Got given a subscription to @humblebundle.com monthly bundle this year which has inspired me to play through more of my backlog as well. Goal is to play a new game a day (if I play any games that day) and post about it here.

One last read of this grant. Completely sick of it, so I know it’s ready.

New postdoctoral fellowship opportunity! Please pass along. Excited to announce the launch of the Tom Lovejoy Fellowship Program at the University of Arizona for innovative research to protect species, sustain ecosystems, and promote a thriving planet lovejoycenter.arizona.edu/lovejoy-fell... 🧪🌐🌾

Felt a little festive at the microscope this morning for #FluorescenceFriday 🎄 Here’s the nervous system of a juvenile sea star ⭐️ Green = acetylated tubulin, red = nuclei Happy holidays!

I’m more optimistic than Terry here about the fundamentals of the review process…. But I think the lack of money will make it so the borderline grants he mentions here (and yep, it definitely happens like he says) won’t be funded anyway bc theres less money overall

NSF bio hour - NSF BIO lost 40% of its staff 😑

Q&A My favorite program has been archived, will it come back? Postdoc, etc…programs They don’t know what’s coming back if they’re archived. They value postdoc program but they don’t know what’s coming back

Live thread of the NSF biology virtual office hour: 🧵

Applications for the ASM Career Development Grant for Postdoctoral Women are due February 17! A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, this grant renewed my confidence in my career and helped me launch my predatory bacteria research program. How might it help you? asm.org/fellowships/...

imagining a NSF PO handing a VC bro the stack of 10-to-15 proposals they'll have to be ready to discuss, then explaining that they'll be paid $600 for the three days of the panel meeting

the sort of canonical raison d’être of NSF funding, of course, is that it supports research efforts that do not appeal to the venture capital/industry/near-term profit-motivated set,

Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA? Well, wonder no more! (Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social) "No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Join Dr. Quan Zeng for "Illustrating a Novel Host Entry Mechanism of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria," part of our Advances in #phytobacteriology series. Save your spot, and we'll see you Jan 15, 2026: https://bit.ly/3YnkfLz FREE for members! #apswebinar #phytobacteriology

Amid a whole host of other upheaval—their last day in the building is this Friday—NSF is making some changes to its grant review process. I spoke to staff about the potential benefits and drawbacks:

Please repost If you were to choose a new postdoc advisor to launch yourself for a faculty position in some realm of bacterial physiology/genetics, who would you consider? (Asking for a thesis committee mentee of mine) #microSky

Looks like a great special issue on hyphae in fungi in FGB www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu... doi.org/10.1016/j.fg... worth a browse! 🍄🧬

DOE's Office of Science is making a big push into AI, and that includes our work at the @jgi.doe.gov . We want to hear your thoughts (+ and -) on AI-enabled biological data. Consider joining one of our interviews or focus groups by filling out this form! 🧪🧬🦠🖥️ #secmet jointgeno.me/PortalStorie...

Most common editorial management systems are notoriously bad. So yes, it *is* that hard 😭 So please be aware that many of these things are automated/fixed and are, unfortunately, not under our control.

Super excited to share our latest work on the Hsp70 chaperone code "Mechanosensor-mediated Hsp70 phosphorylation orchestrates the landscape of the heat shock response" out now in Nature Communications: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Oh I have a comment: “Loss of promising talent supported by these [DEI] programmes will substantially weaken our research capacity, limit innovation and substantially reduce discoveries important for driving scientific advancements.” pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41131402/

@bhuwanabbot.bsky.social @morgancarterphd.bsky.social @raw937.bsky.social @andrabuchan.bsky.social et al. present a pangenome analysis of the endofungal genus Mycetohabitans, showing bacteria-fungus coevolution. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf231 #genome #evolution #pangenome #MicrobeSky

After years of struggling with how to cryopreserve one of our endosymbiotic bacteria, we found something that worked! 🦠☃️ We crowd-sourced suggestions and then @ruthwright.bsky.social tried the most common ones (like 🥛...). Want to do the same? Here is how we did it: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

And we're also not doing any weird STEM superiority complexes, either. I've seen some "why is earth & atmospheric science getting lumped in with textiles & fashion" and that's not cool. Nebraskans deserve the fullest range of educational opportunities & community expertise, not just in science.

The UC Davis Ecology and Evolution in Working Landscapes REU provides undergrads with research experience in ecology and evolution in natural and managed landscapes. Apply now through Feb 15 via etap.nsf.gov Contact me or @clhom.bsky.social for questions!

#NewPI life level-up: approving the proofs for one paper the same day that you submit another 🤩 good work team!

We are hiring!! Biological Sciences as UNC Charlotte has a broad search for a new assistant professor. Apps reviewed 12/15. Please spread the word! 💚⛏️ #PlantSci 🧪🦠🧬 jobs.charlotte.edu/postings/65141

My department at California State University Northridge is hiring! We're looking for a new colleague studying microbiology or molecular/cellular biology. I'm not on the search committee, but happy to answer questions about the department and campus, and life in LA buff.ly/Pc1KOaC

I'm playing around with an article concept about "compensation absurdities" in higher ed. Thinking about things like: -a $1,500 raise for promotion after 6 years of teaching -requiring outside offers for a raise -not increasing pay for interim roles What other examples can you think of?

Everything you always wanted to know about mushroom-forming fungi! Great collab with amazing mycologists. Thanks Laszlo Nagy for leading this effort! www.nature.com/articles/s44...

We are excited to present the accepted paper on the Mycetohabitans pangenome now in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social! 🧬🦠 Thanks to @bhuwanabbot.bsky.social for leading and collaborators: @raw937.bsky.social @andrabuchan.bsky.social academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-...

New York Times article on science funding with some depressing but familiar curves with interactive graphics. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Big congratulations @guidopuccetti.bsky.social !! Very proud of your achievement. It can feel like an eternity as a PhD student sometimes to see their first chapter in published form. Enjoy the moment!! 🎉

Rainy and below 40F (4C) is my least favorite non-extreme weather

I am forever explaining assignments which, to me, feel fairly basic. I do offer some creative options, which need a bit more context. But so many of my students seem unable to follow instructions, even when I return to them multiple times, write them down, or turn them into games or quizzes.

Only a few days left to submit your session and workshop proposal for #PlantHealth2026! Don't miss your opportunity to: • Be a thought leader • Connect with colleagues • Deliver impactful learning Submit by December 1: https://bit.ly/4hrcOvR #planthealth #plantscience

New preprint: 🚀🧬 Starship in the genome of the lichen fungus Xanthoria. Discovery of giant transposons Starships challenged what we thought we knew about fungal genomes. But what about Starships in #lichen fungi? Let us present Tangerine! 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Again, turkeys are 70-80% off from today onwards and last a year in the freezer. If you’ve got a chest freezer in the garage that’s good soup, stew, and smoker meat for the whole winter for a really good price.

Please pass along - We've extended the CAMBIUM fellowship deadline to December 15! Our NSF NRT supports new grad students to harness biodiversity big data to adapt to & mitigate climate change impacts. Great fit for evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, ecology & more. cambium.arizona.edu 🧬🌐🌎

Jana Sperschneider et al. reported a new, high-quality genome assembly of the flax rust fungus (Melampsora lini) resolved complex effector loci and confirmed 2 unusually large effector proteins, AvrM3 and AvrN. This challenges the standard idea that effectors must be small: https://bit.ly/3Jpr37O

Time to start planning for ASM Microbe 2026! Among the amazing sessions announced (see link), Chris and I are thrilled to be convening “From the Rhizosphere to Pollinators: Studying Agricultural Microbiomes Across Biological Scales”. We can’t wait to see you all there! More details coming soon!

Great Mini Symposium at Texas A&M PLPM with delegates from National Taiwan University and Chung-Hsing University. From the #AntonyBabu_Lab, Dr. Esaú Camarillo presented machine-learning guided synthetic microbial communities for pollutant degradation. #TAMU #MachineLearning #SyntheticBiology

It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick. Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.

Scientific journals: we don’t want you using generative AI because it makes shit up. Same journal: here is an AI summary or evaluation of this paper. This might be more useful than the actual abstract or paper that the authors freaking wrote Same journal: AI cover art which makes no sense? Oooh!

i don't agree with the attitude of some faculty that their job is to train people who can run the code, even if they don't understand the underlying physics i want a society of people who are trained to be curious about the code they're being asked to run and capable of understanding it, actually

This is how you destroy science and research in the country

The administration is building a legal pathway for ad hoc grant terminations: "if the agency determines that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities" Converting multiyear grants to 'at whim' coin flips will undermine the stability & leadership of American science.

Science People: We at NSF are still recovering/catching up/getting our lives together. But the agency posted these FAQs about post-shutdown resumption of operations which might answer a lot of Qs for you: www.nsf.gov/resumption-o...