Excited to share a study led by my postdoc Naseem Samo. If you evolve an "unusual" telomere DNA does your telomerase also coevolve to maintain interaction with that strange telomere? Answer we find is YES! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Rapid evolution and functional divergence of the monkeyflower Mimulus lewisii telomerase

Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures that protect chromosome ends and are maintained by the Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT) protein that uses a noncoding Telomerase RNA (TR) as a template. I...

biorxiv.org

Come join the @socialfluids.bsky.social lab in Cambridge to study the evolution of Socially Transferred Materials! Fun new HFSP project btwn UK, NL and Costa Rica! Deadline September 7th #Postdoc #JobAlert #Evolution #Bioinformatics #STM #socialfluids www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... leboeuflab.com

Y and W sex chroms are enigmatic. Compared to the rest of the genome, they show distinct structure and diversity, and are notoriously difficult to assemble. Work led by @mdalikova.bsky.social investigates these patterns for the W chromosome of silkworm, Bombyx mori www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Wrong but useful: Bombyx silkworm W chromosome assemblies are flawed but still capture strongly reduced diversity of repetitive DNA

Degenerate sex chromosomes ( e.g., the Y or W) remain among the most difficult regions of eukaryotic genomes to assemble because they are highly repetitive and structurally complex. While many recent ...

biorxiv.org

Just a reminder that there's only about a week left to leave comments on the OMB proposal that will cripple federally funded research. Here's my attempt to convince you that you should, along with info on how to do so effectively.

Ars Technica@arstechnica.com · 2mo ago

NEW: A lot of bad has happened to American science over the last year but nothing comes even close to what’s about to happen if we don’t speak out in opposition to the OMB rule changes and I hope @aaas-socsci.bsky.social @apsphysics.bsky.social and others will launch public campaigns about this. 🧪🔭⚛️

It's the End of American Science As We Know It

We have 45 days to express our opposition to catastrophic changes.

news.chanda.science

🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n

Emergency meeting called by Stand Up For Science: events.standupforscience.net/stand-up-for...

Emergency Science Meeting by Stand Up for Science

OMB’s latest proposed rule, “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance,” would place political ideologues over scientific experts in federal research funding decisions. Say goodbye to cancer treatme...

events.standupforscience.net

🚨The OMB rule will be the end of science as we know it. MARK YOU CALENDAR for the @standupforscience.net EMERGENCY SCIENCE MEETING June 2nd, 4pm et. We will be giving an overview & assigning EVERY SCIENTIST IN AMERICA their marching orders. REGISTER: events.standupforscience.net/stand-up-for...

Emergency Science Meeting by Stand Up for Science

[discussing OMB-2026-0034?]

events.standupforscience.net

1/ This is awful for so, so many reasons. Just to pick one: even if you thought it was lawful and appropriate to vet funded research for consistency with the government's priorities, *the president is not the government*.

Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · 3mo ago

This is bad. Bad for researchers. Bad for science. Bad for universities. Bad for professional associations. For example: 1. Every award would be vetted by political appointees, who could overrule peer reviewers and deny the award if it doesn't advance the president's priorities. 1/🧵

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule

Russell Vought is going destroy American Science

elizabethginexi.substack.com

7 FREE Books to learn data science 🧵 👇 1. Data science: A first introduction datasciencebook.ca/

EEB Scholars - run by our wonderful Princeton EEB graduate students, now open for applications: eeb.princeton.edu/graduate/eeb...

Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers. The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets

The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

nature.com

Just out—a piece I wrote a piece for the APS Observer (@psychscience.bsky.social) in which I share recommendations and resources for running a research lab at a small, liberal arts college. I hope it helps others in the same boat! www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...

How to Set Up and Run an Undergraduate Research Lab

APS Fellow Julia Strand offers resources and recommendations to run a productive research lab.

psychologicalscience.org

Amid these dark moments, something important is beginning to shift. It's clearly the result of healthy political pressure - which we must sustain, and build.

🧪

Stephen Heard@stephenbheard.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Over the holiday, while folks were on well-deserved breaks, our new book was released! Mentoring writers is hard - we can make it easier for you. Please help spread the word - repost this, tell your colleagues, etc. scientistseessquirre... 1/2

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The genetics, evolution, and maintenance of a biological rock-paper-scissors game

Side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) play a biological rock-paper-scissors game in which three differently colored male morphs utilize alternative mating strategies. We identified the genetic basi...

science.org

Canada is announcing program details for science talent recruitment from abroad. The first one across my desk this morning is support for 600 doctoral students and 400 post-docs. Research investment is greatly appreciated, especially trainees and early career. www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/research_tra...

My department at California State University Northridge is hiring! We're looking for a new colleague studying microbiology or molecular/cellular biology. I'm not on the search committee, but happy to answer questions about the department and campus, and life in LA buff.ly/Pc1KOaC

Career Opportunities

Applicant Log-In

careers.pageuppeople.com

To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.” www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...

I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.

"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."

huffpost.com

I'm recruiting PhD students for the Barker Lab @uofa-eeb.bsky.social We study plant evolutionary genomics - polyploidy, hybridization & machine learning for genome evolution. Work with Selaginella, Xanthisma, Brassica & more. Funding available via CAMBIUM Fellowships. Reach out if interested! 🧬🌵🤖

Daaaaaaamn

Jack Iwashyna@iwashyna.bsky.social · 10mo ago

@umich.edu faculty call for an honorary degree for Trump “We have proven that we have no hard moral principles and no hill on which we will die.” www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...

Kansas University Student started a open letter to the Chancellor calling for a rejection of the White House compact on higher education. actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...

Tell KU Chancellor Doug Girod to Reject the Compact

On Monday October 20th, KU Chancellor Doug Girod "was invited to provide feedback to federal officials on the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education and related matters impacting universi...

actionnetwork.org

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity. But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing? PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

The Art of Data Visualization with ggplot2: A free online book by @nrennie.bsky.social that guides us through the entire process of creating plots, including why certain decisions were made, using real datasets that have been part of #TidyTuesday. Very excited to get stuck into this one. #rstats

The Art of Data Visualization with ggplot2

The TidyTuesday Cookbook

nrennie.rbind.io

An & Nam investigated chromosome size and TE organization in ten butterfly species, showing lepidopterans have denser TEs in smaller chromosomes, with nonallelic homologous recombination as a potential driving force. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf137 #genome #evolution #TEsky

Lepidopteran Genomes Have Denser Transposable Elements in Smaller Chromosomes, Likely Driven by Non-allelic Homologous Recombination

Abstract. Transposable elements (TEs) drive major genome size and structural variations, yet evolutionary forces affecting their accumulation and removal r

doi.org

The struggle is real. The struggle is ongoing. Here's to hoping that unionizing can, hopefully someday soon, bring about some needed changes here... weeklyroseku.blogspot.com/2025/08/kuni...

KUnion Busting: 427 Days Without a Contract

Over a year after winning their union, there is still no contract in sight for faculty and academic staff as KU management stalls negotiations.

weeklyroseku.blogspot.com

1) Are you an Assistant Professor studying evolutionary biology? 2) Are you in the US? 3) Would you like to give a research seminar in Iowa? 4) Are you available to travel September 4-6? If you can answer YES x4, please DM me ASAP, or comment below.

Watch 66 Oscar-Nominated-and-Award-Winning Animated Shorts Online, Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada

Watch 66 Oscar-Nominated-and-Award-Winning Animated Shorts Online, Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada

I recently heard someone quip that proposals to cut the Academy Awards are tantamount to suggesting that the NFL trim down the Super Bowl. Certainly for many who would rather watch the former any day ...

openculture.com