So excited to share that one of the chapters from my thesis has been published! In it we discovered that, despite previous assumptions, Escovopsis (a mycoparasite in the fungus growing ant symbiosis), has a complete MAT locus under purifying selection.

Genome Biology and Evolution@genomebiolevol.bsky.social · 2w ago

@soleilsolay.bsky.social et al. find that Escovopsis s.l. - specialized fungal parasite of the fungus-growing ant symbiosis - likely undergoes cryptic sex as all examined strains have a complete mating-type locus under purifying selection. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evag160 #evolution #societyjournal

As everyone's winding down on #evol2026 we want to share our survey link with you again. Whether you work in reproductive biology specifically or not, please take a minute to help us understand how the scientific community uses reproductive terms in research! And hope to see you at #SMBE!

Disappointed to see this inaccurate characterization of fungal and microbial eukaryotic sex in Elizabeth Kolbert's latest piece for the New Yorker. Microbial eukaryotes and fungi don't engage in "proto-sex", it's just sex! Classical meiotic sex! Not "conjugation".

Those of us in STEM must vocally affirm that the humanities are our allies, and no department is expendable. Arguing we can survive by cutting whole disciplines isn’t just inhumane, it’s nonsensical. The humanities tell us why we’re here in the first place, and what to do about it! This isn’t hard!

Jacob T. Levy@jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Oh good. We've reached the "I don't have to be faster than the bear, I only have to be less woke than you" stage of faculty solidarity. archive.is/wGNDr

“NSF awards had once been considered prestigious. Now with this post hoc politicization of the merit review process they are merely a stamp indicating that a funded proposal has passed a secretive political test administered by an Administration that is unparalleled in its hostility to U.S. science”

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈@davidimiller.bsky.social · last yr.

🧪 Ranking member Lofgren and 11 other House dems sent a fiery 7-page letter to acting NSF director today "The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers" Share widely #SaveNSF

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants. "This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

spencer.org

Letter from the SSE/SSB/ASN councils on the scientific understanding of sex and gender, pls RT