Colin Sweeney, Ph.D.

Very proud of this perspective that came out of some really interesting and difficult conversations with friends and colleagues!

TLDR: how do scientists define sex? why does it matter??
#EcoEvo #Ecology #Evolution 🧪

Reporter, Nature News Job Title: Reporter, Nature Location: Washington DC or New York (Hybrid Working Model) Application Deadline: March 27, 2026 About Springer Nature Springer Nature is one of the leading publishers of re...

JOB OPENING! If you want to work as a reporter with Nature's US news team, this is a VERY RARE opportunity. The beat is physical sciences/energy & environment/technology. DC or NYC location. Deadline 3/27. Join our awesome team! #journojobs

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/es/SpringerN...

Then absolutely the answer is yes! Only mammals have mammary glands (minus platypus and co. )

Answer depends on if you consider “fish” to be monophyletic or paraphyletic (ie are mammals just a weird fish)

Just now learning that this isn't the Hemlock that Socrates was poisoned with

OCASIO-CORTEZ STATEMENT ON TRUMP'S COMBAT OPERATIONS IN IRAN "The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic. "Just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead.President Trump flippantly acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, stating "that often happens in war.' "Mr. President: this was not an inevitability. This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people. "Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran. Bombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region and this will be no different. "In moments of war, our Constitution is unambiguous: Congress authorizes war. The President does not. I will do my part to uphold our Constitution by voting YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie's War Powers Resolution. Every member of Congress must join us in rejecting this aimless war.

My statement on President Trump’s combat operations in Iran⬇️

I know this feels pointless but everyone has to call their congressional reps and say they oppose war with Iran and they oppose Trump illegally starting one without congressional approval — both

congresscalllist.com

Birds Aren’t Just Declining. They’re Declining Faster, a New Study Finds.

And here is some of the amazing news coverage of our paper. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/c... by @catrineinhorn.bsky.social

Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance chang...

Thrilled to share our new paper out in @science.org, led by François Leroy and Petr Keil! Using the Breeding Bird Survey, we document not only a continent-wide decline in bird abundance since the 1980s — but, crucially, the acceleration of these declines over time. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Ready to make an impact in DC? Join AGU for our spring Days of Action! Get training from policy experts and meet with your lawmakers on capitol hill. Learn more and apply by 15 March: buff.ly/m8Nyhph

A quick reminder that our February Funk seminar from @biogeography.bsky.social is coming up this Wednesday! Dr. Juan Pablo Quimbayo will speak about marine macroecology. Be there or be square!

Yay for voting!

AI enters the exam room, and nurses are left to manage the fallout When alerts misfire or can’t explain themselves, nurses still carry the risk

"Everybody rushed in saying these things are magical; they’re gonna save us hours. Those savings did not materialize...What’s the return on investment of saving six minutes per day?”

Sounds familiar...but scarier, given that it's healthcare w/ no oversight body to verify ANYTHING.

Exposure of western United States bird communities to predicted high severity fire - Nature Communications Changing fire regimes, leading to higher likelihood of high severity fire, are having unknown impacts on biodiversity. This study identifies regions of high avian biodiversity and individual bird spec...

Where will novel fire regimes threaten birds? Our paper in @natcomms.nature.com shows that most bird diversity hotspots facing future high-sev fire occur in places that historically burned at low severity - a critical mismatch. These are the spots to focus restoration.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ethiopia EV Boom Sparked by ICE Car Import Ban The East African country is making use of cheap hydropower and Chinese electric vehicles to ditch the internal combustion engine.

Ethiopia: "In the two years since the ban on internal combustion engine vehicles, EV adoption has grown from less than 1% to nearly 6% of all of the vehicles on the road in the country." www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... by @fasikat.bsky.social and @akshatrathi.bsky.social 🔌💡

SCIENCE IRL: SciComm mini-grant 2026 Skype a Scientist is offering $300-$1,000 mini-grants to support boots-on-the-ground science communication. The Science IRL mini-grants will support projects that put either 1) important science mess...

🚨🚨🚨
Attention science communicators!
🚨🚨🚨

The 2026 Science IRL mini-grant application is NOW OPEN!

Submit your creative ideas for connecting people with actionable science information *offline*.

The deadline for this round of grants is March 23, 2026.

Apply here!
forms.gle/4emvpRPddmEt...

First time experiencing it this year and I agree! Way better than the US haha

February's Funk Biogeography seminar is on the horizon! This month's speaker is Juan Pablo Quimbayo, who will talk about the role of traits in shaping marine biodiversity. Learn more and register here: www.biogeography.org/news/news/fe...

Was it COVID? That is a few years from the onset of the pandemic where the circle highlights.

The science is clear. The stakes are real.

AGU condemns the repeal of the EPA Endangerment Finding — a decision that rejects the overwhelming evidence and undermines climate accountability.

We will continue to defend science and advocate for evidence-based policy.

buff.ly/wX1BQ2t

So excited!

Europe Needs to Learn Its Lesson: Stop Relying on Imported Energy Growing reliance on American gas looks foolish given how unpredictable the White House has become.

I did not expect to see this in the WSJ:

"Reducing reliance on fossil fuels looks like Europe’s best shot at saving its domestic manufacturing and stopping other governments from pushing it around"

Agreed!

Comic. [2x2 chart. Top left quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of dinosaurs stegosaurus, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor, and long-neck dinosaur. Top right quadrant: seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of mosasaur, quetzalcoatlus, dimetrodon, plesiosaur, and pteranodon. Bottom left quadrant: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are dinosaurs. Silhouettes of penguin, egret, ostrich, pigeon, falcon. Bottom right: don’t seem like dinosaurs x are not dinosaurs. Silhouettes of squirrel, stapler, plant, person, and bicycle.]

Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs

xkcd.com/3204/

An image showing 15 illustrations of birds paired with dinosaur skulls. Below each reads the words "Dinosaurs Survived!" with the geological formations and locations of each.

Dinosaurs Survived!

All 15 designs so far.

www.emmalerae.com/store.html

Manager, Restoration Ecology & Forest Resilience - Ecological Restoration Institute Northern Arizona University's Ecological Restoration Institute seeks field technicians for wildfire and forest health research. Ideal candidates have forestry experience, plant identification skills, ...

We're hiring!
eri.nau.edu/manager-rest...

The Restoration Ecology & Forest Resilience Program Manager leads projects that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk, coordinating research, partners, and staff to advance resilient landscapes and communities.

My hope is that all of us can have the bravery of Liam and his dad. Just pure models of bravery amid extremely horrible cruel intent from the federal government.

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)

Holy shit: it's an RFP for the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB). Hello old friend www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

A line graph of the number of NSF awards for 2021-2026 for the Directorate of Biological Sciences.

2/9

Share your comments on NCAR with NSF Tell NSF the future that you want for NCAR by 13 March

AGU has an easy-to-use toolkit set for public feedback to proposed government actions. Now is a great time to respond to NSF’s proposed shuttering of NCAR. agu.quorum.us/campaign/154...

Nothing wrong with being anthropocentric! I think (as with all science), we have a bias towards what is easy to measure. My only argument is we should couch our findings in the knowledge that we will miss ecosystem functions simply because we don’t measure for them (yet)