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thebiologistisn.bsky.social
@thebiologistisn on various other systems. PhD Genetics, UMN. I do bioinformatics/genomics with a university lab. I work unofficially to make new interesting varieties of food plants. I've made distinctly blue colored dry beans. I make/sell art, too.
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Tis the season to take a good look at the White-throated Sparrows in your yard and appreciate how cool their breeding system (four functional sexes instead of two) is: www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-ba...

submitted 10 hours ago • 8 comments

I don't believe in Hell, but if I did I would die happy knowing there was a special seating section for anyone currently railing against "the sin of empathy," and every one of those seats is made with hot rusty barbs

submitted 13 hours ago • 265 comments

I now have every variant of azuki officially recognized in Japan... and yet the golden variant of Thailand and China escapes me. I'd pay anyone willing to find it and do the import paperwork...

submitted 13 hours ago • 5 comments

So. It has officially happened. I have been officially let go from my position at CDC. I wasn’t a probationary employee. I had stellar performance reviews every year. I’ll be ok. But please understand that many worked HARD to get into these positions and were doing great public health work.

submitted 1 day ago • 1843 comments

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

In 2025 we're still smashing the patriarchy

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

I know the world is terrible but... An enby still gotta make a living, so here we are😬 Reminder that you can get one of the last ruby Insecta decks (with minor tuck flaws) at lycomorpha.etsy.com Also my shop will be closed for most of next week, cos I've got an event coming up for a few days...

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

A source recently pointed out to me that for people who have a double-digit number of billions of dollars, economic crashes are great. Limited impact on their life, and they buy up assets at a discount.

submitted 1 day ago • 10 comments

WIRED health & biotech writer here. If you're a USDA employee working on the government's response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak and would like to speak securely about what's happening at the agency, please reach out to me on Signal at emullin.06. I can honor requests for anonymity.

submitted 1 day ago • 18 comments

The wildest part of this is that my parents were forced to learn English, my Tribal language was stolen from me and this foreign one was forced down my throat. I was required to learn the history of the colonizers who came here, and my own history was an elective. My people’s knowledge systems were

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

Plant alphabet Day 14: N is for Nepenthes ampullaria. Nepenthes are classic carnivorous plants, but some species have a more varied diet. With its wide open pitchers sitting on the ground, N. ampullaria is a partial detritivore that digests leaf litter and other debris that falls from above. 🌱 🌴

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Sea of Rays

submitted 1 day ago • 29 comments

In a small trial, nearly half of pancreatic cancer patients who received an mRNA vaccine had no signs of relapse after three years. Dr. Vinod Balachandran from @mskcancercenter.bsky.social joins us to discuss the results and what they could mean for cancer treatment.

submitted 1 day ago • 719 comments

Watching scientific experts being fired indiscriminately by trust fund teenagers under the banner of “merit hires only” gives me similar feelings to watching books banned and data deleted by “free speech absolutists”

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

Seems pretty dangerous to turn a lot of angry, unemployed, highly-skilled scientists out on the streets. Do you want dino-people? Because THIS is how you get dino-people.

submitted 1 day ago • 8 comments

Once upon a time, I took an ethics for engineers class in order to hang out with friends while they fulfilled degree requirements. I really wish it covered more tools for grappling with dilemmas like “How do I minimize harm during a hate-fueled implosion of my other country?”

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

They’re 100% going after childhood vaccines… www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

submitted 2 days ago • 5 comments

My ancestors fought & died in the American Revolution for this.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

While many of you are likely yelling "GO USA" or "GO CANADA!" I'm yelling "GO literally any elected member of congress and the rule of law, please, anyone or a single check or a solitary balance or—

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

history is wild, for eg. if Pythagoras hadn't successfully taken credit for a theorem he had nothing to do with, he'd be remembered as a skeevy af cult leader who claimed he could speak to animals, time travel, killed an asp with a venomous bite and insisted that fava beans are literally evil

submitted 1 day ago • 50 comments

Over on tiktok, I commented, "Kings aren't impeached. They're deposed." Someone responded, "That sounds like a threat." with the vibe that they would report me. Fortunately, we don't have a king. If we did, it is the responsibility of every American to depose him.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Okay folks, I made another Peinaleopolynoe orphanae (aka Elvis Worm) beanie. I wrestled with pricing it because even with the design and process already worked out, making the second one took 2 hours hands-on time, so spoilers its $70 USD I'm sorry 😭🐡🦑🐙 shop.noncompliantcyborg.com/product/elvi...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

THIS IS HUGE! Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center say results of a Phase I trial of an mRNA vaccine aimed at preventing pancreatic cancer show promise. The vaccine PREVENTED the cancer from coming back in patients who had already received treatment for MORE THAN three years. 🧪🧵⬇️

submitted 1 day ago • 341 comments

It is both breaking my heart and making me incandescently angry that one of the few silver linings of covid is the rapid progression of mRNA vaccine treatments for cancers - right as the GOP has declared all out War both on science as a whole and on mRNA vaccines specifically.

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

I was at the store when I saw the notice of Patel's confirmation. I exclaimed "OH MY GOD!" Clerk asked what happened—I explained they just confirmed Kash Patel! She and no one in the checkout line with me knew what I was talking about. 😬😡

submitted 2 days ago • 683 comments