Did you know? Cassowaries (Casuarius spp.) are fluorescent. Their headgear glows under UV light, a bit like GFP in the lab: tinyurl.com/5n7xuacm. 📸 Benjamin Balázs, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday Extra fun fact: Feral pigeons' wings are also fluorescent!

Lab Leakers: "SARS-CoV-2 can't infect bats, so it must have been made in a lab". Science: "Let's do the experiment". SARS-CoV-2 behaves exactly like one would expect in a reservoir species - low-level infection, no overt disease, etc. Elegant study from Sato Lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Did you know? Zebra finches (Taeniopygia sp.) dream in music. While they are sleeping, their brains show the same activity as when they are singing, almost as if they were practicing in their dreams: tinyurl.com/ympw7rx8 📸 HLI-Photography, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

🔬 We’re hiring in Zürich🇨🇭! My lab is recruiting a new PhD student in molecular immunology (interferons, autoantibodies & viral disease). Position is fully-funded. Starting date anticipated to be late 2026/early 2027. Further details and how to apply: tinyurl.com/IMVPhD2026 Deadline 1st May 2026.

“I shall send off the manuscript today or Monday. It is an extremely poor affair; I must say something & have nothing worth saying. Lock it up carefully, I hate it to that extent it would break my heart to write it again.” Charles Darwin captures the joy of academia in a letter to his daughter, 1871

LRP8 is a functional receptor for yellow fever virus www.nature.com/articles/s41...

“Darwin’s idea of shared preferences concerned visual coloration of birds. Our data suggest more expansive shared taste for the beautiful & motivate work across species/modalities; much of the beauty in nature was intended for receivers other than ourselves.”🙌 @loganjames.bsky.social @mehr.nz & co🧪

🧬🇯🇵 Registrations are now open for the 2026 Nucleic Acid Immunity Meeting in Nara, Japan. Fantastic line‑up of invited speakers already. www.ifrec.osaka-u.ac.jp/nais26/index...

#TEsky TEffectBayes: a nextflow pipeline for exploring the potential effect of transposable elements in gene regulatory network with multi-omic Bayesian network model doi.org/10.1007/s004...

HIV joining the circular RNAs Club ? Welcome !

Did you know? California scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) hold “funerals”. When they spot a dead jay, they attract others and erupt into loud calls. After that, they avoid the area 🐦⚰️: tinyurl.com/4amcd7v7 📸 Joshua Tree NP, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

De novo generation of the furin cleavage site (FCS) in influenza viruses In SARS-CoV2, the existence of an FCS was a key argument of lab leakers that it must have been constructed in the lab. Fantastic work

Ancient viral DNA drives preeclampsia in pregnancy | Max Delbrück Center www.mdc-berlin.de/news/news/an...

Great news! @asm.org partners with the Korean Society of Virology and @ausvirologysoc.bsky.social. ASM's Journal of Virology (JVI) becomes an affiliated journal of both societies, providing members with exclusive benefits. More global collaboration for virus research! asm.org/press-releas...

We found a viral Trojan Horse: a virus can hide inside another virus.This one surprised us: deltaviruses don’t just borrow a helper virus. They can travel inside it. A literal Trojan Horse “virus-in-a-virus” route into cells. 🤯 Kudos to 1st author @viroscope.bsky.social and co-authors !

There's a common misconception that zoonotic viruses require significant adaptation to jump from animals to cause human epidemics. Not so 👇. Further, we see clear signs of 1977 flu experiencing cell passage, prior to epidemic. SARS-CoV-2? Business as usual. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Did you know? Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) have a preferred flying “stance”. When carrying fish, they usually keep the left foot forward. Like most skateboarders, they fly “regular”, not “goofy”🐦🛹 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30299002/ 📸 auburn, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday #Skater

CDC issued a Global Polio Level 2 Travel Health Notice advising enhanced precautions Tragic. We had polio almost eradicated, but disruption to vaccination campaigns due to COVID, global instability, defunding & vaccine hesitancy have led us here #VaccinesWork 🧪 wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notic...

Graphical abstract from our new paper in Nucleic Acids Research with @saramaciasrna.bsky.social 🧬 DGCR8 prevents accumulation of endogenous dsRNA derived from Alu elements within mRNAs, avoiding aberrant activation of the interferon response. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

Find our latest Perspective article in Nature Genetics on "The role of KRAB zinc-finger proteins in expanding the domestication potential of transposable elements" at www.nature.com/articles/s41..., with implications for the future of research on the cause of human disease.

Did you know? The mysterious Nechisar Nightjar was once called the world’s least known bird, known only from a single wing found in 1990. The mystery was solved (or rather destroyed) by genetic analyses: tinyurl.com/ybcchzhh 📸 Ben Keen, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

Go birdwatching to (potentially) protect your brain from age-related decline! #birds #HealthyAging 🐦 www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

1. Kevin Gross and I have a new paper out today PLOS Biology. We used economic models based around screening games and the market for unpaid labor to highlight a meltdown cycle threatening peer review.

Transposable element regulation as a therapeutic target for #Aging activating Suv39h1 inhibiting KDM4A inhibiting TET CRISPRi/a to program TEs in the genome #OpenBiol 2026 royalsocietypublishing.org/rsob/article...

#MicrobiologyMonday: Viral infections can hijack host proteases to reduce antibody effectiveness. These proteases lob off viral antigens expressed on host cell membranes, creating soluble decoys that bind antibodies & reduce neutralization. #JVirology: asm.social/2Pn

Did you know? Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) take more than 10,000 micro-naps per day (~4 sec each). This adds up to ~11 hours of sleep, allowing them to rest while staying alert. www.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38033080/ 📸 Eamonn Maguire, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

“Humans across multiple languages spontaneously associate the nonwords kiki & bouba with spiky & round shapes, respectively...We tested the bouba-kiki effect in baby chickens. Similar to humans, they spontaneously chose a spiky shape when hearing a kiki sound & a round shape when hearing a bouba.”😲🧪

Maternal microbial ecosystems are key in shaping reproductive physiology and pregnancy outcomes. While the gut microbiota has been extensively studied, the roles of microbes in other body regions are less clear. This #IAIJournal review provides insights: asm.social/2OQ

1. I’m quite happy with this popular piece that Lee Dugatkin and I wrote recently. For the next two weeks it’s free to read on the American Scientist website.

A parasitic wasp castrates its moth larvae hosts by injecting them with a ‘domesticated’ virus that causes cells in the larvae’s testes to die go.nature.com/4aPzjbR

Did you know? Indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) don’t have any blue pigment in their feathers. Their color is the result of light refraction by a specific keratin structure. If you backlight their feathers, they appear brown. 📸 ShenandoahNPS, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

How does influenza A virus hijack host proteases to become infectious? 🦠 Join the next Journal of Virology® Seminar as Michael Vahey, Ph.D., explores hemagglutinin activation in the airway epithelium. 📅 March 4 | 11 a.m. ET 🔗 asm.social/2OB

Such a good example of cross-species transmission. Very cool story (apart from the poor mangabeys).

Pregnancy is a miraculously odd state of existence defined by a slew of changes, including to the immune system. These shifts are linked to everything from food aversions to infections, with important implications for pregnancy outcomes. Read the article: asm.org/articles/202...

Did you know? Oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis) navigate using echolocation - just like bats (tinyurl.com/4tahavrs). Extra wild fact: their name comes from their extremely fat chicks, which were once boiled down to make oil. 📸 Anonymous, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

The fetal trophoblast cell marker HLA-G activates a type I interferon response in primary NK cells through the receptor KIR2DL4 | Science Signaling www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

DNA-protein cross-links promote cGAS-STING–driven premature aging and embryonic lethality | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Together with colleague and friend Carl Herrmann @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, we are looking for a motivated postdoc with experience in organoid culture and data analysis (#bioinformatics), for a project in the @hlsalliance.bsky.social Joint Postdoc call. www.health-life-sciences.de/opportunitie...

In a new article with Kevin Groen, we review the most recent scientific developments relating to autoantibodies targeting type I interferons and their impacts on severe viral disease: doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

A perspective article in EID on the health threats posed by Influenza D and canine coronavirus, highlighting zoonotic risk and the importance of surveillance at the animal-human interface. #OneHealth #PublicHealth wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/32…

Did you know? Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius) don’t just share random snacks with their partners - they adjust their gifts based on their partner’s current cravings: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23382187/ 📸 Membeth, via Wikimedia Commons #Birds #FeatheredFriday 🐦 🎁

📣 *Abstract submission by January 31st* "Host adaptations to viral infections” International Meeting May 10th-13th 2026 @cnrs.fr Station Biologique Roscoff, Brittany, France Register & Join us +amazing international speakers! #CNRS @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social #IRP www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/evenement...

Did you know? Club-winged manakins (Machaeropterus deliciosus) use their wings not just to fly, but to make music. They rub their wing feathers >100 times per second (!) to create a buzzing sound. 📸 Chrissy McClarren and Andy Reago, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

🚨Job Alert🚨 Looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our multidisciplinary team of scientists. The postdoc will collaborate with world-class structural biologist Peijun Zhang to understand everything about HIV capsids and how they work via host interactions. Spread the word!

Die virale Geschichte ist in unserem #Erbgut verankert: Menschen tragen #Herpesviren offenbar seit über 2500 Jahren in ihrer #DNA - so zeigen neue Analysen. Manche #Viren werden über Generationen vererbt. #wissenschaft.de berichtet über die spannende Koevolution: www.wissenschaft.de/gesundheit-m...

If you have been following the African swine fever "mystery" in Catalonia, you would have noticed that this had the early hallmarks of a "lab leak" from a nearby facility. Turns out it wasn't, however. h/t @acritschristoph.bsky.social @flodebarre.bsky.social www.infobae.com/espana/2025/...

Did you know? White bellbirds (Procnias albus) produce the loudest bird song. With 125 dB, it is louder than a chainsaw. Males aim this call at females, potentially damaging their hearing. Listen to it here: tinyurl.com/4tmper2x. 📸 Daderot, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) #Birds #FeatheredFriday

Research on HIV's conical capsid ultimately led to lenacapavir, the first capsid inhibitor. The drug's double-decade journey underscores the value of basic science research today to support the generation of innovative drugs for the future. Read the story: asm.org/articles/202...