Leah Shaffer
@leahshaffer.bsky.social
Science writer, mostly puttering about the garden.
she/her
she/her
I hope she gets eaten by the AO3 balrog
fuck this lady, fuck the nyt reporter, fuck all of this. fuck amazon for introducing the KU page read model that makes this possible, fuck our tech overlords.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...
The New Fabio Is Claude
www.nytimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:18 PM
I hope she gets eaten by the AO3 balrog
What if you want dainty little sandwiches while you watch football huh? Sportos need dainty sandwiches too!
Dearest Gentle Reader,
These recipes are perfect for your "Bridgerton" watch party, from cucumber sandwiches to heart-shaped crumpets. nyti.ms/4ce6XJx
These recipes are perfect for your "Bridgerton" watch party, from cucumber sandwiches to heart-shaped crumpets. nyti.ms/4ce6XJx
February 8, 2026 at 4:15 PM
What if you want dainty little sandwiches while you watch football huh? Sportos need dainty sandwiches too!
Creme will rise, shit will sink.
Slop purveyor: my machine lets me produce 6,000 gallons of hot dogshit per day. How do you think you can possibly compete with that?
Literally any creative person: by not producing 6,000 gallons a day of hot dogshit, mostly
Literally any creative person: by not producing 6,000 gallons a day of hot dogshit, mostly
February 8, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Creme will rise, shit will sink.
I absolutely lose it every time this photo keeps popping up on the skyline, so please keep at it.
February 8, 2026 at 3:37 PM
I absolutely lose it every time this photo keeps popping up on the skyline, so please keep at it.
The grumpus rumpus
February 7, 2026 at 10:17 PM
The grumpus rumpus
Loot that drops after defeating me:
4 cups of coffee
The ability to spew fireballs
anxiety wrath (source of fireballs)
4 apple pies 🥧 🥧 🥧 🥧
4 cups of coffee
The ability to spew fireballs
anxiety wrath (source of fireballs)
4 apple pies 🥧 🥧 🥧 🥧
Loot that drops after defeating me:
- whistles
- zines
- a Nikon FM2n and a Canon 5D Mark III
- anger
- whistles
- zines
- a Nikon FM2n and a Canon 5D Mark III
- anger
Loot that drops after defeating me:
-Fellow travel mug filled with cold brew
-Black hoodie
-Wad of napkins stuffed in the pocket of said black hoodie 18 months ago
-Carne asada burrito
-Pet Shop Boys 12” single (VG/VG+)
-Fellow travel mug filled with cold brew
-Black hoodie
-Wad of napkins stuffed in the pocket of said black hoodie 18 months ago
-Carne asada burrito
-Pet Shop Boys 12” single (VG/VG+)
February 7, 2026 at 9:37 PM
Loot that drops after defeating me:
4 cups of coffee
The ability to spew fireballs
anxiety wrath (source of fireballs)
4 apple pies 🥧 🥧 🥧 🥧
4 cups of coffee
The ability to spew fireballs
anxiety wrath (source of fireballs)
4 apple pies 🥧 🥧 🥧 🥧
"You fear the collected works, the girls were too horny and delved too deep, you fear what they awoke in the darkness of AO3."
I love my romance peeps but no one can write smut like fanfic writers can. Romance writers got limits, and fanfic writers will laugh at those limits while writing the most depraved shit.
February 7, 2026 at 8:12 PM
"You fear the collected works, the girls were too horny and delved too deep, you fear what they awoke in the darkness of AO3."
If I ever spot an "extreme leftist" with any power and money, I will let em know.
When you think about it, it's really Both Sides.
Why America's extremes will both fail
The right narrows its coalition, while the left parasitizes its patrons
www.noahpinion.blog
February 7, 2026 at 7:36 PM
If I ever spot an "extreme leftist" with any power and money, I will let em know.
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"This is for a general audience so please explain this to me like I am 7"
"This is for a general audience so please explain this to me like I am 7"
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
“You HAVE TO label each axis and include units”
“You HAVE TO label each axis and include units”
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
"How many sig-figs should we round our answer to?"
February 7, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over again at work.
"This is for a general audience so please explain this to me like I am 7"
"This is for a general audience so please explain this to me like I am 7"
Skyline cleanse, peace be with you
February 7, 2026 at 6:16 PM
Skyline cleanse, peace be with you
What if you created a sorority/frat system for broke nerds? This wild experiment continues at #KU but should really be as common as the Greek system. Subsidized student housing with extra scholarships. (I am the one midair because I am only paying $60 a month to live at Miller).
February 7, 2026 at 5:21 PM
What if you created a sorority/frat system for broke nerds? This wild experiment continues at #KU but should really be as common as the Greek system. Subsidized student housing with extra scholarships. (I am the one midair because I am only paying $60 a month to live at Miller).
More 👏 Goat 👏 Based 👏 Remediation
Make it goat infrastructure week every week.
Make it goat infrastructure week every week.
This is the future that (Texas) liberals want: taxpayer-funded goats clearing invasives from public parks & restoring the health of native prairie.
Dallas hires 300 goats to clean up White Rock Lake and yes, they’re very baaa-sy
As part of the Dallas Park and Recreation Department’s new eco-friendly vegetation management project, the city is using Fort Worth-Weatherford area goats and...
www.dallasnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:31 PM
More 👏 Goat 👏 Based 👏 Remediation
Make it goat infrastructure week every week.
Make it goat infrastructure week every week.
omg #STL
It's one of my favorite days of the year at The Fountain on Locust! We're serving Ice Cream for Breakfast ALL Weekend! If you come in dressed in your best jammies, we'll give you a Worlds Smallest FREE! All day today & tomorrow! Doors at 11 both days. Come early!
February 7, 2026 at 3:19 PM
omg #STL
Muppets Take AAAS would be Amazing. Beaker would be the hero, of course.
I'd watch a muppet show movie where the muppets infiltrate an academic conference.
February 7, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Muppets Take AAAS would be Amazing. Beaker would be the hero, of course.
Keep your signals protected
More people than ever are using @signal.org to exchange information in large groups. But as groups grow, so does the risk to your messages’ privacy.
Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to use Signal groups more safely.
Our security team shows you how.
Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to use Signal groups more safely.
Our security team shows you how.
Maximizing Signal group chat safety
Larger groups come with more risk to your privacy, but you can make decisions about how to navigate Signal groups safely.
freedom.press
February 7, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Keep your signals protected
Danger word list for NIH. #ScienceSky
🧪 ☠️🩺 #MedSky
Be careful in your grant app. Use a scary word and your lifesaving, world changing work won't get funded.
Replace all instances of danger words, with "amurica" so the chud who has been tasked hitting "cntrl F" will not find the spooky words.
🧪 ☠️🩺 #MedSky
Be careful in your grant app. Use a scary word and your lifesaving, world changing work won't get funded.
Replace all instances of danger words, with "amurica" so the chud who has been tasked hitting "cntrl F" will not find the spooky words.
Here are the words, with alt text, that are now forbidden.
February 7, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Danger word list for NIH. #ScienceSky
🧪 ☠️🩺 #MedSky
Be careful in your grant app. Use a scary word and your lifesaving, world changing work won't get funded.
Replace all instances of danger words, with "amurica" so the chud who has been tasked hitting "cntrl F" will not find the spooky words.
🧪 ☠️🩺 #MedSky
Be careful in your grant app. Use a scary word and your lifesaving, world changing work won't get funded.
Replace all instances of danger words, with "amurica" so the chud who has been tasked hitting "cntrl F" will not find the spooky words.
#EduSky get your #MarchMammalMadness26 guides, fantastic way to engage your students in STEM and fun shenanigans. #STEAM #ScienceSky
Big thanks to Dr. Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social for rolling out March Mammal Madness 2026! Very excited to play it with my students and library student workers. Here's the calendar. libguides.asu.edu/MarchMammalM... #2026MMM
February 6, 2026 at 9:40 PM
#EduSky get your #MarchMammalMadness26 guides, fantastic way to engage your students in STEM and fun shenanigans. #STEAM #ScienceSky
we all gotta do our part
Tow truck driver offering free service returning abandoned vehicles to families of those abducted by ICE: "For the last three weeks, we have been getting nothing but death threats."
www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
Twin Cities tow truck driver returns abandoned vehicles to families after ICE arrests
Juan Leon sends a "chase" car to check out where abandoned vehicles are located and arranges discreet drop-offs. Since late December, he estimated they have dropped off 250 cars.
www.cbsnews.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:23 PM
we all gotta do our part
It's time for Steve Winwo... wait....(holds finger to air, sniffs) nope.
It's Fishbone O Clock
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5N...
It's Fishbone O Clock
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5N...
Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine
YouTube video by FishboneVEVO
www.youtube.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:03 PM
It's time for Steve Winwo... wait....(holds finger to air, sniffs) nope.
It's Fishbone O Clock
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5N...
It's Fishbone O Clock
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5N...
If you need to escape the ugliness, the #SciArt feed offers pretties aplenty, real art from real artists offering you the most lovely treasures. I own one of Michelle's paintings that says "100 % Natural Intelligence." I put it on my office door so people know I'm not a robot. #ScienceSky
Yes, everything is terrible, but I painted this and it kinda rocks #sciart
February 6, 2026 at 7:41 PM
If you need to escape the ugliness, the #SciArt feed offers pretties aplenty, real art from real artists offering you the most lovely treasures. I own one of Michelle's paintings that says "100 % Natural Intelligence." I put it on my office door so people know I'm not a robot. #ScienceSky
Hydrogen fuel cell technologies are humming along but still pricey. @washuengineers.bsky.social 's Gang Wu has been working on a way to make use of iron components to replace precious metals, which could bring fuel cell tech costs way down. source.washu.edu/2026/02/maki... #ChemSky 🧪 #EnergySky
Making hydrogen fuel cells ‘less precious’
Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are working to bring stability to iron components instead of using more expensive precious metals in fuel-cell technologies.
source.washu.edu
February 6, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Hydrogen fuel cell technologies are humming along but still pricey. @washuengineers.bsky.social 's Gang Wu has been working on a way to make use of iron components to replace precious metals, which could bring fuel cell tech costs way down. source.washu.edu/2026/02/maki... #ChemSky 🧪 #EnergySky
There is no biological mechanism by which a vaccine would impact fertility, but if you are dead or chronically ill from #Covid, that certainly will affect fertility. 🩺
Among almost 60,000 women aged 18 - 45 in one Swedish county, #Covid #Vaccination did not affect the chance of getting or staying #pregnant.
I know of at least a dozen studies that have shown this, but this is by far the biggest! I spoke to @lizszabo.bsky.social
I know of at least a dozen studies that have shown this, but this is by far the biggest! I spoke to @lizszabo.bsky.social
Large study finds COVID-19 shots don’t affect fertility
www.cidrap.umn.edu
February 6, 2026 at 5:40 PM
There is no biological mechanism by which a vaccine would impact fertility, but if you are dead or chronically ill from #Covid, that certainly will affect fertility. 🩺
Hitchin a ride 🦀🦀🦀
My image is up for a Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award! Vote on the 25 nominated images from the >61,000 submitted.
www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-...
A sargassum swimming crab on an unidentified species jelly in Indonesia that I shot in Nov2024
www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/peoples-...
A sargassum swimming crab on an unidentified species jelly in Indonesia that I shot in Nov2024
February 6, 2026 at 2:48 PM
Hitchin a ride 🦀🦀🦀
50 years from now, we will have a handful of memorials for Mackenzie around the areas she extensively funded Habitat for Humanity. Elsewhere Jeff will also be name checked among the vast warning network to prevent hoarding of resources.
"Bezos Zone Beware"
"toxic wealth will induce brain damage"
"Bezos Zone Beware"
"toxic wealth will induce brain damage"
Peggy Noonan on the mutilation of The Washington Post.
www.wsj.com/opinion/a-la...
www.wsj.com/opinion/a-la...
February 6, 2026 at 2:35 PM
50 years from now, we will have a handful of memorials for Mackenzie around the areas she extensively funded Habitat for Humanity. Elsewhere Jeff will also be name checked among the vast warning network to prevent hoarding of resources.
"Bezos Zone Beware"
"toxic wealth will induce brain damage"
"Bezos Zone Beware"
"toxic wealth will induce brain damage"
Can you imagine how advanced society would be if people like Ms. West, Roz Franklin, pioneering entomologist Charles Henry Turner, were allowed to thrive and so many others who never got a chance to even approach the collective endeavor of science. Imagine that world, and make it so. 🧪 #ScienceSky
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:25 PM
Can you imagine how advanced society would be if people like Ms. West, Roz Franklin, pioneering entomologist Charles Henry Turner, were allowed to thrive and so many others who never got a chance to even approach the collective endeavor of science. Imagine that world, and make it so. 🧪 #ScienceSky