Jesse R. Lasky | Lightnews

Jesse Lasky

@laskyjr.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.4K following 130 posts

Evolution and ecology of plants. He/him.

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Biology 42%

Environmental science 32%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Liz Koziol @lizkoziol.bsky.social · 2h

@invam.bsky.social collection, prairies, and AMF all featured in the awesome article

Defunding fungi: US’s living library of ‘vital ecosystem engineers’ is in danger of closing www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Defunding fungi: US’s living library of ‘vital ecosystem engineers’ is in danger of closing

These fungi boost plant growth and restore depleted ecosystems, but federal funding for a library housing them has been cut – and it may be forced to close

www.theguardian.com

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻 @longtimehistory.bsky.social · 1d

ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.

Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.

"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.

"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.

Yakima, Washington

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Luiza Teixeira-Costa @l-teixeiracosta.bsky.social · 3d

It's just in and in time for Christmas: our recently published #OpenAccess paper showing an astounding 14 YEARS of monitoring of #Lathraea, a peculiar #ParasiticPlant that shows earlier reproductive #phenology potentially following host-derived cues!

doi.org/10.1002/pei3...

Spring Forward: Reproductive Phenology of the Holoparasite Lathraea squamaria (Orobanchaceae)

Lathraea squamaria is a peculiar holoparasitic plant. Here, we show that over a 14-year period, key stages in the reproductive phenology of this parasite have started significantly earlier. Most rema...

doi.org

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Joanna Bryson, Naomi Klein , and 46 more Anne Applebaum, Joanna Bryson, Naomi Klein, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Nandita Sharma, Kimberly A. Prather, A. E. Dessler, Peter Thorne, Gordon Pennycook, Brendan Nyhan, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Steve Peers, John McLaren, Rosemary A. Joyce, Amir Attaran, Efrén O. Pérez, Guy Grossman, Philip Nel, Anders Nilsson, Juan Cole, Daniel W. Drezner, Clyde W. Barrow, David R. Miller, Robert Wolfe, Johann N. Neem, Michael Zimmer, Andrew L. Whitehead, Gerald Friedman, Jacob T. Levy, Robert B. Reich, Els Torreele, Jen Schneider, Paul Fisher, Ann Bartow, Leah Stokes, Greg Linden, Greg O’Brien, Gerardo Martí, Richard M. Carpiano, Joanna L. Grossman, Tim Stephens, Daxton R. Stewart, Nicole Guenther Discenza, Aviel Roshwald, John Christman, Dan Immergluck, Timothy D. McBride, Jesse R. Lasky, Pieter Vantieghem

Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 3d

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 3d

!! Here’s a link to full video of the 60 Minutes segment that Bari Weiss killed last minute, via @jasonparis.bsky.social:

is.gd/paU8Ko

(It was uploaded to the Global TV app in Canada, seemingly by accident, and has now been taken down)

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 7d

14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.

Duncan Bell @duncanbell.bsky.social · 7d

Post-doc positions:
"Academic freedom is under pressure today. This requires rescue havens of free research. ... [we] invite early career researchers, whose work is restricted due to political pressure in the USA..."

uni-freiburg.de/frias/call-f...

Call for Applications: Early Career Rescue Fellowship – Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies

uni-freiburg.de

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Kevin Bird @stairwaytokevin.bsky.social · 7d

[The most miserable, unpleasant person you’ve ever met]

“I was discriminated against just for being white!”

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Trevon D. Logan, Michael J. Taylor , and 2 more Anna O. Law, Trevon D. Logan, Michael J. Taylor, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Jesse R. Lasky

Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · 7d

UAlbany, one of those, NY state universities, has been hovering around 4 percent tenure track Black faculty since ever. I am THE Black tenure track political scientists. These folks are just little liars.

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 7d

You’ll never guess who else experienced ‘racism’ on the job market despite their unimpeachable academic credentials.

Naomi Wolf: I got pretty far along in the hiring process for a wonderful position teaching at a NY state university before a dean in the department told me I couldn’t go any further because I was white.

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Maya Sen, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham , and 1 more Fabián Muniesa, Maya Sen, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Jesse R. Lasky

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 9d

Harvard officials are reportedly secretly investigating two students for their roles in drawing scrutiny to the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and ex-president Larry Summers

Harvard Secretly Investigates Students Over Larry Summers Video on Epstein

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Kim L. Scheppele, Nina Jankowicz , and 5 more Anne Applebaum, Kim L. Scheppele, Nina Jankowicz, Will Jennings, Greg Linden, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, David Darmofal, Jesse R. Lasky

Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 9d

CBS News staffers might want to check into how things are going at their boss’s anti-woke “university” in Austin.

Via @ngluckman.bsky.social

www.chronicle.com/article/at-t...

According to LinkedIn, roughly 20 university employees have left this year.
That's a lot for a new institution that had 34 staff members listed on its website this week (the number is separate from faculty). The departures include the president, the provost, the lead fund raiser, the executive director of admissions, as well as people who worked in events, operations, and other positions.

Over the summer, the provost and the lead fund raiser also left the university, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Summers, the former Harvard president, stepped down from the advisory board in July, saying that he was "not comfortable with the course that
UATX has set nor the messages it promulgates and so am withdrawing." (His colleagues on the board, Zimmer and Pinker, stepped down shortly after the university's launch, with Zimmer saying that UATX's critical statements about higher education "diverged very significantly from
my own views.")

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 9d

🦥 Recueil de divers oiseaux étrangers et peu communs
A Nuremberg: Chez les Héritiers de Seligmann, 1768-1776.

[Source]

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 9d

Alternately, was A or B or C really the best candidate?

You'll never know! They got hired fresh, sight unseen at an R1 where they'll get resources and time while the people you'd compare them to were pushed out.

And emotionally they will *never* consider that *they* were the wrong choice.

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 9d

Stockholm University's Department of Zoology seeks an Associate Professor in Animal Ecology and Evolution. Deadline: Feb 28, 2026. More info: https://su.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:883922/where:4/ #job

Associate Professor in Zoology with focus on ecology and evolution

su.varbi.com

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Rosemary A. Joyce, Rebecca Tushnet , and 5 more Joe R. Feagin, Rosemary A. Joyce, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson, Gerald Friedman, Manisha Sinha, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Jesse R. Lasky

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 9d

there is really no difference between the current administration and having the country run by david duke

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 10d

On that last post: I genuinely cannot think of any good-faith reason to bar international adoptions from those 39 countries. Under this new ban, consulates will refuse adoption visas for any baby from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Nigeria, or any of the 39 other countries.

Reposted by Katharine Hayhoe, Elizabeth Saunders, Rebecca Solnit , and 67 more Katharine Hayhoe, Elizabeth Saunders, Rebecca Solnit, Richard S.J. Tol, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Scott C. Doney, Brian J. Enquist, Joel A. Thornton, Kimberly A. Prather, Simon L. Lewis, David M. Schultz, Brigitte Nerlich, Will Jennings, Peter Thorne, Brendan Nyhan, Timon McPhearson, Arthur Geßler, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Wim Thiery, Elizabeth A. Barnes, Ed Hawkins, Mathias Disney, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Baylor Fox‐Kemper, Julie L. Lockwood, Patrick A. Jansen, Rosie A. Fisher, Flavio Lehner, Jonathan A. Foley, Joshua S. Weitz, Scott L. Greer, Steve Peers, Alan de Brauw, David Johnson, Rosemary A. Joyce, Michael J. Allen, Fabián Muniesa, Gernot Wagner, Adam Gamoran, Daniel W. Drezner, Smith, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Robert Wolfe, Holger Hestermeyer, Dominique Meurs, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Bessma Momani, Suzanne de Cheveigné, Michael D. McDonald, Erol Akçay, David Murakami Wood, Kate Starbird, Jennifer A. Johnson, Mathias Frisch, Alessandro Rigolon, Leah Stokes, Larry W. Hunter, Jack Stilgoe, Richard M. Carpiano, Nathan Richardson, Xavier Molénat, Kate Jackson, Carlos Carroll, Jeannette Sutton, Clark Gray, Annalee Newitz, David Darmofal, Peter Jacobs, Jesse R. Lasky, Anne Hilborn

USA TODAY @usatoday.com · 9d

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado

The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

bit.ly

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce, Simon Lester , and 4 more Scott L. Greer, Rosemary A. Joyce, Simon Lester, Manisha Sinha, Aviel Roshwald, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Jesse R. Lasky

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 10d

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Smith, Jesse R. Lasky

Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · 10d

RFK, Jr.–Backed Lyme Disease Conspiracy Theory May Be Probed under New Bill

www.scientificamerican.com/article/rfk-...

President Donald Trump is expected to sign a defense bill this week that orders an investigation into whether the U.S. military bioengineered Lyme disease

RFK, Jr.–Backed Lyme Disease Conspiracy Theory May Be Probed under New Bill

President Donald Trump is expected to sign a defense bill this week that orders an investigation into whether the U.S. military bioengineered Lyme disease

www.scientificamerican.com

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky, Tyson Wepprich

Seema Sheth @seemasheth.bsky.social · 10d

Fun collab w an awesome group of ecologists, led by Jenn Williams and Tom Miller! Linking Climate and Demography to Predict PopulationDynamics and Persistence Under Global Change dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Linking Climate and Demography to Predict Population Dynamics and Persistence Under Global Change

Predicting how climate change will affect the population dynamics and ultimately persistence of plant and animal populations is a grand challenge in biodiversity science and global change biology. Co...

dx.doi.org

Reposted by Richard E. Lenski, David Brady, Carl T. Bergstrom , and 5 more Richard E. Lenski, David Brady, Carl T. Bergstrom, Gavin A. Schmidt, Joshua S. Weitz, Alan Richardson, Richard M. Carpiano, Jesse R. Lasky

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · 10d

We gave Jay Bhattacharya an opportunity to clarify his vaccine stance: does he REALLY believe that the vaccine is worse than the disease? Instead, he launched into a defense of MAHA as the future of scientific inquiry, and never really gave us a straight answer...

@repauchincloss.bsky.social

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Susann Wicke @susannwicke.bsky.social · 10d

Five years of work with countless repeats of 'Please, would you mind repeating the experiment one more time' is finally published 😅 Proudly presenting:

Seed metabolites headstart haustoriogenesis and potentiate aggressiveness of parasitic weeds | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Seed metabolites headstart haustoriogenesis and potentiate aggressiveness of parasitic weeds

Parasitic weeds self-activate their feeding organs, challenging the paradigm of host-triggered parasitism.

www.science.org

Reposted by Valerie M. Delmotte, Alan Richardson, Michael Zimmer , and 6 more Valerie M. Delmotte, Alan Richardson, Michael Zimmer, Stephen D. Murphy, Brian Keegan, David C. Kimball, Kate Starbird, David Darmofal, Jesse R. Lasky

Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 10d

🧵 NSF is reducing external review requirements and eliminating routine expert panels, citing staff shortages that this administration implemented. This change expands program officer authority. But the solution to flawed accountability isn't less public accountability.

Jeffrey Mervis @policyhound.bsky.social · 10d

NSF plans to streamline merit review to heal self-inflicted staffing wound www.science.org/content/arti...

NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists

Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities

www.science.org

Reposted by Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Amy W. Ando, Brian Keegan , and 5 more Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Amy W. Ando, Brian Keegan, Kate Starbird, Timothy D. McBride, Clark Gray, David Darmofal, Jesse R. Lasky

Jeffrey Mervis @policyhound.bsky.social · 10d

NSF plans to streamline merit review to heal self-inflicted staffing wound www.science.org/content/arti...

NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists

Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities

www.science.org

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · 11d

Promises kept...

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Translational Plant Genomics group @tpg-sssa.bsky.social · 11d

We’re thrilled to announce “FFWD-Plants”, a hands-on #seasonal #school on #agrobiodiversity and #quantitative #genetics organized by our group!

🌍 Pisa, Italy
📅 April 13–17, 2026
🎓 FREE (20 student)
🧬 Internationally experts in the field

Application details:
www.santannapisa.it/it/formazion...

Reposted by Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Craig R. Primmer, Jesse R. Lasky , and 3 more Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Craig R. Primmer, Jesse R. Lasky, Andrew Hacket‐Pain, Samuele Ramellini, Benjamin Wildermuth

Rike Stelkens @stelkens.bsky.social · 11d

We're looking for a new colleague at Asssoc Prof level! Come join us in the Zoology Department at Stockholm University. A teaching profile in ecology, faunistics and/or physiology is beneficial. Find the full job advertisemnt here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Associate Professor in Zoology with focus on ecology and evolution

Department of Zoology at Stockholm University includes ca. 80 employees counting researchers, PhD students, and administrative staff. Research and education at the department occurs in an internatio

su.varbi.com

Reposted by Edward Witten, Kim L. Scheppele, Steve Peers , and 10 more Edward Witten, Kim L. Scheppele, Steve Peers, Alison Phipps, Daniel W. Drezner, Michael Kevane, Robert C. Richards, Michael D. McDonald, David Murakami Wood, Stuart White, Colin Woodard, Elise Thomas, Jesse R. Lasky

Alison Killing @alisonkilling.bsky.social · 13d

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.

He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.

www.wsj.com/world/china/...

ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps

Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.

www.wsj.com

Reposted by Nancy Kanwisher, Jesse R. Lasky

Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social · 14d

Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...