American science has been under attack since this Trump administration began. Tens of thousands of scientists and federal workers have lost their jobs and the effects are starting to permeate through society. This week I have Dr. Kevin Bird on to explain the events of the last 3 months, how science is funded in the United States, why it is being attacked so aggressively, and the ideologies behind these attacks. He also gives us a history lesson on movements of the past that sought to protect the scientific enterprise. It is really important to protect science. Publicly-funded research benefits us all! (Also, sorry for the choppy editing on this episode; I wanted to get this one out quickly!)

Kevin is a NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UC Davis studying the evolutionary impact of structural variation in plant genomes. He also researches scientific racism and posts lots of interesting stuff on his Bluesky account. You can also learn more about his work on his website or Google Scholar page.

Here are some articles Kevin recommends:

1. Brand new article about the NSF freeze
2. Article about the impacts on US science
3. Article about US brain drain
4. USDA and food security
5. US-AID labs that were cut
6. Article on the admin’s resegregationism and Project 2025
7. Article about TESCREAL
8. Article about neoreaction
9. Radical science movements from the past

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution or funding agency.

If you tuned in last week, you'll know that diatoms produce one quarter of the air we breathe (and they produced this podcast's logo), but did you know that they can also be used to solve crimes???! Rather than spoiling too much by writing a long caption here, you should just press play to hear from Dr. Kirstie Scott, a forensic diatomist and one of the most interesting people I've spoken with. In this episode we discuss how certain environments have certain cells and how these cells can travel on clothes and in bodies. We also talk about different types of evidence, testifying in court, and many ways in which trace signatures of organisms in the environment can be used in to answer diverse research questions. If you like Dexter or Bones or true crime, this episode is for you!

Kirstie is a senior lecturer in forensic bioscience at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK where she specializes in diatom analysis. You can find her on Linkedin, Google Scholar, X, and Bluesky.

Here are some resources Kirstie recommends:

1. How microscopic algae are helping forensic teams catch criminals
2. Research article on marine diatoms as trace evidence indicators
3. Dead bodies can reveal details of their death through microscopic diatoms

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.

Diatoms are beautiful (and weird). Dinoflagellates are weird (and beautiful). They are completely different organisms but both are protists that can both support whole ecosystems or cause devastating environmental hazards. However, only one of them inspired Alfred Hitchcock to make his famous movie, The Birds (listen to find out which). Both organisms can produce oxygen to help us breathe, and diatoms alone produce over 20% of the oxygen in the atmosphere. And sometimes dinoflagellates will ingest diatoms and use their innards to steal photosynthesis, creating a new type of organism called a "dinotom"! That was a very chaotic group of sentences but luckily this week we have Dr. Brittany Sprecher on the podcast who is an expert at diatoms, dinoflagellates, AND dinotoms. What a combo! We discuss a lot on this episode and you will come away learning all about the amazing research going on with these funky microbes.

Brittany Sprecher is a postdoctoral researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. You can follow her work on Google Scholar.

Here are some links Brittany recommends to learn more about these protists:

1. Short Klaus Kemp diatom arranging documentary
2. Phytoplankton Identification guide (California coast)
3. Microorganisms PARODY video
4. "The algae that saved an astronaut's life" video
5. Wiki for Amoebophrya, the dinoflagellate parasite that infects other dinoflagellates
6. Bioluminescent waves in Monterey Bay
7. Bioluminescence vs. fluorescence video

For more info on microbes and to follow updates of this podcast, find @couch_microscopy on Instagram or visit www.couchmicroscopy.com/store for merch!

The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any institution.