Convergent genome streamlining accompanies independent miniaturization in the world's smallest fishes www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

Comparative analysis of transposable elements in jellyfish and hydroid species (Cnidaria: Medusozoa) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

Really happy to share that our preprint is now published in @narjournal.bsky.social! 🎉

MAJEC: unified gene, isoform, and locus-level transposable element quantification from RNA-seq www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

Recursive Repeat Extender (RRE): A recursive approach to automatically extend repeat element models www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

CALS- Technician I- Molecular Biology and Genetics in Ithaca, New York, United States of America | Research & Instructional Support at Cornell University Apply for CALS- Technician I- Molecular Biology and Genetics job with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, United States of America. Research & Instructional Support at Cornell University

plz repost 🙏 we are looking for a technician to start this summer/fall for 1-2 years to work with me at Cornell in the labs of @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social and Andy Clark, in collaboration with @corriemoreau.bsky.social on flies & termites 🪰🐜🧬🔬 Ithaca is gorges!

jobs.hr.cornell.edu/us/en/job/WD...

Can you believe that until now there were more genomes sequenced for the woolly mammoth than for living African elephants?

Today, we bring you the first genomic, continent-scale analyses of 232 high-quality genomes of both species, the savanna and forest elephant.

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

Oh you’re Catholic and you disagree with the Pope? Maybe you should make a list of all the things you disagree with. Really dig deep, make it a nice long list. 95 seems like a good number. And then post that list somewhere he can see it, like maybe nailed to a church door.

Our last manuscript is out! 🚨

We identify double stranded RNAs in embryonic stem cells - full of transposons, especially young LINEs and LTRs 🧐

🧬Happy Friday Reading🧬

You Can Never Let Them Think They Have A Chance | Defector I don’t remember the first time someone hit on me as a reporter. I believe this is because my brain has come to treat these events as unremarkable. For any woman in journalism, they pile up over the y...

I wrote about Dianna Russini, the constant pressure female reporters face to prove they aren't sleeping with sources (plus the pressure we do get from sources to get involved with them), and why all of this is so uncomfortable to talk about.

Gift link:

Khalil and Noreen Suffering in Gaza Please join us in defending Khalil and Noreen's kids from the brutality of war, winter, hunger and illness. Noreen suffers from damaged cartilege. She can't move easily. She also needs a corneal transplant.

With both of them injured, Noreen and Khalil have to rely on the kindness of strangers more than ever.

I bet you could donate $5.

And if you can't, please share. ♥️
chuffed.org/project/khal...

Squid vibes #midwater #designingthefuture3 YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Institute

Chiroteuthis sp., 49 m, #Designingthefuture2 in 2021. Dr. Heather Judkins, cephalopod taxonomist, noticed the bright spots along the tentacles and around the eyes and suspects the animal is displaying bioluminescence to attract prey, a common behavior for many squid.
youtube.com/shorts/X5UUh...

Tess Grainger

Congratulations to Dr. Tess Grainger @integrativebiology.bsky.social, named an Early Career Fellow with the Ecological Society of America!

The fellowship recognizes ESA members who have advanced ecological knowledge & applications within 8 years of their doctorate.

www.uoguelph.ca/cbs/news/202...

New paper out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: we apply linguistic tools to sperm whale vowels.

The result: sperm whale vowels do not just look like human vowels. They also behave like them.

We found several parallels. Like in Latin, whales have short and long vowels.

Deflecting the parasitic paradigm: new insights into mutualistic transposons in plant genomes Inherited transposable elements (TEs) embedded in genomes have an incomparable potential for large-effect mutagenesis. Notwithstanding that transposable elements can be destructive when mobile, it is undeniable that some beneficial effects arise as well. From a population-level perspective, de novo genetic variation arising from TE transposition endows species with increased potential to colonize and thrive in extremely diverse environments. With an emphasis on plant genomes, this review provides an overview of recent insights into functional transpositions and the mechanisms behind them. We will discuss the underappreciated application prospects of mobile elements as prominent endogenous mutagens through recent evidence of transposition-induced phenotypic variation. These novel findings suggest a shift away from the view of TEs as solely parasitic entities and advocate for a more mutualistic role.

Deflecting the parasitic paradigm: new insights into mutualistic transposons in plant genomes #plantscience

Something every child would love to play with: a model of a very, very dead sauropod, with bones and putrefying flesh showing through wounds and a leg so dislocated it hurts to look at it.

I enjoy the paleontological figurines posted by @tetzoo.bsky.social but actually double-took at this year's must-have (in)action figure in our local Tasmanian toyshop: a putrefying sauropod carcass. What child wouldn't love this. Anyway, it's a mood. #dinosaur #model #paleontology #toy

Transposable element disruption of a second thyroglobulin-like gene confers Vip3Aa resistance in Helicoverpa armigera www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

Love Drosophila genetics — this journal club was a great way to share that enthusiasm and pay tribute to the pioneers of transposons regulation 🪰 How classical genetics uncovered key determinants of TE silencing #transposon @igred.fr
@igred.fr
👇👇

🎉 EarlGrey ParTEA v0.1.6 is here! Huge thanks to everyone who's tried the pipeline and shared feedback — your suggestions directly shaped these new features. 🍵

#TEworldwide #transposableelements #bioinformatics #genomics

A picture of a small concretion (rock) with a white blob in the middle. this blob was described as the worlds oldest octopus and called Pohlsepia. Our research shows that hidden under the rock are teeth that confirm it is a nautiloid (a relative of modern nautiluses).

An artistic rendering of the rotting Pohlsepia on the seafloor 310 million years ago. Sharks, fish and arthropods lurk in the background

I am so unbelievably proud to present 8 years of hard work: the worlds oldest octopus is not an octopus...

Pohlsepia is actually a really rotten Nautiloid (but oldest soft tissue nautiloid ever found!). 🐙❌

royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

First first-author paper out! 🎉

We show that the classically repressive mark H3K27me3 can be linked to active transcription through a newly identified reader complex 🤯

Really grateful to everyone involved in this project during my PhD!

Thread below 👇

We argue that an account of *how* human judgment and prejudice interact with AI is key to understanding and mitigating AI bias.

Our Human-AI Loop Model describes how societal inequalities are perpetuated by AI systems via human behavioral effects on both the creation of AI and use of its outputs.

Contest point 11 – Postdoctoral Fellow A postdoctoral position in the Division of Molecular Biology, Laboratory for Molecular Genetics for work on the Croatian Science Foundation (HRZZ) project " The impact of repetitive sequences on the molecular

Postdoc opportunity in the GENREP project at Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, exploring repetitive DNA's role in bivalve genome evolution. Apply by April 10: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/417380 #postdoc

"I find artists' creativity inspiring, and I hope to apply some of it to science"

Raquel Fueyo's lab studies the impact of transposons on human embryonic development and disease. We talked with her about what drew her to this field, her lab's work culture, and how she finds inspiration for her science in art. @fueyoraquel.bsky.social
Read more: www.molgen.mpg.de/news-2026-in...

AP BALERTS Trump warns a 'whole civilization' could die but adds Iran still has time to capitulate April 07, 2026 President Donald Trump has warned that a "whole civilization will die tonight" but said Iran still has time to capitulate ahead of a deadline set for 8 p.m. in Washington. The American leader issued the stark threat Tuesday, about 12 hours ahead of his deadline for Iran to agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz or face punishing strikes.

This isn’t a warning, but rather an ultimatum that goes against international law.

PanTEon: a cross-kingdom framework to guide the design of transposable element classifiers www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04...

“Why would you expect me to remember that?” Thomas Kuhn and the uses of oral history AIP History Weekly Edition: April 3, 2026

In today's AIP History Weekly Edition @janpotters.bsky.social looks at Tom Kuhn's frustrations interviewing ~100 physicists for the landmark Sources for History of Quantum Physics project. An important lesson in what we want from oral history and what it can give us.
📷Niels Bohr & Homer Dodge #HPS

Extensive array of endogenous giant viral elements in a polar alga shows dynamic transcriptional response to abiotic stress Schultz et al. show that polar algae harbor extensive endogenous giant virus elements that are transcriptionally active, stress responsive, and integrated into host regulatory networks, highlighting v...

A good read on a large virus...

Extensive array of endogenous giant viral elements in a polar alga shows dynamic transcriptional response to abiotic stress: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

What brown algae taught me about the importance of jumping genes for genome evolution

Behind the scenes!
go.nature.com/4bYY8BM

Undaria pinnatifida gametophyte

Our work on chromatin evolution in brown algae is now published in @natecoevo.nature.com! We show that developmentally complex brown algae evolved without epigenetic silencing pathways long thought universal, underscoring why non-model lineages are important to study. www.nature.com/articles/s41...