Mar Huertas

Point of no returns: researchers are crossing a threshold in the fight for funding With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.

"How can funders avoid crossing the Szilard point?"

The Szilard point is "the threshold at which the total cost of competing for a grant equals (or surpasses) the value of the available funding."

Got #zebrafish or other fishy news to share? Give us a ping or DM! Not only do we share to our following on social media but we post to our Celebrations channel on Slack so the whole community knows about it and can share in the excitement 😊 #ThatsHowWeShoal

a dumpling is sitting in a bamboo steamer on a table . ALT: a dumpling is sitting in a bamboo steamer on a table .

A dumpling wearing leg warmers.

Exploring Ciliary Mechanisms in the Causation of Hydrocephalus in Humans—Similarities and Differences from Animal Models - Journal of Molecular Neuroscience Hydrocephalus is a condition defined by excessive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) relative to the brain volume. Congenital and infantile forms of hydrocephalus are both genetically and physiologically heter...

🤔 Is motile #cilia dysfunction a cause of #hydrocephalus ?
The answer depends on who you ask and which species you study. 🤔😕🧐
In mice, motile cilia dysfunction almost always leads to hydrocephalus. In humans, however, the link is far less clear. So why the difference?

I'm so happy that they continue this program. The emerging community of neurobiology in the changing environment is thriving and growing. We have a slack group, too, if you want to join us

join.slack.com/t/nice-commu...

Doesn't make bread. I tried.

A neurilion cells, give or take

“Why Are We Funding This?” Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.

My latest for American Scientist Magazine helps give scientists the tools to fight back against politicized charges that our research is silly or pointless- tools that will work whether you’re asked “why are we funding this” from your asshole uncle at Thanksgiving or an asshole US Senator.
🧪🌎

Associate Professor in molecular/cellular animal physiology (281754) | NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology Job title: Associate Professor in molecular/cellular animal physiology (281754), Employer: NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Deadline: Monday, September 1, 2025

Associate Professor position in animal physiology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(to replace me basically). An amazing permanent position at a great university!

Please spread widely 🙏

www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Screenshot of Essay from Martin Schwartz on 'Why would anyone want to be a scientist'. An anniversary article from The Company of Biologists published in Journal of Cell Science. The first few lines are: It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently filled with failure and rejection. But, strange even to myself, I not only don't question the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio but consider myself astonishingly lucky to be a scientist. There are three fundamental pleasures that have sustained me through 50 years of this madness.

Why would anyone want to be a scientist?

Check out our new Essay from Martin Schwartz: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Scientists hide messages in papers to game AI peer review Some studies containing instructions in white text or small font — visible only to machines — will be withdrawn from preprint servers.

In the new episode of "Publish or perish" we will found another creative way of cheating 🤦🏻‍♀️

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

YouTube video by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Desk: The Future of Animal Models in Research | NIH’s Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer

A discussion of the use of animals in research.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSvk...

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(Warning: Rant coming)

Why We Still Need Animal Research in a World of AI and Organoids The portrayal of uncaring scientists without any thought for the animals being used in their research is far from the truth.

This is an important read. The #NIH is shifting away from animal research towards a preference for 3D in-vitro organoid models. The field of 3D organoid models is growing & are they being refined, but still need be validated against animal based models.

🧪 www.genengnews.com/topics/trans...

National Science Foundation Workers to Issue “Alexandria Declaration” Decrying “Catastrophic Changes” Under Trump Administration The new declaration echoes similar efforts from NIH and EPA.

Alexandria Declaration coming out from courageous NSF staff.

www.importantcontext.news/p/national-s...

I knew this was it in the works, but did not know the timing. Stay tuned...

Grateful to @thetransmitter.bsky.social and @callimcflurry.bsky.social for highlighting my work at @kavlifoundation.org building a new subfield in neuroscience 🌍🧠

Bar chart titled "Matters of Scale" comparing proposed US research budget cuts to the European Union's €500-million (US$571-million) "Choose Europe" fund. The chart shows: * National Institutes of Health (NIH): $8 billion in cancelled grants and $18 billion in proposed cuts by 2026 (long orange bar). * National Science Foundation (NSF): $5.1 billion in proposed cuts by 2026 (shorter orange bar). * EU's Choose Europe fund: $571 million (very short blue bar). The graphic highlights that the EU fund is much smaller in scale compared to the US budget cuts. Text above the chart explains the EU’s intention to attract US researchers in response to policy decisions by the convicted felon and rapist Donald Trump.

If people think American scientists are somehow going to land in Europe, I've got news for you about the difference between millions and billions.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How an ol'factory' assembly line constantly manufactures neurons: Pleased to share our work in @stemcellreports.bsky.social, led by Sriivatsan G. Rajan in collab w/ L. Nacke, J. Lombardo, K. Wong, E. Somodji, J. Garcia, and the lab of dearly departed Dr. Jie Liang. 1/3 www.cell.com/stem-cell-re...

Congrats! Great paper.

Impact of Sublethal Concentrations of Nitrite on Goldfish (Carassius auratus) Microbiomes - Microbial Ecology Elevated concentrations of nitrite are toxic to fish and can cause a myriad of well documented issues. However, the effects of sublethal concentrations of nitrite on fish health, and specifically, fis...

Mar Huertas from Texas State University talked about how water-borne nitrite affects the chemical sense of fish. Among others, nitrite changes the nasal microbiome. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@olfactlady.bsky.social

Please DO NOT USE AI to make this kind of terrible "diagrams" (whatever this is) to showcase our work. What are the pink and purple things? And what is "secrentry"? Trying to contact Scienmag.com
@science.org but there is not name written in this article. scienmag.com/secretory-ig...

Social media for fisheries science and management professionals: How to use Bluesky and Instagram, and why you should ABSTRACT. Social media tools have revolutionized how people communicate with one another. A 2018 paper in Fisheries summarized the use of Twitter, Facebook

New paper!

Social media for fisheries science and management professionals: How to use Bluesky and Instagram, and why you should.

This is the *first* paper in the peer reviewed scientific literature to explain how Bluesky works and how to use it for #SciComm 🧪🦑🐠

academic.oup.com/fisheries/ad...

Did you know fish can have huge noses? This pink flower in front of the eye of a striped bass is the olfactory rosetta. The olfactory nerve of these species is almost 3 cm long!

Budget released today:
40% cut to NIH
50% cut to NSF
If enacted, this will destroy academic research in the United States. It will also have a major trickle down effect on the entire academic ecosystem

I wish they didn’t neglect to mention USDA. 100% reduction in plant science grants this year!

Male PIs have an average of 1.44 awards in a given year with 68.6% having only a single award.

Female PIs have an average of 1.35 awards with 73.8% having only a single award.

Thus, 7% more female investigators are vulnerable to becoming unfunded through loss of a single grant.

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NIH just posted a Notice with the new Terms and Conditions...

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

In good tradition, here are a few tiny fishes with bunny ears 🐰

All grants from the Training and Workforce Development Division of the NIGMS were terminated a few days ago nationwide. These funds go directly to supporting future scientists prepare for a career as Biomedical Researchers.

Bridges to Bac
MARC/URISE
IMSD/GRISE
PREP
Bridges to Doc
IRACDA.

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