Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Greg Albery @gfalbery.bsky.social · Sep 8

Celebrating the publication of our big collaborative spatial-social meta-analysis of density-dependent transmission effects, out now in Nature Eco Evo! doi.org/10.1038/s415... (or rdcu.be/eD6eB)

1 22 43

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Corey Garza @profcgarza.bsky.social · Sep 5

Last week the drone pilots in my lab captured this image (photo 1) of a large sea lion haul out @ San Carlos Beach in Monterey during our monthly surveys. Last year (photo 2) a large sea lion haul out was seen at the same beach. This might be turning into a new haul out site. @uwsafs.bsky.social

Aerial image of sea lions on a beach in Monterey during August 2025.

Aerial image of sea lions on the same beach in image 1 in August 2024.

Photo mosaic of sea lions on a Monterey Beach in August 2025.

Photo mosaic of sea lions on a beach in Monterey in August 2025.

3 6

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Sagan Friant @saganfriant.bsky.social · Aug 29

New review out in @thelancetplanet.bsky.social from our rodent-borne zoonoses workshop @ciddpsu.bsky.social 🐭🌍

Humans & rodents share a long history and many pathogens -from plague to mpox. Outbreak prevention needs socially + ecologically grounded solutions

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Reducing the threats of rodent-borne zoonoses requires an understanding and leveraging of three key pillars: disease ecology, synanthropy, and rodentation

Rodents have co-existed with humans for centuries, and frequently exchange pathogens. Historically, rodent-driven plague outbreaks scoured the Old Wor…

www.sciencedirect.com

7 8

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Aug 29

Details: Emerging Zoonotic & Wildlife Pathogens, by Dan Salkeld, Skylar Hopkins @parasiteecology.bsky.social, David Hayman.

1 1

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Aug 29

Using this new textbook to prepare disease ecology lectures, it’s just fabulous! Smooth and clear writing, excellent topics highlighted, and beautiful figures and layout throughout. If you have any interest at all in wildlife pathogens and disease ecology, GET THIS BOOK. Seriously.

Image of a textbook on a black desk, titled Emerging Zoonotic & Wildlife Pathogens, by authors Dan Salkeld, Skylar Hopkins, David Hayman

1 2 8

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Aug 27

Sharing this starter pack again with lots of great disease ecologists, contact me if you'd like to be added or know someone who should be on this list! Feel free to forward to fresh bluesky arrivals who may be interested. bsky.app/starter-pack...

1 1

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Aki Vehtari @avehtari.bsky.social · Aug 27

Preprint and the website by @dingdingpeng.the100.ci and @vincentab.bsky.social are great, and I got inspired to illustrate Bayesian workflow for model checking and comparison *before* model interpretation following their friendship importance example users.aalto.fi/~ave/casestu...

2 20 90

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

The Ferrari Lab @theferrarilab.bsky.social · Aug 26

Excited to announce a search for an Associate or Full Professor in Infectious Disease Modeling at Penn State's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics. Details at link and below.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Full or Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Modeling

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

1 31 26

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jul 4

Of course, just added you!

1

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jul 1

Thanks @alibat.bsky.social! And here is a related starter pack that also includes modelers: bsky.app/starter-pack...

1

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Dr Alison Peel @alibat.bsky.social · May 8

Last chance to get your abstracts in for the 20th International Bat Research Conference (IBRC) in Australia in August!

It's shaping up to be an exciting program, in an incredible world heritage location, with diverse workshops and field trips.

Abstracts due this Wednesday 14th May!!

www.ibrc.org

2 8 9

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · May 9

Done!

1

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · May 8

Done!

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Dec 30

Does anyone know of a good brief overview/summary of bad for-profit publishing practices that people can use to share with co-authors who are on the fence about choosing a ‘lower-impact’ but ethically better alternative? I feel like everyone agrees things are bad, but worry too much about CV impact.

1 2

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Dr Alison Peel @alibat.bsky.social · Mar 6

Excited to share this new paper led by PhD student Cinthia Pietromonaco, exploring age estimation in bats, with a focus on Australian flying foxes. doi.org/10.1071/WR24... 🦇

Turns out, that we don't all mean the same thing when we use the term "adult" or "juvenile".

Why should we care? 1/

A young black flying fox pup peeking out at the camera from amongst a blanket

2 6 19

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Dr Alison Peel @alibat.bsky.social · Mar 3

Welcome to Bluesky to my fab Bat One Health collaborators Raina Plowright @rainap.bsky.social & Tamika Lunn @tamika-lunn.bsky.social

🦇

Looking for more disease ecologists? Check out this starter pack by the equally fabulous Benny Borremans

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Dec 27

Disease ecologist starter pack -- reply with people/organizations to be added or with related lists/feeds

#diseaseecology

🦠🐀🦠🦇🦠🦭🦠🦆🦠 go.bsky.app/RwAuiNT

3 8

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Mar 3

done!

1

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

dancrowley.bsky.social @dancrowley.bsky.social · Feb 19

New bat paper from our lab. Small changes in bats' diet can decrease influenza shedding and alter cytokine expression. doi.org/10.1098/rspb... #bats #influenza #iav photo credit: José Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca

1 12 22

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Simon Cauchemez @scauchemez.bsky.social · Feb 11

Serological data provide key insights on pathogen circulation. We introduce a new R package, Rsero, which is a pipeline to store and analyze age-stratified sero data, estimate the history of pathogen circulation and compare different transmission models.
journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

RSero: A user-friendly R package to reconstruct pathogen circulation history from seroprevalence studies

Author summary Antibodies are immune markers of past infections. Seroprevalence studies that characterize the seropositivity status in the population have been used for decades in epidemiological stud...

journals.plos.org

2 16 49

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jan 29

Done!

1

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jan 28

Done!

1

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jan 27

Many similar messages here, e.g. bsky.app/profile/caba...

Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Ph.D. @cabarbieri.bsky.social · Jan 27

I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔

Reposted by Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸

Rob Patro @robp.bsky.social · Jan 27

I just heard from a colleague that his friend's NSF panel was canceled last minute "to confirm they are in compliance with presidential directives". We know the NIH is being politically targeted; it seems the NSF may be affected as well. A goal of diminishing American science.

3 6 11

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jan 24

Done!

1

Benny Borremans 🇧🇪🇺🇸 @bennyborremans.wildlifehero.org · Jan 24

Love the preamble on the lab papers page!