Andrew Whitehead
@andrewwhitehead.bsky.social
UC Davis faculty, research in evolutionary & ecological genomics, ecotoxicology, climate change, phenotypic plasticity. whiteheadresearch.wordpress.com
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.
September 5, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Research on the tenacious little killifish sheds light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants impacts later generations. From @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social
2 new papers now out in #ES&T on the persistent and multi-generational impacts of flame retardants on behavior and brain biology
Press release from @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
Press release from @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
Maternal Exposure to Crude Oil, Flame Retardants Can Affect Later Generations
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect behavior, skeletal growth, cardiac ...
www.ucdavis.edu
August 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Research on the tenacious little killifish sheds light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants impacts later generations. From @andrewwhitehead.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social
2 new papers now out in #ES&T on the persistent and multi-generational impacts of flame retardants on behavior and brain biology
Press release from @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
Press release from @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
Maternal Exposure to Crude Oil, Flame Retardants Can Affect Later Generations
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect behavior, skeletal growth, cardiac ...
www.ucdavis.edu
August 27, 2025 at 6:40 PM
2 new papers now out in #ES&T on the persistent and multi-generational impacts of flame retardants on behavior and brain biology
Press release from @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
Press release from @ucdavis.bsky.social @ucdaviscaes.bsky.social that ties this with our work on multi-gen impacts of oil spills www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
🚨Research alert 🚨
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping #UCDavis researchers shed new light on how maternal exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect later generations. #DeepwaterHorizon #PBTE
caes.ucdavis.edu/news/materna...
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping #UCDavis researchers shed new light on how maternal exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect later generations. #DeepwaterHorizon #PBTE
caes.ucdavis.edu/news/materna...
Maternal Exposure to Crude Oil, Flame Retardants Can Affect Later Generations
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed light on how exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect behavior, skeletal growth, cardiac ...
caes.ucdavis.edu
August 27, 2025 at 6:05 PM
🚨Research alert 🚨
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping #UCDavis researchers shed new light on how maternal exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect later generations. #DeepwaterHorizon #PBTE
caes.ucdavis.edu/news/materna...
A tiny fish with transparent embryos is helping #UCDavis researchers shed new light on how maternal exposure to crude oil and flame retardants can affect later generations. #DeepwaterHorizon #PBTE
caes.ucdavis.edu/news/materna...
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Our collaborative study shows that hatchery domestication in Delta smelt elevates thermal tolerance but reduces plasticity, with transcriptome and methylome shifts influencing adaptation. Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Highly and lowly domesticated endangered fish from a conservation hatchery diverge in their thermal physiology, transcriptome, and methylome
Conservation hatcheries aim to produce fish for supplementation of wild populations, but hatchery environments may drive phenotypic divergence from wild fish. These diverged traits may have reduced fi...
www.biorxiv.org
August 21, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Our collaborative study shows that hatchery domestication in Delta smelt elevates thermal tolerance but reduces plasticity, with transcriptome and methylome shifts influencing adaptation. Read the preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New paper out in #ES&T where we show that killifish exposure to crude oil has impacts (on embryo/larval development and transcriptome) that propagate to their offspring and to their grand-offspring. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
@acs.org
@acs.org
August 20, 2025 at 11:36 PM
New paper out in #ES&T where we show that killifish exposure to crude oil has impacts (on embryo/larval development and transcriptome) that propagate to their offspring and to their grand-offspring. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
@acs.org
@acs.org
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
I am thrilled to announce that in January 2026 I will be starting my own lab at NYU Biology! Soon enough I will be recruiting postdocs and students! Please reach out if you are interested with a CV and description of your research interests, or if you know of people who could be interested! 🧬🗽 🦊
June 25, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I am thrilled to announce that in January 2026 I will be starting my own lab at NYU Biology! Soon enough I will be recruiting postdocs and students! Please reach out if you are interested with a CV and description of your research interests, or if you know of people who could be interested! 🧬🗽 🦊
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Wish I could be at #Evol2025 this year! I’ll be starting a new lab at NYU this fall, and will be recruiting at all levels. Please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to work on evo. genomics, phylogenies, and comparative development of inverts (like Hawaiian Drosophila!) shchurch.github.io
June 21, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Wish I could be at #Evol2025 this year! I’ll be starting a new lab at NYU this fall, and will be recruiting at all levels. Please spread the word if you know anyone who wants to work on evo. genomics, phylogenies, and comparative development of inverts (like Hawaiian Drosophila!) shchurch.github.io
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
June 22, 2025 at 6:20 PM
🚨Postdoc opportunity🚨: LepEU postdoc: comparative population genomics of European scale adaptation in butterflies
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
2 year, full-time PD in my group, Stockholm Univ.
Applications assed on rolling basis, deadline: 23 August 2025. Planned start 1 Oct.
Details:
christopherwheatlab.wordpress.com
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Anya Brown - @dranyabrown.bsky.social, marine scientist at @ucdavis.bsky.social & Nat Geo Explorer, studies how coral microbes shape reef resilience. “It’s the kind of thing that unites so much of life on Earth,” she says. 🌊🪸🐠
Read more in Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/impact/artic...
Read more in Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/impact/artic...
Anya Brown is investigating microbes’ critical role in coral reefs
Her research team’s contributions could hold promise for coral adaptation and conservation.
www.nationalgeographic.com
June 9, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Anya Brown - @dranyabrown.bsky.social, marine scientist at @ucdavis.bsky.social & Nat Geo Explorer, studies how coral microbes shape reef resilience. “It’s the kind of thing that unites so much of life on Earth,” she says. 🌊🪸🐠
Read more in Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/impact/artic...
Read more in Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/impact/artic...
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
This is a great thread, with some really nice talking points for your letters to your reps, your protest signs, your zines and flyers, and your conversations with neighbors.
The President's Budget request as released yesterday will gut scientific research. Why should you care?
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
1) Science is fundamentally a jobs program. Many 100,000s are employed to do science and work for you, the US taxpayer.
May 31, 2025 at 7:48 PM
This is a great thread, with some really nice talking points for your letters to your reps, your protest signs, your zines and flyers, and your conversations with neighbors.
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
"Our calculations suggest that the proposed budgetary cuts to the NIH will create a social cost that is 16 times greater than the savings that the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe
This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...
jamanetwork.com
May 30, 2025 at 7:10 PM
"Our calculations suggest that the proposed budgetary cuts to the NIH will create a social cost that is 16 times greater than the savings that the administration is attempting to achieve."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Super excited to release a huge evolution project on the works for many years:
Evolution experiments synchronized across climates to understand rapid adaptation
Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
All data available: www.grene-net.org/data
#MOILAB
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
@hhmi.org
🧵👇
Evolution experiments synchronized across climates to understand rapid adaptation
Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
All data available: www.grene-net.org/data
#MOILAB
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
@hhmi.org
🧵👇
May 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Super excited to release a huge evolution project on the works for many years:
Evolution experiments synchronized across climates to understand rapid adaptation
Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
All data available: www.grene-net.org/data
#MOILAB
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
@hhmi.org
🧵👇
Evolution experiments synchronized across climates to understand rapid adaptation
Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
All data available: www.grene-net.org/data
#MOILAB
@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
@hhmi.org
🧵👇
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees
Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday
📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful
Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday
📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful
Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
May 21, 2025 at 5:39 PM
🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees
Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday
📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful
Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday
📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful
Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
Interested in evolution in the Anthropocene?
In a paper out today we use a mechanism-guided approach to predict & show that evolved resistance to urban pollutants offers cross-resistance to oil in killifish, via adaptive change in AHR signaling
doi.org/10.1111/eva....
@evolappjournal.bsky.social
In a paper out today we use a mechanism-guided approach to predict & show that evolved resistance to urban pollutants offers cross-resistance to oil in killifish, via adaptive change in AHR signaling
doi.org/10.1111/eva....
@evolappjournal.bsky.social
Multiple Stressors in the Anthropocene: Urban Evolutionary History Modifies Sensitivity to the Toxic Effects of Crude Oil Exposure in Killifish
Persistence of wild species in human-altered environments is difficult, in part because challenges to fitness are complex when multiple environmental changes occur simultaneously, which is common in ...
doi.org
May 16, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Interested in evolution in the Anthropocene?
In a paper out today we use a mechanism-guided approach to predict & show that evolved resistance to urban pollutants offers cross-resistance to oil in killifish, via adaptive change in AHR signaling
doi.org/10.1111/eva....
@evolappjournal.bsky.social
In a paper out today we use a mechanism-guided approach to predict & show that evolved resistance to urban pollutants offers cross-resistance to oil in killifish, via adaptive change in AHR signaling
doi.org/10.1111/eva....
@evolappjournal.bsky.social
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
New @science.org
Exposomics. We're not doing nearly enough to understand and mitigate our toxic environmental exposures. A very insightful perspective
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Exposomics. We're not doing nearly enough to understand and mitigate our toxic environmental exposures. A very insightful perspective
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
April 24, 2025 at 6:23 PM
New @science.org
Exposomics. We're not doing nearly enough to understand and mitigate our toxic environmental exposures. A very insightful perspective
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Exposomics. We're not doing nearly enough to understand and mitigate our toxic environmental exposures. A very insightful perspective
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
🙏 We need your help 🙏
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
April 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM
🙏 We need your help 🙏
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.
We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:
NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...
NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
w/ @noamross.net
Hosted listening sessions with undergrad students in our program over the past 2 days. Their main concerns (perhaps unsurprisingly):
- students from non-traditional identities worried if institute has their backs
- worry about grad school prospects, job prospects, loss of educational opportunities
- students from non-traditional identities worried if institute has their backs
- worry about grad school prospects, job prospects, loss of educational opportunities
April 11, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Hosted listening sessions with undergrad students in our program over the past 2 days. Their main concerns (perhaps unsurprisingly):
- students from non-traditional identities worried if institute has their backs
- worry about grad school prospects, job prospects, loss of educational opportunities
- students from non-traditional identities worried if institute has their backs
- worry about grad school prospects, job prospects, loss of educational opportunities
New preprint from the lab: Exposure to crude oil in adult killifish has effects (morphology, gene expression) that propagate at least two generations, but effects are different between first and second generation descendants www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Adult killifish exposure to crude oil perturbs embryonic gene expression and larval morphology in first- and second-generation offspring
Exposures to environmental toxicants can have both immediate and long-term impacts, including those that persist into the next generation. Using Gulf killifish ( Fundulus grandis ), we tested whether ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 30, 2025 at 6:19 PM
New preprint from the lab: Exposure to crude oil in adult killifish has effects (morphology, gene expression) that propagate at least two generations, but effects are different between first and second generation descendants www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New preprint from the lab, where we describe how evolved resistance to PCBs in urban populations of killifish affords protection from fitness impacts of crude oil - in adults and embryos - because of shared mechanisms of toxicity between PCBs and oil www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
March 30, 2025 at 6:14 PM
New preprint from the lab, where we describe how evolved resistance to PCBs in urban populations of killifish affords protection from fitness impacts of crude oil - in adults and embryos - because of shared mechanisms of toxicity between PCBs and oil www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
For folks who are new to single-cell transcriptomics, does anyone have any recommendations for workshops?
February 4, 2025 at 2:32 AM
For folks who are new to single-cell transcriptomics, does anyone have any recommendations for workshops?
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
If you missed it, here’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s, quite sincerely, historic speech. It’s for, and is galvanizing, Canadians but he also speaks very directly to our allies in the US. Please hear us out.
I do find myself thinking how much I’d give up, and do, for this imperfect country.
I do find myself thinking how much I’d give up, and do, for this imperfect country.
Trudeau: Canada will retaliate with 25% tariffs on $155B of U.S. goods
YouTube video by CBC News
youtu.be
February 2, 2025 at 4:35 PM
If you missed it, here’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s, quite sincerely, historic speech. It’s for, and is galvanizing, Canadians but he also speaks very directly to our allies in the US. Please hear us out.
I do find myself thinking how much I’d give up, and do, for this imperfect country.
I do find myself thinking how much I’d give up, and do, for this imperfect country.
Love the term "Shitthropocene". I figure we'll use it in our next manuscript title.
"Shitthropocene? Fish evolve the gene: The story of aryl hydrocarbon receptor"
www.patagonia.com/quality/#shi...
"Shitthropocene? Fish evolve the gene: The story of aryl hydrocarbon receptor"
www.patagonia.com/quality/#shi...
Quality Clothing & Gear by Patagonia
Our new film The Shitthropocene explores how we got here and why it’s destroying us all. It’s also a little bit about how we might be able to overcome this.
www.patagonia.com
May 3, 2024 at 2:54 PM
Love the term "Shitthropocene". I figure we'll use it in our next manuscript title.
"Shitthropocene? Fish evolve the gene: The story of aryl hydrocarbon receptor"
www.patagonia.com/quality/#shi...
"Shitthropocene? Fish evolve the gene: The story of aryl hydrocarbon receptor"
www.patagonia.com/quality/#shi...
A fun conversation with Will Tingle on the Naked Genetics podcast about role of hybridization in conservation. We touched on some controversial topics. What do you think?
www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
Should we hybridise endangered species?
Is saving some genome better than saving none?
www.thenakedscientists.com
March 5, 2024 at 3:53 AM
A fun conversation with Will Tingle on the Naked Genetics podcast about role of hybridization in conservation. We touched on some controversial topics. What do you think?
www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/int...
Reposted by Andrew Whitehead
Guest blog from me on Dynamic Ecology, a guide for beginning grads on developing a reading habit and project ideas! Super grateful for reposts :)
Non-definitive guides on developing a reading habit & generating project ideas
Note from Meghan: This is a guest post by my colleague Gina Baucom on a topic that's sure to be of interest to lots of readers! *** I lead a graduate-level professional development seminar* where we r...
dynamicecology.wordpress.com
February 19, 2024 at 1:41 PM
Guest blog from me on Dynamic Ecology, a guide for beginning grads on developing a reading habit and project ideas! Super grateful for reposts :)