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Nicole M. Baran, Ph.D.

@nmbaran.bsky.social

1.5K followers 2K following 62 posts

Assistant Professor of Biology at Davidson College | Evolution & development of songbird social behavior, neuroendocrinology, & comparative genomics | STEMinist | Mostly here for the reading recommendations. (she/her) 🐦🧠🧬🌎🔬🌿🎺

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Nicole M. Baran, Ph.D. @nmbaran.bsky.social · Apr 22

Excited to have this out in the world and to share my thoughts! Birds 🐣 have so much to teach us about sexual differentiation and diversity, which is so desperately needed in this moment. #neuroendocrinology

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Apr 22

I believe that it is important that my students learn about the dynamic, complex process by which sexual differentiation occurs because it is the truth, writes @nmbaran.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/sex/what-bir...

What birds can teach us about the ‘biological truth’ of sex

Part of our job as educators is to give students a deeper understanding of the true diversity of sex and gender in the natural world.

www.thetransmitter.org

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 2h

Threw away the pellet

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 8h

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 9h

"The chancellor approved it"

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 11h

Thankfully, some of yesterday's CDC firings have been rescinded.

But this should be a major scandal, not business as usual in this shitshow of an administration. It's either spectacular incompetence or an effort to make even politically untouchable positions feel precarious to those in them.

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 12h

100s of #CDC employees were notified Friday they were being fired — RIF'd. The firings cross multiple parts of the agency, endangering its core mission of keeping Americans safe.
Saturday, some were informed they were RIF'd in error.
Hard to imagine how this happens www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

CDC battered by government shutdown firings, while some are rescinded

The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...

www.statnews.com

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 16h

“The administration did not like that CDC data did not support their narrative, so they got rid of them. They didn’t like that CDC policy groups would not rubber stamp their unscientific ideas, so they got rid of them”.

The damage to the CDC is “beyond repair”.

‘The damage is beyond repair’: The CDC faces another round of deep staff cuts | CNN

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suffered another round of deep staff cuts late Friday, with disease detectives, outbreak forecasters, policy and data offices among those impacted, ac...

edition.cnn.com

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 21h

I know Trump and his minions all have sneering contempt for kids with special needs, but trust me when I say that their parents will absolutely fucking destroy anyone who messes with the special education supports to which they are entitled by law.

Sara Partridge, Ph.D. @sarapartridge.bsky.social · 22h

There are reports that the *entire* office of special education at the US Dept of Education has been cut. These hardworking folks ensure kids with disabilities get equal access to a quality education.

America’s children deserve better than this.

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 19h

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

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Katelyn Boo-urns @katelynburns.com · 1d

I wrote a little about some of the little details you might have missed in this video and why it hit me so hard as a trans person this morning:

www.burnsnotice.com/you-have-to-...

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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.bsky.social · 1d

lol gentle reminder that DEI is not illegal. Supporting marginalized groups is not illegal. Anyone reneging on support is making a CHOICE to do so.

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 1d

The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today.

The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly.

We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 2d

Thoughtful and well-informed op-ed from @ianlmorgan.bsky.social

Definitely worth a read!

www.the-scientist.com/nih-leadersh...

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NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers

Halted training programs, funding chaos, and hiring freezes jeopardize advancement options for early career researchers.

www.the-scientist.com

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 2d

Here's a snippet from the MIT president's letter to ED

Screenshot from link that reads: 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.

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Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 2d

I have to fan-girl for a minute here. My friend @rosvall-lab.bsky.social built an app to gather data on bird behavior during the 2024 solar eclipse. 10,000+ citizen scientists contributed (including my kids), and the resulting paper was published in Science today!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science

On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse disrupted light-dark cycles for North American birds during the lead-up to spring reproduction. Compiling more than 10,000 community observations and artificial ...

www.science.org

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d

yeah, trump has made very clear that he doesn’t think black people deserve to be in jobs of influence! www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/u...

Trump Fires Black Officials From an Overwhelmingly White Administration

www.nytimes.com

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Nicole M. Baran, Ph.D. @nmbaran.bsky.social · 3d

I'm teaching Biostats this semester and I went back to pen-and-paper exams to test conceptual understanding and then the students have a final project that is R based where I've added an 'oral code check-in' with me where I'll ask a bunch of questions about their analysis. We'll see!

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4d

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Rosa Lafer-Sousa @rosalafersousa.bsky.social · 4d

Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.

He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.

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AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 5d

“Any university leader who signs on to this compact would betray everything good and solid about the university and would do deep and permanent harm to the United States and the world.”https://newrepublic.com/article/201376/trump-compact-academic-excellence-university-virginia via @newrepublic.com

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 5d

I wrote about the “compact” for higher education

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

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Michael Hendricks 🇨🇦 @michaelhendricks.bsky.social · 9d

"The connectome is like a road map."

ATV catching big air, labelled "neuropeptides."

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 9d

Here's the assignment folks. Write op-eds for your local papers and campus newspapers too. Just. Say. No. This is a classic authoritarian move and risks the future of higher education and science and innovation in the US. Speak out today. No time to lose. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 9d

As if irony isn’t already dead, the Hatch Act violation on the DOJ website, which blames Democrats for the shutdown, appears on the page advising DOJ employees they are subject to the Hatch Act. joycevance.substack.com/p/a-note-abo...

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AAUP @aaup.org · 9d

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda.

This is corruption.

Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin 'Loyalty Oath' Compacts

The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities that court government favor in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological...

www.aaup.org

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 10d

Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.

Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 10d

And then she became such a great voice for biodiversity, climate protection, and species protection (and told such fierce stories about facing down the men who belittled her). May her memory be a blessing and a guide.

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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 10d

Jane Goodall's work insisting, with evidence from her brilliant and tenacious fieldwork, that we were not so separate from animals, and they were much more like us than the Eurocentric theorists asserted, was so important.

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