Sneaky sign of new Covid variant everyone is ignoring right now Health experts say the Stratus (XFG) variant is behind nearly all new infections and has some unusual symptoms Bookmark News By Mark O'Brien Editor Anita McSorley 11:54, 13 SEP 2025

"Sneaky sign of new COVID variant everyone is ignoring right now"

"Doctors are now highlighting subtle, early symptoms that many people might dismiss. A hoarse or raspy voice is emerging as one of the most common early warning signs of Stratus"

Source: archive.md/oJrRT

SUPER has opened a call for (home) student-led marine/freshwater ecology PhD projects, to be hosted at one of the seven Scottish partners. If anyone knows anyone interested in something like this, the applicants should approach potential supervisors ASAP!

superdtp.st-andrews.ac.uk/how-to-apply/

I’m so excited that my first paper is out! 💪🏼💥 #ornithology

'Tagging these tiny birds takes years of training' - BBC News Conservationists at a Lancashire nature reserve says learning how to ring birds takes years to master.

Great to see Lancaster bird expert Dr Stuart Sharp explaining the importance of ringing and tagging birds in this piece published by the BBC today! 🐦

‘Sex reversal’ is surprisingly common in birds, new study suggests Survey of five Australian avians finds numerous discordant individuals, including a genetically male bird that had laid an egg

Sex-reversal in birds (genetically male/female but appear female/male) is surprisingly common. Best detail: A genetically male bird called a laughing kookaburra had recently laid an egg. (1/2)

By @phiejacobs.bsky.social on @science.org

A grey seal perched on a rock surrounded by sea and seaweed. Credit: Chris Gomersall.

At the start of the 20th century, grey seal numbers in the UK had dwindled to around 500 as a result of persecution. Today there are more than 120,000, accounting for 40% of the global population 🌍

#WildlifeWednesday #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NationalMarineWeek

The things we turn to to cope with coding!

Should Ecology be more proactive & vocal on one of the key issues of our times? What systemic & institutional changes are needed for the ecological community to be at the forefront of the response? If these are questions that speak to you, this new paper may be of interest lnkd.in/eXfXG4xM

Some difficult news from the team: In NSF's FY25-26 Budget Request to Congress, we learned that our program will take a whopping 50% cut - meaning that in September, we'll be $1.25m short of an operating budget that currently supports a cohort of seven PhD students, four postdocs, and three full-time staff. Verena is one of the largest and last pandemic prevention-focused programs in the United States: since 2020, we've supported the training of over 60 postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates. Our researchers have established unique laboratory resources for studying animal immune systems, and discovered new antiviral immune adaptations in bats; developed risk assessment algorithms for wildlife and livestock viruses, and diagnostic algorithms for viruses like dengue, Ebola, and Zika; and quantified the effects of climate change, deforestation, and factory farming on spillover risk. Everything we develop is 100% open source, and our data has supported the research of nearly 150 external researchers in 21 countries to date. We have three months to make up our budget shortfall. Every dollar spent on Verena supports not just our team, but the community of researchers who use our data, code, and resources. You can help us by sharing this post, and reaching out if you're able to support a unique and vulnerable program. Or just head over to viralemergence.org, and take a look at what we do. 🦟 🦇 🦠

An update from the team on the uncertain future of our program and the impact of NSF budget cuts. Please share and reach out 🦠

screenshot of open letter page 1 - full google doc available via link in post

screenshot of open letter page 2 - full google doc available via link in post

tinyurl.com/UoATransphobia
☝️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

im sure many of you are aware of hostility towards #trans staff & students in my department

myself & other ECRs have published a desperate call for action on #transphobia from departmental and university management

please read, share and SIGN IN SOLIDARITY ❤️

NIH cancels its first and largest study centered on women The Women’s Health Initiative has produced numerous influential findings

Well the NIH has cancelled the Women's Health Initiative, the largest study of women in history

It has been running continuously since 1991 and has provided massive key knowledge about diseases in women

Unreal

www.science.org/content/arti...

After years of no public commitment from UoA to protect their #trans and #queer students, we have decided to publish this letter in hope for positive change

With the Supreme Court ruling in the UK, this is more important than ever

If you can, please sign below 👇🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

#PhDSky #LGBTSTEM #QueerInSTEM

Unfortunately, the NSF grant that supports our work has been terminated. This is a setback, but our mission has not changed. We will continue to work hard on making cognitive science a more inclusive field. Stay tuned for upcoming events.

Fighting fund for trans rights | Good Law Project Stand up for trans rights 🏳️‍⚧️ Join me and @GoodLawProject and help us fight the rollbacks on trans rights in the UK.

Hi, wallet inspector here please open your pockets for the legal battles we have ahead.

goodlawproject.org/crowdfunder/...

Last call for expressions of interest in a Quantitative Ecology post-doc based mostly in South Africa. If you are interested, drop Lourens and me a line 👇

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/jaxqx...

I say this every time de-extinction comes up: it makes no sense to devote science to bringing back extinct animals when we can’t be bothered to keep extant ones alive in the first place.

🌏

A close up picture of classic vole sign: various sized clippings of grass next to some vole droppings that look like very very small tictacs, around the size of rice.

A 25cm by 25cm quadrat lying on some grass which is a yellowish colour, with green new shoots peaking through. The photographer's shadow is next to the quadrat. She is holding up her hand in a peace sign

Glorious weather for vole surveys! ☀️ Today I'm out and about throwing quadrats and looking for vole signs (grass clippings and droppings) to track the vole population cycle and measure prey availability around my study site.

Much nicer in the sunshine than the usual downpours.

I've been watching the University of Maine story, and somehow didn't realize it started with anti-trans shit until this.

Begging my fellow scientists to please not forget that a major part of the threats to our funding rn are *explicitly* bigotry, please don't leave us behind

Figure skating world championships were considered to be for men only until 1902, when Madge Syers showed up and took home silver and the ISU went "whooooops guess we need to segregate them."

It happened again in 1992 Olympic skeet shooting: Zhang Shan took gold and then they segregated the event.

“Levelling the playing field means that societal expectations need to change”

Yvonne Buckley shares her thoughts on how we can accelerate action within ecology this International Women's Day 🌱

buff.ly/FL4hPlM

I will close the letter for signatures at 17:00 today (UK time). Last chance to voice your support before this evening's meeting of the Royal Society.

He nails it.

list of banned keywords

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025!

Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide!

#scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

Dear federal scientists: If you have been affected by the probationary firings and would be willing to speak with Science, please reach out to me by email (klangin@aaas.org) or on Signal. We can guarantee annonymity.

Open letter to the President of the Royal Society – time to stand up for your values If you wish to show your support for the letter below regarding apparent inaction by the Royal Society in the face of breaches of its code of conduct by Elon Musk FRS, please sign below. I invite anyo...

Signature tally now closing in on 3000. Please keep discussing, sharing and signing to put as much pressure on the Royal Society to respond as possible. forms.gle/AuYvuWqytx8K...

I love how Trump, Vance and Musk style themselves defenders of free speech, while simultaneously banning government agencies from mentioning climate change or diversity (inc biodiversity!), equity and inclusion, or even possessing maps which show the Gulf of Mexico.
Torquemadas the lot of them.

Now over 900 signatures. Please keep signing and sharing to send a clear message to the Royal Society that we want them to stand up for values that we all hold dear: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Now accepting applicants for 25-26 intake of our #StatisticalEcology MSc: bit.ly/3ooHNyc. A unique opportunity to develop skills at the interface of #statistics and #ecology (some partial scholarships available too). Please help me share!