Hello friends. I'm starting a new job today reporting for @nature.com on all things climate and Earth science, energy, and beyond.🌍Please get in touch if you're a researcher/gov staffer/startup with results/projects that deserve attention--or are facing problems we should know about. Contact in bio.

🧑‍🔬 The Scientist | The Science 🔬 Shannon McClish, Oceanography In this series we are showcasing some of the incredible graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the EOAS department, along with a taste of what they're working on right now.

A nicely written story of polar Giant Viruses (GV) and their virophages. Often overlooked is that the first GV was isolated from the sea www.int-res.com/journals/ame..., and was later reclassified as CroV doi.org/10.1073/pnas... along with its virophage Mavirus www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Gary McFarlane@garym6942.bsky.social · last mo.

Viruses play a major role in the functioning of ecosystems. They profoundly influence the dynamics of microbial communities, the flow of matter & global biogeochemical cycles. phys.org/news/2026-06... via @sciencex.bsky.social #virology #genomics #ecology #science #SciChat

The Social Lives of Viruses is coming to Vancouver, Canada, from 4th-8th August 2026! This is a free meeting dedicated to all aspects of virus-virus interactions & evolution. To apply: socialviruses.zoology.ubc.ca @sociovirology.bsky.social #socialviruses #evosky #lovevirology #virosky

Sign up for one (or both) of our NEW Micro-certificate courses: Introduction to the Sustainable Blue Economy and Communicating Ocean Science. Both start in May. Not sure? Attend our online Info Session on April 8 @ 12 noon. oceans.ubc.ca/non-credit-c...

Insightful summary of an extraordinary person being extraordinarily fired: "you don't silence a woman of color who raised concerns about racism by silencing her...The fingerprints are distributed perfectly across the system." www.linkedin.com/pulse/uclas-...

UCLA's Most Decorated Ecologist Just Got Fired : Here's the sequence

In January of 2025, at the ICTP ICTS winter school at NCBS, Priyanga Amarasekare offered to take me and a few other students out for my birthday. She didn't have to do that.

linkedin.com

Vancouver is ranked as the happiest city in North America happy-city-index.com/institute. OK, only 39th in the World, but happier than our grumpy neighbours to the South. Maybe we are happy because of Kits Pool?

Live from the ISS: UBC alumna and NASA astronaut Dr. Jessica Meir will answer student questions in a special on-campus event March 26. Media are invited to attend. Read more: news.ubc.ca/advisory/ubc...

UBC alumna and astronaut Jessica Meir to speak live from the space station

UBC alumna and NASA astronaut Dr. Jessica Meir will connect live from the ISS to answer student questions in a special event at UBC on March 26. Media are invited to attend the session in person.

news.ubc.ca

Welcome Ramon!

Ramon Massana@rmassanam.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Happy to open a new BlueSky account to discuss the #diversity and #evolution of #protists. 🧬🔬 Stay tuned!

I learned the very sad news today that Markus Weinbauer passed away. Markus shaped our views of marine viral ecology. The pic shows the lab in the early days @utmsi.bsky.social. Full marks if you recognize Markus, Steve Wilhelm @tn-marine-micro.bsky.social, Amy Chan, Feng Chen, Steve Short & me.

Thanks for the shout out and congrats to my colleagues! Torella & Morita first recognized the abundance of viruses in seawater journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/..., and work led by @jedfuhrman.bsky.social and Gunnar Bratbak at Bergen primed the modern era.

UBC Science@science.ubc.ca · 5mo ago

Two of UBC’s premier research prizes were awarded to UBC Science faculty members today, with Dr. Curtis Suttle (@virosphere.bsky.social) receiving the Jacob Biely award, and Dr. Jess McIver earning UBC’s Charles A. McDowell award. @killamtrusts.bsky.social science.ubc.ca/news/2026-03...

#ProtistsOnSky no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...

eLife@elife.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Do microbes get more food by swimming or staying still? Turns out both work, and cilia help them pull in nutrients no matter the strategy. buff.ly/vK3GmK5

Excited to share our latest publication, led by Dr. Ellie McCallum and Juan Burckhardt! bit.ly/4kfzQaf You can access the article for free here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mWb4L7PXu... And more information is available on the updated preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Glowing bacterial sensors detect gut illness in mice before symptoms emerge

UBC researchers have engineered gut bacteria that dim their fluorescent glow in the presence of illness.

bit.ly

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s message is this unspoken antithesis of Carney as the future and Trump as the past. Trump surely went to Davos to remind the world who controls the puck. But his notorious lack of attention span keeps him unable to see that the game is changing, writes Chris Cannon.

To Grasp the Power of Carney’s Davos Speech, Let’s Break It Down | The Tyee

The full text, annotated for meaning and impact.

thetyee.ca

Dean of Science and UBC chemist Dr. Mark MacLachlan has a science themed crossword in the New York Times. "This puzzle’s theme idea came to me when I got one of those pesky error messages on my computer," Dr. MacLachlan said. @chem.ubc.ca www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/c...

Alert! Alert!

nytimes.com

Are you hiring in academia, healthcare, biotech, or industry? Share your open role on the Science in Vancouver Job Board! 🧪 Free to post 🥼 Built for the Vancouver life science community We help great science find great people. Submit your job today: https://bit.ly/49FdATy

Great Speech - well worth taking the time to read

The Walrus@thewalrus.ca · 7mo ago

If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu. In Davos, Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected a world of national “fortresses.” Shared resilience, he argued, is cheaper—and stronger. His pitch: a third path led by coordinated middle powers. https://thewalrus.ca/carney-speech-world-economic-forum/

Viruses transform microbes, populations, & ecosystems. In new work jointly led w/@tn-marine-micro.bsky.social + more, we find a link between enhanced viral infection and productivity 50 meters below the surface in the otherwise nutrient limited Sargasso Sea. a 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Postdoc position available, on Arctic phytoplankton mortality and viral ecology -- Check it out! workingat.nioz.nl/o/postdoc-po...

NIOZ - Postdoc position: Mortality and virus-host interactions of phytoplankton in Arctic winters under warming

The Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry (MMB) of NIOZ is looking for a talented and dedicated Postdoctoral scientist to join our research on marine virus ecology. You will be part of

workingat.nioz.nl

Are you a healthcare worker potentially interested in relocating to Canada? Check out the Healthcare infusion, a volunteer-driven national movement connecting doctors, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals with the people and places that need them most engageq.notion.site/infusionhosts

Canada’s Healthcare Infusions | Notion

Across Canada, communities are struggling to keep their hospitals and clinics fully staffed.

engageq.notion.site

15 January is the deadline to file a brief Expression of Interest to be nominated for a Canada Impact Chair @UBC. Only candidates working and residing outside of Canada are eligible to apply, including expatriate Canadians. More info and the EOI portal are at research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...

Curtis Suttle@virosphere.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The Canada Impact Chair program has been announced for research leaders www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl.... The Chairs provide up to $12M in funding. If you think UBC might be the place to continue your career, please let us know by submitting an expression of interest at research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...

The Canada Impact Chair program has been announced for research leaders www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl.... The Chairs provide up to $12M in funding. If you think UBC might be the place to continue your career, please let us know by submitting an expression of interest at research.ubc.ca/federal-rese...

Now open for submissions: PLOS Ecosystems is a multidisciplinary, open access journal bringing together research relevant to addressing the challenges facing our terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, and nature's contributions to people. Submit and learn more: plos.io/4oYuRvR

The Department of Physics & Astronomy invites young scientists and their families to our free science show on Sunday November 30, 2025 on UBC campus! Come explore science with us as we 'Expand our Senses and movements with Tech!' phas.ubc.ca/2025-faraday... @triumflab.bsky.social @science.ubc.ca

Applications are now open for two two-year UBC Biodiversity Postdoc Fellowships biodiversity.ubc.ca/training-and.... $77,000 /y + benefits and $7000 /y research funds.

When you peak inside an oyster, it's remarkable what one finds. Rather than "The world is my oyster" sensu William Shakespeare, it should be changed to "The world is an oyster", as a metaphor of the vast diversity of life residing within these humble molluscs; there are magnificent microbes within.

Kevin Xu Zhong@kevinzhong2006.bsky.social · 10mo ago

In Pacific oyster, we identified a bacterium showing remarkable metabolic potential, including genes to degrade xenobiotics like PAHs, common pollutants from petroleum and industrial sources 🌱🧫. 👏Big thanks to our amazing team at @virosphere.bsky.social. Read it here 👉 dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour....

Marine heatwaves are becoming more frequent with global warming, but could they in turn exacerbate climate change? In a new study, Steven Hallam's team reports that spurts of intense ocean warming can impact microbial community structure and carbon cycling: mbim.ubc.ca/news/marine-...

I gave a talk last year at TEDxNewEngland aimed at introducing the idea of viral sociality to a general audience, including implications for evolution & virology. Video now available online below. #socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪

The social lives of viruses | Asher Leeks | TEDxNewEngland

YouTube video by TEDx Talks

youtube.com

Come join us at UBC!

@ubcphas.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver seeks an emerging research leader for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair position in Medical Physics. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/307... @science.ubc.ca @ubcmedicine.bsky.social

Another casualty of the time, after nearly four decades, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) is shutting down www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDtm....

ARCUS Final ARCUS Community Call

YouTube video by Arctic Research Consortium of the United States

youtube.com