There are few behaviors that are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. Most of these are basic biological processes: eating, sleeping, shitting. These behaviors are innate - we need to do them, no matter what. A lot of early childhood is just mastering them without adult intervention. It’s not that we learn do them but rather that we learn how to control them in ways that are deemed socially acceptable.
But there’s at least one innate behavior that humans have (with modest success in some senses) sought to eliminate: the looming response. If you’ve ever tried to kill a fruit fly, then you are already familiar:
You see the fly come to rest on a surface. It’s probably the fly equivalent of “catching your breath” which makes it vulnerable. But you’re nervous. Germs on dead animals are icky, so you grab a paper towel to prevent direct contact. You wind up, waiting to release until you feel certain you have the advantage. You strike, but the fly just glides away. What happened??? The fly saw the hovering shadow of your bulky paper towel, triggering an escape response.1
This escape behavior is referred to the “looming response” given that it is triggered by the perception of a predator’s shadow overhead. It’s common to nearly all animals. Given that looming is such a basic response, it’s easy to recreate in the lab including with human subjects. For example, one study found that participants had a stronger escape response to visual presentation of snakes and spiders compared to rabbits and butterflies. These results suggest that the threat posed by a predator correlates with the level of alarm triggered.
The brain regions involved in these responses are evolutionarily basic. After being processed in the sensory regions of the brain, the threat information is sent to the thalamus and basal ganglia. These regions are so basic that they are present in lampreys - an early vertebrate, eel-like species that is older than dinosaurs. To get a sense of how much human anatomy has diverged from lampreys, consider that lampreys lack a hard skeleton. Instead, their bodies are protected by cartilage. And yet, they too attempt to escape from a looming stimulus.
An individual’s response to looming is one of either two basic options: freeze and flight. The freeze is the shocking awareness of being in the predator’s eye - trying not to move so that you don’t get noticed. If attacked, you can fight your way out of it. That’s a last resort though. At any time you can flee. Yes, you’ll get noticed. But if you’re fast enough, maybe you can make it to safety.
The choice between freeze and flight is yours to make at any time, and your decision is influenced by personal circumstance. How easy is it for you to get to safety? How comfortable are you in a fight? Do you have friends nearby to help?
The looming response has been on my mind lately because it resonates with how I feel at the moment. I feel the presence of predators. Their shadows loom overhead. I’m committed to the fight, but that doesn’t mean I’m not afraid. Often unpredictable, a predator’s strike can come at any time and in many forms. As a result, I am hypervigilant - looking for any sign that might help me gain an advantage against a more powerful predator.
I recently had a surprise meeting with my advisor. I came back from lunch, checked my email, and noticed a new message from her. She wanted to check in after a department-wide zoom call with an NIH insider. The session was organized by the department to manage fears about the state of science funding given the new Trump administration’s targeted attacks.
Given my identities as both a scientist and a trans woman, I asked him about a concern that had cropped up in the back of my mind: whether there are any plans to cut off trans scientists from federal grants. With the purge of trans intelligence workers in the US government, this possibility seemed at least plausible to me. Our NIH insider responded that many inside the NIH are fearful of this eventual outcome - though no concrete plans have emerged yet.2
This was not the answer I was looking for. NIH is a critical funder of scientific research, and it’s difficult to fund a biology research program in the United States without at least some federal money. Without access to NIH grants, my goal of becoming a professor and managing my own lab would be immediately dead. Not to mention similar impacts on other openly trans scientists.
When I walked down the hall to pop by my advisor’s office, I wasn’t feeling that great. The looming threat had me frozen, unable to cognitively process much at a time. I sat down across from her and gave an awkward smile. I didn’t say anything because my mind was blank, so she went first. She shared that after the zoom call she too was concerned about the possibility of a trans exclusionary NIH policy. She thought it would be prudent to escalate our concerns up the university hierarchy so that a response plan could be proactively developed.
Still in a state of shock, I offered to draft an email which we would edit together and eventually cosign. Then, I thanked her. She sighed and assured me that she isn’t as strong of an ally as she may seem. I had already figured out that her gender politics are not radical, but in that moment it didn’t matter. She was using her power to support me and take a small step toward justice. So, I was truthful when I replied that this was the biggest act of allyship that I had yet to experience in the scientific community.
We have since forwarded our concerns to the academic leadership at our institution. Communications are ongoing, and of course the threat still looms overhead. But, I am no longer sitting frozen as a target, and I have an ally to thank for that.
from the archive
This is why I have eschewed the paper towel for the direct strike.
As I write this, news is breaking that active NIH grants involving studies of transgender people are being terminated. It remains unclear whether this is legal, but the administration does not care about that. There was already not enough funding of research into trans populations, and this will undoubtedly exacerbate the issue.
I hope the looming threat you sense does not become reality and you are not affected. Alas, your fears are totally justified given the current circumstances.
:')