Flu vaccine requirement discarded ‘effective immediately,’ Hegseth says The flu vaccine has been required annually for U.S. military personnel since the 1950s .

“The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force”

Interesting new scam: it seems people are writing wikipedia entries on people with LLMs, getting them rejected, then emailing the subject trying to get them to pay to "help" get it published

Some day I’ll figure out how to work this into a talk

Now out in AEM @asm.org! 🎉🧪

*High school student-isolated mutants 👉🏻 novel genetic causes of biofilm-associated adaptations
*We learn how diversity arises quickly and is maintained
*EvolvingSTEM enables scalable research in classrooms & promotes scientific literacy

journals.asm.org/eprint/FBU9M...

Project Hail Mary is a beautiful brilliant film. But molecular biologists be warned there's a deeply disturbing scene midway through when Ryan Gosling's scientist places two eppendorfs directly next to each other in an otherwise empty unbalanced microcentrifuge & sets it spinning with wild abandon.

Antibiotic Apocalypse Podcast Episode · Radiolab · 27 March · 1hr 1min

The Antibiotic apocalypse:
#TryPhages Loved hearing @superbug-slayer.bsky.social Steffanie Strathdee tell her story in this one!
podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/r...

Image with text to email your senators to urge them not to confirm Jim O’Neill as Director of the National Science Foundation.

Email your senators to urge them not to confirm Jim O’Neill as Director of the National Science Foundation.

He's not a scientist, has no relevant expertise, promoted vaccine misinformation, helped gut the CDC, and his Silicon Valley ties raise questions about protecting the public interest.
(1/2🧵)

Happy 38th birthday to the #LTEE!
#BOTD in 1988.
Keep on evolving!

#science #evolution #microbiology

More women are professors, but gender gaps continue to plague NZ universities New Zealand universities are slowly closing the pay gap, but men are still more likely to fill senior leadership roles in the highest pay brackets.

Are we there yet?

👩🏻‍🏫 👩‍🔬 💵 😦

Late last year my NZ University Women in Leadership Reunion led to a collaboration to investigate the gender and pay gaps in Universities in leadership.

TLDR: We are not there YET but we are making a kind of progress (which is good).

tinyurl.com/yjmj7rwx

I am looking for wide-ranging mammalian DNA samples for a class I am developing. Especially sought-after would be parent-offspring paired samples.

Please retweet (re-skeet?), thank you!

It was excellent to have you here! Enjoy the rest of your trip Carl! Hope to see you again soon!

What an incredible talk! Carl is such a clear and critical thinker I wish we didn’t have to give him back to the US at the end of his trip! The room was packed (standing room only) for his seminar today!

A selfie with Carl Bergstrom and a group of early career researchers in a university room.

@carlbergstrom.com is in Aotearoa and generously sharing his expertise with our early career researchers 🙌

Bit of a shame! I believe anyone can come but the time is noon to one!

A poster announcing details of Carl’s talk at UC on Feb 13th. Title “ information foraging in a social media world”

Pleased to say that Carl Bergstrom (@carlbergstrom.com) will be speaking at the University of Canterbury on 13th Feb!
He is hosted by @tepunahamatatini.bsky.social come see him at noon in Jack Erskine 441!

Craig, I want you to know that I appreciate you :)

SAVE THE DATE!
The next instalment of the long-running Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Division Conference will take place at www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels..., Italy from the 20th to 23rd of April 2027.
Organisers: me, @s-lab.bsky.social, @awehenkel.bsky.social.
More info soon.

#MicroSky

Excellent! I will tag you in when details firm up!

Carl is a legend. We are really lucky to have him swinging through. If you think you can make one of his seminars, you should make the time :) I should be able to tell you when the UC talk will be if you are in the area!! Details soon!

And for those who can't travel, I think it important to mention he is giving lectures at other centres-
And for instance the Otago ones Arte being shared via Zoom (see the Otago events calendar www.otago.ac.nz/news/events for details)

bsky.app/profile/carl...

I’m rapt that @tepunahamatatini.bsky.social is bringing Carl’s science and voice on important issues to NZ 🧪. Join us at the Capital City Complex Systems Symposium in late February in Wellington, for a friendly and exciting discussion - when hopefully the weather will be settled.

Looking for something new to integrate into an #evolution or #microbiology course? Useful for lectures, labs, homework?

Have a look at our STEPS program, which simulates bacterial evolution, including the #LTEE. Easy web-based interface & lab manual w/ exercises to help develop students' intuition.

Seven women standing side by side for a group photo.

Today we had this cool bunch of scientists from PFR BSI down for a good korero. I learn so much from having them all in the room! I am really excited about our next steps! #AdaptablePhages

Grant Portfolio Evaluator Rank and prioritize research funding opportunities. Calculate EV/hour and decide which grants are worth your time.

Ever wondered if writing a grant proposal was actually worth your time? Presenting....The Grant Portfolio Evaluator - (for entertainment only) mol-evol.github.io/grant-evalua...

Sorry to hear this Danna! We’d love to see you there. Tough times!

We’re looking for a postdoc to join the Hendrickson lab!
The project will involve dissecting the molecular mechanisms of a fascinating mobile element in our honeybee biocontrol phages. Sound like something you would be interested in? Get in touch! Details:
jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

🚨 New postdoc opportunity in Aotearoa 🇳🇿 with @drhhnz.bsky.social

RA / Postdoctoral Fellow in honeybee bacteriophages, microbial genetics & molecular evolution at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch).

3-year position, starts March 2026.
🔗 jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

I do love living in Christchurch!

We’re looking for a postdoc to join the Hendrickson lab!
The project will involve dissecting the molecular mechanisms of a fascinating mobile element in our honeybee biocontrol phages. Sound like something you would be interested in? Get in touch! Details:
jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

nobody will remember:
- your salary
- how “busy you were”
- how many hours you worked

people will remember:
- how many squid facts you knew
- if you offered others squid facts
- how you made people feel when you told them a squid fact