Model organisms, in particular non-mammalian model organisms, such as yeast, Caenorhabditis elegans, #Drosophila and zebrafish, have long stood at the centre of biological discovery www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My first ever non-peer reviewed science-related piece. Together with Howard Wolinsky and Holger Breithaupt @embopress.org It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

🚨 We’re hiring! William & Mary Biology is seeking a **tenure-track Assistant Professor in Immunology** . Join our vibrant department in beautiful Williamsburg, VA — **amazing students, strong Master’s program, and a balanced teaching load**. pls share 👉 jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/674976/a...

Amazing!!!

Dog fell over. #happypup #firepit

There’s a glitch in the matrix!

Freddie was pondering the meaning of flies.

Fearless predators!

It is a bird, it is a fish, no! It is a Sea Robin! #surffishing #catchandrelease

Here is an end-of-the summer beach picture I took as some weather is rolling in.

Local awkward teens hanging out on our street. #deercam #wildlife

If there is ever a worthier repost!

Hidden prompts in articles to fool #AI reviewers! It'sbrilliant, it's resistance and it's self-defense! It shows the massively wealthy publishing companies that cutting corners is bad for #science! They could use their wealth to pay independent reviewers.... 🧪 www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/07/...

Today in ridiculously priced items from scientific vendors: weighing paper 3x3 in for analytical balances $126 per pack of 500!

Franklin W. Stahl, 95, Dies; Helped Create a ‘Beautiful’ DNA Experiment www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...?

E-sports nonsense even on my bananas!

I do not like AI in Slack I do not like AI on Mac I do not like AI in Zoom I don’t want AI in my room I do not want ChatGPT — please stop, AI, and leave me be! I don’t want AI here, or there; I don’t want AI anywhere! (… okay, okay — had to Seuss it, sorry 😇)

Nature reclaiming this excavator along the Chickahominy river, VA.

#BethesdaDeclaration @standupforscience.bsky.social I decided to share the opportunity to sign the support letter for the Bethesda Declaration with my entire email list for our family holiday letter. I learned some important lessons. 1/n

Microtubules do more than move chromosomes—they help clean up cellular messes too. 🧹 Eric Rubenstein of Ball State University shows Kar3 and Vik1 are key to protein quality control via ER-associated degradation. 📖 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/... #ASCB #CellBiology #ERAD #Proteostasis

An analysis shows that NIH grant awards supported 407,782 jobs and $94.58 bn in new economic activity nationwide, the largest figure in the history of the report, w/ an ROI of $2.56 for every $1 in awards. Deep cuts to NIH funding will contribute to a recession. www.forbes.com/sites/michae... 🧪🔬

Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪 www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...

Wow - no more OneDrive saves! Thank you! Made my day! Worked like a charm!

Lucy #dog is showing off her prized possession - a paper towel role! Surprisingly not yet shredded!

Assassin #bug in the yard

Blue fire flies/beetles in Asheville NC - cool! www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

Yeast labs. Beware!

Perfect weather for our end-of-semester SUMO lab BBQ and fire pit. Shout out to three of our yeast buds (Cate, Christy, and Maddie) who are graduating and will be sorely missed.

Great news: NIH postbac program is recruiting again! If your grad school plans were affected by program cutbacks or admissions freezes this year I highly encourage you to apply, this could be a perfect opportunity. Please repost. www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

The little butterfly on the Genetics Society of America email send my right back to the X site.

Article by Dr. Kurt Williamson, Biology at #William&Mary: "I work with undergraduate students at the very beginning of their professional careers. The loss of training and support of new and early-career scientists is a particularly hard blow that will affect all of us for years to come."

Download it while you can - Useful, original and FREE online Introduction to Genetics Textbook! Support for this includes the Department of Education and it is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. bio.libretexts.org/Courses/City...

Do you know Daisy Roulland-Dussoix? She is one of the discoverers of restriction enzymes, who’s findings paved the way for the development of recombinant DNA and cloning technologies. Accordingly, the finding was rewarded with a #NobelPrize. But the prize didn’t go to her. 🧵👇

🚨🚨🚨

If any crystallographer has wondered what it feels like to be inside a crystal, I would recommend the Yayoi Kusama exhibition 🤩💎

A little known place on W&M campus - overgrown abandoned amphitheater from 1957 scrc-kb.libraries.wm.edu/cove-amphith...

Instant Stress relief in the time of science denialism

William & Mary, VA sunken gardens in the snow

Scientific advancements aside, this is economically irresponsible Every $1 spent by NIH generates $2.46 For example, in 2023, $47B in NIH spending generated ~$93B Halting NIH spending will LOSE the US a lot of money (and talent)

Happy MLK Day: ... King went on, “because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.” open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

Relevant to this audience! @nature.com asks: “Has Bluesky replaced X for scientists? Take Nature’s poll”: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

📣 SAVE THE DATE: EMBO workshop SUMOylation: from discovery to translation. 22-25 Sept 2025. La Grande Motte (France) Registrations will open soon: coming-soon.embo.org/w25-59

Rinehart, L., Stewart, W. E., Luffman, N., Wawersik, M., Kerscher, O. (2024). Chigno/CG11180 and SUMO are Chinmo-interacting proteins with a role in #Drosophila testes somatic support cells. PeerJ, 12:e16971 peerj.com/articles/169...

Props to the parasitologist who not only pulled a parasitic nematode from his own mouth and published a paper on it, but also named it "Buddy" and then staged a re-enactment of its extraction with his co-author, using a gummy worm www.wm.edu/news/stories...

of course I ran out seeds for the first real snow and the birds giving me the stink eye

Frozen paws 🐾❄️ ain’t stopping this li‘l guy on our snow dog walk.

Another snow day!

Over 60 German universities and research institutions announced their departure from X today.