Richard Lenski

Read the whole thread, too.

Suprematism, by Nikolai Suetin, 1920-21, 📸 by @tiltoncreative

50 NSFs extra!

The Burmeister Lab: Studying Microbial Evolution and Extinction ​Our research integrates evolutionary biology and microbiology, using bacteria and phage as study systems to address fundamental questions in both fields. ​ ​We study microbial evolution, a...

Alita Burmeister (@aburmeister.bsky.social) is looking to hire a postdoc (or potentially a PhD student) for projects on phage resistance and evolution. The position description is posted to the Eco-Evo Jobs wiki and also available on her lab's website (arburmeister.weebly.com).

A lot of people, including me, were wondering how an IRB could ever approve this study.

The answer is that no IRB did. The person who “signed off” on approval from the only ethics board that reviewed it had resigned three years earlier. His signature was used without his knowledge.

👀The federal judges in West Virginia, where ICE has been pulling over and detaining people on the freeway, are literally screaming about ICE's tactics.

"It is an assault on the constitutional order," Judge Goodwin says. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I hope John Roberts signed all his mortgage paperwork correctly

Great to see this work published, Mike. It was fun to discuss it during train ride to last year's Microbiology Society meeting!

How does treatment induced antibiotic resistance happen in real-world infections? We analysed 25k Pseudomonas isolates from 180 patients in a clinical trial to find out! TLDR: The ecological and evolutionary paths are surprisingly diverse & complex even in patients receiving identical treatment…

Judge Orders Hearings for Immigration Detainees and Condemns ‘Terror Against Noncitizens’ As tensions mount between the Trump administration and the courts, the judge called “shameless” a claim by officials that her earlier order was not binding.

In a fiery ruling that accused the government of failing to follow court orders, a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to notify thousands of immigrants detained nationwide that they can join a lawsuit against the government and get either a hearing or be immediately released.

FDA chief Marty Makary says 'everything should be over the counter' unless drug is unsafe or addictive Makary said the FDA is looking at prescription drugs like nausea medications and vaginal estrogen, and hopes to make changes this year.

FDA Chief Makary just said that most drugs should be sold over the counter and not require a prescription, unless it’s “unsafe, you need laboratory tests to monitor…or if it could be used for some nefarious purpose or it's addictive”.

Bacteria celebrate as antibiotic resistance enters the chat.

At some point it ceases to be vaccine skepticism. It becomes a a cult-like conviction to shun vaccines and science against all evidence or reason. Even if it means maiming your own child or worse watching them die from a preventable illness. This is unbelievably tragic and this is where we are.

Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities Spatial structure naturally emerges in microbial communities, shaping growth, interactions, and evolution, and revealing how microscale processes scale up

Most microbes don't live in shaking flasks; spatial structure shapes how microbes interact and evolve at every scale, as we discuss in our recent review @jeroenmeijer.bsky.social @simonvanvliet.bsky.social @bedutilh.bsky.social @bramvandijk.bsky.social and others
academic.oup.com/femsre/artic... 🧵👇

New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States According to new data analyzed by ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, warming temperatures, rising seas and changing rainfall will profoundly reshape the way people have lived in North America...

In 2020, we mapped out the danger zones that will close in on Americans over the next 30 years — combining climate data with wildfire projections by US Forest Service researchers and others.

See what changes are in store for your county 👇

Three postdoctoral fellowships in quantitative biology are available as part of a new Quantitative Biology Initiative in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland.

Best consideration date: 3/14

Job Ad:
umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j...

Department:
biology.umd.edu/people

laying a trap for the Good Samaritan is the wrong lesson to learn

Dan Koh: In the last year, this leader tried to take sovereign land unilaterally, use the justice system to jail enemies, & actively shut down independent media voices

That was Vladimir Putin—the fact that so many ppl thought I was describing Trump right now shows how much our democracy is at risk

notorious radical left communist rag says tax the rich

“I reject the lie that deporting my neighbor is how I win better pay and working conditions. We’re fighting for a country where families stay together without living in terror, so we’re ALL better off!”

Brain drain is undermining America’s scientific edge Policy decisions grounded in Maga talking points are helping to fuel a PhD exodus from government

Doing science in the US is starting to feel untenable. The CDC has had no stable leader. RFK Jr broke his promises on vaccines & research. Climate change is denied. Moderna will no longer invest in late stage vaccine trials. Europe and China are seizing the moment.
🧪 bit.ly/3ZF0yzI

Trump officials have blocked Minnesota law enforcement from accessing materials to investigate the death of Alex Pretti.

They also refused to cooperate with Minnesota officials to investigate Renee Good’s death.

What don’t they want the public to know?

Congratulations to the newly elected members of the American Academy of Microbiology!

Congratulations, Santi! Enjoy, and keep up the great work!!

Concentration camp - Wikipedia

'A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitation or punishment.'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concent...

Congratulations!

Just something deeply wrong when a government cannot follow processes and values that most human beings would deem minimally acceptable.

This galaxy is VERY tiny—much much smaller than our own Milky Way—& incredibly distant. But we can see it AND distinguish its shape!

How?

The light we see from it is from SO LONG AGO that the Universe was MUCH smaller at the time: we see it as it was when it was close enough to us to look big!! 🤯

He lied at the National Prayer Breakfast to take credit for a prisoner freed who was actually freed during Obama.

You heard that right — Lying 🤥 at 🤥 a 🤥 prayer 🤥 breakfast 🤥

www.cnn.com/2026/02/06/p...

"in July 2023, 80% of Danes said they saw the US as a friend or ally. Now, fewer than 26% do".

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...