SUPERMAGNETIC MICROPHAGES 🤯

“being alive is as special an occasion as it gets.”

Weirdly enough, this is something AI can be useful for! Ask if all of the references can be found in PubMed or Google Scholar exactly as written, ignoring minor punctuation, and list the ones that aren’t. This is a good task for editors (I say as an editor myself).

MIT has lost 500 international grad students relative to last year. Caused directly by the White House. Closing America's doors to the very best, most brilliant people on the planet is like dropping a bomb directly on America's capacity to innovate. On the prosperity of our children's future.

A neighbor called and asked me to pick up a package for her. “I hate to bother you,” she said. “I don’t like asking for help.” Ladies. No. Stop. Asking for help is healthy. We are not meant to be hyper-independent. And “bother” implies you’re being a pest. You aren’t. Ask for the help you need.

Put simply: It coordinates action in more varied and context-dependent ways across more complex environments, AND it regulates a more complex internal environment. Highly recommend this chapter from Sterling and Laughlin! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Nice Good News Story for the weekend #ImmuneTherapy #OvarianCancer www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/nov...

It is my duty to inform you that there are baby capybaras at the Sacramento Zoo

🎉💚The Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution turns 20 this year: As we head toward the annual meeting, we invite you to share your favourite memories, photos, and throwbacks from past CSEE meetings and events! Tag your post with hashtag #SCEECSEE20

U.S. President Donald Trump has fired all 24 members of the National Science Board, the body that oversees the National Science Foundation. https://scim.ag/4cxQWhl

This is incredible. mRNA vaccines are really bringing it!

Very cool!! A bacterial enzyme that synthesizes DNA WITHOUT a nucleic acid template! It has internal amino acids in its active site that mimic a template RNA strand. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Naming your biology LLM after Rosalind Franklin is… hell is not hot enough

The HPV vaccine is amazing at preventing cervical cancer in women. New studies show it ALSO PREVENTS CANCER IN MEN. Men have reduced chance of head and neck, anal, and penile cancers caused by HPV.

Yes it could be argued that keeping up with world events is important but alternatively can I interest you in hugging an ancient mossy boulder that looks like a face and quietly listening while it tells you stories from centuries cloaked in mist.

The four humans who have traveled the furthest from Earth. (Via NASA.)

"While there is no current consensus, we do not advocate for a single definition and contend that a lack of unanimity is not inherently problematic."

Interesting work!

Depluralize a movie: Fear and loathing in La Vega

A Giant Sea Spider (genus Colossendeis), also known as a pycnogonid, found on the deep seafloor at depths between 2,200 and 4,000 meters. 🌊🦀 While some species are small, those in the deep ocean can grow over 50 cm (20 inches) across due to deep-sea gigantism. #ocean #deepsea #nature #wildlife

I will say this again: Science isn’t just something that nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world. It’s why this app exists. It’s why child mortality rate isn’t 50% anymore. It’s how we’re able to launch people to the moon. It’s how we’re able to grow food that feeds half the world.

More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕

Happy Trans Day of Visibility! I see you. I will fight for you.

Today is my 50th birthday. I’ve had a surprising number of people contact me to wish me well, and it’s been truly lovely!!

Dear autocorrect, that is never a typo for the word “ducking”.

A great thread, with both historical context and interesting new potential links between menstrual irregularity and mental health.

In every profession where women become the majority, that profession is devalued. Teacher, interior designer, veterinarian, etc. Biology is now labeled the “easy science”. I wonder if part of the devaluing of higher education by conservatives is because women are now 60% of the student body.

"Scientists don't want you to know this" What? Have you ever met a scientist?? This is like saying chefs don't want you to taste their food. They LOVE to share their knowledge.

Science professors and educators all have a role in combating this eugenics resurgence www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This is wild. Bacteria spreading via nerves rather than bloodstream.

Super cool!

Cool new study from my colleague @birdfiddler.bsky.social!

Quick plug for our new resource, the Drosophila Species Stock Exchange. This is a database and mailing list that documents species currently in culture and the labs holding them. If you want to know more or sign up then please get in touch. See attached for more info and please share!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH

Good morning with good news: Combined solar and battery plant's global average cost is 44% LOWER than the cost of combined-cycle gas turbine plant! Solar & battery: $57/MWh Gas plant: $102/MWh Solar: $39/MWh Land wind: $40/MWh Offshore wind: $100/MWh WOW! about.bnef.com/insights/cle... #energysky

There are students on campus that are giving complements to everyone the come into contact with on campus. So far I've gotten, "I like your mug" and "I like your sweater". I hope these students ace all of their exams all semester.

The secret ingredient for delicious quiche is mustard.

Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A reminder that EDI policies are enacted because *without* them there is bias in the system.

Call for Donations to Support the SWEEET/CSEE Equity Fund 🌱🧬🎓 Help remove financial barriers by supporting grad students & postdocs attending #CSEE2026 in Toronto through donating to the Equity Fund. Support access to science by donating / sharing! @csee-scee.bsky.social #EcoEvo gofund.me/cca1d39af

A slice of good news:

I *do* count submitted as an article on a CV (just slightly less than published). Others on hiring and grants committees I’ve been on do, too. It means the work is final enough to be submitted, which is very different from “in preparation” (which could be “concepts of a plan“).

A great resource to help you pick responsible journals to publish in.

Wonderful Ice Age art! Some 40,000 years ago, this tiny head of a cave lion was skilfully sculpted from mammoth ivory. It is one of the oldest known works of figurative art! 📷 by me #Archaeology

Boosting this! I got my titers checked when the TX measles outbreak happened, and it turned out I was no longer immune to measles so I got the vax again. (I originally got the MMR vax in 1989 and still had immunity to mumps and rubella.)

RAYVIOLIES omg

Dr Glaucomflecken, an actual ophthalmologist, with helpful instructions for dealing with pepper spray to the face. youtube.com/shorts/z4dy0...

An important study maps how nerves control the Drosophila male reproductive tract, revealing two types of glutamatergic neurons that also release serotonin or octopamine. 🔗 buff.ly/3PV2YQW

Cool new paper showing another case of ‘alternative meiosis’.

For those in Minnesota who need to see the love of those supporting you, this forum is the best of humanity.