Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers.
The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇
Just out—a piece I wrote a piece for the APS Observer (@psychscience.bsky.social) in which I share recommendations and resources for running a research lab at a small, liberal arts college. I hope it helps others in the same boat! www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...
Amid these dark moments, something important is beginning to shift.
It's clearly the result of healthy political pressure - which we must sustain, and build.
🧪
Canada is announcing program details for science talent recruitment from abroad. The first one across my desk this morning is support for 600 doctoral students and 400 post-docs. Research investment is greatly appreciated, especially trainees and early career. www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/research_tra...
My department at California State University Northridge is hiring! We're looking for a new colleague studying microbiology or molecular/cellular biology. I'm not on the search committee, but happy to answer questions about the department and campus, and life in LA
buff.ly/Pc1KOaC
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
The allotetraploid lycophyte Selaginella rupincola growing among the boulders at Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains southeast of Tucson, Arizona.
Xanthisma spinulosum growing outside a gym in Tucson, Arizona.
Selaginella arizonica X eremophila hybrid zone at Alamo Canyon in Organ Pipe National Monument.
A Dieteria sp. being visited by a skipper in the White Mountains of Arizona.
I'm recruiting PhD students for the Barker Lab @uofa-eeb.bsky.social We study plant evolutionary genomics - polyploidy, hybridization & machine learning for genome evolution. Work with Selaginella, Xanthisma, Brassica & more. Funding available via CAMBIUM Fellowships. Reach out if interested! 🧬🌵🤖
Daaaaaaamn
Kansas University Student started a open letter to the Chancellor calling for a rejection of the White House compact on higher education.
actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)
PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
The Art of Data Visualization with ggplot2: A free online book by @nrennie.bsky.social that guides us through the entire process of creating plots, including why certain decisions were made, using real datasets that have been part of #TidyTuesday. Very excited to get stuck into this one. #rstats
An & Nam investigated chromosome size and TE organization in ten butterfly species, showing lepidopterans have denser TEs in smaller chromosomes, with nonallelic homologous recombination as a potential driving force.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf137
#genome #evolution #TEsky
The struggle is real. The struggle is ongoing. Here's to hoping that unionizing can, hopefully someday soon, bring about some needed changes here...
weeklyroseku.blogspot.com/2025/08/kuni...
1) Are you an Assistant Professor studying evolutionary biology?
2) Are you in the US?
3) Would you like to give a research seminar in Iowa?
4) Are you available to travel September 4-6?
If you can answer YES x4, please DM me ASAP, or comment below.
Watch 66 Oscar-Nominated-and-Award-Winning Animated Shorts Online, Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada
Transgenic Plodia larvae expressing the very bright mBaoJin (mStayGold variant) in its silk glands.
Also some gorgeous 3xP3:mCherry staining of larval ocelli and glia.
(see revised preprint) by pantry moth wizards
@donyaniyaz.bsky.social & @lucalivraghi.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Do orally secreted REPATs to belong to a specific clade? use proteomics on saliva. Most proteins found in paralogous clades.
SelV1 infection reduces the abundance of some REPATS. SelV1 infection modulates plant response to caterpillars.
First perform manual annotations and phylogeny. MBF2 domain is absent in clade in Spodoptera only.
two clades: "one to one" and another clade "many to many" with extensive paralogs.
But many REPAT proteins were initially found in REsponse to PAThothens.
So REPATS are important in insect-plant and insect-pathogen interactions. Is there a 3-way interaction here?
Effector proteins from saliva interact with plants to suppress defense. A recently discovered class include REPAT.
REPAT are co-transcription factors, enhance gene action that suppress Jasmonic Acid pathways.
**REPAT proteins as mediators of pathogen-insect-plant interactions in Spodoptera exigua**
Cristina Crava, Universitat de Valencia
Plants have direct and indirect defenses to insect herbivory.
Gut microbiome overwhelmingly enterococcus. different bacterial enterococcus species are variably pathogenic or beneficial.
kmo-KO have worse adaptation to pepper plant, Higher susceptibility to other pathogens.
Examine bacterial composition via 16s on fore,mid,hind-gut.
kmo-KO have much less diversity in fore & mid, but not hind. Consistent with observation for more HQA in fore & mid gut.
8'-HQA, produced by moth, iron chelator. Primarily found in gut.
Target CRISPR at kmo gene, knocked out production of 8'-HQA. KO individuals have orange eyes, not brown.
**Kynurenine 3-monooxygenase disruption by CRISPR/Cas9 in Spodoptera exigua: phenotype, microbial diversity, and fitness costs**
Daniel Pinos, Universitat de Valencia
#lepgencrete
Focus on plant-insect-pathogen interactions. Some bacteria produce important/required compounds for host.
Considering more recent climates, and predicting future, suggests expansion northward even into southern UK. But also largely absent from Africa, in souther portion of range.
