Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDGwênlyn Glusman (she/her) ☸️ @gwenlyn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I have modernized and enhanced the NSF COA generator tool. Results now update dynamically • Published under more than one name? Covered! • Other people share your name? No problem! • You prefer searching by ORCID? Go ahead! Give it a try. Feedback, bug reports, feature requests are MOST welcome! 🧪 05327
Ben Farmer, PhD @benfarmer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026So excited to share that I applied to both the LSRF and PRFB postdoc programs this week! Was a whirlwind but exciting to be submitting grants again. 010
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDProf Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026When Musk AND Rubio said “not a single person” died as a result of shutting down USAID, I wanted to vomit An estimated 700,000 people died (500,000 were kids) within a year of USAID being “put in the wood-chipper” Studies by Brooke Nichols at BU and by CGD researchers estimated a similar number 510347
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDChrystal Starbird @drstarbird.bsky.social · 01/10/2026And… I am SO excited to share the first research preprint from my group! In this paper we determined several cryoEM structures to visualize the entire cell-to-cell bridging complex formed by TAM receptor and ligand, bringing into 3D a common graphical depiction. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 710222
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJosef Uyeda @pseudacris.bsky.social · 28/09/2026If you're submitting a reference letter for a PRFB, I was surprised to not see any option for deleting and reuploading, which contradicts the info provided in the email requesting it. In fact, as soon as you select the file it is uploaded and you can't change it. Was fine for me, but beware. 01216
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDallie igwe @anigwe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Finally published! Redundancy maintains microbial ecosystem functional potential despite taxonomic shifts between serpentine and nonserpentine soils www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...microbiologyresearch.orgRedundancy maintains microbial ecosystem functional potential despite taxonomic shifts between serpentine and nonserpentine soilsEnvironmental filtering and buffering are complementary processes responsible for stabilizing ecosystem services across landscapes. The extent to which either of these processes structures microbial c... 184
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDCenter for Biological Diversity @biologicaldiversity.org · 26/09/2026The Trump administration is trying to undo the 2001 #RoadlessRule, clearing the way for road construction and logging across more than 44 million acres of wild, natural forests. And they have only given the public a short time to weigh in. Tell the Forest Service to protect national forests 🌲⬇️act.biologicaldiversity.orgProtect the Roadless WildThe Trump administration just released its plan to undo the landmark 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and strip protections from nearly 45 million acres of wild, national forest and 70,000 miles o... 35944
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDDr. Nyssa Silbiger @nsilbiger.bsky.social · 25/09/2026New paper! 🪸🌊 As reefs shift, the communities that replace corals can reshape the chemical environment around them. Laurel shows how community metabolism creates “chemical legacies” that alter coral physiology. @aslo.org aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.comCommunity metabolism generates chemical legacies that alter coral physiologyCoral reefs are among the world's most diverse ecosystems and contribute substantially to ocean productivity and the carbon budget. Disturbances are shifting reefs to altered community states, yet ho... 0135
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDUBC Oceans @ubcoceans.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Having found a mysterious killer of sea stars, scientists see an ingenious way to stop it. @rhizalyssa.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...theglobeandmail.comHaving found a mysterious killer of sea stars, B.C. scientists see a way to stop itTo halt a bacterial illness that killed billions of marine animals, researchers look to viruses 0115
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDSK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Separating the forebrain from the hindbrain is such a useful way to conceptualize adrenal responses ("fight or flight" limits the function of the forebrain and midbrain in favor of hindbrain function) very neat to see data showing they're separate from very early development on 4654
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhD⚡⚡MAD DOCTOR IMPOSSIBLE⚡⚡ @impossiblephd.bsky.social · 21/09/2026*Frothing at the mouth with excitement* HEY GUESS WHAT, YOU DON'T HAVE ONE BRAIN, YOU HAVE TWO! med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...med.stanford.eduHuman brain is two separate organs, Stanford Medicine-led research findsStanford Health Care delivers the highest levels of care and compassion. SHC treats cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, primary care issues, and many more. 1332613842
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDEd Yong is offline @edyong209.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Briefly popping my head back in to unveil the cover of my upcoming book, LIFE BEYOND MEASURE: Nature's Hidden Wonders at Every Scale. It’ll be out on April 6 in the U.S. and April 29 in the U.K. and you can pre-order it right now! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757705... 1/ 271621360
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDESA Journals @esajournals.bsky.social · 17/09/2026New findings from #TheScientificNaturalist in our journal "Ecology" ⬇️ 021
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJoshua Rivera @jmrivera.bsky.social · 14/09/2026it is wild how, if you go far enough up the chain, every AI has humans greasing the wheels, maintaining the illusion 19539147
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJL Weissman @jlw-ecoevo.bsky.social · 10/09/2026My lab is hiring two(!) postdocs interested in (1) building trait prediction models capable of resolving complex microbial traits from genomes and metagenomes, and/or (2) building mathematical models of microbial community dynamics www.microbialgamut.com/mGAMUT_postd...microbialgamut.com 23644
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJun B. Cai @junbcai.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Defending my dissertation in five days 🎓🪸 September 11 at 1 PM (PST) In-Person: Cordley Hall 1316 Zoom: beav.es/JunCai YouTube: beav.es/IBLive 095
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution @whoi.edu · 08/09/2026Can science save coral reefs from the impacts of ocean warming and disease? 🪸 Scientists and engineers at the newly established WHOI Schiller Center for Reef Solutions are conducting research to do just that! Learn more from the Cape Cod Times: go.whoi.edu/cct-schiller 📸 Dan Mele © WHOI 0178
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDThe Coral Reef Research Hub @coralreefresearch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026PAID INTERNSHIP: Coral and Sponge Restoration with i.care in the Florida Keys Learn more here: icareaboutcoral.org/interns/ #coralreefs #coralrestoration #coralreefinternship #internship #coral #marinescience #marineinternship #reefrestoration #marinebiology 033
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDRyan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 11/08/2026It's so annoying multiple folks have made tools to help compile the data. A couple examples: db.systemsbiology.net/gestalt/cgi-... and bib.experiments.kordinglab.com/nsf-coadb.systemsbiology.net 041
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJon Aguiñaga @jon-aguinaga.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Been working on my NSF PRFB proposal for what seems like weeks now. Thankful for the examples provided in @jrossibarra.bsky.social 's github page (github.com/RILAB/statem...). The current call is AI in biology, and fortunately thats a lot of what I do, so I'm giving it a shot!github.comstatements/fellowships at master · RILAB/statementsSuccessful Job Applications and Grants. Contribute to RILAB/statements development by creating an account on GitHub. 0197
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDSmith Fellowship @smithfellows.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Smith staff will hold an open office hour on September 10 from 10:00–11:00 a.m. PT to answer lingering application questions. Drop by anytime during the hour; as with in-person office hours, others may be present while your question is discussed. Register below to add the session to your calendar:zoom.usWelcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Office Hour with Smith Staff. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.Office hour open to all for questions related to 2027 Smith Fellowship applications 042
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDPLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 30/08/2026Pathogens sense #stress hormones in the gut and use them to regulate motility and virulence. Weston Whitaker explores a new @PLOSBiology.org study which transfers this pathway to a #probiotic bacterium, redesigns it to drive programmable outputs 🧪 Article plos.io/4zI6itm Primer plos.io/4qE1npb 1123
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDLaura-Li Jeannot @lljeannot.bsky.social · 03/08/2026🐠📣 New paper alert! 🦀 📣 Cryptofauna doesn't react uniformly to nutrients: cryptobenthic fishes are better able to capitalize on extra nutrients near seabird colonies, likely boosting larger piscivores; when rats are present, inverts thrive instead ▶️ doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... 2137
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDDeb Houry @drdebhoury.bsky.social · 28/08/2026One year ago today, I resigned from CDC alongside Dan Jernigan and @drdemetre.bsky.social . We walked out, but we did not walk away from public health. Today, we reflect on why we spoke up and what it will take to build a stronger CDC for the future. www.statnews.com/2026/08/28/c...statnews.comWe quit the CDC last year. The problems we protested remainHow disease spreads and the risks and benefits of interventions are questions for science, not for ideology. 621968
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDHannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Reports about the Tibet-Nepal flood have been devastating—and confusing. Here's the whirlwind story of how scientists around the world pieced together the cascade of events. @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #flood #hazard #naturaldisaster #landslidescience.orgHow scientists unraveled the cause of the devastating flood in Tibet and NepalGlobal cooperation revealed a landslide, not a glacial collapse, likely initiated the cascade of events 05022
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDSharkScience @sharkscience.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Evidence of a Potential Nursery Area for the Great Hammerhead Shark, Sphyrna mokarran, in the Largest Coral Reef System of the Southwestern Atlantic 🦑🦤🐟🦈 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...onlinelibrary.wiley.comEvidence of a Potential Nursery Area for the Great Hammerhead Shark, <fi>Sphyrna mokarran</fi>, in the Largest Coral Reef System of the Southwestern AtlanticWe present evidence suggesting that the Abrolhos Bank functions as key habitat for early life stages of Sphyrna mokarran. Kernel density estimation revealed spatially structured aggregations, with ne.... 0236
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDRae Radford @raeradford.bsky.social · 17/08/2026100% #BookSky 223149513615
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDOcean Hoptimism @oceanhoptimism.org · 08/08/2026Pssst. It’s not the sand that’s the problem. Sea levels are rising. Storms are intensifying. And we keep replacing sand to defend development built beside a coastline that was never static. The ocean is changing. How long will we keep rebuilding the past instead of adapting to the future?sfgate.comSurf spot Tamarack State Beach lost most of its sand in less than 2 weeksThe beach had recently undergone a sand replenishment project. 041
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDOcean Hoptimism @oceanhoptimism.org · 08/08/2026Gen Z is going crabbing—and we are SO here for it. 🦀🌊 Fresh air. Cheap seafood. New friendships. Less screen time. And women and nonbinary folks claiming space in a traditionally male pastime. Turns out touching grass is great. Touching the ocean? Even better.sfgate.comThis San Francisco influencer quit medical school to pursue crabbingYoung San Franciscans are making crabbing cool again. 021
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDNancy Knowlton @nancyknowlton.bsky.social · 19/07/2026Baby boom for a species on the brink - My news to me good news for July 18 (cheating by 38 mins) #EarthOptimism www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...washingtonpost.comRed wolves, once nearly wiped out, had a spring baby boom in North CarolinaThe births are a boon to efforts to revive the species, which was once nearly hunted to extinction. 0132
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDHolly Moeller @mixotrophe.bsky.social · 14/07/2026I'm so #sciencehappy that I wanna do it all again. Let's go for Year 5 of fig-a-day! Starting with the best science week of my life at @nitmb.bsky.social, producing some very cool models for multispecies mutualism, including the #SSRImodel -- because it makes us happy. #figaday 5.001 #year5 2455
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDSimon Donner @simondonner.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Record daytime high temperatures and heat indices are getting all the attention in this N American heatwave, as in the recent European heatwave. As big a health risk is the high overnight temperatures; inability to cool off overnight is a primary driver of sickness and death during heatwaves. 1155
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDTeeDixie ✊🏼 @teedixie.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Wow who’d have thunk it, vaccines work 🤔 Great news to celebrate. 14794092449
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDdr-skitch.bsky.social @dr-skitch.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Attending ICRS 2026 in Auckland? Want to learn how we streamline coral genotype tracking? Join us (me, Kim De Luca and @ibaums.bsky.social) for an interactive workshop on Standard Tools for Acroporid Genotyping Database (STAGdb)! #ICRS2026 #CoralRestoration #Bioinformatics #ConservationGenetics 162
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 23/06/2026Marine heatwave developing around Florida, with a Coral Bleaching Warning issued for the Florida Keys! If you’ve been to the beach lately you know we are past the refreshing stage, and have moved onto hot tub stage! Water temps in Florida Bay are as high as 97°F in the silty waters… 1/ 16926
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDChris Oakley @quercus62.bsky.social · 19/06/2026Sad to miss #evol2026 this year but most of my lab will be there. Juan Diego will defend his PhD in October and will be looking for a Postdoc. Stephanie will be presenting a poster on work that she did as an undergraduate and she is looking for graduate programs for Fall of 2027. 0144
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDShooti @bambooshooti.bsky.social · 16/06/2026#ResistanceEarth Don't write off coral reefs just yet. Scientists have identified 64,000 square miles of coral reefs across 71 countries capable of not only surviving but recovering from climate change. Some of these reefs are in areas not previously recognized. www.yahoo.com/news/science...yahoo.comScientists identify 64,000 sq miles of coral reef capable of surviving climate crisisSINGAPORE, June 16 (Reuters) - Scientists have identified nearly 166,000 sq km (64,000 sq miles) of coral reefs that are capable of surviving and recovering from climate change, three times more than 27880244
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDBrock Wooldridge @tywooldr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026A big postdoc project of mine is now out in PNAS! Please take a look if you're interested in marine invertebrates, ancient DNA, inversions over time, genomic erosion, rapid adaptation, and more! (photos thanks to Sarah Ford and Michael Ready) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 173
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDWendy the Woke @nomorex61.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Altman must be feeling a little burnt. 293
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDICRS International Coral Reef Society @icrs.bsky.social · 01/06/2026🪸 Happy World Reef Day! Here are some of our favourite coral reef documentaries released recently — the ones that stopped us in our tracks and reminded us exactly why this work matters. What film or documentary has reignited your love for coral reefs and the ocean lately? Share it in the comments! 🎬 053
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDSchmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 03/06/2026A moment of discovery! It was a nearly 20-hour dive that the science team will never forget — discovering the first vents in the little-explored #Doldrums Megatransform & Fracture Zone. (Led by Aaron Micallef of @mbarinews.bsky.social ) Read more via YouTube caption: youtube.com/shorts/ocR0l...youtube.comA moment of discovery!YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Institute 24516
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDLisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · 03/06/2026A nice big hairy slime star for you @echinoblog.bsky.social (they didn't collect it) @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 929 #Doldrums #MarineLife 1202
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 03/06/2026Can’t divest, condemn, mock, and abandon young people when they conform and then jail, surveil, deport, track, and kill them if they protestors and *then* wonder why they don’t believe in the system. 246395
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDAdam Kovac @adamjkovac.bsky.social · 02/06/2026The Trump administration's NSF is removing hundreds of ocean sensors that provide incredibly comprehensive and continual data. This is a loss not only for climate scientists, but marine biologists and industries that rely on the health of those waters. www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...scientificamerican.comTrump administration takes aim at crucial ocean monitoring networkThe Ocean Observatories Initiative has been collecting data on physical, chemical, geological and biological conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past decade 23935
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDDr. Dawn Wright @deepseadawn.bsky.social · 02/06/2026A shot across the bow by these authors in @pnas.org : "Ecology is not yet ready for AI—and why that matters" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 🧪 ⚒️ 🌏 🌍 🌎pnas.orgEcology is not yet ready for AI—and why that matters | PNASEcology is not yet ready for AI—and why that matters 02111
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDMaggie Wiggin @maggie162.bsky.social · 01/06/2026My god, Octavia Butler, just miss ONCE 176113853795
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDJessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 02/06/2026in retrospect making twitter and/or facebook integral parts of disaster response and communication was probably a mistake 0124
Reposted by Ben Farmer, PhDDr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 02/06/2026Incredible! Scientists receive a rare standing ovation after announcing that a new treatment can double the survival time for pancreatic cancer, the deadliest cancer which was once considered “undruggable.” When we fund and support science, we can achieve anything! (Video: Dr. Wish Dhillon) 266147613496
Ben Farmer, PhD @benfarmer.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Absolutely shameful to not call the Gulf of Mexico its rightful name. I know NOAA is bound by federal headwinds, but if the lunatic who made this directive is a pedophile fascist who is creating modern day concentration camps, I think the agency has a moral and ethical obligation to resist. 0122