Terry McGlynn
@hormiga.bsky.social
Ecologist, entomologist, writer. Chair of Academic Senate and Professor at CSU Dominguez Hills. ScienceForEveryone.science and I'm the Small Pond Science guy.
he/him
Black Lives Matter. In favor of DEI, justice, access, opportunity. Abolish ICE.
he/him
Black Lives Matter. In favor of DEI, justice, access, opportunity. Abolish ICE.
Pinned
Terry McGlynn
@hormiga.bsky.social
· Aug 26
This is the account that auto-posts my blog posts. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
We're gonna need a truth and reconciliation commission and Nuremberg style trials to reckon with all of this evil, and any Dem candidate for office who shies away from a full reckoning in the name of "moving forward as a nation" can get well and truly fucked
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
We're gonna need a truth and reconciliation commission and Nuremberg style trials to reckon with all of this evil, and any Dem candidate for office who shies away from a full reckoning in the name of "moving forward as a nation" can get well and truly fucked
I know plenty of y’all are still on Substack. Moving away was very easy. And check out how nice my new site is! ScienceForEveryone.science.
The folks at ghost.org are great hosts, don’t take a %, and give you a personal concierge service for the move. Even subscriptions move over seamlessly.
The folks at ghost.org are great hosts, don’t take a %, and give you a personal concierge service for the move. Even subscriptions move over seamlessly.
Science For Everyone
The practical challenges we face as human beings doing science. Careers, grad school, publishing, getting funded, mentoring, equity and justice, collaboration, teaching, running a lab, and so on.
ScienceForEveryone.science
November 26, 2025 at 10:35 PM
I know plenty of y’all are still on Substack. Moving away was very easy. And check out how nice my new site is! ScienceForEveryone.science.
The folks at ghost.org are great hosts, don’t take a %, and give you a personal concierge service for the move. Even subscriptions move over seamlessly.
The folks at ghost.org are great hosts, don’t take a %, and give you a personal concierge service for the move. Even subscriptions move over seamlessly.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
“It is not acceptable to recruit a variety of students into the laboratory, subject them to a variety of stress tests and abuses, and then keep the students who thrive under abuse and get rid of the students who aren't able to thrive in the lab. That's straight-up exploitation.”
👏👏👏
👏👏👏
You know those labs that keep harming students, again and again? Some reflections on why it's so hard to stop this from happening and where our responsibilities lie.
scienceforeveryone.science/bad-mentors-... 🧪
scienceforeveryone.science/bad-mentors-... 🧪
Bad mentors hurt people
What to do about bad mentors?
scienceforeveryone.science
November 26, 2025 at 3:35 AM
“It is not acceptable to recruit a variety of students into the laboratory, subject them to a variety of stress tests and abuses, and then keep the students who thrive under abuse and get rid of the students who aren't able to thrive in the lab. That's straight-up exploitation.”
👏👏👏
👏👏👏
You know those labs that keep harming students, again and again? Some reflections on why it's so hard to stop this from happening and where our responsibilities lie.
scienceforeveryone.science/bad-mentors-... 🧪
scienceforeveryone.science/bad-mentors-... 🧪
Bad mentors hurt people
What to do about bad mentors?
scienceforeveryone.science
November 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
You know those labs that keep harming students, again and again? Some reflections on why it's so hard to stop this from happening and where our responsibilities lie.
scienceforeveryone.science/bad-mentors-... 🧪
scienceforeveryone.science/bad-mentors-... 🧪
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Some speaker joy as we look back at 2025 and plan for public speaking in 2026!
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Some speaker joy as we look back at 2025 and plan for public speaking in 2026!
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
These wood ants are edge specialists... but not all edges are equal. Jacob Podesta used a decade of population expansion data to show that wood ants spread more quickly along certain edges, depending on the edge orientation. Currently available open access here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 25, 2025 at 3:43 PM
These wood ants are edge specialists... but not all edges are equal. Jacob Podesta used a decade of population expansion data to show that wood ants spread more quickly along certain edges, depending on the edge orientation. Currently available open access here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
people who are actually wrestling with the discomfort of uncertainty are not dumb or evil or corrupt or ignorant because they don't share your false clarity
November 24, 2025 at 11:19 PM
people who are actually wrestling with the discomfort of uncertainty are not dumb or evil or corrupt or ignorant because they don't share your false clarity
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
“THIS is what we should be monitoring and protecting. The who and the how and the why of applying priorities beyond the study section evaluation.”
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/11/21/i...
In which I fruitlessly beg NIH grant-seeking folks to focus on what is actually important.
A new webpage on the NIH site called “Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions” is causing a small kerfuffle on the socials. As per us…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:52 AM
“THIS is what we should be monitoring and protecting. The who and the how and the why of applying priorities beyond the study section evaluation.”
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols
The new order came hours after The Post reported the service would instead classify such symbols as “potentially divisive” under guidelines set for release next month.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Cheers to the person who leaked the initial changes www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
November 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Before the midterms of 1866, President Andrew Johnson called his congressional opponents traitors and said they should be hanged.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Voters were so profoundly moved by his words... that they gave his opponents a supermajority in Congress, and the nation got the Fourteenth Amendment.
Walking into the Natural History Museum this morning, I walked past hundreds of field tripping middle schoolers, lined up waiting for the museum to open.
As I was wading through, I kept hearing 'six-seven, six-seven' quiet and loud, from all directions. I felt like David Attenborough.
As I was wading through, I kept hearing 'six-seven, six-seven' quiet and loud, from all directions. I felt like David Attenborough.
November 20, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Walking into the Natural History Museum this morning, I walked past hundreds of field tripping middle schoolers, lined up waiting for the museum to open.
As I was wading through, I kept hearing 'six-seven, six-seven' quiet and loud, from all directions. I felt like David Attenborough.
As I was wading through, I kept hearing 'six-seven, six-seven' quiet and loud, from all directions. I felt like David Attenborough.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Scientists (especially early career researchers): How has your career been impacted over the last year of policy changes and funding cuts? Contact me here or on Signal if you have a story to share.
November 18, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Scientists (especially early career researchers): How has your career been impacted over the last year of policy changes and funding cuts? Contact me here or on Signal if you have a story to share.
Somehow I've gotten all of the required thingeys done and I have a full hour available for generative work? Please help I don't remember what to do in this kind of situation.
November 18, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Somehow I've gotten all of the required thingeys done and I have a full hour available for generative work? Please help I don't remember what to do in this kind of situation.
It's funny (not funny) how the all the headlines say "accused" sex trafficker, as if he didn't boastfully explain in step-by-step detail on his own podcast how he operated his own sex trafficking cartel.
November 18, 2025 at 8:57 PM
It's funny (not funny) how the all the headlines say "accused" sex trafficker, as if he didn't boastfully explain in step-by-step detail on his own podcast how he operated his own sex trafficking cartel.
So this morning I was taking the light rail to work, working semi-happily on my laptop, noise canceling headphones doing their thing.
And then after some extended period, I noticed the train was going the wrong direction?! Oops.
(I got on the train going the right way, and for a while, it did!)
And then after some extended period, I noticed the train was going the wrong direction?! Oops.
(I got on the train going the right way, and for a while, it did!)
November 18, 2025 at 8:51 PM
So this morning I was taking the light rail to work, working semi-happily on my laptop, noise canceling headphones doing their thing.
And then after some extended period, I noticed the train was going the wrong direction?! Oops.
(I got on the train going the right way, and for a while, it did!)
And then after some extended period, I noticed the train was going the wrong direction?! Oops.
(I got on the train going the right way, and for a while, it did!)
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Science People: We at NSF are still recovering/catching up/getting our lives together. But the agency posted these FAQs about post-shutdown resumption of operations which might answer a lot of Qs for you: www.nsf.gov/resumption-o...
Resumption of Operations at NSF
Information for NSF staff and the research community regarding the agency's resumption of operations after a lapse in appropriations.
www.nsf.gov
November 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Science People: We at NSF are still recovering/catching up/getting our lives together. But the agency posted these FAQs about post-shutdown resumption of operations which might answer a lot of Qs for you: www.nsf.gov/resumption-o...
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
For about the millionth time, very grateful for the more tenured faculty who speak up for those of us who can't, especially for those who are teaching us HOW to speak up when we can.
November 18, 2025 at 6:56 PM
For about the millionth time, very grateful for the more tenured faculty who speak up for those of us who can't, especially for those who are teaching us HOW to speak up when we can.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Disinformation presaging a coup: a metaphor from ants.
This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.
This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide
Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.
www.sciencenews.org
November 17, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Disinformation presaging a coup: a metaphor from ants.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
women are always saying “lord grant me the confidence of a mediocre man.” ok well he did. now what. is the world a better place? look at what you’ve wrought.
Olivia Nuzzi's 'American Canto': Read the Exclusive Excerpt
She flamed out and she faded away. 'Vanity Fair'’s West Coast Editor returns to the written word to survey scorched earth.
www.vanityfair.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:46 PM
women are always saying “lord grant me the confidence of a mediocre man.” ok well he did. now what. is the world a better place? look at what you’ve wrought.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Don't do any of this.
November 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Don't do any of this.
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
Bsky hasn’t heard the story about the time that I was giving a virtual colloquium to the Aspen Center for Physics in September 2020 and Lawrence Krauss, Geoff Marcy, Christian Ott all attended as a group
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
November 16, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Bsky hasn’t heard the story about the time that I was giving a virtual colloquium to the Aspen Center for Physics in September 2020 and Lawrence Krauss, Geoff Marcy, Christian Ott all attended as a group
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
ACP now has a policy that would prevent this from happening, because of that incident 🔭
Reposted by Terry McGlynn
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.