Do humans share a sense of acoustic beauty with other animals? According to a new study in Science, the answer may be yes.

In a global citizen-science experiment, researchers show that humans tend to prefer many of the same animal sounds that animals themselves favor. https://scim.ag/41jFG1u

A human figure rendered as a wireframe made of the repeated number ‘1’ holds its head in its hands

Thank you for choosing the Remembrance Machine — we truly value your custom. We not take some time to review your usage? To reconnect with the memories you’ve enjoyed most. Check out your highlights — and remember to remember!!

#scifi by Spencer Nitkey www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Jack Kim and Jill Banfield in a rice field in California.

Today in Nature Communications, a team of IGI researchers from The Banfield Lab and Pam Ronald's labs uncover a new way to reduce #methane emissions from rice by influencing the activity of rice paddy soil #microbes. Read more: https://ow.ly/45j150Y3WsI

Rice students create nationwide ICE tracker to monitor immigration enforcement The students had been teaching weekly children's classes as volunteers. One day, the kids stopped showing up.

ICYMI, Rice University students have developed a free online map to track ICE activity throughout the country.

Find it here: www.icemap.dev.

Gift link to @houstonchronicle.com story about it:
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

IGI Researchers Uncover Novel Way to Cut Methane Emissions IGI Researchers Uncover Novel Way to Cut Methane Emissions - Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI)

innovativegenomics.org/news/novel-w.... Check out Flor and LingDong’s new paper!

Today in Nature Communications, a team of IGI researchers from The Banfield Lab and Pam Ronald's labs uncover a new way to reduce methane emissions from rice by influencing the activity of rice paddy soil #microbes. Read more: https://ow.ly/45j150Y3WsI

Very happy to share our recent work @cultivarium.bsky.social on genetic tools for Ideonella sakaiensis, a (Betaproteo-)bacterium that degrades PET plastic.

We identified a plasmid vector for the strain and generated a large RB-TnSeq library, screening for genes impacting plastic degradation.

When you buy a cutting board from bioinformaticians

Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404

laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/ Sign on and/or join mailing list to restore eligibility for our talented NSF GRFP applicants

he Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis is seeking applications for a fulltime, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Mycology, with a focus on plant pathogenic, symbiotic, or mycotoxigenic fungi and fungal-like organisms (e.g., oomycetes). We are looking for a highly motivated and creative scientist with a strong background in mycology and/or the biology of fungi and fungal-like organisms that interact with plants. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a world-class, externally funded research program that integrates both fundamental and applied aspects of fungal biology within the context of plant pathology. We welcome applicants pursuing a wide range of research topics related to plant-associated fungi, including but not limited to mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis or symbiosis with plants, population genomics and evolution of fungal plant pathogens, plant-associated fungal microbiomes and plant-microbe interactions, and/or one health approaches to fungal diseases and antifungal resistance. Applicants working in other relevant research areas involving pathogenic, symbiotic, or mycotoxigenic fungi or fungal-like organisms that affect plant health are also encouraged to apply. The successful candidate will have significant opportunities for collaboration with faculty in plant pathology, microbiology, genomics, and agricultural sciences, and to contribute to addressing issues of importance to California’s agricultural and natural ecosystems. The appointee primary teaching responsibilities will be teaching Introductory Mycology, an upperdivision lab class, and SAS 30, Mushroom, Molds & Society, a general education class for non-majors. Additional graduate and undergraduate teaching responsibilities may be assigned based on departmental needs and the candidate’s expertise. The department offers modern instructional facilities, including a newly renovated teaching laboratory.

Please repost -- The Univ. California Davis dept of Plant Pathology is hiring a Fungal biologist / Mycologist

Applications due Dec 1

Application portal: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07339

Screenshot shows part of the job posting (with alt-text of the same text)

ecoevojobs.net 2025-26

UPDATE: The 2025-2026 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resources! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

✈️ Calling all grad students & postdocs in microbial ecology!
Want to work, train, or collaborate abroad? ISME’s Scholar Mobility Fund can help you get there.
📅 Apply by 1 October
🌍 Open to applicants worldwide (esp. outside NA & Europe!)
Details: isme-microbes.org/isme-scholar...
#MicrobialEcology

Comparing EcoFab 2.0 results from 5 labs on 3 continents‼️

Breaking the reproducibility barrier with standardized protocols for plant–microbiome research

@plosbiology.org by Vlastimil Novak et al from Trent Northen @jgi.doe.gov

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Assistant Professor - Plant Resilience to Climate Change - Department of Plant and Microbial Biology University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

Our department (Berkeley PMB) is hiring an asst. prof. in Plant Resilience to Climate Change! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05049

Driven by the pain of endometriosis, this scientist is uncovering clues to its causes Katie Burns is helping reveal the immune system’s role in the long-neglected disease

This scientist is helping uncover the role of the immune system in endometriosis—while managing the disease herself. https://scim.ag/4oDvjAa

Elephant facial motor control Elephant trunk control involves huge numbers of facial motor neurons, cell size gradients, and motor foveae.

A 2022 study in #ScienceAdvances reveals that elephants have an exceptionally high number of facial neurons—perhaps the most known to any land-dwelling mammal.

Learn more on #WorldElephantDay:

Headshot of Carolyn Slupsky against a dark blue background with white text that reads, "From Labs to Lives: How Research Funding Solves Real World Problems" and her quote, "If federal funding ends, we lose the chance to understand why some women can’t breastfeed — wasting years of work that could ease the burden for thousands of mothers and babies."

Carolyn Slupsky studies how diet impacts health from pregnancy through childhood. Her NIH-funded research examines how a mother’s nutrition affects her child’s development. One study investigates why some women are unable to produce enough breastmilk—focused on hormone and nutrition-related factors.

Is a monster web of ocean currents headed for collapse? The race is on to find out Nature - Research ships rarely brave the Greenland Sea in winter. Early this year, scientists ventured into the ice-covered waters to capture crucial data about the planet’s future.

This ship braved the Greenland Sea in winter, venturing into ice-covered waters to capture crucial data about the Earth's future

https://go.nature.com/4ljM1SW

World’s first personalized CRISPR therapy given to baby with genetic disease Nature - Treatment seems to have been effective, but it is not clear whether such bespoke therapies can be widely applied.

A baby boy with a devastating genetic disease is thriving after becoming the first known person to receive a bespoke, CRISPR therapy-for-one, designed to correct his specific disease-causing mutation

https://go.nature.com/4ml3ZW6

AI-generated (ChatGPT) cartoon of different gut bacteria munching on different types of sachets containing "fake sugar" as a reference to non-nutritive sweeteners

Do non-nutritive sweeteners alter the human microbiome? And why is this question important?

Check out our new review in Immunometabolism, spearheaded by @kcrakes.bsky.social, Lauren Questell & @subah.bsky.social and quick 🧵👇:

journals.lww.com/immunometabo...

I appreciate my lab mates for standing up for science @subah.bsky.social @alexanderhoward.bsky.social @ellenrim.bsky.social and Flor and Alyx

Thank you for the great opportunity 😊 really well organized conference with cool talks/posters from everyone!