Madeleine Becker
@mabscientist.bsky.social
PhD candidate at George Mason University in Biosciences: Biocomplexity & Evo Bio, Smithsonian graduate fellow. Just got here. Still into genomics, museums, and mammals🐁🦊🐬
https://mabscientist.wixsite.com/home
https://mabscientist.wixsite.com/home
Pinned
EECG Embarkation: Disentangling evolutionary and conservation genomics questions using ‘time series museomics’ in the California Channel Island deer mouse – AGA Blog
blog.theaga.org
huge thanks to @theaga.bsky.social for funding my dissertation research with a 2024 EECG award, and for letting me share a little bit about my research!! check out my blogpost here: blog.theaga.org/eecg2024-bec... and congrats to all the 2025 awardees too!!!!! 🥳🧬👩🔬🐭
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
The genome isn't a blueprint. But what is it?
I originally imagined this as a reported feature on metaphors of the genome, but it ended up being an essay.
And at the end I share the metaphor I personally ended up landing on. If you want to tell me why it is wrong, you'll need to read the story ;)🧪
I originally imagined this as a reported feature on metaphors of the genome, but it ended up being an essay.
And at the end I share the metaphor I personally ended up landing on. If you want to tell me why it is wrong, you'll need to read the story ;)🧪
“Chop off a Hydra’s head, and you’ll have two new animals instead of one dead one.” @elisecutts.bsky.social on immortal freshwater polyps, and what they reveal about where complexity comes from. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ge...
Myth of the Genetic Blueprint | Broadcast
Life isn't constructed along pre-drawn plans. It grows.
pioneerworks.org
February 12, 2026 at 8:56 PM
The genome isn't a blueprint. But what is it?
I originally imagined this as a reported feature on metaphors of the genome, but it ended up being an essay.
And at the end I share the metaphor I personally ended up landing on. If you want to tell me why it is wrong, you'll need to read the story ;)🧪
I originally imagined this as a reported feature on metaphors of the genome, but it ended up being an essay.
And at the end I share the metaphor I personally ended up landing on. If you want to tell me why it is wrong, you'll need to read the story ;)🧪
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
There’s a wolf in LA for the first time in 100 years. A collared gray wolf entered the mountains of north Los Angeles County yesterday. Known as “BEY03F” she traveled hundreds of miles from her pack in Plumas County crossing highways, mountains, creeks and valleys.
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
A wolf has come to Los Angeles County for the first time in more than a century
Around 6 a.m. Saturday, the 3-year-old female arrived in the mountains north of Santa Clarita, as tracked by a GPS collar.
www.latimes.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:10 PM
There’s a wolf in LA for the first time in 100 years. A collared gray wolf entered the mountains of north Los Angeles County yesterday. Known as “BEY03F” she traveled hundreds of miles from her pack in Plumas County crossing highways, mountains, creeks and valleys.
www.latimes.com/environment/...
www.latimes.com/environment/...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
More than 10,000 Ph.D. scientists were fired by the Trump administration last year. Grant cuts affected more.
"A few dozen got jobs in other countries" is not a serious solution.
There are not enough jobs in the whole world. The result will be less science, not the same science just elsewhere.
"A few dozen got jobs in other countries" is not a serious solution.
There are not enough jobs in the whole world. The result will be less science, not the same science just elsewhere.
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent
Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
www.nature.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:22 PM
More than 10,000 Ph.D. scientists were fired by the Trump administration last year. Grant cuts affected more.
"A few dozen got jobs in other countries" is not a serious solution.
There are not enough jobs in the whole world. The result will be less science, not the same science just elsewhere.
"A few dozen got jobs in other countries" is not a serious solution.
There are not enough jobs in the whole world. The result will be less science, not the same science just elsewhere.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Hot take: folks are too focused on the AI emphasis of the PRFB & missing the most concerning part of the solicitation.
The heavy emphasis on bio-AI integration for “technological advances” is a concerning degradation of NSFs mission to fund basic biological research.
The heavy emphasis on bio-AI integration for “technological advances” is a concerning degradation of NSFs mission to fund basic biological research.
February 6, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Hot take: folks are too focused on the AI emphasis of the PRFB & missing the most concerning part of the solicitation.
The heavy emphasis on bio-AI integration for “technological advances” is a concerning degradation of NSFs mission to fund basic biological research.
The heavy emphasis on bio-AI integration for “technological advances” is a concerning degradation of NSFs mission to fund basic biological research.
it's the AI PRFB now 🙃
February 6, 2026 at 12:43 AM
it's the AI PRFB now 🙃
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
January 18, 2026 at 2:00 AM
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
metro rewind >>>>>> spotify wrapped metrorewind.com/rewind/
January 16, 2026 at 9:04 PM
metro rewind >>>>>> spotify wrapped metrorewind.com/rewind/
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
You will be visited by three spirits
Australian Pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus)... holds the world record for the longest bill of any living bird. The largest one ever recorded was a huge 50 centimeters (nearly 20 inches), which they're hiding in the pic. #birds #nature #biology #photography
December 9, 2025 at 6:17 PM
You will be visited by three spirits
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Geneticist here. Anyone telling you that they can just change intelligence (which isn't what IQ measures well anyways) by fiddling with a few genes is just straight-up grifting, it doesn't work like that. And yes it's basically definitionally eugenics.
December 4, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Geneticist here. Anyone telling you that they can just change intelligence (which isn't what IQ measures well anyways) by fiddling with a few genes is just straight-up grifting, it doesn't work like that. And yes it's basically definitionally eugenics.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Here's my latest contribution to the "Lost Science" series at the New York Times: Jay Falk, a scientist who studies why some female hummingbirds look just like males. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qF7Qje
October 30, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Here's my latest contribution to the "Lost Science" series at the New York Times: Jay Falk, a scientist who studies why some female hummingbirds look just like males. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qF7Qje
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Neat opportunity at George Mason University for #consbio #consgen undergrads. Paid NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
smconservation.gmu.edu/nsf-reu/
smconservation.gmu.edu/nsf-reu/
NSF-REU - Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation
smconservation.gmu.edu
November 11, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Neat opportunity at George Mason University for #consbio #consgen undergrads. Paid NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
smconservation.gmu.edu/nsf-reu/
smconservation.gmu.edu/nsf-reu/
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Look I’m willing to say it: maybe James Watson got two things right
![Sent:
To:
Subject:
Attachments:
Robert Trivers
6/25/2018 2:19:44 AM
jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]
Re:
EPSTEIN.docx
Importance: High
perhaps i misunderstood "let's concentrate on you"
Jamaica is bad enough but i have mastered that-at least the danger-4th highest murder rate in the world as for the us i have alienated large stretches of it-i will spare you the details i was amused that you are now friends with JD Watson he single-handedly prevented me from getting a Junior Fellowship at Harvard
In 1972 I got my PhD in Biology and it was conventional to nominate the very best post-docs for a Junior Fellowship, Harvard's most prestigious award-it provided three years of research support without any duties. I was the best student out of Evolutionary and Organismic Biology in more than 20 years. The entire department was behind me.
but Watson was on the 3-man committee, in charge of all the science candidates and he deemed my two papers, reciprocal altruism and parental investment and sexual selection as "not being science" and dismissed me in one sentence. Well bless his soul, he now does not even understand his own subject-yes, i speak of genetics-because having remained resolutely ignorant of evolutionary logic and biology he can neither understand the shape and form of the genotype nor how it differs systematically within life
i have been preparing something for you for a long time on human intelligence, Africa, parasites etc because i prefer to get things right but i am ready to send you what i have main focus is-Africans stupid or smart?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:misyogthncmyejlvlflkvjbh/bafkreidoxuuq447qbvuj3edxli6qr7gzjy2y4ctod5a6363tjgtv4lb6ve@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Look I’m willing to say it: maybe James Watson got two things right
big misunderstanding here. obviously this isn't about the pedophile stuff—he's just coming up with topics for evo psych grants he's about to fund 😆
"skin as part of brain?"
This is that great intellect people talk about?
November 13, 2025 at 2:38 PM
big misunderstanding here. obviously this isn't about the pedophile stuff—he's just coming up with topics for evo psych grants he's about to fund 😆
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
That’s because the purpose of biology for the right is naturalizing social hierarchy and defining a subaltern “other” to stand in contrast to the “normal”.
I think that an underreported key to understanding the contemporary evangelical right is that they hate Darwinism (performatively) but they fucking LOVE evopsych nonsense, especially when, as is so often the case, their thoughts turn to gender.
October 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
That’s because the purpose of biology for the right is naturalizing social hierarchy and defining a subaltern “other” to stand in contrast to the “normal”.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
![Barbie crying [edited]: He thinks I'm megafauna? I don't suppress the growth of woody vegetation or stabilize the abundance of smaller animals.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wpdti66qcvzywaum55sucghw/bafkreid33rymnixdez3rme5jbyhrvmymugiq7bqfnyxmz2pjh6tpoicrnq@jpeg)
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Sharing my portrait of Isabella Aiona Abbott for #AdaLovelaceDay to celebrate #womenInSTEM and #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
Day 26 #SciArtSeptember prompt forage. My #linocut of #botanist Isabella Aiona Abbott (1919-2010), 🧪🐡👩🏻🔬 #histsci renown algae expert, celebrated seaweed cook, devoted teacher & mentor, expert on Hawaiian ethnobotany, the first Indigenous Hawaiian woman to earn a doctorate in science & the first woman
October 13, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Sharing my portrait of Isabella Aiona Abbott for #AdaLovelaceDay to celebrate #womenInSTEM and #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
I am deeply grateful for the work of NSF staff this year to keep research & grants moving in a difficult environment. I view this petition as a means to demonstrate impact & interest in ensuring access to a vital grad research program.
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
September 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I am deeply grateful for the work of NSF staff this year to keep research & grants moving in a difficult environment. I view this petition as a means to demonstrate impact & interest in ensuring access to a vital grad research program.
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
I can't keep up with DC these days
September 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I can't keep up with DC these days
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Are you an undergraduate or graduate student whose research would benefit from visiting a collection at the @nhm.org? Apply now for our Collections Study Award! Deadline is Oct. 1; learn more at nhm.org/student-coll...
September 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Are you an undergraduate or graduate student whose research would benefit from visiting a collection at the @nhm.org? Apply now for our Collections Study Award! Deadline is Oct. 1; learn more at nhm.org/student-coll...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
🦇 Outlined in a new paper published online in the Journal of Mammalogy, our Ranges Digitization Network will bring even more detail to digitized mammal collections in western North America, including biodiversity hot spots like L.A.: go.nhm.org/digitized-ma...
September 11, 2025 at 6:53 PM
🦇 Outlined in a new paper published online in the Journal of Mammalogy, our Ranges Digitization Network will bring even more detail to digitized mammal collections in western North America, including biodiversity hot spots like L.A.: go.nhm.org/digitized-ma...