from the 👇 abstract:
"...that, while classifying things is often useful, it is best not to forget that molecular biology is a glorious mess."

(geneticists: read this anyway!)

Gantt chart? More like Cantt chart.

New paper alert!

Final version just published of our review on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of cooperation www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... @ryosukeiritani.bsky.social @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social
@asn-amnat.bsky.social

Yay Shauna and Zach!!

Little moments of joy in grad school: eating lunch on the greenhouse roof because I can

“she was crazy” or “her personality was bad” or “she was wrong about flagella” (this one is true), but I cannot think of a better role model for female scientists my age. Reading about her journey and struggles to find legitimacy in the 1960s in her other books has made my own dream attainable (2/2)

This whole post by @couchmicroscopy.bsky.social💯!!! When I found out she used to come to the island i work at, i wondered why (affected by others, assumed she joined her husband working in Arecibo, but no, she kept coming long after he was not), but then again, i am here, too, in a symbiosis oasis.

I would not be a scientist without Lynn Margulis. I never would have gotten a PhD or developed a curiosity for the research topics I currently work on if I didn’t read her book, “Symbiotic Planet” when I was 21. So many male scientists I’ve worked with knew her and many say things like…(1/2)

Amplicon and metagenomic data from fumarole-associated geothermal features of Hawaii www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

Breath of the Earth by Chelsi — The earth respires like a slumbering giant.

Breath of the Earth

by Chelsi — The earth respires like a slumbering giant.

The defense islands in bacteria and archaea paper (Makarova et al. 2011)!

Hi everyone, I am preparing a lecture and was thinking of the milestone papers in the field of bacterial immunity.

I was curious which ones would you include ?

Thanks!

Yet another awesome single-phage paper from Ido Golding's lab #phagesky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Worth a read and something I was thinking about this morning!

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgar...

At long last! Check out the link to our publication in @nature.com to learn more. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
12/12

Excited to share a preprint of work from my postdoc with @paulturnerlab.bsky.social exploring how prophages can impact host thermal ecology and evolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor Nature - Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from...

Open access to article rdcu.be/e4A70

Love hearing about the ongoing work! @archaeal.bsky.social @katyappler.bsky.social

I am super happy and honored to see some of my movies making it into the NYT. I hope everybody enjoys watching them go as much as I do!

New paper from my team detailing a greatly expanded genomic database of Asgard archaea revealing of high energy metabolism those related to eukaryotes! Led by @katyappler.bsky.social lots of help from @jameslingford.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Congrats Katy!! This is amazing!!

Beyond thrilled to share that our study has been published!
This project encompasses years of work, including my thesis research on Asgard archaea in the @archaeal.bsky.social lab at @utmsi.bsky.social and
@texasscience.bsky.social!!!
#MicroSky #ArchaeaSky 1/12

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

On this International Women and Girls in STEM day I’m grateful for the incredible mentors who have shown me that it’s okay to take up space and be confident in science 🧫

Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive.

Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Co-occurrence of diverse defense systems shapes complex microbe-virus relationships in deep-sea cold seeps | Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-68174-6

Subsurface Life on Earth as a Key to Unlock Extraterrestrial Mysteries This paper discusses current research on subsurface microbiology. Exploring Earth's deep and extreme subsurface environments provides critical insights into life's limits and adaptability. Subsurface...

🌏 Happy 🔭 New 🧪 Year 🦠 2026 ✨

If you feel like an easy read about subsurface microbiomes and astrobiology:

Here is an opinion I wrote with @emvidal.bsky.social @geobiomaggie.bsky.social @drbradbrad.bsky.social and Melody Lindsay

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Environment and physiology shape antiphage system expression Bacteria and archaea encode on average ten antiphage systems. Quorum sensing, cellular, or transcription factors can regulate specific systems (CRISPR-Cas, CBASS). Yet, a systematic assessment of anti...

Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed.

In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...