Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Sep 9

We're out at sea with C-COMP @microbialplanet.bsky.social and the AUV Clio. Clio's social media account has migrated from the other place to the blue place @clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social , follow for mild sarcastic pseudo-first robot humor
updates...

clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social @clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social · Sep 7

Since I've new to 'blueocean', here's some background about me. I'm Clio the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that, unusual for a AUV, operates only in vertical mode, collecting samples in profiles down to 6000m. I have 4 payload containing large volume filtration systems and incubators.🌊🔬

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clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social @clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social · Sep 7

Since I've new to 'blueocean', here's some background about me. I'm Clio the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that, unusual for a AUV, operates only in vertical mode, collecting samples in profiles down to 6000m. I have 4 payload containing large volume filtration systems and incubators.🌊🔬

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Carlos Moffat @carlosmoffat.com · Jul 25

🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:

We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.

If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography @scrippsocean.bsky.social · Jul 15

🌊 ↪️↩️ Deep ocean currents play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life across the South Pacific Ocean, according to a groundbreaking study led by @jcvi.org and Scripps Oceanography scientists. More on the study published by @science.org. ⬇️

Study Reveals how Deep Ocean Currents Shape Microbial Life across South Pacific

A groundbreaking study in the journal Science, has unveiled how deep ocean currents—known as global overturning circulation—play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life ...

scripps.ucsd.edu

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Jun 21

I know folks are using orbitraps to look at isotopes for geochemical applications with sulfur molecules. Also just had another geochemist colleague visiting to learn protein extraction to get at N isotopic signatures. I’ve always wanted to go next door and to use the AMS for C14 in peptides.

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Rogier Braakman @rogierbraakman.bsky.social · Jun 4

Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST.

I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.

🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky

www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...

2025 LIFE RCN Seminar Series Episode 1: Dr. Rogier Braakman — LIFE Research Coordination Network

On June 10th, 2025, at 8AM PDT/11AM EDT, the LIFE RCN will be excited to introduce Dr. Rogier Braakman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct scientist at Th...

www.lifercn.org

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jun 4

New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump (Gift Article)

Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.

www.nytimes.com

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Anna Bagels @anna-bagels.bsky.social · May 29

One visible impact of the illegal firing of NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL) employees -

no 2025 data updates for water quality in W Lake Erie, meaning no public info on the harmful algal blooms.

We detected toxins in April, but we lost the folks who organize & report this data

NOAA-GLERL WLE Weekly Data

Visual archive of weekly sampling data from Western Lake Erie during the 2012 through roughly present year harmful algal bloom seasons

www.glerl.noaa.gov

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GEOTRACES @geotraces.bsky.social · May 27

🌊 Pre-registration is open for GEOTRACES Summer School 2025!

📅 17–21 Nov | 📍 Cape Town
🎓 Training in marine biogeochemistry of trace elements & isotopes for 36 students.

Apply by 30 June 2025 👉 geotraces-2025.sciencesconf.org

#MarineScience #Biogeochemistry #SummerSchool
@scor-int.bsky.social

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Apr 28

Thanks for the plug Ben! Coming out on streaming in a few days too. Hope fellow chemists enjoy the cover art too.

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Apr 15

Is the Zinc Hypothesis true? (Zn control of marine primary production). Apparently yes: by multiple independent lines of evidence, including zinc stress protein biomarkers, in the low pCO2 waters of a coastal Antarctica bloom. Thesis work by Riss Kell and many wonderful collabs. In Open review BG. 🌊

Zinc stimulation of phytoplankton in a low carbon dioxide, coastal Antarctic environment: evidence for the Zn hypothesis

Abstract. The ocean acts as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and resulting in substantial uptake of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. As biological processes in the oceans such as net pr...

egusphere.copernicus.org

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Mar 5

We appreciate and understand the sentiment Ron. The ocean protein portal will not be blocking foreign IPs.

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Jonas Wisser @jwisser.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy · Mar 5

The Scottish have won the AI Wars.

A screenshot of Google's AI Overview answer to the question "is haggis an animal". It says "Yes, the haggis is a small, furry mammal native to Scotland" and goes on to give the typical "asymmetrical legs" details.

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Noelle Held @proteocean.bsky.social · Mar 4

Super glad to share two new papers about how nutrient gradients impact alkaline phosphatase in the ocean. This was "that project" which followed from PhD to Postdoc to Assist. Prof, motivated by awesome collaborators! egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20... egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...

Part 1: Zonal gradients in phosphorus and nitrogen acquisition and stress revealed by metaproteomes of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus

Abstract. Ocean warming alongside changes to the natural and anthropogenic supply of key nutrient resources such as nitrogen, phosphorus and trace metals is predicted to alter the magnitude and stoich...

egusphere.copernicus.org

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Katherine J. Wu @katherinejwu.com · Feb 27

I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Inside the Collapse at NIH

Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

www.theatlantic.com

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westobymark.bsky.social @westobymark.bsky.social · Feb 18

"John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more" link.springer.com/article/10.1...

John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more - Photosynthesis Research

This is a tribute to a truly inspirational plant biologist, Prof. John A. Raven, FRS, FRSE (25th June 1941– 23rd May 2024), who died at the age of 82. He was a leader in the field of evolution and phy...

link.springer.com

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Feb 8

Rapid Zinc uptake rates in Antarctica with a new stable isotope method, by former student Riss. If you know how easy it is to contaminate for zinc you’ll appreciate this study.

Riss Kell, PhD @drkell.bsky.social · Dec 20

Hello bluesky! I am so happy to share that some of my Antarctic work was published today in BG: bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/.... This paper is seven (!) years in the making! Zinc is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton, and is uptaken rapidly (biogeochem modelers please take note!)

High metabolic zinc demand within native Amundsen and Ross sea phytoplankton communities determined by stable isotope uptake rate measurements

Abstract. Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for most eukaryotic phytoplankton. Zn uptake by phytoplankton within the euphotic zone results in nutrient-like dissolved Zn (dZn) profiles with a lar...

bg.copernicus.org

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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · Feb 8

Excellent 🧵 on this evening's NIH announcement of a dramatic reduction in indirect rates for research institutions, which amounts to a generational restructuring of the US research and development ecosystem. These cuts are effective immediately, not just for new grants but for existing ones.

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Feb 8

6. The policy does not just affect funding going forward. All existing NIH grants will have their indirect rates cut to 15% as of today, the date of issuance.

For a large university, this creates a sudden and catastrophic shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars against already budgeted funds.

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Jan 12

Well, hopefully not the about worst... We modeled how correlations work for environmental responsive transcripts and proteins because the starting inventory of both is small so the dynamic range is large, and why in log2 space many gene products don't correlate because of large protein inventories.

Why Environmental Biomarkers Work: Transcriptome–Proteome Correlations and Modeling of Multistressor Experiments in the Marine Bacterium Trichodesmium

Ocean microbial communities are important contributors to the global biogeochemical reactions that sustain life on Earth. The factors controlling these communities are being increasingly explored usin...

pubs.acs.org

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Jan 6

Ha, at least when they ask if you work on toxic chemicals you can say yes. I try to start a discussion about metal micronutrients…

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Jan 6

Sunset on a chilly walk in Woods Hole

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Jan 5

We have them too, as well as photovoltaics. Guilt free hot water.

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Riss Kell, PhD @drkell.bsky.social · Dec 20

Hello bluesky! I am so happy to share that some of my Antarctic work was published today in BG: bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/.... This paper is seven (!) years in the making! Zinc is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton, and is uptaken rapidly (biogeochem modelers please take note!)

High metabolic zinc demand within native Amundsen and Ross sea phytoplankton communities determined by stable isotope uptake rate measurements

Abstract. Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for most eukaryotic phytoplankton. Zn uptake by phytoplankton within the euphotic zone results in nutrient-like dissolved Zn (dZn) profiles with a lar...

bg.copernicus.org

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A. Murat Eren (Meren) @merenbey.bsky.social · Dec 16

We are very happy to announce a free-to-attend #anvio workshop and ECR symposium in Oldenburg to discuss integrated microbial 'omics and learn applications of anvi'o.

More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...

Please apply and/or circulate 😇

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Dec 7

Love the photo!

Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Dec 6

Ha! Maybe this will inspire me to finish a thesis paper too…

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Nov 30

I like using notebooks for composing text often as well. Or computers without internet…

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Nov 10

Ocean Metaproteomics intercomparison study out. Really fun project working together with colleagues to examine this method. And Intercomparisons are really valuable to connect between dstasets across time and space in the environment bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/...

Results from a multi-laboratory ocean metaproteomic intercomparison: effects of LC-MS acquisition and data analysis procedures

Abstract. Metaproteomics is an increasingly popular methodology that provides information regarding the metabolic functions of specific microbial taxa and has potential for contributing to ocean ecolo...

bg.copernicus.org

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Jan 29

Our rock group, Deep Six, just released a second album this week, The Abyss. Mostly instrumental tunes, melancholy, but hopeful, good writing or walking tunes. With fellow marine chemists Adam Subhas and Tristan Horner. Enjoy!
deepsixwoho.hearnow.com

The Abyss

Have you heard The Abyss by Deep Six on #hearnow?

deepsixwoho.hearnow.com

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Mak Saito @maksaito.bsky.social · Dec 13

Hey Chris, generally speaking protein trends with biomass, which is highest in the upper ocean where the sunlight reaches. Even In the cold of Antarctica there are huge blooms due to nutrient rich upwelled waters. How climate change and warming will affect productivity is not well known.

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