Mary Towner
@mctowner.bsky.social
Human behavioral ecologist at OSU where I get to have fun teaching human anatomy. Research in historical demography (fertility, migration), cultural evolution, and quantitative methods. Just a bit obsessed with genealogy.
Pinned
Mary Towner
@mctowner.bsky.social
· Nov 18
"The above deaths were all of measles." This includes my 4th great grandfather, Peter Smith, who was under 30 and left behind a widow and five young children. The Crawfordsville Record, Montgomery County, Indiana, 12 Mar 1836.
Reposted by Mary Towner
What a great article not only on faculty workloads, but how little our salaries actually factor in to most university budgets. A few highlights. First, our salaries are falling:
July 3, 2026 at 12:37 PM
What a great article not only on faculty workloads, but how little our salaries actually factor in to most university budgets. A few highlights. First, our salaries are falling:
Reposted by Mary Towner
Hegseth proudly ended the flu vaccine requirement for the military.
Following this idiocy, only 40% of new trainees got vaccinated.
There’s now a flu outbreak at an AF facility. A new recruit has died, though it is not clear if it was from flu.
Now, the flu vaccine is again required there.
Following this idiocy, only 40% of new trainees got vaccinated.
There’s now a flu outbreak at an AF facility. A new recruit has died, though it is not clear if it was from flu.
Now, the flu vaccine is again required there.
Scores Fall Ill at Air Force Base After Hegseth Makes Flu Vaccine Optional
www.nytimes.com
June 19, 2026 at 12:20 AM
Hegseth proudly ended the flu vaccine requirement for the military.
Following this idiocy, only 40% of new trainees got vaccinated.
There’s now a flu outbreak at an AF facility. A new recruit has died, though it is not clear if it was from flu.
Now, the flu vaccine is again required there.
Following this idiocy, only 40% of new trainees got vaccinated.
There’s now a flu outbreak at an AF facility. A new recruit has died, though it is not clear if it was from flu.
Now, the flu vaccine is again required there.
Reposted by Mary Towner
“If college only exists in the LMS, if it cannot exist without the LMS, this means we have abandoned education as anything other than edech. It means we have abandoned the physical spaces of learning: the campus, the classroom, the professor’s office”
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ed-tech-depe...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ed-tech-depe...
That Damned LMS Dependency
For the second time in less than a year, a major disruption to the learning management system Canvas has prompted cries (and headlines) that “we can’t do school!”
In the fall of 2025, an Amazon Web S...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com
May 17, 2026 at 1:56 PM
“If college only exists in the LMS, if it cannot exist without the LMS, this means we have abandoned education as anything other than edech. It means we have abandoned the physical spaces of learning: the campus, the classroom, the professor’s office”
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ed-tech-depe...
2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/ed-tech-depe...
Reposted by Mary Towner
This is so, so well-articulated.
April 3, 2026 at 11:23 AM
This is so, so well-articulated.
Reposted by Mary Towner
Breaking, from me: An executive order from Oklahoma's governor directs most of the state's public colleges to "phase out tenure." #AcademicSky #HigherEd @chronicle.com
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
Tenure Will Be Eliminated at Most of Oklahoma’s Public Colleges, Governor Says
Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, directed the state’s two-dozen regional universities and community colleges to phase out the practice. Existing faculty members will be grandfathered in.
www.chronicle.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Breaking, from me: An executive order from Oklahoma's governor directs most of the state's public colleges to "phase out tenure." #AcademicSky #HigherEd @chronicle.com
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...
Reposted by Mary Towner
Good morning! We have just learned that our article on experiences and recommendations for faculty with disabilities has been published:
www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/15...
www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/15...
www.mdpi.com
February 4, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Good morning! We have just learned that our article on experiences and recommendations for faculty with disabilities has been published:
www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/15...
www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/15...
Reposted by Mary Towner
Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Greg Bovino…there are evil men in the story of what’s happening in Minnesota. But there’s also a legal system that’s made this possible. I wrote for @ballsandstrikes.org about how structural change is the only true path forward.
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
“The People of Minnesota Are Stronger Than the Federal Government That Seeks to Break Us”
The legal system empowered Trump’s ICE rampage. It is people who have the power to stop it.
ballsandstrikes.org
January 28, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Greg Bovino…there are evil men in the story of what’s happening in Minnesota. But there’s also a legal system that’s made this possible. I wrote for @ballsandstrikes.org about how structural change is the only true path forward.
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
Reposted by Mary Towner
EVEN THOUGH I HAD OTHER THINGS I WANTED TO DO THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND.
mammalssuck.blogspot.com/2025/11/if-y...
If you like milk science...
<dusts off the ol’ blog> On Thanksgiving, a Facebook “human interest story pages” dropped an essay about mother’s milk and me as a milk rese...
mammalssuck.blogspot.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:40 PM
EVEN THOUGH I HAD OTHER THINGS I WANTED TO DO THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND.
mammalssuck.blogspot.com/2025/11/if-y...
Reposted by Mary Towner
And another.
And now, Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma school superintendent who (among other morality-boosting moves) wanted to put Trump bibles into every classroom. But he failed, apparently, to close an, erm, browser window during a board meeting
kfor.com/video/invest...
kfor.com/video/invest...
Investigation inquiry underway after reports of naked women on Ryan Walters office TV
Investigation inquiry underway after reports of naked women on Ryan Walters office TV
kfor.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
And another.
Reposted by Mary Towner
Last February, I led a proposal submission that encompassed six months, hundreds of hours, four institutions, a massive team, and and 256 pages. NSF just informed us that the entire Biology Integration Institute program was archived and our proposal would not even be reviewed.
With a form email.
With a form email.
June 16, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Last February, I led a proposal submission that encompassed six months, hundreds of hours, four institutions, a massive team, and and 256 pages. NSF just informed us that the entire Biology Integration Institute program was archived and our proposal would not even be reviewed.
With a form email.
With a form email.
Reposted by Mary Towner
From Colossals. Including novel bones like the "Scapila" and the "Metacarpul bones". Also the patella on the back of the knee. And not ONLY "tail vertebrae" but ALSO "cadual vertebrae".
$millions and they didn't think to copy edit...
$millions and they didn't think to copy edit...
April 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
From Colossals. Including novel bones like the "Scapila" and the "Metacarpul bones". Also the patella on the back of the knee. And not ONLY "tail vertebrae" but ALSO "cadual vertebrae".
$millions and they didn't think to copy edit...
$millions and they didn't think to copy edit...
Reposted by Mary Towner
The gravestones are up at Granary
April 5, 2025 at 3:18 PM
The gravestones are up at Granary
Reposted by Mary Towner
The final stage of tetanus when the nerves fire continuously and the body contorts into an agonizing posture known as opisthotonus. The mastication muscles also clamp down to form the hallmark of the disease, lockjaw. This 19th-century painting is on display @surgeonshall.bsky.social. #vaccineswork
March 3, 2025 at 4:30 PM
The final stage of tetanus when the nerves fire continuously and the body contorts into an agonizing posture known as opisthotonus. The mastication muscles also clamp down to form the hallmark of the disease, lockjaw. This 19th-century painting is on display @surgeonshall.bsky.social. #vaccineswork
Reposted by Mary Towner
#genealogy people, do you have examples like this in your family history?
March 3, 2025 at 3:00 AM
#genealogy people, do you have examples like this in your family history?
Reposted by Mary Towner
Thinking of all those American families, including mine, who sent a loved one to fight in WWII. Many never came back.
Today was a vile desecration of their memories and legacies.
Today was a vile desecration of their memories and legacies.
February 28, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Thinking of all those American families, including mine, who sent a loved one to fight in WWII. Many never came back.
Today was a vile desecration of their memories and legacies.
Today was a vile desecration of their memories and legacies.
Reposted by Mary Towner
Along with all the other signs of fascism seems we are doing eugenics (openly) again. I am so angry that we have to engage in the same terrible fights over and over again.
A senior US government official has called for “lower quality humans” to be sterilised en masse.
It’s disgusting & terrifying. And America has been here before.
It’s disgusting & terrifying. And America has been here before.
The US is talking about mass sterilisation – again
A senior US government official has called for “lower quality humans” to be sterilised en masse – his country has been here before
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
February 26, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Along with all the other signs of fascism seems we are doing eugenics (openly) again. I am so angry that we have to engage in the same terrible fights over and over again.
Reposted by Mary Towner
🚨 New publication!
We found rising temperatures are reducing daily breastfeeding time allocation among Shodagor women.
Thanks to @kstark8.bsky.social & @haleyrags.bsky.social for leading this analysis.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
We found rising temperatures are reducing daily breastfeeding time allocation among Shodagor women.
Thanks to @kstark8.bsky.social & @haleyrags.bsky.social for leading this analysis.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
High wet-bulb temperatures, time allocation, and diurnal patterns of breastfeeding in Bangladeshi fisher-traders
Climate change is a growing threat to population health, with dangerous combinations of heat and humidity increasing in frequency, particularly in South Asia. Evidence suggests that high temperatur...
www.tandfonline.com
February 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM
🚨 New publication!
We found rising temperatures are reducing daily breastfeeding time allocation among Shodagor women.
Thanks to @kstark8.bsky.social & @haleyrags.bsky.social for leading this analysis.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
We found rising temperatures are reducing daily breastfeeding time allocation among Shodagor women.
Thanks to @kstark8.bsky.social & @haleyrags.bsky.social for leading this analysis.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Mary Towner
Self-portrait of Bolognese anatomist, lecturer, and wax modeler Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-1774) dissecting a human brain, 1755 (Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Università di Bologna) #earlymodern #18thc
February 21, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Self-portrait of Bolognese anatomist, lecturer, and wax modeler Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-1774) dissecting a human brain, 1755 (Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Università di Bologna) #earlymodern #18thc
Reposted by Mary Towner
Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)
February 19, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)
Reposted by Mary Towner
Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.
February 6, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.
Reposted by Mary Towner
Reposted by Mary Towner
NEW: We obtained the directions NSF program officers are following to review all grants for compliance with the Trump EOs and the turmoil it has created in an agency mandated to broaden STEM participation. Our story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: how NSF is scouring research grants for violations of Trump’s orders
The US National Science Foundation has unfrozen grant funding, but it continues to scrutinize research projects, sowing turmoil.
www.nature.com
February 3, 2025 at 11:05 PM
NEW: We obtained the directions NSF program officers are following to review all grants for compliance with the Trump EOs and the turmoil it has created in an agency mandated to broaden STEM participation. Our story: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Mary Towner
✨PLEASE SHARE! CDC GUIDELINE ARCHIVES✨
▶️STI GUIDELINES
buff.ly/4jReLT4
buff.ly/3EmjR9B
▶️Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraceptives buff.ly/3PZzQNf
buff.ly/4aKMEko
▶️VACCINE VIS buff.ly/4jJ1603
▶️Others from @jessicavalenti.bsky.social
LGBTQ CDCGuidelines.com
#medsky #pedsky #IDsky 🛟🧪
▶️STI GUIDELINES
buff.ly/4jReLT4
buff.ly/3EmjR9B
▶️Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraceptives buff.ly/3PZzQNf
buff.ly/4aKMEko
▶️VACCINE VIS buff.ly/4jJ1603
▶️Others from @jessicavalenti.bsky.social
LGBTQ CDCGuidelines.com
#medsky #pedsky #IDsky 🛟🧪
February 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
✨PLEASE SHARE! CDC GUIDELINE ARCHIVES✨
▶️STI GUIDELINES
buff.ly/4jReLT4
buff.ly/3EmjR9B
▶️Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraceptives buff.ly/3PZzQNf
buff.ly/4aKMEko
▶️VACCINE VIS buff.ly/4jJ1603
▶️Others from @jessicavalenti.bsky.social
LGBTQ CDCGuidelines.com
#medsky #pedsky #IDsky 🛟🧪
▶️STI GUIDELINES
buff.ly/4jReLT4
buff.ly/3EmjR9B
▶️Medical Eligibility Criteria (MEC) for Contraceptives buff.ly/3PZzQNf
buff.ly/4aKMEko
▶️VACCINE VIS buff.ly/4jJ1603
▶️Others from @jessicavalenti.bsky.social
LGBTQ CDCGuidelines.com
#medsky #pedsky #IDsky 🛟🧪
Reposted by Mary Towner
"The above deaths were all of measles." This includes my 4th great grandfather, Peter Smith, who was under 30 and left behind a widow and five young children. The Crawfordsville Record, Montgomery County, Indiana, 12 Mar 1836.
November 18, 2024 at 10:46 PM
"The above deaths were all of measles." This includes my 4th great grandfather, Peter Smith, who was under 30 and left behind a widow and five young children. The Crawfordsville Record, Montgomery County, Indiana, 12 Mar 1836.