iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Today @jasonbains.bsky.social successfully defended his PhD thesis "Quantifying chemo-responses of motile microbes 🦠 in complex and dynamic chemical environments🪾". It has been a real pleasure to supervise Jason. Thank you Mitya Pushkin and Graeme Sarsons for acting as examiners. #ActiveMatter #PhD

Jason with green shirt and rucksack standing in front of a glasshouse where potato plants are growing

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 18/09/2026

A global rise in meat consumption is increasing livestock manure. But that manure could feed black soldier fly larvae, which are currently used at industrial scale for livestock feed protein—resulting in a resilient, circular system. In PNAS: ow.ly/p0Qb50ZP8TG

Black soldier fly larvae and frass remaining after the bioconversion of livestock manure.
CREDIT: Zhijian Zhang.

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🟥🟥🟥🟪🟪 🟥🟥🟥🟪🟪 🟫🟫🟧🟧🟧 🟧🟧🟩⬛⬛ 🟨🟨🟩🟦🟦 day 1260: 163 points 84% digit.party

digit.party

match numbers, score points. daily challenge + random boards

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Jennifer Goff, PhD @jlgoff.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

New preprint! This one is actually from my class! We did metagenomic sequencing on a Winogradsky column. In my Microbial Biochemistry class, the students learned to assemble and analyze the MAGs, directly applying what they learned in lecture to make predictions about their organism’s metabolism. 🧵

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 01/09/2026

New images from our most powerful solar telescope have finally revealed a phenomenon that's long been predicted: Kelvin-Helmholtz waves on the Sun's photosphere. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32451

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The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 27/08/2026

Professor Bonnie Bassler is awarded the Copley Medal for her discovery of the universality of chemical communication in bacteria and for her idea that interfering with this communication could form the basis of novel anti-bacterials. #RSMedals royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/…

A woman with dark hair and a light blue shirt smiles at the camera in front of a bright white background.

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Saverio E. Spagnolie @sespagnolie.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I was just reminded of this neat way to advertise your group's work. "Submissions of your recently published or ongoing work will be considered for highlights on DSOFT's Bluesky, TikTok, website, or blog platforms." docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

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Saverio E. Spagnolie @sespagnolie.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

CHAOTIC BUBBLEWHEEL says good morning, as it fights off your dark thoughts with its playfulness. It glides autonomously through distinct life stages for over an hour, as gas slowly escapes the environment, along the bifurcation diagram of the Lorenz system. (1/10) arxiv.org/abs/2608.17169

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Nicole Sharp @nicolesharp.com · 13/08/2026

Nature is full of helical fibers, including in plants and bird feathers. In this study, researchers explore how these soft springs react to droplets. fyfluiddynamics.com/?p=32226

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Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid) @vdlorenzo.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The Madrid region is burning. We have never witnessed wildfires on this scale here. This is both frightening & infuriating. We all knew that climate change would make these events more frequent & extreme. Prevention cannot be left to good luck or the hope that this year will somehow be different 😡

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Kirsty Wan @micromotility.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Do #tintinnids dream of electric sheep? 🤯 Here is a single cell capable of building a lorica and living inside it for protection... it also swims, feeds, hunts Can even detect and habituate to mechanical cues! #celllearning #protistsonsky #cilia Read more in our preprint doi.org/10.64898/202...

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Diez Lab @ TU Dresden @stefandiezlab.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

🔬 #JobAlert Interested in doing a PhD with us in #SyntheticBiology on the Reconstitution of Oscillatory Microtubule-Motor Systems? Check shorturl.at/wis5P (note the eligibility criteria) or/and get in touch with us shorturl.at/WmgOD. Deadline: 31 July 2026 #WeAreHiring #AcademicJobs #ScienceJobs

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Sebastian Schornack @dromius.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Growing love - when a root meets a symbiotic #Mycorrhiza #fungus See what happens with MycorRhize3D. schornacklabslcu.github.io/MycorRhize3D/ Simulate a tap root in soil with spores. Roots turn red when colonised, just like in this paper journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... Reply for suggestions!

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The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 11/07/2026

Join physicist and presenter Lucie Green and Astronomer Royal Michele Dougherty FRS as they explore the remarkable life and work of Caroline Herschel, who discovered comets and changed the way we study the stars: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JsSqxbfqLE

youtube.com

The amazing story of astronomer Caroline Herschel | The Royal Society

YouTube video by The Royal Society

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epithelial mechanics fan club @epimechfc.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

From single-celled organisms to ciliated epithelia in metazoans, precise positioning of basal bodies (BBs), which anchor motile cilia, is essential for generating fluid flows. Here, I, @raghavan-thiaga.bsky.social, will take you on a brief tour of how cells build this spatial organization.

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The kids at the 'Meet the Microswimmers' workshops today were great. They loved building 3D printed microscopes, exploring sand & mint samples, and seeing algae swimming. Thanks Caitlin, @jasonbains.bsky.social, Joe, Paul & Adam for making this happen! #NCLDiscoverFest @newcastleuni.bsky.social

Samples of algae in test tubes on a window sill next to mint and coriander plants

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Smitha Maretvadakethope (she/her) @mathsmaret.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Did you think that small gene regulatory networks are only capable of very simple dynamics? Guess again! Even very simple networks are capable of a rich dynamics. Check out our brand new review paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @perez-carrasco.bsky.social

sciencedirect.com

Simple systems, complex dynamics: lessons from minimal gene regulatory networks

Small gene regulatory networks (GRNs) are well-established biological modules that underpin cellular decisions and dynamical function. Their theoretic…

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Excited about our 'Meet the Microswimmers' workshops (fully booked!) this Saturday at the Discover Festival. Kids will get to build their own 3D printed microscope and study microscopic samples. We will also be projecting microalgae swimming live 🔬🦠 #DiscoverFestival @newcastleuni.bsky.social

Credit card sized microscope. A lever arm holds a glass bead which acts as a lens. Two paper clips hold in place a slide with a sample

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

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The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 21/05/2026

Pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning was born #OnThisDay in 1799. Already ground-breaking by aged 12, she discovering the first correctly-identified ichthyosaur skeleton and helped revolutionise our understanding of the prehistoric Earth. She always worked with her dog, Tray. #WomenInSTEM

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Hiscock Lab @hiscocklab.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

🚨Job alert in theory/math devbio 🚨 I’m currently advertising postdoc positions to join my group. We’re building reaction-diffusion models to understand some of the amazing things embryos can do. We are based in a beautiful part of Scotland! Please share! www.abdn.ac.uk/jobs/vacanci...

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Northumbria UCU Branch @ucunorthumbria.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

❤️Historians know: "UK universities are a precious commodity. Ten years of dropping this commodity to see where the pieces land is not an education policy worthy of the name. It is neglect bordering on vandalism." royalhistsoc.org/history-and-...

royalhistsoc.org

History and the humanities at the University of Hertfordshire – a statement from the Royal Historical Society - RHS

Even for those familiar with bleak times, this has been a particularly bad few weeks in UK higher education. Confirmed job losses at the University of Essex were followed by further bad news from Hert...

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Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...

Scanning electron microscopy image of the ciliate Euplotes gigatrox on the cover of the journal PNAS. Distinct punk rock vibes

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The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 10/05/2026

Born #OnThisDay in 1900 was Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. In her doctoral thesis she concluded stars are primarily composed of hydrogen & helium, an idea dismissed by the establishment of the day. It was later described as "the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy."

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Fantastic fully funded opportunity in a great lab. We really need those new antibiotics! 🔬🦠🌎 #amr #antibiotics #microbes

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Mazi Jalaal @mazi1.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

How strong is a cyanobacterial colony? We use micropipette force sensors to detach a single cell from a Microcystis colony and find that the EPS matrix is strong, heterogeneous, and becomes even stronger under low nutrient availability. RP and comments are appreciated! arxiv.org/pdf/2604.27760

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

“They are among more than 1,500 biologists, chemists and other experts at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development who have been laid off, reassigned or pressured to retire. Today, only 124 researchers remain,“ www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/c...

nytimes.com

How the Trump Administration Ended Independent Science at the E.P.A.

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

The flagellar length of the bloom forming alga Chatonella marina is diurnally regulated, causing it to swim faster during the day. Excellent work by @azusakage.bsky.social and collaborators 🔬🦠

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Azusa Kage @azusakage.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

New preprint alert! 🦠🔬 We quantitatively evaluated the swimming and flagellar movement of Chattonella, a red-tide alga. Chattonella has two unequal flagella, and we found a positive correlation between anterior flagellum length and swimming speed. #protistonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Fantastic opportunity to do some very interesting active matter research!

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Mazi Jalaal @mazi1.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

📝 How does fluid flow reshape cyanobacterial blooms? Experiemnts + Theory + Field work, led by Yuri Sinzato to show when colonies break or stick, and why that matters for bloom dynamics. eLife: elifesciences.org/articles/103... Digest: elifesciences.org/digests/1035... #Cyanobacteria #Ecology

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James Hughes @dystopian-fashion.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Opalized turtle shell fossil

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Icebergs can self-propel 🧊➡️

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Digital Brain @yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Dive into the microscopic world of pond critters! These stunning images reveal ciliates and water bears in incredible detail, showcasing nature's hidden wonders.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 10/04/2026

Researchers tracked individual diatoms—unicellular photosynthetic microalgae with rigid silica cell walls—as they glided along a surface using mobile adhesive strands that protrude through slits in their cell walls, known as raphes. In PNAS: ow.ly/3GnU50YFJwL

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Mattia Serra @mattiaserra.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

We have postdoc openings for data-driven modeling and information flows in living systems, with a focus on embryonic development. mattiaserra.com Requirements: PhD in Physics, Applied Math, or similar; prior exposure to biological data preferred. Please share with potential candidates. Thank you!

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Preprint 🌱 Plants build nonlinear vectorial representations of light patterns! Surprising results: Opposing cues cancel, so plants grow towards a weaker tie-breaker light. Plants respond to sum of transduced signals, not physical sum of light: optical “illusions”! 🪩 tinyurl.com/44f83xh8

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Marine Biological Laboratory @mblscience.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

A new study from an associate scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory shows that two different cell populations in a skate embryo can give rise to the same repeating structures (or “serial homologs”) in the adult. Read the full story here: go.mbl.edu/fft

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John Bistline @bistline.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

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The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 21/03/2026

Born #OnThisDay in 1866 was Antonia Maury, astronomer and one of the Harvard Computers. Maury worked on the classification of stellar spectra and binary stars, and was called "the single greatest mind that has ever engaged itself in the field of the morphology of stellar spectra." #WomenInSTEM

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Otti Croze @otticroze.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

A thing of beauty and mystery

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Chris Packham @chrisgpackham.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I'm backing @peatfree.bsky.social's campaign for a peat free future . Last October the UK Govt committed to ending the sale of peat– but we need action . Sign the petition calling for legislation in 2026 to bring peat sales to an end at long last . actnow.peatfreepartnership.org.uk/end-peat-sal...

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Pietro Cicuta @pcicuta.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

International Congress in Biological Physics, Genova, Italy, 28 June to 3 July 2026. URGENT: submission deadline 25 March. Session topics, plenary and invited speakers: www.icbp2026.org IUPAP Physics of Life medal awarded at meeting. Spread the word - and act quickly to submit your work.

icbp2026.org

ICBP 2026

We proudly invite experts in biological physics worldwide to the International Conference on Biological Physics 2026 (ICBP 2026) in the magnificent Italian city of Genoa from June 28 to July 5, 2026

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