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Dr. Becca

@docbecca.bsky.social

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · Nov 10

So many new faces, I love it! If you weren’t following me on the other place, you can expect: cats, cocktails, travel photos, random science musings, things other people post that are funny or important, bouts of anger at the election outcome. Engaging in a new space can be scary but please do!

A floofy gray and white cat sitting on a place setting in a dining room.

A perfect white cat with his perfect little paws

A tomato water martini in front of the most glorious turquoise backsplash the world has ever seen

Corner view of the Gaudi-designed Casa Vicens in Barcelona

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 32m

"The disbelief that Trump could rise in America isn’t a cutesy personality trait; it’s a confession."

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 3h

"Black people are tired. Not metaphorically tired—actually tired. The kind of tired that turns every group chat into a mix of gallows humor and emotional triage."

I write about white ignorance and how exhausting it is to hear white ppl insist "this isn't who we are, when it's ALWAYS who we've been.

White People’s Performative Ignorance Is Exhausting—Opinion

Disbelief over authoritarianism in America isn’t a cutesy personality trait. It’s a confession: You haven’t been paying attention.

rewirenewsgroup.com

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Reposted by Dr. Becca

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 1d

I am proud of MIT, where our branch of AAUP has voted unanimously to endorse this statement urging MIT leadership and the MIT Corporation to reject the Compact wholesale
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Letter Regarding Compact

MIT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors October 6, 2025 Statement on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” MIT has been invited by the federal governmen...

docs.google.com

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 2d

Congrats Brianna!!

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 2d

“the most sweeping pile of unconstitutional conditions that any American constitutional lawyer has ever seen in the wild.” Must-read analysis of the govt’s proposed “compact” with US universities. balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

This week, the Trump Administration attempted to make universities an offer we can’t refuse. With great fanfare, the administration announce...

balkin.blogspot.com

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Reposted by Dr. Becca

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 6d

This is extortion. Faculty, students, staff, alumni across the country need to get to their Presidents & Trustees today. Just say no. This blackmail only works if most everyone folds. Capitulation now means the end of American higher education for a generation. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference

www.nytimes.com

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Metabo_Dave @metabodave.bsky.social · 6d

This is Russ Vought's wet dream playing out in real time. Pray for the NIH.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 7d

We are now in the domain of not just illegal impoundments, but targeted illegal impoundments to punish liberal spaces. Not different from what Trump is doing to to universities.

City Nolan @ndhapple.bsky.social · 7d

OMB Director Russell Voight says that US DOT will announce that the federal government is "pausing" funding for both Gateway and the Second Avenue Subway because of "unconstitutional DEI principles" -- x.com/russvought/s...

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Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 7d

well I'm exhausted

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Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · 8d

I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool

Graph showing total R35+R01 awards issued by NIGMS from 2020 to 2025. R01 in black showing a steep decline. R35 showing an increase. Total awards in 2025 slightly up from 2024 but these years are lower than 2020-2023

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Reposted by Dr. Becca

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 12d

Good morning, science friends.

1) It’s okay to laugh.

2) It’s okay to scream.

3) It’s okay to cry.

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 20d

😅😅😅

Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 20d

The one thing that will be cool if you have AirPods is it can translate in real time into your ears!

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 20d

It’s the new iOS update

Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 20d

Awesome, congrats Vinny!!

Reposted by Dr. Becca

Vinny Costa @vincentcostaphd.bsky.social · 20d

A spatially resolved transcriptomic atlas of the primate amygdala (human, macaque, and baboon) now out in Science Advances (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...). The amygdala contains 32 types of neurons with many neuron types specific to particular subdivisions.

Lots of updates from the preprint!

Transcriptomic diversity of amygdalar subdivisions across humans and nonhuman primates

Specialized cell types and links to psychiatric disorders are revealed by genetic mapping of primate amygdala neurons.

www.science.org

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 20d

LOL rightfully so!

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 20d

Nobody:

Apple: what if everything on your phone was see-through

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 22d

Don’t forget to look up sometimes

A sky- facing shot that captures a stop light, 3-story apartment turret, and the contrails of an airplane that recently flew past.

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 23d

Stephen Colbert's Emmy victory speech:

"Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it. I have never loved my country more desperately. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor!"

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 23d

Absolutely not! I am a caprese purist

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 23d

Sadly the sandwich has been consumed

Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 23d

Excuse me but I think you would enjoy this sandwich I made today.

Just the absolute sexiest caprese sandwich you’ve ever seen. 2 slices of rough-cut sourdough, bright red and yellow tomatoes, the softest burratta, thinly-sliced basil. EVOO and aged balsamic.

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Dr. Becca @docbecca.bsky.social · 24d

Such a tease!!

Reposted by Dr. Becca

JudithFlanders @judithflanders.co.uk · 26d

Timeline cleanse!

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 26d

Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔
on.ft.com/3K05vhS

When a parrot wanted to connect with a distant friend, a touchscreen showed a selection of other birds available online. The parrots learned to activate the screen, designed specially for them, by touching it gently with their tongues rather than pecking aggressively with their beaks.
"We had 26 birds involved," said Hirskyj-Douglas. "They would use the system up to three hours a day, with each call lasting up to five minutes." The interactions ranged from preening and playing with toys to loud vocal exchanges.
"When we went through the data, we found that most of these parrots had favourite friends," said Hirskyj-Douglas.

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👁️🍄🪸 @bloomfilters.bsky.social · 27d

women can do anything

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Doug Henwood @doughenwood.bsky.social · 27d

Please god let it not be martial law over Charlie Kirk.

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