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labdavalos.bsky.social
Dávalos Lab
@labdavalos.bsky.social
400 followers 250 following 410 posts
Principal Investigator 👉🏽 https://lmdavalos.github.io/ Editor-in-Chief 👉🏽 @qrb.bsky.social/ recent Fulbright Amazonia scholar (https://www.fulbrightprogram.org/amazonia/), news from lab and beyond
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labdavalos.bsky.social
A mural commissioned for the US NSF, the agency that helped make the US into a scientific superpower for 75 years, gets painted over in an act of contempt for science, truth, and the American way.
January 18, 2026 at 3:44 AM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Data are sparse but here’s what a few years look like for Amazonian Brazil. There’s more in the text on Venezuela.
Three panels showing a map of Amazonian Brazil, exponential growth in cocaine seizures, and exponential growth in gold royalties in those same states from 2018-2022.
January 8, 2026 at 2:34 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🧪🔥🔥🔥are larger, more frequent in 🌎 but what happens when 🌳🌲plantations replace savannas? Led by @darmenteras.bsky.social, out this week with #OA 📃 in @iopp-environment.bsky.social shows plantations 📉🔥in the #Orinoquia 🤯 #FulbrightAmazonia 👉🏽 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
MCD burnt area as a function of time at successively longer radii for grassland (top) and plantation (bottom) sites. Thick lines show the best-fit model, which included group-specific intercepts for radius and site ids and whose sample-wide parameters are shown in Table S1. This model explained a substantial fraction of variation (conditional R² = 0.57 for MCD and 0.80 for CCI), see Supplementary Table S1.
December 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🧪New #shrewcrew #OA @genomeresearch.bsky.social 📃shows how tiny shrews remain active in ❄️❄️! As it gets 🥶tiny mammals hibernate or migrate, but not shrews. They shrink, thus reducing their overall⚡️demand 👉🏽 genome.cshlp.org/content/earl... 1/4
Summary of dynamic changes in shrew metabolism associated with seasonal size change, with proposed regulation of Dehnel’s cycle. Depleted lipid metabolites in the blood and increased RNA expression of genes involved in fatty acid metabolism indicate rapid fat turnover in winter juveniles. FOXO signaling regulates gluconeogenesis, also upregulated in winter juveniles, providing another energy source. Both FOXO signaling and fatty acid metabolism promote changes in oxidative phosphorylation, as was found in both the transcriptomic and proteomic analyses, and have large effects on mitochondrial respiration in the liver.
December 1, 2025 at 2:49 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🧪#OA paper just in time for closing the #CoP30! 🌎 #FulbrightAmz team finds 1000s of storms, floods, landslides, droughts, and wildfires, threatening lives and destroying infrastructure that serves the peoples of the Amazon 👉🏽
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Five plots showing the number of weather related reports and people impacted in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
November 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
¡Becas en Medellín! En la Universidad EAFIT buscamos talentos en investigación, conoce el Doctorado en Economía, las becas cubren matrícula y estipendio
🚨 Últimos 8 días para aplicar
📌 Fecha límite: 30 de septiembre
👉 Más información sobre de las becas disponibles www.eafit.edu.co/becas-y-fina...
Becas EAFIT para doctorado en Economía https://www.eafit.edu.co/becas-y-financiacion/talento-en-investigacion-posgrado
September 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

👉🏽3/4 This new #preprint confirms that result with much larger phylogenies and massive data, but adds a critical mechanistic test: computational mutation of developmental patterning & morphogenesis, check out that model here
A summary of the methods and main results. We inferred transition rates between leaf shapes in two different ways: (a) by fitting a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) model of trait evolution to phylogenetic trees and (b) by simu- lating mutation in a computational model of leaf development. (a) (Left) A sample of images from the Naturalis Biodiversity Center [31][32–35] herbarium are manually classified as unlobed (u), lobed (l), dissected (d) or compound (c) (Methods sec- tion IV F). This dataset, as well as an analogous dataset by Geeta et al. [36], are used to label the tips of 5 different phylogenetic trees representing angiosperm evolution [36–38]. (Centre) the Zuntini et al. [38] species tree is shown in full. Rates are inferred by fitting a CTMC model to the labelled trees using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach in BayesTraits V4.1.2 [39]. (Right) Posterior net rates for the Zuntini et al. [38] species tree are shown as arrows. Black (grey) arrows depict rates for which 0 falls outside (within) a 95% credible interval. (b) (Left) An initial sample of 48 leaves representing a wide morphospace is generated using the Runions et al. [14] model (Methods sections IV A and IV B). Leaves in this sample are mutated in parallel through a random walk algorithm, with no selection besides rejecting parameter combinations that give physically implausible leaves (table I), generating a sequence of leaves that evolve away from the initial leaf (Methods section IV C). (Middle) Every leaf is classified as unlobed (u), lobed (l), dissected (d) or compound (c) using an automated morphometric approach (Methods section IVD), giving a sequence of character states for each walk. To this trajectory, a CTMC model is fitted using MCMC (Methods section IV E). (Right) Arrows depict posterior net rates for the MUT2 scheme (alg. 1).
August 28, 2025 at 1:16 AM
labdavalos.bsky.social
👉🏽2/4Back in2011,my friend Geeta reported this bias;more change from complex to simple than the reverse across phylogenies & datasets.She ran into a problem,though, maximum likelihood rate estimates were themselves biased,so we simulated data to demonstrate systematic bias didn't swamp the asymmetry
Box plot of the distribution of rate ratios estimated from the data (observed), estimated from simulations of data with observed rate matrices as input (simulation) and simulations with equal rates of change in both direction as input (null). Observed and simulated rate ratios were greater than the null, thus showing that the maximum likelihood (ML) estimates reflect underlying asymmetrical rates of change. Simulated rate ratios were significantly higher than observed rate ratios, suggesting that the ML esti- mates are biased
August 28, 2025 at 1:13 AM
labdavalos.bsky.social
👉🏽2/4Back in2011,my friend Geeta reported this bias;more change from complex to simple than the reverse across phylogenies & datasets.She ran into a problem,though, maximum likelihood rate estimates were themselves biased,so we simulated data to demonstrate systematic bias did not swamp the asymmetry
August 27, 2025 at 7:02 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🚨Only 4 days left!!Want to make an impact in a 🌍 biodiversity hotspot?
🚨@SBU’s CVB seeks a 1-yr full-time COO
📍Ranomafana, Madagascar
💰Great pay, excellent benefits
🔗Apply by Aug 19, 2025: stonybrooku.taleo.net/careersectio...
August 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Fun!
Search if LibGen showing book ‘the origin of cocaine’ by P. Gootenberg and L. Davalos as top hit.
August 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Kept wondering how devoid of meaning and greater purpose one’s life had to be to require extra centuries without regard for micro and macro social consequences, or how lacking in perspective to collapse women’s health to one’s ovaries, then… @newyorker.com 🤷🏽‍♀️ ’a version’ doing a lot of work!
He sometimes gets skeptical feedback from his partners at the venture firm Bold Capital. Bold has six hundred million dollars under investment, about sixty per cent of it in health-span companies; on paper, at least, the firm is showing a more-than-fifteenfold return in Oura Ring, Figure AI, and Colossal Biosciences,*which recently brought a version of the extinct dire wolf back to life.* Teymour Boutros-Ghali, Bold’s managing partner, said, “Where some people imagine the fifty ways that tech can go wrong, Peter sees the fifty ways it could work, and believes that human ingenuity can take care of any problems. But our investors are very happy that we don’t do all of Peter’s deals.” One of Bold’s founders, Sergey Young, told me, “I’d never advise people to invest more than two or three per cent of their wealth in longevity—it’s still very early.”
August 12, 2025 at 1:11 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
À propos de all those delays up and down the East Coast…
If the airline arranges substitute transportation that is scheduled to arrive at your destination between one and two hours after your original arrival time (between one and four hours on international flights), the airline must pay you, at a minimum, an amount equal to 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination that day, or $1,075, whichever amount is lower. • If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your destination more than two hours later (four hours • internationally), or if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you, the minimum compensation doubles (400% of your one-way fare, or $2,150, whichever amount is lower). • If your ticket does not show a fare (for example, a frequent-flyer award ticket or a ticket issued by a consolidator), your denied boarding compensation is based on the lowest cash, check or credit card payment charged for a ticket in the same class of
July 13, 2025 at 9:10 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Memories of the Fulbright Amazonia closing week last December at the US State Department 🇧🇷🇸🇷🇧🇴🇵🇪🇻🇪🇨🇴🇪🇨🇺🇸
A group of 18 Fulbright scholars from 7 Amazonian countries and the US standing at the US State Department under flags of all the countries in the world in December 2024.
July 13, 2025 at 7:25 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Can confirm, riding a bicycle through midtown now common among the smartly dressed, can be done at reasonable speed, and does not require exceptional daring! What’s not to love?
A map of midtown Manhattan showing a few miles of cycling at medium speed on the middle of a weekday, all thanks to congestion pricing.
July 7, 2025 at 1:19 AM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Are you at #ATBC2025? Come to our symposium! at B1-Mazateco! Check out this star [email protected] @sabinaribeiro.bsky.social @anealencar.bsky.social @ecoconexao.bsky.social
Symposium 64 Evidence-based policy and actions to reduce climate change impacts in Amazonia: A transboundary approach 1:10 PM - 2:50 PM, July 2, 2025 Fire as driver of socio-ecological vulnerability in protected areas of the Amazon (Dr. Ane Alencar) Risks from criminal governance in the Amazon (Dr. Liliana Davalos) Impact of different conservation and extractive governance mechanisms on forest in the Amazon (Dr. Pablo Negret) Taking action to improve climate literacy in an extractive reserve in southwestern Amazonia (Dr. Sabina Ribeiro)
July 2, 2025 at 4:09 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Experiencing FOMO from missing #Evol2025, but @yohelab.bsky.social sent me this photo with the @qrb.bsky.social 100-year cover! Check it out at the @uchicagopress.bsky.social booth! @evolmtg.bsky.social
A promotional table for University of Chicago Press featuring the Quarterly Review of Biology, its 100 year anniversary and some promotional pens.
June 22, 2025 at 11:31 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Indeed, judging by recent experience, these are making inroads in LatAm
A small EV in the streets of Medellin. A large EV parked in Medellin.
June 12, 2025 at 1:29 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🧪Shrews r weird.They evolved a new immune organ—the pancreas of Aselli🤯!
Gene expression 🧬 show it's packed w/ plasma cell regulator💪,distinct from the avian bursa of Fabricius🐦,&likely evolved as an early immune investment 2 offset extreme metabolic demand¶site loads🪱.
👉🏽 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
May 28, 2025 at 7:16 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
Nearer the airport, there’s the Museo de Arte Costarricense, downtown, the Museo del Jade, with lots of archeological artifacts
Image of the Honduran white bat Ectophylla alba at the Museo del Jade, San Jose, Costa Rica.
May 19, 2025 at 12:48 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🚨New shrew genome🧬assembly!We explore selection&gene expression across2traits:seasonal brain plasticity&chromosomal variability in Sorex araneus.Selection on double-stranded🧬break repair& neurogenesis regulation genes plays a key role-offering insight into mammalian brain regeneration&longevity🦍🐒🐐🦊🐖
April 30, 2025 at 9:09 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
What a great read! 👉🏽 margaretwertheim.substack.com/p/agi-as-inf...
“I would like to demur. I suggest symbolic manipulation is just one kind of smarts. And not a particularly important one for human flourishing. Contrary to what Altman says, AI’s are NOT going to "fix the climate” – for the simple reason that “fixing the climate” is not a symbolic problem. It’s a social, political, and material problem. Likewise, providing “better healthcare” to everyone won’t be achieved by any amount of computation or ‘deep learning’. As for “establishing a space colony” – how is AI going to overcome the vast biomechanical stresses human bodies endure on long space-flights? And why is colonizing space even being touted as a goal?” By Margaret Wertheim.
March 31, 2025 at 1:43 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
The #Fulbright Program was created and funded by Congress and has been a beacon for students, scholars, artists and leaders around the world, a source of inspiration and a way to spread democracy and liberty as values worldwide. I’m proud to be a Fulbright scholar. Congress, restore funding!
List of Fulbright scholars who received Nobel prizes in the IIE offices in Washington, DC. See https://www.fulbrightprogram.org/nobels/
March 8, 2025 at 1:29 AM
labdavalos.bsky.social
And now for some good news, #NathanMichielsen (seen here holding a power tool 🛠) won the @systbiol.bsky.social Mini-ARTS award! The award enables Nathan to complete his phylogeny of living and extinct mammals! 🐴🦇🐈🦓🐁 www.systbio.org/mini-arts-aw...
Two scientists, one holding a power tool and another doing a victory sign.
February 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
labdavalos.bsky.social
🌍 Honored to share our Fulbright Amazonia team’s work at @USIPeace in DC!
📸 Check out some highlights from our presentations and discussions here: ➡️
www.instagram.com/stories/emba...
December 12, 2024 at 6:48 PM