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Tom Turner

@tomturner.bsky.social
265 followers 105 following 45 posts

UCSB Assoc. Professor in Evolution, Genetics, and Marine Science. Currently focused on sponge evolution and taxonomy.

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Reposted by Tom Turner
Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 16/09/2026
Authors!🚨 While you scramble for scarce $ 🤔 “Springer Nature reports revenue growth of 6.2%..and adjusted operating profit growth of 7.7%. They reported even more stunning submission growth of 30% and published article growth of 13%.” Publishing in society journals helps YOU not them👇🏻. Pass it on.
static.klipy.com
Man Lying on a Pile of Money
ALT: Man Lying on a Pile of Money
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Ellen O. Martinson @waspvenom.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The Martinson lab is looking for new PhD students! We have so much cool data and need help making sense of it all! If interested please contact me!
Flyer for position in Plant Genome Manipulation by Insects "We are looking for new members of our team to work on the molecular mechanisms behind gall induction. A gall is an abnormal growth on a plant that is induced by another organism (i.e., bacteria, fungi, mites, insects). Insect-induced galls are the most complex type, creating structures and pigments not seen in the normal development of the host plant. The insect evades host defenses and co-opts control of plant development redirecting resources away from the plant to create a structure comprised of multiple tissues that both provide nutrition to the insect’s offspring as well as protects them from harm. While some progress has been made in individual systems, we still do not understand how any insect induces a gall to form or whether the mechanisms behind this complex manipulation are conserved across galling species. The Martinson lab works in three independent galling systems to try to understand molecular toolkit used to hijack plant development is shared across distantly related gall-inducing insects or whether each lineage has evolved its own unique suite of effectors and signaling strategies. " If interested email emartinson@unm.edu.
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Curator job alert: the Los Angeles Natural History Museum is searching for a new Invert Curator. spnhc.org/marine-inver...
spnhc.org
Marine Invertebrates Curator | The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County https://nhm.org/ The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) seeks a full-time Assistant OR Associate Curator, commensurate with experience…
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Cawa Tran, PhD @cawatran.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The Dept. of Biology at the University of San Diego seeks two tenure-track assistant professors for Fall 2027, with experience in cell biology and/or organismal biology (both broadly defined) & strong interest in undergraduate-research mentoring. Please repost! jobs.sandiego.edu/cw/en-us/job...
jobs.sandiego.edu
Details - Assistant Professor, Biology
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Matt Bertone @bertonemyia.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
That's not excessive. THIS is excessive:
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Leah Stokes @leahstokes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
PSA: @adambonica.bsky.social is a badass. So impressed with his piece on spam PACs targeting seniors. The Democratic party needs to get on top of this. Follow and subscribe to his substack! data4democracy.substack.com/p/hook-and-s...
data4democracy.substack.com
Hook and Squeeze
How Democratic consultants, committees, and party leaders built a fundraising spam pipeline that funnels money from a captive pool of elderly donors into their own operations.
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Noah Whiteman @nkwhiteman.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I’m thrilled to share that our search for a tenure-track colleague in my *truly wonderful and collegial* Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development Division in the MCB Department at Berkeley @berkeleymcb.bsky.social is live! Please share this broad search widely: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05481
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
Assistant Professor -Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development - Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
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Todd Oakley @ostratodd.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Happy to share that this paper led by @caberger.bsky.social with @stoilovamarina.bsky.social @rebeccavarney.bsky.social @pcart.bsky.social Sam Abrams and Maria Pia is published -- Unexpectedly predictable molecular evolution with diverse ecologies 🧪 🧬 🌊 #Molevol #EvoBio www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Mark Phillips @maphillips.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Oregon State University's Department of Integrative Biology is currently hiring up to three tenure-track faculty members, with an emphasis on organismal biology. Note: Previous links are no longer active due to a change in our hiring system. oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com/OSU_Careers_...
oregonstate.wd501.myworkdayjobs.com
Assistant Professor
Department: Special Instructions to Applicants: To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by 10/1/26. Applications will continue to be accepted after the full consideration date, unt...
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Many thanks to the Ocean Census and the Nippon Foundation for supporting our work!
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Dr. Elizabeth Santos @lizmillermacroevo.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I am recruiting Ph.D. students this cycle. Students interested in deep-sea fishes and phylogenetic comparative methods are an especially good fit.
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Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Well, Chevron has figured out their candidate. Always helpful to know who Big Oil is rooting for. As for me, I think Tom Steyer will take on the oil and utility industries, and save Californians a bundle. Which is why those industries hate him.
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Leah Stokes @leahstokes.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
If you live in California like me, it's election season. I'm voting for 3 climate champions: Tom Steyer for Governor, Josh Fryday for Lt. Governor and Ben Allen for Insurance Commissioner. Get out there and vote!
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Any guesses who made this shell? I found a couple of them in a deep-water sponge from Alaska. @elizabethbeston.bsky.social
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Bye, Country Joe! Unfortunately, your song remains relevant as the President discusses bringing back the draft. And it's one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is in Iran.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26) Directorates to follow 1/10
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.
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Mia Levine @levine-lab.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
So excited to share this manuscript led by the inimitable Cara Brand, who discovered that Topoisomerase II evolution causes hybrid female lethality in Drosophila. Congrats to Cara, @nickbr0wn.bsky.social, Anirban, and @buszczaklab.bsky.social! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Roy Zang @cellulo-evo.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
How do #sponges coordinate their bodies despite lacking neurons and true muscles? We show that sponges use monoamines to control water flow in their canals — reminiscent of how adrenaline regulates blood vessels. My PhD story, now on BioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Evolution
Evolution of monoamine reception and its role in cellular contractility.
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Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 30/01/2026
Thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Minneapolis in protest of federal immigration enforcement for the second consecutive Friday. 📷️: Aaron Lavinsky
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Pete Buttigieg @petebuttigieg.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Post from Pete Buttigieg that reads: If there was ever a moment for libertarians and conservatives to step up and join the rest of us, we’re in it. 

Americans have to unite and stop this descent from a freedom-loving nation into the kind of place where masked, militarized government agents are sent to politically noncompliant areas to roam the streets, terrorize civilians, and deploy violence with impunity.
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Dan Warren @danlwarren.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Back from holiday and it's finally time to post about this. I am taking on a section editor role for the new diamond open access journal Biogeography, put together by @biogeographyjfab.bsky.social. That means that it's free to publish and free to read. (thread) biog.journals.sup.org/index.php/bi...
biog.journals.sup.org
Biogeography
Biogeography is an academic-owned, diamond Open Access journal, published by the academic, non-profit, Stanford University Press (SUP), using the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems platfo...
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Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Some baby sponges grow inside their mothers, and little baby sponges are later released. This is the case in deep-sea golf ball sponges (genus Craniella). Want to know more? Read our new article 🙂 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Holly Moeller @mixotrophe.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
📣We're Hiring!📣 Come join us as a marine micro lab tech in sunny Santa Barbara! A great position for a 2-year post-bacc or starting point for a long-term technician position. Apply by 9 October for full consideration, and please share widely! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucsb/EMP...
careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu
An error has occurred.
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Thanks to @joanaxavier.bsky.social, Javier Cristobo, and everyone else for a lovely 12th International Sponge Conference in Vila do Conde, Portugal. @wscommunity.bsky.social
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Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Yet another study (Danish) has found no association between aluminum in childhood vaccines & 50 different health conditions, including autism, asthma & autoimmune diseases. In this study, they tracked 1 million kids over 21 years. 🧪🔗 en.ssi.dk/news/news/20...
en.ssi.dk
Large Danish Study: No link between vaccines and autism or 49 other health conditions
A new Danish study finds no association between aluminum in childhood vaccines and 50 different health conditions, including autism, asthma, and autoimmune diseases. The findings reaffirm the safety o...
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Matt Bracken @brackenlab.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
“Fulfilling Koch’s postulates, V. pectenicida strain FHCF-3, cultured from the coelomic fluid of a diseased sunflower sea star, caused disease and mortality in exposed sunflower sea stars, demonstrating that it is a causative agent of SSWD” (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) 🦑🌊🧪 #MarineLife
nature.com
Vibrio pectenicida strain FHCF-3 is a causative agent of sea star wasting disease - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The causative agent of sea star wasting disease has been elusive. This study used genetic datasets and experimental exposures to demonstrate that a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida caused di...
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Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
While it is still #spongethursday, it is w/sadness that I note that the sponge taxonomist, Dr. Welton Lee who famous described the carnivorous "harp sponge" in 2012 w/ @mbarinews.bsky.social & a host of co-authors passed away earlier this year in March. A good man and apparently QUITE the violinist!
A young man in a tuxedo holding a violin4 lobed harp or candelabra shaped sponge with balls along the top that are used to feed on prey
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
So this morning, as I sip my coffee and get ready for a day of meetings, I'll be thinking of Will, who was moved to ICE detention in South Texas on Tuesday morning. I can't imagine what's going through his mind, the anxiety & fear. Fear of losing the only home he's ever known.
abcnews.go.com
Korean PhD student detained in California despite green card, lawyer says
A green card holder from South Korea who has lived in the United States since the age of five was taken into government custody by immigration authorities.
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Jesús Martínez-Gómez @jesusgm.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
A little belated but I've started a faculty position at Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology department at @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social. I'm absolutely stoked! I'll be recruiting at all levels and will be at #Botany2025 Reach out! www.martinezgomezlab.com
martinezgomezlab.com
Martinez-Gomez Lab
Plant Evo-Devo
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Cara Giovanetti @idontevencara.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
They all find savings associated with turning up or off your A/C while you're out. Air conditioning accounts for 19% of energy consumption in US homes! Any little bit you can do to reduce your A/C usage can save you money on your energy bills and fight climate change. 9/9
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Santa Barbara #nokings
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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
This shouldn't even be a particularly "hot" take in the sense that it's objectively & quantitatively correct! In formal studies on return on investment for federally funded research at universities, the enormous value is very clear. It is even (dare I say it?) a very *efficient* public expenditure.
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
He resolved that he would not stop either, even though it was a huge sacrifice on his part. I believe this is what we owe our trainees: so long as they are invested in their work, we must be as well, even if it seems like the world is on fire around us, both literally and figuratively. 10/
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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Done. Please comment, click on public comments on left bar. Suggestions in thread. bsky.app/profile/free...
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Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
OOF! @Pacificklaus captures this video of a CRAB occupying this urchin's ANAL BULB! youtu.be/yyGMrOXNn5Y?...
youtu.be
The Special Sea Urchin Crab
YouTube video by Pacificklaus
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
This is likely the weirdest and most interesting story you could read today. From @usha.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2025/05/02/d...
statnews.com
Snake enthusiast survived hundreds of bites. Now his blood is aiding the search for a universal antivenom
Blood from a snake enthusiast who's been bitten hundreds of times aided the search for a universal snakebite treatment
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
In addition to the terminations of existing awards, new NSF grants are still stopped completely since DOGE was granted access to systems a week ago. Last Thursday, an agency spokesperson said "NSF continues to issue awards." That does not appear to be the case.
Graph of NSF awards. Compares April 2024 to April 2025, which levels off.
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Paco Cardenas @paccardenas.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Today is the last day to send your Abstracts to the 'World Sponge Conference' (9-13 Sept.) in Portugal 🇵🇹 JOIN US! 👇
worldspongecommunity.com
World Sponge Community – Word Sponge Conference 2025
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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Nothing will kill more children than the ongoing decimation of CDC, NIH, and USAID work to lift vaccine uptake in the US and world. Child survival rose 75% in the last 50 years. Vaccines account for 40% of that. Measles vax alone was 60% of the benefit. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization
Since 1974 substantial gains in childhood survival have occurred in every global region. We estimate that EPI has provided the single greatest contribution to improved infant survival over the past 50...
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 07/03/2025
DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million (government press release) www.gsa.gov/about-us/new...
gsa.gov
DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA Announce Initial Cancellation of Grants and Contracts to Columbia University Worth $400 Million
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced that through their coordinated efforts they would i...
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Today, I donated to Ukraine. I hope other Americans join me.
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Martha Rich Art Projects @martharichart.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
I made this the other night while procrastinating, mainly because I thought all the posts about the blackout were boring. It feels like there is momentum bringing people together!
A poster for the economic blackout on February 28. It is a big red Jack rabbit on an aqua blue back ground. It says economic blackout in hand done black type. There are two black speech bubbles. One says “don’t buy stuff Friday February 28th. The other says we have power. Below it says No Amazon, Walmart, target, gas food, gas. Below that it says OK small business, use cash. Designed by Martha Rich.
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Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
STUDENT FUND for visiting the @nhmla.bsky.social collections! especially for polychaetes! #wormwednesday nhm.org/student-coll...
red and white worm headcollection space with shelves and tables.
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Tom Turner @tomturner.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
If you dive to reefs 100 feet deep off of extreme Southern California, you find tons of dusty, furry, wheels of cheese, about a foot across. These are Geodia sponges, and I'm trying to figure out which species they are, exactly, on this sponge Thursday.
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Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Doing my job: teaching, research, service, increasingly feels like an act of protest, civil disobedience, defiance. Thinking of it this way makes it a tad easier to keep my mind on work amidst the doomscrolling about the kelpto-oligo-kakistocracy
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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
How the sudden and severe cuts to NIH funding will devastate the US biomedical industry — especially red state institutions. Also Elon Musk’s claims about “overhead” numbers were off by about a factor of two. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Pharmaceutical Industry Heads Into Elon Musk’s Wood Chipper (Gift Article)
Who needs N.I.H. grants? A lot of red-state universities, for one.
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Helpful table to determine how much your University or health system is set to lose if the NIH indirect cap is suddenly lowered to 15%. For SJSU it is $374k which is on the smaller end but devastating considering our other budget issues. datawrapper.dwcdn.net/l0ZqA/8/
datawrapper.dwcdn.net
Estimated Single Year Loss of NIH Funding if 15% Indirect Cost Rate is Imposed
Based on analysis of 2024 NIH funding data. Sums are totals of losses in funding to programs if indirect costs had been capped at 15%
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