the current NZ govt is so anti-science that they've changed eligibility for the Prime Minister's Science Prizes to rule out awards to people doing basic science eg from 2026 the MacDiarmid is for work with "potential to generate econ, health, social, or env benefits for New Zealand" #nzpol

I just rebuilt my website using Quarto 🎉 My publication list generates itself from my Zotero library, and papers include links to materials and OA versions. The website's first post is on how to build your own, featuring an app that does all the coding for you: dsquintana.com/posts/quarto...

1. A bit of evolutionary biology. I'm really intrigued by a new perspective piece from Steve Frank that explores connections between how natural selection creates systems that generalize and recent work in machine learning about the surprising capabilities of massively overparameterized systems.

Generalization as the great leap in evolvability: insights from machine learning

Abstract. Natural selection encodes learned information in the genome. Learned solutions may be tuned specifically to past challenges, failing in altered e

academic.oup.com

NZ science funding is starting to feel like some sort of shell game. Scramble things so many times, no one notices science being robbed b2bnews.co.nz/news/marsden...

Marsden Fund cut 29% as NZ kills blue-sky research funding

New Zealand's flagship discovery research fund is running its final round before being absorbed into a government-directed system. The 29% funding cut lands on a country that already spends half the O...

b2bnews.co.nz

I realize that to people outside the PNW this is just an interesting news item, but if you're in the PNW, where tracking orca pods is a local religion, this is basically like being visited by alien gods

KUOW Public Radio@kuow.org · 5mo ago

A mysterious trio of orcas, unknown to scientists, showed up in Canada’s busy Vancouver Harbour, later heading south to Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia.

View from the lab today ❄️🌲😯

I am looking for wide-ranging mammalian DNA samples for a class I am developing. Especially sought-after would be parent-offspring paired samples. Please retweet (re-skeet?), thank you!

I am looking for wide-ranging mammalian DNA samples for a class I am developing. Especially sought-after would be parent-offspring paired samples. Please retweet (re-skeet?), thank you!

Rookie mistake, returning to the US: signed up for an FSA and forgot about it. In other (not unrelated) news, I am the proud new owner of a fancy foot massager 🙃

In our new study we were the first to experimentally simulate the origin of sociality! By controlling how many wasp 🐝daughters could help their mom, we found that early helpers don't just add to colony success—they multiply it!

Here is a video that I think might be the best I’ve seen to give students an idea of what is involved in transfers and competitions. I’d like something less detailed/ specific to LTEE, though, while still covering logistics www.jove.com/v/65342/dail...

Elizabeth Ostrowski@elizostrow.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Does anyone have a favorite experimental evolution overview for undergraduates? Ideally one that goes into the details of fitness assays, marking strains, etc. Everything I’ve found doesn’t dig into the details sufficiently.

4/ #DYK during pregnancy🤰, cells are exchanged between mothers + offspring, & even twins? Awardee @elizostrow.bsky.social will study how microchimerism mediates genetic conflict and drive resource competition. 🍾 Congrats Dr. Ostrowski! @uwbothell.bsky.social 🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social

3/ Awardee @mixotrophe.bsky.social aims to uncover how mixotrophs (marine microbes that harness energy from the 🌞 & organic matter) strategize their metabolisms. Her project may be key to understanding our changing ocean. 🎉 Congrats Dr. Moeller! @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social 🙏 #HFScout Ginger Armbrust

2/ Awardee @megbehri.bsky.social will study how chaotic dynamics arise in microbial🦠 populations. Her research could transform how we predict microbiome dysbiosis across human health and beyond. 🥳 Congrats Dr. Behringer! @vuartsci.bsky.social 🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social

✨Announcing our newest awardees, who are taking scientific leaps to uncover new knowledge across microbial ecology, marine microbiology, and mammalian genetics. Learn about their projects: bit.ly/HFAwardees Meet our awardees and hear from their #HFScouts in our 🧵/1

I’m watching this! I could use the resources too.

"are you enjoying duo mobile" does a hamburger enjoy being made of quarks. does a fish enjoy linear time. does the mountain enjoy the first taste of a cup of hot chocolate when you get back to the ski lodge. your question means nothing to me. i couldn't enjoy duo mobile even if i tried

Amazing example of influenza cheat/cooperator cycles in this recent paper - the repeatability of the oscillatory cycles is so striking Congrats to @alnajifg.bsky.social , @christopherbrooke.bsky.social , @vignuzzilab.bsky.social & friends www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧪 #socialviruses

Does anyone have a favorite experimental evolution overview for undergraduates? Ideally one that goes into the details of fitness assays, marking strains, etc. Everything I’ve found doesn’t dig into the details sufficiently.

Treating emergent traits of the microbiome like quantitative genetic traits of the host reveals how environmentally acquired symbionts can contribute to hosts' adaptation

Quantitative genetics of microbiome-mediated traits

Microbiomes, the complex communities of microorganisms associated with multicellular hosts, play a vital role in shaping host traits and fitness. But how d

buff.ly

David became a freelance bioinformatician due to the situation he describes 👇. Freelance workers are typically looking for the next contract. That's how it is. Maybe we could boost this signal so that people who appreciate David's experience and principles can find him?

David Eccles 🌻🇵🇸7x🩹🛡️@gringene.org · 9mo ago

I was made redundant from a decade-long bioinformatics job, in part, because my new boss thought that LLMs and similar technologies were better than an experienced bioinformatician who encouraged FAIR principles and discouraged abusive behaviour.

These are the beautiful spore-producing structures of plasmodial slime molds. Which is your favourite colour? Originally considered Fungi, they are now classed as Ameobozoans - single celled organisms with thousands of nuclei... not animals or fungi but something else entirely! #SoilBiodiversity 🧪

Here in the uk, the government has found that £1 of spending on R&D results in £8 of benefit: www.gov.uk/government/p...

The value of public R&D

gov.uk

Will I ever stop having that dream where I’ve forgotten that I signed up for a class, and today is the final? 😰

I appear to have spoken to a reporter who took seriously the gravity of NZ's science crisis does anybody have a newsroom pro subscription so that I can learn what other choice phrases I used on the record? newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/29/w...

Winner of top science prize blames ‘batshit’ Budget for brain drain

Dr Samuel Mehr says the Government values science, but their ‘idiotic’ approach to funding it will cost them their best and brightest.

newsroom.co.nz

Why can’t I have more content like this?

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 10mo ago

Crowds cheered as elephants smashed pumpkins at the Oregon Zoo on Oct. 16 for the annual Squishing of the Squash event. According to the zoo, the yearly tradition dates back to 1999.

OMG

samuel mehr@mehr.nz · 10mo ago

this appears to be a power grab from actual scientists: funding decisions regarding Marsdens will soon be made by an 8-member panel with "a mix of academic, government and industry expertise" rather than the Marsden Fund Council which has (checks notes) 7 professors and 1 distinguished professor

Do you know ~60% of human SVs fall in ~1% of GRCh38? See our new preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2509.23057 and the companion blog post on how we started this project and longdust: lh3.github.io/2025/09/29/o.... Work with Alvin Qin

☔💦 Sun, Sep 21 A sublime summery 8 days it's been w/J pod inland Puget Sound. Especially wild their South Sound foray, their first in decades. Orcas reported this morn in Admiralty Inlet. Is it Js leaving? 📸 J pod Double spyhop! Taken from atop Tacoma Narrows Bridge. By Jolena Tagg 9/20. #psws

There's always something new to see. This absolutely wild little thing is the insect-egg slime mould (Leocarpus fragilis). Each fruiting body is about 1.5 mm long. Bob Orr Pond Trail, Caughey-Taylor Preserve (Nature Trust NB), near St. Andrews, New Brunswick.