New to Advocacy? 3 Tips for Early Career Scientists | Union of Concerned Scientists blog.ucs.org/melissa-varg...
I am a marine conservation biologist studying sharks and a science writer. Posts are about science and the environment, science communication, and more! He/him
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New to Advocacy? 3 Tips for Early Career Scientists | Union of Concerned Scientists blog.ucs.org/melissa-varg...
I will have you know that last year a high school student informed me that I have a quality they call "Rizz," which subsequent research suggests is a compliment.
Spent an hour screenshotting Taylor Swift videos into an upcoming Plant Diversity lecture, so I know my students will either think of me as super cool or totally uncool.* Inspired by: academic.oup.com/aob... *You don't have to tell me, I know which.
Good news on this front: Pressured by Sen. Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov (D-Oregon) and Rep. Mike Flood (R-Nebraska), YouTube TV and Hulu have just agreed to carry C-SPAN.
This kind of corruption is as brazen as it gets. Trump is easily the most corrupt President in our country's history. Yet Republicans in Congress are not lifting a single finger to exercise basic oversight. Shameless complicity.
It’s corruption, plain and simple.
ICYMI: Next week I am leading a free online 2-hour crash course in scientific writing and publishing, perfect for graduate students about to write their first paper. Learn more and sign up at the link below. Feel free to spread the word, all are welcome. 🧪🦑🌎
We are like a week out from the first "Trump was a Democrat when he hung out with Epstein" defense.
On today's Hopkins Press Podcast, we talk with David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter), co-author of a new study about where scientists are convening on social media in 2025 It's a great conversation about what Twitter once was, and what Bluesky is today! tinyurl.com/43u9rpbw
Epstein Watch: “They're creating this perception of transparency — but the reality is it's not there,” said a victim’s brother. Two federal judges agreed.
FYI, tomorrow in Silver Spring there is an opportunity for public comment on President Trump's executive orders to "Restore American Seafood Competitiveness," which includes attempts to remove protections from marine protected areas. www.fisheries.noaa.gov/s3/2025-08/E... 🧪🦑🌎
Our latest op-ed explores why the #RoadlessRule needs saving. We also offer instructions on how to submit a public comment about the proposed changes — but hurry, they’re due in about a week. https://therevelator.org/roadless-rule/
The "#Disability/#Neurodivergent Perception, Community, & Identity in the #Biosciences" #SICB 2026 symposium organized by @oceanfilly.bsky.social , @taorminalepore.bsky.social & @chronictox.bsky.social has started a slack channel to you can interact with them join.slack.com/t/sicbdisabl...
Check out the latest @hopkinspress.bsky.social podcast, featuring an interview with me about our new research showing that Bluesky is the preferred home of online scientists and science communicators. 🧪🦑🌎 #SciComm www.press.jhu.edu/multimedia/h...
We are only now getting a true understanding of the scale and scope of the shark meat trade, says WCS's @lukedavid301.bsky.social. Upcoming #CITES #CoP20 will include urgently needed proposals to protect the world’s most threatened species. 🌏 news.mongabay.com/2025/08/mong...
The genomic consequences of fisheries collapse in a marine fish
School has started! Have you explored our new sample syllabus for anyone getting started in science writing, whether you’re an instructor putting together a “Science Journalism 101” curriculum, or a freelancer looking to firm up your foundation in the core skills of the craft?🧪
Contributor: MAGA has won the war on science - Los Angeles Times
ICYMI: Next week I am leading a free online 2-hour crash course in scientific writing and publishing, perfect for graduate students about to write their first paper. Learn more and sign up at the link below. Feel free to spread the word, all are welcome. 🧪🦑🌎
Some "good for now" news reported by @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social in case you didn't catch it last week. With some good advice from @scott-delaney.bsky.social. www.science.org/content/arti...
Host: There are new calls this morning for RFK Jr.'s resignation, and those calls coming from inside HHS itself. More than 1,000 current and former HHS workers are making this demand in a letter released this morning. They say his leadership has "put the health of all Americans at risk"
"They came within 20 kilometers of basically strip-mining the largest deep-sea coral reef on the planet 50 years before we even knew it existed."
“following rumors of his death donald trump held a press conference announcing extrajudicial killings of civilians and plans for a military invasion of an american city” is a perfectly factual headline that could be used to describe what we saw yesterday
In my Environmental Communication class today, my students will write in response to a prompt inspired by Dr. @katharinehayhoe.com's book 'Saving Us.' After that, they'll do paired reading aloud, feedback, & revisions before we cover more of her book & an intro to narrative structure. #ENVSCOMM25-2
Here’s a press release: coralmorphologic.com/b/2025/08/26...
The paper also includes Ramon fan art by @elysen.bsky.social -Elyse is a PhD, but in a different field, she did this because she likes coral city camera and Ramon!
This interesting ecological observation would not have been possible without a constantly running and recording camera, and a team of enthusiastic volunteers who were watching not for science, but for fun! It let me use the phrase “unexpected but delightful” in a scientific article.
Characters included Ramon the parrotfish, and Fedora, a remora who was often sticking to Ramon, causing some discomfort. It turns out that this is the longest anyone has ever documented a remora sticking to ANYTHING!
New paper! @coralcitycamera.bsky.social is a livestream from a coral reef in Florida, and countless people tuned in during COVID lockdown as an escape. Those people recognized and named some regular “characters” on the reef. 🦑🧪🌎🐠
Great piece and v relevant for my #scicomm students: arstechnica.com/science/2025... .
Twitter’s decline is Bluesky’s rise. The scientific migration away from spam, porn, bots and hostility: arstechnica.com/science/2025... #SciComm
A former Fox News producer who was ousted from his school’s student government over accusations of racism, is working in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s communications department. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/former-...
“fisheries from 46 nations now face stringent import restrictions, ensuring that seafood entering U.S. markets adhere to the same high standards as American-caught seafood.” 🧪🌎🦑🐠 www.noaa.gov/news-release...
Writing for my first promotion case where the CV includes multiple NIH grants labeled "Terminated by the Trump Administration." Unprecedented doesn't even come close to describing this destruction.
As long as I live, I’ll never understand how “it should be easier for multi-billion dollar corporations to poison the water my family drinks and the air we breathe” became a politically popular position with half of my country.
The EPA employees were fired on a Labor Day weekend that also marked a historic assault on labor. Half a million federal employees have lost union protections under Trump, with more to come. This includes EPA employees. Trump says this is for "national security" reasons, and courts have gone along.
A federal court is allowing the EPA administrator to cancel a $20 billion program, created in law via the IRA, to distribute climate change grants. The court says these are contracts not grants, and so only the Court of Federal Claims can review. Unconstitutional violations via technicality!
One month in my new postdoc in Cairns and I have already planted LOTS of seagrass. 🌱 This work is part of ongoing restoration projects in tropical Queensland 🇦🇺 🧪 @jcuofficial.bsky.social #addOcean #MarineEcology #jamescookuniversity #WomenInSTEM #seagrass
The U.S. Secretary of Energy does not know that electricity is energy. I'm glad we've gotten rid of DEI programs and are now giving America the leadership it deserves.
To celebrate 66.6k followers, please consider sharing and following my starter packs of wonderful artists who deserve to have far more followers than me 🩵 go.bsky.app/6WQAQna
Huh. Thanks!
No worries at all, just got a bunch of replies all of a sudden and you’re the only one I know
This guy gets it. This is the way.
I know, I know, but: The president of the US saying, literally, "we're going in" in reference to sending the military to an American city for no reason beyond terrorizing the local population should be the most immediately impeachable shit imaginable
Ooooh cool!
Sheffield researchers doing The Lord’s work. Great study. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Our 400+ page comment on the DOE climate working group report is now out. Our conclusion: The merchants of doubt are back, and they're coming for climate science.
Coauthors include: @katsharki3.bsky.social @sammsherman27.bsky.social @melissacmarquez.bsky.social @coralcitycamera.bsky.social @coralmorphologic.bsky.social
I’m obsessed with deep sea sharks: their bioluminescent spots are just visible in the pitch black environment they live in
As you say: not the worst harm. But it is such a stark illustration. Other countries where one cannot walk around the capital city in such casual fashion without potential soldier harassment? We normally speak quite badly of.
I am not especially interested in risking injury, arrest, or death for a very stupid video game that most people I know mock me for still playing, but thank you
This is far from the worst anyone has been harmed by this But a while ago, Pokemon Go made it so you needed to catch 200 Pokemon in one day to advance past level 40 And I was gonna walk around the National Mall and do that as a reward for finishing summer teaching But now it's full of soldiers.
I think you will enjoy the "things to do in Baltimore" section of our wedding website, written from the persepctive of a begrudging Steelers fan
US Fish & Wildlife to declare 3 beaches protected areas for leatherback turtles
Scientists, historians, anthropologists, health professionals, etc., please consider adding your name!
Trump's very first example of the Smithsonian's "corrosive ideology" was an exhibit that correctly stated "Race is a human invention." How is scientific consensus (that biological races don't exist in humans) corrosive? We are asking scientists to co-sign our statement: forms.gle/kqKQF9CZ3jPB...
Scientists are adding plastic to a lake. Not reckless—research. The IISD Experimental Lakes Area is uncovering the real impact of plastic pollution on freshwater ecosystems. 🎥 Watch the full film: contentwithpurpose.co.uk/afs/tomorrow... #TomorrowsCatch #PlasticPollution #FutureFisheries
bluesky hasn’t become massive but it’s not because we’re an echo chamber, it’s because we’re annoying in a ton of other ways and i think that’s beautiful
Oh yeah I sure do hate it when people tell me interesting facts I didn't yet know about things I enjoy! Please don't try to do it anymore
👀
This is most delightful news
Yes, that's correct, and I was wrong But given that the existing logo was a Starfleet ripoff, and the new logo is a ripoff of the existing logo, it's weird to see so much hate of the new logo
Wait really
You're correct and I am tired and cranky and wrong. Thank you
Deleted a post that in its original form made sense but I butchered it because I am tired and cranky. Apologies. Carry on.
Deleting
Goddamit I phrased this right on facebook a few years ago and phrased it wrong now.
I am really not. I am seeing people share the first two images and not the very important third, making a point that is wrong. And I do not understand why.
AMOC is a climate-driven overturning current that supports northern Europe's warm climate. It's collapse would result in a colder Europe. The Gulf Stream is powered by the rotation of the Earth. For it to collapse, the planet would have to stop spinning. That, the physicists tell me, would be bad.
Wrong.
Educate yourself 👇
If you are spearfishing and a shark approaches you going for the fish on your spear, yes, drop the spear and swim away.
Small Bar TEDs Successfully Exclude Small Turtles | Gulf Spill Restoration
Slightly more thorough answer: I think some studies and issues are interesting enough to share on social media but I do not necessarily adjust my advocacy or policy goals based on them.
I love the #marinelife side of Bluesky. 👏🏼🦈
Please stop
It’s very obviously not good news…?
It does seem like a missed opportunity not to include some institution-themed art on the cards. I can imagine 1990's era scientists proudly displaying their collection of colorful reprint requests.
You’d think the deflategate guy would be ready for horned lizards but no
Nothing better than watching some BRUVs from our grant projects before calling it a day.... @blueactionfund.org www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jql...
A monster seaweed bloom is taking over the Atlantic | ScienceDaily
You can't get this expertise on Twitter.
I will be diplomatic and say that I think a lot of studies expose current organisms to predicted extreme future conditions, and some of them are more applicable than others.
My god
Important :
My book 'Charles Darwin's Barnacle and David Bowie's Spider' is now just $10 at the evil corporate giant. At that price, I can't imagine why you wouldn't read it (and buy an extra copy for your sister). $10! I'm almost insulted :-) https://amzn.to/425pMbR
Can someone please make a 10-second looping video of UNC fans leaving the game early as they're getting blown out by TCU? I want to make it my Zoom virtual background.
oh, look, here's the nicer and more concise way to say all of this in one sentence
(and also also, I mean "talk about their own stuff" broadly to include sharing other work in their field and also people's own hobbies, lives, where they live etc. -- basically anything that's specific to someone's own individual perspective)
Someone asked me why sharks stick their dorsal fins out of the water. The answer is simple. Sharks’ dorsal fins stick out of the water sometimes because their fins are on top of and therefore higher than the rest of their body, and sometimes their body is near the surface of the water.
I see a lot of DC media dunking on Trump’s 2 pm appearance today, with some version of, “Obviously he’s not dead, you online libtards!” But Trump appearing in public doesn’t lessen or answer the very real and obvious questions about his health. This is a subject that requires real digging.
I see a lot of people who I know do fascinating work that I'd love to hear more about, but whose feed ends up being mostly reposts of the same three pieces of news everyone else in my feed is posting (again: people should post what they want! this is just something I feel personally!)
since we're apparently having a meta conversation about This Site (I was mostly away for a week and DO NOT want to know what I missed), I will say that, although this is absolutely not a demand for people to Post Differently, I do wish subject matter experts would talk more about their own stuff
“The DOE report is basically arguing climate change is no big deal, therefore we shouldn't act. Always it's about trying to delay action and maintain the status quo."
A little milestone I ticked off the other day, my first Shark Bytes video to hit 1 million views 🎉 Watch the video here: youtu.be/YNxuxo_eMPI?...
More than 85 scientists say that a recent U.S. Department of Energy report is full of errors and misrepresents climate science.
Fraid so
Florida banned shark feeding by SCUBA divers in state waters in fall 2001. And one SCUBA business owner phrased this as "Americans' freedom was attacked TWICE this September."