Aidan Maartens
@aidanmaartens.bsky.social
Scientific writer at the Sanger Institute, Cellular Genetics programme. Formerly at Development journal. Lapsed flypusher (Gurdon Institute, University of Sussex). Creative writing MA at UEA. Likes novels and gardens, lives in Cambridge.
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
We’ll probably never again see such a casual, celebratory, & memorable gathering of Jim Henson’s family of characters as is found in 1987’s A MUPPET FAMILY CHRISTMAS…
December 7, 2025 at 1:51 AM
We’ll probably never again see such a casual, celebratory, & memorable gathering of Jim Henson’s family of characters as is found in 1987’s A MUPPET FAMILY CHRISTMAS…
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Today's the print release of a #RibackLab and #GoodellLab collaboration— we’re excited to share the visual story behind the science, including the dramatic artwork that inspired how we thought about aberrant function of NPM1c - which occurs in about 1 in 3 adult acute myeloid leukemias (#AML).
December 12, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Today's the print release of a #RibackLab and #GoodellLab collaboration— we’re excited to share the visual story behind the science, including the dramatic artwork that inspired how we thought about aberrant function of NPM1c - which occurs in about 1 in 3 adult acute myeloid leukemias (#AML).
The few idiot thoughts running through my brain this morning
This movie shows lysosomes (orange) and keratin (gray) in a cultured cell over 10 minutes.
December 12, 2025 at 7:24 AM
The few idiot thoughts running through my brain this morning
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Have you ever wondered how new DNA methylation patterns are established?
Paradigm shift ahead! We discovered a new mode of DNA methylation targeting in plants that relies on transcription factors and sequence motifs rather than chromatin modifications to regulate the methylome. rdcu.be/eQ6L5
1/8
Paradigm shift ahead! We discovered a new mode of DNA methylation targeting in plants that relies on transcription factors and sequence motifs rather than chromatin modifications to regulate the methylome. rdcu.be/eQ6L5
1/8
December 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Have you ever wondered how new DNA methylation patterns are established?
Paradigm shift ahead! We discovered a new mode of DNA methylation targeting in plants that relies on transcription factors and sequence motifs rather than chromatin modifications to regulate the methylome. rdcu.be/eQ6L5
1/8
Paradigm shift ahead! We discovered a new mode of DNA methylation targeting in plants that relies on transcription factors and sequence motifs rather than chromatin modifications to regulate the methylome. rdcu.be/eQ6L5
1/8
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Thank you Alex! Excited to see our paper published in @nature.com ! Huge thanks to @jeffspence.github.io , @tkyzeng.bsky.social , @emmamarydann.bsky.social, @nikhilmilind.dev, @marsonlab.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and all the members of the Pritchard and Marson labs for your enormous help!
December 11, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Thank you Alex! Excited to see our paper published in @nature.com ! Huge thanks to @jeffspence.github.io , @tkyzeng.bsky.social , @emmamarydann.bsky.social, @nikhilmilind.dev, @marsonlab.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and all the members of the Pritchard and Marson labs for your enormous help!
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
For reasons that are too complicated to explain, I am reminded of Adam Stuart Smith’s 2005 paper “Are Jaffa Cakes Really Biscuits?”. Here’s his cladogram (it says they aren’t): Full paper here: plesiosauria.com/pdf/smith_20...
December 10, 2025 at 10:14 PM
For reasons that are too complicated to explain, I am reminded of Adam Stuart Smith’s 2005 paper “Are Jaffa Cakes Really Biscuits?”. Here’s his cladogram (it says they aren’t): Full paper here: plesiosauria.com/pdf/smith_20...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
The oldest evidence of fire-making has been unearthed in Suffolk, UK 🔥
Dating to 400,000 years ago, it shows that early Neanderthals were controlling fire in northern Europe as our own species was only just emerging.
Find out how this shaped human evolution 👇🏻
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Dating to 400,000 years ago, it shows that early Neanderthals were controlling fire in northern Europe as our own species was only just emerging.
Find out how this shaped human evolution 👇🏻
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Earliest fire-making dating back 400,000 years ago unearthed in Suffolk, England | Natural History Museum
We were not the first species to master the flame.
www.nhm.ac.uk
December 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The oldest evidence of fire-making has been unearthed in Suffolk, UK 🔥
Dating to 400,000 years ago, it shows that early Neanderthals were controlling fire in northern Europe as our own species was only just emerging.
Find out how this shaped human evolution 👇🏻
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Dating to 400,000 years ago, it shows that early Neanderthals were controlling fire in northern Europe as our own species was only just emerging.
Find out how this shaped human evolution 👇🏻
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Big new blogpost!
My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more.
--> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more.
--> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
December 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Big new blogpost!
My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more.
--> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more.
--> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
I’m looking for recommendations on project management tools for research labs. Our group includes students at various training levels, and I need something simple, task-focused, and easy to maintain so it actually gets used. What has worked well for you? Thank you in advance for any insights.
December 10, 2025 at 2:39 AM
I’m looking for recommendations on project management tools for research labs. Our group includes students at various training levels, and I need something simple, task-focused, and easy to maintain so it actually gets used. What has worked well for you? Thank you in advance for any insights.
Beautiful inverts!
I've been writing a lecture which is going to feature a wide range of different invertebrate taxa.
At some point, I realised that instead of trying to source photos/images for all those taxa, it'd be easier (+ more stylistically consistent) for me to just draw them all myself.
#Invertebrate #SciArt
At some point, I realised that instead of trying to source photos/images for all those taxa, it'd be easier (+ more stylistically consistent) for me to just draw them all myself.
#Invertebrate #SciArt
December 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Beautiful inverts!
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
1/ Last week I attended to a conference entilted "Interactions between human societies and marine invertebrates" (I love how niche and obscure these meetings are), and I learned about the Neolithic desert kites, these huge traps in Middle East.
The link with marine inverts ? A quick thread ! 🦑🏺
The link with marine inverts ? A quick thread ! 🦑🏺
December 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM
1/ Last week I attended to a conference entilted "Interactions between human societies and marine invertebrates" (I love how niche and obscure these meetings are), and I learned about the Neolithic desert kites, these huge traps in Middle East.
The link with marine inverts ? A quick thread ! 🦑🏺
The link with marine inverts ? A quick thread ! 🦑🏺
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
🍐 The Herefordshire pomona, containing coloured figures and descriptions of the most esteemed kinds of apples and pears..
Hereford, [Eng.]Jakeman and Carver, 1876-85..
[Source]
Hereford, [Eng.]Jakeman and Carver, 1876-85..
[Source]
December 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
🍐 The Herefordshire pomona, containing coloured figures and descriptions of the most esteemed kinds of apples and pears..
Hereford, [Eng.]Jakeman and Carver, 1876-85..
[Source]
Hereford, [Eng.]Jakeman and Carver, 1876-85..
[Source]
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
We're excited to announce the finalists of the #RSPPhotoComp 2025! 🎉 Starting with #microimaging and overall winner, 'Mesmerizing spider threads' by Dr Martin Ramirez, capturing two exceptional silk threads of the Australian net-caster spider (sample obtained by Dr Jonas Wolff @evoimec.bsky.social).
December 4, 2025 at 10:57 AM
We're excited to announce the finalists of the #RSPPhotoComp 2025! 🎉 Starting with #microimaging and overall winner, 'Mesmerizing spider threads' by Dr Martin Ramirez, capturing two exceptional silk threads of the Australian net-caster spider (sample obtained by Dr Jonas Wolff @evoimec.bsky.social).
Acknowledgements section of my PhD thesis
The kind of preface that makes me want to keep reading. From Bellamy the Magnificent: An Extravaganza (1904) by Roy Horniman.
December 5, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Acknowledgements section of my PhD thesis
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Great to see this published: Fitting dynamical landscape models to single-cell data, creating interpretable maps of cell decision making & developmental logic
Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reconstructing Waddington’s landscape from data | PNAS
The development of a zygote into a functional organism requires that this single progenitor
cell gives rise to numerous distinct cell types. Attemp...
www.pnas.org
December 4, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Great to see this published: Fitting dynamical landscape models to single-cell data, creating interpretable maps of cell decision making & developmental logic
Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Research institutes: What makes the magic?
Was fun to help my old boss Sarah Teichmann and her friend Frank Bradke put this piece out for the FEBS Network. A reflective follow-up to our PLOS Biology article in 2023. With art by the amazing Catherine Bone
network.febs.org/posts/resear...
Was fun to help my old boss Sarah Teichmann and her friend Frank Bradke put this piece out for the FEBS Network. A reflective follow-up to our PLOS Biology article in 2023. With art by the amazing Catherine Bone
network.febs.org/posts/resear...
Research institutes: What makes the magic?
Beyond the great science, what makes a research institute special? Do the work environment and the organisational structure support researchers in delivering their best outputs? Does the culture help ...
network.febs.org
December 4, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Research institutes: What makes the magic?
Was fun to help my old boss Sarah Teichmann and her friend Frank Bradke put this piece out for the FEBS Network. A reflective follow-up to our PLOS Biology article in 2023. With art by the amazing Catherine Bone
network.febs.org/posts/resear...
Was fun to help my old boss Sarah Teichmann and her friend Frank Bradke put this piece out for the FEBS Network. A reflective follow-up to our PLOS Biology article in 2023. With art by the amazing Catherine Bone
network.febs.org/posts/resear...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
I wrote an Opinion piece for @thelancet.com about James Watson. It's not an obituary - Georgina Ferry did that for them - but offers some thoughts on the problematic aspects of Watson's history.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
James D Watson: a cautionary tale
There was always going to be a complex reckoning in the obituaries of James D Watson
(1928–2025), the American geneticist who co-discovered the structure of DNA. For many
years, Watson was one of the ...
www.thelancet.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I wrote an Opinion piece for @thelancet.com about James Watson. It's not an obituary - Georgina Ferry did that for them - but offers some thoughts on the problematic aspects of Watson's history.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
🎄 Day 3 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
The yolk sac, the oldest extra-embryonic membrane, plays a key role in early nutrient transfer 💛🎁. Mouse yolk sac organoids reveal its function as a choriovitelline placenta and maternal-fetal exchange hub 🌟 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
The yolk sac, the oldest extra-embryonic membrane, plays a key role in early nutrient transfer 💛🎁. Mouse yolk sac organoids reveal its function as a choriovitelline placenta and maternal-fetal exchange hub 🌟 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
December 3, 2025 at 2:05 PM
🎄 Day 3 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
The yolk sac, the oldest extra-embryonic membrane, plays a key role in early nutrient transfer 💛🎁. Mouse yolk sac organoids reveal its function as a choriovitelline placenta and maternal-fetal exchange hub 🌟 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
The yolk sac, the oldest extra-embryonic membrane, plays a key role in early nutrient transfer 💛🎁. Mouse yolk sac organoids reveal its function as a choriovitelline placenta and maternal-fetal exchange hub 🌟 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
please share this postdoc job alert! come join the budding Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative as a postdoc or senior postdoc at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social working closely with @arnausebe.bsky.social and me to make progress on what we cover in this paper www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The Biodiversity Cell Atlas: mapping the tree of life at cellular resolution - Nature
The Biodiversity Cell Atlas aims to create comprehensive single-cell molecular atlases across the eukaryotic tree of life, which will be phylogenetically informed, rely on high-quality genomes and use...
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:29 PM
please share this postdoc job alert! come join the budding Biodiversity Cell Atlas initiative as a postdoc or senior postdoc at @sangerinstitute.bsky.social working closely with @arnausebe.bsky.social and me to make progress on what we cover in this paper www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Migration reductions are great because while they don't solve any actual problems they also don't solve any political problems.
“Put bluntly, net migration fell because 400,000 fewer foreigners arrived, and 200,000 more foreigners left the UK. This is precisely what Reform, the Mail, and the new, nastier Tory Party have claimed – again and again – they wanted to happen. And now that it has, they have ignored it entirely.”
The crazy right will never be satisfied about migration
Keir Starmer slashed net migration as the Mail and Farage demanded - and still got hammered for it
www.thenewworld.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Migration reductions are great because while they don't solve any actual problems they also don't solve any political problems.
Brilliant piece by a brilliant writer
‘Reform isn’t just the anti-immigration party. It’s also the anti-net-zero party. Rather than a green industrial revolution mellowing the small boats paranoia in Blyth, the outcome now forecast by the polls is the opposite.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Ten-Foot Chopsticks: The North-East Transition
The ghost of the industrial revolution haunts Britain. The language of today’s politicians, of unlocking and...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Brilliant piece by a brilliant writer
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM
New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
Exciting new #Zebrafish research from the #WeinsteinLab, led by Jong Park!
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
December 2, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Exciting new #Zebrafish research from the #WeinsteinLab, led by Jong Park!
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
“Specialized gas-exchange endothelium of the zebrafish gill” —
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Amazing to see red blood cells moving through the gills! Don’t forget to check out the supplemental movies ;-)
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
It’s #MeiofaunaMonday! “Meiofauna” are microbial eukaryotes with a body size <1 mm (these animals and protists are as small as specks of dust you might see on a glass coffee table). Almost all of the 38 major animal groups have at least some small-bodied meiofauna species.
December 1, 2025 at 3:16 PM
It’s #MeiofaunaMonday! “Meiofauna” are microbial eukaryotes with a body size <1 mm (these animals and protists are as small as specks of dust you might see on a glass coffee table). Almost all of the 38 major animal groups have at least some small-bodied meiofauna species.
Reposted by Aidan Maartens
One-day-old transgenic zebrafish embryo. Credit to Dr. Kazuhide Shaun Okuda. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪
November 30, 2025 at 7:04 PM
One-day-old transgenic zebrafish embryo. Credit to Dr. Kazuhide Shaun Okuda. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪