Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Elisa Zhang, Ph.D. @elisazhang.bsky.social · 17h

Happy to have started as an @hhmi.org Freeman Hrabowski Scholar! Incredibly grateful for this opportunity and am excited for some very cool new directions! We are *HIRING*, especially postdocs! Please reach out if you’re interested in uterine and pregnancy biology. Please repost!

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John Logsdon @johnlogsdon.bsky.social · 13h

I’m excited to host Melissa Toups @meltoups.bsky.social for our Department seminar tomorrow. I recruited her here on @bsky.app

University of Iowa Department of Biology @uiowabiology.bsky.social · 1d

Our seminar this week will be led by Melissa Toups, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The seminar will begin at 3:30pm on October 10th in Kollros Auditorium (BBE101).

All are welcome to attend, and we hope to see you there!

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Luis Cedeño-Rosario, PhD @luisci22.bsky.social · 1d

Are you attending SACNAS NDiSTEM 2025!? Don't miss this awesome session about "How to Identify the Right Mentor for You" hosted by @greisha-ortiz.bsky.social @neuro-explorer-lc.bsky.social @luisci22.bsky.social and @joele-r.bsky.social. #NDiSTEM2025 #SACNAS #STEMResearch #PLI @sacnas.bsky.social 🧪🔬🥼

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Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · 1d

A thoughtful and beautifully written @quantamagazine.bsky.social article about genome regulatory innovation at the origin of animals. Featuring some of our work and highlighting key open questions. Thanks to @philipcball.bsky.social for this fantastic piece.

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 1d

I adored writing this piece. It brings together several of the things preoccupying me right now, like chromatin organization and gene regulation. There's so much more to be said on that. Also, these marine critters look gorgeous.
www.quantamagazine.org/loops-of-dna...

Loops of DNA Equipped Ancient Life To Become Complex | Quanta Magazine

New work shows that physical folding of the genome to control genes located far away may have been an early evolutionary development.

www.quantamagazine.org

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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 1d

Many sea stars begin life as young fairy-like creature (called a brachiolaria) that float through the open ocean. Eventually, a small star forms within them (here in yellow). The fairy-like brachiolaria sinks under the star’s weight, and the star pops out!
🎥@the_story_of_a_biologist (on Insta)

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SMBE IDEA taskforce @smbe-idea.bsky.social · 1d

🤝 In 2024, the 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗔 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 from @official-smbe.bsky.social went to Drs. Rori Rohlfs and Emilia Huerta-Sanchez for their podcast ScienceWise!

✨ We are happy to have contributed to their project!

🎙️ @sciencewisepod.bsky.social

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Lucia Prieto Godino @neuroluci.bsky.social · 1d

We are recruiting PhD students! If you are interested in evolutionary neuroscience, consider applying: www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Prieto Godino Lab | Cellular and molecular bases of neural circuit and behavioural evolution

www.crick.ac.uk

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 1d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández @fernandez.house.gov · 1d

Today marks 10 years of recognizing Latina Equal Pay Day — and still, Latinas do not get equal pay for equal work.

Latinas are vital to our economy and our communities, yet remain underpaid and undervalued across every industry.

Equal pay can’t wait. Latinas deserve justice now.

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Matthew Neville @mattneville.bsky.social · 1d

Now published! Our paper on:
(1) Accurate sequencing of sperm at scale
(2) Positive selection of spermatogenesis driver mutations across the exome
(3) Offspring disease risks from male reproductive aging
[1/n]
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sperm sequencing reveals extensive positive selection in the male germline - Nature

A combination of whole-genome NanoSeq with deep whole-exome and targeted NanoSeq is used to accurately characterize mutation rates and genes under positive selection in sperm cells.

www.nature.com

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PacBio @pacbio.bsky.social · 1d

Last call! 🚨 Applications for the 2025 Long-Read Low Pass SMRT Grant close this Friday.

Submit a 100-word proposal for a chance to win free #PacBio HiFi sequencing to advance plant or animal research in conservation or agriculture.

Apply now: bit.ly/3IgrReu

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Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 1d

🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels!

Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology?

I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics.

🔗: clarkelab.com/join/

Please repost!

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Rosa Fernández @rosafernandez.bsky.social · 3d

How did animals repeatedly conquer land? 🌊➡️⛰️ We analysed ~1,000 gene repertoires (24M genes!) from all animal phyla to uncover how this happened. Work led by @gemmaeling.bsky.social & Klara Eleftheriadi, both first coauthors of this titanic effort!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Independent genomic trajectories shape adaptation to life on land across animal lineages

How animals repeatedly adapted to life on land is a central question in evolutionary biology. While terrestrialisation occurred independently across animal phyla, it remains unclear whether shared gen...

www.biorxiv.org

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Francesco Cicconardi @fcicconardi.bsky.social · 2d

New paper out! A nice collaboration.
We explore how olfactory brain structures and receptors evolved across this remarkable group, Heliconiini butterflies.

Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies

Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d

academic.oup.com

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Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 3d

OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...

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Aide Macias-Muñoz @aidemm.bsky.social · 2d

congratulations to the 2025 UC PPFP Fellows
ppfp.ucop.edu/info/fellows...

🎉

Fellowship recipients | PPFP

ppfp.ucop.edu

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Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 3d

In #GENETICS, Gemma Puixeu and @lkhayward.bsky.social developed models incorporating sex-specific stabilizing selection, mutation, and genetic drift to examine the relationship between intersex correlation and sexual dimorphism. buff.ly/E4t4d69

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Tom “T.M.” Wolf @tomtmwolf.bsky.social · 6d

BREAKING -- 1st Cir. says Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship REMAINS BLOCKED.

Opinion includes a helpful TL;DR:

Don't mistake the length of our answer for the existence of a real question. Birthright citizenship is broad-based and it's sacred. @brennancenter.org

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Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology @sicb.bsky.social · 7d

Only 3 weeks until
@kmkocot.bsky.social 's SICB Zoom on Icy #Invertebrates! 👏
Kevin is a coauthor featured in
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
& ICB co-author of
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

See what his lab it up to & join us for his zoom by emailing [email protected]
www.kocotlab.com

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Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · 7d

Here it is! Postdoctoral position to identify the progenitors sensory organs in the regenerating legs of Parhyale

apply here: www.averof-lab.org/pages/tracman

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Michalis Averof @michalis-averof.bsky.social · Jul 13

We've just been awarded a grant to study the cellular basis of regeneration – to track the progenitors of sensory organs in the context of leg regeneration, in our favourite crustacean tinyurl.com/parhyale, based on live imaging and cell tracking. The project involves some cool collaborations... 1/3

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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 7d

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits

A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Tanja Slotte @tanjaslotte.bsky.social · Sep 2

*Postdoc in Evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University*
We are recruiting a postdoc for a large interdisciplinary project to investigate evolutionary drivers and genomic consequences of pollen evolution in response to pollination mode shifts in flowering plants. 1/5

su.varbi.com/what:job/job...

Purple pollen visible in a dissected flower of Linum grandiflorum, flowering flax, an insect-pollinated species.

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Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 6d

Well, well, well. Jack Posobiec, the loudest voting-fraud conspiracy theorist, lives in Maryland.
He votes in Pennsylvania.
slate.com/news-and-pol... By @jsweetli.bsky.social & @marisakabas.bsky.social on @slate.com

MAGA’s “Voter Fraud” Watchdog Votes in a Swing State. He Doesn’t Live There.

A long paper trail shows that Jack Posobiec casts a ballot in one state and lives in another.

slate.com

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Aide Macias-Muñoz @aidemm.bsky.social · 6d

What is the role of non-ocular opsins? In this article, @stoilovamarina.bsky.social investigates the expression of opsins in Hydra to localize their expression at the single cell level

SICB journals @sicbjournals.bsky.social · 7d

ICB Issue 3
Shedding Light on Patterns of Unconventional Expression of Opsin #Genes in Hydra vulgaris
Marina Stoilova, Natasha Picciani, @aidemm.bsky.social , Todd Oakley
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

#cnidarians #jellyfish #anemones #cell #hydroid #science

Hydra body plan and cell types. Here is a diagram of the Hydra body plan to show the location of the basal disc, body column, hypostome, and tentacle and denote the ectodermal and endodermal cell layers in Hydra. In the endodermal layer, there are gland cells (gl), ganglion neurons (gn), and epithelial cells (ep). In the ectoderm there are sensory neurons (sn), interstitial stem cells (i), epithelial cells (ep), and nematocytes (n). The two cell layers are separated by an extracellular matrix known as mesoglea (me). Adapted from Technau and Steele (2011) and Siebert et al. (2019).

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Aide Macias-Muñoz @aidemm.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you for putting this together. A lot of this Is what I would like to cover with students who come ask me about grad school, so now I can just share this. (I’ll still answer questions and share my experience but this is so comprehensive)

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