Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Jul 11

Big S/O to other folks who generated and shared their high-quality data with us (some published, some not) to help develop our understanding of the tool and framework.
They truly made this work possible! Folks like @tododge.bsky.social @lngray.bsky.social @scarey.bsky.social, to name just a few 🙏🏼🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️🧬

Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Jul 11

🚨Preprint🚨

Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith

Graphical overview of the biological foundations of the proposed approach.

Application of SCINKD to identify XY chromosomes in the Christmas island skink

Application of SCINKD to identify previously unannotated sex chromosomes in the Lesser electric ray.

3 5

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Jul 11

🚨Preprint🚨

Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith

24 45

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Jul 1

Needs to be said:

I've been studying geckos for 10 years now and have so far received a 0% discount on my car insurance.

2

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Blair Perry @bwperry.bsky.social · Jun 7

I am thrilled to announce that I will be starting my lab in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University in January 2026! I will soon be recruiting graduate students and postdocs, so stay tuned and please reach out if you know anybody that might be interested! 🐍🐻🧬

10 15 57

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Jun 3

Gila monsters! One of the rare venomous reptiles. A peptide in their saliva/venom, exendin-4, is the basis of GLP-1 agonists, like semaglutide, to regulate insulin. We developed the first draft sequence of the Gila monster genome and are working on updating this now with newer technology.

Dr. Melissa Wilson, wearing a black shirt with a Gila monster on it and purplish glasses, holding a replica of a Gila monster skull and smiling.

2 12 45

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · May 28

Intelligence researcher Robert Sternberg on IQ tests: "Standardized tests, based on modern Western notions of intelligence, are seriously limited and narrow because modern Western notions of intelligence are seriously limited and narrow" link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Time Bomb: How the Western Conception of Intelligence Is Taking Down Humanity

During the twentieth century, IQs rose an incredible 30 points—two full standard deviations! Higher IQs may have helped people deal better with computers, cell phones, and other technological in...

link.springer.com

2 12 36

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

The New York Times @nytimes.com · May 24

Since a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020, the number of people killed by the police each year has continued to rise — and Black Americans are still killed in disproportionate numbers. Our data reporter explains his findings. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/u...

330 3.3K 8.4K

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · May 2

The average American has three friends.

Lizards (photo of a skink), Lizards <italics> (photo of a rattlesnake), Lizards <bold, italics> (photo of a gecko)

2 3

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Apr 28

Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH.

Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.

HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.

99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.

Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.

59 2.4K 5.1K

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Apr 28

This is what we're up to and couldn't be more excited about it!

Come join the party! 🙂

Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Apr 28

We will be focusing on new methods to improve identifying genetic variation, collaborating with clinical collaborators on rare disease, building connections with local hospitals to study placenta and developmental origins of disease, and framing it all using comparative vertebrate genomics.

3

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Melissa Wilson @sexchrlab.bsky.social · Apr 28

In December I accepted a position as a senior investigator at the NIH in the National Human Genome Research Institute & Center for Genomics and Data Science Research.

Bringing the party in the desert to Maryland.

We are hiring postdocs & postbacs!

Please reach out :)

Smiling woman with brown hair, black jacket, green purse with a green baseball hat with a Gila monster on it, standing in front of a cherry tree covered in pink blossoms.

13 58 200

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Phil Ngo @squamate.bsky.social · Apr 16

Here is a little legless lizard from LA County.

People often ask, how come it’s a lizard and not a snake? It really comes down to genetics, but there are some big hints in its morphology: eyelids that blink, a tail that can detach.

Southern California Legless Lizard - Anniella stebbinsi

#herps 🦎

A golden, worm-sized, snake-like, limbless lizard rests on an outstretched palm, with a little of the sandy substrate and a few bits of dead leaves beneath the lizard. The lizard has a very thin black line down the center of its back and its body is curved in a s-shape.

3 16 81

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Apr 13

Capitalism will not save us from the problems that it helped create in the first place

We need real solutions to our very real climate and biodiversity crises

Hank makes great points about why what colossal is doing isnt what they publicly claim (and they know it too): youtu.be/Ar0zgedLyTw?...

They Didn't Make Dire Wolves, They Made Something…Else

YouTube video by hankschannel

youtu.be

1

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Riley Black 🦕 🏳️‍⚧️ @restingdinoface.bsky.social · Apr 7

Dire wolves were not close relatives of gray wolves. They last shared a common ancestor more than 5 million years ago. What Colossal has done is make something new and slapped a dire wolf sticker on it, as if an organism equals a hypothetical genome.

Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal

The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution

www.scientificamerican.com

63 890 2.6K

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · Apr 7

Colossal Bioscience did not revive dire wolves, despite a sensationalist Time Magazine cover story.

Making genetically modified animals that are cosplaying as extinct species is not de-extinction.

Riley Black 🦕 🏳️‍⚧️ @restingdinoface.bsky.social · Apr 7

Dire wolves were not close relatives of gray wolves. They last shared a common ancestor more than 5 million years ago. What Colossal has done is make something new and slapped a dire wolf sticker on it, as if an organism equals a hypothetical genome.

Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal

The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution

www.scientificamerican.com

26 780 2K

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Apr 3

I make up a tiny, tiny portion of the HHS contract spending. I still don't know if I'll be cut.

Please don't forget that contract spending includes contract workers. These are the folks who have kept the government going through FTE expansions and reductions. They are important federal workers.

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Apr 3

"DOGE has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to reduce all of its contract spending by 35%" www.notus.org/health-scien...

DOGE Orders HHS to Cut 35% of Contract Spending

In one email obtained by NOTUS, NIH employees were told they could not “use mission criticality as a justification to not make cuts.”

www.notus.org

2

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Apr 3

Today, G**gle search AI cited my own work to say that a species I study has the wrong number of chromosomes.

Never accept AI vomit as fact.

3

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Nina Turner @ninaturner.bsky.social · Mar 30

No. Absolutely not.

35 61 510

Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social · Mar 30

Me: "Unfortunately, today isn't opposite day.."

8 yo: "Oh, dang!"

Me: *whew*

Me: "Yeah, big shame that.."

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Eric Blanc @ericblanc.bsky.social · Mar 28

How should federal unions respond to Trump's push to cancel union rights for roughly 700K workers?

Seize today's media spotlight to call on hundreds of thousands of fed workers — & millions of other union members & supporters — to take to the streets on April 5

Then escalate

3 87 330

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

🍁Dr. John E Rock @johnerock.bsky.social · Mar 28

Dear Democratic Members of Congress,

Stop telling me about what he's doing. We can all see it.

Start telling me about what you're doing to stop it!

Signed,

Americans

920 6K 24K

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Eric Blanc @ericblanc.bsky.social · Mar 28

If you're a unionized worker looking to fight back, get in touch with your union as well as @fedworkersunited.bsky.social

www.federalunionists.net/join-us

Federal Unionists Network - Join Us!

Join Us!

www.federalunionists.net

3 170 600

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

Angela Collier @acollierastro.bsky.social · Mar 27

We don't actually have to listen and report on what these assholes say. Having billions of dollars does not make your opinions more valuable than anyone else.

In fact we shouldn't listen to your opinion on anything because you are a little dragon hoarding wealth and watching people suffer.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Mar 27

It’s patently false, but notice that “humans won’t be needed” to these people is identified as the desired future rather than the deeply dystopian vision that it actually is.

Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won't be needed ‘for most things'

Over the next decade, advances in artificial intelligence will mean that humans will no longer be needed "for most things" in the world, says Bill Gates.

www.nbcchicago.com

26 120 620

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Mar 27

thinking of one of abraham lincoln's great quotes this morning:

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."

260 8.4K 43K

Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto

The American Genetic Association @theaga.bsky.social · Mar 26

Did you know that the genus Prasinohaema is the only amniote (mammals/birds/reptiles) with green blood? We recently accepted an article featuring the first de novo genome assembly of a green-blooded skink, Prasinohaema aff. flavipes.
Photo by (c) Donna Belder

1 3 3