Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Jul 24

Nature is creating a new editorial position for someone with expertise in AI and its biomedical applications - check it out 👇 Application closes September 2nd.

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...

Associate or Senior Editor, Nature (Biological, Clinical, and Social Sciences)

Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature (Biological, Clinical, and Social Sciences) Organization: Nature Portfolio Locations: New York or Jersey City – Hybrid Working Model Closing Date: September 2...

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

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Emily White @emily-white.bsky.social · Apr 11

Come and work with me!

The Nature Micro team is expanding and we're looking for someone to champion microbial ecology, plant micro & related areas for the journal

Knowledge of microbial ecology/plant micro is desirable but we're open to applications from all microbiologists

Link below 👇

Nature Microbiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com · Apr 11

📢We are #hiring a full time editor to handle areas including microbial ecology & plant microbiology🦠🌱

This position will work closely with @naturecomms.bsky.social

#microsky #microbiomesky #ecologysky 🧪

Available in NYC, Madrid, or other US offices

Read more & apply here: shorturl.at/yvdYJ

Associate or Senior Editor (Nature Microbiology), Nature Communications

Title: Associate or Senior Editor (Nature Microbiology), Nature Communications Organisation: Nature Portfolio Locations: New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Jersey City or Madrid – hybrid working m...

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

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David Lynn @davidjlynn.bsky.social · Apr 2

Our paper out today in @nature.com shows the important role Bifidobacteria in the infant gut microbiota play in mediating optimal responses to vaccination.

Nature @nature.com.web.brid.gy · Apr 2

Bifidobacteria support optimal infant vaccine responses

Nature, Published online: 02 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08796-4 Neonatal antibiotic use is shown to reduce immune response to infant vaccines, accompanied by reduced abundance of Bifidobacteria in the gut microbiota, with experiments in mice indicating that probiotic therapy could be beneficial.

www.nature.com

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Emma Stoye @emmastoye.bsky.social · Apr 4

Everyone is (justifiably) freaking out about Trump's tariffs - and scientific labs are no exception. Costs of basics like glassware have already gone up, as @celestebiever.bsky.social reports in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies

Import taxes on staples such as microscopes, glassware and computer chips will affect institutions already feeling financial strain.

www.nature.com

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Malcolm White @mfwhite2.bsky.social · Mar 31

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
A funded PhD studentship is available for a joint project between my lab and @andreashaag.bsky.social @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Harnessing Bacterial Viruses to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Infections at University of St Andrews on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Harnessing Bacterial Viruses to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Infections at University of St Andrews, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com

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Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Mar 27

Reality bites: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving

More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.

www.nature.com

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Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Mar 27

Read the full paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome - Nature

A new lasso peptide antibiotic exhibits broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by interfering with bacterial protein synthesis, is unaffected by common resistanc...

www.nature.com

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Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Mar 27

Some positive news in these dark times...

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

New antibiotic that kills drug-resistant bacteria discovered in technician’s garden

The molecule targets bacteria in a way that other drugs don’t.

www.nature.com

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Gerry Wright @gdwantibiotics.bsky.social · Mar 26

The latest discovery from the lab and great colleagues at McMaster and U Illinois, Chicago. Lariocidin, a new lasso peptide antibiotic that inhibits the ribosome. rdcu.be/efdha

A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome

Nature - A new lasso peptide antibiotic exhibits broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by interfering with bacterial protein synthesis, is unaffected by common...

rdcu.be

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Igor Brodsky @brodskyigorlab.bsky.social · Mar 13

In 2024 NIH grant awards supported 407,782 jobs and $94.58 billion in new economic activity nationwide, the largest figure in the history of the report. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report

National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.

www.forbes.com

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Mar 11

Thanks to @roxannek.bsky.social for this story in the Atlantic about AIR-BORNE--and air as a public good. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

America Is Sleeping on a Powerful Defense Against Airborne Disease

Treating clean indoor air as a public good would have protected Americans against more than COVID-19.

www.theatlantic.com

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Humberto Basilio @humbertobasilio.bsky.social · Mar 7

“The most fundamental resource for progress in science is not the technologies or the buildings. It’s all the good people who do it,“ says former NIH director Francis Collins. “They are all of you who are here today to declare your support for this noble human enterprise.”

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Kit Yates @kityates.bsky.social · Mar 4

🚨I promised I'd say more on the Royal Society and Elon Musk, so here it is. 🚨

I've resigned my position as Associate Editor at Royal Society's journal Open Science in protest at their lack of action over Elon Musk.

My op-ed in @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Elon Musk is a proven danger to good science, but the Royal Society won’t say so. That’s why I resigned | Kit Yates

It is vital to act, and I urge colleagues to do so. How can we stand by and laud this man while he undermines scientific integrity? asks academic and author Kit Yates

www.theguardian.com

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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · Mar 3

When your kids ask you what you did to save US science in the crisis of ‘25, you will say that you showed up! Please spread the word and join us!!
@standupforscience.bsky.social

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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · Mar 1

This is what ardent NYT _conservative_ Bret Stephens is saying.

Anyone with any sense knows that today was an absolute disaster and disgrace for the United States.

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Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Mar 1

Not a shred of humanity or decency, an ambush of a democratic leader fighting tooth and nail for survival of his country. This adminstration has completely abandoned the values and aspirations that were hard-won on European soil only a few decades ago. A hard pill to swallow.

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · Feb 28

I think this is the closest many of us have ever got to seeing the real Trump. The only consistent thread in his entire unhinged rant was the love & praise for Vladimir Putin. Zelensky has more courage & dignity in his little finger than every member of Trump's regime & fan club combined.

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Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Feb 27

From the editors of @asm.org journals, a call to action!

Below we discuss the U.S. scientific research enterprise and provide evidence and arguments we hope the ASM community can use to advocate for science.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

A call for the United States to continue investing in science | mBio

The U.S. life science research mission is critical not only to human health and understanding the natural world but also to agriculture and food production, technological innovations, socioeconomic pr...

journals.asm.org

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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · Feb 28

Trump and Vance’s meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office today “gave the lie to any claim that this administration’s policy is driven by any strategic effort to advance the interests of the United States, however misguided,” @davidfrum.bsky.social writes.

Read more: theatln.tc/SowY3Uin

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Julian A Nowogrodzki @plantnerd.bsky.social · Feb 28

Why do kids need risky play, and how can they get more of it? There's now an audio version of my @nature.com feature up at @naturepodcast.bsky.social here, or wherever you get your podcasts

Audio long read: Why kids need to take more risks — science reveals the benefits of wild, free play

Listen to an audio version of a recent Nature Feature.

www.nature.com

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Nature @nature.com · Feb 27

Nature research paper: Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses

https://go.nature.com/3XmyOPD

Macrophages recycle phagocytosed bacteria to fuel immunometabolic responses - Nature

Phagocytosed bacteria can serve as an alternative nutrient source for macrophages, influencing their metabolic and immune responses through the recycling of microbial components, with the process regulated by nutrient-sensing mechanisms and bacterial viability.

go.nature.com

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Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Feb 28

An important and shocking account of the carnage at NIH:

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Inside the Collapse at the NIH

Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

www.theatlantic.com

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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · Feb 26

It is obvious but worth repeating that regimes built on lies survive only as long as they can suppress truth. The promotion of complicit media (alternative facts) & denigration of objective media (facts) is not just desirable but essential. This process is being turbo-charged in the USA right now.

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Christina (Chris) Tobin Kahrstrom @microchris.bsky.social · Feb 26

"Of five domestic targets set in 2019, only one – reducing antibiotic use in food-producing animals – was met. Drug-resistant infections in humans have increased by 13% since 2018, despite a target to reduce them by 10%"

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

UK ‘falling short’ in fight against rise of superbugs resistant to antibiotics

Antimicrobial resistance contributing to estimated 35,000 deaths a year in UK, and government ‘a long way’ from containing the problem, says NAO

www.theguardian.com

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NPR @npr.org · Feb 25

Staff and observers worry that the agency may not be prepared for emerging threats including bird flu and insect-borne diseases.

Upheaval and firings at CDC raise fears about disease outbreak response

Staff and observers worry that the agency may not be prepared for emerging threats including bird flu and insect-borne diseases.

www.npr.org

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