Guest Dan Simberloff talks about the allegations that he was part of the “Tallahassee mafia”. He explains that this term was coined by a writer at Science to label the group comprised of Dan, Don Strong, Fran James, Larry Abele and their students at Florida State.

Our blog this week is about how climate change is altering the physics of the ocean, particularly for very small creatures.

Episode 149 "Invasion of the ecosystem snatchers" is out ✨ On this episode, we bring you a live recorded conversation we had with Daniel (Dan) Simberloff at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee!

Scared of commitment? Get your first month free when you subscribe on substack! Link: bigbiology.substack.com/subscribe?ut...

SSE is raising funds to support more students through our Graduate Research Excellence Grants program! These awards provide not only funds for impactful research but also a boost for students just starting their careers. Donate today and help us reach our goal! www.gofundme.com/f/support-st...

COVID infected 17% of the Diamond Princess in a month. Hantavirus: 5% of the Hondius in five weeks. The biology explains why this outbreak won't scale. www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

Applications for the Simons Graduate Fellowship in Ecology & Evolution are open for incoming PhD students entering programs in Fall 2026 or 2027! If you are looking to start a program in 2027 and interested in my lab, let me know. I'd be happy to chat about this opportunity.

How does a shrimp virus end up in human eyes? A new study in Nature Microbiology traces the path. www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

⭐️Out now Ep. 148 “The Voracious Ctenophore and the Silent Sea” On this episode, we bring you a live conversation from the recent University of South Florida Climate Teach-In where Marty interviewed his colleague, Associate Professor Brad Gemmell. Cover art by Brianna Longo.

Reposting this opportunity! Review of applications will start in two weeks so there is still time to apply (and we keep the portal open for submissions until the position is filled) Come work with us!

In our recent episode, guest Paige Harden describes how we might think about moral responsibility to one another as humans who live together in a community. This is a core element of her new book “Original Sin: On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness”.

Regarding #NSF #GRFP announcements: ENGR awards: 1529 ENGR honorable mention: 153 % of ENGR in top 4000 who earned awards: 90.9% Life Sciences awards: 486 Life Sciences honorable mention: 573 % of Life Sci in top 4000 who earned awards: 45.9% (calculations by Elizabeth Jockusch)

Recent Big Biology guest Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social talks more about her book “Original Sin: On The Genetics of Vice, The Problem of Blame, and The Future of Forgiveness.” 📖 #science #scicomm #sciencecommunication #podcast #bigbiology

If you're in Boulder, CO, on May 7, check out this exciting symposium. 9-1230 in the SEEC C120 AUDITORIUM.

Episode 147 "The Genetics of Vice" is out ✨ In this episode, we talk with Kathryn Paige Harden @kph3k.bsky.social, a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and teaches Introduction to Psychology.

This was one of the few existing ways to find long term research. That is horrible and a huge loss to all of science. I hope other organizations and university will step up to help this important research.

Extremely excited to start my 8-year @royalsociety.org Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship @uniexecec.bsky.social focussing on understanding the role of individual cognitive variation in reintroduction biology. With 2x 4-year Postdoc and PhD positions being advertised shortly - do get in touch if interested!

Just a heads up that I will soon be advertising for a Postdoctoral position in my group to work on the evolution of cannibalism in Tribolium, starting ~September. Official Job ad to come soon. #academicjobs #postdoc #eeb

Can you help us find guests for the Night Science Podcast? We received generous sponsorship from Research Theory and they're challenging us to host 5 scientists each working in flight, genomics, nuclear power, computing & space. Ideas? @nightsciencepod.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...

New Op/Ed in Undark Magazine (@undark.org) "...the authors of rigorous science communication products are conducting an essential activity of formal scientific practice, charged with transfiguring complex ideas and bringing them into the homes and minds of many." undark.org/2026/03/26/o...

We're hiring an Assistant Professor of Ecology! Come and join me and a great group of colleagues at University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Our job ad: efhc.fa.ca2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... Message me if you have questions. @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social @uwindsor.bsky.social

Open postdoc position in my lab at Cornell, conducting comparative and experimental studies on transcriptomic responses to diet and toxins, utilizing the milkweed-insect community. Background in molecular bio & herbivory desired. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31867

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...