Two in a row! Amazing. Here's the list of noteworthy studies I recently stumbled upon (and mostly shared here on bluesky), in the fields of microbiome science, microbial ecology and other stuff. Hope this will be useful to some! mericlab.com/2026/02/14/n...

Had a great time at Manchester Met’s Animal Behaviour and Conservation research day yesterday, with four amazing talks including @vixfranks.bsky.social on HiHi social networks. Enjoyed learning about cool research by @stephharris.bsky.social, @jacobcdunn.bsky.social and Mark Mainwaring too!

🤔Looking to make your #code more #reproducible? Check out our new and improved guide to Reproducible Code! 🧪🌍️ Find it here👇️ buff.ly/10TeNok @nhcooper123.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org

This is stupid

1/ A research paper involving our Head of Ringing & Nest Recording Ellie Leech looked at the importance of increasing inclusivity in biological recording. Discover more in this thread ⬇️🧵 📖 www.bto.org/UKInclusivit... #WomenInScience #CitizenScience

🏆 Calling all early-career ecologists! The E4 Award from @ecography.bsky.social is OPEN for submissions! Submit a proposal for a concise review and compete for €1,000 (+ €500 runner-up). 📅 Deadline: 31 March 2026 📝 Just a <300-word proposal to start!

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

Whale evolution makes me uncomfortable

Now out & nicely formatted in @isme-microbes.bsky.social A big analysis of ocean genomes & metagenomes co-led by former postdocs, now PIs, @gmdouglas.bsky.social & @cyanophage.bsky.social along with co-PIs @lbobay.bsky.social & Samuel Chaffron. A few highlights... 🧵 (1/n) doi.org/10.1093/isme...

The 2026 EMBO course in Computational and Experimental Microbiomics held in @uniofbath.bsky.social has been announced! Come and join us for this course to study host-microbe interactions and co-evolution. ⏰ When: 6-18 July 26 🚨 Registration: 11 May 26 🔗 meetings.embo.org/event/26-mic...

I need #rstats help! I’m making a map in #leaflet across ~80 time points, with each time point showing the location of eg a hundred birds. I’m trying to use the time slider function but it never shows the whole date range, maybe bc of a max data limit? Anyone have tips? @stephen8vickers.bsky.social

The Co-Chairs of the #BizBiodiversity Assessment welcome the report's approval, expressing gratitude for all those who contributed to the preparation of @ipbes.net's first fast-track assessment #IPBES12 The authors considered more than 6,000 comments during the Assessment’s review process!

Great news from #IPBES12 in Manchester: the #BizBiodiversity Assessment Report by @ipbes.net was just approved by the Plenary. The findings confirm that all businesses have a responsibility to act and can do it now. But barriers to these actions still exist: files.ipbes.net/ipbes-web-pr...

Improving #species #abundance information from #river #eDNA metabarcoding data: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 🐜 🧬 📈 🌐🌍

Today's throwback soundtrack: So much for the afterglow by Everclear. I miss the 90's music video vibe.

Great article. No one is expecting magic wand solutions, but they do expect some sort of preparedness from the powers that be. A lot of the problems we face - as a society, as employees, as renters, as victims of disease - are entirely predictable.

Accepted at Animal Behaviour! "Permanent and temporary mate-switching in a long-lived seabird: Insights from a 64-year study." Kent Island's storm-petrel dataset gives some nice detail on how these birds spend years together, break up, and even get back together. Led by @ingridpollet.bsky.social !

Many people think that eating insects could be a good solution to climate change. Nope. Not really. Read more here, and see why Project Drawdown says this is "Not Recommended" as a climate solution. drawdown.org/explorer/dep...

If you are interested in using AI to predict and test microbial (bacterial, archaeal) cultivation requirements, please reach out. We are ~waist deep in this already.

Accurate plasmid reconstruction from metagenomics data using assembly–alignment graphs and contrastive learning www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

🚨 Apply to join us an Associate Editor! We are seeking a wide range of expertise: Human-wildlife interactions 🚶‍♀️ Nature experience and connectedness 🌳 Indigenous knowledge systems🗺️ Reciprocity and care 🤝 And more... Find out more and apply here ➡️ buff.ly/LvTJGnW

Some thoughts on the select committee appearance by the boss of UKRI, Ian Chapman yesterday. It’s a long watch but can be seen here: parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/... Thread 🧵

Why not become the editor of Oryx? Is such an exciting opportunity. eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Who benefits from mating with multiple partners? Darwin suspected that in some cases, it may be the females rather than the males. A new long-term study on African coucals shows: when males provide all parental care, females can have more offspring by competing for and mating with multiple partners.

New wadertales blog on how quickly juvenile godwits learn to feed efficiently through their first winter: wadertales.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/l... From new @asab.org paper led by Josh Nightingale: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #ornithology

Sharp followers will notice that it's been a long while I hadn't done this, but here is the latest personal reading list/summary for a few recent papers that I found relevant and interesting in the field of microbiome science, microbial ecology and others. mericlab.com/2026/02/05/n...

🎥 Video abstract: part of the price of the JAB Review Award is a video abstract of the winning article - offering an accessible snapshot of the paper’s key takeaways 🏆 @nordicoikos.bsky.social @alice-risely.bsky.social @pcapi.bsky.social #earlycareer #ornithology #birds #microbiome #migration

📣 CALL FOR PAPERS 📣 We are happy to announce the third JAB Review Award competition! Submit your mini-review by 30 April 2026 Who: early career researchers up to 8 yrs after completition of doctorate More info: vist.ly/3n8ihr8 @NordicOikos.bsky.social

Award issue: @pcapi.bsky.social and @alice-risely.bsky.social review what we know, and what we need to know, in order to understand to what extent the gut microbiome confers important services for migrating birds ➡️ vist.ly/4qdc2 #winner #ornithology #birds #gut #immunity #adaptation

The first issue of 2026 is now out! 🚨 This issue contains our new special feature 'Conservation, ecology and artificial intelligence: Advances and symbiotic solutions'. 🌍 🧪 Read the whole issue here 👇 buff.ly/AmWPK0C

*ducking intensifies* So much fun watching the Common Goldeneyes doing “The Thing” #birds

Thank you for coming to see us at the #UniversityofSalford stall at #IPBES12. It was a pleasure to showcase our #Biodiversity research and engage with the global biodiversity community🌿 @ipbes.net @salforduni.bsky.social @alice-risely.bsky.social + Robin Beck, Mike Wood, Mike Hardman, Simon Green.

🚨 GAMs have moved on—so it’s time for an update. On March 3, 2026 (17:00–19:00 CET) I’ll be livestreaming an updated introduction to Generalized Additive Models in R 📺 YouTube livestream link: youtube.com/live/A9U8e1K... #RStats #mgcv #GAMs #gratia #statistics 🧪

🐶 Unleashing the future of animal microbiology! 🐷 #ASMAnimalMicro is now live. 🐾 Read the first papers now, including an editorial by EiC José Vázquez-Boland: asm.social/2NB 🐄We continue to welcome submissions worldwide: 🌍 asm.social/2NA

The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) is seeking a scientist in wildlife biology, ecology, or a closely related discipline, with a focus on movement ecology, spatial data analysis, and/or scavenger and carnivore systems. Read and apply here: tinyurl.com/mr3x7uwk

Looking to build a foundational knowledge of #InfectiousDisease modelling? Join our hybrid short course delivered by LSHTM and @ukhsa.bsky.social introducing key modelling tools and practical applications. Runs from 15 - 26 June 2026 Apply by 15 May 2026👉 bit.ly/3bw2bWH

We're Hiring! We're looking for a postdoc with bioinformatics/modelling skills to join us in an exciting microbiome ecology project in Manchester (deadline 1st March) www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Join BTO Youth for a FREE birding and survey introduction walk at Long Lands Common in North Yorkshire. Book a space ➡️ www.bto.org/our-work/eve... 📆 Sunday 15 February. 📝 Open to those aged 16-25.

Great panels at the @ipbes.net stakeholder day today! A fabulous forum for scientists, Indigenous people, governments, biodiversity leaders and all stakeholders. Key points discussed: reach, uptake & impact and business and biodiversity! @alice-risely.bsky.social @amyleedale.bsky.social

New paper out! We used structural equation modelling to investigate spatio-temporal drivers of #ticks and #Lymedisease hazard in urban greenspaces and rural woodland. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk

"We need to do fewer things better" [and align them with UK growth priorities]. Scary times for anyone researching topics that can't be directly aligned with economic growth. Where does ECR and PhD funding come in? Pausing funding without a detailed plan is never a good move.

BREAKING: UKRI shelves physics infrastructure projects worth £280m Major international collaborations with Cern and US Department of Energy in jeopardy, as agency pulls back funds Scoop by @francesjones.bsky.social www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Some initial reactions to the 'published on a Sunday afternoon' letter from the CEO of UKRI. 🧵 www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

This should be a great evening. Oxford, Thursday. See you there. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/food-syste...

Three of the largest UKRI research councils - MRC, BBSRC and EPSRC confirm they have suspended several of their main funding routes until further notice, amid mounting concerns for curiosity-driven research www.timeshighereducation.com/news/three-u... via @jgro-the.bsky.social

This is Nathan Wolfe. Nathan is a virus hunter. Nathan has a bit of a reputation. Through the years, I've told multiple journalists stories I've heard, like "Nathan thanks Jeffrey Epstein in his book." Somehow no one ever wrote anything up. Want to see what Nathan was up to in today's Epstein files?

My first book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life, will be published by Yale University Press on 11 August (UK) and 8 September (US). Please help spread the word! 🙏 UK: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... @yalebooks.bsky.social 🏳️‍🌈📚🐵 US: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... @yalepress.bsky.social 🏳️‍⚧️ 🗃️🦋

Wiley: "We’re supporting responsible research assessment practices" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1520... Also Wiley: "Prove that your article is a good fit for this journal 😉😉😉😉😉 by citing at least two of our articles in your manuscript before we will even consider reviewing it" 🤡