Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 19h

Absolutely stunning FIB-SEM, and a very cool story.
Perfect timing for the endosymbiosis portion of my Evo Cell Bio course where we just covered a paper on Paulinella...

Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 1d

Pretty excited to share our new preprint!
Non-photosynthetic Plastid Replacement by a Primary Plastid in the Making
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations to Maria Corina Machado, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize - her incredible optimism has already changed her country. I spoke to her, and wrote about her, at the beginning of this year:
www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The ‘Anthropological Change’ Happening in Venezuela

Maduro is still in place, but a pro-democracy movement is transforming the beleaguered country.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 1d

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Corey Holt @coreyholt.bsky.social · 1d

I'm looking for a PhD student to dive into some protist genomes and maybe find some cool parasites like this (very flexible) apicomplexan.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Please do reach out if you're interested. And APPLY EARLY! The advert will be taken down when a suitable candidate is found.🪱🦀🐟

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Carolyn Rasmussen @carolynplants.bsky.social · 4d

Excited to share this preprint on the microtubule severing protein Katanin, and its role in cell elongation and division in maize. First author Stephanie Martinez worked collaboratively with many folks to bring you this preprint. Check it out! 🔬🌽 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

KATANIN promotes cell elongation and division to generate proper cell numbers in maize organs

Microtubule severing is essential for proper eukaryotic cell elongation and division. Here we show that the microtubule severing protein, KATANIN, is encoded by two genes in Zea mays (maize) called Di...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 2d

Can’t believe I have to say this, but in Minnesota you will continue to have the freedom to get your COVID and flu shots.

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Karen Fisher, PhD @fisherke.bsky.social · 1d

Ouch - take it easy!

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 2d

"Candidate does not require assigned tasks to be amazing or even particularly interesting, and has been known to sidestep certain projects entirely as opposed to wasting time on a nonsense initiative that will, within weeks, be replaced by another nonsense initiative."

Moderately Motivated Gen-Xer for Hire

Forty-something professional seeks opportunity in an environment that is neither “fun,” “playful,” nor “collaborative;” minimal responsibility pref...

buff.ly

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

TR Cavallaro @trcava.bsky.social · 5d

I made a flyer! Know anyone in CA, OR, WA, or BC who might be interested in collecting mushrooms for research purposes? #mycology #citizenscience

Please share widely! 🧪 🍄‍🟫 🌲

A PDF version can be found here: drive.proton.me/urls/W1MM4FG...

A help-wanted poster seeking volunteer mushroom collectors in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.

The poster provided some background info about the research project and study system and how folks can contribute if they are interested.

REQUEST | Calling all mycophiles, naturalists, and citizen scientists in CA, OR, WA, and BC!

Going for a hike in the woods or a walk in your neighborhood park?
• Please keep your eyes peeled for the purple mushrooms of L.a-o!
• Collect the mushrooms* if you are able to access them safely.
• If you can, please take a photo of the mushrooms and the tree(s) you find them under.
*If you find a mushroom that is clearly rotten or moldy, please don't collect it.

"I collected some purple mushrooms. What should I do now?"
1. Please keep the mushroom fresh:
• Store in paper, not plastic.
• Keep cool/ refrigerate, but do not freeze.
• Store mushrooms away from light.
2. Email me to arrange pick-up, delivery, or shipment* of your sample.
* will cover packing and shipping expenses!

"What's in it for those who contribute to this work?"
• You will receive acknowledgement in presentations and publications stemming from this research.
• You will receive copies of journal publications from this research (data available upon request).
• You are invited to attend presentations of this research and to visit the lab at Stanford University.

Page 2 of the help-wanted poster includes reference photos of the study organism and a map of where this species has been observed. All images and the map are sourced from iNaturalist.

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3d

Fred Ramsdell was parked at a campground in Montana on Monday when his wife suddenly started shouting. He first thought that maybe she had seen a grizzly bear. Instead, she had regained cell service and had seen a flood of text messages with the same news. “You just won the Nobel Prize!” she yelled.

Winning a Nobel Prize Interrupted His Off-the-Grid Vacation

Fred Ramsdell found out about his Nobel Prize nearly 12 hours after it was announced because he was on vacation in the Rockies.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

RuthLeyMicro @microbiome.bsky.social · 6d

Thinking about a postdoc in microbiome science?
Our lab at the MPI for Biology (Tübingen) builds on the culture I established at Cornell: collaborative, creative, and internationally diverse. Postdocs lead their own projects with secure funding. Join us!
#PostdocJobs #HostMicrobe #AcademicJobs

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d

#WarRavagedPortland

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

DrLachie @drlachie.bsky.social · 3d

Hey microscopists! On behalf of @ausbias.org I'd like to invite you to fill in our inaugural survey of how you perform and interface with bioimage analysis in your work! Help shape our society, and help us understand how we can best serve the wider microscopy community! ausbias.org/survey-2025/

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Maureen Barr @barrlab.bsky.social · 3d

Rutgers peeps: David Katz is presenting this exciting work tomorrow Oct 8 at 2pm in Waksman 1001. #celegans

David Katz @katzlab.bsky.social · 3d

Very excited to share our very exciting story on how misinherited chromatin affects individual cells to cause a behavior defect in C. elegans (a thread👇) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Elise Wang @elisewang.bsky.social · 4d

One of the more incredible stories out of LA this year has been how a taco review blog became the best on-the-ground coverage of ICE raids in the city.

They do a dispatch every day, follow-up on the kidnapped people (which almost no media outlet has done), and fact-check government claims.

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 4d

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Dave Baltrus 🦦 @surtlab.bsky.social · 4d

Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

Genomic correlates of tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae

Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 11d

EXCITING NEWS!! We're searching for a new professor colleague at the Biozentrum🇨🇭. Ideal candidates are exploring novel biological questions with structure, biophysics, or high-resolution imaging. 🧪 🧶🧬 🔬

The call closes Nov 3. Please get in touch if you would like more information. Come join us! 👩‍🔬🤓

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

KIM F-M @kimf-m.bsky.social · 4d

That could be fun.

Dan Emerson @danemers.bsky.social · 5d

Bad Bunny was born in Puerto Rico, which is part of the United States. Ted Cruz was born in Canada.

Bad Bunny is eligible to run for president because he’s a natural born citizen. Ted Cruz is not.

Thought that was a fun little fact.

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 4d

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

― George Orwell, 1984

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Mike Johnson: "Let me look right into the camera and tell you very clearly: Republicans are the ones concerned about healthcare. Republicans are the party working around the clock everyday to fix healthcare. This is not talking points for us: we've done it."

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

The Daum Lab @daumlab.bsky.social · 4d

Out in Science Advances: Our #cryoEM structure of HFTV1, a virus infecting the halophile #archaea. *First full atomic structure (containing all structural proteins) of any tailed virus!* Congrats and thanks to all co-authors and our fantastic collaborators! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cryo-EM resolves the structure of the archaeal dsDNA virus HFTV1 from head to tail

This structure of an archaeal tailed virus (arTV) provides detailed insights into arTV assembly and infection mechanisms.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

JLRay @jlray.bsky.social · 5d

A Texas megachurch pastor and GOP leader has been arrested for crimes against children. Not Robert Morris, a different one. Not Josiah Anthony, a different one. Not Luke Cunningham, a different one. Not Tony Evans, a different one. Not Scott Crenshaw, a different one. Not Steve Lawson, a different o

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Karen Fisher, PhD @fisherke.bsky.social · 5d

Interesting article - yes, we can make stuff in the US, but we also need to invest in people - www.wsj.com/business/sha...

Sharpie Found a Way to Make Pens More Cheaply—By Manufacturing Them in the U.S.

Newell Brands invested close to $2 billion and thousands of hours in training to move most production of Sharpie pens to a 37-year-old factory in Tennessee.

www.wsj.com

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 6d

Latest from ours: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

This is two stories in one: a case study/cautionary tale on developing genetic tools in new organisms, and the first hint at a gene regulatory network for choanoflagellate multicellular development (which turn out to involve a Hippo/YAP/ECM loop!) A 🧵

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

Larry Hunter @proflhunter.bsky.social · 6d

The dismantling of US science continues. RFKJr fired the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, basically for believing in the germ theory of disease.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/h...

Kennedy Fires N.I.H. Scientist Who Filed Whistle-Blower Complaint

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Karen Fisher, PhD

cryoEM papers @cryoempapers.bsky.social · 6d

Cryo-EM resolves the structure of the archaeal dsDNA virus HFTV1 from head to tail pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41042861/ #cryoem

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