Author | Lightnews

David Romero @davidromeroc60.bsky.social · Sep 26

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Pre- and postantibiotic epoch: The historical spread of antimicrobial resistance

Plasmids are now the primary vectors of antimicrobial resistance, but our understanding of how human industrialisation of antibiotics influenced their evolution is limited by a paucity of data predati...

www.science.org

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Literland @literland.bsky.social · Sep 4

"Creemos nuestro deber realizar diversas cosas: educar a los hijos, acumular un patrimonio, escribir un libro, descubrir una ley científica, pero sólo hay una cosa que hacer: modelar nuestra vida, hacer de ella algo íntegro, racional, bueno".
#tolstoi

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David Romero @davidromeroc60.bsky.social · Sep 5

¡Me encanta verlos sonreír! Abrazos de 🐻

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Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda @alejandrofabregastejeda.com · Aug 21

With great joy—and a touch of nervousness—I’m thrilled to share that my first academic monograph will be published by @mitpress.bsky.social in May 2026! It examines the organism–environment relationship in biology from an integrated #HPS perspective: mitpress.mit.edu/978026205282... #evosky #philsky

The Organism-Environment Pairing

In this first systematic book-length examination of the organism-environment relationship in the life sciences, Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda addresses a crucia...

mitpress.mit.edu

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Literland @literland.bsky.social · Aug 18

"Lo que mucha gente llama amar consiste en elegir a una mujer y casarse con ella. La eligen, te lo juro, los he visto. Como si se pudiese elegir en el amor, como si no fuera un rayo que te parte los huesos y te deja estaqueado en la mitad del patio".

Rayuela, Julio Cortazar.

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César Sánchez @twistedbacteria.bsky.social · Aug 15

This may be a good time to re-read Elio's memoirs 😥

schaechter.asmblog.org/elios_memoirs/

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Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra @jrossibarra.bsky.social · Aug 15

Music to my ears. This is brilliant. Either 90% of us can claim to be better musicians than Beethoven or… maybe just maybe polygenic scores aren’t perfect?

Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Aug 7

If someone you know buys into claims about "genetic optimization" of embryos using polygenic scores of cognition, just send them our 2024 paper on Beethoven & musicality. We wrote it to help communicate limits of individual-level genetic predictions & complexity of links between DNA & behaviour. 🧪👇

Notes from Beethoven’s genome

Wesseldijk et al. compare the genomic information collected from Ludwig van Beethoven with population-based datasets used to quantify musical achievement.

www.cell.com

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David Romero @davidromeroc60.bsky.social · Aug 12

A wonderful, thought-provoking review
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How and when organisms edit their own genomes - Nature Genetics

This Review describes the changes that some organisms make to their own DNA sequences, linking many to common genetic mechanisms built around canonical DNA repair and to a set of functional circumstan...

www.nature.com

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STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · Jul 22

#ProtistsOnSky

Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · Jul 22

A red algal polysaccharide influences the multicellular development of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta

in @currentbiology.bsky.social

www.cell.com/current-biol...

A red algal polysaccharide influences the multicellular development of the choanoflagellate Salpingoeca rosetta

Perotti et al. find that polysaccharides from algae promote multicellular development in the choanoflagellate S. rosetta. Because algal polysaccharides are abundant in the aquatic environments where S...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by David Romero

ASM @asm.org · Jul 22

Did you know that some microbes can simultaneously respire aerobically and anaerobically, even in fully oxic environments?
This article elaborates on a flexible strategy that reshapes traditional understanding of microbial metabolism: asm.org/articles/202...

Flexible Microbial Respiration: Beyond the Oxygen Paradigm | ASM.org

Some microbes can simultaneously respire aerobically and anaerobically, a flexible strategy that reshapes our understanding of microbial metabolism.

asm.org

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Reposted by David Romero

Helena Reyes Gopar @hamarillo.bsky.social · Jul 22

Thrilled to share this work! I am honored to learn from @mlbendall.bsky.social and so grateful for his guidance and mentorship.

Stellarscope is just the beginning!

There is so much to learn about TEs and now we can all explore the uncharted territory of single cell retro-genomics 🧬🔭

matthew.bendall @mlbendall.bsky.social · Jul 22

🧵1/ Introducing Stellarscope: an EM-based tool for quantifying locus-specific transposable element expression in single cells.

A single-cell transposable element atlas of human cell identity: Cell Reports Methods www.cell.com/cell-reports...

@hamarillo.bsky.social #TEHub #singlecell #genomics

A single-cell transposable element atlas of human cell identity

Reyes-Gopar et al. introduce Stellarscope, a computational approach for quantifying locus-specific transposable element expression in single-cell RNA sequencing data. The authors profile human PBMCs a...

www.cell.com

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · Jul 22

This week @universitypress.cambridge.org has granted free access to all titles in the collection of Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Biology, edited by Grant Ramsey. There are many options to choose from! Happy reading! 📕👇 www.cambridge.org/core/publica... #philsci #HPbio #evosky #ISHPSSB2025

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Alejandra Medina-Rivera @alemedinarivera.bsky.social · Jul 2

Thanks @lecteroide.bsky.social for the opportunity to share the efforts developed in MexOmics

www.the-scientist.com/mexomics-map...

MexOMICs Maps the Genetic and Social Landscape of Disease in Mexico

By focusing on twins and patients with lupus and Parkinson’s disease, a Mexican consortium is generating critical data to understand health and disease in the country.

www.the-scientist.com

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STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · Jun 11

transcriptionists take note 👇

gRNA + dCas12f + σE > new promoter 👀

#MicroSky #RNASky

Sternberg Lab @sternberglab.bsky.social · Jun 11

1/10 New pre-print(s) from the Sternberg Lab in collaboration with Leifu Chang's Lab! We uncover the unprecedented molecular mechanism of CRISPR-Cas12f-like proteins, which drive RNA-guided transcription independently of canonical promoter motifs.
Full story here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · Jun 11

🍄📷 #FungiFriends

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Jun 11

The Fungal Kingdom as a Rosetta Stone for biological discovery – a long-time Current Biology advisory board member, Joseph Heitman, introduces the special issue on ‘The Fungi’. www.cell.com/current-biol...

The Fungal Kingdom as a Rosetta Stone for biological discovery

Long-time Current Biology advisory board member, Joseph Heitman, introduces this special issue on ‘The Fungi’.

www.cell.com

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Reposted by David Romero

Milo B. Fasken, Ph.D. @milofasken.bsky.social · Jun 1

Nice work from Joseph Lobel on barcode-based #CRISPRi systems!

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Precise measurement of molecular phenotypes with barcode-based CRISPRi systems - Genome Biology

Genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 screens have untangled regulatory networks driving diverse biological processes. Their success relies on interrogating specific molecular phenotypes and distinguishing key regu...

genomebiology.biomedcentral.com

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Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · May 31

How can physics contribute to understanding the evolution of complexity? Although great results have been produced over the last decades, some recent "theories" appear to ignore key ideas from evolutionary theory and are seriously flawed. Check this paper in PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

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bioRxiv Genomics @biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social · Jun 2

Novel insights into the genome organization of Rhizobiaceae: identification of linear plasmids https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.29.656789v1

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Anna Abalkina @abalkina.bsky.social · May 19

This is a must-read. Csaba Szabó, the author of Unreliable, was approached by a paper mill, and he decided to conduct a sting operation. He documented how paper mills operate.

forbetterscience.com/2025/05/19/a...

A Sting Inside a Papermill

“It’s clear that any academically corrupt individual — particularly one with editorial connections — could easily “place” dozens of these Anzen products into indexed journals and collect a ha…

forbetterscience.com

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Isaac García @isaacgs94.bsky.social · May 16

It's finally out people ✅🗞️! Check out the final version of our work exploring factors influencing the germline mutation rate and spectra on ~10,000 WGS family trios 🧬👨‍👩‍👦!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The impact of ancestral, genetic, and environmental influences on germline de novo mutation rates and spectra - Nature Communications

Here the authors analyze de novo mutations in >10,000 parent-offspring trios and find that ancestry and smoking independently associate with mutation rate, but that common genetic variants likely c...

www.nature.com

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Graham Kendall @grahamkendall.bsky.social · May 1

The digital erosion of intellectual integrity: why misuse of generative AI is worse than plagiarism - AI & SOCIETY buff.ly/utMR3U9

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ASM @asm.org · May 2

ASM strongly opposes the proposed cuts in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request to federal departments and agencies that fund science, research and public health programs. Read our statement: asm.org/articles/pol...

ASM Urges Congress to Reject President’s FY 2026 Budget Request | ASM.org

ASM strongly opposes the proposed cuts in the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request to federal departments and agencies that fund science, research and public health programs.

asm.org

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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · Apr 28

JB Editor's Choice: Wessel, Johnson & Waters show that, unexpectedly, DNA damage repair is essential for the growth of pathogenic Vibrios on thiosulfate–citrate–bile salts–sucrose selective agar.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriology

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Tim @timisstuck.bsky.social · Apr 23

I think that’s enough drinks for you, Molecular Biology! Pack up!

“Translation initiation from all 64 codons in E. coli”

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Measurements of translation initiation from all 64 codons in E. coli

Abstract. Our understanding of translation underpins our capacity to engineer living systems. The canonical start codon (AUG) and a few near-cognates (GUG,

academic.oup.com

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Nature @nature.com · Apr 23

Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by Gregor Mendel more than 160 years ago

https://go.nature.com/3EC3eqT

Century-old genetics mystery of Mendel’s peas finally solved

Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by the famed citizen scientist.

go.nature.com

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