I am a marine conservation biologist studying sharks and a science writer. Posts are about science and the environment, science communication, and more! He/him
David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈
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Guys (quite reasonably) often don't get plugged in to whisper networks because women don't know who they can trust. That has a lot of unfortunate consequences, the worst of which is probably recommending female mentees go work with the jerks.
Don't know of a good solution to this.
Honestly it isn't even that hard to find a lateral reference that points their way, summarizes their work, but you deny giving them a citation.
And that's if another scholar in the same field cannot be found, which is probably a result of laziness not absence.
Any known harasser doesn't get a cite from me. I can always find another paper.
When a person is just a jerk but not (to my knowledge) abusive I may still cite.
But I personally go to great lengths to avoid citing people who are not good people. (I still miss things though!)
I saw one guy yell at his lab staff until they cried, so yeah no plans to read his papers (and if I don't read it, I can't cite it). He went on to have at least one retraction for faked data, so there's another reason to avoid his work. But the yelling is my personal motivator.
Lots of responses here could be slightly rephrased as "I know that this famous scientist sexually assaulted you, but he knows a lot about fish so you absolutely must continue to professionally reward him or you're the problem not him."
Edward Russo, the only member of a White House task force, thinks the president doesn’t get enough credit for conservation at his golf courses, among other things.
Joyce Dahmer thinks her son doesn't get enough credit for all the people he didn't murder and eat www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/c...
Daily briefing: Women’s academic careers are knocked by parenthood much more than men’s
Childcare responsibilities disproportionately affect women’s academic careers
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
(Yes, we knew this, but having more data is always useful in making an important argument)
Public Comment Now Open for The Nature Record Draft Assessment – esa.org/esablog/2026...
The draft assessment of The Nature Record— the first comprehensive, independent, evidence-based assessment of the state of nature in the United States — is now available for public review.
