Laurel Brehm
drlearnasaurus.bsky.social
Laurel Brehm
@drlearnasaurus.bsky.social
Psycholinguist @ UCSB. Professionally: Language errors and stats. Also: cats, my kids, social justice, shit-posting
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
NEW: 52% of Latino adults in the U.S. say they worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported.
www.pewresearch.org/race-and-eth...
November 25, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
DOGE is dead- and - thanks to cutting USAID so are some 600,000 of the world’s poorest people- mostly children. Also about a thousand Americans have lost their jobs

DOGE has dismantled most of our government departments- and stolen all our personal information
November 25, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Solidarity and an early in the week cosmic scream to all the other folks working at universities who don’t give Thanksgiving week off.
November 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
hey #linguistics peeps! have you ever taken (or taught) a syntax class? we want to hear your opinions (good or bad) about it! We're doing focus group interviews (on zoom, or in person at select conferences) - if you're at all interested, you can fill out our interest form: forms.gle/nhBtz78hQXNA...
SynTeach Focus Group Interest Form
SynTeach is a project researching peoples' experiences teaching and learning syntax in higher education. We have conducted surveys of the field including syntax instructors and students, and we are pl...
forms.gle
November 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
11 years ago today, 12 year old Tamir Rice was gunned down by police officers on Cleveland’s west side.

The officer shot him within seconds of arriving at the park he was playing in.

Tamir’s life mattered. It still does. My thoughts are with his family today.
November 22, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
What are the most important aspects of a job talk for an assistant professor? 👀

Mine include:

1. Understandable to the (general) audience

2. Generate a sense of excitement

3. Clear sense of future directions

Usually these things work better when there’s not too much crammed in.
November 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
“Never trust a professor who makes their grad students pay for their own food or coffee.” -the immortal Chris Krueger, sending me off to grad school
What’s the most significant advice you received from a teacher?

I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”

Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
November 21, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
🚨🚨 NEW Assistant professor position at Northeastern! Do you study sound/language/music + brain + health? Apply! We're so excited to add a new faculty member to our community! Please post widely, we begin reviewing apps Dec 15!
northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...
Assistant Professor in Music, AI and Brain Health
About the Opportunity About the Opportunity: The College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD) at Northeastern University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Music, AI and Brain ...
northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
With the shutdown over, SNAP benefits are back.

"Chief Justice John Roberts and his fellow Republican appointee colleagues are spared from needing to choose between denying food for children in the weeks before Thanksgiving or siding against President Donald Trump." www.lawdork.com/i/178822273/...
November 14, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
Come join the Moral Minds Lab as a grad student at MSU! Brand-new lab equipped for child & adult testing, with motivated undergrads in a happy department. 🤩

Learn more: www.moralmindslab.com/join-our-tea...

(P.S. @tedmond.bsky.social is also taking a student!) @msupsychology.bsky.social
September 25, 2025 at 7:12 PM
I’m inventorying all the department lab equipment and found the old Emotiv 14-channel Eeg headband that was MIA. eeg friends: how useful is this device?
November 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
Are you a researcher who engages with public audiences? Our director, @charlottevaughn.bsky.social, is conducting a survey with Sharon Unsworth about the barriers researchers face when communicating with non-academic publics. Survey link: umdsurvey.umd.edu/jfe/form/SV_... (1/4)
Barriers to public engagement survey
Public engagement barriers
umdsurvey.umd.edu
November 19, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
Just to add a data point: A study section I'm on that was originally scheduled for late October is now being rescheduled for mid-January. #nihgrants
November 19, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
I wish we, like, regulated shit nowadays. Between car bloat, blinding headlines, and neighbourhoods packed with rental suites but no on-property parking, driving is an absolute nightmare now.
Nearly all drivers say vehicles' lights are too bright in study
The study, commissioned by the Department for Transport, was completed by Berkshire's TRL.
www.bbc.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:36 AM
5yo take on Calvin and Hobbes is objectively correct: ‘it’s funny that all the grownups believe hobbes is just a stuffy’
November 19, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
Chicago has had one 9/11 worth of people disappeared since the attacks began in September. Los Angeles has had two 9/11s since June.
November 18, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Speech error otd courtesy of an anonymous student: ‘tengo 21 años’ -> ‘tengo 21 anos’
November 18, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
Instead, we usually just keep paying them but reduce their teaching and service load to zero 🤷🏼‍♀️🙃
Faculty discipline committees should really normalize de-tenuring/dismissal investigations for the sort of behavior described in the Summers case
A senior academic using mentoring as leverage to obtain sex is a contemptible abuser of power.
November 18, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
All of us from the post-2008 era (and before, no doubt) have traumatic memories of the academic job market, but I don't think the real problem was the hotel rooms (or the ballroom!), & I think it should be noticed that the real problem (no jobs, ridiculous power disparities) is now worse
November 16, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Oh no my 5yo has learned memes and is now using ‘six seven’. (‘Wait. Mommy, is six seven a bad word?’ ‘No it’s just annoying when you say it a lot’)
November 17, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
I hope someone is making plans to rebuild all our national science institutions when this nightmare is finally over
November 16, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
one argument thats always struck me as funny is the one about people coming to america to drain the budget of our many social services. such as free university, free healthcare, UBI, etc. you know, all those things we dont have
November 16, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
Border Patrol and ICE are currently arresting and stealing our community members off the streets in Charlotte. Donald Trump is single-handedly responsible for this heinous actions. PLEASE report any activity you see. And know that our party stand with ALL immigrant communities.
November 16, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Reposted by Laurel Brehm
We are phasing out the terms “extant” and “extinct” from our exhibits and will now refer to species as either “Darwinners" or “Darlosers.”
November 15, 2025 at 4:42 PM