#Subject: Science

[royhasissues]

Guys I'm scared

[grison-in-space]

you know what else fucks me up about the US election? one of the things that has left me reeling in bewilderment and grief this month?

I'm a scientist, y'all.

That means that I am, like most American research scientists, a federal contractor. (Possibly employee. It's confusing, and it fucks with my taxes being a postdoctoral researcher.) I get paid because someone, in the long run ideally me, makes a really, really detailed pitch to one of several federal grant agencies that the nation would really be missing out if I couldn't follow up on these thoughts and find concrete evidence about whether or not I'm right.

Currently, my personal salary is dependent on a whole department of scientists convincing one of the largest and most powerful granting agencies that they have a program that is really good at training scientists that can think deeply about the priorities of the agency. Those priorities are defined by the guy who runs the agency, and he gets to hire whatever qualified people he wants. That guy? The Presidential Administration picks that one. That's how federal agencies get staffed: the President's administration nominates them.

All of the heads of these agencies are personally nominated by the president and their administration. They are people of enormous power whose job is to administer million-dollar grants to the scientists competing urgently for limited funds. A million dollars often doesn't go farther than a couple of years when it's intended to pay for absolutely everything to do with a particular pitch, including salaries of your trainees, all materials, travel expenses, promoting the work among other researchers, all of it—so most smart American researchers are working fervently on grants all the time.

The next director of the NIH will be a Trump appointee, if he notices and thinks to appoint one. NSF, too; that's the group that funds your ecology and your astroscience and your experimental mathematics and physics and chemistry, the stuff that doesn't have industry funding and industry priorities. USDA. DOE, that's who does a lot of the climate change mitigation and renewable energy source research, they'll just be lucky if they can do anything again because Trump nigh gutted them last time.

Right now, I am working on the very tail end of a grant's funding and I am scurrying to make sure I stay employed. So I'm thinking very closely about federal agency priorities, okay? And I'm thinking that the funding climate for science is going to get a lot fucking leaner. I'm seeing what the American people think of scientists, and about whether my job is worth doing. It's been a lean twelve years in this gig, okay? Every time the federal government gets fucked up, that impacts my job, it means that I have to hustle even harder to get grants in that let me support myself—and, if I have any trainees, their budding careers as well!—to patch over the lean times as much as we can.

So I've been reeling this week thinking about how funding agency priorities are going to change. I work on sex differences in motivation, so let me tell you, the politics reading this one for my next pitch are going to be fun. I'm working on a submission for an explicitly DEI-oriented five year grant with a cycle ending in February, so that's going to be an exercise in hoping that the agency employees at the middle levels (the ones that know how to get things done which can't be replaced immediately with yes men) can buffer the decisions of those big bosses long enough to let that program continue to exist a little while longer.

Ah, Christ, he promised Health & Human Services (which houses the NIH) to RFK, didn't he? We'll see how that pans out.

I keep seeing people calling for more governmental shutdowns on the left now, and it makes me want to scream. The government being gridlocked means the funding that researchers like me need doesn't come, okay? When the DOE can't say fucking "climate change," when the USDA hemorrhages its workers when the agency is dragged halfway across the country, when I watch a major Texan House rep stake his career on trying to destroy the NSF, I think: this is what you people think of us. I think: how little scientists are valued as public workers. Why am I working this hard again?

This is why I described voting as harm reduction. Even if two candidates are "the same" on one thing you care about, they probably aren't the same level of bad on everything. Your task is to figure out the best person to do the job. It's not about a fucking tribalist horse race. A vote is your opinion on a job interview, you fucks. We have to work with this person.

Anyway, I'm probably going to go back to shaking quietly in despair for a little longer and then pick myself up and hit the grind again. If I'm fast, I might still get the grant in this miserable climate if I run, and I might get to actually keep on what I'm trying to do, which is bring research on sex differences, neurodivergence and energy balance as informed by non-binary gender perspectives and disability theory to neuroscience.

Fuck.

[chickenchirps27]

hello denizens of tumblr i come with humble offerings

they wish to romance you

[dobythealpaca]

thinking a lot about tf2 but eviler and gayer and made these two,,,

only a few sketches as of rn but there WILL be more cuz i am ill and its become its whole own thing now

[clementinecandlev100]

Hypothesis: smoking “the weed that makes you pull your tits out” (variable A) has a synergistic relationship with “sitting on the porch on a beautiful day” (variable B), causing an exponential increase in satisfaction and happiness, especially among transgender women.

Experiment: subject (nearly 30 yo old trans woman with pointy breasts and love in her heart) will consume variable A while enjoying variable B, and will experience more pleasure than would be experienced simply by totaling the sums of pleasure per minute (ppm) of variable A and variable B.

Testing Hypothesis: subject was sent outside on a sunny day with a temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit in a fairly tiny top that favored her curves (see figure 1). Her mood was self-described as “content” in these conditions.

Figure 1:

Subject was then provided variable A, administered via her favorite bong which, although dirty, did have fresh water in it (see figure 2). Subject consumed variable A over the course of 30 minutes.

Figure 2:

Results: within 15 minutes, subject was noticeably cheerier and eager to get out of her top. She at first tries to pull the top down to expose her breasts (see figure 3), but later finds that pulling the top up is comfier while also allowing her to feel more exposed (see figure 4). After 30 minutes, subject describes her mood as “playful, scampish, and full of pastel pink yearning.”

Figure 3:

Figure 4:

Conclusions: transgender women who enjoy both “sitting on the porch on a beautiful day” and smoking “the weed that makes you pull your tits out” may receive extreme benefits when combining these two activities. It is unconfirmed but likely these results will be found consistent amongst all queer subgroups. More research into this phenomena is of course necessary, and thus, this researcher encourages all of the scientifically-minded queer readers to perform their own experiments and report on their findings.

[kingkat12]

neurons (roman godfrey x reader)

WARNINGS: 18+, mentions of sex, foul language, author knows nothing about neurons lol

summary: Roman Godfrey is most certainly not the best study partner to have the night before an important test. what a shocker (not).

word count: 1,106

a/n: kingkat is BACK!! exams are fucking killing me, so when that is over, you best believe I will be back to my usual uploading schedule!! however, I scrapped this together for y'all (and also for myself because pls I need a Roman to get me through this study period). also, WARNING, I don't know anything about chemistry and neurons, I just had to think about anything other than my test rn which is in 6 hours... ENJOY<33 (also the gif is from @godfreysteel if I remember correctly, pls kick my ass if I'm wrong ouf)

"A neuron is an excitable cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network in the nervous system. They are located in the brain and..." Roman peeked up from the chemistry book with a rather offended look streaking across his face; "You're not listening to me, are you?"

Realizing I was being spoken to, I raised my head from the bed, flaunting a nervous smile. Honestly, I had nearly dozed off. "I am, I am! I swear, I was just!--"

"Listening with your eyes closed?"

Fuck. With a groan, I buried my face in the duvet I was lying on. "Look, Ro, I really appreciate your help, but I'm not going to learn this the night before the test... We should just give up,"

I knew that Roman Godfrey wasn't known for being the best at school-- however, he was the only person in my contacts who was available at midnight, and I was having the biggest case of brain fog known to man. Nothing was sticking. Seven hours and forty-six minutes until I was supposed to be seated in the auditorium at school, taking the dreaded midterm exam in chemistry, this was my only option. This test was supposed to be notoriously hard, so of course I hadn't bothered looking at it before now. Of course. 

Huffing, Roman spun around in my chair, looking both bored and frustrated. "I'm so glad I took this test last year," he muttered, just like every other senior did when this test had been mentioned over the past few weeks. "I'm aware that I can't help you with much, 'cause you didn't exactly call the designated nerd or something. But now that you've dragged my ass all across town to not sleep with me, you could at least listen?" He moved the chair closer to the bed, leaning over to poke my head. "Think of it like you're listening to an audio book, okay? My voice is nice, after all. Deep and warm, like--"

"Honey?" I chimed in, raising myself to look at him. 

Roman blinked. He looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world before he plainly answered; "No. Pussy," 

That was it. Having my fuck-friend teach me chemistry certainly didn't make me the brightest girl in the state. This was a bad idea; I groaned, rolling my eyes as I shifted on the bed, sitting up. "Keep going, then," I said, doing my best not to yawn. "A neuron is an... excited cell?"

Smirking, Roman shook his head-- I wondered whether this made him feel smart. He had taken this test last year and passed it, after all. It wasn't looking like I would be passing it, so did that make Roman Godfrey smarter than me...?

That was a mortifying thought.

"The neuron is an excitable cell, whatever the fuck that means," Roman pointed to the paragraph in the book. "Let me continue, maybe it'll make sense to you if I keep going?" He kicked back in the chair again, leaning his legs on my bed before he lowered his voice, getting into a rather caricatured character of a narrator; "They are located in the brain and spinal cord and help to receive and conduct impulses. Neurons communicate with other cells via synapses, which are specialized connections that commonly use minute amounts of chemical--"

I yawned. Loudly. I couldn't take it anymore.

Roman's eyes shot up from the book, wider than ever. I held my breath, ready to be told off once more for not focusing properly, yet the next words that left his lips were ones of charming amusement; "I see that this isn't making you very... excitable," 

I let out a relieved sigh. "I give up. Could we just fuck instead? That thought makes me excitable,"

Slamming the book shut, Roman grinned. "You never disappoint," he murmured. Getting up from the chair, he motioned for me to lay down again; he didn't waste any time making his way between my legs, pressing soft kisses to my thighs. His words were interrupted with every kiss; "If you don't pass the test-- I'll pay someone to-- tweak your scores. Don't-- worry about it."

My breath hitched as I smiled up at the ceiling. "Why didn't you say that-- fuck, earlier?" I squirmed beneath Roman as he pushed the soft pillows of his lips to my clothed sex, humming. Every kiss, every touch, felt electrocuting; I wondered whether the neurons in my body had anything to do with these bodily reactions. Did they? I had no idea, and I realized I wasn't going to know at the end of the night either. 

"Because," Roman said, a hint of a laugh in his voice as he kissed his way up my body, listening to my nervous giggles of pleasure. "I like feeling-- helpful. No one has ever-- asked me to--" His kisses were getting wetter, more eager; "--revise anything-- with them."

My hands went to his hair, tugging at the tips of his soft, brown locks. "Makes sense," Of course. Who in their right mind would call Roman Godfrey to help them practice for a test? I knew that the only thing on his mind was pussy and... pussy. Along with all the other things about the female body that made him excitable, certainly. 

Roman pressed teasing kisses to my neck, wrapping his arms around my tired body. "Are you gonna call me the next time you have a test?" he purred.

"Um... Depends,"

"On what?"

"On whether I'm planning on taking it seriously," I gave Roman's hair another tug, hoping he'd kiss me properly soon. "If it's a life or death thing, you're probably not gonna get involved. However, if it's another chemistry test..." 

Hovering above me now, Roman nudged my nose with his as he smiled against my lips. "I see where you're going with this, I'll take it. But let me redeem myself, okay?"

"Uh... how?" An impossible task.

"I'll teach you the one thing I actually remember," he breathed. Judging by how quickly his smile turned into a smirk, I could almost foresee the next thing coming from his mouth; "The neurons are connected to the nervous system, so they're responsible for making you feel this." 

Roman's lips pressed against mine for the briefest moment-- it was so gentle, so tentative, that for a second, I thought I had simply imagined it. This wasn't usually how he kissed me. This was different. This was gentle, sincere. My breath felt stuck in my chest as my fist in his hair faltered, feeling as though my body was on fire. 

Fucking neurons, giving me hope that I could both pass the test and have Roman Godfrey for myself. 

(thank u to Wikipedia LMAOOO I would go on and refer to the article like I've been taught but I'm SALTY so no<3 mwah)

[evignonita]

[🔶] Annual Pasnerv redraw

"Entre nomeolvides, me dejé nuestros abriles olvidados en el fondo del placar del cuarto de invitados; eran tiempos dorados, un pasado mejor. #ghosteado"

This early strangetown drawing is a redraw of the first drawing I uploaded to this blog, this on July 1, 2023. My style has changed considerably since that date and even since last year 😭😭 I still don't color as well as I would like LFBSPEJEPR

This year I decided to draw Nyon instead of the og Nervous and my Pascal from TS4 because I love them so much tehee

↓ Previous versions ↓

[2023] // [2024]

CRYING how awful but lowkey cute

[greenheartart]

Day 23 - Juicy

Making the best juice ever through SCIENCE!

(The science is just an ungodly amount of trial and error. ... Which is how all science works, so they're doing a good job!)

((A juicer would be easier, but that's just laziness talking! Pulp and rinds be damned, anything can be blended down to a fine liquid if you just believe in yourself and really lean on the pulse button.))

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

New Fear

I have been on tumblr a long time. A looooong time. Far longer than I should have been, really.

And I've been arguing with schmucks about birds being dinosaurs... pretty much that whole time. Folks tend to get angry when a dinosaur blog posts birds, after all. It happens.

And while the game of whack a mole is ancient, it's not unpredictable. Usually, it ends in one of two ways:

the person admits they were wrong, and they back down

the person stops arguing with me and blocks me

I'm okay with either one, really. the former is ideal, the latter at least brings me peace.

Never before this past weekend has someone insisted they were right no matter what I say

And this isn't a coincidence.

Over the past few decades, anti-science sentiment has risen worldwide. I mean you just have to look at the COVID19 pandemic, or general reactions to the problems of climate change.

While of course people who think their opinion matters more than evidence have always existed, they have never been quite this bold before.

The idea that the colloquial definition of dinosaur matters, at all, is a completely new idea and one that has no basis in reality.

And yet, multiple people this past weekend argued exactly that.

And it sounds exceptionally similar to the idea that people could pick and choose things about COVID19 to believe, or the general republican position on science (only things that back up their bigotry are true).

It really seems to reflect a general increase in anti science sentiment and public anti-intellectualism.

Reality isn't actually up for debate. Reality isn't actually subjective. And science is the measure of reality

This isn't the same as the biases of society impacting science and making it worse. Saying "what people think is more important than science" is not the same as saying "science forgot a very important variable / factor / to consider data gained by different cultures / to have a wide variety of perspectives/ etc."

And allowing people to continue to perpetuate and believe in delusions leads directly to the spread of misinformation, leading to more people not understanding reality, and so on

This matters because reality matters. Because the reality of our world is not something we can change or escape. And, in fact, us ignoring the reality of the world - like thinking we can have infinite growth on a finite planet - is directly leading to the destruction of that world (climate change).

I am terrified of the rise of anti-science sentiment. I am terrified of the rise of cherry picking, deciding reality is what you want it to be, ignoring evidence. We see this from purely scientific topics all the way to social justice (how much of racism is ignoring the evidence of a) race being a social construct and b) how much racism impacts people's lives? Almost all of it).

This is bigger than birds being dinosaurs or evolution or climate change. This is about our society going on a deeply disturbing and self-destructive path.

And I really don't know what to do about it.

[isbergillustration]

She is having a Suboptimal Time

[aliasknives]

a dear friend of mine who is about to start bg3 asked me which character i romanced and who my favorite is yesterday and like. it’s actually unbelievably fucking humiliating that one of the bg3 characters that im most frequently rotating in my mind is the lawful evil goth loser who is wearing the magic equivalent of a weighted blanket while trying to plunge the world into totalitarian dictatorship. instead of literally anyone else

[amazingdeadfish]

Who won teacher of the year?

If we are talking about LMK Highschool Teacher AU?

Mr Sun (Wukong). By a long shot. He wins the hypothetical award every year. Macaque of course always comes bitter second.

And now I'll use this ask as an excuse to introduce two more teachers to the AU

Continuation from here:

[aro-culture-is]

Aro culture is cut grass smell

Don't ask me how

It just is

green

[whatiswhump]

Although it could be considered relative, Test Subject has decided not all days here are created equal.

There are the days they are left alone in their cell, like a book forgotten on the shelf of a library. Those are the dullest of their life but there is solace that they aren’t actively being cut open.

Then there are days of trials. Sometimes injections, sometimes infusions, sometimes inhalants, sometimes surgeries where the Test Subject doesn’t even know what occurred because they were unconscious for it. Then they only see the aftermath.

And then there are the measuring days. At least that’s what they call them. TS probably shouldn’t like them, going poked, moved around, blood lost by the bag that leaves them struggling to lift their arms. But at the same time, the X-rays, the MRI’s, the swabs, although they are all capturing and removing things piece by piece from TS, it feels like the least is being done to them.

They know. They know the logic didn’t make sense- lull days they were left completely alone. But on those days they became afraid that maybe they were no longer useful. Maybe their final test had been run, maybe they were slated for expiration next. They couldn’t know and that was made those days just as invasive as the days that unknown vials made them tremble, vomit, and stopping breathing.

At least on “measuring days” the techs didn’t talk as much. They just picked up limbs and manipulated, just like a doll. One liked to hum. TS could relax here. These days they didn’t usually even notice when canulas went in.

And to think they used to be so afraid of needles.

[starssoblue]

i need more episodes about adrien just trying new things and gradually figuring out what he wants to spend his time doing, what classes and hobbies he genuinely enjoys, and then eventually, what he'd like to pursue professionally. i never really thought about running before sublimation and while i still don't think that's actually his passion, i love that he connected the act of running to the freedom and joy he gets when he's being chat noir, running around paris saving people. one of my favorite things about adrien that a lot of people in fandom especially in fics miss is that just because he's decent or even great at several things doesn't mean he has a personal connection to that thing. in early ml he was acting in his friends' student films, playing sports to different results, fencing with his friends, participating in band, even modeling for fun. in climatiqueen, he discovered he was decent at drawing, a mess with labwork, quick with languages (no surprise there), and v new to baking—all things he could improve upon but nothing that made him feel passion. but he specified the reason he had fun trying those things wasn't the things themselves but because he was doing them with marinette, same as before when he took skills he was forced to acquire by his father and re-utilized them to hang out with his friends despite not feeling a personal connection to any of those hobbies or talents. i don't know if the show plans on him discovering this soon (they're sooooo young, i hate that he is even stressing about this just because his friends are not normal and because the french school system has most people declare their course of study in lycée) but i'm just excited to see him branch out and try new things and get the life experience he was denied when he was younger. 

and running away from the agreste manor (where he was confined and forced to be a perfect mold) as his first step toward self discovery? brilliant imagery.

[soullessjack]

ill be honest i think i like the idea of shadow being Something that doesn’t even qualify as a hedgehog on any level besides appearance, more than i like him being an actual hedgehog. like..

“looking like a hedgehog” ? “unassuming form” ?

like he was literally just planned as ‘The Ultimate Life-form,’ without an actual form in mind. a giant eyeless salamander from an entirely separate branch of animal family is his predecessor. shadow being a hedgehog is at best, pure coincidence (and definitely for the sake of The Hedgehog being the titular/most popular/most marketable surname in the franchise), and at second-best, a result of Gerald being inspired by the Super Sonic mural (which is just a fan theory & frankly not very interesting) —

so I think it’s both funnier and way more interesting for him to be, like, Black Doom’s little alien homunculus flesh puppet that his (its?) soul will transfer into at the event of his (its?) death which is pretty close to what the end goal was in generations actually. and that’s not even touching the mutations ; something that meets no actual qualifications for a hedgehog as a mammal — side note, Black Doom is definitely not mammalian or any alien equivalent to the class, so jot that down — but it’s just easier to call him hedgehog since that’s what he looks like.

shadow is a hedgehog in quotation marks.

a vaguely-hedgehog-shaped thing, if you will.