Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social
Historian of science, collecting, plants + museums // Professor at Yale // PhD in History of Science from Princeton // Contr. Ed. at Public Domain Review // elaineayers.com
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Elaine Ayers
@eayers0.bsky.social
· Dec 2
Excited to launch Thinking With Moss, an NEH-funded project that I've been working on for the past few years with @tega.bsky.social + @aansari86.bsky.social. Bringing in collabs from around the world in a series of workshops, we asked what it might mean to think with moss /
www.thinkingwithmoss.net
www.thinkingwithmoss.net
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
A collection of environmental films made by Indigenous filmmakers that I've screened in Ecocinema over the years (shared today for obvious reasons):
1. It Starts with a Whisper (Shelley & Gronau Niro, 1993) vucavu.com/en/cfmdc/199...
1. It Starts with a Whisper (Shelley & Gronau Niro, 1993) vucavu.com/en/cfmdc/199...
It Starts With a Whisper
A celebration of the strength, wisdom, beauty and humour of Native women; of Native culture and people, surviving and thriving.
vucavu.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
A collection of environmental films made by Indigenous filmmakers that I've screened in Ecocinema over the years (shared today for obvious reasons):
1. It Starts with a Whisper (Shelley & Gronau Niro, 1993) vucavu.com/en/cfmdc/199...
1. It Starts with a Whisper (Shelley & Gronau Niro, 1993) vucavu.com/en/cfmdc/199...
I encountered the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center this year when doing some work on fungus + mold cultures, and this is a real shame within our longer history of American scientific research.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
Beekeepers, Farmers and the Fight to Save a Century-Old Research Hub
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I encountered the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center this year when doing some work on fungus + mold cultures, and this is a real shame within our longer history of American scientific research.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 AM
New York City helped my mother become the artist she is today. The next generation deserves a City Hall that lifts up tomorrow's artists as well.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
JOB: Assistant Professor, History, Corpus Christi College (Vancouver)
field open
5 year appointment, renewable
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
field open
5 year appointment, renewable
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
November 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
JOB: Assistant Professor, History, Corpus Christi College (Vancouver)
field open
5 year appointment, renewable
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
field open
5 year appointment, renewable
universityaffairs.ca/search-jobs/...
Coming March 2026 from @yalepress.bsky.social - Sumana Roy's beautiful translations of Jagadish Chandra Bose's work on plants, whose voices he recorded through stunning technologies + vocabularies.
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
The Man Who Made Plants Write
An internationally celebrated poet and critic translates Jagadish Chandra Bose’s revolutionary writings on plant sentience and communicationJagadish Chandr...
yalebooks.yale.edu
November 26, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Coming March 2026 from @yalepress.bsky.social - Sumana Roy's beautiful translations of Jagadish Chandra Bose's work on plants, whose voices he recorded through stunning technologies + vocabularies.
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
"They devised a marketing plan engineered to make these alien arbors more familiar to would-be consumers...Like a real tree, the mythical Philippine mahogany needed time to grow."
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
The Mythical Mahogany that Helped Build the American Empire - JSTOR Daily
How “Philippine mahogany” became America’s tropical timber of choice, thanks to a rebrand from a colonial logging company that drove deforestation.
daily.jstor.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:31 PM
"They devised a marketing plan engineered to make these alien arbors more familiar to would-be consumers...Like a real tree, the mythical Philippine mahogany needed time to grow."
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
daily.jstor.org/the-mythical...
Actually never done so much work in my entire life
November 23, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Actually never done so much work in my entire life
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
The project, which will include some 50,000 songs from private record collections, is a collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the Dust-to-Digital Foundation.
laist.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Thousands of rare American recordings — some 100 years old — go online for all to enjoy
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
A collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and the nonprofit Dust-to-Digital Foundation
laist.com/news/arts-an...
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
A new Isis Focus Section asks a bold question: “Is deep history white?”The issue shows how ideas of deep time emerged through European geology, empire, and the dismissal of Indigenous temporal knowledge. Deep history has long carried the imprint of a distinctly white European, extractive worldview.
The Focus issue I edited in Isis: "Is Deep History White?" is out. With contributions from Amy Way, Linda Andersson Burnett, Elise K. Burton, Emily Kern, and an Afterword by Alison Bashford
Isis Focus Issue: "Is Deep History White?"
November 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
A new Isis Focus Section asks a bold question: “Is deep history white?”The issue shows how ideas of deep time emerged through European geology, empire, and the dismissal of Indigenous temporal knowledge. Deep history has long carried the imprint of a distinctly white European, extractive worldview.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Former UVA President Jim Ryan has just released a 12-page memo of his own account of his forced resignation last summer. Here’s just a bit in which Paul Manning, a member of the Board, was told by DOJ that unless Ryan departed they would “bleed UVA white.”
November 14, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Former UVA President Jim Ryan has just released a 12-page memo of his own account of his forced resignation last summer. Here’s just a bit in which Paul Manning, a member of the Board, was told by DOJ that unless Ryan departed they would “bleed UVA white.”
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Calling scholars in environmental humanities, history of science, food studies, and medical humanities: we’re inviting applications for our 2026–27 Franke Postdoctoral Fellowship on Rot: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration.
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
November 11, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Calling scholars in environmental humanities, history of science, food studies, and medical humanities: we’re inviting applications for our 2026–27 Franke Postdoctoral Fellowship on Rot: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration.
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
1-year, $70K + research funds + benefits.
apply.interfolio.com/172135
Can't wait for them to finally release my emails and see 100,000,000,000 requests for extensions from students.
November 13, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Can't wait for them to finally release my emails and see 100,000,000,000 requests for extensions from students.
@alexzivkovic.bsky.social is my sworn enemy for getting to go to this, incredibly jealous. This exhibit is everything.
wow! Kara Walker’s Unmanned Drone is incredible, as good as expected with collages and preparatory sketches that are equally fantastic
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
part of Monuments, if you’re in LA, go see it!!
November 13, 2025 at 12:09 AM
@alexzivkovic.bsky.social is my sworn enemy for getting to go to this, incredibly jealous. This exhibit is everything.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within
November 12, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within
"When the whole world is tropical, what words will we use to describe and define ourselves?...This binary between crisis and non-crisis demonstrates one of the many ways in which our classification systems fail in the face of climate breakdown"
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
Becoming Subtropical | Broadcast
How do you categorize a crisis?
pioneerworks.org
November 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
"When the whole world is tropical, what words will we use to describe and define ourselves?...This binary between crisis and non-crisis demonstrates one of the many ways in which our classification systems fail in the face of climate breakdown"
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
pioneerworks.org/broadcast/su...
"I want this job" part 3. Auspicious timing, and Philly is an incredible (and still relatively affordable) city.
We are also currently hiring a curatorial fellow to work with the papers of Rosalind Franklin and others in the History of Molecular Biology Collection!
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
For those with a scholarly interest in Franklin, Watson, and other pioneering researchers in molecular biology, @sciencehistory.org has just opened our new landmark collection of their papers, and applications for research fellowships are currently open:
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
November 9, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"I want this job" part 3. Auspicious timing, and Philly is an incredible (and still relatively affordable) city.
Franklin was extra good this week so on top of his morning hikes I made him a mini dog-safe chicken pot pie and now he has a new favorite food.
November 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Franklin was extra good this week so on top of his morning hikes I made him a mini dog-safe chicken pot pie and now he has a new favorite food.
Reposted by Elaine Ayers
TT job posting at UW Madison: History of Science with focus on water & sustainability 💧💧💧
We're hiring in history of science at UW Madison! TT Assistant Professorship with a focus on water. Joint appointment between the History and Integrated Liberal Studies depts, and part of a university-wide hiring cluster on earth/sustainability science. jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/profess... #STS #HSMT
Professor of History - Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...
jobs.wisc.edu
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
TT job posting at UW Madison: History of Science with focus on water & sustainability 💧💧💧
Dream postdoc just dropped. One-year postdoc ($70K) at Yale's @yalewhc.bsky.social for the Franke Seminar in the Humanities on the incredible theme of ROT: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration. Taking folks from #histSTM, food studies, environmental humanities, etc. App due 12/8.
November 7, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Dream postdoc just dropped. One-year postdoc ($70K) at Yale's @yalewhc.bsky.social for the Franke Seminar in the Humanities on the incredible theme of ROT: Politics, Aesthetics, Regeneration. Taking folks from #histSTM, food studies, environmental humanities, etc. App due 12/8.
If you continue taking away my punctuation towards the ends of paragraph-long Victorian sentences I am going to LOSE MY MINDDD
ChatGPT appears to love the “ ;” .
A) is this semicolon use a tell for student misuse of AI.
B) will we now see a re-popularisation of the “;”?
A) is this semicolon use a tell for student misuse of AI.
B) will we now see a re-popularisation of the “;”?
November 7, 2025 at 12:46 AM
If you continue taking away my punctuation towards the ends of paragraph-long Victorian sentences I am going to LOSE MY MINDDD
"Today’s Quinhagak youth will grow up with an understanding of their history that previous generations didn’t have...“Some of them have their mouths wide open when they first open a drawer,” she said. “I tell them, these are from your ancestors.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
A Storm Hit Alaska. Now, a Native Community Is Racing to Save Its History.
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
"Today’s Quinhagak youth will grow up with an understanding of their history that previous generations didn’t have...“Some of them have their mouths wide open when they first open a drawer,” she said. “I tell them, these are from your ancestors.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/c...
One good thing about working with people across oceans is that when you wake up your inbox is filled with an entire chain of incredible, exciting news (that has already been clarified in back-and-forths) - a nice offset to the usual string of frantic student emails. ❤️
November 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
One good thing about working with people across oceans is that when you wake up your inbox is filled with an entire chain of incredible, exciting news (that has already been clarified in back-and-forths) - a nice offset to the usual string of frantic student emails. ❤️