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Chris Balakrishnan

@evolutionpirate.bsky.social
894 followers 1.2K following 94 posts

Nerd Nite Founder and author/editor of "How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi" bit.ly/NerdNiteBook. My postings are my own do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of my employer.

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Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Each Friday night, I write a briefing on what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪  Sept 25 (Year 2, Week 39) - Justice Dept drops 50+ longstanding school desegregation cases - no new NIH EO (but threat isn’t past) - $1B in new pocket rescission & more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...
buttondown.com
Year 2, Week 39
Sept 19-25 – digging in
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
One of the most depressing things you’ll read today—on how RFK Jr & Jay Bhattacharya dismantled the CDC & pushed the agency to spend time investigating kooky anti-vaxx anti-science theories It’s tragic: they took the world’s premier public health agency & zombified it; the impacts have been awful
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Shobita Parthasarathy @shobitap.org · 17/09/2026
In my new Expert Voices column @science.org, I argue that the Trump admin's science strategy (as written in Kratsios' Science: A Golden Age)--which gives more authority & funding to the private sector to direct the research enterprise--will harm science, and further erode its public accountability.
science.org
Escaping a downward spiral for science and public accountability
In late July, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), released Science—A Golden Age, setting forth a strategy to revitalize US research and innova...
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 10/09/2026
Thank goodness for @alondra.bsky.social, truly.
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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Millennium math problem solved by OpenAI may have "regurgitated" competitors unpublished work... also they spent more than $22 million in computing power in one week to scoop them. techcrunch.com/2026/09/08/o...
techcrunch.com
OpenAI fought dirty on career-making math problem, says NYU mathematician | TechCrunch
There is a $1 million bounty for the first person providing a solution to the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem.
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David Toews @davetoews.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
ifloz.substack.com
KING CARNEY ACTIVATES KONG MODE WITH ZERO FUCKS
Carney Reads the Clock Like a Pro Wrestler
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I’m on a boat to Nova Scotia, Canada and it is a bleak day for the US and Canada.
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Anna Allen @akallen10.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
New NSF BIO solicitation is live.... this replaces the previous IOS, MCB, DEB solicitation www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Yes. The conventional wisdom is that the lab leak has been suppressed when in fact it has been given far more credibility than it deserves. Scientists should explore every possibility but the lay public should know that spillover has a ton of evidence and a leak has none.
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John Stinchcombe @johnstinchcombe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
This is thoughtful and worth your time.
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Jessica Nix @jessicanix.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
NEW: As cyclosporiasis cases jumped, the company linked to the outbreak - Taylor Farms - effectively delayed a recall that mounted in consumer confusion. Gift link for @business www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
As Parasite Spawned Chaos, Taylor Farms Slow-Walked Its Response
The US Food and Drug Administration had apologized, Taylor Farms said in a post on X. An agency lab test linking its produce to the country’s worst cyclosporiasis outbreak in decades was a false posit...
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Steven Robbins @stevenjrobbins.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
It's out! Excited to present the Great Barrier Reef Microbial Genomes Database (GBR-MGD), a comprehensive DB of 1000s of high-quality prokaryote, virus, plasmid, and chromosome-level eukaryote MAGs using Nanopore long reads. Subthreads incoming. Please share widely. 🙂 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The planktonic microbiome of the Great Barrier Reef - Nature
The Great Barrier Reef Microbial Genomes Database compiles prokaryotic, viral and eukaryotic genomes from seawater collected from the Great Barrier Reef, providing a rich resource for the study of mar...
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 21/07/2026
I guess this is how one becomes someone who haunts estate sales for old Pyrex
worseonpurpose.com
Your Cookware Got Worse On Purpose
One buyout firm quietly collected Pyrex, Corelle, Instant Pot, and Oneida. Farberware is a name on a 200-year lease. And the pans still worth buying.
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Erin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social · 17/07/2026
We need 2-3 more writers with a science-y backgrounds to help us turn news chaos into orderly information on @unbreaking.org's infectious disease control, food safety, and medical research funding pages. The commitment is a few hours every couple of weeks. Is this you? 🌱 unbreaking.org/how-to-help/
unbreaking.org
How to help — Unbreaking
Documenting damage and resistance. Unflooding the zone.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 06/06/2026
Here's the article. diabetesjournals.org/care/article...
diabetesjournals.org
Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!
The opinions expressed in this editorial are the personal views of the authors (S.E. Kahn, C.A.M. Anderson, J.B. Buse, and E. Selvin) and do not represent
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The prevent defense prevents you from winning. RIP John Madden.
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Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Who needs Moore's law when you've got solar growth rates?
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
New paper from the lab! In which we, in partnership with Sylvan Heights Bird Park, describe patterns of genetic diversity, pathogen susceptibility, and inbreeding in one of the rarest birds in the world, the white-winged wood duck (not a muscovy duck). A short thread, and link below. (1/4)
Image of three white-winged ducks Asarcornis scutulata. Photo by Katie Lubbock, Sylvan Heights Bird Park
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Jim Woodgett @jwoodgett.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Think I might have chosen the experts at one of the worlds most admired zoos *that has been doing this for 50 years*.
"It seems like a bit of a risk for the U.S. government to place biomaterials in a for-profit company that doesn't have a very long track record", said Oliver Rydfe, a conservation geneticist at eh San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, which operates a storage effort called the Frozen Zoo that has been preserving cells for about 50 years."
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John Hanger @jrfhanger.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Good morning with good news: Biggest solar cell factory in US history starts making solar cells and every major piece of a solar panel! Qcells will annually make in Georgia 8.6 GW of modules and 3.3 GW each of cells, ingots & wafers. It will employ 4,000! electrek.co/2026/06/11/g... #energysky
electrek.co
Georgia is about to have the biggest solar cell factory in US history
Qcells is making solar cells in Georgia at what will soon be the largest solar cell factory in US history. Here's why that matters.
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Humble as always @birdfiddler.bsky.social , who could be said to be the brains behind this operation. It was Alice after all who pointed out to me this linkage between frugivory and sexual selection and the papers from Snow and others :)
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Alice Boyle @birdfiddler.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Before I get too far, here is the link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... The first author is @evolutionpirate.bsky.social and the senior author is Maude Baldwin, but if you look carefully, there are actually 8 co-first authors! (incl @rdriver215.bsky.social). 2/n
sciencedirect.com
Genomic and physiological changes in a sexually selected and frugivorous bird radiation
Across diverse organisms, the strength and ecological drivers of sexual selection vary enormously. In birds, some of the families with the most elabor…
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Ages ago, I asked @mikemelton.bsky.social for permission to use his phenomenal video of the hard-to-see Saffron Crested Tyrant Manakin. You can see it here along with video of the other four manakins whose genomes we sequenced! Thanks again!!!
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I can’t emphasize enough the contributions of the team. Some probably view this number of first authors as absurd, but each of them contributed a massive amount of time and effort (and data!) just an amazing team to work with. I’m so happy to have this out in the world!
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Alice Boyle @birdfiddler.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
#NewPaperAlert! This one has a massive author list and has been a LONG time in coming, but is SO COOL! First, check out the first figure to get you interested! Manakins! Fruit! Sexual-selection in action (displays and Z:A chromosomal diversity)! Read on for the back story & link 1/n
above: montage of brightly coloured tropical birds, some in interesting display postures, some eating fruit
below: a phylogeny that includes those same taxa (and others) and a plot of the ratio of genetic diversity on the autosomes relative to the Z chromosomes
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Botany One @botany.one · 02/06/2026
Asst Professor - Plant or Fungal Genomics // University of Wyoming jobs.chronicle.com/job/37995586... The Department of Botany and the School of Computing invites applications for a tenure-track position in Plant or Fungal Genomics at the rank of Assistant Professor. #BotanyJobs
jobs.chronicle.com
Asst Professor - Plant or Fungal Genomics - Wyoming, United States job with University of Wyoming | 37995586
Asst Professor - Plant or Fungal Genomics Join Our Campus Community! Thank you for your interest in joining the University of Wyoming. Our...
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Richard Kadrey @richardkadrey.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Good morning to everyone stumbling through 2026
a white crab by a hydrothermal vent with the caption, "This creature has adapted to the crushing pressure and oppressive darkness."
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elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...
elizabethginexi.substack.com
What We Need to do NEXT: OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule (OMB 2026-10817)
What OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule Means in Practice
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
in which the kids are alright AND student newspapers continue to light the way "In its tireless support for AI, the University has essentially endorsed shortcuts+the outsourcing of academic thinking. AI cannot coexist with education — it can only degrade it." www.thedp.com/article/2026...
thedp.com
Editorial | Penn has an AI problem
The Daily Pennsylvanian Editorial Board argues that Penn’s choice to embrace AI is detrimental to the institution of higher education. 
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Catherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Well damn, this is cool. Birds That Don't Exist: Niche Pre-Emption as a Constraint on Morphological Evolution in the Passeroidea | Chia et al., 2026 | Ecology Letters onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Birds That Don't Exist: Niche Pre‐Emption as a Constraint on Morphological Evolution in the Passeroidea
We use topological data analysis to reveal a persistent morphological gap in a major group of songbirds (superfamily Passeroidea). The gap remained unoccupied for millions of years, even though nearb...
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Lior Pachter @lpachter.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Some thoughts on AI based on working on this project: Some thoughts on AI based on working on this project: liorpachter.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/t...
liorpachter.wordpress.com
The Quickening
In a paper titled “THEOREMS FOR A PRICE: Tomorrow’s Semi-Rigorous Mathematics Culture” published in 1993, mathematician Doron Zeilberger wrote: There are writings on the wall that…
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Morgan Tingley @mwtingley.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Our point in this research is not that bird feeding causes zoonotic spillover, but that we can actually *predict* when spillover is likely to occur, so that we can adjust our behavior (e.g., bird feeding) when the risk supports us making a change.
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IPBES @ipbes.net · 19/01/2026
The Business and Biodiversity Assessment looks at how economic activities both depend on and affect biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people. Which aspect are you most curious about? 👀 More info about the #BizBiodiversity report set for approval at #IPBES12: ipbes.canto.de/b/HJAGG
A promotional image for the BizBiodiversity Assessment Report, featuring multiple photographs. The main image shows two cyclists on a wooden boardwalk viewing Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, with towering granite cliffs and evergreen forest in the background. Below the title and text on a teal green background, there's a strip of five smaller photos showing: colorful textiles at a market, green tree canopy, aerial view of agricultural land, and wildlife in a savanna setting.

The text announces "#BizBiodiversity Assessment Report" and details a methodological assessment about business impacts on biodiversity and nature's contributions to people. The event information indicates "#IPBES12 | 3-8 FEBRUARY 2026 | MANCHESTER, UK"

The document describes its purpose of strengthening knowledge base for businesses to achieve the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity and Convention on Biological Diversity objectives, focusing on conservation, sustainable use, and equitable sharing of genetic resources.
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Labor calls a general strike in Minnesota to protest the ICE invasion of the state.
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 15/01/2026
"Less than 24 hours after the Trump administration informed more than 2,000 addiction and mental health programs nationwide that it was immediately terminating almost $2 billion of their funding, the administration reversed course and reinstated the money." Gift link: nyti.ms/4pzDSLz
nyti.ms
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Still the best holiday album as far as I know: youtube.com/watch?v=kImY...
youtube.com
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings "Silver Bells"
YouTube video by DaptoneRecords
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 18/12/2025
I think the answer to stopping the harms of the Big AI companies is *not* to say "we need to kill all the AI", even though we hate seeing the creeping impacts of that bad AI in our lives. The model has to be how Bluesky is a better alternative to Twitter. We need a tolerable AI alternative instead.
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Nandita Garud @nanditagarud.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Grateful to share our paper on gene-specific selective sweeps in human gut microbiomes, now out in Nature! It has been a joy to work with @rwolff.bsky.social, whose insights and hard work made this possible. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Gene-specific selective sweeps are pervasive across human gut microbiomes - Nature
Development and application of the integrated linkage disequilibrium score (iLDS) reveals both selective pressures impacting the human gut microbiome and the mechanisms by which gut bacteria adapt to ...
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Matthew Hahn @3rdreviewer.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA? Well, wonder no more! (Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social) "No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes
Muller's ratchet predicts that non-recombining genomes can accumulate deleterious mutations, though molecular evidence for it is rare. Previous studies have tried to detect ratchet-like behavior in mi...
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
A good time for a reminder that the BIO Directorate will hold a Virtual Office Hour on Thursday www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...
nsf.gov
NSF BIO Virtual Office Hour: Updates from the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences
Please join the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences for a virtual office hour on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I know there are pressing issues afoot, but why did Apple move everything that was on top to the bottom and vice versa in the new iOS?
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Kenny Uong @kennyuong.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Zoe Weissman - survivor of 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL Mia Tretta - survivor of 2019 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, CA Both are now students at Brown University in Providence, RI.
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Kevin Bennett @kevinfpbennett.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
New paper out. If you like colorful birds, hybridization, and phylogenetics, read on! 🧵https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003501
doi.org
A colorful legacy of hybridization in wood-warblers includes frequent sharing of carotenoid genes among species and genera
Introgression between species can shape evolutionary trajectories in important ways. This study of the entire family of the colorful wood-warblers (Parulidae) uses whole-genome sequencing to reveal fr...
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Ok, now with the correct link! BiO-wide virtual office hours at the NSF! www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...
nsf.gov
NSF BIO Virtual Office Hour: Updates from the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences
Please join the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences for a virtual office hour on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
NSF - Forced reorg - POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements) - Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …) I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing. “Details matter” 🙃
Boxing up the NSF at Eisenhower Av for the forced relocation. Boxes have “Details Matter” signage.
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Marnix Medema @marnixmedema.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Now out in @asm.org #mSystems! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... Congratulations to Robert and thanks to all collaborators. See thread below for a summary of the work, exploring the use of cross-species coexpression analyses to predict primary and secondary metabolic interactions in microbiomes.
journals.asm.org
Using cross-species co-expression to predict metabolic interactions in microbiomes | mSystems
An improved mechanistic understanding of microbial interactions can guide targeted interventions or inform the rational design of microbial communities to optimize them for applications such as pathog...
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Consumer Reports @consumerreports.org · 09/12/2025
In collaboration w/ @groundwork.bsky.social & @moreperfectunion.bsky.social, we convened hundreds of volunteers from across the country to investigate Instacart’s AI-assisted pricing experiments at popular grocery stores like Target & Kroger. Read our full investigation below:
consumerreports.org
Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds - Consumer Reports
Exclusive: Instacart’s AI pricing may be inflating your grocery bill.
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Niels de Winter @nielsjdewinter.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Fascinated to learn that we are still discovering new species at the highest rate ever. Mapping Earth's biodiversity is far from over, and while we learn more and more about it, let's protect what we do know as well as we can! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The past and future of known biodiversity: Rates, patterns, and projections of new species over time
The number of known species on Earth is increasing rapidly, suggesting unexpectedly large numbers of many groups.
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Chris Balakrishnan @evolutionpirate.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Why is the adobe “Ask AI assistant” right in the middle of the text I am trying to read?
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 30/11/2025
Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved. Don't look up!
nytimes.com
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
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