The Senate has taken the first step toward preventing the White House's proposed research funding regulations from taking effect. The measure now moves to the full legislative process. Read more: https://www.ascb.org/science-policy/first-step-senate-votes-to-delay-white-house-research-regulations/

The @nejm.org comes out swinging against OMB's new proposed rule putting all federal grant making including science under political control. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

The OMB and the Politicization of Science | NEJM

The Editors highlight three aspects of OMB’s recently proposed rule changes as particularly striking: that decisions on research funding would be made by political appointees, that funding could be...

nejm.org

🔬 Postdoctoral Opportunity – 51 Pegasi b Fellowship 📍University of California, Santa Barbara | ELME Lab We invite expressions of interest from candidates applying to the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship to be hosted in the Early Life & Microbial Evolution (ELME) Lab. Info ⬇️

New Evolution Digest out! 🎉 Does balancing selection maintain fitness variance? Yes, when drift and environmental fluctuations are in play! I discuss why this matters for plant adaptation to climate change. 🌱🌡️ doi.org/10.1093/evol... @sse-evolution.bsky.social @journal-evo.bsky.social

Digest: Drift and environmental fluctuations reveal fitness variance under balancing selection

Abstract. Why natural populations harbor high additive genetic variance for fitness remains an evolutionary puzzle. Connallon and Czuppon (2026) show that

doi.org

So much fun to work with @msobol.bsky.social on this review article! Phylogenomics and genomics to understand early life 🧬 🧬

Morgan Sobol@msobol.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨New pub is live! It was really fun to write this with my friend @carolinamicro.bsky.social. If you're curious about how phylogenomics has shaped our understanding of early life and want guidance on how to do this kind of work yourself, then this review is for you. Enjoy! 🚀 doi.org/10.1093/jamb...

Courtesy of @martibartfast.bsky.social , we have a new release of AllTheBacteria which adds another 322,920 assemblies, covering all ENA (illumina, isolate) prokaryotes to May 2025. allthebacteria.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ov...

Grad student in the lab Yifan Zhu nailed it yesterday at the #IGPMS seminar! So proud!!

@carolinamicro.bsky.social Huang & @lbobay.bsky.social investigated genomic rearrangements across 121 microbial species, showing that rearrangements occur at a variable pace across bacteria and archaea, pointing to different selective constraints. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag002 #genome #evolution

Prevalence and Evolutionary Implications of Genome Rearrangements in Bacteria

Abstract. The genetic material of bacteria and archaea is organized into various structures and setups, attesting that genome architecture is dynamic in th

doi.org

Extremophile alert! Registration is OPEN for the 2026 EMBO Archaeal workshop in Cambridge. Spaces are limited, so register soon with an abstract if you’d like to give a talk. If you can’t come in person, we are welcoming virtual attendees. So join us online where all talks will be screened!

EMBO@embo.org · 8mo ago

Sign up now for the EMBO Workshop "#MolecularBiology of #Archaea: Life Through the Prism of Archaea" in Cambridge, UK, 6–10 July 2026. Deadline: 15 April https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-archaea #EMBOArchaeaBiology #EMBOevents #CellBiology #StructuralBiology #ecology #evolution #biophysics 🧪

New paper! Why are some Nitrogen fixing microbes more complex? @msobol.bsky.social et al. find that microbes with more N2-fixation genes have larger, more versatile genomes, showing how changing environments shaped this key metabolism! > academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a... @isme-microbes.bsky.social

Ecological constraints and evolutionary trade-offs shape nitrogen fixation across habitats

Abstract. From its earliest beginnings, life’s expansion into new habitats has been profoundly shaped by its reciprocal interactions with Earth’s changing

academic.oup.com

People want to know if it's possible to be a woman in academia and raise two small children while also being the sole breadwinner and I'm here to let you know that no, no it is not, send help immediately

Paper alert 🚨 @lbobay.bsky.social and I explored the prevalence and potential drivers of genome rearrangements in bacteria. academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-...

Prevalence and Evolutionary Implications of Genome Rearrangements in Bacteria

Abstract. The genetic material of bacteria and archaea is organized into various structures and set-ups, attesting that genome architecture is dynamic in t

academic.oup.com

NSF needs to hear from you. Among other points, I suggested: keep politics out of science; stop using the threat of cancelling scientific grants to try to control universities; increase NSF funding for fundamental research. Pls send around. Deadline is January 27. Thanks www.nsf.gov/od/updates/n...

NSF seeks public input on its Fiscal Year (FY) 2026–2030 NSF Strategic Plan

nsf.gov