Leslie M Kay, PhD

Unless you claim a fertilized mammoth egg is a mammoth....

Anyone have a link to the primary study? I can only find a Nature Comms news story from 2024. Gray matter can shrink without losing cells btw. Would like to know what they say in the paper.

Leslie Kay: The Hidden Science of How Smell, Breath & Memory Shape the Brain YouTube video by Internet of Senses Institute

Had a blast talking with Sofia Ehrich on her Internet of the Senses podcast - smell, brains, and brain health. #chemsenses #neuroskyence 🧪

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXc...

Has this happened to you or to your grad students?

not even "woman" but "female rat". And hormones, gonadectomy. I think I know exactly what the artificial idiot thought this was about, because words have no meaning for AI.

I should have urged her to change the wording. I got complacent because a grant from NIH was recently funded using similar words. We were careful to separate this one and focus on biology not health. Back to reproductive phenotypes.

This happened to my grad student. It’s for a study on hormonal control of sex differences in olfactory behavior in rats.

SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) in SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) Good news The first vaccine designed to target the entire SARS virus family, GBP511, has entered human clinical trials. Developed by UW Medicine and brought to trial by SK Bioscience, it aims to p...

🧪🙏Good news- the first #vaccine targeting the entire SARS family - not just covid-19- has entered human clinical trials —
open.substack.com/chat/posts/a...

wow

4 Black journalists have been kidnapped by the federal government

An Instagram post from the Assembly of First Nations reading: Important Travel Advisory The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) has heard reports that some First Nation citizens have been subjected to increased questioning and detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The AFN strongly condemns these actions and reaffirms First Nations’ inherent and Jay Treaty rights to cross-border mobility. The AFN advises any First Nations members traveling to the U.S. to carry valid identification, including a Status Card or a Canadian passport. Anyone requiring assistance with Status Card applications, renewals, replacements, or urgent processing related to travel may contact Indigenous Services Canada’s Secure Certificate of Indian Status (SCIS) Program at 1-800-567-9604 or visit www.canada.ca/indigenous-services-canada. Please note that federal law enforcement may not be familiar with Tribal IDs. If an ICE agent does not accept your Tribal ID as identification, the Native American Rights Fund recommends that you request to speak to their supervisor. In emergency cases, Canadian citizens in the U.S. can contact the Canadian Consulate for assistance through 1-613-996-8885.

I’m not sure how much notice this has received but the Assembly of First Nations in Canada has issued a travel advisory for the United States after reports that Indigenous people are being increasingly questioned and detained by ICE. www.instagram.com/p/DT-_SacDEH...

Perhaps more of a comment than a question, but I find my colleague’s operationalization of respect & what it means to be respected somewhat under-theorized
At the risk of seeming pedantic, I suggest that these definitions be revisited, w/ a more rigorous engagement w/ the literature
Also..fuck him

Biomedical and life science articles by female researchers spend longer under review Women are underrepresented in academia, especially in STEMM fields, at top institutions, and in senior positions. This study analyzes millions of biomedical and life science articles, revealing that f...

Cost of being female lead/corresponding author in biomedical sciences: "[T]he median amount of time spent under review is 7.4%–14.6% longer for female-authored articles than for male-authored articles" even in disciplines where women well-represented. #AcademicSky

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

🧠🧪

The psychological condition can cause a biological signature.
The biological metric does not mean it’s “underlying” biology. Sometimes treating the biology works but it isn’t the cause by nature of being biological.

🍂 🏛️ 👿 🧪 SAFE Act Bans Federal Funding for Scientists with Ties to Chinese Researchers or Trainees

Billed has been passed by US House of Representatives

Glad to see justice for my favorite state.
When you read this at justice.gov what you see at the top during the shutdown is a violation of the Hatch Act. You can report violations online at a site that may be the only .gov site that does not contain the violation. osc.gov/Services/Pag...

Donate to Supporting Research and Education on Smell and Taste, organized by Alfredo Fontanini The Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) is a non-… Alfredo Fontanini needs your support for Supporting Research and Education on Smell and Taste

To mark this day, we will be tweeting about the chemical senses each day over the next two weeks in support of AChemS' efforts in advancing chemosensory science and education. Follow this link to contribute www.gofundme.com/f/s....

#scijobs

It's Juneteenth, America's second Independence day, catching up to those excluded from the first.

In the words of Langston Hughes:
"O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free."

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147907...

𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆. It’s the engine of American innovation. This President wants to kill it.

❌ NIH: ⬇️$18B
❌ NASA: ⬇️$6.8B
❌ NSF: ⬇️$5B

This isn’t fiscal discipline. It’s surrender—to disease, to ignorance, to rivals like China. We don’t build prosperity by firing scientists & killing missions.🧪

A #MedSky thread in honor of Met Gala 2025 featuring this years fashion plus old favorites and the only thing as fascinating as gala looks

Blood cells.

Obviously
1/

🧪 Amazing thread by a plant taxonomist on the history of the molecule called epinephrine, its human discoverer, its chemical relationship to adrenaline, what it means to moms heading to the ER with sick kid, and why continuing to invest in basic science really fucking matters:

You must watch the John Oliver show from last night about NIH.

Oliver rarely breaks his comedy routine but he did about NIH, RFK, and HHS.

Oliver stared the camera down after 30 minutes and just said with a grimace:
“RFK needs to go, now. By impeachment if necessary.” 1/

What Harvard Didn't Say Last week, Harvard challenged the Trump administration’s threat to deny billions in federal funds unless the university bent to a list of far-reaching demands. Harvard’s legal counsel struck a measure...

The "New" program at @stjohnsgreatbooks.bsky.social began in 1937, in part as a response to growing fascism. Powerful piece by a SJC alum on the need to protect liberal education now for the sake of free thought and democratic ideals.
libertiesjournal.com/online-artic...

Curious about the olfactory story - seems appropriately messy.

Playing Headline-Stealing Games with the Economy is a Great Way to Distract Everyone from Your Human Rights Atrocities “Long-threatened tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump have plunged the country into trade wars abroad, all while on-again, off-again new levies...

"Remember, you need a lot of time to get through your entire atrocity to-do list. If you tank the economy once and quickly, people’s attention will surely return to your cruelty, no matter how effectively you’ve impoverished them. So take your time and do it right."

Universities in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thought giving in to government demands would save their independence Before the Nazis, German universities were among the best in the world. Step by step, the universities gave up their independence until they were instruments of the state.

Higher education required reading for today by Iveta Silova (Follow her at @isilova.bsky.social) theconversation.com/universities...

Dear scholars, scientists, doctors and advocates - we need your voices and expertise more than ever. If there was ever a time to bring the Ivory Tower right into the middle of the Public Square, it's now.

Space research!!! 🚀🛰️🧪🔭