Jake McGehee
@jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
270 followers 230 following 75 posts
He/him/his | Ecology & Evolutionary Biology PhD student at the University of Kansas | Drosophila behavior | KU masters in EEB 2025 and UNC Asheville BS in biology 2020
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Reposted by Jake McGehee
gregpriest.bsky.social
OTD in 1836, HMS Beagle docked at Falmouth, after a 5 year voyage.

Charles Darwin wrote in his diary, “To my surprise and shame, I confess the first sight of the shores of England inspired me with no warmer feelings, than if it had been a miserable Portuguese settlement.”

🌱🐋🧪#HistSTM #STS
Watercolor of HMS Beagle at anchor by Owen Stanley.
Reposted by Jake McGehee
drcatmac.bsky.social
I wish they had used this beautiful quote he offered in the story as the headline instead:

“She was scared also. It was not her fault.”
‘She Could Have Killed Me’: Scientist Survives Shark Bite to His Head
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Jake McGehee
washingtonpost.com
Jane Goodall has died at 91.

Her startling observations about chimpanzee behaviors revolutionized not only scientific understanding of the capabilities and inner lives of primates, but also long-held notions about what it means to be human. https://wapo.st/476clLO
Reposted by Jake McGehee
surtlab.bsky.social
I read the headline and was super skeptical…but….

BIOLOGY OF ANTS BE CRAZY
Reposted by Jake McGehee
willcarless.bsky.social
Jensen’s research has identified more than 1,000 mass casualty plots — where the perpetrator clearly intended to kill or injure as many people as possible — since the start of 2023.

“You can count on less than one hand how many of those were perpetrated by a transgender individual,” he said.
Reposted by Jake McGehee
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Once again, "ally is a verb." It's something you show people you are through your actions and words, not something you tell people you are, so what are you doing to show you're an ally to the trans people around you? (8/8)
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
But, the rules don't say anything about wearing a button with your pronouns on it! So this friend wears a button. This shouldn't be your only action! But it is a small action that says "I think this is stupid and I support you" to the trans or gender non-conforming people in your department (7/8)
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
I know "pronoun bans" are "small" when you consider the big picture, but it's about what the right means by "pronouns" and "gender ideology," which is trans people existing. I know someone at an institution that has banned "pronouns" and "gender ideology" in places like email signatures. (6/8)
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Obviously don't corner the few trans people in your department but, if you know anyone who's trans, you can ask them what actions would be helpful. There are also likely LGBTQ+ groups at your institution/in the surrounding community you can reach out to. (5/8)
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
I won't pretend to have concrete answers to anything, but I am tired of watching cisgender people call themselves an ally but not do anything as an ally or say they disagree with things happening that harm their transgender colleagues and not do anything about it! (4/8)
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Do you call out transphobia coming from your cisgender colleagues? Have you spoken against actions being taken by your institution that harm trans people? If your institution has enacted rules that harm trans people, what did you do next? (3/8)
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Someone who watches shit they disagree with happen but doesn't do or say anything is complicit and not an ally. This isn't my saying but I've heard "ally is a verb" before and agree with it. Too many people call themselves an "ally" because they don't do harm and that's it. How are you an ally? (2/8
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Thread based off a conversation that I, a trans PhD student, had with a cis colleague this morning.

Keeping in mind this is the POV of one transgender person, if you consider yourself an ally to trans people in this current climate and you're not vocally supportive, you're complicit. (1/8)
Reposted by Jake McGehee
debivort.bsky.social
Fly labs — Now is the time to show some solidarity and chip in support for this vital resource!
clip art of Drosophila flies at different life stages
Reposted by Jake McGehee
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
A friend's fiancée is a public school science teacher in NC and has an Amazon wishlist for classroom supplies! According to the NC Association of Educators, NC is the second worst state in the US for teachers spending their own money for classroom items.
www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...
Check out my list on Amazon
www.amazon.com
Reposted by Jake McGehee
parkermolloy.com
People will seriously be like "Who cares about trans rights? It's a tiny number of people who are affected by it?" without realizing that they're talking about millions of human beings.
williamsinstitute.bsky.social
Our new research estimates that 2.8 million people aged 13+ in the U.S. identify as transgender. This includes 724,000 youth (13 to 17) and 2.1 million adults 18+. bit.ly/TranspeopleUS
Reposted by Jake McGehee
canopyrobin.com
If you'd like to follow some other trans people who work with nature too, I made a helpful starter pack! It's not exclusively scientists and it's opt-in so let me know if you'd like to be added.
Reposted by Jake McGehee
sabs.bsky.social
can anyone help me ID this slow-moving larval brigade
a unit of caterpillars crawling as if one big caterpillar
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
I don’t have any ID help, but what a neat sighting!
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Hello! I’m Jake and I’m a grad student in ecology & evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas! I’m currently finishing my master’s (just sent my revisions, to be submitted in early Sept)/starting my PhD. I study fruit fly behavior and will be shifting to also study sexual selection.
Jake presenting the information on a poster at the 2025 Kansas Academy of Science/Central States Entomological Society joint meeting. He is wearing red running shoes, black jeans, and a button up shirt with pink, white, and blue vertical stripes. He has roughly chin-length brown hair and wears glasses. He stands next to the poster and is gesturing at a picture of the fruit fly Zaprionus indianus on the upper corner of the poster. The poster is blue with three sections. Jake is presenting to an audience of two people whose faces are not visible- a black man wearing blue pants and a red sweater and a white man with blondish hair wearing blue jeans, a blue long-sleeved shirt, and a brown backpack.
Reposted by Jake McGehee
whysharksmatter.bsky.social
Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper!

We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.

Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky
Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For
doi.org
Reposted by Jake McGehee
rwmartin.bsky.social
This is terrible news, not just for these scientists, but for science. I don’t work on flies and I use FlyBase a bunch. This is how we learned most of basic genetics.
drglam.bsky.social
I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.
Reposted by Jake McGehee
drglam.bsky.social
I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.
jacobmcgehee.bsky.social
Not sure how it happened that way, but a close friend and I would drive around randomly (with a few regular stops along the river) in their car listening to music a lot during undergrad, and Americana was one of the albums we'd have on repeat.