Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social
Historian of science, collecting, plants + museums // Professor at Yale // PhD in History of Science from Princeton // Contr. Ed. at Public Domain Review // elaineayers.com
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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
www.thinkingwithmoss.net
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f
Today is the Smithsonian's deadline to give thousands of documents to the White House
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology."
n.pr
January 13, 2026 at 11:54 AM
The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Officers who shatter car windows aren’t being disciplined — they’re being promoted.
One officer who smashed a window in front of a local TV reporter got a senior ICE position overseeing operations on the East Coast.
(Published July 2025)
One officer who smashed a window in front of a local TV reporter got a senior ICE position overseeing operations on the East Coast.
(Published July 2025)
“We’ll Smash the Fucking Window Out and Drag Him Out”
We’ve documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before Trump took office. ICE claims its officers use a “mini...
projects.propublica.org
January 12, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Officers who shatter car windows aren’t being disciplined — they’re being promoted.
One officer who smashed a window in front of a local TV reporter got a senior ICE position overseeing operations on the East Coast.
(Published July 2025)
One officer who smashed a window in front of a local TV reporter got a senior ICE position overseeing operations on the East Coast.
(Published July 2025)
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
I curate the history series at public media's trade journal Current. We're looking for pieces on the history of NPR, PBS and its affiliates, with some space to imagine public media's future. We accept academic articles repurposed for wide readership. Plus, we pay. Please circulate!
Rewind: The Roots of Public Media
This series features scholars of media history looking back at both familiar and lesser-known chapters in public broadcasting’s evolution. “Rewind” is presented in partnership with the Radio Preservat...
current.org
January 11, 2026 at 9:42 PM
I curate the history series at public media's trade journal Current. We're looking for pieces on the history of NPR, PBS and its affiliates, with some space to imagine public media's future. We accept academic articles repurposed for wide readership. Plus, we pay. Please circulate!
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
he broods within his sternward cabin, builded over the dead water of the wake, and further on, hunted by its wolfish gurglings
January 11, 2026 at 9:47 PM
he broods within his sternward cabin, builded over the dead water of the wake, and further on, hunted by its wolfish gurglings
Welp another winter break is over and I did not get anything done that I needed to get done, nor did I get any rest. Why are this university's breaks so short??
January 11, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Welp another winter break is over and I did not get anything done that I needed to get done, nor did I get any rest. Why are this university's breaks so short??
Stop taking away our good things. I want a vast underground ocean on Europa that's teeming with life. I want some moon cryptogams. A microbe or two. Some shit we've never comprehended.
It is thought that Jupiter's moon Europa contains a vast underground ocean, bigger than all Earth's oceans combined. For yrs, we've dreamed it might teem with life thanks to chemical energy from hot rocks. But a fresh study has weakened that idea.🔭
➡️ eeps.wustl.edu/news/jupiter...
🧪 #planetsci 1/6
➡️ eeps.wustl.edu/news/jupiter...
🧪 #planetsci 1/6
January 11, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Stop taking away our good things. I want a vast underground ocean on Europa that's teeming with life. I want some moon cryptogams. A microbe or two. Some shit we've never comprehended.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
The US Department of Agriculture suspends all federal funding to Minnesota, effective immediately.
January 9, 2026 at 11:45 PM
The US Department of Agriculture suspends all federal funding to Minnesota, effective immediately.
These men should be fucking ashamed of themselves. And if they don't feel any shame, then go ahead and take those masks off and proudly identify themselves as the racist, violent, worthless pieces of shit that they are. Just stunned watching all of this.
January 10, 2026 at 1:13 PM
These men should be fucking ashamed of themselves. And if they don't feel any shame, then go ahead and take those masks off and proudly identify themselves as the racist, violent, worthless pieces of shit that they are. Just stunned watching all of this.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
all this is both foolish and unnecessary
January 4, 2026 at 9:47 PM
all this is both foolish and unnecessary
So fucking heartbroken today. Every day, these days.
January 8, 2026 at 2:57 AM
So fucking heartbroken today. Every day, these days.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
"Researchers have reconfigured the traditional use of natural history collections for taxonomic, systematic, and biogeographical study into indicators of global climate change." - @nulybranch.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/11/24/b...
#envhist #histsci #naturalhistory #climatechange
niche-canada.org/2025/11/24/b...
#envhist #histsci #naturalhistory #climatechange
Big C3 Energy: Arctic Plant Collections as Evidence for the Climate Crisis.
Arctic plants use efficient C3 photosynthesis to survive cold, now serving as biased yet vital climate-change indicators.
niche-canada.org
January 7, 2026 at 2:46 PM
"Researchers have reconfigured the traditional use of natural history collections for taxonomic, systematic, and biogeographical study into indicators of global climate change." - @nulybranch.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/11/24/b...
#envhist #histsci #naturalhistory #climatechange
niche-canada.org/2025/11/24/b...
#envhist #histsci #naturalhistory #climatechange
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
The 19th Ischia Summer School in the History of the Life Sciences will take place 28 Jun - 5 July 2026. Interested graduate students should apply by 27 February. This year's theme? PROBLEMS of GROWTH! ischiasummerschool.org/theme #histSTM #histbio #histsci
Nineteenth Ischia Summer School - Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences
2013 Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences, 29 June -- 6 July 2013: "Creating Life --- From Alchemy to Synthetic Biology"
ischiasummerschool.org
January 5, 2026 at 10:12 PM
The 19th Ischia Summer School in the History of the Life Sciences will take place 28 Jun - 5 July 2026. Interested graduate students should apply by 27 February. This year's theme? PROBLEMS of GROWTH! ischiasummerschool.org/theme #histSTM #histbio #histsci
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
This. In all the political back and forth and media coverage it's appalling - and deeply colonizing - how little concern or voice has been given to Greenland's actual inhabitants, who are overwhelmingly Indigenous.
From my column of nearly a year ago, a reminder that Trump’s Greenland gambit is an attempt to steal an indigenous nation that is working toward its own independence: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/08/o...
January 7, 2026 at 1:23 AM
This. In all the political back and forth and media coverage it's appalling - and deeply colonizing - how little concern or voice has been given to Greenland's actual inhabitants, who are overwhelmingly Indigenous.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
we're hiring in STS @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social!
deadline coming up soon (February 8). focus is the social science-y corners of STS preferably w/ some interest in sustainability & environment - but interpreted broadly.
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
deadline coming up soon (February 8). focus is the social science-y corners of STS preferably w/ some interest in sustainability & environment - but interpreted broadly.
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
Assistant Professor Science, Technology and Society Studies
Assistant Professor Science, Technology and Society Studies
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl
January 6, 2026 at 3:55 PM
we're hiring in STS @fasosmaastricht.bsky.social!
deadline coming up soon (February 8). focus is the social science-y corners of STS preferably w/ some interest in sustainability & environment - but interpreted broadly.
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
deadline coming up soon (February 8). focus is the social science-y corners of STS preferably w/ some interest in sustainability & environment - but interpreted broadly.
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
It’s almost as though colonialism never ended
January 4, 2026 at 12:50 AM
It’s almost as though colonialism never ended
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Saving this screenshot from Threads as a new reaction image
January 3, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Saving this screenshot from Threads as a new reaction image
The only good things that happened in 2025 were Mamdani and Heated Rivalry.
January 4, 2026 at 12:46 AM
The only good things that happened in 2025 were Mamdani and Heated Rivalry.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Yes it certainly is
January 1, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Yes it certainly is
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
The destruction of knowledge and history is haphazard & breathtaking.
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts.
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts.
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts
www.nytimes.com
December 31, 2025 at 6:46 PM
The destruction of knowledge and history is haphazard & breathtaking.
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts.
NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
"There is no sense calling for independent or solitary action by something called “the humanities” when that category has been so thoroughly absorbed by concerted attacks on democratic governance, due process of law, rights to privacy, security, assembly, and expression.
We are all humanists now."
We are all humanists now."
The ‘Crisis of the Humanities’ Is Over. That’s Not a Good Thing.
All of higher ed now suffers the attacks of politics and technology.
www.chronicle.com
December 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
"There is no sense calling for independent or solitary action by something called “the humanities” when that category has been so thoroughly absorbed by concerted attacks on democratic governance, due process of law, rights to privacy, security, assembly, and expression.
We are all humanists now."
We are all humanists now."