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Elaine Ayers

@eayers0.bsky.social

2.9K followers 2.6K following 520 posts

Historian of science, collecting, plants + natural history museums // Professor at Yale // PhD in History of Science from Princeton // Contr. Ed. at Public Domain Review

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · Dec 2

Excited to launch Thinking With Moss, an NEH-funded project that I've been working on for the past few years with @tega.bsky.social + @aansari86.bsky.social. Bringing in collabs from around the world in a series of workshops, we asked what it might mean to think with moss /

www.thinkingwithmoss.net

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Reposted by Elaine Ayers

Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 23h

Well, sir, I want to see what whaling is. I want to see the world.

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 4d

Preparing myself for Smithsonian week in my Museums: Power + Politics course this week, the flex "wtf is happening right now" week of the semester. Looking for seeds of hope.

hyperallergic.com/1045848/docu...

Documenting the History Trump Wants to Erase

Librarians, historians, and volunteers are forming networks to chronicle signs and objects they fear could disappear from museums and national parks.

hyperallergic.com

Reposted by Elaine Ayers

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 4d

Two-thirds of National Park Service employees have been furloughed during the ongoing government shutdown, worsening an already severe staffing shortage. With limited personnel remaining, essential maintenance, law enforcement, and visitor services are significantly reduced.

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 4d

Putting the (overused) Frankenstein metaphor aside, this is just so weird. "Using a small blade, he sliced off a pencil-eraser-size piece of hide from its armpit and put it in a tissue-collection kit furnished by a U.S. livestock-cloning outfit called Trans Ova Genetics."

nymag.com/intelligence...

Frankenstein’s Sheep

Cloned and genetically modified animals are jumping the lab and entering the black market, possibly forever altering our ecosystems.

nymag.com

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 4d

Didn't know that Roxie Laybourne worked on moss before moving into ornithology - a trend I've seen more than once. What a powerful career.

www.themarginalian.org/2025/09/30/r...

The Feather Detective: How Roxie Laybourne Pioneered Forensic Ornithology

You wouldn’t know it, looking at the tiny elderly woman in the white lab coat bent over a table in a halogen-lit government office, you wouldn’t know she had spent her youth doing scien…

www.themarginalian.org

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 4d

I love horseshoe crabs.

theamericanscholar.org/blood-blue-s...

Blood-Blue Sky - The American Scholar

How horseshoe crabs and ecological grief connect with the wonders of the human heart

theamericanscholar.org

Reposted by Elaine Ayers

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · 7d

Our new CFP is up and it is monstrous.

CFP: A Time of Monsters

The monster has been here all along. It is a historical constant that manifests in wildly different ways across time, place, and culture. Whatever form it takes, the monster claws at categories; it un...

contingentmagazine.org

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Reposted by Elaine Ayers

C. E. Aubin @ceaubin.bsky.social · 8d

Also bonus @artcrimeprof.bsky.social arm + leg cameo

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C. E. Aubin @ceaubin.bsky.social · 8d

Being a part of the Whitney is so cool because I get to eat delicious lunch AND hear my incredibly smart and talented colleagues talk about the research that plagues and delights them

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Reposted by Elaine Ayers

C. E. Aubin @ceaubin.bsky.social · 8d

Absolutely fascinating presentation by @eayers0.bsky.social today at the weekly Whitney Fellows’ lunch - the way I look at natural history specimens will change as a result of this talk.

Elaine Ayers giving a talk in front of a PowerPoint labeled “Entangled organisms: Classificatory challenges + ecological objects in natural history collections”

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 8d

I really need to improve my posture

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 8d

Weirdly pretty gutted by this - thoughts (as a former primate person) coming soon.

Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 8d

An icon

Jane Goodall, primatologist and friend to chimpanzees, dies at 91

She used her global fame to draw attention to the plight of dwindling chimpanzee populations and, more broadly, to the perils of environmental destruction.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 8d

(As is my sticky spacebar)

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 8d

These AI-based writing "suggestions" (in emails, Word / Google docs, etc) are SO ANNOYING. They make writing simpler, sure, but also shittier. The number of blue lines I have to ignore is distracting and impeding my writing. Driving me absolutely crazy.

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Reposted by Elaine Ayers

Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 8d

#Postdoc at U. of Vienna in philosophy of science, with focus on scientific modeling, interdisciplinarity &/or philosophy of engineering, w/ Prof. Tarja Knuuttila. English & German language proficiency required.
Deadline: Oct 9th
#philsci

jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universi...

University Assistant postdoctoral, in the research area of Philosophy of Science

jobs.univie.ac.at

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 9d

Job at UC-Berkeley: Asst. Prof. in Global History of Technology, apps due 10/10 (so soon). #history #histSTM #histsci #histphilsci

aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05065

Assistant Professor – Global History of Technology - Department of History

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 9d

I've rarely talked this much with this many colleagues about teaching methods, what we succeed in / struggle with doing, grade inflation, evals, how we teach reading, the value of research + writing in history. I hate AI, but I don't hate this reflectiveness + accountability, actually.

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 9d

AI in schools has been terrible + crazy (although I've always been kind of interested in thinking about this stuff), but one thing I SORT OF appreciate is the turn towards critically discussing our teaching methods - grading, reading, assignments, etc.

www.newyorker.com/culture/open...

Should College Get Harder?

A.I. is coming for knowledge work, and yet college seems to be getting easier. Does something need to change?

www.newyorker.com

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 10d

And Fri, it's the exhibit reception for Plants on Paper at Yale's Arts Library! I'll be speaking, there will be tea, and it's a gorgeous collection well worth perusing.

library.yale.edu/event/plants...

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 10d

Thurs at 4PM, the inimitable @artcrimeprof.bsky.social is talking about "The Battle Over America's Monuments + Heroes" as part of the prestigious Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. I'm teaching during her talk, but my students are going + I'm so happy to see her on campus!

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 10d

I'm also speaking about my in progress writing / book project - "Entangled Organisms: Classificatory Challenges & Ecological Objects in Natural History Collections" at the @yalewhc.bsky.social fellows' lunch this Weds; looking forward to feedback from the other fellows + visitors!

Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 10d

So many good events on campus this week, starting with Jhumpa Lahiri at @yalewhc.bsky.social, starting in a few minutes.

Whitney Humanities Center at Yale @yalewhc.bsky.social · Aug 4

Save the date: Jhumpa Lahiri at Yale

Pulitzer Prize–winning writer & translator Jhumpa Lahiri will deliver the annual Finzi-Contini Lecture, offering fresh insight into a literary classic.

🗓️ Monday, September 29 at 4:30 pm
📍 Humanities Quadrangle, lower level

events.yale.edu/event/quiver...

Jhumpa Lahiri | Quiver and Fixity: On Rereading “Jude the Obscure”

events.yale.edu

Reposted by Elaine Ayers

American Society for Environmental History @aseh.bsky.social · 13d

Applications sought for next editor(s) of Environmental History. For more information please visit the ASEH website: www.aseh.org

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Elaine Ayers @eayers0.bsky.social · 11d

Since the new season dropped last week, just a reminder that the English Teacher is a very sweet and funny and commitment show for those looking for small breaks between grading + writing.

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Reposted by Elaine Ayers

Texas Tribune @texastribune.org · 13d

Breaking: Texas Tech chancellor limits academic mentions of transgender and nonbinary identities at five universities.

Texas Tech chancellor limits academic mentions of transgender and nonbinary identities at five universities

Advocacy groups say the new state law, presidential executive order and gubernatorial letter Tedd Mitchell cited do not prohibit classroom discussions of particular LGBTQ+ identities.

www.texastribune.org

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