Unifying Ecology Across Scales - Gordon Research Conference. With @jennsunday.bsky.social as Chair www.grc.org/unifying-eco...

Thoughts? Let the arrows and ideas fly! @bigbiology.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/bigbiolo...

Prepping for our next interview on @bigbiology.bsky.social…great read on a great Florida day, @kph3k.bsky.social !

The African golden cat is one of Africa’s most elusive predators. Thanks to conservationists like Mwezi Mugerwa, we’re finally starting to understand consistent documentation of how they live.

The Ecological Genetics Group (@bes-egg.bsky.social) celebrates 70 years of ecological genetics with a three-day conference, 15-17 April 2026. This conference will highlight new research and developments shaping the future of the field. 📝Abstract submissions are now open. Deadline: 15 February 2026

Exciting post-doc opportunity at UMD -- The Department of Biology at the University of Maryland, College Park seeks applications for three quantitative biology postdoctoral fellow positions as part of its newly established Quantitative Biology Initiative (QBI)

Is the structure of amino acid codes like RNA completely arbitrary? 🧬 Biochemist and Author of “The Vital Question”, Nick Lane says probably not. He suggests that the physical chemistry of amino acids may be behind the structure of the code.

New paper on the link between FKBP5 expression and risky foraging in house sparrow. Low FKBP5 expression is associated with increased risk taking. Also confirming correlation between blood and HPA axis regulatory region expression with @martinlabusf.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

ASIH is soliciting nominations for the 2026 Margaret Stewart Achievement Award for Excellence - to be awarded to a mid-career scientist in Herpetology. Deadline 20 April 2026. Info here: www.asih.org/awards/stewa... 🐸🦎🐊🐍🐢 Please share and repost!

Here is my first newsletter of the year, on the destruction of science past and future. buttondown.com/carlzimmer/a...

That’s a wrap! 2025 was a big year for the Big Biology community. Thank you to all our subscribers and guests for making 2025 a great year!

PIs, lab heads, parents with kids going to college for biology...what better gift for your academic or actual offspring than a subscription to @bigbiology.bsky.social!? Go to bigbiology.substack.com today and purchase a subscription to share. Happy holidays!!

If you're looking for a great gift for a soon-to-be biologist, why not sign them up for a subscription to @bigbiology.bsky.social on Substack? Go to bigbiology.substack.com today and sign up! Biology goodness for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per episode!

Are you interested in SciComm and attending the SICB meetings in Portland? Check out the Multi-Media Science Communication Workshop on Monday, January 5 at 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM in room B110/111. @bigbiology.bsky.social will be there with swag to give away!

Scientists have found the oldest evidence yet of humans making fires--400,000 years ago in England. Here's my story on the discovery and what it says about the minds of our ancestors. Gift link: nyti.ms/4q0Ls2q [Photo via Andrea H flic.kr/p/4cnSq ]

The new Enabling Discovery through GEnomics (EDGE) Program page is posted. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have questions. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Jaap de Roode is concerned that the biodiversity and climate crises might rob the world of the pharmacy and pharmacists in nature. He draws on the words of Jane Goodall to give some hope that we can all do something to make a change and help protect nature’s doctors. 🐻 🐵 🦋 🩺

Happy to have been awarded an @erc.europa.eu grant RECOSEX to investigate molecular causes and evolutionary consequences of sex differences in recombination, using the wonderful Helgeland house sparrows as a model 🧬🐦 #ERCCoG 1/2 (Photos: Peter S. Ranke & Hamish Burnett)

There’s an art to writing a grant proposal so that your creativity is on full display. Maria Leptin - president of the ERC - talks about it on the new episode of the Night Science Podcast.

Episode 142 “Doctors by Nature” is out now! 🩺🦋🐻🐵 In this episode, we talk with Dr. Jaap de Roode @jaapderoode.bsky.social, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University and author of the book "Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, and Other Animals Heal Themselves".

NSF is open again! A few comments: *Please be patient. During a shutdown NSF employees cannot open computers or respond to emails. *Merit review will continue. However panels won’t resume until after Dec 8th. *POs remain excited and committed to advancing science and the scientific workforce.

An engineer wanted to make a quiet high-speed train. “The question then occurred to me — is there some living thing that manages sudden changes in air resistance as a part of daily life?” The answer: the kingfisher. See my story today for more tales of bioinspiration. Gift link: nyti.ms/4otNQyl

What are scientists saying about federal funding cuts? In our most recent episode, Dr. Katie Lotterhos quotes responses from scientists and federal workers gathered in a recent survey on the impacts of funding cuts on science. For more, check out episode 141!

Episode 141: Vulnerability in Science and in Genomes Cover Art! 🌟 Tune in to our newest episode to hear from Dr. katie Lotterhos as she talks federal funding cuts on science. Stay tuned to take a deeper dive into population structure, genomic adaptation, and vulnerability!

Episode 141 “Vulnerability in science and in genomes” is out now! 🧬 In this episode, we talk with Dr. Katie Lotterhos @drk-lo.bsky.social, Associate Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University. @northeasternmes.bsky.social Art by Brianna Longo.

I am looking for a postdoc to work in our long-term system of food-caching mountain chickadees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The expected start is April 2026. Please see details here: chickadeecognition.com/positions If interested and qualified, please contact me directly (email on the website).

US PhD admissions shrink as fears over Trump’s cuts take hold. [In some cases, to zero.] Story by @alexwitze.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Oded Rechavi talks about some of the rules and creative sessions at the Woodstock of Biology conference. 🌟 If you want to hear more, sign up as a paid subscriber on our Substack. We’ve just dropped a bonus audio with more from Oded about some of the other antics they got up to. 🚂 👰 🥳

I'm very excited to announce that UNC Biology has 6 faculty positions open this year! The first is for an Asst Professor who studies organismal resilience using an integrative approach 1/n unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...

I really enjoyed recording "Big Biology"! We talked about A LOT of things, including my new passion project qedscience.com (check it out, more on this and big announcement coming soon:) 😍😍😍🔥🔥⚡️⚡️@bigbiology.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/bigbiolo...

The GRFP announcement from NSF cuts out an entire cohort of 2nd year students from consideration, without warning. This is so deeply unfair that it warrants a formal protest from the scientific community. If someone wants to work with me to craft an open letter and solicit signatures, LMK.

Ep. 139 “Evolution Across Scales” with Dr. Mike Lynch is out now!

Quick - apply for this job as manager of our #Biodiversity lab at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and NCSU to work with #tech and #biodiversity including camera traps, #AI and student mentoring Deadline is 9/23/2025 www.governmentjobs.com/careers/%7B0...

Today 14 scientific societies in #ecology #evolution and #marineScience are publishing the results of a survey that finds negative impacts of federal policies on food security, flood mitigation, infectious disease preparedness, and wildlife conservation: 🧪👩‍🔬 www.firsthandaccounts.org/impacts/2025...

Associate Professor position in animal physiology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (to replace me basically). An amazing permanent position at a great university! Please spread widely 🙏 www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

🚀 Today we're launching the 'Night Science Institute', a non-for-profit organization to lead a cultural shift in science! You may say we're dreamers 😉, but we think we're not the only ones. Perhaps today you will join us to make the Day Science and Night Science parts of the process live as one!

🚨 Very, very big news. Today, a global coalition - including members of the IPCC, IPBES, and WHO expert advisors, as well as independent virologists, epidemiologists, and lawyers - started the process of creating an "IPCC for Pandemics." 🔓 www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... 🧵 Five things to know 👉

Dear early career scientists! Why not join us in September in Lithuania’s beautiful capital city for the EMBO Young Scientists’ Forum? We will have have a full Night Science workshop & exciting research sessions. Abstract submission: August 1 meetings.embo.org/event/25-eysf @evogytis.bsky.social

🐾 The Call of the Wild (ep. 136 🐾 OUT NOW! Hear how storytelling plays a vital role in conservation efforts and inspiring future generations of scientists with Dr. Rae Wynn Grant! Tune in wherever you get your podcasts! @raewynngrant @wildkingdomtv Cover Art: @korionart

The 500 additional GRFPs NSF awarded were not very evenly distributed across fields, it seems. www.science.org/content/arti...

Chapter one of “Ocean’s Menagerie: How Earth’s Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life” is now available on our substack! Chapter one explores all of the amazing abilities of sea slugs! @drewharvell.bsky.social

🪸Here is a sneak peek of our upcoming episode with @drewharvell.bsky.social! #science #scicomm #sciencommunication #sea #seasponges #sponges

Wonderful new 5-year postdoctoral fellowship opportunity at the University of Cambridge on #Biodiversity: www.christs.cam.ac.uk/darwin-hamie...

In our most recent episode we talk with Bill Zamer and Sam Scheiner, two former BIO program officers at the NSF, about the recently proposed 56% budget cut to the NSF. 🎙️Listen now: bigbiology.substack.com/p/savensf-ep... #scicomm #science #sciencecommunication #SaveNSF #NSF

More than half of the National Science Foundation grants terminated since April fund programs that would help students train in science, engineering and math. Story by @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social Gift link: nyti.ms/3Shu4rt

#SaveNSF (Episode 134), by @Big_Biology open.substack.com/pub/bigbiolo...

New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team! Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05... Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...