the small bittersweet happinesses of academic life: planning a going-away party for my very first undergrad (as an independent researcher), who is leaving me for a MSc position in Oxford! 🎉

News News

Great news from the lab - we’ve been awarded a MIRA (R35)!

This grant provides 5-year support for our research program. We are very grateful to NIGMS/ #NIH for supporting our research. We will be hiring a research technician and a postdoc.

fernandez.lab.indiana.edu/news/index.h...

Fetoplacental Circadian Rhythms Develop and Then Synchronize to the Mother In Utero - K. L. Nikhil, Keenan Bates, Elizabeth Sapiro, Jacob L. Amme, Ron McCarthy, Sarah L. Speck, Varun Vasireddy, Ethan Roberts, Carmel A. Martin-Fairey, Miguel-E. Domínguez-Romero, Sandra P. Cárdenas-García, Sarah K. England, Erik D. Herzog, 2026 Circadian rhythms in gene expression and hormones are ubiquitous across species and differentiated cell types, yet their developmental origins remain poorly und...

Ever wonder if a baby knows what time it is? This work by @circatwenty4.bsky.social and collaborators says that the fetus synchronizes its daily rhythms to mom before birth. tinyurl.com/yk3m8fx3 #SRBRa #circadian #chronomedicine

Karenin, a calico Siberian cat, loudly informs her human that it's 30min to her dinner time

food anticipatory activity

Attention #chronobiology and #circadian authors. You can now directly transfer your @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social to Journal of Biological Rhythms. 1. www.biorxiv.org/submit-a-man..., 2. click "Submit bioRxiv Preprint to a Journal” & 3. choose JBR. #SRBR #JBR

I love that even more!

Goose! ❤️ I love the names you come up with for dogs

Biological timing: Changing photoperiods select for self-sustaining clocks Self-sustained oscillation under constant conditions is a fundamental property of circadian clocks found in all domains of life, despite the rarity of constant environments in nature. Two new studies ...

and also this very nice piece that @drummonk.bsky.social and @joanna-chiu.bsky.social wrote about the two papers:

www.cell.com/current-biol...

different day lengths give cyanobacteria seasonal information, but could they also have informed the evolution of their circadian clock?

check our paper and Chitrang's thread on it below!

And also Michael Rust's paper which was published back to back with ours:
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Self-sustained Circadian Oscillators Confer Enhanced Fitness Under Changing Photoperiods ☀️ @currentbiology.bsky.social

@drummonk.bsky.social and I wrote a dispatch on fascinating back to back pubs from the labs of Carl Johnson and Michael Rust.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I am humbled to be selected as an AAAS fellow, and I am grateful for the recognition! 🥺I know it’s a bit corny but this would not be possible without the support of my family, my mentors, and my colleagues. Special HUGS to all my trainees who have contributed to my research and training programs 💕💕

go check out this special issue of FEBS Letters, edited by the great @partchlab.bsky.social!

I'm very happy that @hollykay1.bsky.social and I could contribute to it, with a perspective on timing systems (not just circadian clocks!) in bacteria at large:

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Karenin, a very fluffy Siberian calico cat, sits looking a bit dissatisfied, next to numerous lumps of fur which were combed out of her, and which occupy most of the frame of the photo.

spring cleaning

Amazing #Chronobiology story by @drbatmo.bsky.social -see their recent #Science paper: A cellular basis for the mammalian nocturnal-diurnal switch
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Have you ever wondered what #wildlife does at #night?
How prevalent night-time activity/ nocturnality is? 🦇 🦉 🦗
How night-time conditions differ from daytime and between nights? 🌃 🌟 🌑 🌕️🌘

We, Almut Kelber & myself, just published a Quick Guide on Nocturnality @Currentbiology 🧵
➡️ shorturl.at/TpA13

(and of course all in black, red and blue comic sans, because otherwise it wouldn't be Carl lol)

From the fundamental properties, to A/B oscillators, to limit cycles, to entrainment, the lectures cover all things clock, and offer a very nice historical perspective as well! A very nice resource for the community ⏰

Six Lectures on the Fundamental Properties of Circadian Clocks

my former boss (and amazing mentor) Carl Johnson just released a series of lectures on the fundamental properties of #circadian clocks, which you should definitely check out if you're interested in chronobiology!

as.vanderbilt.edu/johnsonlab/f...

Interested in the molecular basis of timing winter dormancy and the anticipation of spring in mammals? Check our Calum @calumstewartphd.bsky.social latest publication in eLife! Deiodinase type-3 (Dio3) is the key gene.

Generously supported by @leverhulme.ac.uk

doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

A couple of years after we featured on the same episode of the Guardian's Cotton Capital podcast, I had the pleasure to speak to @tiagorogero.com about my book on British Entanglement with Brazilian Slavery (@anthempress.bsky.social, Feb. 26)

Gratidão. Boa leitura!
anthempress.com/books/britis...

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨

Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!)

Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇

doi.org/10.1093/fems...

Microscope images of Ryugu samples collected from the first and second touchdown sites of the Hayabusa2 mission, respectively. Credit: JAXA / JAMSTEC

The complete set of nucleobases found in terrestrial DNA and RNA — adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil — have been detected in samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu, according to research in Nature Astronomy. go.nature.com/3P9A9YN 🔭 🧪

To remind you of the importance of sleep on World Sleep Day, here's a photograph from our archives of Rupert, the favourite cat of the Cornish poet Charles Causley!

Why not be like Rupert today and find a cosy spot to enjoy a nice snooze!

📷 EUL MS 50a/2/2/6/9

#WorldSleepDay #ArchiveCats #Archives

Image from their link showing evidence of fabricated references

Holy smoke. What ultimately happened???

‘They’re cancer’: Trump threatens cartels, Cuba at Latin American summit The president offered to launch missiles in Latin America to combat criminal violence in a call to 'eradicate' cartels.

starting the day with news that Trump is threatening to bomb countries in Latin America 🫠

www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. MicroSEA course integrates lectures, field sampling, and lab-based practicals in advanced techniques, such as flow cytometry, microscopy, culturing, and molecular analysis. The main objectives of MicroSEA course are: Fostering a deep understanding of marine protist diversity, ecology and biology; Providing hands-on training in advanced single-cell methods that are not commonly available in university programs; Building participants' confidence in designing and conducting research projects from field to data analysis; Promoting international collaborations and peer networking among students and speakers/trainers. The course will take place at the Station Biologique de Roscoff - SBR (France) - 7th to 12th of June, 2026 (arrival on the 6th, departure on the 13th). 20 participants will be selected, including 10 from EuroMarine member institutes. https://opbc.sciencesconf.org/

Protist lovers: Please apply for a week of rhapsody! Learn by doing:

MicroSEA (Microbial Sea Eukaryotes) course is a one-week, field-based summer school to train early-career researchers in the diversity, ecology, and single-cell biology of marine protists. opbc.sciencesconf.org

#protistsonsky

informing friends and loved ones I'm about to go on another 24h timecourse

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025 for the Directorate of Biological Sciences.

2/10

Observing shifts in phenology of tropical flowering plants Changes in flowering can cause misalignment with pollinators and seed dispersers, thus causing changes in fitness of both the plant species and their mutualists. Phenological shifts in tropical flower...

rather impressive work, showing that even in the tropics, climate change is affecting the timing of flowering in various plants

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Amazing data here - just 100lux of room light while staying up late seems to delay teens enough that 8000lx of morning bright light delays them further: