Daniel Bolnick
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danielbolnick.bsky.social
Daniel Bolnick
@danielbolnick.bsky.social
6.3K followers 690 following 2.5K posts
Professor of ecology and evolution @ UConn. Studies adaptation, evolutionary immunology, speciation, genomics, foraging, parasite ecology and more.
Hikes, rock climbs, tango, history buff, photographer & parent
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danielbolnick.bsky.social
Having a great writing retreat with @ecoevoevoeco.bsky.social in a cabin in the woods in northern Vermont, with no running water and no Wi-Fi. Productive writing time and fun scientific arguments punctuated by walks through snowy woods looking for owls.
January 23, 2026 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
carlbergstrom.com
Fuck ass country

(gift link)
Rejecting Decades of Science, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional
www.nytimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
judah-grunstein.bsky.social
Same olive branches, but see anything different about the maps they use?
The U.N. logo with a map of the world as seen from the North Pole. Trump's "Board of Peace" logo with a map of North America and the north of South America, with the continental U.S. centered.
January 22, 2026 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
jschuurmd.bsky.social
Fascinating perennial food story "Bitternut hickory, once considered a ‘trash’ tree, could be the key to a new cottage industry in New England"
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/19/m...
Bitternut hickory, once considered a ‘trash’ tree, could be the key to a new cottage industry in New England - The Boston Globe
Local producers and foresters are working to put homegrown hickory oil on the map. Some experts even claim the oil, pressed from hickory nuts, could become the region’s next maple syrup.
www.bostonglobe.com
January 20, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
noupside.bsky.social
Soooo I just got an email about how RFK Jr’s crackpot antivax organization Children’s Health Defense is suing the American Academy of Pediatrics under RICO cc @kenwhite.bsky.social

Those mobster pediatricians, you know.
BREAKING: We sued the AAP today. Here's why. Dear No, Earlier today, Children's Health Defense filed a major lawsuit against the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Here's what you need to know: • AAP has been profiting from the vaccine cabal since the passage of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 • AAP has forcefully and intentionally spread the lie that vaccines have been fully tested and proven safe — through its journal Pediatrics and its Red Book policy statements • AAP has concealed material facts about the lack of testing and inadequacies in vaccine safety monitoring and financial incentives tied to vaccine schedule compliance ‹ 16 BREAKING: We sue... ^ V decades of fraudulent health risk denials We're suing the AAP to shut down a decades-long scheme to defraud pediatricians and American families about the safety of the childhood vaccination schedule. Our co-plaintiffs include: • The families of three children who were killed by childhood vaccines • A child whose valid medical exemption was rejected by administrators who followed AAP guidance • Two physicians who lost their licenses to practice because they offered medical advice that contradicted AAP guidance For decades, the AAP has spread disinformation — including the unfounded claim that vaccines are "safe and effective." Those fraudulent claims resulted in the injuries and deaths of countless children. They also ruined the livelihoods of honest pediatricians. This is what challenging disinformation at the source looks like. This is what exposing the perverse incentives behind medical judgment looks like
January 21, 2026 at 10:34 PM
danielbolnick.bsky.social
Discovered a bunch of ink drawings and photos by my mom in a plants of Botswana database!

www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/...
Flora of Botswana: Images taken by Doreen Bolnick
A web site containing information about the Flora of Botswana
www.botswanaflora.com
January 22, 2026 at 1:12 AM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
elusiveapricity.bsky.social
👇👇👇
January 21, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
blumenthal.senate.gov
BREAKING: Whistleblower disclosures reveal a formal ICE policy to ignore the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. 

Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorizing its agents to kick down your door & storm into your home. 1/
Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press reveals that the agency allows immigration officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant.
apnews.com
January 21, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
chrismurphyct.bsky.social
I flew down to south Texas today to do my job - investigate why people are dying in ICE detention centers.

I was just illegally denied entry to Dilley Detention Center. Because they have something to hide.
January 20, 2026 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
washingtonpost.com
Breaking news: The Trump administration acknowledged for the first time that members of the U.S. DOGE Service accessed and shared sensitive Social Security data without the awareness of agency officials, months after a whistleblower raised concerns.
Trump administration admits DOGE accessed personal Social Security data
A DOGE employee signed an agreement to share Social Security data with the aim of overturning election results in certain states, according to a new court filing.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 21, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
davidho.bsky.social
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
needhibhalla.bsky.social
The NIH's MYF policy in 2025 resulted in 4000 fewer grants and fellowships that touched every area of biology and medicine; continuing it in 2026 would be disastrous for science, technology and health in the United States 🧪
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
January 20, 2026 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social
NSF is open for feedback on their strategic plan, deadline is Jan 27!!

www.nsf.gov/od/updates/n...
NSF seeks public input on its Fiscal Year (FY) 2026–2030 NSF Strategic Plan
www.nsf.gov
January 20, 2026 at 9:59 PM
danielbolnick.bsky.social
My first ever sabbatical has begun. For this calendar year I’ll be splitting my time between writing at home (keeping the bobcat company) and visiting Yale. Plus some regular short trips.

Time to write!!!!
a chimpanzee is typing on a laptop at a table
ALT: a chimpanzee is typing on a laptop at a table
media.tenor.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:38 PM
danielbolnick.bsky.social
Published today in PNAS:
www-pnas-org.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu/doi/10.1073/...
Mark Urban, Chris Elphick, and I argue that conservation programs should pay more attention to heritable within population variation, enabling rapid evolutionary response to environmental changes.
CAS - Central Authentication Service NetID Single Sign On
www-pnas-org.ezproxy.lib.uconn.edu
January 20, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social
A French judge explains how Trump sent people from the US Embassy to try to intimidate her during Marine Le Pen's trial for embezzlement — something they've done to other judges around the world
January 20, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
science.org
A study found that a widely used insecticide, chlorpyrifos, speeds up aging in a common lake fish by shortening the protective caps on its chromosomes, and leads to its premature death. https://scim.ag/49Hp7jU
In fish, low doses of common pesticide speed aging and death
Polluted lakes and lab experiments highlight harms of chronic exposure to chlorpyrifos
scim.ag
January 20, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
andreapitzer.bsky.social
I wrote about how concentration camp regimes evolve and why it's not too late to stop this, even though we are deep in it now.
Into the abyss
The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:37 AM
danielbolnick.bsky.social
This is a wild story: Trumps labor secretary is rarely at the office, hasnt shared her schedule since August, is boozing and taking staff to strip clubs Trump of course supports all this www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Trump administration backs labor secretary facing misconduct probe
The accusations have caught the attention of the business community in Washington, which supports the agency’s priorities under Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 19, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
helenbranswell.bsky.social
The number of confirmed #measles cases in South Carolina has hit an astonishing 558 in an outbreak that started in October. For context: that is more cases in 4 months than the entire US racked up most years in the past 30+ years. www.reuters.com/business/hea...
Measles cases in South Carolina explode to 558, state officials say
South Carolina reported nearly 250 new measles cases this week, official figures showed on Friday, bringing the total of confirmed infections to 558 since October as the threat of a wider outbreak inc...
www.reuters.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
harmitmalik.bsky.social
🙏 to all who have contributed great ideas & motivational strategies to this thread. It’s clear that the effect of ongoing turmoil is heterogeneous; everyone, incl tenured professors, are facing changes, but those in transitional stages (looking for grad/postdoc/faculty positions) have it worst. 1/
harmitmalik.bsky.social Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 6d
Getting asked about how academics can continue to do science & inspire trainees even in the midst of a continued (escalated) assault on science, reason, truth, & human rights. I don’t have great answers.

I would love to hear from mentors about advice they’re giving to trainees/ colleagues.
January 19, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
genetics-gsa.bsky.social
What happens when scientists studying population, evolutionary, and quantitative genetics all get together in one room? You get #PEQG26! Hear why PEQG 2026 stands apart directly from conference organizers: buff.ly/O0jiIBE

1/2🧵
January 19, 2026 at 2:03 PM
danielbolnick.bsky.social
Beavers left footprints on the slushy pond ice, radiating away from the lodge top left. Their tracks collected snow later while the rest of the snow got slushy, leaving this curious “negative” footprint pattern.
January 19, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
nytimes.com
Breaking News: President Trump told Norway’s prime minister that one reason he’s pushing to acquire Greenland is because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Denied Peace Prize, Trump Tells Norway He’ll Push for Greenland
In a text message, President Trump told Norway’s prime minister he no longer felt obliged to “think purely of Peace” and that the world would not be secure until America controlled the island.
nyti.ms
January 19, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Daniel Bolnick
ljrissler.bsky.social
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.

The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.

We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
NSF building on Eisenhower Av. HUD now owns. Destroying the NSF mural in the foyer. Of the Eisenhower building.
January 18, 2026 at 2:00 AM