Tracy Ensor
@sciencetracy.bsky.social
Applied scientist, systems thinker, ideator, implementer. Building capacity in programs and people in the Great Plains.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
“Early exceptional performers and later exceptional performers within a domain are rarely the same individuals. For example, world top-10 youth chess players and later world top-10 adult chess players are nearly 90% different individuals” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...
www.science.org
December 19, 2025 at 2:07 AM
“Early exceptional performers and later exceptional performers within a domain are rarely the same individuals. For example, world top-10 youth chess players and later world top-10 adult chess players are nearly 90% different individuals” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Yes, yes, please do this! You’d be surprised by how many high achievers have imposter syndrome and could use some positive feedback from their instructors.
That time of year again! Consider emailing the students who excelled, who had a great upward trajectory, or who asked great questions throughout the semester.
Hey fellow profs, if you don't already, you might consider sending out congratulatory emails to the students who really nailed it. Definitely my favorite part of the end of the semester. The students who were curious, insightful, hardworking - we see you!
December 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Yes, yes, please do this! You’d be surprised by how many high achievers have imposter syndrome and could use some positive feedback from their instructors.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Biologists made up a large portion of the staff losses, sparking concern among conservation groups who worry the agency has less capacity to track endangered plants and animals and restore habitats.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife sees nearly 20% drop in staff since Trump took office
Oregon and Washington lost a combined 50 senior level scientists and staff in the past year, followed by California which lost 40, Florida which lost 20 and Hawaii which lost 10 senior staff.
www.opb.org
December 17, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Biologists made up a large portion of the staff losses, sparking concern among conservation groups who worry the agency has less capacity to track endangered plants and animals and restore habitats.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I say this as someone whose entire job is finding the narrow use cases in which AI is actually useful:
All the fear about AI, all the reluctance to adopt it, is entirely legitimate, and a product of the fact that it's been foisted on the public with no consideration of its negative externalities.
All the fear about AI, all the reluctance to adopt it, is entirely legitimate, and a product of the fact that it's been foisted on the public with no consideration of its negative externalities.
I continue to have no sympathy left for whinging about how the public are rude about AI and feel threatened by it when the biggest players in the AI space have spent years very vocally and constantly *threatening the public*
December 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I say this as someone whose entire job is finding the narrow use cases in which AI is actually useful:
All the fear about AI, all the reluctance to adopt it, is entirely legitimate, and a product of the fact that it's been foisted on the public with no consideration of its negative externalities.
All the fear about AI, all the reluctance to adopt it, is entirely legitimate, and a product of the fact that it's been foisted on the public with no consideration of its negative externalities.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
One Weird Trick Institutions HATE:
tell your colleagues what your salary is
tell your colleagues what your salary is
December 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM
One Weird Trick Institutions HATE:
tell your colleagues what your salary is
tell your colleagues what your salary is
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
An absolute horrific nightmare of two AI bots caught in a loop with each other is the perfect example of the total nothingness of AI “brains”.
December 9, 2025 at 9:09 PM
An absolute horrific nightmare of two AI bots caught in a loop with each other is the perfect example of the total nothingness of AI “brains”.
I rely on journal articles to do my job, which includes bringing sound science to the public. Having to do this much extra work just to verify authenticity is exhausting.
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
Let me tell you a story. Perhaps you can guess where this is going... though it does have a bit of a twist.
I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵
I was poking around Google Scholar for publications about the relationship between chatbots and wellness. Oh how useful: a systematic literature review! Let's dig into the findings. 🧵
December 6, 2025 at 2:08 PM
I rely on journal articles to do my job, which includes bringing sound science to the public. Having to do this much extra work just to verify authenticity is exhausting.
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
And I’ve been trained for this! Imagine my rural and suburban families trying “do their own research”. 😬
Writing 🤝 Thinking
i strongly, strongly believe that good writing is downstream of clear thinking and a strong understanding of the subject matter at hand. without fail, tortured writing comes from writers who don’t know and can’t think clearly about anything.
Oh man! This paragraph is brutal. The best thing about this review is it's not trying to be mean. It's just listing how bad the writing is.
December 3, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Writing 🤝 Thinking
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
The answer for me - in the classroom - has been to use universal design principles. I don’t give tests, my assignments are open book & can be submitted in multiple ways, I give extensions to anyone who asks. People have family emergencies, work demands, get ill… An inclusive class helps more people.
Balancing "no person with a disability should be denied accommodations" with "it's important to discourage non-disabled people from pretending to be disabled to take advantage of these accommodations" is really difficult and I don't have a great answer for what anyone should do about it.
December 3, 2025 at 12:38 AM
The answer for me - in the classroom - has been to use universal design principles. I don’t give tests, my assignments are open book & can be submitted in multiple ways, I give extensions to anyone who asks. People have family emergencies, work demands, get ill… An inclusive class helps more people.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I drove through this town at least ten times a year, and my mom had us all convinced you were supposed to roll down your windows and shout WAHOOOOOO at someone. "they like it when you do it!" I did this for 20 years, including during college, before I discovered, oh my mom just made that shit up
November 21, 2025 at 5:44 PM
I drove through this town at least ten times a year, and my mom had us all convinced you were supposed to roll down your windows and shout WAHOOOOOO at someone. "they like it when you do it!" I did this for 20 years, including during college, before I discovered, oh my mom just made that shit up
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Same composition a few days apart
November 18, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Same composition a few days apart
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
What holds democracy together? A shared sense of what’s real. At Civic Saturday on Nov. 15, we dug into how we protect that. Full gathering and sermon here ›› civicnebraska.org/20251115-the...
These Truths: a civic sermon - Civic Nebraska
In a democracy, truth is not a luxury. It’s the very scaffolding that holds up our collective life.
civicnebraska.org
November 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
What holds democracy together? A shared sense of what’s real. At Civic Saturday on Nov. 15, we dug into how we protect that. Full gathering and sermon here ›› civicnebraska.org/20251115-the...
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
START YOUR WEEKEND: With a story of agricultural resilience, about a Nebraska family that has fought to stay on the farm with help from a state and federal program aimed at people with disabilities.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
From Cindy Gonzalez:
‘AgrAbility’ program helps wheelchair-bound Nebraska farmer return to the field • Nebraska Examiner
Funding for a "Nebraska Agrability" program that helps a wheelchair-bound Nebraska farmer stay in the field could be at risk.
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
START YOUR WEEKEND: With a story of agricultural resilience, about a Nebraska family that has fought to stay on the farm with help from a state and federal program aimed at people with disabilities.
From Cindy Gonzalez:
From Cindy Gonzalez:
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Hi all! I'm hiring for a #scicomm research postdoc to join our Scicomm LIFT team!
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Post Doctoral Research Associate - Zoology & Physiology (B Merkle Lab)
Hiring a highly motivated postdoctoral research associate position to join an NSF-funded, multi-institutional, research team studying graduate students’ ability to communicate science effectively and ...
eeik.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Hi all! I'm hiring for a #scicomm research postdoc to join our Scicomm LIFT team!
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Short story is: 2 years guaranteed funding, open to remote or hybrid work, $61k+hearty benefits (see UW's 401k match in particular)!
Please share with folks who might be interested!
1/
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
I thought the earlier news from A&M was bad, but this is incredibly bleak. It’s close to the point of not having a functional university.
Message to all faculty: your expertise is no longer trusted or valued at this so-called “university.”
November 14, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I thought the earlier news from A&M was bad, but this is incredibly bleak. It’s close to the point of not having a functional university.
After so many ugly headlines, it’s nice to read a piece showing autism as a strength. And it’s especially needed in these times, when the Dunning–Kruger effect is running rampant.
Autistics (vs non-autistics) "are less likely to make errors in self-assessments of their cognitive performance"? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... "findings provide valuable insights into both the cognitive strengths of autistic individuals and the mechanisms underlying metacognitive biases"
Reduced Susceptibility to the Dunning–Kruger Effect in Autistic Employees
Evidence indicates that autistic individuals are less susceptible to social influence and cognitive biases than non-autistic individuals. However, no studies have been conducted on the Dunning–Kruger....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:31 PM
After so many ugly headlines, it’s nice to read a piece showing autism as a strength. And it’s especially needed in these times, when the Dunning–Kruger effect is running rampant.
Recently I’ve been discussing with friends the consequences of outsourcing our thinking, and this 🧵 captures my sentiments.
A friend recently texted me the same thing. “Do you really not use ChatGPT?!” It was a sign of where we are culturally on this. People are compelled to use it but also starting to question the normalcy?
Recently met someone who was very surprised to hear I didn’t use ChatGPT or any LLM.
I said my job depended on doing distinctive work. That was my selling point. If I started to sound like ChatGPT and turn out what it did, then how on earth could I justify doing it? What would that make me?
I said my job depended on doing distinctive work. That was my selling point. If I started to sound like ChatGPT and turn out what it did, then how on earth could I justify doing it? What would that make me?
November 8, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Recently I’ve been discussing with friends the consequences of outsourcing our thinking, and this 🧵 captures my sentiments.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
This judge may be the angriest person in America. This thread blew my hair back.
Greetings from the Dirksen federal courthouse, where U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis has just taken the bench to rule on federal agents actions' during a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs.
Background, for @wttw.bsky.social from @bymattmasterson.bsky.social
Background, for @wttw.bsky.social from @bymattmasterson.bsky.social
Judge Set to Rule Thursday in Case Centering on Federal Immigration Agents’ Use of Force: ‘I Could See Inside the Barrel’
Protesters, clergy members and others who say they’ve been directly impacted by a series of increasingly aggressive raids across Chicago and the suburbs will testify before a federal judge weighing wh...
news.wttw.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This judge may be the angriest person in America. This thread blew my hair back.
In addition to the 🧵 below, why would we want to cut out the learning that comes from BEING a tutor? When I ran a tutoring center, the tutors were students and explaining the material helped many tutors acquire valuable skills (not to mention material review for the MCAT, LSAT, etc).
I have a number of colleagues who think that LLMs will be very useful as individualized tutors.
One of their arguments is that unlike previous generations of AI tutors, LLMs have the full context window of the conversation and that’s better understand what a student knows and doesn’t know.
One of their arguments is that unlike previous generations of AI tutors, LLMs have the full context window of the conversation and that’s better understand what a student knows and doesn’t know.
October 30, 2025 at 5:30 PM
In addition to the 🧵 below, why would we want to cut out the learning that comes from BEING a tutor? When I ran a tutoring center, the tutors were students and explaining the material helped many tutors acquire valuable skills (not to mention material review for the MCAT, LSAT, etc).
Are Nebraska state agencies that receive federal funding subject to the Hatch Act?
Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services has a message at the top of its webpage blaming Democrats for SNAP benefits ending today.
October 30, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Are Nebraska state agencies that receive federal funding subject to the Hatch Act?
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.
October 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
October 26, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
The fault is not with us individually. The fault is with the institutions that actually do the evil.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
October 24, 2025 at 12:48 AM
The fault is not with us individually. The fault is with the institutions that actually do the evil.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
When we work together - encourage each other using positivity and community action - we succeed.
When we just shout and judge each other we get nowhere.
Reposted by Tracy Ensor
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.
October 23, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.