Super excited to finally share this! #CollectionsAreEssential
🦇🦠 New preprint - in a long-term effort led by the amazing @mayajuman.bsky.social, we've shown that the ML tools developed by @viralemergence.org let us efficiently screen museum collections for pathogens with pandemic potential
🎉🔓 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🎉🔓 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Museum collections and machine learning guide discovery of novel coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses
Natural history museum collections are valuable but underutilized resources for viral discovery, offering opportunities to test hypotheses about viral occurrence across space, time, and taxonomic grou...
www.biorxiv.org
September 22, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Super excited to finally share this! #CollectionsAreEssential
This is only possible if you keep collecting things. #CollectionsAreEssential Not only that, you gotta collect large enough sample sizes of common things, not just a few individuals of uncommon things.
Co-first author Faye Romero and I modelled bill changes of Anna’s hummingbirds in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology’s collection (dating to 1860). 📏
We found bill length and maxillary surface area increased with feeder density.
We found bill length and maxillary surface area increased with feeder density.
May 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
This is only possible if you keep collecting things. #CollectionsAreEssential Not only that, you gotta collect large enough sample sizes of common things, not just a few individuals of uncommon things.
So excited be at Naturalis @naturalis.bsky.social today and tomorrow serving on their Scientific Advisory Board! Stunning building, outstanding collections, impactful research, and engaging exhibits #CollectionsAreEssential #NaturalHistoryMuseums
March 6, 2025 at 12:33 PM
So excited be at Naturalis @naturalis.bsky.social today and tomorrow serving on their Scientific Advisory Board! Stunning building, outstanding collections, impactful research, and engaging exhibits #CollectionsAreEssential #NaturalHistoryMuseums
@systbiol.bsky.social Presidential addresses #Evol2025 by @corriemoreau.bsky.social includes a shoutout to natural history collections, they are important to science in so many ways!
June 22, 2025 at 3:59 PM
A university with a notoriously humongous endowment and megadonors won’t (not can’t) keep one of our greatest 🌱 biodiversity resources operating. A bad omen for those of us who curate & manage smaller collections... #CollectionsAreEssential 🧪
February 16, 2024 at 3:22 PM
A university with a notoriously humongous endowment and megadonors won’t (not can’t) keep one of our greatest 🌱 biodiversity resources operating. A bad omen for those of us who curate & manage smaller collections... #CollectionsAreEssential 🧪
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the Cornell University Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP) for their Open House at the Mushroom Museum! @cornellcals.bsky.social #CollectionsAreEssential
November 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the Cornell University Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP) for their Open House at the Mushroom Museum! @cornellcals.bsky.social #CollectionsAreEssential
Deconstructing the morphological basis of ecogeographic variation in the hand-wing index, a widely used proxy for avian mobility, in the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)
@asn-amnat.bsky.social doi.org/10.1086/739176
#birds #collectionsareessential #museums #ornithology #evosky
@asn-amnat.bsky.social doi.org/10.1086/739176
#birds #collectionsareessential #museums #ornithology #evosky
October 24, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Deconstructing the morphological basis of ecogeographic variation in the hand-wing index, a widely used proxy for avian mobility, in the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)
@asn-amnat.bsky.social doi.org/10.1086/739176
#birds #collectionsareessential #museums #ornithology #evosky
@asn-amnat.bsky.social doi.org/10.1086/739176
#birds #collectionsareessential #museums #ornithology #evosky
One of my highlights at #ssb2026 meeting last weekend was reconnecting with my amazing friend Emily Graslie @ehmee.bsky.social of #BrainScoop and seeing her outstanding keynote presentation on her career path and the importance of museum collections @systbiol.bsky.social #CollectionsAreEssential
January 16, 2026 at 6:13 PM
One of my highlights at #ssb2026 meeting last weekend was reconnecting with my amazing friend Emily Graslie @ehmee.bsky.social of #BrainScoop and seeing her outstanding keynote presentation on her career path and the importance of museum collections @systbiol.bsky.social #CollectionsAreEssential
@drfirefly.bsky.social and I are hitting up the STEAM night at a local elementary!!!
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
February 7, 2025 at 11:05 PM
@drfirefly.bsky.social and I are hitting up the STEAM night at a local elementary!!!
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
Super thanks again!
@prosanta.bsky.social
@tropicalbotany.bsky.social
@jeclight.bsky.social
@sternarchella.bsky.social
@ixchelgr.bsky.social
#CollectionsAreEssential
@prosanta.bsky.social
@tropicalbotany.bsky.social
@jeclight.bsky.social
@sternarchella.bsky.social
@ixchelgr.bsky.social
#CollectionsAreEssential
January 12, 2026 at 12:29 PM
A fellow biologist, turned Dean, destroying an important biological museum collection & I do not know how they sleep at night.
Why did you take this position? You have failed as a leader, you have failed as a biologist, this is likely your legacy. #CollectionsAreEssential
Why did you take this position? You have failed as a leader, you have failed as a biologist, this is likely your legacy. #CollectionsAreEssential
February 17, 2024 at 2:21 PM
A fellow biologist, turned Dean, destroying an important biological museum collection & I do not know how they sleep at night.
Why did you take this position? You have failed as a leader, you have failed as a biologist, this is likely your legacy. #CollectionsAreEssential
Why did you take this position? You have failed as a leader, you have failed as a biologist, this is likely your legacy. #CollectionsAreEssential
Listen to Chucky D !
See you at Darwin Day 🧬 🐟 🐸 🦎 🐦 🐳 🌺 #SDSUBiodiversityMuseum #CollectionsAreEssential
See you at Darwin Day 🧬 🐟 🐸 🦎 🐦 🐳 🌺 #SDSUBiodiversityMuseum #CollectionsAreEssential
Inviting San Diegans to celebrate International Darwin Day 2025 (2/12) with us! Featuring a keynote lecture by renowned evolutionary biologist & author, Dr. David Archibald, posters by our awesome EEB students, guided tours of the SDSU Museum of Biodiversity, and more! Mark your calendars!
January 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Listen to Chucky D !
See you at Darwin Day 🧬 🐟 🐸 🦎 🐦 🐳 🌺 #SDSUBiodiversityMuseum #CollectionsAreEssential
See you at Darwin Day 🧬 🐟 🐸 🦎 🐦 🐳 🌺 #SDSUBiodiversityMuseum #CollectionsAreEssential
Some of the #ummz mammal division students got in on a little moose antler cleaning today!!! The antlers were part of a donation to our collection, but needed a little TLC before going into the cabinets.
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential #gobluemammalogy
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential #gobluemammalogy
April 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Some of the #ummz mammal division students got in on a little moose antler cleaning today!!! The antlers were part of a donation to our collection, but needed a little TLC before going into the cabinets.
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential #gobluemammalogy
#naturalhistory #collectionsareessential #gobluemammalogy
The University of Michigan crew is in full force at the Annual Meeting of the @mammalogists.bsky.social!!! It’s been great to bring so many current and former students together.
#gobluemammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#gobluemammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
June 30, 2025 at 2:32 AM
The University of Michigan crew is in full force at the Annual Meeting of the @mammalogists.bsky.social!!! It’s been great to bring so many current and former students together.
#gobluemammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#gobluemammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#WomeninStem 🧪🧬🦣🐇 Happy that our paper using historical pika samples to examine changes in genomic diversity over time has been accepted. These wonderful and unique creatures need a break. Hopefully our data will help with planning for their future. #NatSci #CollectionsAreEssential
August 29, 2023 at 10:53 PM
#WomeninStem 🧪🧬🦣🐇 Happy that our paper using historical pika samples to examine changes in genomic diversity over time has been accepted. These wonderful and unique creatures need a break. Hopefully our data will help with planning for their future. #NatSci #CollectionsAreEssential
I posted this and somehow forgot to point out the #collectionsareessential aspect. We don't know if these mice are still on the island, but we definitely wouldn't know they were there in 1939 if we didn't have collections!
New paper out today! I had the good fortune to work with this crew, @mabscientist.bsky.social, Susette Castañeda-Rico and others, on a project that discovered previously unknown introduced mice on the Channel Islands in California.
View of Genomic evidence of a previously undetected Peromyscus truei invasion on San Clemente Island, California
therya.mastozoologiamexicana.com
June 1, 2026 at 4:17 PM
I posted this and somehow forgot to point out the #collectionsareessential aspect. We don't know if these mice are still on the island, but we definitely wouldn't know they were there in 1939 if we didn't have collections!
Cutting 25% of your curatorial staff due to 8% decrease in attendance --> Bad strategic plan and fund development.
All that shitty tech money in the area and not one of these "thought leaders" has been hit up for 10 million annually.
#CollectionsAreEssential
www.science.org/content/arti...
All that shitty tech money in the area and not one of these "thought leaders" has been hit up for 10 million annually.
#CollectionsAreEssential
www.science.org/content/arti...
California Academy of Sciences reeling from budget cuts
A major natural history collection loses one-quarter of its curators
www.science.org
July 11, 2024 at 1:48 PM
Cutting 25% of your curatorial staff due to 8% decrease in attendance --> Bad strategic plan and fund development.
All that shitty tech money in the area and not one of these "thought leaders" has been hit up for 10 million annually.
#CollectionsAreEssential
www.science.org/content/arti...
All that shitty tech money in the area and not one of these "thought leaders" has been hit up for 10 million annually.
#CollectionsAreEssential
www.science.org/content/arti...
MOUNTAIN BEAVER pauses for a big scratch... of the world's largest flea, Hystrichopsylla schefferi! While scratching #MMMagic translocates Mountain Beaver into a roadside puddle PECCARY is bathing in! (Carraway & Verts 1993, Hubbard, 1947) #2025MMM #CollectionsAreEssential @burkemuseum.bsky.social
March 13, 2025 at 1:39 AM
MOUNTAIN BEAVER pauses for a big scratch... of the world's largest flea, Hystrichopsylla schefferi! While scratching #MMMagic translocates Mountain Beaver into a roadside puddle PECCARY is bathing in! (Carraway & Verts 1993, Hubbard, 1947) #2025MMM #CollectionsAreEssential @burkemuseum.bsky.social
HAPPY WOLVERINE DAY!!!
#goblue #wolverinesoftwitter #mammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#goblue #wolverinesoftwitter #mammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
December 2, 2024 at 12:00 AM
HAPPY WOLVERINE DAY!!!
#goblue #wolverinesoftwitter #mammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
#goblue #wolverinesoftwitter #mammalogy #naturalhistory #collectionsareessential
Congratulations to my fabulous student Haley! She successfully defended her Master’s thesis yesterday! #Peromyscus #mammals #morphology #ecology #collectionsareessential @tamueccb.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Congratulations to my fabulous student Haley! She successfully defended her Master’s thesis yesterday! #Peromyscus #mammals #morphology #ecology #collectionsareessential @tamueccb.bsky.social
2/N Many of these individuals are part of @mepa-social-media.bsky.social. The paper provides data on existing genetic resources from mammals available to researchers to study emerging infectious diseases, such as hantaviruses, arenaviruses, and other zoonotic pathogens.
#collectionsareessential
#collectionsareessential
1/N Check out our recent publication on South American mammal voucher and tissue collections!!! This paper was led by Marcelo Weksler, Guellermo D'Elia, and Pablo Teta, but it included contributions from over 100 scientists.
#mammalogy #collectionsareessential #onehealth
#mammalogy #collectionsareessential #onehealth
A comprehensive survey of mammal collections and genetic resources in South America: challenges and directions
Abstract. Natural history collections serve as crucial infrastructure for both basic and applied scientific research, providing temporal and spatial specim
academic.oup.com
September 16, 2025 at 5:24 PM
2/N Many of these individuals are part of @mepa-social-media.bsky.social. The paper provides data on existing genetic resources from mammals available to researchers to study emerging infectious diseases, such as hantaviruses, arenaviruses, and other zoonotic pathogens.
#collectionsareessential
#collectionsareessential
