What makes human guts and coral reefs similar? Here is a blog post with some thoughts on ecosystem stability, stress, and microbiome, following a fresh pre-print by Marko Terzin et al: merenlab.org/blog/coral-r...

From coral reefs to human guts: stress is stress

Reefs and colons share no taxa, no host, no timescale, but they report stress the same way, which tells us where NOT to look for solutions.

merenlab.org

📢 PhD opportunity | Melbourne, Australia We're seeking a #PhD candidate at Agriculture Victoria to investigate Behavioural drivers of horizontal transmission of entomopathogenic fungi in Bactrocera tryoni Apply here: www.latrobe.edu.au/study/schola... #Entomology #BiologicalControl #PlantProtection

We're recruiting a Postdoctoral Fellow at ANU to help strengthen Australia's preparedness for wheat blast. The project spans plant pathology, genetics, breeding and biosecurity, with collaborators in Australia and Brazil. Apply here: tinyurl.com/25zcj9yy #PlantScience #Postdoc #Biosecurity

Postdoctoral Fellow - Canberra / ACT, ACT, Australia

Classification: Academic Level ASalary package: $91,546 - $114,906 per annum plus 17% superannuationTerm: Full-Time, Continuing (Contingent Funded) Note: This position will be primarily based at the N...

tinyurl.com

Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Some highlights below

Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics

This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...

nature.com

Multispecies pangenomes reveal a pervasive influence of population size on structural variation | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Multispecies pangenomes reveal a pervasive influence of population size on structural variation

Structural variants (SVs) are widespread in vertebrate genomes, yet their evolutionary dynamics remain poorly understood. Using 45 long-read de novo genome assemblies and pangenome tools, we analyze S...

science.org

We are so fked

New Blog! 📣 There isn't much room for fungi in the fossil record, yet here Isabelle Pola discusses the discovery of one of the oldest ever found! From Cretaceous period sedimentary rock, these fossils help to reshape our understanding of how modern ecosystems developed. buff.ly/3hp1vOd 🧪

In Early Cretaceous Forests: There's Mushroom for Fossils

Discover the latest news from The Linnean Society of London.

buff.ly

It’s important to be nice

Thing that people were saying was going to happen for forty years happens roughly when they said it would happen; humanity shocked.

Dave Johnson@dcjohnson.bsky.social · 4w ago

It is extremely important that people understand what is happening with the climate and start demanding their governments act against the oil companies. www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

That @naomialderman.bsky.social is so fucking brilliant. If you've found yourself falling out the reading habit, she has created a kind of Couch-to-5K of reading open.substack.com/pub/naomiald...

let's do a 'couch to 5k' for reading

we're going to work ourselves back to good 'reading fitness' over the next eight weeks. come and join us.

open.substack.com

www.theguardian.com/money/2026/j... The Brexit monster eats its young. But why go to a UK univerdity with its idiotic fees?

Brexit rule change means British teens in EU face soaring student fees for UK degrees

‘Home fee’ qualification ends in 2028, leaving those hoping to study in UK not now eligible for British loans

theguardian.com

Microbes that have the greatest genomic potential for secondary metabolism tend to be multicellular. Here, we show that signatures of ancestral BGC expansions within 3 bacterial phyla and 2 fungal lineages coincide with origins of complex multicellularity [1/12] 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Complex multicellularity is linked with expanded specialized metabolite production in microorganisms - Nature Microbiology

The evolutionary emergence of complex multicellularity in bacteria and fungi, such as the ability for mycelial growth, is strongly associated with increased genomic carriage of biosynthetic machinery ...

nature.com

Globalisation, rising authoritarianism, declining solidarity, and retreating multilateralism are creating a perfect storm for amplifying the risk of outbreaks In this context, what exactly does solidarity mean? Our new @plosglobalpublichealth.org essay: journals.plos.org/globalpublic...

🧫 Congratulations to @seanaduggan.bsky.social and collaborators, who have found that two common microbes cooperate using copper 🤝 these insights could point to ways to disrupt them, with better outcomes for patients. buff.ly/LfhIg0e @orlandorosss.bsky.social @microbiologysociety.org

A “Copper Economy” helps fungi and bacteria build better biofilms

Scientists have discovered that two common human pathogens can work together by managing copper in their shared environment - a finding that could open new ways to break down stubborn mixed biofilms.…

news.exeter.ac.uk

Still no UK passport for my daughter because HMPO today requested a HANDWRITTEN letter confirming my mothers details…. She’s British enough to be denied entry into the U.K. but not British enough with a British parent and grandparent. Make it make sense.

Jo Rhodes@drjorhodes.com · 3mo ago

My daughter, a dual Dutch and British citizen, can currently travel to any country apart from the UK because of some stupid law Labour approved to appease Reform voters. Make it make sense.

My quote of the day Rosalind Franklin

Metadata as Infrastructure. I finally created a Substack! My first post is on a topic that I probably spend entirely too much time worrying about. 😊 please reshare with your #genomics and #bioinformatics peeps! 🙏 🧬🦠🔬📊🧫🚀 substack.com/home/post/p-... #ASMicrobe #digitalbiology #biotech #biopharma

Metadata as Infrastructure

Genomics data provenance and quality are something we can't ignore anymore

substack.com

I love finding new Substacks to read! @bioinformer.bsky.social has a new one: bioinformer.substack.com/p/metadata-a... Metadata is essential infrastructure, and critical if we want to uphold FAIR data standards. Also add the paper Jonathan wrote to your reading list: zenodo.org/records/2056...

"communicating microbiology beyond the research bubble is important" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is bad. The parasitic New World screwworm has been found inside the United States, in a calf in Texas. Announced by the USDA one day after the USDA Secretary publicly rebuked a Texas state rep for saying the parasite had advanced close to the border. www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...

jobs.surrey.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... Our School of Veterinary Medicine is recruiting a (senior) lecturer in #Microbiome Sciences, deadline is 16th of June 2026. We want to expand our capabilities in the microbiome field, quite flexible on what will be investigated within #OneHealth #MicrobiomeSky 1/n

Job Vacancy at the University of Surrey: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Microbiome Sciences

The University of Surrey is an international University with a world class teaching and research profile that is innovative, forward thinking and achieving notable results. Our research seeks to addre...

jobs.surrey.ac.uk

We have an open-rank professorship position open @unileiden.bsky.social Institute of Biology: careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Assistan... welcome to apply! due: 7 June

An important Nature Outlook article from Nic Fleming on antifungal resistance: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Antifungal resistance is growing – will new treatments turn the tables?

Trials of drugs to fight deadly resistant infections are advancing, but they might fall victim to overuse of agricultural fungicides just like their predecessors.

nature.com

My dad today getting the news he’s cancer-free is the best. How wonderful that he had access to treatment *free at point of care*

Very cool version of this monthly global average surface temperature anomaly chart showing both El Niño and La Niña years

🚨 Happening this week! 🎉Only 3 days to go until the TARGetAMR Conference 2026! 🗓️ This Thursday & Friday, join leading researchers, innovators, and collaborators in AMR Genomics 💡 You don’t want to miss this! 🔗 Read more: www.targetamr.org.uk/hdrevents/ta... #TARGetAMR26

Start them young

My daughter, a dual Dutch and British citizen, can currently travel to any country apart from the UK because of some stupid law Labour approved to appease Reform voters. Make it make sense.

Pinch, punch, it's Microbe of the Month🦠 Introducing Nigromyces azzae! Depicted here, the team from Kuwait University captured N. azzae's colony morphologies on different media and incubation temperatures. Find out more here🔗 https://microb.io/3QxlwPN #Microbiology

It is with great sadness that we announce J. Craig Venter has died. 🧪🧬 www.jcvi.org/media-center...

J. Craig Venter, genomics pioneer and founder of JCVI and Diploid Genomics, Inc., dies at 79

La Jolla, California—April 29, 2026—The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced that J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., the Institute’s founder, board...

jcvi.org