A color outdoor portrait of American bacterial geneticist Evelyn Witkin in her later years, standing in a sun-dappled garden or courtyard setting with green foliage and a brick building in the soft-focus background. She is an elderly woman with fair skin, short wavy white hair, gentle smile lines, and warm, thoughtful eyes gazing directly at the camera with a kind, serene expression. She wears a white button-up blouse with subtle textured patterns, small earrings, and a distinctive beaded necklace featuring dark and light beads. A small silver dragonfly brooch is pinned to the left side of her blouse, symbolizing her pioneering work on DNA damage repair (often likened to cellular "rescue" mechanisms). The natural daylight softly illuminates her face, highlighting her dignified and approachable presence as a trailblazing scientist and a Lasker Award and National Medal of Science recipient. The overall mood is one of quiet wisdom, resilience, and quiet celebration of a long, impactful career in #WomenInScience. #WomensHistoryMonth

Geneticist Evelyn Witkin (b. #OTD 1921) pioneered work on DNA damage repair & mutagenesis.

Her discovery of the SOS response revealed how cells actively respond to genetic threats, laying foundations for insights into cancer, aging, radiation effects & chemotherapy resistance. #WomenInSTEM #WHM

Russell Vought should also be in this conversation…

Spanish PM Sánchez responds to Trump:

"Spain is against this disaster... Govts are here to improve people's lives... It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are unable to fulfill that mission use the smoke of war to hide their failure, and in the process, fill the pockets of a few."

😂🤪

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya on His Mission to Rebuild Public Trust in the NIH and CDC He discusses "DEI" research, campus funding freezes, ACIP, and the path forward for the nation's public health infrastructure

The @whyshoulditrustyou.bsky.social team asked some tough questions of NIH Director Bhattacharya. It's worth a listen: substack.com/home/post/p-...

I wanted to add some additional context on Bhattacharya's responses. Sorry, long thread.

🧵1/19

Or, as another example, take academics' willingness to cozy up to billionaires and big corporations, which stems from the fact that academia's emphasis on research incentivizes faculty (and institutions) to chase money from big donors, no matter how unsavory the source. 7/

The power of 💰 🏦💵

Extraordinary ‘Gallerie de l’Evolution’ in Paris 🇫🇷. Public funding to explain Evolution to families, with kids running around... An act of resistance🤘🙏🤛🏼

It's Still Hard for Women in Science | Harvard Magazine New book on Nancy Hopkins speaks to women's fight for equality then—and their fight now

www.harvardmagazine.com/2023/03/nanc...

Argenteuil, boats along the bank - 1872
https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/3109806

The Ball Shaped Tree, Argenteuil - 1876
https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/8673

In Memoriam: R. Bruce Nicklas (1932-2025). Leocadia Paliulis commemorates the life of Dr. Nicklas who was a mentor, a polymath with a great sense of humor, and a link to the beginnings of chromosome research. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#CellDivision #Chromosomes

Yes it’s Valentine’s Day. But it’s also the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass who was born in 1818 on a plantation in Talbot County, Maryland. He escaped from slavery & rose to become the most eloquent and forceful voice for the abolition of slavery & for Black voting rights in the U.S.

Rubio just made a speech to the European defense community in Munich that did not mention Ukraine. Or democracy. Or US business deals with Russia. Or the administration's plans to support the European far right. But there were lots of nice words about our common civilization.

And the new NCI Director moves to piss away his scientific credibility.

First, killing cancer cells is a very low bar; many compounds kill cancer cells and are not the least bit useful for treating cancer.

1/2

Sánchez escribe en ‘The New York Times’ para defender la regularización: “Occidente necesita inmigrantes” “El éxito económico de España también se debe a su visión positiva sobre la migración. Espero que muchos otros países sigan nuestro ejemplo”

Sánchez escribe en ‘The New York Times’ para defender la regularización: “Hay medio millón de personas que son claves para nuestras vidas diarias (...) Pero no tienen documentos legales que les permitan vivir aquí. Por eso, no tienen los mismos derechos"

CUNY is in crisis, the Colleges are in crisis, and the Depts within are in crisis- this for at least 10 yrs- it is a NY State/City disinvestment and it is political… and horrendous

Every time I or a relative have been in a nursing setting nearly all the staffers are foreign-born—from the Caribbean, South America, Africa, the Philippines, the Middle East, and beyond. So many awesome, kind, competent, fascinating people keeping everything from delivery units to eldercare afloat

Lewis Black Unaccompanied Minors GIF ALT: Lewis Black Unaccompanied Minors GIF

Last rant (for the day) about the "Reclaiming Science" MAHA event.

Deputy Director Memoli (who was described as running NIH inside whereas Director Bhattacharya handles external issues [Narrator: Normally, the NIH Director does not delegate NIH management] participated in a panel discussion.

1/16

The challenges of replication in science are real and important.

But these require serious thought and examination of previous attempts to elucidate the extent of the problems and their causes, not glib statements and naive ideas about how to address the issues.

9/9

Am I asking too much to ask that the Director of the National Institutes of Health gets his facts approximately correct?

There are examples that would illustrate his point, but this is not it.

This really makes me crazy; it reflects lack of knowledge, scholarship, and care.

13/14

For anyone interested in the history of molecular biology, I cannot recommend Judson's The Eighth Day of Creation highly enough. One of the great book on the history of science.

I have two copies because a actually wore out the first one (paperback)

www.cshlpress.com/default.tpl?...

Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass boycotting the Kennedy Center

This misuse of children's data has been known for years by NIH. Accountability is overdue. We need real enforcement and an honest reckoning with how genomic data can be weaponized. We are witnessing a renaissance of scientific racism--federal institutions are both ignoring and encouraging it.

Very cool and informative thread on the first large land eukaryote, unraveling its unique place in the tree of life 🧪

Trump can't even remember which country he wants to steal.

Hope you’re right!!