Pro-wrestling executive Linda McMahon issued a letter today (in her role as US Secretary of Education) demanding that universities justify their existence and explain policies to the Trump administration by the end of 2026. Not sure what the endgame is, but it sure feels like a trap.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Issues National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards

Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a national call to action to university presidents and governing boards, urging them to reaffirm higher education’s foundational commitments to ...

ed.gov

My comment on NSF-2026-OTR-0001, NSF's obsequious gutting of their own procedures, replacing them with OMB's proposed rules undermining federal grantmaking with their ideological agenda. Need guidance on commenting? @standupforscience.net has you covered: fight2win.standupforscience.net #NSF

Still 4 days to apply! (DL: 7 August EET)

Craig Primmer@fishcongen.bsky.social · last mo.

Thanks to a couple of recent Ws on the funding front, we have 3 open postdoc positions in Helsinki, Finland in the field of salmonid fish ecological and evolutionary genomics. DL 7.8. More details in advert: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

This still has to go through the house, if not back and forth more times. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!

Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist@princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 3d ago

Yaaas! Good news on a Sunday! The senate moves to temporarily ban the OMB proposal that would allow political appointees in charge of approving federal grants, especially #NIH grants. Recall that the OMB rule yielded 500k comments, 95% of them against it. 🧪 www.politico.com/news/2026/08...

So proud of this manuscript- lead by the fantastic @henryarenas.bsky.social with two undergraduates (Cage Cochran and Quinn Evans) each doing a Herculean effort during their honors theses, and Hongfei Chen helping out tremendously with lab work. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Maintenance of phenotypic divergence in two sympatric monkeyflowers with weak reproductive isolation

Sympatric species often exhibit permeable reproductive barriers, yet many of them coexist as phenotypically distinct entities. One way to account for this apparent paradox is that selection on loci th...

biorxiv.org

The Chen Lab @ EMBL Rome (current population: 1) is hiring! Looking for an experimental Lab Manager w/ a PhD and experience in molecular bio and mouse-based neuro research. Apply if you like: mouse behaviors, high-throughput sequencing, good coffee & ancient history tinyurl.com/48h66vfh

Lab Manager

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is one of the world’s leading life science research organizations. With sites across Europe, EMBL fosters an international, collaborative, and inclusiv...

tinyurl.com

The prestigious Miller Research Postdoctoral Fellowship is open! University of California, Berkeley This is a postdoc fellowship with substantial support and independence to be hosted at a lab at Berkeley, reach out with interests! miller.berkeley.edu/nominate-app...

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

Beyond providing insight into the centromere paradox, this work demonstrates that complete chromosome reconstruction is now possible from wild-caught flies, opening new opportunities for population, functional, and quantitative genomics in Drosophila. Preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A conserved architectural domain shapes centromere evolution in Drosophila

Centromeres ensure faithful chromosome segregation despite being embedded within rapidly evolving repetitive DNA, a contradiction known as the centromere paradox. While centromere identity is defined ...

biorxiv.org

Toxin-antidote systems are a type of selfish genetic element. This study by Liu and Zheng describes an ancient such system in C. elegans; the maternal toxin induces a rod-like larval arrest phenotype in progeny that do not carry the antidote. 🧪#AcademicSky #genetics #evolution plos.io/4fBW4kY

Delighted to share our paper on neo-chromosomes! We induced centromere fission using CRISPR in Arabidopsis and increased the chromosome count from n=5 to n=6. The broken chromosomes ends quickly “healed” by adding telomeres de novo and the new karyotype is stable through mitosis and meiosis! 1/3

Ian Henderson@hendersi.bsky.social · 2w ago

CRISPR-mediated centromere fission generates neochromosomes with distorted meiotic inheritance in Arabidopsis biorxiv.org/content/10.6... new preprint from us - includes changing the Arabidopsis karyotype from 5 -> 6 chromosomes using Cas9 & outcomes of 5/6 chromosome hybrid meiosis

Caroline Langley's primary thesis chapter from her time as a grad student in @memerman.bsky.social's and my lab is now published. She shows that HIV-1 Vif’s ability to maintain A3G antagonism depends on structural robustness, which permits adaptation, and epistasis, which imposes constraints.

@JohnGrossSF@johngrosssf.bsky.social · 2w ago

Strain-specific epistasis shapes fitness landscapes of APOBEC3G antagonism by HIV-1 Vif proteins | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Congratulations on this beautiful work!

Updated my applyingtoeeb.info site on applying to evolution and ecology grad school in the US to incorporate some of the latest immigration changes. Share with any REU or other students who might be considering grad school.

Gift Lift NY Times: Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)

Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.

nytimes.com

Very excited to share our new manuscript by Arif Maulana @arf-mln.bsky.social on 338 beetle genomes. It shows how beetle genomes have evolved and how this compares to fly and Lepidoptera genome evolution. It was a great pleasure to collaborate with @kamilsjaron.bsky.social and his team on this.

KamilSJaron.bsky.social@kamilsjaron.bsky.social · 2w ago

New preprint: 338 coleopteran genomes reveal exceptional rearrangement variation compared to other insect orders. Big congrats to @arf-mln.bsky.social, for getting this giant piece together. Big collaboration of @joanameier.bsky.social's and my groups. 🧵👇 doi.org/10.64898/202...

Trump science adviser['s] proposal to reduce the role of universities would up end [the] system in place since WWII. His call for the administration to de-prioritize life sciences...raised alarms among biomedical researchers" www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

nytimes.com

Super proud and excited about this work, led masterfully by Peiwei Chen! A fun and fruitful collaboration with department colleagues Andy Clark & Alexei Aravin. After 30 yrs of studying transposons, this is one of the very first times I see them jump in real time in their natural host! Hurrah! 🥳

Peiwei Chen@peiwei-chen.bsky.social · 3w ago

How do transposons jump when they’re released from host control? I babysat two chromosomes for 2 years, making sure they are ok without most piRNAs. Here’s what we found & excited to share my 1st postdoc paper: “piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Just had a great zoom with a very talented undergraduate student from another country I would love to recruit. I really don't love telling students not to come here, but because our funding and visa situation is so volatile I can't in good conscience recommend a PhD in the US.

Delete and repost to clarify degree of uncertainty: Today there is substantial uncertainty racing through academic channels about how this atrocious rule will be interpreted and enforced. Apparently some current visa holders have received notice, so it may pertain to existing visas as well.

Trump Administration Issues Final Rule to End Foreign Student Visa Abuse | Homeland Security

DHS announced the publication of a final rule that officially eliminates the “duration of status” loophole that allowed foreign students, exchange visitors, and media representatives to remain in the ...

dhs.gov

On Wednesday, Munster will make his initial appearance before a judge over charges related to allegedly smuggling non-infectious MPXV without declaring it. The case has become a cause célèbre for Republican politicians and activists who have been targeted virologists for years. My reporting:

Smuggling charges against NIH virologists trigger political uproar

Other researchers say that non-infectious viral samples in luggage posed no risk, but might have violated import rules.

nature.com

Yesterday the US Administration supercharged its explicit effort to bar international students from staying in the US after graduation. All Americans should know: 1/3 of *all* STEM PhDs working in the US are immigrants who graduated from US universities, then stayed. www.piie.com/index%2Ephp/...

In addition to disrupting the lives and dreams of great students from around the world, this will degrade the economic, technological, and national security of the United States.

Ben Allen@evodynamics.bsky.social · 3w ago

Congrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...

How do transposons jump when they’re released from host control? I babysat two chromosomes for 2 years, making sure they are ok without most piRNAs. Here’s what we found & excited to share my 1st postdoc paper: “piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts

In Metazoa, transposon expression is suppressed by the piRNA pathway, and disruption of this pathway leads to rampant transposon expression. However, it remains unclear whether increased transposon ex...

biorxiv.org

‼️ AHRQ is in the midst of a mass grant termination event. We (at Grant Witness) need your help to launch a tracker ASAP. If you received an AHRQ termination notice--or if you know of someone else who did--please submit information about the grant here: grant-witness.us/submit-nih.h...

Got this email from UConn Office of Vice President for Research, reminding us of the new NIH policy that any co-authorship with foreigners needs to have *prior approval* from NIH. It should be disclosed in advance in the grant proposal, or approval requested if collaboration arises later. What BS

NEW: The Trump admin finalized a regulation which makes the largest changes to the student visa process in 50 years, along with changes to rules for exchange visitors and international journalists. 🧵on some of the most consequential changes set to go into effect in September.

AILA@aila.org · 3w ago

DHS has published its Final Rule to eliminate "duration of status" for F, J & I nonimmigrants. One of the most significant changes to international student, exchange visitor & foreign media programs in decades, it will be costly, cause chaos, and cut legal immigration.

The typical PhD lasts over 5 years. The new rule limiting international students to 4 years will absolutely devastate graduate degree programs in the US.

Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 3w ago

The new rule, which will be formally published Friday, will limit their stay in the U.S. to just four years unless they receive an extension, as well as limiting students’ ability to change majors and institutions once in the country. (2/2) Read the full story ➡️ bit.ly/4pmMoiC

🎨 job alert 🐠 Come join us! We have two positions open! These are part of our @erc.europa.eu funded project on the mechanisms underpinning convergence of colour patterns in cichlid fishes! Closing date: 16th August. Postdoc: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... Technician: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Callipterus Cichlid Collecting Shell

ALT: Callipterus Cichlid Collecting Shell

static.klipy.com

OUR WORK IS NOT DONE. In unusual move, NSF issued a request for information on plan to conform grant policies to the proposed (unfinalized) OMB rule. Plan includes changes to grant termination provisions & disallowing publication costs. Comments due August 24. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request; National Science Foundation Proposal/Award Information-NSF Guidance on Financial Assistance

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing plans to renew and revise its collection for its financial assistance policies and procedures. In accordance with the requirements of the Paper...

federalregister.gov

CA leads the nation in scientific advancements & cutting-edge research. White House Office of Management and Budget new proposed rule puts all this in jeopardy & makes way for politically motivated decisions that serve the President over science.   They must rescind this rule immediately.