Nick Antonson
@nickantonson.bsky.social
Communication, physiology, and the evolution of behavior | PhD from Illinois | Currently NSF Postdoc Fellow at Brown | he/him
Reposted by Nick Antonson
Based on some quick math, this alone could fund the NSF Plant Genome Research Program for ~4 years; the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, which was totally axed in the NSF budget request, for ~9 years; and ~ half the total NSF GRFP budget
BREAKING: The Pentagon said the deployment of National Guard members and Marines to protests over immigration raids in LA will cost $134 million.
Hegseth faces sharp questions from Congress on deploying troops to Los Angles and Pentagon chaos
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been quickly met with sharp questions and criticism by lawmakers who pressed him about his early moves to fire key military leaders and and purge diversity programs.
bit.ly
June 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Based on some quick math, this alone could fund the NSF Plant Genome Research Program for ~4 years; the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, which was totally axed in the NSF budget request, for ~9 years; and ~ half the total NSF GRFP budget
Reposted by Nick Antonson
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program
In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...
www.spencer.org
May 2, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants.
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
Reposted by Nick Antonson
Taking a moment to celebrate our new paper out today in Nature Ecology Evolution, led by the amazing @jacanamama.bsky.social Sara Lipshutz. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Repeated behavioural evolution is associated with convergence of gene expression in cavity-nesting songbirds - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The authors performed phylogenetically controlled behavioural assays and analysed brain transcriptomes across five avian families, identifying convergent patterns of gene expression associated with aggression and nesting behaviour in obligate cavity-nesting birds.
doi.org
April 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Taking a moment to celebrate our new paper out today in Nature Ecology Evolution, led by the amazing @jacanamama.bsky.social Sara Lipshutz. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Nick Antonson
Exclusive: NSF this week began to search through billions of dollars of grants the agency has already awarded for anything touching on topics that President Donald Trump has criticized. And NSF has blocked grantees and trainees from accessing funds while the review is underway. scim.ag/3El0NZh
EXCLUSIVE: NSF starts vetting all grants to comply with Trump’s orders
Grantee accounts remain frozen, while union accuses NSF of ignoring rules governing peer review
scim.ag
January 30, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Exclusive: NSF this week began to search through billions of dollars of grants the agency has already awarded for anything touching on topics that President Donald Trump has criticized. And NSF has blocked grantees and trainees from accessing funds while the review is underway. scim.ag/3El0NZh
Reposted by Nick Antonson
I genuinely did not know this! And if NSF's mandate to diversify the scientific workforce comes from Congress, it is fully unconstitutional to overturn that mandate by executive order without an act of Congress
Really appreciate Jonathan Lambert pointing out that NSF grants are congressionally mandated to weigh how grants broaden participation in science, putting the administration's executive order against DEIA in conflict with, and potentially undermining, congressional legislation
Some coverage from NPR All Things Considered www.npr.org/2025/01/30/n...
January 30, 2025 at 11:08 PM
I genuinely did not know this! And if NSF's mandate to diversify the scientific workforce comes from Congress, it is fully unconstitutional to overturn that mandate by executive order without an act of Congress
Reposted by Nick Antonson
National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...
Story by @ericboodman.bsky.social
Story by @ericboodman.bsky.social
National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills
An NSF online payment system remained down after the federal funding freeze was lifted, leaving early-career scientists scrambling to pay bills
www.statnews.com
January 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
National Science Foundation suspends salary payments, leaving researchers unable to pay their bills www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...
Story by @ericboodman.bsky.social
Story by @ericboodman.bsky.social
Reposted by Nick Antonson
NSF PRFB POSTDOCS:
Pull the remainder of this funding cycle’s stipend, all remaining research funds, and all remaining travel funds (if you have them). Do it before 5PM today. Per instructions from multiple NSF POs.
If you’re not already on the PRFB slack, DM me and I’ll send you an invite
Pull the remainder of this funding cycle’s stipend, all remaining research funds, and all remaining travel funds (if you have them). Do it before 5PM today. Per instructions from multiple NSF POs.
If you’re not already on the PRFB slack, DM me and I’ll send you an invite
January 28, 2025 at 5:36 PM
NSF PRFB POSTDOCS:
Pull the remainder of this funding cycle’s stipend, all remaining research funds, and all remaining travel funds (if you have them). Do it before 5PM today. Per instructions from multiple NSF POs.
If you’re not already on the PRFB slack, DM me and I’ll send you an invite
Pull the remainder of this funding cycle’s stipend, all remaining research funds, and all remaining travel funds (if you have them). Do it before 5PM today. Per instructions from multiple NSF POs.
If you’re not already on the PRFB slack, DM me and I’ll send you an invite
New preprint! We used in situ muscle stimulation to test whether the muscles cowbirds use to beg are more fatigue-resistant than hosts, allowing them to beg longer.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
Extreme fatigue-resistance in a brood parasite parallels a war of attrition in begging competition with hosts
Food-solicitation displays are critical to the survival of dependent young. These signals often evolve in extreme ways in response to familial conflict among siblings and between parents and offspring...
doi.org
January 3, 2025 at 11:38 PM
New preprint! We used in situ muscle stimulation to test whether the muscles cowbirds use to beg are more fatigue-resistant than hosts, allowing them to beg longer.
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
doi.org/10.1101/2024...
Finally made the switch over! 🦋
Check out my latest paper in response to a critique by Manuel Soler of our parasitic niche construction hypothesis. In this response, we tested the extent to which parasite-driven brood reduction occurs across host species.
Check out my latest paper in response to a critique by Manuel Soler of our parasitic niche construction hypothesis. In this response, we tested the extent to which parasite-driven brood reduction occurs across host species.
New paper by Nick Antonson et al. on niche construction in brood parasitic cowbirds:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Niche Construction Through an Optimal Host Brood Size Is Supported in Brown‐Headed Cowbirds: A Response to M. Soler
Click on the article title to read more.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 3, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Finally made the switch over! 🦋
Check out my latest paper in response to a critique by Manuel Soler of our parasitic niche construction hypothesis. In this response, we tested the extent to which parasite-driven brood reduction occurs across host species.
Check out my latest paper in response to a critique by Manuel Soler of our parasitic niche construction hypothesis. In this response, we tested the extent to which parasite-driven brood reduction occurs across host species.