Hi! My World View in Nature Reviews Biodiversity was published today! Read about my three main aims when educating people about topics in natural history. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Three ideas to inspire curiosity in natural history education

Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Natural history can captivate the minds of all manner of people for a multitude of reasons, but a shifting media landscape demands adaptation from public educators....

nature.com

Where did bats come from?🦇🌍 After decades of debate, the biggest bat genome + fossil study ever done has an answer - and it’s not where anyone expected! 🤩OUR PHASE 1 FLAGSHIP is out today in nature! doi.org/10.1038/s415... A thread 🧵

Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography - Nature

An updated phylogeny of bats is presented, based on new genome assemblies and many ancient fossils and including all known bat families.

doi.org

Abdul El-Sayed: "Weijia, with all due respect, this is the third time you've asked about a Twitch streamer ... their whole game is to make us fight culture wars so that we don't pay attention to the fact the president has made $2.2 billion ... "

I'm thrilled to share that I'll join Columbia in Jan 2027 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics and Development& the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative! A long-held dream; I'm grateful for my mentors and colleagues. We'll study microbiota-ENS interactions-now hiring! theaydinlab.com

The Aydin Lab | Laboratory of Neurodevelopmental Plasticity

The Aydin Lab at Columbia University Irving Medical Center studies how gut microbiota shape the development and plasticity of the enteric nervous system.

theaydinlab.com

I am delighted to announce that The Department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah is continuing a multi-year recruiting initiative for multiple tenure-track faculty positions at the rank of Assistant Professor. Please share and consider applying! utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/208...

Hummingbirds.

Thinking about a #Postdoc and interested in writing a competitive fellowship proposal? Are you interested in developing independent research in #EvoDevo, functional #Genomics, and adaptation in #Lepidoptera? Let's talk! 🦋

Nature did a short piece on our preprint about how LLMs will affect the practice of science; my more detailed thread is below.

Scientists using LLMs will ‘do more, less well’, modelling study predicts

Research suggests that the combination of incentives to publish and the use of large language models will lead to more papers, but they will be less refined.

nature.com

Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 3mo ago

1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.

We already do this and companies who want them are happy to pay for PhD student interns. Why do precious and limited NSF funds need to be deployed for this? Most PhD student pursue industry jobs anyways - that has always been true. Use NSF funds to support basic science that industry wont support!

Jonathan Wosen@jonathanwosen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

With academic jobs few and far between, the NSF is testing a new approach to graduate education: Giving Ph.D. students industry experience — and dollars — as part of their training. For more, see my latest for @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/h...

Running out of body bags, using forklifts to transfer corpses into makeshift morgues, a mortician conducting 200 funerals in a month when he usually does 30, crematories running at double capacity… And these senators just want to memory-hole it all www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/n...

‘We Ran Out of Space’: Bodies Pile Up as N.Y. Struggles to Bury Its Dead (Gift Article)

The coronavirus crisis is overwhelming New York’s system for burying the dead.

nytimes.com

I'm sorry. Avocados do what now?

Jeff Groh@jeffgroh.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Thrilled to have my first thesis chapter published in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We combine genomics, gene editing, and performance experiments to reveal the genetic basis and functional consequences of hurricane-induced trait shifts in island lizards! Check it out: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Genomic targets of hurricane-induced selection on clinging performance in an island lizard

Vaughn et al. show that hurricanes drive parallel genomic selection signatures in island anoles. One candidate locus (hs6st1) is associated with rear toe length. CRISPR disruption reduces hindfoot ele...

cell.com

Dr. Fauci had us wear masks during a global pandemic. RFK Jr. collects raccoon penises. But okay.

She loved her surgery cone for the first couple days (it made her feel powerful and intimidating) so we got her a courted ruff to look sinister in.

#2026SDB with amazing fluorescent imaging again. However, every session I attended so far has talks with red-green LUTs. 6-8% of us have color vision issues, especially for red-green. More visible color combos are easy to generate. As scientists, we can do better. 🧬🪰🐭🐟🧫🦎 #WeTheColorBlind #devbio

Rotating 'GREEN' Text in Red Circle

ALT: Rotating 'GREEN' Text in Red Circle

static.klipy.com

UC Davis will no longer pay the difference so that GRFP recipients earn the same as other students. So mid-PhD students will lose nearly 25% of salary & new students will make less than their peers. Apply for the GRFP, it’s a wonderful help to your career. Just don’t come here if you get one.

Art historians refer to this effect as Chiarosquirrelo

wild! www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti...

‘Exceptional’: Monterey Bay captain captures airborne killer whales and dolphins

The captain recounts the whole drama.

sfgate.com

Congrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...

Trump administration limits student visas to four years, changing longstanding policy - The Boston Globe

The new rule, which also restricts the international students’ ability to transfer schools or change majors without approval in their first year, will go into effect in mid-September.

bostonglobe.com

how in God's name has Argentina been allowed to get away with this the entire knockout stage

Oregon State University's Department of Integrative Biology is currently hiring up to three tenure-track faculty members, with an emphasis on organismal biology. Note: Previous links are no longer active due to a change in our hiring system. oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com/OSU_Careers_...

Assistant Professor

Department: Special Instructions to Applicants: To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 10/1/26. Applications will continue to be accepted after the full consideration date, unt...

oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com

We received almost 300 applications to our Graduate Research Excellence Grants this year. We expect to fund around 50 proposals. Help us fund an additional 10 by making a tax-deductible donation to our GREG GoFundMe campaign! www.gofundme.com/f/support-st...

Donate to Support Students on their Scientific Research Journey!, organized by SSE Communications

The Graduate Research Excellence Grants are awarded by the So… SSE Communications needs your support for Support Students on their Scientific Research Journey!

gofundme.com

Please join us in congratulating #PhD student in the @aussiebiologist.bsky.social Lab, Roberta Fiorino, on successfully defending her thesis! 🎉🎓

New research in conservation biobanking shows blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells and pericytes are faster, safer, and more efficient alternatives to skin fibroblasts for conserving endangered canids. (Image from the manuscript) 1/2

In Japan, valuable trees are relocated instead of cut down during development. Arborists use nemawashi, a technique combining horticultural knowledge and modern engineering, to prepare the trees for relocation.

Japan does not cut down centuries-old trees for development. Instead, experts spend months preparing their roots and relocating them

When roads, railways or new buildings are planned, centuries-old trees are often among the first casualties of development. In Japan, however, some of the country's most valuable trees are given a sec...

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

An Afghan national who fought alongside U.S. forces has died from an allergic reaction while in ICE custody, one day after he was detained for deportation proceedings, his death certificate shows. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Afghan national who fought with U.S. forces died of allergic reaction in ICE custody

Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 41, suffered “an adverse drug reaction” to an unidentified substance, which triggered anaphylaxis and exacerbated his asthma, the death report shows.

nbcnews.com

PhD Position at Uppsala University. Sophie Karrenberg’s Lab. the project is about sex chromosome evolution in plants. Come join us! Deadline 22 July. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

Is there a size limit for cells ? How can cells replicate inside the architecture of their environment? Why do cells self-destroy ? This 15-minute movie vimeo.com/1173229237 shows our 2026 edition of the Living Architectures project at the @museeorsay.bsky.social

A lovely study from the Casaccia lab published in Nature Neuroscience showing the importance of glucose metabolism in OPC development 🧠🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Glucose-dependent spatial and temporal modulation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cell proliferation via ACLY-regulated histone acetylation - Nature Neuroscience

The authors identify glucose-derived conversion of citrate to acetyl-CoA upstream of histone acetylation as modulating the regional dynamics of oligodendrocyte progenitors, with extranuclear acetyl-Co...

nature.com

"Curiosity-driven research is really the seed corn for the major breakthroughs and applications. But it’s also important in its own right, because discovery and the expansion of knowledge are virtues in themselves." Thanks @neilshubin.bsky.social (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/s...

Neil Shubin on Trusted Science in a ‘Deeply Partisan Age’

nytimes.com