Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · 1d

A bit of chemistry to start your day! Sharing our latest review on sponge peptides 🧪 Surprisingly, we know so little about them...

www.publish.csiro.au/CH/CH25100

Ribosomally synthesised and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) from marine demosponges and their microsymbionts

Marine sponges are among the oldest animals to have emerged on Earth. They are metazoan holobionts that host diverse microbial symbionts, which constitute more than 40% of their biomass. Despite their...

www.publish.csiro.au

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · 8d

Congratulations to my student Ivan who's been carefully registering and labeling all of our #reindeer and #moose specimens in the #MuseumofEvolution collections! (and we have a lot in Uppsala so this was not easy). #Evolutionsmuseet

2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · 20d

PhD student @melbaghooee.bsky.social from Aarhus University is visiting the Museum of Evolution for a month, to improve insect biomass measurement algorithms using deep learning (AI). Her work will have immediate applications to monitor insects, both in agriculture and ecology studies.

1 1 2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Sep 7

In this deep-sea study we aimed to evaluate the relevance of a sponge/cnidarian 🪸 morpho-functional approach to characterise their diversity and distribution at multiscales, responses to environmental gradients and structuring roles on the megabenthic community. 👇

bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · Aug 23

Image-based ecological assessment of deep-sea sponge, coral and other cnidarian assemblages through a morpho-functional approach https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.18.670867v1

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Sep 6

www.sverigesnationalparker.se/en/choose-pa...

Nämdöskärgården National Park

www.sverigesnationalparker.se

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Sep 6

Sveriges 31:a nationalpark, Nämdöskärgården, invigd under högtidlig ceremoni

2025-09-05 NYHET Under en högtidlig ceremoni fredagen den 5 september invigdes Sveriges 31:a nationalpark – Nämdöskärgårdens nationalpark utanför Stockholm. Med ett symboliskt ringande i en skeppskloc...

www.naturvardsverket.se

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Sep 6

The first Swedish national park with a marine focus in the Baltic Sea! Yesterday, Sweden's 31st national park was inaugurated 🥳 : NÄMDÖSKÄRGÅRDENS outside Stockholm. Covering an area of 25,300 hectares, of which 97 percent is sea, the area contains just over 1,300 islands!

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Sep 4

Ants never cease to amaze me. Researchers from the University of Montpellier (France) showed that ant queens of the Iberian harvester ants can produce two different species!

Nature @nature.com · Sep 3

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species

go.nature.com/4mOb5T9

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

go.nature.com

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Aug 28

A beer named after #Linnaeus! ...only in Uppsala! 🤩

3

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Aug 10

In this podcast episode of 'Biodiversity Impact', scientist Julio Díaz from the Museum of Evolution (Uppsala University) talks about his journey, his job and, of course, sponges 🙂

2. Dr. Julio A. Díaz, Marine Biologist – The Biodiversity Impact Podcast

Biodiversity Impact · Episode

open.spotify.com

1 2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Aug 3

www.inaturalist.org/people/8380451

pacocardenas's Profile

Naturalist, zoology curator at the 'Museum of Evolution' (Uppsala university, Sweden), marine biologist, my expertise lies in demosponge tanonomy. 'Professeur agrégé de SVT' (French title for biology...

www.inaturalist.org

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Aug 3

All my animal/plant pictures from Kenya have now been uploaded to inaturalist.org totaling 241 observations free to use by scientists or any other passionate naturalist 🙂 :

26 plants
13 mammals
4 reptiles
1 amphibian
95 birds
72 insects
8 spiders
7 molluscs
2 crustaceans
+ a few other groups

1 3

Reposted by Paco Cardenas

Wellcome Sanger Institute @sangerinstitute.bsky.social · Jul 3

Sponges are animals – just like us. 🧽

New sponge genomes may reveal exciting secrets that could contribute towards drug discovery, reef conservation, and much more. 🧬

sangerinstitute.blog/2025/07/03/e...

Image credit: Benjamin Mueller

Community of sponge growing under an overhang on Curaçao. Credit: Benjamin Mueller

1 7

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Jun 30

My brother has been creating more than 100 French🇫🇷 articles on #sponges🪸 in #Wikipedia (as well as dozen others in other languages). Merci pour ton soutien!

Fabricio Cárdenas @bibliofab66.bsky.social · May 25

#vismaviedewikipédien
Après vérification, je viens de dépasser la 100aine d'articles créés sur les éponges sur la #Wikipédia en français (plus des 10aines dans d'autres langues).
Un monde incroyable que je vous invite à explorer en commençant par l'article [[Porifera]]
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porifera

Porifera — Wikipédia

fr.wikipedia.org

1 4

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Jun 30

Here it is. My very first paper on snakes and the Linnaeus collection! Isn't this cool! 🥳

Taxonomic detectives: unravelling the origins of Linnaeus’s Aspic viper ( Vipera aspis ) and assessment of the type material with designation of a neotype | Zootaxa

mapress.com

1 2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Jun 21

The Mediterranean coastal snail (Theba pisana) is hiding from the heatwave in the South of France 🇫🇷., 37 degrees today...

2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Jun 20

First time I find the magnificent 'thick-legged flower beetle' (Oedemera nobilis) with its impressive swollen hind legs in the male. This is in the south of France 🇫🇷.

2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Jun 15

The elegant 'latticed heath' 🦋 comes to rest in my garden in the shade (it's 25 degrees today in Sweden). This widespread European species was originally described by Linnaeus.

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Jun 11

Just found on a dusty shelf a slide collection of Carl August Nilsson-Cantell (1893 – 1987) a #cirriped world expert that worked for a while at Uppsala University. Some of the slides are from types! (I added a red sticker) What a treasure 🤩

1

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · May 30

The first batch of #sponge #genome notes are now out! 🥳 from the 'Wellcome Open Research' publishing platform: Aplysina aerophoba, Crambe crambe, Chondrosia reniformis, Aphrocallistes beatrix, Eunapius fragilis, Spongilla lacustris...

Ute Hentschel @utehentschel.bsky.social · May 26

The genome of Aplysina aerophoba, the "golden sponge" is done. This sponge has a unique chemistry that makes it turn blue upon contact with air.
wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/10-...
www.moore.org/initiative-s...

2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · May 28

With the recent announcement that numerous datasets — such as those from NOAA in the US — are scheduled for decommissioning in May, the PANGAEA data repository has opened its archive to help safeguard these valuable resources

Data Rescue – Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science

www.pangaea.de

1 3

Reposted by Paco Cardenas

CETAF - Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities @eurotaxonomy.cetaf.org · May 22

🌿 Celebrate the International Day for #Biodiversity... And don't forget:

There is NO Biodiversity without #Taxonomy!

That is why #CETAF and its community are here!

Fancy to know more? Please take 5 minutes to watch our brand new video 👇

youtu.be/XBFjUlIBj7k

#BiodiversityDay #IDB2025 #IDB #IBD

Why Taxonomy is Key for Biodiversity and Life on Earth - CETAF

YouTube video by CETAF - Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities

youtu.be

5 5

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · May 14

Want to learn more about the power of sponge eDNA? 🪸

Ana Riesgo @anariesgo.bsky.social · May 14

Very nice piece about our article on how sponges collect eDNA in deep sea waters that can be used to reconstruct their ecosystem composition by Olivia Hewitt www.currentconservation.org/mysteries-of...

Mysteries of the deep sea captured by the mouth of a sponge | Current Conservation

Current Conservation Mysteries of the deep sea captured by the mouth of a sponge

www.currentconservation.org

2

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Apr 22

'SVT News' was in the Museum of Evolution collections to see the research on a Ophidiomyces fungi disease developing on snake scales. 🐍

Hundratals ormar från hela världen ska undersökas – letar dödlig svampsjukdom

Hundratals ormar från hela världen ska undersökas i jakten på Ophidiomyces ophidiicola. En svampinfektion som har gäckat forskare som nu hoppas förstå den bättre. I Uppsala började projektet i ett dam...

www.svt.se

3

Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · Apr 21

Easter is a perfect time to show the latest donation at the Museum of Evolution, Uppsala🇸🇪: a private collection of eggs from around Gävle in 1947, and pretty much untouched since. Imagine all the cool science you could do wit that!

2