iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

What an incredible summer of science at Friday Harbor Labs. We spawned chitons for the second summer, this time pursuing questions about the development of the radula and the aesthetes. Now on to the transcriptomes of those babies. They are. So. Cute.

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

My brain knows he isn’t smiling at me but my heart doesn’t. (Chiton larva on confocal)

A chiton larva on confocal in green with black eyespots and mouth

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Congratulations to all those who pushed “apply” on their GRFPs. You navigated this process despite uncertainty- well done! Take pride in how you have developed as a scientist and a writer as you worked through the application. No grant writing is ever wasted- this is only the start for all of you.

media.tenor.com

a group of minions are standing next to each other and they are laughing and saying yay

ALT: a group of minions are standing next to each other and they are laughing and saying yay

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

This is the best common name ever.

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Reposted by Rebecca Varney

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

The Meselson and Stahl experiment demonstrated in 1958 that DNA replicated semi-conservatively. Meaning, each of the two strands of DNA serves as a template for a new copy to made of the complementary strand. Foundational finding, elegant experimental design.

The Meselson-Stahl Experiment, diagrammed to show the three possible outcomes: conservative, dispersive or semi-conservative.

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Had a nightmare that somebody called CPS on me about my chiton larvae. I’m not sure what that means… probably that I should sleep more? I PROMISE I JUST CLEANED THE BOWLS 🤣

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

We told our Marine Invertebrate Zoology course here at #FHL that we would be dissecting a squid as a class. We surprised them with the species. This beautiful animal washed ashore dead a few weeks ago on San Juan & #FHL was kind enough to freeze it until we covered cephalopods. ❤️🦑

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Grocery shopping while covered in anoxic mud? Check. Washington State cherries are a required stop, but so are the hemichordates! Can’t wait to be back at #FHL!

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

First run of Dev Bio is done. My students’ final exam included a “design an experiment”, and one of them asked “how many organizers can you add to a Xenopus at once?”. 1) I love my job 2) Anybody know? Their hypothesis was 3. 🤣

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Today I was working at the kitchen table and I said “I forgot to cat it” and my 15 month old responded “cat cat cat”, and I don’t think I’ve ever been this fond of a script.

media.tenor.com

a kitten is standing on top of a laptop computer looking at the screen .

ALT: a kitten is standing on top of a laptop computer looking at the screen .

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Reposted by Rebecca Varney

Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Inside me there are two wolves. One of them has a 15 genome edits the other 20 genome edits. Neither of them is a dire wolf.

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

This is a general note to nobody in particular that if you don’t keep your online CV updated, it’s harder to nominate you for things. ❤️

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Three of my students chose papers on snails for their latest write-up. Apparently presenting the romantic plight of Jeremy the snail is a great way to get students excited about snail evo-devo!

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The Grass Foundation @grassfoundation.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

The first genome-edited horseshoe crabs! 🧬 2024 Grass Fellow Guilherme Gainett spent a summer at @mblscience.bsky.social developing genetic tools for these ancient creatures to see what their eyes can teach us about the evolution of sensory systems. 👀 grassfoundation.org/first-genome...

grassfoundation.org

First Genome-Edited Horseshoe Crabs – The Grass Foundation

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Dev Bio: I got a student to make a paper airplane during class. We are studying juxtacrine and paracrine signaling,and they had to figure out how to signal a “cell” of students across the room. Paracrine Falcon for the win!

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Steve Haddock @stevehaddock.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Excited about this new video that explains our research on how comb jelly membranes function under extreme pressure of the deep-sea. Made by 1st author Jacob Winnikoff & Kyra Schlining for @mbarinews.bsky.social 🦑🧪🌊 Just in time for @dsbsoc.bsky.social! #ctenophore www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7A0...

youtube.com

Grace under pressure: How membranes help comb jellies thrive in the deep

YouTube video by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

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Reposted by Rebecca Varney

Julia Sigwart @sigwartae.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Meet our new fossils: Punk and Emo (their real names) New Silurian aculiferans that look like nothing else; the anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment, non-conformist molluscs out now in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41... @sgn.one @oceanspecies.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

This wallpaper at #SICB2025 looks like somebody had a chaotic agarose gel day? You all see it, right?

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

When your new lab space came with a dried mascot, leave it to the grad students to make it #crustmas approved

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Uri Frank @thecocodium.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

We are looking for a small-molecule inhibitor of Wnt/b-cat signaling, ideally one that was teasted in a marine invertebrate. Any idea?

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

I hear marriage is built on trust. So the fact that I pulled a nitrile glove from my pocket along with my keys and threw it on the dining table, and my husband casually picked it up and tossed it while I dealt with the baby means he must trust me a lot? Whoops…

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Rebecca Varney @rebeccavarney.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Glow in the dark science is always a hit! Overheard a student say “look mom new genes!…wait bacteria are their own moms…”

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Reposted by Rebecca Varney

Dr Andrew Mahon @andyantarctica.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Working on teaching the undergrads in my lab how to ID these Pycnogonidae sea spiders (Pentapycnon spp) and how to use standard bioinformatic methods to assemble their mitochondrial genomes. 3D scans of these will be coming soon too! 🧪🦑🐧🌎🇦🇶🧬

Pycnogonidae species (Pentapycnon spp.) and an unidentified sea spider (likely family Nymphonidae) collected in 2020 on NPB20-10 research cruise.

Pycnogonidae species (Pentapycnon spp.) collected in 2020 on NPB20-10 research cruise.

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Reposted by Rebecca Varney

Paulyn Cartwright @pcart.bsky.social · 02/02/2024

We are pleased to announce that applications are now open for our new NSF RaMP postbaccalaureate program "Integrating Biodiversity Science with Genetic Evolutionary Mechanisms (BioGEM)." Please spread the word. biogem.ku.edu

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Reposted by Rebecca Varney

Jeff Day @jeffday.bsky.social · 06/12/2023

y’all - think a lot of us watching got to cross an item off the bucket list today. schmidt ocean came across a stygiomedusa (giant phantom jelly) on the way up today. i am so goddamn stoked. 🦑🧪 www.youtube.com/live/DlgTKD8...

a large, dark red jellyfish with four curtain-like oral arms trailing the bell, which is facing downward

dark red jellyfish, bell facing left of frame, with oral arms billowing above it, like translucent dark red fabric in a breeze

shot of only the oral arms trailing above the jellyfish. they are flattened out relative to our angle and look like sheer dark red fabric, hanging loosely from an object we can’t see

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