Daniel Bolnick
@danielbolnick.bsky.social
Professor of ecology and evolution @ UConn. Studies adaptation, evolutionary immunology, speciation, genomics, foraging, parasite ecology and more.
Hikes, rock climbs, tango, history buff, photographer & parent
Hikes, rock climbs, tango, history buff, photographer & parent
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
It's not just the extremes. Sure, we found >1300 special issues with >75% of the articles authored by guest editors themselves. But the bulk of PISS, endogeny beyond any existing threshold, comes from systematic mild abuse.
The real danger is how we've normalised mild abuse, not the extremes.
7/n
The real danger is how we've normalised mild abuse, not the extremes.
7/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
It's not just the extremes. Sure, we found >1300 special issues with >75% of the articles authored by guest editors themselves. But the bulk of PISS, endogeny beyond any existing threshold, comes from systematic mild abuse.
The real danger is how we've normalised mild abuse, not the extremes.
7/n
The real danger is how we've normalised mild abuse, not the extremes.
7/n
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
It’s not supposed to work like this: The divide between pro- and anti-vaccine states is widening
www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/v...
www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/v...
The divide between pro- and anti-vaccine states is widening
“Vaccine policy now tracks political identity more closely than epidemiology,” write Richard Hughes IV and Lawrence O. Gostin.
www.statnews.com
January 13, 2026 at 3:41 AM
It’s not supposed to work like this: The divide between pro- and anti-vaccine states is widening
www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/v...
www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/v...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Note that the fascist is not using the pepper spray for crowd control. He is entering a vehicle unimpeded to depart. He is simply using the pepper spray to physically punish an unarmed citizen he doesn't like.
Big clash this afternoon between DHS agents and protesters in a residential street in Minneapolis, following a DHS agent hitting another vehicle. Tear gas was deployed in people’s yards and agents pepper prayed people.
January 12, 2026 at 9:04 PM
Note that the fascist is not using the pepper spray for crowd control. He is entering a vehicle unimpeded to depart. He is simply using the pepper spray to physically punish an unarmed citizen he doesn't like.
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
ASN VP Symposium: Evolutionary Responses to Historic Drought across the Range of Scarlet Monkeyflower by Sheth et al.
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Evolutionary Responses to Historic Drought across the Range of Scarlet Monkeyflower* | The American Naturalist: Vol 207, No 1
Abstract Adaptive evolution is a key means for populations to persist under environmental change, yet whether populations across a species’ range can adapt quickly enough to keep pace with climate cha...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
January 12, 2026 at 6:48 PM
ASN VP Symposium: Evolutionary Responses to Historic Drought across the Range of Scarlet Monkeyflower by Sheth et al.
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read now!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Unravelling mate choice mysteries: Using water striders, Malik et al. show how analyzing multiple traits across mating stages reveals which sex truly controls copulation.
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
January 12, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Unravelling mate choice mysteries: Using water striders, Malik et al. show how analyzing multiple traits across mating stages reveals which sex truly controls copulation.
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
ICYMI: A Mechanistically Integrated Model of Exploitative and Interference Competition over a Single Resource Produces Widespread Coexistence by Smith and Masel
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
January 12, 2026 at 6:56 PM
ICYMI: A Mechanistically Integrated Model of Exploitative and Interference Competition over a Single Resource Produces Widespread Coexistence by Smith and Masel
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Read here!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Make America Healthy Again was never really their goal.
In short: no more regulations to reduce air pollution. Make America the 1800s again.
Environmental "Protection" Agency, my ass.
Environmental "Protection" Agency, my ass.
Scoop: The EPA will no longer estimate the lives saved by reducing air pollution when writing clean-air regulations, according to documents reviewed by @nytimes.com.
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
January 12, 2026 at 7:03 PM
Make America Healthy Again was never really their goal.
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Shooting protesters in Iran is barbaric and tyrannical. Shooting protesters here in the United States is patriotic and brave.
January 12, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Shooting protesters in Iran is barbaric and tyrannical. Shooting protesters here in the United States is patriotic and brave.
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Under what legal authority does the president take ownership of another country’s oil — and then deposit the proceeds in offshore bank accounts that circumvent Congress’s power of the purse? Who knows? Trump told the New York Times: “I don’t need international law.” wapo.st/4pApDGu
Opinion | Trump was an imperialist all along
The president is trapped in a Gilded Age bubble where tariffs and resource grabs are prized.
wapo.st
January 12, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Under what legal authority does the president take ownership of another country’s oil — and then deposit the proceeds in offshore bank accounts that circumvent Congress’s power of the purse? Who knows? Trump told the New York Times: “I don’t need international law.” wapo.st/4pApDGu
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
"In every society fallen to authoritarianism, the state goes after the press first+ closes in on universities next.
All of us who live, work,+learn within the university should think of our institution as part of the larger constitutional structure of the nation."
www.chronicle.com/article/univ...
All of us who live, work,+learn within the university should think of our institution as part of the larger constitutional structure of the nation."
www.chronicle.com/article/univ...
Universities Need a New Defense
The authoritarian threat is growing. The old playbook won’t work.
www.chronicle.com
January 11, 2026 at 1:04 PM
"In every society fallen to authoritarianism, the state goes after the press first+ closes in on universities next.
All of us who live, work,+learn within the university should think of our institution as part of the larger constitutional structure of the nation."
www.chronicle.com/article/univ...
All of us who live, work,+learn within the university should think of our institution as part of the larger constitutional structure of the nation."
www.chronicle.com/article/univ...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
I’m a German Citizen in 1933, and Is It Just Me or Is It Really Hard to Get Any Work Done Right Now? www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-...
I’m a German Citizen in 1933, and Is It Just Me or Is It Really Hard to Get Any Work Done Right Now?
Our 25th most-read article of 2025.
- - -Guten tag. I’m just wondering if anybody else can relate to this feeling I’ve been having that I just can...
www.mcsweeneys.net
January 11, 2026 at 1:23 PM
I’m a German Citizen in 1933, and Is It Just Me or Is It Really Hard to Get Any Work Done Right Now? www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
🚨Call for papers🚨
Microbial Evolution: Impacts on Human Health
in the society journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
Guest Editors: Bob Woods, Silvie Huijben & Camilo Barbosa
EIC: me
This will be great, please submit and share!
academic.oup.com/emph/pages/m...
Microbial Evolution: Impacts on Human Health
in the society journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
Guest Editors: Bob Woods, Silvie Huijben & Camilo Barbosa
EIC: me
This will be great, please submit and share!
academic.oup.com/emph/pages/m...
January 9, 2026 at 4:49 PM
🚨Call for papers🚨
Microbial Evolution: Impacts on Human Health
in the society journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
Guest Editors: Bob Woods, Silvie Huijben & Camilo Barbosa
EIC: me
This will be great, please submit and share!
academic.oup.com/emph/pages/m...
Microbial Evolution: Impacts on Human Health
in the society journal Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health
Guest Editors: Bob Woods, Silvie Huijben & Camilo Barbosa
EIC: me
This will be great, please submit and share!
academic.oup.com/emph/pages/m...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
This is a HUGE win…and one that happened because we ~collectively~ said “NO!”
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 12:09 PM
This is a HUGE win…and one that happened because we ~collectively~ said “NO!”
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Hey @aaas.org I am a member and Fellow and am appalled by that statement. The devastating impact on trainees and their fellowships, the anxiety all have felt, and the devastating cuts in some fields are just some examples. Perhaps you all could respond directly??
This is a HUGE win…and one that happened because we ~collectively~ said “NO!”
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Hey @aaas.org I am a member and Fellow and am appalled by that statement. The devastating impact on trainees and their fellowships, the anxiety all have felt, and the devastating cuts in some fields are just some examples. Perhaps you all could respond directly??
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Same, AAAS Fellow and member and institute leader - while it's great that Congress is supportive of funding, science and scientists are not ok, @aaas.org
Hey @aaas.org I am a member and Fellow and am appalled by that statement. The devastating impact on trainees and their fellowships, the anxiety all have felt, and the devastating cuts in some fields are just some examples. Perhaps you all could respond directly??
This is a HUGE win…and one that happened because we ~collectively~ said “NO!”
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
But AAAS coming in and saying on record to the NYT “Science is doing ok. Things are not bad at all…” is baffling.
If things are hard for you as a scientist, please share in the comments.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...
January 10, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Same, AAAS Fellow and member and institute leader - while it's great that Congress is supportive of funding, science and scientists are not ok, @aaas.org
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
The use of an image of Trump on the 2026 pass — rather than the usual picture of nature — has sparked a backlash, sticker protests, and a lawsuit from a conservation group.
National Park Service will void passes with stickers over Trump's face
The use of an image of Trump on the 2026 pass — rather than the usual picture of nature — has sparked a backlash, sticker protests, and a lawsuit from a conservation group.
n.pr
January 10, 2026 at 10:33 AM
The use of an image of Trump on the 2026 pass — rather than the usual picture of nature — has sparked a backlash, sticker protests, and a lawsuit from a conservation group.
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Powerful piece in STAT this morning from some NIH staff members who have resigned
www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n...
1/3
www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n...
1/3
The NIH has lost its scientific integrity. So we left
“We can no longer lend our credibility to an organization that has lost its integrity,” write four scientists and administrators who recently resigned from the NIH.
www.statnews.com
January 10, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Powerful piece in STAT this morning from some NIH staff members who have resigned
www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n...
1/3
www.statnews.com/2026/01/10/n...
1/3
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Want to study the genomics of repeated adaptation with data from hundreds of species? New funding for non-Canadians @ grad or postdoc level. Internal competition at UCalgary with very short deadline so please get in touch ASAP!!
sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/o...
sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/o...
January 9, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Want to study the genomics of repeated adaptation with data from hundreds of species? New funding for non-Canadians @ grad or postdoc level. Internal competition at UCalgary with very short deadline so please get in touch ASAP!!
sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/o...
sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/funding/o...
So let me get this straight: Trump started an illegal war (not approved by Congress) in order to extort a share of a Nobel PEACE prize from its winner. That’s seriously absurd.
President Trump said he will meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado next week — and that he would accept the award she said she wants to share with him.
January 9, 2026 at 4:14 PM
So let me get this straight: Trump started an illegal war (not approved by Congress) in order to extort a share of a Nobel PEACE prize from its winner. That’s seriously absurd.
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Anatomy promotes neutral coexistence of strains in the human skin microbiome
Take home: each pore is dominated by a single genotype due to neutral bottlenecking (priority effects)
I absolutely love this paper. It's very clearly written and fun to use when teaching. 👏🧪
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Take home: each pore is dominated by a single genotype due to neutral bottlenecking (priority effects)
I absolutely love this paper. It's very clearly written and fun to use when teaching. 👏🧪
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
January 8, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Anatomy promotes neutral coexistence of strains in the human skin microbiome
Take home: each pore is dominated by a single genotype due to neutral bottlenecking (priority effects)
I absolutely love this paper. It's very clearly written and fun to use when teaching. 👏🧪
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Take home: each pore is dominated by a single genotype due to neutral bottlenecking (priority effects)
I absolutely love this paper. It's very clearly written and fun to use when teaching. 👏🧪
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
Most of the targets are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and "woke" initiatives. n.pr/3N7LJmg
U.S. to exit 66 international organizations in further retreat from global cooperation
Most of the targets are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and "woke" initiatives.
n.pr
January 8, 2026 at 2:49 AM
Most of the targets are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and "woke" initiatives. n.pr/3N7LJmg
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
We are pleased to announce the inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Urban Evolution and Ecology which will be held from Jan. 31 - Feb. 5, 2027. Please save the dates, and we look forward to welcoming you to beautiful Ventura Beach, California!
January 7, 2026 at 6:55 PM
We are pleased to announce the inaugural Gordon Research Conference on Urban Evolution and Ecology which will be held from Jan. 31 - Feb. 5, 2027. Please save the dates, and we look forward to welcoming you to beautiful Ventura Beach, California!