Sara Lipshutz (she/her)

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.

What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.

Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

Want a reliable way to tell the two cryptic giant hummingbird species apart while birding in the Andes? Use your ear! 🎶 In a new @fieldornith.bsky.social J. Field Ornithology paper, we show how their vocalizations differ clearly—making sound a slam dunk for identifying them in the field.

KU awarded $2.2 million NIH research career training grant renewal For almost 30 years, the Office for Advancing Success in Science at KU has provided opportunities for undergraduates to engage in research through grant support from the National Institutes of Health....

I am super excited to announce that after a tumultuous period of uncertainty, KU MARC marc.ku.edu has been awarded another five years of funding! news.ku.edu/news/article....

I think a lot of women also know that they are going to end up, you know, contributing economically at least 50%, if not more than 50%. So, I think there is a worry that they’re going to be doing more than half on the home front. They’re going to be doing at least half, if not more than half, career-wise. And so, I think that can start to seem like a bad deal too. Maybe the thing that surprised me the most is that it would appear with Gen Z men, in particular, the trend is towards more of a preference for traditional division of labor — this idea that to be a man means to be the breadwinner. I do think it’s of a piece with some polling and data that we see from Gen Z men just like expressing a variety of traditionalist gender ideas. I talked to a guy who does a lot of polling with Gen Z, and he did say that when he polls young men, they really associate masculinity with being a provider, more so than any other characteristics. But, I also think that we’re seeing other moves in the opposite direction. “If you’re worried about all these men who really want kids and women are not so sure, a great way to address that worry is to support the women.”

It's funny, though, that even in times of backlash to the erosion of patriarchal gender roles, in practice women end up doing most of the child-rearing, domestic labour, AND also economically contribute to the household.

Let's keep that part of progress, eh?

I am looking for a PhD student to join my new Socio-Eco-Evo group, hosted in Katie Peichel's Evolutionary Ecology Division @ University of Bern. We're offering a fully funded 4-year position, studying social plasticity and behavioral adaptation among stickleback in Greenland. Please share around!

Teaching ornithology this semester to mostly pre-health students, and it's probably my favorite class to teach. It's nice to review some of the recent literature, and here I'll post the papers that we discuss in class.

Evolution 2026 meeting logo. Clilp art of a globe and laptop showing a virtual presentation. Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Global Meeting Participation.

SSE is pleased to offer free virtual #Evol2026 registration to all SSE members residing in 152 countries and territories around the world including India, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Request your free registration code today! www.evolutionsociety.org/index.php?mo...

My assistant, my mom, my wife…

Field job in the beautiful mountains of NE Oregon doing passive acoustic monitoring and woodpecker demography just went live. Please share!

jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/view-job/?id...

She’d Never Changed Her Gender Marker. Kansas Invalidated Her License Anyway. — Assigned A trans Kansas resident recently changed her name but not her gender marker on her license, fearing what Kansas may do if she did. The Kansas DMV still flagged her ID.

This story, from @natezuke.bsky.social, is absolutely wild. A trans woman who never changed her gender marker was issued a letter invalidating her license. At the DMV they cut up her license, which had an "M" marker.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Social and ecological factors associated with innovation in urban sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) Cities are challenging places for wildlife, but some species, like sulfur-crested cockatoos, adapt by finding new ways to feed and solve problems. We studi

New paper alert! 🦜

We gave wild cockatoos puzzle boxes across Canberra’s urban gradient. The finding? Urban birds approach faster, but are not better solvers.

Our results suggest that urbanization shapes neophobia independently from cognitive performance. Read it here:

doi.org/10.1093/behe...

Ugh I fell for it! Bummer.

UNC-CH Will ‘Scrap’ New Recording Policy, Chancellor Says The move comes less than three weeks after the controversial rules were enacted.

Congrats to @ncaaup.bsky.social & all who fought against this surveillance policy that would've allowed admin to hijack microphones in the classroom for secret recordings.

This move would've chilled classroom discussion & suppressed students' willingness to ask questions & take intellectual risks.

An Open Letter to the College President Who Maintained Close Ties with Epstein If you agree with my general sentiments here, please comment below—just “signed” or “seconded” is sufficient.

Please share and sign if you agree with my open letter calling for Botstein’s immediate resignation katemanne.substack.com/p/an-open-le...

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets: The administration has not yet released funding Congress allocated to multiple research agencies, so they cannot provide it to funded entities/people - including NIH and NASA. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Last call for applications!

Bhattacharya has been Trump's most loyal foot soldier in MAGA's vile war on DEI

Jay's NIH canceled Duke hematologist Charity Oyedeji's $750,000 grant on how to assess & avert disability for people with sickle cell disease, most of whom are Black

They said it was "DEI" which they were banning

1/2

I had to renegotiate my F99/K00 award twice in 6 months, and on both occasions I asked what specifically “DEI activities” means. I didn’t get clear answers, so I was hopeful the person that directive came from could specify (the NIH Director). I asked the on @whyshoulditrustyou.bsky.social podcast

Update: They passed it. We witnessed and walked out.

Birds are vanishing from tropical forests. Is another ‘silent spring’ coming? As mysterious bird declines crop up in the Amazon and beyond, scientists suspect climate change may be to blame

www.science.org/content/arti...

Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses "The legislature did not include a grace period." ERIN REED FEB 25, 2026 88 5 21 Share Kansas Sate Capitol // farzinvousoughian

1. Numerous transgender people in Kansas are reporting that the state has sent them a letter demanding the immediate surrender of drivers licenses.

Those driving could be arrested, charged, and see privileges revoked.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...

A card announcing the call for papers stating 'Special Issue: The Integrative Biology of Reproduction Guest Editors: Etya Amsalem, Tony D. Williams and Kathryn Wilsterman. Submission deadline: 30 June 2026' with the Journal of Experimental Biology logo and the logo for the Special Issue containing an egg cell surrounded by eight sperm cells. The eighth sperm, on the top right, is penetrating the egg.

We are calling for Reviews, Commentaries or research papers for our upcoming Special Issue: The Integrative Biology of Reproduction, covering the entire reproductive process, from mate selection, mating and egg-laying or pregnancy through to parental care

bit.ly/3ZT42hY

From our new paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social: www.cell.com/current-biol... w/ @neurofishh.bsky.social @gkafetzis.bsky.social @denilsson.bsky.social

Looking across animals, the vertebrate eye is an obvious outlier. Why is it so different that other highly visual animals?

Apply for the Career Diversity Travel award to attend the Animal Behavior Society Conference in Cincinnati, July 14-18, 2026. Deadline: March 23, 2026. More info: https://www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-career-diversity.php #conference

Migratory bird stopover patterns linked to urbanization and social landscapes - Nature Cities Urban ecology traditionally focuses on single cities, yet cities play key roles in ecological processes such as migration. Radar analysis across the continental USA reveals that nearly half of stopove...

A study I led came out in Nature Cities yesterday!

We used radar to study the role that urban landscapes play in migratory bird stopover. Spoiler: birds use cities a lot, and the patterns of their use reflect social processes and the inequities embedded in them.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Hiring for 3 positions: Research Assistant, Field Research Coordinator, and Postdoc I am looking to hire 3 people into my lab this year. I am still doing the paperwork to get the jobs officially posted but I want to send the word out and screen potential applications right away. R…

I am hiring a research assistant (vampire bats), a Panama fieldwork coordinator (vampire bats), and also considering postdoc apps (social behavior, any species): socialbat.org/2026/02/19/h...

Michaela Coel Has New Truths to Tell She’s never shied away from confronting the raw, difficult parts of her art—or life. Now the actor, writer, and director is back with two new films and a highly anticipated show.

In addition to serving incredible LEWK after another, Micaela Coel is such a great interview subject. A true artist.

Led by my talented PhD student @justine-armg.bsky.social we’re running a #meta-analysis of #cross-sex-genetic-correlations in fitness components.

If you have unpublished data or know of studies that might not appear in a systematic search, please reach out, we’d love to include them!

Please share!

My department at CSU Northridge is hiring a vertebrate functional morphologist! We've got a great EEB group, and we're looking for someone to carry forward a tradition of enriching organismal courses and community-engaged research. App review starts March 15

csucareers.calstate.edu/mob/cw/en-us...

Agouti integrates environmental cues to regulate paternal behaviour - Nature Expression of agouti signalling protein in neurons in the medial preoptic area is increased by group housing and negatively associated with care, and overexpression of Agouti reduces care and enhances...

Why are some males caring toward infants while others are neglectful or abusive? I'm so pleased to share work that my colleagues and I @princeton.edu have just published @nature.com (an explanatory thread to follow!) (1/8)