Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Andrew Whitehead

Wayne Maddison @waynemaddison.bsky.social · Sep 5

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

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Kat Kerlin @katkerlin.bsky.social · Aug 27

Research on the tenacious little killifish sheds light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants impacts later generations. From @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social

Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 27

2 new papers now out in #ES&T on the persistent and multi-generational impacts of flame retardants on behavior and brain biology

Press release from ‪@ucdavis.bsky.social‬ ‪@ucdaviscaes.bsky.social‬ that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...

Maternal Exposure to Crude Oil, Flame Retardants Can Affect Later Generations

A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect behavior, skeletal growth, cardiac ...

www.ucdavis.edu

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 27

Flame-retardant paper #2: shows that exposure in one generation has neurobehavioral impacts on offspring. Even brief exposure during embryo development - their offspring years later inherited altered behavior.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 27

Flame-retardant paper #1: we show that brief exposures during early life to PBDE flame retardants have neurobehavioral effects that can last a lifetime, but whether exposure is maternal or directly from the environment modulates toxic outcomes
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 27

2 new papers now out in #ES&T on the persistent and multi-generational impacts of flame retardants on behavior and brain biology

Press release from ‪@ucdavis.bsky.social‬ ‪@ucdaviscaes.bsky.social‬ that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...

Maternal Exposure to Crude Oil, Flame Retardants Can Affect Later Generations

A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect behavior, skeletal growth, cardiac ...

www.ucdavis.edu

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UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social · Aug 27

🚨Research alert 🚨
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping #UCDavis researchers shed new light on how maternal exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect later generations. #DeepwaterHorizon #PBTE
caes.ucdavis.edu/news/materna...

Maternal Exposure to Crude Oil, Flame Retardants Can Affect Later Generations

A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect behavior, skeletal growth, cardiac ...

caes.ucdavis.edu

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 23

My system is very sophisticated. A running list on my Notes app.😬

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Moshi @fishymoshi.bsky.social · Aug 21

Our collaborative study shows that hatchery domestication in Delta smelt elevates thermal tolerance but reduces plasticity, with transcriptome and methylome shifts influencing adaptation. Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Highly and lowly domesticated endangered fish from a conservation hatchery diverge in their thermal physiology, transcriptome, and methylome

Conservation hatcheries aim to produce fish for supplementation of wild populations, but hatchery environments may drive phenotypic divergence from wild fish. These diverged traits may have reduced fi...

www.biorxiv.org

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 20

stay tuned for two more papers coming out in the next few weeks on persistent and multi-generational impacts of exposures to ubiquitous flame retardant pollutants...

Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Aug 20

New paper out in #ES&T where we show that killifish exposure to crude oil has impacts (on embryo/larval development and transcriptome) that propagate to their offspring and to their grand-offspring. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
@acs.org

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Joana L. Rocha @joanocha.bsky.social · Jun 25

I am thrilled to announce that in January 2026 I will be starting my own lab at NYU Biology! Soon enough I will be recruiting postdocs and students! Please reach out if you are interested with a CV and description of your research interests, or if you know of people who could be interested! 🧬🗽 🦊

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Samuel Church @shchurch.bsky.social · Jun 21

Wish I could be at #Evol2025 this year! I’ll be starting a new lab at NYU this fall, and will be recruiting at all levels. Please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to work on evo. genomics, phylogenies, and comparative development of inverts (like Hawaiian Drosophila!) shchurch.github.io

Drosophila picticornis, a Hawaiian fly with patterned wings

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Christopher Wheat @chriswheat.bsky.social · Jun 22

🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies

2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.

Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.

Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com

The aim of this proposal is to place population genomic insights into a comparative framework to gain fundamental insights into the determinants of evolutionary outcomes. The project will work within LepEU, the European Lepidopteran Population Genomics Consortium (https://lepeu.github.io/). LepEU provides access to field samples from European populations of diverse species. Chromosome-scale reference genomes are provided by Project Psyche (https://www.projectpsyche.org/). Networking during the postdoc will be facilitated by participation in the 10kLepGenomes COST Action (https://10klepgenomes.eu/). Existing datasets await analysis, while additional samples need DNA extraction and submission for sequencing. Functional validation capability (CRISPR/Cas9 gene manipulations) is also available to test emergent hypotheses of allele-to-phenotype impacts. Personal research interests of the postdoc will be important to determine the exact project, as the project has a generous sequencing budget.

The successful applicant should have a PhD (obtained within 6 years of the application deadline) in a suitable subject area, such as evolutionary biology or population genomics. A strong interest in population genomics, local adaptation, comparative analyses, and experience working with genomic-scale data is essential. The candidate must have a documented publication record demonstrating relevant skills. Experience working with bioinformatic pipelines (e.g., Snakemake), or working with butterflies is welcome but not essential. The net salary is 28,000 SEK/month (~2,430 Euro, not subject to Swedish income tax) and comes directly from the Carl-Trygger Foundation stipend, which is paid out directly to the postdoc. Only PhD candidates acquired outside of the host department can apply. Currently, the lab of Prof. Wheat consists of 3 postdoctoral researchers, while the Dept. of Zoology provides a vibrant and excellent research environment of active, dynamic researchers.

Applications should include: i) a succinct description of research interests and experience, detailing your contribution to any relevant publications (max 1 page), ii) why you are the ideal candidate for this position in the lab (max 1 page); iii) a CV including a list of publications, and iv) the name and contact information of two personal references.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with a deadline of 23 August 2025. The project is planned to start on 1 October, but flexibility in the starting date can be provided for a suitable candidate. Please contact Prof. Wheat for additional information.

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UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute @ucdmarinescience.bsky.social · Jun 9

Anya Brown - @dranyabrown.bsky.social, marine scientist at @ucdavis.bsky.social & Nat Geo Explorer, studies how coral microbes shape reef resilience. “It’s the kind of thing that unites so much of life on Earth,” she says. 🌊🪸🐠

Read more in Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/impact/artic...

Anya Brown is investigating microbes’ critical role in coral reefs

Her research team’s contributions could hold promise for coral adaptation and conservation.

www.nationalgeographic.com

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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · May 31

This is a great thread, with some really nice talking points for your letters to your reps, your protest signs, your zines and flyers, and your conversations with neighbors.

Michael Battalio @battalio.com · May 31

The President's Budget request as released yesterday will gut scientific research. Why should you care?
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.

NSF, NASA and NIH budgets per year, inflation adjusted from 2000-2025 along with the proposed cuts. NSF includes research component only. Massive cuts across all sectors, well below support spanning 25 years.

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · May 30

"Our calculations suggest that the proposed budgetary cuts to the NIH will create a social cost that is 16 times greater than the savings that the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe

This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...

jamanetwork.com

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Moi Expósito-Alonso (MOILAB) @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social · May 30

Super excited to release a huge evolution project on the works for many years:

Evolution experiments synchronized across climates to understand rapid adaptation

Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
All data available: www.grene-net.org/data

#MOILAB
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
@hhmi.org

🧵👇

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · May 30

Wow. This looks awesome. Lab group will be reading this!

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Jon Freeman @freemanjb.bsky.social · May 21

🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees

Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday

📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful

Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · May 16

Interested in evolution in the Anthropocene?

In a paper out today we use a mechanism-guided approach to predict & show that evolved resistance to urban pollutants offers cross-resistance to oil in killifish, via adaptive change in AHR signaling
doi.org/10.1111/eva....

@evolappjournal.bsky.social

Multiple Stressors in the Anthropocene: Urban Evolutionary History Modifies Sensitivity to the Toxic Effects of Crude Oil Exposure in Killifish

Persistence of wild species in human-altered environments is difficult, in part because challenges to fitness are complex when multiple environmental changes occur simultaneously, which is common in ...

doi.org

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · May 15

What are your favorites?

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Apr 24

New @science.org
Exposomics. We're not doing nearly enough to understand and mitigate our toxic environmental exposures. A very insightful perspective
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Scott Delaney @scott-delaney.bsky.social · Apr 19

🙏 We need your help 🙏

The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.

We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:

NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...

NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

w/ @noamross.net

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Apr 11

Students seemed relieved to hear that faculty recognize the challenges, are concerned for them, invested in their future, & are listening. Though institutes seem afraid to message support for students these days, perhaps support is best communicated in small groups with folks whose faces we know

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Andrew Whitehead @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social · Apr 11

Main message from faculty: Work hard on the things within your control...
- take advantage of out-of-classroom opportunities to build breadth/depth of experience, including work in lab, internships, etc
- get to know your professors
- engage with professional organizations
- build pro network

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