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
Pinned
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
"They devised a marketing plan engineered to make these alien arbors more familiar to would-be consumers...Like a real tree, the mythical Philippine mahogany needed time to grow."
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
The Mythical Mahogany that Helped Build the American Empire - JSTOR Daily
How “Philippine mahogany” became America’s tropical timber of choice, thanks to a rebrand from a colonial logging company that drove deforestation.
daily.jstor.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"They devised a marketing plan engineered to make these alien arbors more familiar to would-be consumers...Like a real tree, the mythical Philippine mahogany needed time to grow."
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
Actually never done so much work in my entire life
November 23, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Actually never done so much work in my entire life
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
The project, which will include some 50,000 songs from private record collections, is a collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the Dust-to-Digital Foundation.
laist.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
A new Isis Focus Section asks a bold question: “Is deep history white?”The issue shows how ideas of deep time emerged through European geology, empire, and the dismissal of Indigenous temporal knowledge. Deep history has long carried the imprint of a distinctly white European, extractive worldview.
The Focus issue I edited in Isis: "Is Deep History White?" is out. With contributions from Amy Way, Linda Andersson Burnett, Elise K. Burton, Emily Kern, and an Afterword by Alison Bashford
Isis Focus Issue: "Is Deep History White?"
November 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
A new Isis Focus Section asks a bold question: “Is deep history white?”The issue shows how ideas of deep time emerged through European geology, empire, and the dismissal of Indigenous temporal knowledge. Deep history has long carried the imprint of a distinctly white European, extractive worldview.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Former UVA President Jim Ryan has just released a 12-page memo of his own account of his forced resignation last summer. Here’s just a bit in which Paul Manning, a member of the Board, was told by DOJ that unless Ryan departed they would “bleed UVA white.”
November 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Former UVA President Jim Ryan has just released a 12-page memo of his own account of his forced resignation last summer. Here’s just a bit in which Paul Manning, a member of the Board, was told by DOJ that unless Ryan departed they would “bleed UVA white.”
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Calling scholars in environmental humanities, history of science, food studies, and medical humanities: we’re inviting applications for our 2026–27 Franke Postdoctoral Fellowship on Rot: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration.
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
November 11, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Calling scholars in environmental humanities, history of science, food studies, and medical humanities: we’re inviting applications for our 2026–27 Franke Postdoctoral Fellowship on Rot: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration.
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
Can't wait for them to finally release my emails and see 100,000,000,000 requests for extensions from students.
November 13, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Can't wait for them to finally release my emails and see 100,000,000,000 requests for extensions from students.
@alexzivkovic.bsky.social is my sworn enemy for getting to go to this, incredibly jealous. This exhibit is everything.
wow! Kara Walker’s Unmanned Drone is incredible, as good as expected with collages and preparatory sketches that are equally fantastic
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
November 13, 2025 at 12:09 AM
@alexzivkovic.bsky.social is my sworn enemy for getting to go to this, incredibly jealous. This exhibit is everything.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within
November 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within
"When the whole world is tropical, what words will we use to describe and define ourselves?...This binary between crisis and non-crisis demonstrates one of the many ways in which our classification systems fail in the face of climate breakdown"
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
Becoming Subtropical | Broadcast
How do you categorize a crisis?
pioneerworks.org
November 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
"When the whole world is tropical, what words will we use to describe and define ourselves?...This binary between crisis and non-crisis demonstrates one of the many ways in which our classification systems fail in the face of climate breakdown"
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
"I want this job" part 3. Auspicious timing, and Philly is an incredible (and still relatively affordable) city.
We are also currently hiring a curatorial fellow to work with the papers of Rosalind Franklin and others in the History of Molecular Biology Collection!
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
For those with a scholarly interest in Franklin, Watson, and other pioneering researchers in molecular biology, @sciencehistory.org has just opened our new landmark collection of their papers, and applications for research fellowships are currently open:
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
November 9, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"I want this job" part 3. Auspicious timing, and Philly is an incredible (and still relatively affordable) city.
Franklin was extra good this week so on top of his morning hikes I made him a mini dog-safe chicken pot pie and now he has a new favorite food.
November 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Franklin was extra good this week so on top of his morning hikes I made him a mini dog-safe chicken pot pie and now he has a new favorite food.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
TT job posting at UW Madison: History of Science with focus on water & sustainability 💧💧💧
We're hiring in history of science at UW Madison! TT Assistant Professorship with a focus on water. Joint appointment between the History and Integrated Liberal Studies depts, and part of a university-wide hiring cluster on earth/sustainability science. jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/profess... #STS #HSMT
Professor of History - Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...
jobs.wisc.edu
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
TT job posting at UW Madison: History of Science with focus on water & sustainability 💧💧💧
Dream postdoc just dropped. One-year postdoc ($70K) at Yale's @yalewhc.bsky.social for the Franke Seminar in the Humanities on the incredible theme of ROT: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration. Taking folks from #histSTM, food studies, environmental humanities, etc. App due 12/8.
November 7, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Dream postdoc just dropped. One-year postdoc ($70K) at Yale's @yalewhc.bsky.social for the Franke Seminar in the Humanities on the incredible theme of ROT: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration. Taking folks from #histSTM, food studies, environmental humanities, etc. App due 12/8.
If you continue taking away my punctuation towards the ends of paragraph-long Victorian sentences I am going to LOSE MY MINDDD
ChatGPT appears to love the “ ;” .
A) is this semicolon use a tell for student misuse of AI.
B) will we now see a re-popularisation of the “;”?
A) is this semicolon use a tell for student misuse of AI.
B) will we now see a re-popularisation of the “;”?
November 7, 2025 at 12:46 AM
If you continue taking away my punctuation towards the ends of paragraph-long Victorian sentences I am going to LOSE MY MINDDD
"Today’s Quinhagak youth will grow up with an understanding of their history that previous generations didn’t have...“Some of them have their mouths wide open when they first open a drawer,” she said. “I tell them, these are from your ancestors.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
A Storm Hit Alaska. Now, a Native Community Is Racing to Save Its History.
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
"Today’s Quinhagak youth will grow up with an understanding of their history that previous generations didn’t have...“Some of them have their mouths wide open when they first open a drawer,” she said. “I tell them, these are from your ancestors.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
One good thing about working with people across oceans is that when you wake up your inbox is filled with an entire chain of incredible, exciting news (that has already been clarified in back-and-forths) - a nice offset to the usual string of frantic student emails. ❤️
November 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
One good thing about working with people across oceans is that when you wake up your inbox is filled with an entire chain of incredible, exciting news (that has already been clarified in back-and-forths) - a nice offset to the usual string of frantic student emails. ❤️
Looking forward to this evening's book launch event for Bill Rankin (chair of my dept & office neighbor)'s gorgeous Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World. Get your hands on a copy!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
Radical Cartography by William Rankin: 9780525559795 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
“This is it: the full download from a true genius of cartography. Radical Cartography will make you see maps, and, indeed, your place on the planet, with fresh eyes.”—Daniel Immerwahr,...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Looking forward to this evening's book launch event for Bill Rankin (chair of my dept & office neighbor)'s gorgeous Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World. Get your hands on a copy!
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/577193...
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
🦇🩸⚰️ Happy Halloween! 🧛🩸🦇
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
October 31, 2025 at 2:51 PM
🦇🩸⚰️ Happy Halloween! 🧛🩸🦇
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
Same-sex sexual behaviours in bats were first documented in 1895! Here's a more recent study: www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/Same-sex-sex...
#Halloween #HappyHalloween #histsci #histbio #STS #GLAM #queer #lgbtq #queernature #PrideInSTEM 🌈🗃️
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Citing a Trump executive order banning "gender ideology," the VA is withholding coverage and treatment for male veterans with breast cancer, an increasing condition among veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during service. 100 male veterans a year are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Citing Trump Order on “Biological Truth,” VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage
A Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica erects new roadblocks to care for veterans with the rare but deadly cancer. The agency cites no new science but relies on an executive orde...
www.propublica.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Citing a Trump executive order banning "gender ideology," the VA is withholding coverage and treatment for male veterans with breast cancer, an increasing condition among veterans exposed to toxic chemicals during service. 100 male veterans a year are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Remind me to pitch a giant Frankenstein 210 thing in 2028
October 26, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Remind me to pitch a giant Frankenstein 210 thing in 2028
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country's biggest social assistance programs will not be issued next month amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 26, 2025 at 2:50 AM
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk