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arstechnica_feedWhen a new presidential administration comes in, it is responsible for filling around 4,000 jobs sprinkled across the federal government’s vast bureaucracy. These political appointees help carry out the president’s agenda, and, at least in theory, make government agencies responsive to elected officials.
Some of these roles—the secretary of state, for example—are well-known. Others, such as the deputy assistant secretary for textiles, consumer goods, materials, critical minerals & metals industry & analysis, are more obscure.
Historically, science agencies like NASA or the National Institutes of Health tend to have fewer political appointees than many other parts of the federal government. Sometimes, very senior roles—with authority over billions of dollars of spending, and the power to shape entire fields of research—are filled without any direct input from the White House or Congress. The arrangement reflects a long-running argument that scientists should oversee the work of funding and conducting research with very little interference from political leaders.
Exterminators keep getting calls for a reason. Wood-devouring insects, such as beetles, termites, and carpenter ants, are constantly chewing through walls or infecting trees and breaking them down. The fight against these insects usually involved noxious insecticides; but now, at least some of them can be eliminated using a certain species of fungus.
Infestations of bark beetles are the bane of spruce trees. Eurasian spruce bark beetles (Ips typographus) ingest bark high in phenolic compounds, organic molecules that often act as antioxidants and antimicrobials. They protect spruce bark from pathogenic fungi—and the beetles take advantage. Their bodies boost the antimicrobial power of these compounds by turning them into substances that are even more toxic to fungi. This would seem to make the beetles invulnerable to fungi.
There is a way to get past the beetles’ borrowed defenses, though. Led by biochemist Ruo Sun, a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, found that some strains of the fungus Beauveria bassiana are capable of infecting and killing the pests.
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allbingo. The fest runs from February 1-28. (See all my 2026 bingo cards.) | Read a Book | Praise | Interracial or Interspecies Love | Marrakesh in Morocco | Take a Class |
| Taking It Slow | Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming USA | Experimentation | Can't get no satisfaction | Nonphysical Passions |
| Validate Yourself | Helplessness | WILD CARD | Lac Rose in Senegal | Breaking the rules |
| Nonsexual Touch | Respect Limits | Sedona in Arizona USA | Denial | Fantasies |
| Odd couple | You are so busted | Do What You Love | Such a gentleman | Enjoy Some Private Time |
allbingo is running a Valentines Fest this month, accompanied by a Valentines Meet and Greet. These are good activities for folks with goals relating to art, writing, blogging, making friends, and so on. snowflake_challenge, where lots of folks want to see more activity on Dreamwidth. While researching community activities, I came across the idea of thematic meet and greet events. That seemed like something which might work here, given a membership of several hundred people and a new theme each month. So I made one for this month's theme. It gives people a place to meet folks with similar interests, and to squee about the current theme. seasonalremix is open to read now. I have a story in there; it's probably, uh, obvious if you know what I am into. getyourwordsout, I'm at 101k written in 2026 (daily average of 3288 through the month of January). Is it good? Is it usable? WHO KNOWS. The important part is that I have been managing to keep a steady pace writing fiction, so that's rather nice. ♥ One of my friends asked if I was counting e.g. Dreamwidth posts for that, or outlining, writing for tabletop modules, etc, and the answer was no — that 100k+ is all written fiction. So that feels doubly-nice, no asking "should I count this" (since the guidelines are flexible and it's up to you), just a general, "I have in fact managed to keep chipping away at this and creating a habit has worked for me". 
fandomocweekly is a low commitment challenge community for sharing your fandom-based original characters. Every week, there is a gen prompt and a relationship prompt. You can post fills in any format/medium (fic, icons, art, etc.). OC x canon, yume, self-shipping, Mary Sues, etc. all welcome! ✨ This week's prompts are ideal & consideration.
fanmix_monthly is not only for fanmixes and the monthly prompts are optional. You're invited to share any mixtapes you've made any time! This month's theme is relationships.
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silvercat17 posting in justcreate
profiterole_reads - Bridgerton Season 4Ajjhunter - Why I Reject Fascismprincessofgeeks - In which the Princess goes to a hockey gamejonw in addme - Greetings from western Canadaswingandswirl - Snowflake Challenge #7: Three Things You Like About Yourselfarstechnica_feed - At NIH, a power struggle over institute directorships deepensarstechnica_feed - Fungus could be the insecticide of the futureprincessofgeeks - (no subject)kalloway in smallweb - Hey there, Smallweb!ysabetwordsmith - Valentines Bingo Card 2-1-26sovay - Wish everyone could hear when she singsysabetwordsmith in newcomers - Valentines Meet and Greetysabetwordsmith in goals_on_dw - Valentines Meet and Greetysabetwordsmith in allbingo - Valentines Meet and Greetysabetwordsmith in allbingo - Valentines Bingo Festhafnia - drive-by updates, ofc.matsushima in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo - fandomocweekly and fanmix_monthlysilvercat17 in justcreate - Just Create - better late than never editioncornerofmadness - Can someone explain this to medays_unfolding - Condo in Chicago?chimingchiming
