Dávalos Lab
@labdavalos.bsky.social
Principal Investigator 👉🏽 https://lmdavalos.github.io/ Editor-in-Chief 👉🏽 @qrb.bsky.social/ recent Fulbright Amazonia scholar (https://www.fulbrightprogram.org/amazonia/), news from lab and beyond
Pinned
🧪this list highlights what is needed to support science: infrastructure of all kinds, fellowships for🌎🌍🌏scholars - all stages, grants to keep 🧪🔬🧫going, libraries, free flows of information among colleagues, and openness to ideas and people; 2025 taught me to 💪🏽for the open society that nurtures these
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
January 14, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
“No one knows exactly how much of the world’s drinking water is laced with TCE. The CDC reckons the water supply of 4-18% of Americans is contaminated… In Silicon Valley, where TCE was integral to manufacturing of early transistors, a necklace of underground plumes…”
www.wired.com/story/scient...
www.wired.com/story/scient...
Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water
New ideas about chronic illness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.
www.wired.com
January 11, 2026 at 5:15 AM
“No one knows exactly how much of the world’s drinking water is laced with TCE. The CDC reckons the water supply of 4-18% of Americans is contaminated… In Silicon Valley, where TCE was integral to manufacturing of early transistors, a necklace of underground plumes…”
www.wired.com/story/scient...
www.wired.com/story/scient...
And to their very lucrative illegal markets they gatekeep, one of which, gold, gains global value from political instability: doi.org/10.22541/au....
January 11, 2026 at 1:01 AM
And to their very lucrative illegal markets they gatekeep, one of which, gold, gains global value from political instability: doi.org/10.22541/au....
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
Mexico has more endemic species of bats and other mammals than any other country in the world. This updated checklist counted 146 bat species in the country, distributed in 71 genera and eight families.
#biodiversity #taxonomy #bats
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
#biodiversity #taxonomy #bats
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
Diversity, conservation, and endemism of the bats (Chiroptera) of Mexico
An updated checklist of the bats of Mexico is presented, comprising eight families, 71 genera, and 146 species. Since the last checklist published by Ramírez-Pulido et al. (2014), two new species have...
doi.org
January 9, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Mexico has more endemic species of bats and other mammals than any other country in the world. This updated checklist counted 146 bat species in the country, distributed in 71 genera and eight families.
#biodiversity #taxonomy #bats
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
#biodiversity #taxonomy #bats
doi.org/10.3897/zook...
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
But now, when I hear "well, I use chatgpt because I can code in R / analyse my data / do literature review again", my answer is systematically: no, you cannot.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
January 8, 2026 at 1:15 PM
But now, when I hear "well, I use chatgpt because I can code in R / analyse my data / do literature review again", my answer is systematically: no, you cannot.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
I think the loss of technical skills is dangerous for research, because it prevents a sound understanding of feasibility.
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
Environmental reporting is under pressure — just as biodiversity loss and climate impacts accelerate.
Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship supports early-career journalists from tropical countries with paid mentorship & publishing support.
Apply Dec. 15–Feb. 1: buff.ly/oARaICG.
Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship supports early-career journalists from tropical countries with paid mentorship & publishing support.
Apply Dec. 15–Feb. 1: buff.ly/oARaICG.
January 6, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Environmental reporting is under pressure — just as biodiversity loss and climate impacts accelerate.
Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship supports early-career journalists from tropical countries with paid mentorship & publishing support.
Apply Dec. 15–Feb. 1: buff.ly/oARaICG.
Mongabay’s Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship supports early-career journalists from tropical countries with paid mentorship & publishing support.
Apply Dec. 15–Feb. 1: buff.ly/oARaICG.
A key contribution from our @hfspo.bsky.social team!
🚨What a journey it was from submission to publication in @genomeresearch.bsky.social ; a journal we aspired to 👉🏽 genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...
Dynamic metabolic and molecular changes during seasonal shrinking in Sorex araneus
An international, peer-reviewed genome sciences journal featuring outstanding original research that offers novel insights into the biology of all organisms
genome.cshlp.org
January 7, 2026 at 1:27 AM
A key contribution from our @hfspo.bsky.social team!
One more 2025 contribution from our @hfspo.bsky.social team!
🧪Then, we returned to more shrew results, this time with #BillThomas exploring the pancreas of Aselli. Never heard of that? The 📰is #OA ! 14/? 👉🏽 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Gene expression reveals the pancreas of Aselli as a critical organ for plasma cell differentiation in the Eurasian common shrew - BMC Biology
Background Almost all mammals rely on the thymus and bone marrow to generate and differentiate B and T cells essential for adaptive immunity. A few members of the family Soricidae, or true shrews with...
link.springer.com
January 7, 2026 at 1:27 AM
One more 2025 contribution from our @hfspo.bsky.social team!
Another contribution from our @hfspo.bsky.social team!
🚨 Shrew paper alert! 🚨
Our latest study found that brain size changes stayed on track, but behavior? 🤔 Not so much❗
Captivity makes shrews hyperactive and less motivated to learn, hinting at chronic stress.
🐾 Curious? Full paper here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
#Shrews
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
Our latest study found that brain size changes stayed on track, but behavior? 🤔 Not so much❗
Captivity makes shrews hyperactive and less motivated to learn, hinting at chronic stress.
🐾 Curious? Full paper here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
#Shrews
@mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social
January 7, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Another contribution from our @hfspo.bsky.social team!
So. Much. This. Regularly have to alert students around me to offline reality, including to look up and thus avoid being run over…
When you believe that everything that matters is Online, you will inevitably miss crucial information from that pitiless old bitch that is tangible reality.
It's a lot like confidently walking into a forest full of hungry tigers at night, because you see, you don't believe in tigers.
It's a lot like confidently walking into a forest full of hungry tigers at night, because you see, you don't believe in tigers.
January 7, 2026 at 12:22 AM
So. Much. This. Regularly have to alert students around me to offline reality, including to look up and thus avoid being run over…
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
My students increasingly don’t. It doesn’t matter how nuanced and pedagogically strong the architecture of my bespoke historical LLM is if my students have gotten used to turning to ChatGPT to offload their work and thinking for everything else outside of my class +
January 4, 2026 at 8:11 PM
My students increasingly don’t. It doesn’t matter how nuanced and pedagogically strong the architecture of my bespoke historical LLM is if my students have gotten used to turning to ChatGPT to offload their work and thinking for everything else outside of my class +
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
Scientists have to pivot to new work to get new funding. But pivots take time. A lot of time. This project that I started in Sept '21 was actually a pivot for me because of political interference in NIH policies in 2020. Yet here I am in 2026 still trying to get that pivot funded. /7
January 2, 2026 at 3:53 AM
Scientists have to pivot to new work to get new funding. But pivots take time. A lot of time. This project that I started in Sept '21 was actually a pivot for me because of political interference in NIH policies in 2020. Yet here I am in 2026 still trying to get that pivot funded. /7
How to avert this is the question now
3. Returning Venezuelan exiles and opposition networks find themselves without promised US support, army factions, militias, narco-gangs, illegal mining paramilitaries, Colombian insurgents like ELN pick sides and a country with 6 million weapons in circulation plunges into escalating conflict
January 3, 2026 at 2:54 PM
How to avert this is the question now
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
(6/7)
Personal milestone: September science inequity piece spotlights middle and low income country researcher barriers, unrecognized labor that shaped me.
Always grateful to all students/colleagues/communities/mentors/friends/challenges and my family for always being there.
Personal milestone: September science inequity piece spotlights middle and low income country researcher barriers, unrecognized labor that shaped me.
Always grateful to all students/colleagues/communities/mentors/friends/challenges and my family for always being there.
a black and white drawing of a cat with the words `` thank you '' written above it .
ALT: a black and white drawing of a cat with the words `` thank you '' written above it .
media.tenor.com
December 31, 2025 at 12:02 PM
(6/7)
Personal milestone: September science inequity piece spotlights middle and low income country researcher barriers, unrecognized labor that shaped me.
Always grateful to all students/colleagues/communities/mentors/friends/challenges and my family for always being there.
Personal milestone: September science inequity piece spotlights middle and low income country researcher barriers, unrecognized labor that shaped me.
Always grateful to all students/colleagues/communities/mentors/friends/challenges and my family for always being there.
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
(4/7)
Environ Res Lett (Dec15, public-private partnership project fibale): “Afforestation reduces fire occurrence in Colombia’s tropical savannas”—strategic planting cuts fire risk (for now). Scalable restoration vs climate change. See iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Environ Res Lett (Dec15, public-private partnership project fibale): “Afforestation reduces fire occurrence in Colombia’s tropical savannas”—strategic planting cuts fire risk (for now). Scalable restoration vs climate change. See iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
December 31, 2025 at 12:02 PM
(4/7)
Environ Res Lett (Dec15, public-private partnership project fibale): “Afforestation reduces fire occurrence in Colombia’s tropical savannas”—strategic planting cuts fire risk (for now). Scalable restoration vs climate change. See iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Environ Res Lett (Dec15, public-private partnership project fibale): “Afforestation reduces fire occurrence in Colombia’s tropical savannas”—strategic planting cuts fire risk (for now). Scalable restoration vs climate change. See iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
Fish deformities are surging in Brazil’s Volta Grande do Xingu after the Belo Monte dam cut river flow, altering flood pulses and drying flooded forests.
Scientists and communities warn of “ecosystem collapse” and say current water releases are far too low to sustain the river.
Scientists and communities warn of “ecosystem collapse” and say current water releases are far too low to sustain the river.
Fish deformities expose ‘collapse’ of Xingu River’s pulse after construction of Belo Monte Dam
On Feb. 17, 2016, the gears ground into life at the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, on the “Large Curve” of the Xingu River, or Volta Grande do Xingu, in the Brazilian Amazon. By April that…
news.mongabay.com
January 1, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Fish deformities are surging in Brazil’s Volta Grande do Xingu after the Belo Monte dam cut river flow, altering flood pulses and drying flooded forests.
Scientists and communities warn of “ecosystem collapse” and say current water releases are far too low to sustain the river.
Scientists and communities warn of “ecosystem collapse” and say current water releases are far too low to sustain the river.
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
Wrapping up 2025 with a new publication: Molecular versus microscopic analyses tell different stories of little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) diet in Alaska. Out in Acta Chiropterologica, with coauthors Veronica Brown, Esmarie Boyles, Gary McCracken, and Justin Boyles
December 31, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Wrapping up 2025 with a new publication: Molecular versus microscopic analyses tell different stories of little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) diet in Alaska. Out in Acta Chiropterologica, with coauthors Veronica Brown, Esmarie Boyles, Gary McCracken, and Justin Boyles
🧪Continuity is essential to scientific discovery as shown by the many projects bearing 🥑🥝🍇🍒this year. Here is the 2025 lab recap! Intermittent, unpredictable and likely to be incomplete 1/?
December 31, 2025 at 4:38 PM
🧪Continuity is essential to scientific discovery as shown by the many projects bearing 🥑🥝🍇🍒this year. Here is the 2025 lab recap! Intermittent, unpredictable and likely to be incomplete 1/?
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
It's strange how rarely journalists covering this space can ask "Hey, but is it bullshit?". CEO's whose companies are over-leveraged, bubbly, and unprofitable promise a major breakthrough that will justify their fragile position and no one seems to *consider* they may be lying.
It's Theranos 2.0.
It's Theranos 2.0.
Gary, I hope you know that I really appreciate your views as a way to keep myself honest instead of falling into the easy traps of minimizing what AI can do.
Yet I find this kind of talk to strain credulity at best.
Yet I find this kind of talk to strain credulity at best.
Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?
www.nytimes.com
December 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
It's strange how rarely journalists covering this space can ask "Hey, but is it bullshit?". CEO's whose companies are over-leveraged, bubbly, and unprofitable promise a major breakthrough that will justify their fragile position and no one seems to *consider* they may be lying.
It's Theranos 2.0.
It's Theranos 2.0.
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
It's six pages; the last three at least are eugenics. "Freedom to breed is intolerable"; "how shall we deal with the family, the religion, the race, or the class... that adopts overbreeding as a policy to secure its own aggrandizement?"
December 29, 2025 at 10:43 PM
It's six pages; the last three at least are eugenics. "Freedom to breed is intolerable"; "how shall we deal with the family, the religion, the race, or the class... that adopts overbreeding as a policy to secure its own aggrandizement?"
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
I recently had my first “AI-enabled” CS interns. It was not a good situation, and I think the most distressing thing was the lack of soft skill. When to ask for help. How to know you’re chasing a dead end.
This will not build sustainable career pipelines.
This will not build sustainable career pipelines.
December 28, 2025 at 10:43 PM
I recently had my first “AI-enabled” CS interns. It was not a good situation, and I think the most distressing thing was the lack of soft skill. When to ask for help. How to know you’re chasing a dead end.
This will not build sustainable career pipelines.
This will not build sustainable career pipelines.
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
After COP30’s compromise, Brazil’s Amazon faces 2026 under mounting pressure: new infrastructure, critical minerals, fires, and shifting smuggling routes. Yet products tied to a standing forest hint at a path forward, even as violence and carbon-market risks persist.
The Amazon in 2026: A challenging year ahead, now off the center stage
As Belém's COP30 ended in compromise, political forces moved swiftly to accelerate destruction far from the global spotlight.
news.mongabay.com
December 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
After COP30’s compromise, Brazil’s Amazon faces 2026 under mounting pressure: new infrastructure, critical minerals, fires, and shifting smuggling routes. Yet products tied to a standing forest hint at a path forward, even as violence and carbon-market risks persist.
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
A bonus #Christmas ornament bird AND a #faceoff #birdoftheday
How's that for efficiency‽
Resplendent Quetzal, being resplendent, at San Gerardo de Dota #CostaRica
#birds #nature
How's that for efficiency‽
Resplendent Quetzal, being resplendent, at San Gerardo de Dota #CostaRica
#birds #nature
December 24, 2025 at 10:48 PM
A bonus #Christmas ornament bird AND a #faceoff #birdoftheday
How's that for efficiency‽
Resplendent Quetzal, being resplendent, at San Gerardo de Dota #CostaRica
#birds #nature
How's that for efficiency‽
Resplendent Quetzal, being resplendent, at San Gerardo de Dota #CostaRica
#birds #nature
Reposted by Dávalos Lab
🎯Excited to share our new collaborative paper in Mol Ecol - Beautifully lead by @marta-fb.bsky.social & @coreykirkland.bsky.social - Exploring the fascinating evolutionary story of the waterbuck, shaped by climate and unique chromosome changes
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Chromosome‐Level Genomics and Historical Museum Collections Reveal New Insights Into the Population Structure and Chromosome Evolution of Waterbuck
Advances in sequencing and chromosome-scale assembly have brought non-model animals into focus, deepening our understanding of genome and chromosome evolution. Here, we present the waterbuck (Kobus e...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 24, 2025 at 11:04 AM
🎯Excited to share our new collaborative paper in Mol Ecol - Beautifully lead by @marta-fb.bsky.social & @coreykirkland.bsky.social - Exploring the fascinating evolutionary story of the waterbuck, shaped by climate and unique chromosome changes
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...