Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aide Macias-Muñoz @aidemm.bsky.social · 7h

Any recommendations on a favorite podcast episode about evolution?

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Shumpei Maruyama @shumpeim.bsky.social · 1d

We're excited to share with everyone a preprint of our manuscript that resolves the cellular origins of the symbiosome in cnidarian-algal symbiosis through proteomics of the symbiosome, RNAi, and CRISPR/Cas9 experiments. ⬇️
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Read on below!

1/12 🧵

3 20 43

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 20h

Warming waters cause corals to “bleach” when these organisms expel symbiotic algae that provide nutrients, oxygen & vibrant colors.

The latest global bleaching event - researchers estimate >84% of the planet's coral ecosystems have been affected since Jan 2023 - has made it clear the crisis is now.

nature

NEWS

12 October 2025

Coral die-off marks Earth's first climate
'tipping point', scientists say

A surge in global temperatures has caused widespread bleaching and death of warm-water corals around the world.

By Jeff Tollefson

28 620 1.4K

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · 16h

Sweet pdoc fellowship! Would be really excited to work with someone interested in applying ancestral recombination graphs to messy, real-world data in plant genomes. Happy to chat if you might be interested!

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology

Simons Postdoctoral Fellowships in Plant Biology on Simons Foundation

www.simonsfoundation.org

1 17 34

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Christy Schnitzler @christyschnitz.bsky.social · 15d

Now Hiring! Whitney Laboratory Assistant/Associate Professor in Marine Bioscience
Apply & More Info - explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/53...
We seek a creative, collaborative scientist whose research harnesses or advances cutting-edge tools. Please help spread the word & reach out with any questions!

18 16

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

RobertoFeuda @robertofeuda.bsky.social · 4d

Our latest: combining single-cell RNA-seq from 16 species and HCR validation, we show that monoaminergic neurons share a conserved transcriptional identity across Bilateria. In contrast, we find no evidence for this program in non-bilaterian metazoans. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Monoaminergic neurons share transcriptional identity across Bilaterian animals

The evolutionary conservation of cell types over deep time has long been theorised but remains difficult to demonstrate. Monoaminergic neurons, which produce molecules such as serotonin and dopamine, ...

www.biorxiv.org

1 9 17

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Sam Bogan @snbogan.bsky.social · 5d

Excited to share this work, out today in MBE! In polar fishes, we found that antifreeze protein genes expanded in copy number at low temperatures and contracted in the deep sea, highlighting a role of depth and pressure in AFP evolution.

🔗 academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

2 16 34

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Adriana Darielle Mejía Briscoe @adrianabriscoe.bsky.social · 4d

Marla Ramírez has written an important new book—BANISHED CITIZENS—about the hundreds of thousands of people of Mexican descent, 60% U.S. citizens, who were banished from the U.S. during the last major episode of Mexican scapegoating in the 1920s and 1930s. www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Banished Citizens — Harvard University Press

A moving portrait of a grim period in American immigration history, when approximately one million ethnic Mexicans—mostly women and children who were US citizens—were forced to relocate across the sou...

www.hup.harvard.edu

1

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Elisa Zhang, Ph.D. @elisazhang.bsky.social · 5d

Happy to have started as an @hhmi.org Freeman Hrabowski Scholar! Incredibly grateful for this opportunity and am excited for some very cool new directions! We are *HIRING*, especially postdocs! Please reach out if you’re interested in uterine and pregnancy biology. Please repost!

16 39

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

John Logsdon @johnlogsdon.bsky.social · 5d

I’m excited to host Melissa Toups @meltoups.bsky.social for our Department seminar tomorrow. I recruited her here on @bsky.app

University of Iowa Department of Biology @uiowabiology.bsky.social · 6d

Our seminar this week will be led by Melissa Toups, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The seminar will begin at 3:30pm on October 10th in Kollros Auditorium (BBE101).

All are welcome to attend, and we hope to see you there!

2 9

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Luis Cedeño-Rosario, PhD @luisci22.bsky.social · 5d

Are you attending SACNAS NDiSTEM 2025!? Don't miss this awesome session about "How to Identify the Right Mentor for You" hosted by @greisha-ortiz.bsky.social @neuro-explorer-lc.bsky.social @luisci22.bsky.social and @joele-r.bsky.social. #NDiSTEM2025 #SACNAS #STEMResearch #PLI @sacnas.bsky.social 🧪🔬🥼

7 7

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Arnau Sebé-Pedrós @arnausebe.bsky.social · 6d

A thoughtful and beautifully written @quantamagazine.bsky.social article about genome regulatory innovation at the origin of animals. Featuring some of our work and highlighting key open questions. Thanks to @philipcball.bsky.social for this fantastic piece.

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 6d

I adored writing this piece. It brings together several of the things preoccupying me right now, like chromatin organization and gene regulation. There's so much more to be said on that. Also, these marine critters look gorgeous.
www.quantamagazine.org/loops-of-dna...

Loops of DNA Equipped Ancient Life To Become Complex | Quanta Magazine

New work shows that physical folding of the genome to control genes located far away may have been an early evolutionary development.

www.quantamagazine.org

11 33

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 5d

Many sea stars begin life as young fairy-like creature (called a brachiolaria) that float through the open ocean. Eventually, a small star forms within them (here in yellow). The fairy-like brachiolaria sinks under the star’s weight, and the star pops out!
🎥@the_story_of_a_biologist (on Insta)

7 180 510

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

SMBE IDEA taskforce @smbe-idea.bsky.social · 5d

🤝 In 2024, the 𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗔 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 from @official-smbe.bsky.social went to Drs. Rori Rohlfs and Emilia Huerta-Sanchez for their podcast ScienceWise!

✨ We are happy to have contributed to their project!

🎙️ @sciencewisepod.bsky.social

8 7

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Lucia Prieto Godino @neuroluci.bsky.social · 6d

We are recruiting PhD students! If you are interested in evolutionary neuroscience, consider applying: www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Prieto Godino Lab | Cellular and molecular bases of neural circuit and behavioural evolution

www.crick.ac.uk

25 18

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 5d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

140 1.8K 4.7K

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández @fernandez.house.gov · 6d

Today marks 10 years of recognizing Latina Equal Pay Day — and still, Latinas do not get equal pay for equal work.

Latinas are vital to our economy and our communities, yet remain underpaid and undervalued across every industry.

Equal pay can’t wait. Latinas deserve justice now.

1 18 93

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Matthew Neville @mattneville.bsky.social · 6d

Now published! Our paper on:
(1) Accurate sequencing of sperm at scale
(2) Positive selection of spermatogenesis driver mutations across the exome
(3) Offspring disease risks from male reproductive aging
[1/n]
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sperm sequencing reveals extensive positive selection in the male germline - Nature

A combination of whole-genome NanoSeq with deep whole-exome and targeted NanoSeq is used to accurately characterize mutation rates and genes under positive selection in sperm cells.

www.nature.com

3 49 82

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

PacBio @pacbio.bsky.social · 6d

Last call! 🚨 Applications for the 2025 Long-Read Low Pass SMRT Grant close this Friday.

Submit a 100-word proposal for a chance to win free #PacBio HiFi sequencing to advance plant or animal research in conservation or agriculture.

Apply now: bit.ly/3IgrReu

2 1

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Nat Clarke @natclarke.bsky.social · 6d

🚨 My lab is hiring at all levels!

Interested in animal origins & evolutionary cell biology?

I'm recruiting a postdoc, PhD students & a research assistant to study the molecular evolution of cell adhesion using marine invertebrates + comparative genomics.

🔗: clarkelab.com/join/

Please repost!

1 64 81

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Rosa Fernández @rosafernandez.bsky.social · 7d

How did animals repeatedly conquer land? 🌊➡️⛰️ We analysed ~1,000 gene repertoires (24M genes!) from all animal phyla to uncover how this happened. Work led by @gemmaeling.bsky.social & Klara Eleftheriadi, both first coauthors of this titanic effort!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Independent genomic trajectories shape adaptation to life on land across animal lineages

How animals repeatedly adapted to life on land is a central question in evolutionary biology. While terrestrialisation occurred independently across animal phyla, it remains unclear whether shared gen...

www.biorxiv.org

1 21 45

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Francesco Cicconardi @fcicconardi.bsky.social · 7d

New paper out! A nice collaboration.
We explore how olfactory brain structures and receptors evolved across this remarkable group, Heliconiini butterflies.

Evolution of the olfactory system during the radiation of Heliconiini butterflies

Abstract. Sensory system evolution plays a crucial role in shaping species’ interactions with their environment, yet the extent to which olfactory system d

academic.oup.com

1 10 25

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Filip Husnik @filiphusnik.bsky.social · 7d

OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...

1 62 46

Aide Macias-Muñoz @aidemm.bsky.social · 6d

congratulations to the 2025 UC PPFP Fellows
ppfp.ucop.edu/info/fellows...

🎉

Fellowship recipients | PPFP

ppfp.ucop.edu

2

Reposted by Aide Macias-Muñoz

Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 8d

In #GENETICS, Gemma Puixeu and @lkhayward.bsky.social developed models incorporating sex-specific stabilizing selection, mutation, and genetic drift to examine the relationship between intersex correlation and sexual dimorphism. buff.ly/E4t4d69

2 3