Madeleine Becker
@mabscientist.bsky.social
PhD candidate at George Mason University in Biosciences: Biocomplexity & Evo Bio, Smithsonian graduate fellow. Just got here. Still into genomics, museums, and mammals🐁🦊🐬
https://mabscientist.wixsite.com/home
https://mabscientist.wixsite.com/home
Pinned
EECG Embarkation: Disentangling evolutionary and conservation genomics questions using ‘time series museomics’ in the California Channel Island deer mouse – AGA Blog
blog.theaga.org
huge thanks to @theaga.bsky.social for funding my dissertation research with a 2024 EECG award, and for letting me share a little bit about my research!! check out my blogpost here: blog.theaga.org/eecg2024-bec... and congrats to all the 2025 awardees too!!!!! 🥳🧬👩🔬🐭
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Look I’m willing to say it: maybe James Watson got two things right
![Sent:
To:
Subject:
Attachments:
Robert Trivers
6/25/2018 2:19:44 AM
jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]
Re:
EPSTEIN.docx
Importance: High
perhaps i misunderstood "let's concentrate on you"
Jamaica is bad enough but i have mastered that-at least the danger-4th highest murder rate in the world as for the us i have alienated large stretches of it-i will spare you the details i was amused that you are now friends with JD Watson he single-handedly prevented me from getting a Junior Fellowship at Harvard
In 1972 I got my PhD in Biology and it was conventional to nominate the very best post-docs for a Junior Fellowship, Harvard's most prestigious award-it provided three years of research support without any duties. I was the best student out of Evolutionary and Organismic Biology in more than 20 years. The entire department was behind me.
but Watson was on the 3-man committee, in charge of all the science candidates and he deemed my two papers, reciprocal altruism and parental investment and sexual selection as "not being science" and dismissed me in one sentence. Well bless his soul, he now does not even understand his own subject-yes, i speak of genetics-because having remained resolutely ignorant of evolutionary logic and biology he can neither understand the shape and form of the genotype nor how it differs systematically within life
i have been preparing something for you for a long time on human intelligence, Africa, parasites etc because i prefer to get things right but i am ready to send you what i have main focus is-Africans stupid or smart?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:misyogthncmyejlvlflkvjbh/bafkreidoxuuq447qbvuj3edxli6qr7gzjy2y4ctod5a6363tjgtv4lb6ve@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Look I’m willing to say it: maybe James Watson got two things right
big misunderstanding here. obviously this isn't about the pedophile stuff—he's just coming up with topics for evo psych grants he's about to fund 😆
"skin as part of brain?"
This is that great intellect people talk about?
November 13, 2025 at 2:38 PM
big misunderstanding here. obviously this isn't about the pedophile stuff—he's just coming up with topics for evo psych grants he's about to fund 😆
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
That’s because the purpose of biology for the right is naturalizing social hierarchy and defining a subaltern “other” to stand in contrast to the “normal”.
I think that an underreported key to understanding the contemporary evangelical right is that they hate Darwinism (performatively) but they fucking LOVE evopsych nonsense, especially when, as is so often the case, their thoughts turn to gender.
October 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
That’s because the purpose of biology for the right is naturalizing social hierarchy and defining a subaltern “other” to stand in contrast to the “normal”.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
![Barbie crying [edited]: He thinks I'm megafauna? I don't suppress the growth of woody vegetation or stabilize the abundance of smaller animals.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wpdti66qcvzywaum55sucghw/bafkreid33rymnixdez3rme5jbyhrvmymugiq7bqfnyxmz2pjh6tpoicrnq@jpeg)
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Sharing my portrait of Isabella Aiona Abbott for #AdaLovelaceDay to celebrate #womenInSTEM and #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
Day 26 #SciArtSeptember prompt forage. My #linocut of #botanist Isabella Aiona Abbott (1919-2010), 🧪🐡👩🏻🔬 #histsci renown algae expert, celebrated seaweed cook, devoted teacher & mentor, expert on Hawaiian ethnobotany, the first Indigenous Hawaiian woman to earn a doctorate in science & the first woman
October 13, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Sharing my portrait of Isabella Aiona Abbott for #AdaLovelaceDay to celebrate #womenInSTEM and #IndigenousPeoplesDay.
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
🐡🧪👩🏻🔬 #histsci #ald25
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
I am deeply grateful for the work of NSF staff this year to keep research & grants moving in a difficult environment. I view this petition as a means to demonstrate impact & interest in ensuring access to a vital grad research program.
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
September 30, 2025 at 1:14 PM
I am deeply grateful for the work of NSF staff this year to keep research & grants moving in a difficult environment. I view this petition as a means to demonstrate impact & interest in ensuring access to a vital grad research program.
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
450+ signees and counting:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/
I can't keep up with DC these days
September 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I can't keep up with DC these days
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Are you an undergraduate or graduate student whose research would benefit from visiting a collection at the @nhm.org? Apply now for our Collections Study Award! Deadline is Oct. 1; learn more at nhm.org/student-coll...
September 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Are you an undergraduate or graduate student whose research would benefit from visiting a collection at the @nhm.org? Apply now for our Collections Study Award! Deadline is Oct. 1; learn more at nhm.org/student-coll...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
🦇 Outlined in a new paper published online in the Journal of Mammalogy, our Ranges Digitization Network will bring even more detail to digitized mammal collections in western North America, including biodiversity hot spots like L.A.: go.nhm.org/digitized-ma...
September 11, 2025 at 6:53 PM
🦇 Outlined in a new paper published online in the Journal of Mammalogy, our Ranges Digitization Network will bring even more detail to digitized mammal collections in western North America, including biodiversity hot spots like L.A.: go.nhm.org/digitized-ma...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
While full solicitation isn’t up, looks like we have 2025 proposal deadlines for the GRFP: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 8, 2025 at 6:10 PM
While full solicitation isn’t up, looks like we have 2025 proposal deadlines for the GRFP: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Today 14 scientific societies in #ecology #evolution and #marineScience are publishing the results of a survey that finds negative impacts of federal policies on food security, flood mitigation, infectious disease preparedness, and wildlife conservation: 🧪👩🔬 www.firsthandaccounts.org/impacts/2025...
August 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Today 14 scientific societies in #ecology #evolution and #marineScience are publishing the results of a survey that finds negative impacts of federal policies on food security, flood mitigation, infectious disease preparedness, and wildlife conservation: 🧪👩🔬 www.firsthandaccounts.org/impacts/2025...
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Obviously a lie, since the definition of PhD-level expertise, standard across universities worldwide, is that you can produce original knowledge.
OpenAI claims new GPT-5 model boosts ChatGPT to ‘PhD level’
GPT-5's release comes as tech firms continue to compete in an effort to claim the world's most advanced AI.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 7, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Obviously a lie, since the definition of PhD-level expertise, standard across universities worldwide, is that you can produce original knowledge.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
“If the DOJ can investigate faculty governance bodies for citing a university's own strategic plan, then no campus is safe.
"Let's call this what it is: a gross misuse of federal power to chill speech, silence faculty, & undermine shared governance.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
"Let's call this what it is: a gross misuse of federal power to chill speech, silence faculty, & undermine shared governance.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
DOJ Investigation into George Mason Faculty Senate Sparks Academic Freedom Concerns
AAUP President calls federal probe "gross misuse of power" as university faces fifth inquiry in five weeks.
www.diverseeducation.com
July 30, 2025 at 1:10 AM
“If the DOJ can investigate faculty governance bodies for citing a university's own strategic plan, then no campus is safe.
"Let's call this what it is: a gross misuse of federal power to chill speech, silence faculty, & undermine shared governance.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
"Let's call this what it is: a gross misuse of federal power to chill speech, silence faculty, & undermine shared governance.”
— Todd Wolfson, AAUP President
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
July 25, 2025 at 7:50 PM
🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
there is a certain liberal anti-affirmative action scholar who has insisted, like a rube, that once racial preferences are gone we can build support for class-based affirmative action. but the people who oppose affirmative action also very obviously oppose redress for class inequality!
“Johns Hopkins has not merely preserved its discriminatory DEI framework — it has entrenched, expanded and openly celebrated it as a cornerstone of its institutional identity,”
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...
Conservative group files complaint against Hopkins medical school
America First Legal is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into diversity policies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com
July 18, 2025 at 1:44 PM
there is a certain liberal anti-affirmative action scholar who has insisted, like a rube, that once racial preferences are gone we can build support for class-based affirmative action. but the people who oppose affirmative action also very obviously oppose redress for class inequality!
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
The US government is aiming to get rid of a quarter million people involved in science research and education by 2026.
July 2, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The US government is aiming to get rid of a quarter million people involved in science research and education by 2026.
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
We’re in a really bad place when the government is calling mainstream academic journals “junk science.”
Trump team axes contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature
At first, NIH told me its contracts with SN were active and that they help “advance scientific discovery”.
Hours later, HHS said the opposite: "Precious taxpayer dollars should not be used on unused subscriptions to junk science.”
At first, NIH told me its contracts with SN were active and that they help “advance scientific discovery”.
Hours later, HHS said the opposite: "Precious taxpayer dollars should not be used on unused subscriptions to junk science.”
Trump team axes contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature
The action comes as high-ranking US officials criticize top journals as ‘woke’ and ‘corrupt’.
www.nature.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:23 PM
We’re in a really bad place when the government is calling mainstream academic journals “junk science.”
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
Hey #Evol2025 crew! If you enjoyed your time in Athens, here’s a great way to support the thriving immigrant community that makes it such a vibrant place to visit ❤️
The Athens (GA) Immigrants Rights Coalition, which I volunteered with for several years, is currently fundraising for their Support for Immigrant Families in Crisis fund. 98.5% of donations go straight to families in need. Please boost & contribute if you can!
www.athensimmigrantrights.org/donate
www.athensimmigrantrights.org/donate
June 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Hey #Evol2025 crew! If you enjoyed your time in Athens, here’s a great way to support the thriving immigrant community that makes it such a vibrant place to visit ❤️
June 21, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
With apologies to @zachweinersmith.bsky.social , I fly out for #Evol2025 tomorrow, and thus:
June 18, 2025 at 4:12 PM
With apologies to @zachweinersmith.bsky.social , I fly out for #Evol2025 tomorrow, and thus:
Reposted by Madeleine Becker
what talking to professors is like:
June 16, 2025 at 12:45 PM
what talking to professors is like: