Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
@kathleenrhoades.com
Tree breeder 🧬🌳🍒
Beekeeper 🐝🍯🐝
Opinions expressed here are representative of Doc Rhoades Honey Company and no other entities
she/her
https://kathleenrhoades.com/
Beekeeper 🐝🍯🐝
Opinions expressed here are representative of Doc Rhoades Honey Company and no other entities
she/her
https://kathleenrhoades.com/
Pinned
UGH FINE I'M HERE. I have BROKEN my PROMISE to MYSELF I am ONCE AGAIN MICROBLOGGING UNDER MY GOVERNMENT NAME.
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
The damage being done to US science will take a generation to repair, if it is ever repaired at all,
Jay Bhattacharya and Matthew Memoli aren't bringing "gold standard science" to the #NIH, they are gutting research slowly but surely. When this time is over, they should be hauled before Congress, and shunned for the rest of their lives. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine (Gift Article)
A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
The damage being done to US science will take a generation to repair, if it is ever repaired at all,
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
I missed this from a couple of weeks ago, but if you're an NIH-funded investigator, please read.
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions | Grants & Funding
grants.nih.gov
December 5, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I missed this from a couple of weeks ago, but if you're an NIH-funded investigator, please read.
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...
December 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Two independent studies found that AI chatbots were better at persuading voters than political ads. The most persuasive bots also lied the most. This is something that humans working in psyops have known for decades. AI is psyops at scale. www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/04/1...
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
It’s a public service not a business. Losses are not relevant. It’s in the goddamn constitution. Gonna lose my mind. AAAAAAAAAHHHHH
🚨SCOOP: Amazon is preparing to sever ties with USPS and expand its shipping network as a true coast-to-coast rival.
It could cost USPS more than *$6 billion* a year in lost revenue, and lead Amazon to dominate yet another facet of the economy.
USPS posted a *$9 billion* loss in 2025.
It could cost USPS more than *$6 billion* a year in lost revenue, and lead Amazon to dominate yet another facet of the economy.
USPS posted a *$9 billion* loss in 2025.
Amazon explores cutting ties with USPS, building its own delivery network
Amazon looks into expanding its nationwide delivery network and giving up its longstanding partnership with the U.S. Postal Service.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 5, 2025 at 1:47 PM
It’s a public service not a business. Losses are not relevant. It’s in the goddamn constitution. Gonna lose my mind. AAAAAAAAAHHHHH
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
any tent that’s big enough for billionaires does not have space for me 🤷♀️
Gov. @gavinnewsom says he disagrees with Mayor @zohrankmamdani about the need for a wealth tax on billionaires, which he is “adamantly against” - says Dems are a “big tent party” with both views.
More on the CA proposal: www.sacbee.com/news/politic...
More on the CA proposal: www.sacbee.com/news/politic...
December 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM
any tent that’s big enough for billionaires does not have space for me 🤷♀️
Not this Leverage: Redemption episode giving me grad school flashbacks
December 5, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Not this Leverage: Redemption episode giving me grad school flashbacks
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
Privacy stalwart Nicholas Merrill spent a decade fighting an FBI surveillance order. Now he wants to sell you phone service—without knowing almost anything about you.
A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code
Privacy stalwart Nicholas Merrill spent a decade fighting an FBI surveillance order. Now he wants to sell you phone service—without knowing almost anything about you.
wrd.cm
December 4, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Privacy stalwart Nicholas Merrill spent a decade fighting an FBI surveillance order. Now he wants to sell you phone service—without knowing almost anything about you.
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
Really, the yearly "oh god what's in canned pumpkin" is merely pulling back the curtain.
NOT to reveal the nefariousness of food companies, at least, not in this case.
No, it's to reveal that behind the curtain, botanic taxonomy is chaos.
NOT to reveal the nefariousness of food companies, at least, not in this case.
No, it's to reveal that behind the curtain, botanic taxonomy is chaos.
December 4, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Really, the yearly "oh god what's in canned pumpkin" is merely pulling back the curtain.
NOT to reveal the nefariousness of food companies, at least, not in this case.
No, it's to reveal that behind the curtain, botanic taxonomy is chaos.
NOT to reveal the nefariousness of food companies, at least, not in this case.
No, it's to reveal that behind the curtain, botanic taxonomy is chaos.
we're using LoRA devices to log temperatures at the research farm this winter in a few different spots and it's getting me back into my ham radio bullshit
December 4, 2025 at 4:36 PM
we're using LoRA devices to log temperatures at the research farm this winter in a few different spots and it's getting me back into my ham radio bullshit
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
Academia has this way of making you feel utterly unsuccessful even when by any reasonable standard you are doing just fine.
December 4, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Academia has this way of making you feel utterly unsuccessful even when by any reasonable standard you are doing just fine.
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
Yes… ha ha ha… yes!!
Detroit has unveiled their statue honoring RoboCop
www.metrotimes.com/arts/detroit...
www.metrotimes.com/arts/detroit...
Detroit finally has a RoboCop statue - Detroit Metro Times
Nearly 15 years later, Detroit finally has its statue of RoboCop. The bronze statue depicting the eponymous cybernetic star of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 set-in-Detroit sci-fi satire was installed in East...
www.metrotimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Yes… ha ha ha… yes!!
This is cool as hell
December 4, 2025 at 4:19 PM
This is cool as hell
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
When all is done, the OU undergrad will have scored a 6 figure right-wing media contract, the higher ed press will still be talking about grading rubrics for conservative views, the trans grad student will still be getting death threats and have her life/job ruined. And everyone else will move on.
December 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
When all is done, the OU undergrad will have scored a 6 figure right-wing media contract, the higher ed press will still be talking about grading rubrics for conservative views, the trans grad student will still be getting death threats and have her life/job ruined. And everyone else will move on.
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
hey on the plus side we live in a country too corrupt to pass even a baseline modern privacy law, and we just completely lobotomized our already barely-functioning regulators
NEW: Elon Musk's Grok chatbot will, with minimal prompting, provide residential addresses of everyday Americans.
Prompts as simple as "[name] address" immediately returned accurate home addresses of private citizens — alongside other personal info we didn't ask for.
futurism.com/future-socie...
Prompts as simple as "[name] address" immediately returned accurate home addresses of private citizens — alongside other personal info we didn't ask for.
futurism.com/future-socie...
December 4, 2025 at 3:37 PM
hey on the plus side we live in a country too corrupt to pass even a baseline modern privacy law, and we just completely lobotomized our already barely-functioning regulators
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
So one, this is sliding into eugenics. But two, they can’t do that. They’re lying if they say they can. “Intelligence” is not a single gene trait you can test for in an embryo. These are quacks making false promises to make money from people’s fears about parenting
I saw this ad on the train and I’m curious how yall feel about it… I’m very much in the center, but slightly more towards than against…
December 4, 2025 at 3:39 PM
So one, this is sliding into eugenics. But two, they can’t do that. They’re lying if they say they can. “Intelligence” is not a single gene trait you can test for in an embryo. These are quacks making false promises to make money from people’s fears about parenting
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
baldwin apples, painted by ellen isham schutt, 1913
December 4, 2025 at 2:18 PM
baldwin apples, painted by ellen isham schutt, 1913
I will never not be mad at tech bros who treat IQ as an objective measure and also think that there are individual genes that can be selected that would make a person better at taking IQ tests
His “it’s not a eugenics company” tee is raising questions already answered by his shirt. www.cbsnews.com/news/nucleus...
![Sadeghi says this "genetic optimization" allows parents to minimize disease while maximizing traits they prefer. However, critics have drawn comparisons to a different term: "eugenics."
"[It's not eugenics] by any stretch, because it's fundamentally about empowering people with information that they can use to give their child the best start in life," he said. "And yes, if you want 2 inches taller for your child, 3 inches taller, right, if you want a couple IQ-point difference, absolutely, by all means, do that. But I'm saying, you're really asking me here, you're asking me, what is life about? That's what you're really getting at when you talk about height and IQ, right, they're abstractions of life."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hakzua5btcgcfjye2yujlhos/bafkreifaqvbu6nccxgbeyhhxnijihbi33qd27xijof7fy4apsgbbnmbw64@jpeg)
December 3, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I will never not be mad at tech bros who treat IQ as an objective measure and also think that there are individual genes that can be selected that would make a person better at taking IQ tests
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
So you're saying that optimizing the genetics of your potential "super babies" to give the "best start in life" by selecting traits deemed favorable, which is really what life is about, isn't eugenics? I'd really like Sadeghi to walk me through what eugenics is, then. I think it would be amusing.
His “it’s not a eugenics company” tee is raising questions already answered by his shirt. www.cbsnews.com/news/nucleus...
December 3, 2025 at 7:58 PM
So you're saying that optimizing the genetics of your potential "super babies" to give the "best start in life" by selecting traits deemed favorable, which is really what life is about, isn't eugenics? I'd really like Sadeghi to walk me through what eugenics is, then. I think it would be amusing.
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
We gotta bring back meaningful rituals of adulthood man just a whole generation of dipshits who havent processed that they bear responsibilities now
Because you're an adult you fucking muppet. You gotta pay the magic forward.
December 3, 2025 at 4:34 PM
We gotta bring back meaningful rituals of adulthood man just a whole generation of dipshits who havent processed that they bear responsibilities now
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
Very similar to the trans-kids panic, where the prestige media narrative is that it's far too easy but you talk to any trans person, expert or parent and it's obvious that it's way too hard.
Once again, no one making these claims seems to understand the enormous hurdles in the way of getting a kid the help they need - in this case - I dare anyone suggesting this to go through an IEP process.
December 2, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Very similar to the trans-kids panic, where the prestige media narrative is that it's far too easy but you talk to any trans person, expert or parent and it's obvious that it's way too hard.
399 followers....
December 3, 2025 at 6:12 PM
399 followers....
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
also golf courses are a blight on any and every landscape. if you must have golf then you should learn to golf amongst native & perennial grasses. or cacti, depending on where you are.
December 2, 2025 at 11:58 PM
also golf courses are a blight on any and every landscape. if you must have golf then you should learn to golf amongst native & perennial grasses. or cacti, depending on where you are.
My Hot Take as an agriculture scientist is that regular people should not be able to buy any kind of herbicide. There's no reason a regular guy with a lawn should be able to go to a hardware store and buy gallons of roundup or any other herbicide. Your lawn aesthetics don't matter.
December 2, 2025 at 11:52 PM
My Hot Take as an agriculture scientist is that regular people should not be able to buy any kind of herbicide. There's no reason a regular guy with a lawn should be able to go to a hardware store and buy gallons of roundup or any other herbicide. Your lawn aesthetics don't matter.
JFC leave it to Monsanto to always make the worst possible choice for PR and legacy: "The apparent contributions of Monsanto employees as co-writers to this article were not explicitly mentioned as such in the acknowledgments section."
I’m no expert, but I’ve seen this paper described as an important justification for claims about the safety of Roundup. And now it has been retracted by the journal it appeared in. 🧪
RETRACTED: Safety Evaluation and Risk Assessment of the Herbicide Roundup and Its Active Ingredient, Glyphosate, for Humans
This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy)This article has b…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:37 PM
JFC leave it to Monsanto to always make the worst possible choice for PR and legacy: "The apparent contributions of Monsanto employees as co-writers to this article were not explicitly mentioned as such in the acknowledgments section."
Reposted by Kathleen Rhoades, PhD
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys
“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."
time.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...