas halts data center environmental permits amid ERCOT audit
Gov. Greg Abbott directed the TCEQ to stop issuing permits to data centers until ERCOT and the Texas Water Development Board complete their audits
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Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A short survey from @brainfacts.org collecting information on how people use their site (a great resource for info about the brain, by the way!) www.brainfacts.org/about/websit...
brainfacts.org
Website Survey
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Hisham Zerriffi @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The kids are alright #9546703 Heard teen call the British Imperial measurement system “Oppression Units.” ☠️ Maybe it’s already a thing and I missed it but, if not, sorry, but that’s the name now.
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WeberLab@McGill @weber-lab.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨We're hiring!!🚨 @biomcgill.bsky.social is looking for a Quantitative Cell Biologist to join our diverse and interdisciplinary community. Please share this ad broadly, and reach out if you have any questions. mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/McGill...
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
Assistant Professor in Quantitative Cell Biology - Department of Biology
Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ...
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I feel like this shouldn't be news, because of course class matters in academia. But there is a unique American resistance to taking class seriously if at all that Ive not seen in other parts of the world Ive lived.
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ICE abducted a WBB player while she was traveling with her Kentucky State team in early August at Louisville airport. She has been imprisoned for 1.5 months and denied care for a serious ACL injury. It is the responsibility of universities and the NCAA to protect their players. They have failed.
Aminata Seck, 26, a student-athlete at Kentucky State University, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport while traveling with her school's basketball team Aug. 7, said Sadiqa Reynolds, a lawyer helping coordinate Seck's case.

Seck's team was headed to New York for a tournament, and she was taken into custody after going through airport security, said Reynolds, former president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League.
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Emma Arkell @emmaarkell.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This "significant labour legislation" could very likely end the right to strike for thousands of workers through expanding whose work is "essential," lengthening bargaining timelines or introducing US style laws. pressprogress.ca/mark-carneys...
pressprogress.ca
Mark Carney’s Government is Rushing Through Major Changes to Canada’s Labour Laws. Unions Say Workers Should Be Alarmed.
Unions are warning Carney is planning to place limits on the right to strike and deliver other items on 'Corporate Canada's wish list'
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Carney is anti-labour and that was obvious from the start.
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David Lowry @davidlowry.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
A widespread power outage is currently affecting the Michigan State University campus. Many science buildings are reportedly without power, and freezers and fridges are warming up. #MSU
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Natasha Mhatre @natashamhatre.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Wtf?
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Dr. Kathleen M. Munley @thefishiedoc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I am recruiting 1-2 graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D. track) to join my lab at @psychualberta.bsky.social in Fall 2027! Please share widely, and if you are interested in endocrinology, animal behavior, neuroscience, and/or seasonal biology, I would love to chat! 🐟🧠🧬🍂
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 17/09/2026
I would like media to care more about the reality that tech tycoons want to kill people than what they’re imagining about AI wanting to kill people. We have multi-millionaires (with support from billionaires!) calling for ethnic cleansing, a thing that has happened in living memory. Not theoretical!
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Ishmail Abdus-Saboor @ishmailsaboor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wonderful interview of @drjkhokhar.bsky.social on a paper that changed his life.
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Science News @scinews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Lancet union declares first-ever strike over staff wages retractionwatch.com/2026/09/16/l...
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Leah @leah.myatproto.social · 17/09/2026
nope, nope, no, no and absolutely not
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Jonathan Magnolia Gilligan @jmgilligan.org · 15/09/2026
Also: In real dollars, NSERC funding is down about 25% in the last five years.
Chart of Canada's NSERC budget, showing that it's declined from $1.2 billion to $0.9 billion in real 2007 dollars, between 2020 and 2026.

From https://can-acn.org/science-funding-in-canada-statistics/
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Corinna Gebehart @corinnagebehart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This article is so frustrating to read. First, this is not just “google’s brain” - there has been so much effort made by scientists around the world to get these connectomes to where they are today, and none of that is recognized here, instead it’s all turned into “big tech company 👍🏻”. And second -
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
One of the coolest things about people who don't have a lot of power taking a principled stand is it lays bare the complete cowardice of the ones who actually *do* have power when they fail to do even a fraction as much.
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Greg Bester 🇨🇦 @gregbester.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Liberal Party is saving Canada from the Americans by selling off our critical infrastructure to them. Does anyone see the flaw in that strategy?
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