pumpkin ravioli from TJs is pretty good!

I started to work on MscS-Like proteins 20 years ago, dreaming that they were involved in plant mechanotransduction. And it is becoming more & more clear that they are!
#plantscience 🧪
"DmMSL10 is crucial for mechanosensing, facilitating AP firing by generating a receptor potential (RP) amplitude."

Great words, much needed!

The Oregon Republican Party tried to help Donald Trump make the case for military intervention in Portland with an image of a fiery protest — but since Portland is calm, they had to fabricate one by merging old photos of police in Ecuador and protesters in Brazil www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Some good advice in here but one critical piece I always give is this:

Get a hobby. Preferably a mildly social one. One that has NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE. NOTHING.

You need friends. Not colleagues. FRIENDS. Friends who will love you no matter your research prospects...

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪
This was Week 37:
- 9 universities face loyalty oath (“compact”)
- government shutdown - impact on services & fear of further RIFs
- four NIH directors officially fired

& so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Shared how the greater shutdown of NIH science has been underway since January on @msnbc.com today.

We need Congress to stand firm to protect science, democracy and the American people.

www.msnbc.com/katy-tur/wat...

The only thing wrong with this editorial is that is too late.

Where was this disbelief from 2020-2024?

It’s been obvious for years that Makary snd Bhattacharya are bad faith actors.

The evidence is abundant and public.

sciencebasedmedicine.org/questions/

UPenn professors have responded forcefully to the Trump administration's that colleges sign a "compact" in order to secure funding:

"When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation." aaup-penn.org/statement-by...

I just heard Elizabeth Warren lose her patience with an NPR reporter on this topic, and for good reason!

"What is happening in this country is happening because science is bad for tyrants, and always has been"

Today is bittersweet for me, as I have now officially retired from the USDA-ARS.

It is still difficult for me that the doors to the Lovett Lab have closed.

I am so grateful for the community and science we were able to stir up as a research scientist at the USDA.

“We have to reject the idea that our only, best power is our pocketbooks. . . Our power isn’t in making one of the choices that are presented to us. Our power is in shaping the choices available to us.”

BLISTERING essay by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social in today’s NYT

So as part of an art project to be presented later next year, I am exploring the topic of eugenics using plant breeding as the medium. We often select for "perfection", but what does that mean? Who arbitrates taste in such a way as to label a living being "unworthy"? 🧵 1/n

The new #NSF #GRFP application now excludes 1000’s of students, including those who were told they could apply this year, or who planned to apply next year.

We have a new specific petition urging #NSFGRFP undo this harmful action. If you are impacted sign here: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

There is time to urge a change to the current #GRFP solicitation ( #NSF 25-547 ): reverse the eligibility restrictions and ensure applicants (including 2nd year PhD students) have a fair chance in the competition.

Feel free to sign and share this open petition:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

I love him! He did a a great press conference on Sunday

gross!!!!

I'm gonna be saying "was silence not an option?" from now on

# of paragraphs for news orgs to mention there's no discernable need to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon

The Guardian: 1st paragraph
BBC: 4th paragraph
AP: 5th paragraph
Time: 6th paragraph
Politico: 8th paragraph
NPR: 9th paragraph
CNN: 10th paragraph
NBC: 12th paragraph
Fox News: never mentions

One of the hardest parts of being an ex-academic in this moment is realizing how much optimism I STILL had for academia, even after resigning, and how much of that optimism was totally unfounded 😩 #academicsky

Here is my savage, depraved community garden #WarRavagedPortland #PDX

You may want to collaborate with @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social ?
bsky.app/profile/jaso...