Soapberry bugs changes their body shape and reproductive strategy depending on nutrient. @aphanotus.bsky.social @colbycollege.bsky.social is revealing how these traits have evolved! #PASEDB2025 #polyphenism #soapberrybug #nutrient

NASA is being told to cancel 19 *active* missions to save $6B, which looks to be less than the ICE *hiring/retention* budget going forward. I need people to let that sentence sink into their bones for a minute.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · last yr.

If the GOP reconciliation bill passes, ICE gets through FY2029: - $45 billion for detention, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion - $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million - $8 billion for hiring/retention - Billions more.

Biology building stairwell guerrilla art @colbycollege.bsky.social

Okay, wow. Systemic in utero gene editing could in theory be used after fetal genetic screening. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Teaching undergraduates i often think about what understanding of science they should take away if, for example, they enter government service. This is why. www.wsj.com/science/how-...

How Scientific Journals Became MAGA’s Latest Target

Evidence of political bias, corporate influence and fraud has made the field vulnerable.

wsj.com

I’ll have to try this. #Rstats geocompx.org/post/2025/sm...

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...

How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific

A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.

richmondscientific.com

quantixed.org/2025/06/05/l...

Open Letter, signed by all former NWS Directors: www.theinvadingsea.com/2025/05/06/n...

An open letter to the American people from all former National Weather Service directors   | The Invading Sea

The five former directors released an open letter expressing concern about cuts to the NWS and the agency housing it.

theinvadingsea.com

⚠️ More than 9️⃣ 0️⃣ % of popular freshwater game fish in Southern California contained an introduced parasite capable of infecting humans, according to a new study led by Scripps Oceanography scientists. 🍽️ Learn more. ⬇️

Freshwater Fish in U.S. Carry Introduced Human-Infecting Parasites

More than 90% of popular freshwater game fish in Southern California contained an introduced parasite capable of infecting humans, according to a new study from researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps I...

scripps.ucsd.edu

🌟We have great satellite meetings!🥳😎 - Spiralia 🐌🪱 - Arthropods 🦋🦗🪰🪳 - Fishes🐠🐟🐡 - Non-bilaterian 🪼🪸 Remember to register here: evodevo.wildapricot.org/event-6007396 #evodevo #pasedb #science

We are excited to announce the Arthropod Satellite Symposium at #PASEDB2025 #evodevo 🦋🦗🪰🪳 Our outstanding speaker: Jennifer Brisson, University of Rochester "The evolution and development of aphid wing dimorphisms" Register here: evodevo.wildapricot.org/event-6007396

We are excited to announce the Arthropod Satellite Symposium at #PASEDB2025 #evodevo 🦋🦗🪰🪳 Our outstanding speaker: @patrickrohner.bsky.social UC San Diego "Can development predict macroevolution? Insights from dung beetle horns and fly wings" Register: evodevo.wildapricot.org/event-6007396

We are excited to announce the Arthropod Satellite Symposium at #PASEDB2025 #evodevo 🦋🦗🪰🪳 Our outstanding speaker: @anyimv.bsky.social Duke University “Decoding Butterfly Wing Patterning: Analysis of the Uncharted WntA/Fz2 signaling Pathway” Register: evodevo.wildapricot.org/event-6007396

🌟Remember to register #PASEDB 2025 Biennial Meeting (July 22-25)! 😎 Register here: evodevo.wildapricot.org/event-6007396

This is deeply disturbing. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/c...

The White House Gutted Science Funding. Now It Wants to ‘Correct’ Research.

nytimes.com

Wish i could’ve posted this for Mother’s Day! www.biographic.com/mother-load/

Mother Load - bioGraphic

Multitasking bat moms carry their nursing pups underwing all while navigating a growing array of threats in the Australian forests they call home.

biographic.com

No connection between these notification items. None at all. 🤭

Update: “Now [the Klamath] has a chance to do something even more important: show a way toward...sustainable agriculture...however, the Trump admin suspended funding ...for the wetlands restoration...and laid off...employees who facilitated those projects.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/o... #envhist

Opinion | A Story About Salmon That Almost Had a Happy Ending (Gift Article)

How tribal leaders, commercial fisherman and a few small environmental groups won an uphill campaign against dams.

nytimes.com

Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025! Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide! #scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

How many insects can you see in this photo? Believe it or not, there are five. This termite alate fell victim to four perfectly camouflaged assassin bug nymphs (Reduvius tarsatus) Their bodies are covered with minute setae that trap grains of sand and various debris, making them virtually disappear.

Z is for Zebrida, completing the alphabet of #CrabAZ! This pretty little guy rides around on fire urchins, which are venomous to us. But the crab nibbles its tube feet! Its body shape and colors both match and contrast with the urchin. But it's not over yet! Come back tomorrow for a bonus post 🦀🧪🦑

Zebra Urchin Crab (Zebrida adamsii)

Zebra Urchin Crab from Hairball II on July 23, 2020 by Dan Schofield

inaturalist.org

Reminder that NIH grants are NOT reckless spending. They are extremely competitive. The mean success rate of all grants is <24%. Far lower for R01's that are the lifeblood of most academic labs. All the data can be found here: report.nih.gov/funding/nih-...

Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪@altnih4science.bsky.social · 2y ago

One of the remarkable things about #NIH is how rigorously its grants, research, and employees are reviewed. NIH science and scientists are held to a high standard by external reviewers — via study sections and councils, or BSC/site visit reviewers. And the reviews have teeth. 🧪

Although the hits keep coming, we must continue to fight for the future of science. Whether in your classrooms or in your neighborhoods, get the word out about the breakdown of our federal institutions. Make sure that people know what this means for their future and the future of the country.

The latest call for @biologists.bsky.social Workshop proposals (to be held in 2027) is now open! If you've got an innovative idea for an interdisciplinary workshop in the biological sciences, this is a great opportunity. You set the theme and choose the speakers, we organise all the logistics.

Propose a new Workshop

Propose a new Workshop for 2027 Apply here  If you would like to run a fully funded Workshop with The Company of Biologists then please read the details below on how to apply. Workshop proposals shoul...

biologists.com

More cool #devoevo / #evodevo, hot off the presses at @pnas.org #zebrafish doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Agouti and BMP signaling drive a naturally occurring fate conversion of melanophores to leucophores in zebrafish | PNAS

The often-distinctive pigment patterns of vertebrates are varied in form and function and depend on several types of pigment cells derived from emb...

doi.org

Also worth mentioning, from a few months ago: @tianshenbio.bsky.social et al. explores the famous cortex locus in #Lepidoptera, finding a conserved #microRNA regulates pigmentation www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A microRNA is the effector gene of a classic evolutionary hotspot locus

In Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the genomic region around the gene cortex is a “hotspot” locus, repeatedly implicated in generating intraspecific melanic wing color polymorphisms across 100 mi...

science.org

Also from @ecoevodevo-lab.bsky.social on the life cycle dynamics of #microbiota (in dung beetles, so lots of microbes, ya) journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Microbiome composition and turnover in the face of complex lifecycles and bottlenecks: insights through the study of dung beetles | Applied and Environmental Microbiology

As the influence of symbionts on host ecology, evolution, and development has become more apparent so has the importance of understanding how hosts facilitate the reliable maintenance of their interac...

journals.asm.org

#Hox genes-- not just embryonic patterning! Here's a fascinating look at their influence on adult head structure in dung beetles. From the lab of @ecoevodevo-lab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This study popped up in my Google Alerts. Need to read closely, but I'm always interested in gene network analysis as follow-up to RNAi. And Dll, of course! zenodo.org/records/1431...