Associate Professor, Paleoclimatology and organic biogeochemistry, University of Notre Dame, she/her
Melissa Berke
Loading...
A paper in Nature describes plague outbreaks dating back to around 5,500 years ago documented in hunter-gatherer communities from southeast Siberia. The findings, based on an analysis of ancient DNA, may be the oldest-known evidence of the plague and could shed light on its origins. 🧬🏺🧪
The Administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a proposed rule that would politicize federal science grantmaking, replacing scientific rigor with ideological gatekeeping.
AGU President Brandon Jones on why it's important to make your voices heard: spklr.io/6011E3zfZ
OMB must answer substantive comments. It can batch and dismiss form letters.
So make yours impossible to average away:
"[200.340] I'm in year 3 of a 5-year PhD funded by an R01. This rule means my advisor's grant can end before I defend."
One section. One fact. One consequence.
Call your reps -- blue, red, purple, it doesn't matter -- about the proposed OMB science funding rule. The house can stop this. Let them know it matters for your district.
The collab you didn’t know you needed!
To celebrate the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, @garlab.bsky.social presents to you the 7 gar species of North America! ⚽️🐟🌎 1/5
I'm looking for a post-doc to work on the interaction between past hydrological changes and vegetation in a disturbed peatland, using paleoecological and modelling approaches. The post-doc duration is 18 months and start date is any time before Jan 2027. DM if you are interested / have questions! 🌿🧪
NSF's grantmaking is miserly when compared to recent years, but when compared it to the historical record, we see it's a radical break from the long-term consensus of investing in scientific innovation. grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0... #NSF 🧪
The broader implication extends beyond flowering plants.
Many famous "rocks vs. clocks" debates may not require choosing sides. The challenge is finding better ways to let fossils and molecules speak to each other.
Link to our latest: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Red alert: The OMB regulations could disable science permanently
open.substack.com/pub/holdenth...
