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Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

@smwadgymar.bsky.social

3.4K followers 1.1K following 1K posts

Evolutionary ecologist, Botanist, Associate Professor at Davidson College (PUI 💪🏼), she/her 🔗smwadgymar.weebly.com

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Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬 @smwadgymar.bsky.social · Nov 8

I'm very happy to share with you the results of a collaborative experiment between the Catawba Indian Nation and faculty, staff, and students at Davidson College.

Yield, growth, and labor demands of growing maize, beans, and squash in monoculture versus the Three Sisters🌽🫘🎃

A few take home points:

(a) The raised beds on June 15, 2023. (b) The Three Sisters planting design typically forms a large circular shape with maize/bean mounds interspersed with squash. In our study, the Three Sisters were established in raised beds by planting four maize seeds in a 6-in. (15.2 cm) square each with a bean plant 3 in. (7.6 cm) toward the edge of the bed on a diagonal with the center of the maize square. Maize/bean squares were spaced 4 ft (1.2 m) apart within each row. Squash seeds were planted in pairs between each maize/bean square.

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 22h

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 1d

I found these immune cells just finished mitosis but their midbody is still yet to be resolved. How cool? If you zoom in to the midbody, you can see its classical shape just like in the textbooks. I love these little details.

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 1d

Senate is back in session today.

1/ So a quick 🧵on where things are at on the shutdown.

You get a lot of propaganda and spin thrown at you, so I want to give you the real, behind-the-scenes tea.

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 2d

Western Alaska was hit hard by the recent storms. Houses floated away in Kipnuk, houses flipped over, people lost everything from the flooding that came with the storms. Please donate if you can. This group has a long history of supporting AK communities.

alaskacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/c...

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 1d

I actively promote Wikipedia as a source now (not for citing, but in general) for students because it's more accurate than 95% of what's out there by googling or reading AI search results only. Wikipedia was my best teacher as a 10 year old; I guess it's going to have to do for today's 20 year olds.

Micah @rincewind.run · 23d

we have gone from a world in which we were told not to cite wikipedia because it was unreliable to a world where wikipedia might be the only reliable source left on the internet and we all owe a lot to the pedantic nerds who got us there

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 23d

for all people mock it wikipedia is genuinely one of the wonders of the modern world

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 1d

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!

The University of Texas-Austin is beginning a process to eliminate the Black Studies, Latino Studies, and Gender Studies departments in the College of Liberal Arts. This is a grave threat to the educational liberty of students, faculty, staff, and the people of Texas. 1/

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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 1d

After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 4d

Breaking: MIT just became the first university to reject an agreement that would trade support for the Trump admin's higher education agenda in exchange for favorable treatment.

"Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

www.nytimes.com

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Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬 @smwadgymar.bsky.social · 4d

I'm having some fun with the Seek app @inaturalist.bsky.social 😂

A picture of a window sticker in the shape of a haunted tree. It is black, leafless, and has orange eyes and a creepy orange mouth. The Seek app identified it as the species Papilio bianor (a butterfly).

The species Papilio bianor, a butterfly. It is a burnt orange color with spots and swaths of other colors along the outer half of its wings, including yellow, white, and teal. I will know that when I search for images of this species, I get a wide diversity of images of butterflies.

Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

NYTimes Communications @nytimespr.bsky.social · 4d

A statement from The New York Times on the Pentagon’s press pass policy:

“Journalists from The New York Times will not sign the Pentagon’s revised press pass policy, which threatens to punish them for ordinary news gathering protected by the First Amendment. Since the policy was first announced, we have expressed concerns that it constrains how journalists can report on the U.S. military, which is funded by nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars annually. The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating. The Times is dedicated to pursuing the public interest through deep, fair reporting and an unwavering pursuit of the facts.”

Richard Stevenson, Washington Bureau Chief, The New York Times

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Josh Luke Davis 🏳️‍🌈 @joshlukedavis.com · 5d

with the official IUCN listing for the slender-billed curlew now being Extinct here is the rather sad piece I wrote about what went into this decision

I tried to include everything we know about their behaviour and biology, which is tragically little 🪶🧪
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

A picture of two slender-billed curlews in the Natural History Museum's collections.

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 4d

Botany should be taught as a life skill at High School because I can tell from here with the rushes and the bright green isolepis (indicating it is very wet) that you wouldn't want to drive a ute in here.

Gavin Shoebridge @kiwiev.bsky.social · 4d

Oh not again. 😅

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Evan Frost @wildwoods.bsky.social · 4d

"World’s tropical forests are getting younger and that’s a major problem for the climate -- 140 million tons of above-ground carbon are lost per year because old-growth forests are being replaced by younger stands." 🌍 www.zmescience.com/ecology/worl...

World’s Tropical Forests are Getting Younger And That's Actually a Major Problem for the Climate

New research quantifying the global impact of forest age transitions found that 140 million tons of aboveground carbon are lost per year because of old-growth forests being replaced by younger stands.

www.zmescience.com

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Reuters @reuters.com · 5d

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

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Greg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 6d

A new study claims that male mice who exercise pass micro-RNAs to their offspring through their sperm that increases the aerobic capacity of the offspring.

The claim is of epigenetic inheritance of a phenotype from the male parent.

#EvoBio 🌱🐋🦋🦫🧪

Well-exercised male mice appear to pass fitness to their male offspring

Surprising epigenetic effect relies on snippets of RNA packaged within sperm

www.science.org

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Functional Ecology @funecology.bsky.social · 8d

📰Published📰Different herbivores, different outcomes: how animals influence leaf breakdown 🍃

buff.ly/Dn1oyug

🧪🌍

Different herbivores, different outcomes: how animals influence leaf breakdown

M. Paz Tapella, Carolina Quintero, Mariano A. Rodriguez-Cabal, Yamila Sasal, M. Noelia Barrios-Garcia This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found he…

buff.ly

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Mario Vallejo-Marin @nicrodemo.bsky.social · 8d

How do plants stave off greedy pollinators? Read our new paper on pollen dosing in buzz pollinated flowers just out in @funecology.bsky.social
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Gradual pollen release in a buzz‐pollinated plant: Investigating pollen presentation theory under bee visitation

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 8d

Two of the most common climate misconceptions I see, even among knowledgeable folks, are that (1) most people aren't worried about climate change, and (2) if they were, they'd act.

Not true! Data show (1) most people are worried, but (2) they won’t act if they don’t know what to do-and most don’t.

A map of the world showing how levels of worry in most countries are greater than 70%. Source: Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, International Public Opinion on Climate Change, 2023.

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New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 9d

✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/8) Could photoperiodic responses have evolved prior to the emergence of circadian clocks?
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Fig. 1 (a) Model for how photoperiodic time measurement works across different species. (b) Examples of the photoperiodic pathways in plants (upper) and mammals (lower).

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Reposted by Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬

Maria E. Eriksson @treesandgrowth.bsky.social · 10d

#PlantScience #Photoperiodism 🌱⏰https://www.nature.com/articles/s44323-025-00054-0

Choosing which models best explain photoperiodic time measurement mechanisms in plants - npj Biological Timing and Sleep

npj Biological Timing and Sleep - Choosing which models best explain photoperiodic time measurement mechanisms in plants

www.nature.com

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Bryan White, MS Bio, MPH 🧬 @crvscience.com · 10d

Homie got 229 pairs of chromosomes

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

This tiny butterfly has the most chromosomes of any animal on Earth

Scientists have confirmed that the Atlas blue butterfly carries the most chromosomes of any animal, with 229 pairs. Unlike duplication, its chromosomes split apart, reshaping its genome in surprising ...

www.sciencedaily.com

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Mallory Harris, PhD @malar0ne.bsky.social · 10d

IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit

kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News

The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...

kffhealthnews.org

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Dan Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 11d

Dwayne has his job back because we organized for it. We fight or we die. Join AAUP today www.aaup.org/join

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 11d

Judge: Let me ask you, though: a social-media post is the basis of deployment of troops? Is that really the basis?

DOJ: Posts reflect Trump's decision-making.

Judge: How can I consider post-hoc rationalization of order already issued?

DOJ: Nothing in law requires particular form of determination

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Jonathan C Slaght @jonathanslaght.com · 12d

super cool study found human artifacts in Bearded vulture nests, incl. "weaponry like a crossbow bolt and wooden lance, decorated sheep leather, and parts of a slingshot....a shoe made from twigs and grass is ~675-years-old." link to paper: doi.org/10.1002/ecy..... www.popsci.com/environment/... 🧪🌍🦉

Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts

Crossbow bolts, sandals, slingshots, and more.

www.popsci.com

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