Chris Balakrishnan
@evolutionpirate.bsky.social
Nerd Nite Founder and author/editor of "How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi" http://bit.ly/NerdNiteBook opinions my own
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Also, I am so grateful for funding - notably from the NSF PurSUiT program - that has valued and recognized the importance of biodiversity & discovery science and that is enabling our lab to continue this geothermal research.
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
November 26, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Also, I am so grateful for funding - notably from the NSF PurSUiT program - that has valued and recognized the importance of biodiversity & discovery science and that is enabling our lab to continue this geothermal research.
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
4) US being left behind: The US absence was quickly normalized. Whether out of frustration or honest conviction, delegates spoke of the US declining in relevance. As an African govt rep said: “Americans should realize the world is moving on from them... other nations are this as an opportunity.”
November 24, 2025 at 6:33 PM
4) US being left behind: The US absence was quickly normalized. Whether out of frustration or honest conviction, delegates spoke of the US declining in relevance. As an African govt rep said: “Americans should realize the world is moving on from them... other nations are this as an opportunity.”
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Not that you asked, but here's a thread of intriguing (real!) food facts to amuse/bore your friends and family.
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Not that you asked, but here's a thread of intriguing (real!) food facts to amuse/bore your friends and family.
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
I keep saying, Google intentionally making its search worse is a world-historical fumble, and it's a huge opportunity for so many others across the internet, if they'll just seize it..
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I keep saying, Google intentionally making its search worse is a world-historical fumble, and it's a huge opportunity for so many others across the internet, if they'll just seize it..
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Trump’s thugs have come to my state to kidnap people/put them in concentration camps
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
A US citizen filmed federal agents smashing his car window, as authorities begin a surge of immigration enforcement operations in North Carolina.
The Honduran-born Charlotte resident filed a police report after the officers let him go.
The Honduran-born Charlotte resident filed a police report after the officers let him go.
November 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Trump’s thugs have come to my state to kidnap people/put them in concentration camps
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
All time achievement. Our #nerdnite book “How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi” is touching @edyong209.bsky.social ‘s book.
November 16, 2025 at 12:18 AM
All time achievement. Our #nerdnite book “How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi” is touching @edyong209.bsky.social ‘s book.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
two contradictory ideas that i hold in my head at the same time: 1) i think the threat to both SNAP recipients and federal workers is significant enough now that even bad deals are worth making to prevent further harm, and, 2) everyone who caves now should retire in shame
November 10, 2025 at 12:46 AM
two contradictory ideas that i hold in my head at the same time: 1) i think the threat to both SNAP recipients and federal workers is significant enough now that even bad deals are worth making to prevent further harm, and, 2) everyone who caves now should retire in shame
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
I so appreciate this attention to what we’ve been doing with ed tech at CUNY and the notion that the higher ed ecosystem can benefit from it. Too many folks to name have been involved in those projects over the years, and it builds upon work and commitments at CUNY that goes back generations.
Huge thanks to @mattseybold.bsky.social for writing this great post, which highlights CUNY's transformative potential to build open educational infrastructure
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I so appreciate this attention to what we’ve been doing with ed tech at CUNY and the notion that the higher ed ecosystem can benefit from it. Too many folks to name have been involved in those projects over the years, and it builds upon work and commitments at CUNY that goes back generations.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Today, our article "The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly" is finally published in PNAS. I hope that it proves to be a wake-up-call for the whole scientific community.
reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...
reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...
A do-or-die moment for the scientific enterprise
Reflecting on our paper “The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly”
reeserichardson.blog
August 4, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Today, our article "The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly" is finally published in PNAS. I hope that it proves to be a wake-up-call for the whole scientific community.
reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...
reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
If you are a Democratic senator watching these results and the lesson you take is "I should cave and help Republicans reopen the government for nothing more than a promise written on toilet paper" then you shouldn't be in the Senate anymore
These big wins will embolden Dems to take on Trump's lawbreaking and show there's a price for GOP enabling of him. Folks hate to hear this, but normal patterns are asserting themselves: Liberalism isn't dead, Rs are likely to lose in 2026, and Trump is really unpopular, not a magical exception.
November 5, 2025 at 1:37 AM
If you are a Democratic senator watching these results and the lesson you take is "I should cave and help Republicans reopen the government for nothing more than a promise written on toilet paper" then you shouldn't be in the Senate anymore
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
New-to-me but very helpful visualizations how all the actions of the past ten months are affecting the CDC www.cdcdataproject.org
The CDC Data Project
In the proposed FY26 budget, programs that help Americans live safer, healthier, longer lives are on the chopping block.
www.cdcdataproject.org
November 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
New-to-me but very helpful visualizations how all the actions of the past ten months are affecting the CDC www.cdcdataproject.org
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
HAPPENING NOW: A MASSIVE crowd of protesters flood the streets of San Diego for a “No Kings Day” rally showing their love for America and standing up against the corrupt fascist Trump administration. look how huge it is
October 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM
HAPPENING NOW: A MASSIVE crowd of protesters flood the streets of San Diego for a “No Kings Day” rally showing their love for America and standing up against the corrupt fascist Trump administration. look how huge it is
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency
@heatmap.news
Esmeralda 7 Solar Project Has Been Canceled, BLM Says
It would have delivered a gargantuan 6.2 gigawatts of power.
heatmap.news
October 10, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org
The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...
www.nobelprize.org
October 8, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
This is remarkable. The world added more solar and wind capacity in 2024 than we added demand. 100% of demand growth PLUS 9% to retire dirtier sources. Cheap energy keeps winning. ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
October 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM
This is remarkable. The world added more solar and wind capacity in 2024 than we added demand. 100% of demand growth PLUS 9% to retire dirtier sources. Cheap energy keeps winning. ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
October 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Man, I'm sorry, but reading all these AI generated essays from students, it just sucks all the joy out of everything. It's exhausting, makes you into a weird paranoid cop, grinds you down, wastes your time, makes you feel like shit about everything.
Fuck this shit technology and all its enablers.
Fuck this shit technology and all its enablers.
October 1, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Man, I'm sorry, but reading all these AI generated essays from students, it just sucks all the joy out of everything. It's exhausting, makes you into a weird paranoid cop, grinds you down, wastes your time, makes you feel like shit about everything.
Fuck this shit technology and all its enablers.
Fuck this shit technology and all its enablers.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Nice piece on power consumption by LLMs & GenAI spectrum.ieee.org/ai-energy-use #energy #artificialintelligence #llms #genAI
How Much Energy Does It Take to Power Billions of AI Queries?
All generative AI queries could hit 329 billion per day by 2030. See the big picture on AI's energy use, and how it's reshaping our world.
spectrum.ieee.org
October 1, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Nice piece on power consumption by LLMs & GenAI spectrum.ieee.org/ai-energy-use #energy #artificialintelligence #llms #genAI
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Transformative change for a just and sustainable world often seems overwhelming. @annelarigauderie.bsky.social and the @ipbes.net Transformative Change Assessment co-chairs highlight the roles we can each have in achieving #transformativechange.
🧪 #biodiversity #sustainability
plos.io/3VGKknN
🧪 #biodiversity #sustainability
plos.io/3VGKknN
Transformative change to address biodiversity loss is urgent and possible
Transformative change for a just and sustainable world often appears overwhelming. This Perspective highlights the key messages from the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment and how everyone can be ...
plos.io
October 1, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Transformative change for a just and sustainable world often seems overwhelming. @annelarigauderie.bsky.social and the @ipbes.net Transformative Change Assessment co-chairs highlight the roles we can each have in achieving #transformativechange.
🧪 #biodiversity #sustainability
plos.io/3VGKknN
🧪 #biodiversity #sustainability
plos.io/3VGKknN
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Yes! A fantastic way for folks who don’t have access to a major university library to be able to read articles.
Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month
www.jstor.org/action/showL...
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month
www.jstor.org/action/showL...
September 29, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Yes! A fantastic way for folks who don’t have access to a major university library to be able to read articles.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
The World's Newest Whale Species Makes Moans Like No Other And There Are Only 50 Individuals Left To Hear Them | IFLScience 🦑🌎🧪
The World's Newest Whale Species Is Critically Endangered With Only 50 Individuals Left
The species has been historically hunted, but now faces even more threats.
www.iflscience.com
September 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The World's Newest Whale Species Makes Moans Like No Other And There Are Only 50 Individuals Left To Hear Them | IFLScience 🦑🌎🧪
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
We don't structure our programs to reflect this, but in reality faculty is the alternative career path, not the default.
“Overall, the message from this survey is positive; evolutionary biologists are readily employable outside of academia, generally well-prepared for those jobs, and report high levels of satisfaction” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Leaving Academia: Insights from Evolutionary Biologists on Their Career Transitions and Job Satisfaction
Many who have obtained PhDs in evolutionary biology will ultimately pursue careers that fall outside a narrow definition of an academic career. At the same time, PhD students and supervisors of PhD st...
www.biorxiv.org
September 10, 2025 at 11:26 AM
We don't structure our programs to reflect this, but in reality faculty is the alternative career path, not the default.
Has anyone attempted to figure out if posting a preprint decreases the likelihood of acceptance? Asking for a friend …
September 9, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Has anyone attempted to figure out if posting a preprint decreases the likelihood of acceptance? Asking for a friend …