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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

@alexsmithants.bsky.social

7.9K followers 5.6K following 590 posts

Assoc. Prof of #Biology at UofG, Guelph, ON, Canada. Inspired by the #Biodiversity in ACG, Costa Rica. #Ecology, #Evolution, #Entomology Opinions my own & oh so rarely overlap with my employer. he/him www.malexsmith.com www.youtube.com/@Alex_Smith_Ants

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · Nov 25

The @uofguelph.bsky.social is planning a massive housing project to be built on natural land rather than more appropriate spaces for needed expansion

Where are environmental impact statements?
Where is the community engagement?

@richrdreporting.bsky.social

www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/u...

U of G announces new 1,500-bed student housing project

Two-tower building with up to 10 storeys expected to be ready in four or five years

www.guelphtoday.com

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Claus Wilke @clauswilke.com · 2d

Biology is much more complicated than most non-biologists can imagine. And AI is not going to change this anytime soon.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/we-still-c...

We still can’t predict much of anything in biology

Biology is hard. Yes, even for AI.

blog.genesmindsmachines.com

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Natalie V. Sánchez @natingui.bsky.social · 13h

Dan, I feel extremely honored and excited about this appointment in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Windsor 🐦🇨🇦 Thank you for your support!

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Dan Mennill @dmennill.bsky.social · 14h

Dr. Natalie Sánchez has just been appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in our Department of Integrative Biology at University of Windsor. Congratulations @natingui.bsky.social! I am so excited about the collaborations and research projects that lie ahead. @ibiouwindsor.bsky.social

Dr. Natalie Sánchez at a bird banding station in Costa Rica, holding a migratory thrush.

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 13h

In Guelph, the rexall's were asking no questions!

🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 14h

Where I live in Canada, vaccines are now easily available at most pharmacies! Sign up or drop in!

Cai, M., Xie, Y., & Al-Aly, Z. (2025).

Association of 2024–2025 Covid-19 Vaccine with Covid-19 Outcomes in U.S. Veterans.

New England Journal of Medicine.

doi.org/10.1056/nejm...

figures showing: Cumulative Risks of Covid-19–Associated Outcomes over 180 Days in the 2024–2025 Vaccination Season.
The composite outcome was defined as the first occurrence of any of the other three outcomes. The insets show the same data on an expanded y axis. The 95% confidence intervals (shaded areas) were not adjusted for multiplicity and should not be interpreted as hypothesis tests.

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Martyn Warren (he/him) @martynwarren.bsky.social · 14h

Pretty sure this is my Spiderman origin story...

Photo of a garden spider in a web lit from behind by the sun so it looks like it's glowing.

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Dr Sho Jacobs 🍁 @shoshanahjacobs.bsky.social · 1d

We did the #HigherEd math:

35 hr/w x 40% = 168 teaching hrs/semester
- 36 hrs in class
- 24 hrs prep
- 12 hrs student hrs
- 15 hrs TA meetings
--------------------------
= 81 hrs for individual student support
/400 students per semester = 12 min/student/semester

Last year: 280 students = 17 min

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 14h

"Systemic increase of AMPA receptors associated with cognitive impairment of long COVID"

doi.org/10.1093/brai...

graphical abstract for paper reading, "Abstract
Long COVID primarily presents with persistent cognitive impairment (Cog-LC), imposing a substantial and lasting global burden. Even after the pandemic, there remains a critical global need for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies targeting Cog-LC. Nevertheless, the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. Given the central role of synapses in brain function, investigation of synaptic molecular changes may provide vital insights into Cog-LC pathophysiology. In this study, we used [11C]K-2 PET to characterize the density of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) on the post-synaptic cell surface, which are crucial synaptic components in brain signalling. Statistical parametrical mapping was used to spatially normalize and apply independent t-test for a voxel-based comparison. We selected patients with Cog-LC (n = 30) based on Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status assessed persistent cognitive impairment and healthy controls (n = 80) with no diagnosed neuropsychiatric disorders. The primary objective was to compare [11C]K-2 standardized uptake value ratio with white matter (SUVRWM) as a reference region between patients with Cog-LC and healthy controls, and to define the regional extent of differences. The secondary objective was to examine associations between [11C]K-2 SUVRWM and plasma concentrations of cytokines or chemokines. As an exploratory objective, we tested whether [11C]K-2 PET data could distinguish Cog-LC from healthy controls using a partial least squares based classification algorithm. A voxel-based comparison (P < 0.05, T > 1.66, one-tailed, false discovery rate control) and a volume of interests analysis (P < 0.05, Bonferroni multiple comparison) demonstrated that increased index of AMPAR density in large parts of the brains of patients with Cog-LC compared with that in healthy controls. A voxel-based correlation analysis also showed the brain regions where [11C]K-2 SUVRWM cor…

🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 14h

"Scientists may have discovered what’s behind long COVID-related brain fog"
🎁link
www.thestar.com/news/canada/...

screen grab of article reading: Scientists may have discovered what’s behind long COVID-related brain fog
The researchers believe their findings could pave the way to therapeutics treating brain fog in long COVID.

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Brent Emerson @brentcemerson.bsky.social · 20h

!!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Archived natural DNA samplers reveal four decades of biodiversity change across the tree of life - Nature Ecology & Evolution

This study explores four decades of biodiversity change across the tree of life in Germany’s terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by sequencing standardized biota samples from a long-term pollution monitoring archive.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 23h

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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Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · 1d

🐸 Frogs and false signals

A new study finds that grey treefrogs use daylight length to trigger 'antifreeze' buildup for winter. But as climate change warms winters, this cue may mislead them into preparing too early or too late.

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

#SciComm #ClimateCrisis 🧪

Freeze‐tolerant frogs accumulate cryoprotectants using photoperiod: A potential ecological trap

Climate change is disrupting the reliability of photoperiod as a cue signalling seasonal changes in temperature. We show that gray treefrogs under a late-season photoperiod accumulated large reserves...

doi.org

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 1d

news.unchealthcare.org/2025/10/the-...

The Enduring Legacy of Dr. Aziz Sancar | Newsroom

A decade after winning the Nobel Prize, the UNC professor continues to push the boundaries of discovery while inspiring the next generation and building cultural bridges between the United States and ...

news.unchealthcare.org

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 1d

www.unc.edu/posts/2025/1...

Dr. Aziz Sancar inspires the next generation - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A decade later, Carolina’s Nobel laureate continues to teach, make discoveries and build cultural bridges.

www.unc.edu

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 1d

youtu.be/IEvh_Si4r1M?...

The Man Behind the Nobel

YouTube video by UNC-Chapel Hill

youtu.be

🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 1d

🧪

On the day the #Nobel prize in #Chemistry is awarded, I offer this story of kindness and mentoring I received early in my career from an eventual Nobel laureate, Dr. #AzizSancar.

"A Nobel prize and the unknown benefits that come from saying yes"

esc-sec.ca/2016/10/26/a...

Alex Smith with hair studying amphibian photolysase induction and concentration in the late 20th century.

A Nobel prize and the unknown benefits that come from saying yes
Aziz Sancar delivering his Nobel Lecture for his prize in Chemistry 2015. He said yes.
My early morning wakeup on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 began as usual with a, though admittedly not healthy, quick Twitter check. My internet-induced squint widened when I saw that Aziz Sancar was trending. Dr. Sancar had just been named co-winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry for his work on DNA repair mechanisms. Not at all surprised by the recognition of his career achievements, I was, however, flabbergasted because I actually know Aziz Sancar and in no small way, my career is what it is because of his generosity and kindness.
Twenty years ago, I was an MSc candidate studying the physiological ecology of amphibians at Trent University. At the time I was working with Michael Berrill on replicating and testing the findings of a 1994 PNAS paper by Andrew Blaustein and company. This was important work on declining amphibian populations in the Cascade Mountains. They found that these declining populations were characterised by low levels of a DNA repair enzyme called photolyase. This finding was intriguing because photolyase catalyses the repair of the principal form of damage to DNA from ultraviolet-b radiation. Because emerging ozone holes would result in natural populations experiencing an increased amount of UVB radiation, low levels of photolyase might be a “magic bullet” that explained which populations would be in decline in otherwise “pristine” areas.

Intriguing, but I was actually not ready to test it. With a potent combination of naïve enthusiasm, I figured I could simply contact the authors of the paper and ask them to teach me the methods that I needed to know to further their work. I tried email but could not find an address on the department website. So I phoned the Department of Biochemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They explained that Dr. Sancar did not want or have an email address. I asked that the call be connected to his office. When he picked up the phone, I leapt immediately into my explanation that I was an MSc student from Trent University in Peterborough, Canada, and that I was hoping to visit his lab to learn methods of photolyase extraction that I would apply to my system. To my now weathered academic amazement, but, at the time, only to my joy, immediately and without hesitation, he said yes. If I could get myself to Chapel Hill, he would teach me what I needed to know.
Alex Smith with hair studying amphibian photolysase induction and concentration in the late 20th century.
So on my spring break of 1997, I rented a car (two cars actually – one died, another story) and drove from snowy Peterpatch to the flowering springtime of Chapel Hill, North Carolina to spend a week in Dr. Sancar’s lab. “Lab” didn’t quite cover it. Dr.’s Sancar (he and his wife, Dr. Gwendolyn Sancar) had a floor of the building at UNC. Dr. Sancar met me on that Monday morning and arranged for a postdoc and a PhD student to help me all week and ensure that I could extract and purify the enzyme.

& so, fast forward 20 years when I wake 2 read that the world has recognised Aziz Sancar for his pioneering work in the broad field of DNA repair. It made me think about the often unappreciated or unintended effects that saying yes can have on those around you.
At the end of his Nobel Lecture in Sweden in December 2015, Dr. Sancar showed a slide acknowledging his lab and colleagues. In part, these people & their output are the metrics that the Nobel committee evaluated in awarding him the prize. It was an impressive, but I knew not an exhaustive, list, for Dr. Sancar’s direct effect on my career – & indirectly then on all the students I have worked with in the subsequent years – was invisible to the Nobel committee (and perhaps not even remembered by Dr. Sancar). But these effects are significant and they came from a busy scientist saying yes when confronted with a naïve but enthusiastic student. There were many reasons for him to not take my call, not encourage me to come to North Carolina, not host me while I was there nor mentor me through the review process later on. But he did. He did say yes and it had an immeasurable effect.
I now work with insects in the neotropics and Canada on questions of biodiversity. I don’t work with photolyase and I don’t work as a physiological ecologist. However, by saying yes to me 20 years ago, Dr. Sancar’s act of generosity enabled me to follow this path. In the over-scheduled and busy lifestyle that we lead, it is important to consider this ripple that saying yes can have. There are many intended and measurable outcomes of supervision and mentoring – however there are many, perhaps more, unintended and important effects that kindness can have. As Anne Galloway said on Twitter, “We’re all smart – distinguish yourself by being kind”. The Nobel committee unaware of the affect that he has had in other scientific disciplines through his generosity and kindness.

I don’t think I said it clearly enough before. Thank you Dr. Sancar.

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Julian Jackson @allatsea.bsky.social · 2d

A moratorium⏸️ on #DeepSeaMining🪸⛏️ would provide the necessary time and space for nations to effectively coordinate, uphold their legal obligations and honour commitments to safeguard the ocean, its biodiversity and its resources for current and future generations.

🦑 www.rsgs.org/blog/deep-se...

Deep-Sea mining and ocean protection

Director of the Seabed Mining Project Julian Jackson looks at growing international efforts to protect the ocean, recent developments at the UN Ocean Conference, and the mounting debate over whether d...

www.rsgs.org

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Chris MacQuarrie @cmacquar.bsky.social · 3d

Entomologists conference: American PI: Canadian PI; European PI

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Dr Sho Jacobs 🍁 @shoshanahjacobs.bsky.social · 2d

I just received an email from my employer recommending that we 'participate with purpose' for our well-being.

You mean, work more?
Really?

I don't need to work more. I need more Teaching Assistants, smaller class sizes, and more administrative support.

#HigherEd #Wellbeing

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Abel Bernadou @abelbernadou.bsky.social · 3d

🐜🥛 Des scientifiques ont « ressuscité » une ancienne recette des Balkans et de Turquie : le yaourt aux fourmis ! Leur étude, publiée dans la revue iScience, révèle que les #fourmis rousses (Formica spp.) possèdent un ensemble de ferments permettant de transformer le lait en yaourt 😆

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Michelle A. Rodrigues 🐒 @marspidermonkey.bsky.social · 7d

As a primatologist, Jane Goodall was a huge inspiration to me. I admired the way she describes chimpanzee behavior with such detail and empathy, and she’s inspired so many people and advocated for chimpanzee conservation and welfare.

However, I'm dismayed at what her narrative leaves out (1/10)

Photo of Jane Goodall in the center, signing a book, with three women standing slightly hunched behind her. A very young Michelle is to the right, smiling.

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Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

David Bapst @dwbapst.bsky.social · 7d

Having an assignment for an undergrad class where students have to read press releases and their associated papers, and evaluate the difference in quality of information between the two really has highlighted for me how often various organizations purge old press releases & popular science articles

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Julian Jackson @allatsea.bsky.social · 8d

H.E. President Boakai of Liberia, on ocean protection at #UNGA:

"Deep-sea mining threatens the ocean floor before we even understand what lives there"

🦑https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/africa-is-leading-way-protecting-ocean-now-world-must-follow--ecmii-2025-09-30/

Africa is leading the way on protecting the ocean. Now the world must follow

The high sea waters off West Africa may seem remote to people reading this in London or New York. But these waters can impact the very weather patterns that determine whether crops grow in British fields or storms crash into the eastern seaboard of the U.S. They provide oxygen for every breath we take.

www.reuters.com

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🍁 Alex Smith 🍁 @alexsmithants.bsky.social · 9d

This - so much this!

Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 10d

I generally like to believe that everyone is doing their best but unfortunately it seems some of you are doing your worst.

Reposted by 🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Dr. Samantha Montano @samlmontano.bsky.social · 10d

I generally like to believe that everyone is doing their best but unfortunately it seems some of you are doing your worst.

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