🦇 Two PhD positions available on our new ARC Discovery Grant: "From Diversity to Disease: Viral Ecology, Evolution and Persistence in Bats" The project will investigate how viral diversity evolves and persists, with a particular focus on recently discovered henipaviruses in Australian flying foxes.

Fantastic news from ABC Science today: a wonderful donor - former librarian Ms Margaret Bales - has given $1 million to establish a Science Journalist Fellowship Program. www.abc.net.au/about/the-ab...

ARC says they’ll announce DECRA and LIEF outcomes tomorrow (Tuesday 25th Nov). In recent times these announcements have been around 11am Canberra time. With 2 schemes on the same day, I assume they’ll announce one of them later in the day (probably DECRA first).

Where to start, with a statement like this? "Tim Ayres said the cuts were aimed at refocusing … CSIRO towards research priorities, such as critical minerals, iron & steel production in Australia." From some rando down the bus stop, one would brush it off. But this is from our Science Minister 🤯

Thrilled to see this finally announced - and glad to see good things still happening to good people! Congratulations to Pardis, Christian, and the rest of the Sentinel team! 👏🥳 www.macfound.org/press/press-...

“CSIRO has announced it will slash up to 350 jobs as the national science agency grapples with long-term financial challenges … with current funding failing to keep pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency.” Not “challenges”. They’re choices. 😡

First outbreak of Marburg (or Ebola) in Ethiopia. There isn't a licensed vaccine for Marburg, but an experimental one was used for a 2024 outbreak in Rwanda (www.science.org/content/arti...).

Applications are open for the Postdoctoral Enrichment Program (PDEP)—supporting postdocs as they advance cutting-edge research and build thriving scientific careers. Learn more & apply: bwfund.org/pdep #bwfpdep

Okay so as promised... let's go through this paper and why it matters 🧵 #medsky #immunosky #idsky

Our paper on the phenomenon of persistence and latency in Ebola virus in an unobserved reservoir is finally out in preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Dunno if youse are across this... but it's forecast that in Sydney on Wednesday the temp will be 38C. (100 F) It's OCTOBER! That's FIFTEEN DEGREES ABOVE AVERAGE! Our Government and fossil fuel companies are determined to cook us alive! Boil the oceans. Kill our forests. Turn habitat to ash.🥺😩

… today, a group of 160 scientists from 23 countries is announcing that the planet has already reached its first major tipping point: the widespread death of warm-water coral reefs.

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

An ode to the written word.

This is desperately sad. Professor John Woinarski breaks the news for @aunz.theconversation.com that Australia's next animal - the tiny Christmas Island Shrew - has officially been declared extinct. theconversation.com/and-then-the...

Aww shucks, thanks so much @wdaa.bsky.social I love the sense of “being amongst my people” that the WDAA community brings & am so honoured to have been recognised in this way by that community. Thanks so much to the committee, my nominator & all my students/collaborators for their contributions 🦇

An interesting ZOLA (Zoonotic Risk Mitigation in Live Animal Markets) PhD research project for a Bangladeshi candidate [email protected] for more info

"Israel's policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)". www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

An announcement of famine — as has now happened regarding Gaza — is a complicated decision. Here's what must be considered before such a declaration is made.

"This famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed. The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading." At least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition. THIRTY PERCENT

**Postdoc opportunities**👇👇 Find me at poster 302 today between 17:30-18:00 for a chat. 🦡🦠🔬🧬 #eseb2025

Nature: Cancelling mRNA studies is the highest irresponsibility go.nature.com/3HDx4wD cc Jay Bhattacharya

I'm looking forward to being a part of this special episode of What The Duck, when the winner of Australia's Most Underrated Animal will be announced. 12-1pm, Today, on ABC RN. Go team #MarsupialMole! www.abc.net.au/news/science... #NationalScienceWeek

For all of the educators trying to deal with AI, I did a deep dive in early June and these are the four articles I decided to assign to my students. 1. This is the longest of the bunch, but so wonderfully comprehensive. www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...

Grateful to @marionkoopmans.bsky.social for writing this thoughtful piece in Nature Rev Micro. We can’t push back against anti-science movements without taking the threat seriously, proactively address our limitations, and engage with the public clearly & candidly. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I usually tell people that *so far*, habitat loss, not climate change, has been the major driver of bird population declines... but now we're starting to get analyses directly connecting bird declines to extreme weather events fueled by climate change. 🪶 theconversation.com/70-years-of-...

Forecasting the effects of #epidemics is complicated by a population’s pathogen exposure history. @pfvale.bsky.social @chadisaadroy.bsky.social & Mike Boots argue for the use of experimental #DiseaseEcology to better understand the consequences of variations in #infection history 🧪 plos.io/4mdDVvW

What a special bunch of humans looking after our special bats 🦇 Absolutely amazing to visit this sanctuary during the recent @ibrc2025.bsky.social conference 🇦🇺 youtu.be/ttYuewsEv_I

The situation in Gaza is catastrophic, tens of thousands of people have already died. Millions are trapped, starving, & denied essential aid. Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Our government must take decisive action NOW: Sign Oxfam Australia’s letter for urgent action Photo Leon Rice-Whetton

I refuse to accept this. I refuse to be a bystander. That's why I say @albomp.bsky.social Not In My Name Sign Oxfam Australia’s letter calling for urgent action: a permanent ceasefire, humanitarian access &accountability & tell the Australian Government, Not In My Name. #NotInMyName #CeaseFireNow

Highly recommend this great opportunity to develop #theory together with @kostchristian.bsky.social and group who are simply a wonderful bunch!!

Members of the @albomp.bsky.social government persistently & shamelessly dissemble while Israel assassinates Palestinian journalists & carries out genocide & mass starvation Defence Min Marles is one of the least credible politicians in the cabinet—why trot him out❓ #SanctionIsrael #ActNOW

BBC International Editor Jeremy Bowen has confirmed that the entire Al Jazeera team in Gaza City has been killed.

Al-Sharif killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli attack on tent housing journalists outside al-Shifa hospital.

The unwarranted denial of travel visas for 8 respected international bat researchers was a shameful and embarrassing start to the International Bat Research Conference in Cairns. Well done to the ABS and Guardian for highlighting it @ibrc2025.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I had an excellent time at #IBRC2025 hosting the comparative immunology sessions and co-presenting our work on bat antiviral immunity with Dr. Irving at the Bat1K symposium. (1/2)

We are on the lookout for postdocs for two different projects at the intersection of ecology, evolution, and the human microbiome. See thread for more information and reach out!

From the University of Southern Queensland- Vanessa Gorecki presenting “From caves to culverts: Use of road culverts by trawling bats in an urban environment”. #ibrc2025

I’m excited to be at the International Bat Research Conference #IBRC2025 in Cairns with some of my PhD students - 8 talks between us! Brent Jones @epibrent.bsky.social started with a talk on bat flies & Bartonella, and Cinthia Pietromonaco gave her first conference talk ever on ageing flying foxes

Fabulous book at an absolute bargain price!

If you're a person who shops on Amazon, I've just seen that the paperback version of our textbook is on sale for $35! Buy it and read about scientists chasing wombats with nets and plunging into frigid cave water to search for bats. www.amazon.com/Emerging-Zoo...

Matt Golding's cartoon is beautiful. #MarchForHumanity #SaveGaza 🇵🇸 🍉 #RecognisePalestine #FreePalestine

Happy August. Here is a little surprise for everybody: The english version of my book is finally available. You can get it on Amazon. You can also read and listen to it on my blog, where I will release the book as freely accessible serialized novel. 1/ www.protagonist-science.com/p/lab-leak-f...

Great general explainer on what happened to all our other infections when we isolated during the pandemic, how this played out when we started mixing again and a new term to capture it - a straightforward “infection pause” rather than the easily misinterpreted “immunity debt” @mackayim.bsky.social

You’ve been badly misled over COVID origins theconversation.com/how-conspira...

The former Attorney General of Israel, Michael Benyair is now calling Israel's actions in Gaza genocide. "To eternal shame. Jews, who suffered a genocide 80 years ago, are committing genocide in Gaza. Shame, rage, and sorrow"

Out today in Parasites & Vectors, Angelo Andrianiaina led a paper in which we described the seasonal diversity and effect of climate on ectoparasites on two species of Madagascar fruit bat, Eidolon dupreanum and Rousettus madagascariensis doi.org/10.1186/s130... 🧪🦇

Thank you to @kylielewis.bsky.social, we now have a Homeward Bound starter pack - looking forward to connecting with the nine cohorts of #WomenInSTEMM leaders go.bsky.app/EXogj2a