UT Austin's Biodiversity Center is hiring a Communications Coordinator! 📢 🌎 🌱 Learn more and apply: utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UTstaf...
Communications Coordinator, Biodiversity Center
Job Posting Title: Communications Coordinator, Biodiversity Center ---- Hiring Department: Department of Integrative Biology ---- Position Open To: All Applicants ---- Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40 ---- ...
utaustin.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
Happy World Reef Day! 🪸🐠 Misha Matz, a coral biologist at The University of Texas at Austin is proposing a radical plan to save Caribbean coral reefs from collapse. Read more: cns.utexas.edu/news/feature... Photo captions & credits below in comments @heatshok.bsky.social @texas-ib.bsky.social
More restrictions on US science. Collaboration & co-authorship w/ foreign scientists is common & accepted. Now, it’s more about what foreigner you are collaborating with, not what problem you set out to solve. There is no real guidance to navigate this. On brand. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. researchers face new restrictions on publishing with foreign collaborators
NIH, NASA grantees are confused and concerned amid agencies’ piecemeal communication
science.org
Elizabeth Madin, a researcher at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, developed software to analyze satellite imagery and detect “reef halos” around coral reefs. These features are created by grazing fish and provide a global monitoring tool for coral reef health. 🌊🧪
Future telehealth for the ocean: ‘Reef halos’ enable global checkups
From thousands of feet above the ocean, coral reefs reveal a hidden signal: pale, circular “halos” etched into the seafloor
soest.hawaii.edu
Dental proteins extracted from six Homo erectus individuals who lived in what’s now China 400,000 years ago provide the first genetic evidence that H. erectus mated with Denisovans, thus illuminating a landmark moment in human evolution. cen.acs.org/biological-c... #chemsky 🧪
This is good-“Universities are not corporations in need of strong CEOs.They are federations of expertise held together by norms, trust & a shared commitment to inquiry..The work of leadership..is to steward institutions where that independence can flourish” 🧪 www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
On Leading People Who Don’t Want to Be Led (opinion)
Many faculty say this is not the job they signed up for. They need leaders who see this and who are looking out for them.
insidehighered.com
I can’t believe they chose this gel picture as illustration for “genome sequencing”. None of my students would understand it. But this is how we sequenced DNA in 1990s (those gel pouring skills! I was so proud of mine) 🧪
The Conversation U.S.@us.theconversation.com · 3mo agoGenome sequencing can track how diseases spread across cities, states and countries. It helped researchers trace COVID-19 cases linked to the 2020 Biogen conference in Boston. But DNA alone can’t explain outbreaks. Human behavior, travel and history also shape how diseases spread 🧪
National Scientist Day A proud scientist here. Today is National Scientist Day in Portugal. I would like to thank the Big Bang and the twists and turns of DNA that have brought me here ;) #science #DiaNacionalDoCientista #SciComm #genetics
Neanderthals were definitely tough, but they weren't necessarily dumb. Also, this story by @kionasmith07.bsky.social will make you SQUIRM. 🧪
Jennifer Ouellette@jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 3mo agoNeanderthals drilled cavities to treat a toothache 59,000 years ago arstechnica.com/science/2026...
Palaeoproteomics of Homo erectus! Really intriguing but I am also unsure what we know/understand and what it all really means. So many questions! 🏺🧪
Kristina Killgrove@killgrove.bsky.social · 3mo agoScientists have identified ancient proteins from Homo erectus, marking the first time genetic info has been extracted from the species. But the results raise the question -- Do we even know what Homo erectus is? 🧪🏺
Bending for money instead of striving for the advancement of science for the good of mankind. 🧪
Katie Hinde@mammalssuck.bsky.social · 3mo ago"For too long, the university has ignored the wisdom of the donor class and hired based on academic excellence. Regrettably, this has led to the underrepresentation of discredited viewpoints in elite higher education." www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/wer...
Today I set out to understand how barnacle geese chicks, who launch themselves off of cliff faces hundreds of feet high within days of hatching, survive their extreme falls. Friends, I did not succeed. Let me tell you what I did find. 1/8 ⚛️🧪
🧪🧬🌏🦠🌏😡👇
Science Magazine@science.org · 3mo agoBreaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr
What if microscopic predator-prey interactions were like Pokemon battles with commentators? ▶️👇 Feat. amazing 🔬 footage by @jamesweiss.bsky.social! A fun series we made to get students (and everyone) curious about protists! 🧪🍎 youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Protist Micro Matchups - YouTube
youtube.com
𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗗𝗖 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗿𝘂𝘀 𝗣𝘂𝗹𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 [via CDC] 🧪🥼🦠👩⚕️ Just happened to look up the #US CDC's advice on HPS: 🤔 "Clean up after your rodents. Avoid contact with their urine, droppings, saliva, and nesting materials." www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/p... #hantavirus #prevention #CDC
Hantavirus Prevention
How to clean up after pet rodents and safely clean up after infestations.
cdc.gov
#WeekendReading: Dodd et al. about recurring marine phosphorus spikes during major Paleozoic mass extinctions, and how they might be driving anoxia. 🧪⚒️ Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-70701-y
A Cambrian soft-bodied biota after the first Phanerozoic mass extinction🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Dated shortly after the Sinsk event the Huayuan biota illuminates differences in the impacts of this extinction in shallow-versus deep-water settings during the first Phanerozoic mass extinction
“Scientists are no longer just defending funding. They are defending the idea that science should be independent of politics.” #Science 🧪 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on Trump’s war on science: politicising a generation of researchers | Editorial
Editorial: By attacking the basic settlement between scientists and the state, the US president has proved that experts can’t avoid these fights
theguardian.com
In 2026, It is more important to use our tax $$ to build a frivolous ballroom than it is to preserve what used to be gold standard science for the purpose of saving the lives of US citizens. 1500 science staff have left. Only 124 remain. 🧪 archive.today/3bkSw
How the Trump Administration Ended Independent Science at the E.P.A.
nytimes.com
🧵 1/6 This 1999 #Hubble time-lapse of Uranus is a genuine piece of astronomy history. 🔭 For the first time in the modern era, it shows seasonal changes on a planet watched for over 200 years. Created by Erich Karkoschka from images taken 1994–1998.🧪⚛️ #histsci #Astronomy #Science #Hubble
new perspective piece about the role of reproduction in arthropod extinctions! with PhD student @sarahnalley.bsky.social and @noahleith.bsky.social 🧪🌍🐙 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @cudenverclas.bsky.social
Reproductive meltdowns underlie arthropod extinctions in the face of climate change
To persist on our warming planet, arthropods will need to be able to survive and successfully reproduce under the new temperature conditions. However,…
sciencedirect.com
🧪🌎 another awesome recent paper bearing on CBASS usefulness @liamlachs.bsky.social @adrianahumanes.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol... (spoiler: not good for choosing bleaching-tolerant coral genets, sadly)
Choice of traits defines the scope for assisted evolution of corals under climate change
Thermal evolution is critical for coral persistence in a warming world. Lachs et al. show that different heat tolerance traits exhibit weak-to-moderate genetic correlations and lack detectable fitness...
cell.com
David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈@whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 3mo agoAcute heat-stress testing in coral bleaching research: a review of research using the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🦑 🧪 🌍️
🧪🌎 #landscapegenomics doi.org/10.1111/eva.... @nature.org @science.nature.org Cool paper, but I’ll keep screaming into the void until someone notices: #gradientforest calculates #genomicoffset INCORRECTLY See doi.org/10.1111/1755... for demo
Landscape Genomic Analyses of Quercus agrifolia Née Predict Patterns of Adaptedness to Future Climate and Provide Guidance for Conservation
Habitat destruction and climate change are two primary drivers of global biodiversity loss. Many contemporary ecological preserves and preserve networks are designed to protect species and the ecolog....
doi.org
We’re looking for researchers in any discipline of natural history: if you have a paper coming out and you want to pitch @pbseons.bsky.social on a potential episode about it, send me a DM! #scicomm #paleosky #FossilFriday (Arsinoitherium says please and thank you!)
Rare case of validating #lansdcape_genomics predictions. doi.org/10.1002/gcb4... 🧪🌏
Genomic Offset Analyses: Mind Your Climate Variables
Recent methods based on genomic offset (GO) statistics aim to quantify the risk of non-adaptation of populations to future climates. This study assesses how well genomic offset values correspond to p....
doi.org
www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
The selection landscape and genetic legacy of ancient Eurasians - Nature
Analyses of imputed ancient genomes and of samples from the UK Biobank indicate that ancient selection and migration were large contributors to the distribution of phenotypic diversity in present-day ...
nature.com
Dr Mike Ward@schroedinger99.bsky.social · 4mo ago
New in @natrevearthenviron.nature.com: Vegetation greenness in 2025 Global mean vegetation greenness reached a record high in the year 2025, extending the multi-decadal upward trend. Full article: www.nature.com/articles/s43... 🧪
Vegetation greenness in 2025 - Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Global mean vegetation greenness reached a record high in the year 2025, extending the multi-decadal upward trend. A total of 68.2% of vegetated land surfaces experienced greening, particularly in gra...
nature.com
Synchrotron and CT scans reveal the first egg from a synapsid: a well-developed Lystrosaurus embryo with an unfused lower jaw and no tusks inside a large soft shell. This reproductive strategy likely aided in its post-Permian success! 🧪 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Aging is definitely not a biological rule. Quite a few animal species don’t age and live forever until killed, like Tolkien’s elves. Great overview of animal aging patterns here: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Diversity of ageing across the tree of life
Evolution drives, and is driven by, demography. A genotype moulds its phenotype’s age patterns of mortality and fertility in an environment; these two patterns in turn determine the genotype’s fitness...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Michael Le Page@mjflepage.bsky.social · 4mo agoMulticellularity in each of us gradually fails as our cells mutate 🧬, become more diverse - and more selfish 🧪 That, to me, is the key message of Beyond Inheritance by @roxannekhamsi.bsky.social It's also, I'd argue, why the quest to 'defeat' ageing is futile www.newscientist.com/article/2522...
