Avocados come in 2 varieties - A-types start each day female and switch to male midday. B-types do the reverse. In work just published from the last chapter of my PhD, we show this system evolved 40+million yrs ago and is regulated by alleles of 1 transcription factor www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Balanced polymorphism in a floral transcription factor underlies the ancient rhythm of daily sex alternation in avocado | PNAS

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

pnas.org

'It's absolutely exciting!': Astronomers discover an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone for first time ever www.livescience.com/space/exopla...

'It's absolutely exciting!': Astronomers discover an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone for first time ever

Astronomers have detected helium escaping from the super-Earth LHS 1140 b, providing the strongest evidence yet that a rocky planet in another star's habitable zone has retained an atmosphere for billions of years.

livescience.com

I just met someone who is going back to school to get their PhD in psychology … at 71 years old. 🤯

Big thumbs-up for the ScreenZen app. Best one I’ve used for addictive apps I want to keep but limit my time on.

This is really cool.

Taylor Mitchell Brown@tmitchellbrown.bsky.social · 3w ago

Scientists just found the first-ever name of a Maya astronomer. His name was Sak Tahn Waax, meaning “White-chested Fox.” Maya astronomers have long lived in obscurity, uncredited for their work. Now we finally have a name. #Archaeology #AncientMaya @antiquity.ac.uk 🧪🏺 New at #NationalGeographic

It has been criminally underreported but Kelsey Pfendler has just rowed solo across the Pacific Ocean from the US coast to Hawaii in record time. A 2,400-mile unsupported journey in 43 days, 17 hours, and 55 minutes. Notably beating the Men’s record by 9 whole days.

Micro-hangry

Science Friday@scifri.bsky.social · last mo.

Most of the time, these single-celled protists eat bacteria. But when food runs low, some transform and grow into “super-giants” that eat their own kind. Video credit: Ben Larson

SUPERMAGNETIC MICROPHAGES 🤯

Science Magazine@science.org · 2mo ago

Researchers have identified superparamagnetic macrophages in the livers of rock pigeons to be crucial for magnetic sensing. The finding uncovers an unexpected role for immune cells in sensory perception and may fundamentally change our understanding of animal navigation. https://scim.ag/4nTQ3nq

“being alive is as special an occasion as it gets.”

Weirdly enough, this is something AI can be useful for! Ask if all of the references can be found in PubMed or Google Scholar exactly as written, ignoring minor punctuation, and list the ones that aren’t. This is a good task for editors (I say as an editor myself).

will pooley@willpooley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

absolutely wild to see people out here saying that it is responsibility of peer reviewers to check for hallucinated references. it is hard enough to persuade people to read articles and provide reviews. expecting them to spend hours cross reffing literature is unreal.

MIT has lost 500 international grad students relative to last year. Caused directly by the White House. Closing America's doors to the very best, most brilliant people on the planet is like dropping a bomb directly on America's capacity to innovate. On the prosperity of our children's future.

A message from MIT President Sally Kornbluth

YouTube video by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

youtube.com

A neighbor called and asked me to pick up a package for her. “I hate to bother you,” she said. “I don’t like asking for help.” Ladies. No. Stop. Asking for help is healthy. We are not meant to be hyper-independent. And “bother” implies you’re being a pest. You aren’t. Ask for the help you need.

Put simply: It coordinates action in more varied and context-dependent ways across more complex environments, AND it regulates a more complex internal environment. Highly recommend this chapter from Sterling and Laughlin! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Why an animal needs a brain - Animal Cognition

In Principles of Neural Design (2015, MIT Press), inspired by Charles Darwin, Sterling and Laughlin undertook the unfashionable task of distilling principles from facts in the technique-driven, data-s...

link.springer.com

Nice Good News Story for the weekend #ImmuneTherapy #OvarianCancer www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/nov...

Dalhousie scientists make breakthroughs in ovarian cancer research

A team of researchers at Dalhousie University is making major strides in ovarian cancer research with an investment of $725,000 from Ovarian Cancer Canada.

ctvnews.ca

It is my duty to inform you that there are baby capybaras at the Sacramento Zoo

🎉💚The Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution turns 20 this year: As we head toward the annual meeting, we invite you to share your favourite memories, photos, and throwbacks from past CSEE meetings and events! Tag your post with hashtag #SCEECSEE20

U.S. President Donald Trump has fired all 24 members of the National Science Board, the body that oversees the National Science Foundation. https://scim.ag/4cxQWhl

Trump fires NSF's oversight board

Dismissal of the National Science Board is widely seen as latest move to erase NSF’s independence

scim.ag

This is incredible. mRNA vaccines are really bringing it!

Ignacio Gallup-Diaz@igallupd.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial: Scientists caution that more research is needed, but nearly all of the patients who responded to the personalized vaccine are still alive six years later."

Very cool!! A bacterial enzyme that synthesizes DNA WITHOUT a nucleic acid template! It has internal amino acids in its active site that mimic a template RNA strand. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Naming your biology LLM after Rosalind Franklin is… hell is not hot enough

The HPV vaccine is amazing at preventing cervical cancer in women. New studies show it ALSO PREVENTS CANCER IN MEN. Men have reduced chance of head and neck, anal, and penile cancers caused by HPV.

Canada Healthwatch 🍁@canadahealthwatch.ca · 4mo ago

HPV vaccination cuts cancer risk in men by about half, study suggests https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papillomavirus-hpv/hpv-vaccination-cuts-cancer-risk-men-about-half-study-suggests ↷ canadahealthwatch.ca/featured 🍁

Yes it could be argued that keeping up with world events is important but alternatively can I interest you in hugging an ancient mossy boulder that looks like a face and quietly listening while it tells you stories from centuries cloaked in mist.

The four humans who have traveled the furthest from Earth. (Via NASA.)

"While there is no current consensus, we do not advocate for a single definition and contend that a lack of unanimity is not inherently problematic."

Jeremy Yoder says no war@jbyoder.org · 4mo ago

"The fact that there is no current consensus of biological sex is not antithetical to science... However, the field urgently needs an ethical and reproducible approach for discussing sex" There is No Consensus on Biological Sex

Interesting work!

🧬Jacob L Steenwyk@jlsteenwyk.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Scanning 29 Rhizaria species, researchers found eukaryote-to-eukaryote gene transfer is far more common and consequential than most assumed. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.27.525846

Depluralize a movie: Fear and loathing in La Vega

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Depluralize a movie: Dial M for Crow

A Giant Sea Spider (genus Colossendeis), also known as a pycnogonid, found on the deep seafloor at depths between 2,200 and 4,000 meters. 🌊🦀 While some species are small, those in the deep ocean can grow over 50 cm (20 inches) across due to deep-sea gigantism. #ocean #deepsea #nature #wildlife

I will say this again: Science isn’t just something that nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world. It’s why this app exists. It’s why child mortality rate isn’t 50% anymore. It’s how we’re able to launch people to the moon. It’s how we’re able to grow food that feeds half the world.

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration

Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

nature.com

More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕