Brittany Sutherland
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sutherlandbl.bsky.social
Brittany Sutherland
@sutherlandbl.bsky.social
Assistant Professor, George Mason University
Polyploidy, Evolution, Plants, Mating Systems

Plants and Cats and Plants and Cats and
You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who’s coming to save you?

Reeeealllly think this could go either way and is very dependent on who, specifically, we're talking about.
November 26, 2025 at 2:08 AM
No teaching today, but since SOMEONE took a header while carrying a box of unsecured plant labels, I’m spending time in the office playing the world’s worst game of solitaire. 😁
November 25, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
I'm hiring a full time fixed-term 1yr lab tech to assist with field and greenhouse projects related to floral evolution and plant reproductive ecology. Please share! Ideal start date early 2026.

jobs.clemson.edu/psc/ps/JOBS/...
November 24, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
"Her wit was as sharp as her convictions, and her honesty was refreshing and rare."

A wonderfully written (by @gbaucom.bsky.social) obituary for my grad school friend and Auburn University Prof. Vanessa Koelling, who passed away last week.

www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/m...
Vanessa Koelling Obituary - Montgomery, AL
Celebrate the life of Vanessa Koelling, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Leak Memory Chapel.
www.dignitymemorial.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
Greenlandic families fight to get children back after parenting tests banned
Greenlandic families fight to get children back after parenting tests banned
The Danish government has banned the use of parental competency tests, known as FKUs, on Greenlandic families after decades of criticism.
www.bbc.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:40 AM
At the late ni-morning, double-feature, picture show…
November 21, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The plant tag quality inspection team is working hard this morning!
November 20, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Your SCIENTIST name is your Mother's Maiden Name, Followed by the Model of your First Car, Followed by the Street you grew up on!
Your GI JOE name is the color of your shirt followed by your first pet's name.

GO.
November 20, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Graduate student only makes $24K/year in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.?

Problematic wage gap.

No, seriously. This sucks and should be fixed.
Angry person yelling at chill person who is responding by being calm, which makes the angry person even more mad? Problematic rage gap.
Prisoners keep escaping because you put the bars too far apart? Problematic cage gap.
November 19, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Relevant to the newly described Australian horned bee:
How do YOU pronounce Megachile?

1) MEG-uh-KYE-lee

2) MEG-uh-CHILL-ee

3) SOMEthing ELSE

(Photo tax: Megachile campanulae taken with a dissecting scope last summer in Canada)
November 19, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
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
So teaching isn't a public commitment these days? Interesting.
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”

He will continue teaching.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Anyone in far western KY (Murray area) in the market for absolutely adorable pups?

These girls and their brothers just graduated from my brother and SIL's house to another foster (bottle-feeding to better socialization conditions), and will be up for adoption in another month or so!
November 18, 2025 at 4:06 AM
@rogue151.bsky.social and I were just outside on the porch, enjoying the dulcet tones of down bad foxes. 😁

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk1m...
Scream of the red fox
YouTube video by Daniel Izzo
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Okay, while looking through the 16th year for @rogue151.bsky.social, I realized that four of my all-time favorite albums came out on the same DAY: September 14th, 2004 was lovely day for music!
November 17, 2025 at 3:11 AM
I couldn't pick one...

What perfect album came out the year you turned 16?
November 17, 2025 at 2:15 AM
How to tell we're in a late-90's revival:

- wide leg jeans are back in style

- a wildly overhyped tech product is on the verge of collapse

- we've once again unwillingly been made aware of Bill Clinton's little Clinton
November 15, 2025 at 11:21 PM
When your Eustachian tubes are terrible and it’s you, a 41 year-old, at urgent care for your annual ear infection with all the toddlers.
November 15, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
the paper also identifies Yuka as an XY male, which is really interesting as the anatomy presented as female.

this is Yuka's genital region (from Maschenko et al 2019 link.springer.com/article/10.1...)
November 14, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.

You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
ICE learning the same lesson as Napoleon and Hitler.
November 11, 2025 at 8:57 PM
When your tyrosinase is out there with a wonky Exon 1 (probably).

Kyoshi: 6 months vs 4 years.
November 11, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Well, a tiny sliver of good news this morning, I guess.
New: The Supreme Court DENIES Kim Davis' request to overturn Obergefell, the marriage equality decision. No noted dissents. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Brittany Sutherland
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
March 14, 2025 at 10:24 PM