You may have noticed I disappeared from social media after my launch of @beyondxandy.bsky.social I was violently attacked by a transphobe who recognized me and have been in the hospital and resting If you'd like to help me with my medical bills, please consider donating here: gofund.me/9328f91f2

Donate to Help trans activist Jey McCreight recover from hate crime, organized by Jey McCreight

I am a transgender activist and science communicator who was v… Jey McCreight needs your support for Help trans activist Jey McCreight recover from hate crime

gofund.me

I've been awarded an ECR Career Development Award from the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute - thanks team! I'll use this funding to attend the Australian Antarctic Research Conference in Hobart this August & present our latest results about Antarctica's amazing microbes 🥳🦠 ⛰️ 🇦🇶

Ever wondered how microbes can survive the extreme conditions of the Antarctic desert? Find out the answer at my public @pintofscienceau.bsky.social talk on 20 May. Come along to the Munich Brauhaus event if you're in Naarm Melbourne 🦠🏔️ pintofscience.com.au/event/scales...

Scales, Seals, and Survival

Life on Earth thrives in astonishingly different ways — from the largest animals ever to roam the oceans to microbes surviving on little more than air. Joi…

pintofscience.com.au

Tune in to 6PR Perth at ~3:20 pm (AEDT) today to hear me share our latest findings about Antarctic microbes that live on air. You know I love spreading the good word about Antarctica and the amazing microbes we find down there! Listen online here: www.6pr.com.au/listen-live/ @arcsaef.bsky.social

Looking for a tool to estimate abundances of aerobes versus anaerobes directly from metagenomes? Here you go: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Check out my new article in The Conversation about some of our research on #Antarctic #moss 🌿 #Antarctica #AntarcticMoss #Research @uowenvirofutures.bsky.social @arcsaef.bsky.social

The Conversation AUNZ@aunz.theconversation.com · 8mo ago

The moss beds in Antarctica are like miniature forests – they create their own climate.

Soil trace gas oxidizers divergently respond to short- and long-term warming https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.18.689010v1

I've made an Insta account for Antarctic adventures and sci comm - come say hiiiiiiii if that's your thing! www.instagram.com/ry.themicrog...

Study in the Lancet journal finds that Israel's starvation campaign in Gaza has left 55,000 children under the age of five acutely malnourished, risking long-term health damage. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Assessment of malnutrition in preschool-aged children by mid-upper arm circumference in the Gaza Strip (January, 2024–August, 2025): a longitudinal, cross-sectional, surveillance study

After nearly 2 years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and facing an ...

thelancet.com

Today's the last day to complete this short survey for the ARC about the use of AI in grant assessment. Survey link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/X7PY5GL

ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Once again, ARC hits the 🎯 with their comms strategy: 8pm on Sunday night. When the eyeballs of researchers are glued to … twitter? They've not posted this anywhere else. I can't think of a better way to _not_ "engage stakeholders". Almost uncanny.

Very grateful to have received a small grant from the Antarctic Science Foundation to support exploration of new techniques for my research with @arcsaef.bsky.social. I purchased vital equipment to help us extract RNA from low biomass Antarctic soils - fingers crossed for some cool metaT data!

📢 PLEASE RT! ❄️ M2 Masters Internship: Metagenomic analysis of microbial cold adaptation in the cryosphere 🧬 Compile & curate ice nucleation & cold-adaptation protein database 🖥️ Build HMM profiles 🦠 Analyze existing metagenomic data using HMMs ☀️ Marseille, France Apply by 15 Oct

Microbial traits for volatile production and consumption are diverse and consequential. Here's why they are ripe for interpretation through a trait-based lens... Led by UA PhD students Ledford and Geffre @parkergeffre.bsky.social in collab w/ LBNL team @elbrodie.bsky.social Marschmann Karaoz

Trends in Microbiology@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Volatile traits expand the microbial playbook

🏆 Octopus and Ice Sheet Team @marine-omics.bsky.social is awarded the Aspire Scholarship Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. Learn more: youtu.be/8H3bCE6wfjM #EurekaPrizes @janstrugnell.bsky.social @lausally.bsky.social @nick-golledge.bsky.social

Having to spend some time writing grants while on annual leave has been counterbalanced by getting two 🥳successful🥳 grant emails this week. I'm excited for the new avenues in Antarctic research that are opening up for our team 🏔️🌱

Interested in a co-authorship? We’re building a tool for repository-scale untargeted #metabolomics and #exposomics of #environmental data. To make it the best it can be, we’re looking for people willing to share high-resolution LC-MS/MS (DDA) data from #water, #soil, #sediment, and related samples.

Comment out now in Nature Reviews Biodiversity where we argue that blocking renewable energy, esp wind and solar, for biodi reasons is unnecessary - we can manage any tradeoffs. And unchecked climate change is far, far worse! Don't let biodi become political football www.nature.com/articles/s44...

How can we assess whether microbial degradation of plastic pollution has occurred? Our new systematic review, led by Jennifer Scott, assesses a multitude of methods & makes recommendations to improve study design @heriotwattuni.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0048-9697(25)01917-5

Hi all, it's time for a reintroduction! 👋 I'm changing my name to Ry. Delightfully, this also allows me to work with the fun new bluesky handle of Ry the Micro Guy @rythemicroguy.bsky.social. Have a lovely Sunday 🏳️‍⚧️

"Australia should urgently adopt an ambitious, strategically prioritised and explicit Antarctic and Southern Ocean research agenda supported by a consolidated whole-of-government commitment." ✅ ✅ ✅ 💯

Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS)@antarcticsciaus.bsky.social · last yr.

We welcome the Australian Academy of Science’s position statement on Australia’s scientific leadership in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. It calls for urgent, ambitious, and strategic action backed by whole-of-government support and sustainable funding. 🔗Read statement: buff.ly/orUA3QO

Abstract deadline for Climate and Cryosphere 2026, in Wellington NZ, now extended till August 31st. Spread the word... clic2026.com #climate #academicsky #nz

Home - CliC OSC 2026

About the conference REgister now Abstract Guidelines Registration is open! Register here and use the buttons below to access travel resources. FLIGHT DISCOUNTS ACCOMMODATION TRAVEL INFORMATION Second...

clic2026.com

This design came to me and I've been convinced me to make it real. So I'm now taking MAKE ANTARCTICA GAY AGAIN cap orders 😂 Open to those in Naarm Melbourne and anyone willing to pay postage + ~$30 for the hat. ❄️✨🌈

Out in @natbiotech.nature.com: Metagenome taxonomy profilers usually ignore unknown species. SingleM is an accurate profiler which doesn't, even detecting phyla with no MAGs. Profiles of 700,000 metagenomes at sandpiper.qut.edu.au. A 🧵

What does innovation in microbiology teaching look like? We invite papers on pedagogy, tech, curriculum, and student engagement in microbiology education. More information ▶️ buff.ly/OMVT8xk #SciComm #MicrobiologyEducation #AcademicSky #SciComm 🧪 #AcWri #PHDSky #ScholComms #OpenScience #SciPol

A new study shows these extremes trigger cascading effects—from ocean warming to habitat loss for top predators. The findings underscore the urgent need for sustained long-term monitoring. In New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2486... In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

We teamed up with One Planet & @monashuniversity.bsky.social to set up a Polar Camp at the Family Fiesta this week! If you're in Naarm with kids aged 3-12, come have a chat about Antarctica ❄️, search for bugs 🪲, learn how we do science in the field 🧑‍🔬. Details below. @arcsaef.bsky.social

A study on what many of us already know: over 75% of internal service work in academia is done by women. The bit that gets me:”The male associate professors in particular made it clear that they actively engaged in evasiveness and did not want to participate if it was not positive for their careers”

Women end up doing the academic housework

kifinfo.no

Our new consensus statement on reducing and reporting contamination in microbiome studies is the cover image of this month's Nature Microbiology: www.nature.com/articles/s41... In the cover photo, you can see our postdoc Sophie Holland in fully PPE sampling the atmosphere of terrestrial Antarctica.

Finally joined Bluesky! Follow along to stay connected with ABACBS. Keep an eye out in the coming days, we’ll be releasing more details for 2025 conference, including opening abstract submissions and announcing invited speakers! www.abacbs.org/abacbs2025

ABACBS 2025 Conference

Adelaide, South Australia. Nov. 24-

abacbs.org

Guess who's the coverboi for @natmicrobiol.nature.com this month? 💁 A huge shout-out to Dr Rachael Lappan for entrusting me to carry out the sampling for this incredibly cool atmosphere microbiome project on her behalf, & to Braydon Moloney for capturing this moment in Antarctica last summer. [1/2]