Eloi Martinez-Rabert

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Antarctica isn’t owned by anyone and has no official flag, so when I travelled south for the #ERC_SIESTA #POLARIN project, I brought flags designed by schoolchildren, to send them photos of their amazing creations flying in Antarctica. Here are a few of their brilliant designs #AntarcticFlags 🤩🐧❄️🐋🇦🇶

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨

Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!)

Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇

doi.org/10.1093/fems...

The Tug of War at the Top of the World

A deeper than usual dive into Svalbard's evolving geopolitical landscape, as the power grab in Arctic territories intensifies
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/w...

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Credit: James Bradley

Strandline Glacier ❄️
Tethys Bay, Victoria Land, Antarctica 🇦🇶

#ERC_SIESTA #POLARIN @erc.europa.eu @hfspo.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social @cnrs.fr

A graph showing daily temperature anomalies since the 1940s

Not a single day in 2025 was cooler than the 1991-2020 average, on a global scale. @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social

Deep-sea earthquakes fuel huge plankton blooms in Antarctica Hydrothermal vents spurred by seismic activity feed vital nutrients to Antarctic microbes

Hydrothermal vents spurred by seismic activity feed vital nutrients to Antarctic microbes. https://scim.ag/4qxojow

(L-R) Eloi Martinez-Rabert and James Bradley on a rocky outcrop above Tinker Glacier, northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Credit: James A. Bradley

An ice-lidded cryoconite hole on Boomerang Glacier, northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Credit: James A. Bradley

James Bradley collecting glacier surface ice samples on the Nansen Ice Sheet, northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Credit: James A. Bradley

Eloi Martinez-Rabert with samples of cryoconite sediment from Hells Gate, northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Credit: James A. Bradley

3 weeks (half way!) into our #ERC_SIESTA field campaign in East Antarctica ❄️🐧 with @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social we're investigating #microbialdormancy in the #cryosphere 🧬🦠🔬 @cnr-isp.bsky.social XLI Italian Antarctic Expedition, Zucchelli Station, Victoria Land 🇦🇶🇮🇹🇪🇺 #POLARIN

A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication We create vector graphics of model organisms and emerging biological research organisms to enhance our publications. We’re sharing these editable graphics under a CC0 license for other scientists to...

A free, open-access library of high-quality organism illustrations for science communication

Linking antimicrobial resistance, climate warming, and carbon use efficiency in Arctic soils (HERNANDEZ-GARCIA_UEA_ARIES26) at University of East Anglia on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Linking antimicrobial resistance, climate warming, and carbon use efficiency in Arctic soils (HERNANDEZ-GARCIA_UEA_ARIES26) at University of East Anglia, listed on FindAPhD.com

PhD opportunity to work in my lab at UEA, together with @drbradbrad.bsky.social and Marc Dumont “Linking AMR, global warming and CUE in deglaciated soils”

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Let's get negative about scholarly publishing – a new paper (first in a long time for me!) on proposals to tackle the problem of publication bias that emerged from a NINDS workshop held in May last year.
occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/... [Direct link to paper: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

2 Postdoc vacancies: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT

Experimental:
🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, omics, biogeochem

Modelling:
🖥️ Bioenergetics, thermodynamics, ecological, biogeochem

☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply by 30 Sept

¿Pueden los microorganismos prosperar en la atmósfera terrestre o simplemente sobreviven allí? - Eos Un enfoque de modelización ascendente podría acercar a los científicos a la comprensión de las comunidades de microbios en la atmósfera.

Sabemos que diminutas formas de vida, como las bacterias, flotan en nuestra atmósfera. Pero ¿también proliferan y forman comunidades en ella? Una nueva investigación sugiere un enfoque de modelado que podría ayudar a responder esta pregunta. eos.org/research-spo...

Arctic glaciers face ‘terminal’ decline as microbes accelerate ice melt Scientists in Svalbard in race to study polar microbes as global heating threatens fragile glacial ecosystems

Many years ago I wrote an unfunded😕 grant proposal to explore novel biogeochemical feedback loops in permafrost & marine cycles.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Today, this remarkable reporting about a new type of microbial feedback loop operative in Svalbard, accelerating glacier decay.
🧪

Why would anyone want to be a scientist? 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...

"Why would anyone want to be a scientist?"
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Can Microorganisms Thrive in Earth’s Atmosphere, or Do They Simply Survive There? - Eos A bottom-up modeling approach could bring scientists closer to understanding communities of microbes in the atmosphere.

We know tiny life-forms like bacteria float through our atmosphere. But do they also proliferate and form communities there? New research suggests a modeling approach that could help answer this question.

eos.org/research-spo...

Investigating the Atmospheric Microbial Ecosystem Through Theory, Bioenergetics, and Numerical Modeling: A Breath of Fresh Air for Aeromicrobiology Aerobiology research is hindered by several technical challenges facing experimental studies, sampling, and monitoring strategies Theoretical approaches and numerical modeling tools provide power...

Does the atmosphere harbour a resident, growing microbial ecosystem? ⛅

Here in @jgrbiogeo.bsky.social we outline how theoretical tools 📝 & modelling 💻 can bring us closer to the answer

Congrats lead author @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @mioceanologie.bsky.social

🧵 thread 👇

tinyurl.com/7pdfm7uw

ATP synthesis driven by atmospheric hydrogen concentrations | PNAS All cells require a continuous supply of the universal energy currency, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to drive countless cellular reactions. The un...

Our article showing energy production from air alone is in PNAS today. This paper provides an ultimate biochemical proof that microbes can survive simply by 'making' energy from air (making two ATP per molecule atmospheric H2 consumed) and has biotech applications. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

How may theoretical ecology & evolutionary theory push microbiology forward?
At Environmental Microbiology, I am commissioning a series of Perspectives exploring that question. Excited to share them in the 🧵 below
The series is open, so do get in touch if you'd like to propose a new contribution!

Titan Could Have An Alien Biosphere – But It Might Be Dog-Sized Titan, Saturn's largest moon, could harbor life in its hidden underground ocean – yet Titan's entire aquatic biosphere may weigh no more than a miniature poodle, according to new research.

"across Titan's vast ocean, the overall weight of life could measure "only a few kilograms at most – equivalent to the mass of a small dog," Affholder explains"

flip.it/9OT9hu

At ASM Microbe? Check out @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social poster EEB-SUNDAY-1162 - “Exploring Earth's Atmosphere as an Active Microbial Ecosystem Using Thermodynamic Principles and Bioenergetic Modeling” on Sunday 🦠🌥️⚡️🧬 @hfspo.bsky.social @asm.org #ASMicrobe

Adelie penguins walking along the Antarctic coastline. Credit: Matthew Boyer

Ammonia released from penguin guano may help to reduce the effects of climate change in the Antarctic by contributing to increased cloud formation, according to an analysis in Communications Earth & Environment. go.nature.com/4k8rAYU 🧪

Rey Mourot presents the ERC-funded SIESTA project at JSM3 2025 in Marseille

Eloi Martinez Rabert presents the HFSP-funded Atmospheres project at JSM3 2025 in Marseille

Sibylle Lebert presents the ERC-funded SIESTA project at JSM3 2025 in Marseille

Congrats to @drmartinezrabert.bsky.social @reymourot.bsky.social & Sibylle Lebert @mioceanologie.bsky.social for representing @erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA & @hfspo.bsky.social Atmosphere projects at JSM3 conference in Marseille ☀️ while I’m in Antarctica 🌚 #SD049 @cnrs.fr @cnrs-insu.bsky.social

Come and join me in Marseille ☀️🌊🐟🔬🇫🇷🇪🇺

We currently have days of persistent positive degrees in the depths of winter in the high Arctic (79°N). Shocking temperature anomalies are becoming the norm. Already exceptionally high rainfall this winter, and thick ice covers the tundra instead of the usual snow. Unprecedented and terrifying 🌡️

Tracing active members in microbial communities by BONCAT and click chemistry-based enrichment of newly synthesised proteins Abstract. A comprehensive understanding of microbial community dynamics is fundamental to the advancement of environmental microbiology, human health, and

Tracing active members in microbial communities by BONCAT and click chemistry-based enrichment of newly synthesised proteins
#ISMEComms by Patrick Hellwig et al
academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...

I doubt it... it's too tiring to be up there😂

Are they [atmospheric microorganisms] also awake contemplating this marvellous sunset?

In case some mentors may want to read this. #Nature #PhD #scisky #student #mentor

Source:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

New paper online!
'Competitive and substrate limited environments drive metabolic heterogeneity for comammox Nitrospira.'
In this study we aim to connect the early discoveries of comammox Nitrospira (one in aerobic conditions and the other <3.1uM O₂) using Individual-based Model.
rdcu.be/dkEa6

"Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things" - Georgia O'Keeffe. Art and science in a single quote. I love it.