Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · 6d

A good reminder to save all experiment files and logs alongside raw images to demonstrate authenticity of your data

Scott Macintyre @bibiothecarius.bsky.social · 6d

Fake microscopy images generated by AI are indistinguishable from the real thing www.chemistryworld.com/news/fake-mi...
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter #Research #Ethics #Microscopy #Nanoscience #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #Misconduct #Fraud

Fake microscopy images generated by AI are indistinguishable from the real thing

Materials scientists warn that raw data and replication studies are needed to tackle the looming threat of near-undetectable AI fraud

www.chemistryworld.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 6d

"This is extortion, plain and simple.... The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education."

A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗

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

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 6d

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits

A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Lauren Kuehne @omfishient.bsky.social · 8d

📣 🧪 Update: #GRFP petition went to #NSF and OSTP (w/ the growing* comments list) yesterday.

We are now working to get these impacts in front of Congress, so PLEASE keep signing/sharing the petition!

*nearly 900!

@danielbolnick.bsky.social @joshuasweitz.bsky.social @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social

Lauren Kuehne @omfishient.bsky.social · 10d

🧪 Were you one of the many thousands of STEM students (and mentors) impacted by the sudden change in #NSF #GRFP eligibility last week?

We created a petition to NSF leadership and Congress to reverse the changes - please sign and share your stories here!!

laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

Petition to NSF to Restore Eligibility for the 2026 Graduate Research Fellowship Program Competition

laurenkuehne.github.io

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Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · 9d

Can you become the senate leader, please!

Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 12d

On October 7th, learn how to communicate genetics topics to classrooms and informal settings with with @robomalley.bsky.social l from @pged.bsky.social!

This is for teachers and all other kinds of educators.

RSVP for free here: givebutter.com/8TVNiA

DNA floats in the background of a texty event flyer that says "Personal genetics engagement in classrooms and communities, Learn about genetic advances and about how to bring conversations about ethical, legal, and social dimensions of genetics into classrooms and informal science learning. Tuesday OCtober 7, 2025, 12pm EDT. broght to you by Skype a scientist and the personal genetics education and dialogue program. RSVP at linktr.ee/skypeascientist

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Institute for Protein Innovation @ipiproteins.bsky.social · 15d

Frequent user of epitope tags? Try ours!

IPI epitope tag antibodies & plasmids are now available through our partner @addgene.bsky.social!

buff.ly/YEuZDIp

Epitope tag antibody collection

Epitope tags are short amino acid sequences fused to a protein’s N- or C-terminus. When paired with an antibody that specifically recognizes this sequence, epit

buff.ly

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Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · 18d

Huge congratulations, @needhibhalla.bsky.social for this well-deserved honor! 🎉

American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 19d

🎉 Congratulations to Needhi Bhalla, UC Santa Cruz (www.bhallalab.com
), named a 2025 #ASCB Fellow! This honor celebrates her outstanding contributions to cell biology, leadership, & service. Fellows will be recognized at #CellBio2025 in Philadelphia this December. #CellBiology

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

PlantEvolution 🌱🌾 @plantevolution.bsky.social · Jul 31

Paper led by @movillome.bsky.social on unbiased detection of (somatic) #TE insertions in #Arabidopsis with @pacbio.bsky.social long reads out after peer review. Thanks to academic editor Leandro Quadrana for shepherding it through the review process.
#plantscience
link.springer.com/article/10.1...?

Long-read detection of transposable element mobilization in the soma of hypomethylated Arabidopsis thaliana individuals - Genome Biology

Background Because transposable elements (TEs) can cause heritable genetic changes, past work on TE mobility in Arabidopsis thaliana has mostly focused on new TE insertions in the germline of hypometh...

link.springer.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · Sep 7

If you're a reporter, please stop referring to RFK Jr and his cronies as "vaccine skeptics." They're not skeptical. Skepticism would be fine. Skeptics look at evidence and can be persuaded.

These people are extremist anti-vaccine cranks, and that's how news organizations should describe them.

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Sep 1

Yes, it was carefully hidden in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... )

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A graph comparing COVID incidence after the Pfizer vaccine compared to placebo

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Ben de Bivort @debivort.bsky.social · Aug 20

Fly labs — Now is the time to show some solidarity and chip in support for this vital resource!

clip art of Drosophila flies at different life stages

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Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · Aug 15

What a gem. A wonderful reminder of why we do this.

Tigist Tamir @phosphotig.bsky.social · Aug 15

This!
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Why would anyone want to be a scientist?

It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently...

journals.biologists.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · Aug 13

If the Supreme Court rules for the Trump administration in this case, biomedical research is finished in this country.

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · Aug 7

The Supreme Court is reviewing a vitally important NIH case on its shadow docket.

It is likely that the Court will back Trump, and say his (illegal) grant terminations are ok.

We must speak up now.
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Tell the Supreme Court: No Stay. Hands off NIH

The Supreme Court is poised to allow Trump to illegally terminate NIH grants. Let's speak out. There is not much time.

scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Ellenberg Lab @ellenberglab.bsky.social · Jul 21

Our new non-denaturing nanoscale 3D DNA tracing technology provides single-cell (and sister-chromatid specific!) readout of chromatin structure with 10kb genomic resolution - Check it out!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations to Kai and Oyvind!!

Nanoscale 3D DNA tracing in non-denatured cells resolves the Cohesin-dependent loop architecture of the genome in situ - Nature Communications

A nanoscale 3D DNA tracing workflow visualizes Cohesin-dependent loops in single, structurally well-preserved cells. Computer simulations based on the tracing data give further insight into how Cohesi...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Amanda Moehring @flybehaviour.bsky.social · Aug 11

This is devastating. In addition to the obvious harm to the FlyBase staff, SO many of us rely on this resource!

Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · Aug 11

I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.

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Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · Aug 12

Devastating loss for one of the most important research model system

Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · Aug 11

I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · Aug 8

I am really excited to be a part of this team. We took our time writing this, putting a lot of thought into how our journeys as #NativesInSTEM were affected by different aspects of Universities and looking for commonalities across the world. I hope folks in academia appreciate this work.

Lydia Jennings, PhD @1nativesoilnerd.bsky.social · Aug 8

New article led by Tara McAllister & co-authored by Lelani Walker, @niiyokamigaabaw.bsky.social, myself, Bradley Moggridge, Serena Naepi, Brittany Kamai and @napaaqtuk.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Decolonize scientific institutions, don’t just diversify them

Indigenous scholars set out eight steps to stop marginalization in academia and to enable a shared Indigenous agenda in science.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · Aug 4

Meet the 2025 ASCB Award Winners—trailblazing scientists honored for research, mentoring, education, and innovation. Celebrate excellence across all career stages in cell biology. Read more: www.ascb.org/society-news...

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Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦 @centromellone.bsky.social · Aug 5

Super cool, congrats!

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Leah Rosin @scienceleah.bsky.social · Aug 4

So excited to share this preprint from the Rosin lab in collaboration with the Hawley lab and @eelcotromer.bsky.social on moth spermatogenesis! We investigate the meiotic errors that occur during the formation of apyrene sperm (that have no DNA) in silkworms!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Programmed meiotic errors facilitate dichotomous sperm production in the silkworm, Bombyx mori

The goal of meiosis is typically to produce haploid gametes (eggs or sperm). Failure to do so is catastrophic for fertility and offspring health. However, Lepidopteran (moths and butterflies) males pr...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 22

NIH staff are being required to fully fund ~ 50% of their grants. This means that all 4 years of an award will be paid out of this appropriation. This will help them get the appropriated funds spent, but will mean they can only fund (1/2 + 1/4*1/2) = 5/8 has many grants as they would have otherwise.

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · Jun 24

My #linocut of Italian #neurobiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909 – 2012) who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with for her co-discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF) 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬

Youngest of 4 of a Turin Jewish family, she planned to be a writer but the death of a nanny to cancer inspired🧵

In a gradient of magenta-red at the top to navy blue at the bottom, this is my linocut print of of neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini in 1940, at a desk with compound binocular microscope, leaning on an incubator, holding an egg and looking at the viewer. Behind her is a large circular image of a photograph of nerve cells she took with this microscope.

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Dr. Michael D. L. Johnson @copperbae.bsky.social · Jul 18

NIH will only accept six new, renewal, resubmission, or revision applications from an individual Principal Investigator/Program Director or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide....

NOT-OD-25-132: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications NOT-OD-25-132. NIH

grants.nih.gov

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Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · Jul 14

Grant terminations have grabbed the headlines and have seen legal action, but even more damaging to the US research enterprise has been the massive decrease in number of research grants issued by federal agencies

NIH has seen a decrease of 57% in the number of awards & 63% in value compared to FY24

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