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Gregor Kalinkat

@gkalinkat.bsky.social

2.8K followers 3.6K following 1.8K posts

biodiversity scientist | ecologist | science communicator & educator based in Berlin, DE posts in EN and DE, occassionally in ES https://linktr.ee/gkalinkat

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · Nov 7

Reposting this for obvious reasons, particularly for my friends and colleagues in the US (but by no way limited to them). May Otto Krayer serve as your role model during those coming months and years 🧪🎓

Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · Oct 22

On this day 125 years ago Otto Krayer was born, a pharmacologist and professor who has shown "Resistant Behaviour in a Sea of Enthusiasm, Opportunism and Antisemitism" like no other in Nazi-era Germany 🧪

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Kr...

#OTD #neveragain

Photo of bald Otto Krayer wearing suit and tie from 1957

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 9h

Wenn Giordano Bruno das noch miterleben könnte www.deutschlandfunk.de/sternzeit-12....

Giordano Bruno - Tod auf dem Scheiterhaufen für die Gedankenfreiheit

Bruno war Unterstützer des kopernikanischen Weltbildes, wonach die Sonne im Zentrum des Planetensystems steht, nicht umgekehrt. Er wurde als Ketzer verbrannt.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/sternzeit-12-februar-2025-giordano-bruno-kopernikus-und-die-exoplaneten-100.html#:~:text=für%20die%20Gedankenfreiheit-,Giordano%20Bruno,die%20Katholische%20Kirche%201600%20hinrichten

Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 9h

Immigrant scientists make a massive contribution wherever they go

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 10h

Deswegen sind marginalisierte Gruppen auch sowohl in der Politik als auch in der Wissenschaft unterrepräsentiert und bei der Union meint m anscheinend dass das auch so bleiben soll 🫠

Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 13h

A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges.
We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.
• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

source:
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact

• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.
These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 12d

my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 13h

😢

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 19h

Well, it's official. After our paper last year (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....), the Slender-billed Curlew is officially declared Extinct today.

Scientists dream of describing new species, not writing their obituary and epitaph, knowing that they are gone forever #ornithology

Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 1d

This:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Absolutely yes. And I'm proud that @asn-amnat.bsky.social has led the way on this with requiring code and data editors checking code for about five years now!

Stop treating code like an afterthought: record, share and value it

Scientists, research institutions, funders, libraries and publishers must all improve software practices.

www.nature.com

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 1d

strong GDR vibes

Historical B/W picture of the Berlin Wall with the Brandenburg gate in the background

Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 1d

Here's a how to join

bsky.app/profile/dani...

Dani cRabaiotti 🦀 @danirabaiotti.bsky.social · Feb 10

Welcome to the Science feed!

Please read our FAQs for instructions for how to be added as a contributor: bossett.io/science-feed/

Mod introductory posts linked below⬇️

Use the test tube emoji on posts you want to appear in the feed🧪

Please like the feed and make sure you follow our feed rules:

Science Feed Rules:
🧪 No misinformation
🧪 Keep posts relevant to science
🧪 Use alt text
🧪 Credit images
🧪 Give context to links to external sites
🧪 Have fun!

Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 1d

PS - did you know there's a science feed? This one is from the very early days of bsky, for interesting nuggets from across the world of science.

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Tammy Robinson @tbrresearch.bsky.social · 2d

A new Special Issue on aquatic invasions has just been released in NeoBiota. Read the editorial to gain an overview of all the papers: Invasions in aquatic systems.

Use this link:
neobiota.pensoft.net/article/1678...

#bioinvasions @neobiota.pensoft.net

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 1d

Seems like something @aukeflorian.nl should investigate

phys.org/news/2025-03...

Plastic trash in bird nests documents the Anthropocene epoch

What if expiration dates could tell us more than when something goes bad? Scientists have found that dates on plastic food and beverage packaging can serve as markers of the Anthropocene, a period in ...

phys.org

Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 1d

Podcast 🎧 von DLF Kultur:

Wissenschaftsfreiheit in Gefahr 🧪

www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/felsen-in-de...

Hochschulen - Wissenschaftsfreiheit in Gefahr

Immer häufiger werden Wissenschaftler in ihrer Arbeit behindert oder sogar bedroht. Die Entwicklung an der Harvard-Uni zeigt, welche Folgen das haben kann.

www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 2d

‘From reef to retail’: experts warn global marine aquarium fish trade relies heavily on wild populations www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧪🌎🦑🐠

‘From reef to retail’: experts warn global marine aquarium fish trade relies heavily on wild populations

New research finds 90% of marine fish sold by major US retailers are wild-caught, including threatened or endangered species

www.theguardian.com

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 2d

Metallorganische Gerüste: Die Chemie hinter dem Nobelpreis 2025

www.srf.ch/wissen/nobel...

#Chemie ⚗️
#Wissenschaft 🧪
#Nobelpreis 🥇

Metallorganische Gerüste: Die Chemie hinter dem Nobelpreis 2025

Der Nobelpreis für Chemie geht in diesem Jahr an Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson und Omar Yaghi.

www.srf.ch

Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Soh Kam Yung @sohkamyung.bsky.social · 2d

My first pseudoscorpion observation was pure luck. Happen to see this wasp and took a shot. It was only later did I see what was hanging on the antenna.

On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ]

A brown pseudoscopion hanging on to the antenna of a wasp. The wasp is yellow with black stripes and transparent wings.

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Sholto David @sholtodavid.bsky.social · 5d

Recent MDPI paper including diagram of a bacterial cell with a mitochondrion 🤦‍♀️ The authors propose a mechanism for the toxicity of silver nanoparticles: "Ag+ ions in AgNPs bombard the bacterial mitochondria’s electron transport chain, resulting in cell death".

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 3d

A Brief History of Men are Becoming Less Manly

🧵

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Claus Wilke @clauswilke.com · 3d

Biology is much more complicated than most non-biologists can imagine. And AI is not going to change this anytime soon.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/we-still-c...

We still can’t predict much of anything in biology

Biology is hard. Yes, even for AI.

blog.genesmindsmachines.com

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 3d

„The 2025 Ig Nobel Prize in biology was awarded to Tomoki Kojima and other researchers for demonstrating that painting cows with black and white stripes can prevent biting flies biting them without using more pesticide“

I agree

Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Emily Hunt @emily.space · 3d

Oooh the Nobel Prize is out today, so it's time for my yearly round of ignoring that news and reading about many of the women who were snubbed of the prize in the past and who the Nobel Prize committee refuses to apologise for. 🧪🔭

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

Tanja Busse @tanjabusse.bsky.social · 3d

Bald könnten ALLE Chat-Nachrichten von den Behörden durchsucht werden – selbst ohne Verdacht! Das entscheiden *heute* die Minister*innen. Sag Nein zur Chatkontrolle! Jetzt unterzeichnen ✍️ weact.campact.de/petitions/ch...

Chatkontrolle stoppen!

Die EU-Kommission will Messenger-Dienste wie WhatsApp und Signal zwingen, alle privaten Nachrichten und Fotos in Echtzeit zu scannen. Angeblich zum Kinderschutz. In Wahrheit bedeutet die Chatkontrolle...

weact.campact.de

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 4d

"Der diesjährige Nobelpreis für Medizin zeigt...auf, dass die wahre Stärke des Immunsystems nicht nur...in der Härte seiner Einsätze liegt, sondern vor allem auch in der Fähigkeit, Eskalationen zu verhindern."

Als wollte das Kommittee eine politische Botschaft senden

www.srf.ch/wissen/nobel... 🧪

Nobelpreise 2025 - Nobelpreis für Medizin geht an Trio zur Forschung zum Immunsystem

Der Nobelpreis geht an Brunkow, Ramsdell und Sakaguchi für «ihre Entdeckungen zur peripheren Immuntoleranz».

www.srf.ch

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Reposted by Gregor Kalinkat

NPR @npr.org · 5d

Known as the mother of Colombian corals, at 70, marine biologist Elvira Alvarado is still diving — and pioneering "coral IVF" to help save endangered reefs.

The mother of Colombian corals

Known as the mother of Colombian corals, at 70, marine biologist Elvira Alvarado is still diving — and pioneering "coral IVF" to help save endangered reefs.

n.pr

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Gregor Kalinkat @gkalinkat.bsky.social · 5d

New study 🎓 by @robinheinennl.bsky.social

Variation in artificial light at night (ALAN) 💡 affects ecosystem functions: An experimental approach using plasticine caterpillar 🐛 predation in an urban environment 🧪

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🔓

Variation in artificial light at night (ALAN) affects ecosystem functions: An experimental approach using plasticine caterpillar predation in an urban environment

Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) is changing our nocturnal landscape. Recent research reveals the negative impacts on biodiversity, including individu…

www.sciencedirect.com

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