Rachel Holser

quote on a dark blue and purple background from Sudip S. Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), criticizing proposed cuts to science funding in the FY26 U.S. federal budget. The quote reads: “If enacted, the FY26 budget request would end America’s global scientific leadership. The cuts to science would imperil our nation’s future health, security and prosperity. This budget proposal stands in stark contrast to the President’s call for a renewed commitment to American scientific leadership. Congress has demonstrated a bipartisan commitment to investment in research and must do so again to answer the President’s call.” The quote is attributed to Sudip S. Parikh, CEO of AAAS and Executive Publisher of the Science family of journals. The AAAS logo appears at the bottom right.

I don't think anyone outside of universities, pharma and biotech, independent research institutions have any idea of what is happening right now. If you haven't sounded the alarm among your friends, family and colleagues, now is the time to do it.

Have a listen about some of the work I’ve been assisting the amazing @drmichellelarue.bsky.social with this last year! 🦭🐧🧊

Cognitive perception of circulating oxygen in seals is the reason they don’t drown Marine mammals rely on maintaining sufficient blood oxygen levels while diving to prevent drowning. Generally, oxygen is cognitively imperceptible to mammals that instead sense rising carbon dioxide a...

Excellent paper by @chrismcknight.bsky.social ! Congratulations! 🦭

Cognitive perception of circulating oxygen in seals is the reason they don’t drown | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

If you didn’t already know that Rochelle Constantine is a total badass, check out this footage and you will see. They got drone and underwater views of it?! Incredible.
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Happy Monday! This is a good time to remind you that grey seal pups display high individual variability in their movement patterns during their first year at sea - Look where these guys have been. The things they must have seen! #PinnipedFacts 🦭

For the full statement, please visit the Society for Marine Mammalogy's webpage: marinemammalscience.org/diversity-in...

#SMM #marinemammalscience #missionstatement

Migrating baleen whales transport high-latitude nutrients to tropical and subtropical ecosystems - Nature Communications Baleen whales migrate from high latitude feeding grounds to subtropical reproductive winter grounds, translocating limiting nutrients across ecosystems. This study estimates the latitudinal movement o...

🚨New paper out!
By migrating between productive high latitude and oligotrophic regions (Great Baleen Conveyor Belt) large whales 🐋 transport incredible amounts of nutrients to low latitudes @jjkiszka.bsky.social @andrewabraham.bsky.social @dancosta2025.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.

Every US scientist needs to 100% clear that this is a fundamental attack on the process of science itself. If allowed to stand it will be the end of US science as we know it. Staying quiet because it does not (yet) target your work is not an option.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

**Antarctic POST-DOC announcement incoming!**

Sarah Flanagan, Jong-U Kim, Jeong-Hoon Kim & I are teaming up to study population genomics of emperor penguins in the Ross Sea. 20-month position available, will inform the Ross Sea MPA review. Join us in NZ! 🧪🌍🦑🦉

flanagan-lab.github.io/people/open-...

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Science under threat | Royal Society The Royal Society will use its voice and the expertise of our Fellows to resist the various challenges to science.

royalsociety.org/news/2025/02...

A wave curls and crashes from left to right as it swells toward the shoreline in Monterey Bay. the water is blue and the foaming wave front is white.

Protecting the ocean has always been a bipartisan effort, in Congress and across multiple White House administrations. In the face of ill-conceived attacks on @noaa.gov, it's time to raise our voices. My thoughts in defense of NOAA and #OceanScience: mbayaq.co/4k8vEsx

Cutest little floof of the season! (Sorry Ursula)

Yeah, I’d be interested! Thanks :)

That’s our bird!!! He’s been hanging around there for more than a month, I wondered when someone would spot him.

This is Juju, named by my other nephew.

Thank you Bluesky friends for getting this to me, how very cool!
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🚨 New review on lunar cycle effects on #tuna 🐟, #billfish 🐟, #sharks 🦈 & #rays with @sammy-shark.bsky.social & others! 🚨

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We reviewed 190 studies that showed animals moved deeper with increasing lunar illumination. Check out our paper for best practices!

doi.org/10.1007/s111...

Extra special thanks to Theresa Keates, Arina Favilla, and @jkendallbar.bsky.social for your time in the coding trenches with me. And your collective ability to find all the problems! 😂😂😂

Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals - Scientific Data Scientific Data - Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals

🚨 New Paper Alert 🚨

We put decades of effort in collecting this massive dataset on movement and diving behaviour of northern elephant seals and now we make it available! 🦭🦑🌎
Check it out here 👉

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals - Scientific Data Scientific Data - Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals

Over 5 years of writing code, collating metadata, processing, QCing, reprocessing, QCing, reprocessing…… not to mention the weeks, months, & years of field work by a small army of researchers. I am SO excited that we’re sharing this incredible dataset. 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Adult female Weddell seal outfitted with satellite tag accompanied by her pup while resting in a breathing hole in the fast ice

Success! Our fearless leader @drmichellelarue.bsky.social, along with @rachelholser.bsky.social deployed all 10 tags on Weddell seals in the Ross Sea! Photo by Dan Costa. NMFS permit #25770

New Weddell seal project alert! Led by @drmichellelarue.bsky.social and a great team including @rachelholser.bsky.social and Dan Costa, our field team has put out 6 sat tags on 🦭 from Eastern Ross Sea to understand what they do between breeding and moulting - Keep checking this space for updates

Line graph time series of 2024's daily Antarctic sea ice extent anomalies in red shading compared to each year from 1979 to 2022 using shades of purple to white for each line. Anomalies are computed relative to a 1981-2010 baseline. 2023 is the record low for most days, which is shown in yellow. There is substantial interannual and daily variability. There are no clear long-term trends.

It's another historic year in the #Antarctic. With ice growth remaining slow (austral winter), the magnitude of the Antarctic sea ice departure is almost as anomalous as last year's record. Wow.

Full seasonal cycle graphs available at zacklabe.com/antarctic-se....

Foraging behavior and age affect maternal transfer of mercury to northern elephant seal pups - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Foraging behavior and age affect maternal transfer of mercury to northern elephant seal pups

🚨🚨New Paper 🚨 🚨 Rockstar scientist @sarahelendil23 leads this amazing study showing how foraging and age of elephant seals 🦭 moms affect transfer of mercury to the pups www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🦭🌎🧪

SCIENCE FACT: There is no animal in the world that looks funnier with a telemetry tracker on its head than a seal

It has been.... a long time... since I've posted a #penguinpicoftheday, #PPOTD, so here you go folks, a BUNCH of king penguins for your viewing pleasure also did you know they are roughly half the size of emperor penguins
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