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Reposted by Alec Downie

James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · 1d

In 1948, the GOP-controlled Congress spent 109 days in session, a post-WW2 low. They lost both chambers that fall.

Under Mike Johnson, the House has been in session just 20 days of the last 103. And staying home isn't working any better for him. My latest for MSNBC: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Concerns about Congress’ shrinking role in running the country long predate Johnson and the rest of this generation of congressional leaders, on both sides. But just 20 days in session in more than three months is an astonishingly small number — a rate of less than 80 days in session in a calendar year. The lowest since World War II, for comparison, was the 80th Congress, which had 109 days in session in 1948. But unlike this 119th Congress, the “Do Nothing” Congress (as President Harry Truman famously deemed it) had two excuses. First, it was in opposition to the sitting president, limiting the chances for legislation. Second, 1948 was an election year, and Congress typically spends less time in session when its members are campaigning.

Just as the White House has been sending mixed messages — alternating between blaming Democrats for the shutdown and using it to fire thousands of federal employees — Johnson’s “stay home” approach has undercut his talking points. It’s difficult to argue that he is serious about swiftly reopening the government when his caucus is spread out around the country. Instead, Democrats seem to be winning the messaging war. The Washington Post reports, “The White House and a growing number of congressional Republicans are worried that Democrats’ demand to boost Obamacare as part of any bill to reopen the government is proving salient with voters — including their own.”

Speaking of Obamacare, by keeping the House away, Johnson has hurt efforts to deal with expiring subsidies for plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. “That’s a Dec. 31 issue,” Johnson insisted last week. But that timeline is misleading. “While the enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2025, the start of open enrollment is around the corner on Nov. 1,” says Miranda Yaver of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. If lawmakers don’t agree on a fix before the end of the year, it will be weeks after “marketplace insurers have submitted their initial premium rate proposals, suggesting dramatic premium increases faced by marketplace enrollees.” Without a fix to the subsidies soon, millions of people will be deciding in November whether to pay more next year or forgo coverage altogether. For them, a Dec. 31 deal would come far too late.

As for the Epstein files, Johnson’s effort here seems especially futile. Clearly, neither the White House nor Republicans in Congress want a vote on releasing the files (though even if the bill passes the House, it will certainly die in the Senate). But efforts to derail the discharge petition seem to have failed, and at some point — whether for the ACA subsidies or some other legislation — the House will have to come back. By delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in, Johnson only deepens suspicions that the White House is hiding something.

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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · 2d

We don't know where Trump sees images of "bombed-out" Portland. Even Fox and far-right influencers don't make those claims.

Which leaves a disturbing question: "If Trump can be fooled by a fake video with his own face and voice, what else is fooling him?"

My latest: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Opinion | We don't know why Trump thinks Portland 'on fire.' That's frightening.

If Trump can be fooled by a fake video with his own face and voice, what else is fooling him?

www.msnbc.com

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Tauras Vilgalys @taurvil.bsky.social · 6d

🚨🧪 Interested in primate genomics and GxE interactions?

My lab is recruiting graduate students and postdocs to help start projects on primate gene regulation and immune evolution. Reach out if you would like to learn more, and please spread widely!

#ScienceJobs

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Fidy Rasambainarivo @fidydvm.bsky.social · 11d

🚨🚨 New Paper alert! 🚨🚨 :

Evolutionary history, longevity and terrestriality predict Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in primates 🌳🐈‍⬛️🦠🐒. #zoonosis #conservation #primates #wildlife #Madagascar #lemur #parasites

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Evolutionary history, longevity and terrestriality predict Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in free-ranging non-human primates

Evidence from captive populations indicates that lemurs are particularly vulnerable to toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii.…

www.sciencedirect.com

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MPI-EVA Leipzig @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social · 13d

Why women live longer than men. A new study #ScienceAdvances by an intl. research team led by Johanna Stärk and Fernando Colchero @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social traces the evolutionary roots of the #lifespan gap between women and men. tinyurl.com/yrt4ju9u & www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Why women live longer than men

Study traces the evolutionary roots of the lifespan gap between women and men

tinyurl.com

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Adam Hasik @hasikadam.bsky.social · 13d

New paper alert! In my second first-author paper from my work on the Isle of Rum Red Deer Project @rumdeerresearch.bsky.social we show, for only the second time in a wild population, that parasites mediate inbreeding depression.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Parasite-mediated inbreeding depression in wild red deer

Heredity - Parasite-mediated inbreeding depression in wild red deer

www.nature.com

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Alec Downie @aedownie.bsky.social · Sep 1

I await in joyful hope the day someone demonstrates the evolution of reproductive isolation occurring downstream of diversifying selection on immune phenotypes. That'll be a difficult one to prove though...

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Alec Downie @aedownie.bsky.social · Sep 1

The Vancouver island sticklebacks have supplied a lot of tantalizing evidence of such processes occurring in nature. This preprint feels like an exciting piece of that: advantageous immune variants driving genome-wide introgression and evolution, potentially changing a number of phenotypes.

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Alec Downie @aedownie.bsky.social · Sep 1

@jarome.bsky.social asked me during my PhD defense about immune variation as a driver of genuine diversification, whether it might occur and whether any cases are known. I said at the time that in theory it might occur, and although I didn't know of any, it would be a dream to find such a case.

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Alec Downie @aedownie.bsky.social · Sep 1

Once again a fascinating stickleback paper! I can't wait to dig in properly.

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · Aug 29

In the earliest stages of adaptive introgression, beneficial immigration can drive genome-wide changes. In a new preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... colleagues & I document exceptionally rapid genomic introgression in a lake population of stickleback.

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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · Aug 31

Trump says the DC occupation is about crime. Some pundits say the fed presence isn't noticeable, and life hasn't really changed.

I was born in DC, I've lived almost my whole life here, and I can tell you: all those claims are crap.

My latest for @msnbc.com www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Life under Trump’s D.C. takeover is not what you think

Pretty much anyone living in D.C. can see every day that the White House’s justification is a lie.

www.msnbc.com

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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · Aug 28

Great @meredithshiner.com piece. newrepublic.com/article/1996...

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MSNBC @msnbc.com · Aug 27

OPINION by @jamescdownie.bsky.social

"Whether it’s polls or jobs numbers, though, if Trump doesn’t like the numbers, he tries to change the rules."

READ MORE:
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Opinion | Trump’s Indiana redistricting push shows his fear of midterm voters

The president and his allies say he's very popular. Their actions suggest otherwise.

www.msnbc.com

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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · Aug 20

One of ICE's checkpoints is ~0.5 a mile south of my house, outside the church where I got married, and next to a playground where I take my child to play. I have never felt unsafe there, and for people who don't live here to give cover for snatching my brown neighbors off the street is despicable.

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Jessica Metcalf @jessmetcalf.bsky.social · Aug 17

New paper from Burcu - working towards describing 'immune education' journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

A model of early-life interactions between the gut microbiome and adaptive immunity provides insights into the ontogeny of immune tolerance

The developing immune system must learn which microbes to tolerate and which to resist, but how this process unfolds is unclear. This study develops a mechanistic mathematical model of early-life gut ...

journals.plos.org

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Ann T. Tate @annttate.bsky.social · Aug 15

Pls RT: We are recruiting a postdoc (and potentially an RA or staff scientist) to work on the evolution of stage-structured immune systems! Experimental evolution, natural variation in immunity, and/or evo genomics in flour beetles (Tribolium). See ad here: my.vanderbilt.edu/tatelab/join...

Scale highlighting trade-offs between larval and adult beetles in response to infection

A teaser of panels illustrating potential approaches to studying stage-structured immune systems, including transcriptomics, experimental evolution, and experiments in wild-derived populations

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Sasha Gusev @sashagusevposts.bsky.social · Jul 19

Nice discussion here. A particularly good point about why we both do and do not care about heritability.

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Benny Rice, PhD @bennyrice.bsky.social · Jul 17

Out today in Science: Our work on tropical cyclones and malaria in Madagascar. Work inspired by many and done in collaboration with many www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Vaccination to mitigate climate-driven disruptions to malaria control in Madagascar

Extreme weather is common in high malaria burden areas and is likely to increase in severity owing to climate change–related severe weather events. Yet, data on infection rates after these events and ...

www.science.org

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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · Jul 8

New paper in Evolution Letters @evolletters.bsky.social by an undergrad in my lab!
academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
We modeled eco-evo dynamics of infection & immunity and then analyzed 50 years of data from stickleback & tapeworms (thanks to museum samples!)

Dynamics of infection and immunity over 50 years as marine stickleback adapt to freshwater

Abstract. When a species colonizes a new environment, it may encounter new parasites to which its immune system is poorly adapted. After an initial spike i

academic.oup.com

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archielab.bsky.social @archielab.bsky.social · Jun 18

Daughters who have strong relationships with their fathers live longer in adulthood! Check out the latest paper from the Amboseli Baboon Project: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Early-life paternal relationships predict adult female survival in wild baboons | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Parent–offspring relationships can have profound effects on offspring behaviour, health and fitness in adulthood. These effects are strong when parents make heavy investments in offspring care. Howeve...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Hakhamanesh Mostafavi @hakha.bsky.social · Jun 17

It was fun writing this short piece on the omnigenic model. Sharing it here, though it's a painful time as my family, along with millions of others, is at risk in Iran and the region.

Nature Reviews Genetics @natrevgenet.nature.com · Jun 16

New online! Making sense of the polygenicity of complex traits

Making sense of the polygenicity of complex traits

Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 16 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41576-025-00866-7Hakhamanesh Mostafavi recalls a landmark paper by Boyle et al. on the omnigenic model, which proposed that complex traits are influenced by thousands of genes across the genome, including many that are only indirectly related to a trait through regulatory networks.

www.nature.com

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Fengyi Guo (Freda) @fyguo.bsky.social · May 30

1. Did you know that the Corn Belt in the Midwest USA is so vast you can see it from space? 🌽 How would this affect billions of migrating songbirds passing through each year? 🐦 Check out our new study in @conbiology.bsky.social
to find out! 🧵1/8 conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Alec Downie @aedownie.bsky.social · May 26

Oh, now this is a fun one. I love modeling papers that can explain the differences between in vitro and in vivo outcomes, and this one is particularly clever and interesting in its insight.

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · May 26

Social interactions shape antiviral resistance outcomes in poliovirus via eco-evolutionary feedback https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.20.655113v1

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Jessica Zung @jlzung.bsky.social · Apr 22

Kicking off my Bluesky account by sharing a new review I wrote with @lindymcbr.bsky.social for @currentbiology.bsky.social! If you’ve ever wondered about the source of your stank or just want to learn why humans smell weird (it's true!), then this review is for you! 👃🧪🤔 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

a diagram showing a cross-section of human skin, showing that sebaceous compounds are broken down under UV radiation

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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · Apr 25

"Making the wealthy pay more in taxes 'is a no-brainer.' But if hiking taxes on the rich is a no-brainer, cutting taxes for the rich is the GOP’s primary reflex."

My latest for @msnbc.com, on Trump's present to Sanders and AOC: www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Opinion | How Trump’s tax announcement handed a win to Bernie Sanders and AOC

MAGA populism is still faux populism.

www.msnbc.com

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