Andrew Alverson

The amoeba Difflugia bacillifera builds its shell from things that contain silica, and it is not particular about the source. These ones have incorporated whole shells from another testate amoeba (Euglypha), along with diatoms, algal cysts and chunks of rock. #Amoebae #ProtistsOnSky #peatlands

Radiohead review – bards of the apocalypse return for a brutal bacchanal Powered by a pounding rhythm section, the crowd dance to even the tricksiest drum patterns at Radiohead’s first gig in seven years – one that demonstrates the pure joy this band can bring

oh, what I'd give to see one of these . . . www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

Cool!

Polyploidization in diatoms accelerates adaptation to warming - Nature Climate Change The authors obtained large-volume individuals of diatom cultures under thermal stress. These polyploids (having more than two sets of chromosomes) are shown to rapidly adapt to high temperatures, high...

New results from our lab: Polyploidization in diatoms accelerates adaptation to warming. Nat. Clim. Chang. (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Recent MDPI paper including diagram of a bacterial cell with a mitochondrion 🤦‍♀️ The authors propose a mechanism for the toxicity of silver nanoparticles: "Ag+ ions in AgNPs bombard the bacterial mitochondria’s electron transport chain, resulting in cell death".

The buff-tip moth (Phalera bucephala) has mastered a very particular kind of camouflage.

When they close their wings up, they resemble a broken twig.

Native to large parts of Europe, there's regional pattern variation that reflects the local tree species. This one best resembles birch twigs?

One of my favorite records. The Losing End is 💯

The image shows "silly" research (reptile venom, microbes in Yellowstone Park, bee foraging patterns) that actually turned out to be transformational (anti-obesity drugs, DNA testing, and internet algorithms, respectively). From the article "Why are we funding this?": If someone had said, “Who cares how desert lizard venom works? Let’s not fund that research,” we never would have discovered semaglutide, a key component of drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic, which have helped millions of Americans lose weight. If we hadn’t funded research into how bizarre microorganisms thrive in boiling Yellowstone geysers, we never would have discovered the bacterium Thermus aquaticus, whose Taq polymerase enzymes now enable medical tests for countless genetic diseases. If we had decided not to study how bees optimize nectar foraging and distribution among a colony because it sounds silly, we never would have developed an algorithm that allocates internet traffic among computer servers—a technology that powers the $50 billion web-hosting industry.

"Useless" and/or "silly" federally-funded research has turned the United States into the world’s leader in science and technology over the past 75 years. Such science is under attack throughout the federally-funded agencies in the United States. More at: www.americanscientist.org/article/%E2%...

💯

How do microbes become permanent partners? 🌊🔬🦠 Check out our new study published in Current Biology showing how cyanobacterial genomes evolve step-by-step into endosymbionts of diatoms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@currentbiology.bsky.social @mehrshmali.bsky.social

“simple organisms” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

that their introduction to the world – first track on their first album - is "break on through" is just 🤯🤯🤯

@phylieu.bsky.social has been gushing over this album lately, too

Assistant Professor of Biology The Biology Department at Oberlin College invites applications for a full-time tenure track faculty position in the College of Arts and Sciences in conservation ecology. Initial appointment to this po...

🚨🚨 New tenure track position in #ConservationBiology @oberlincollege.bsky.social in the #Biology department--come join us, and contribute to our brand new Environmental Science major too! #biologyjobs #ecologyjobs

jobs.oberlin.edu/postings/16671

Sloan Lab Welcome! Our research focuses on the evolutionary process at the molecular level. In particular, we investigate how a mixture of natural selection and non-adaptive forces create and maintain the amazi...

Please share! Our lab is recruiting a PhD student to join us starting fall 2026. Our group is broadly interested in plant molecular evolution and comparative genomics. More info about our lab and grad programs at Colorado St. is available on our lab website.

sites.google.com/site/danielb...

You'd probably like Monkey Wrench Gang then.

thanks for this. I read this in my 20s on a trip through the desert, even so I probably didn't appreciate it like you did – this thread makes me want to re-read it

Are you interested in how diatoms communicate with each other? Exciting post-doc position available in my lab to study the signalling mechanisms of cell-cell communication in diatoms. Deadline 14th July. @kehelliwell.bsky.social @thembauk.bsky.social www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNO210/p...

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

📜 A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

🧑‍🔬 Corey A.H. Allard, Amy S.Y. Lee, @nbellono.bsky.social, et al.

📔 @cellpress.bsky.social

🔗 www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

#️⃣ #PlantScience #Kleptosomes #Sacoglossan #SeaSlug #Photosynthesis

What a great meeting!

Looking back on last week's Molecular Life of Diatoms conference 🌊. Honored to be hosting this tight-knit, creative and collaborative community in Ghent! Topics ranged from single-cell approaches, imaging breakthroughs, new insights into photosynthesis and symbioses etc. #protistsOnSky #MLD8

Made my day, Bruce!

Amazing pictures – thanks for sharing!

Those are fully intact diatoms that are normally highly motile. Does it glue them all down so they can't move?

And it's all the same diatom species – are the diatoms dividing on the amoeba, or does it specifically collect the same diatom species? Wild.

Many amoebae incorporate diatoms in their shells, but Cylindrifflugia bacillariarum is the master. Third and fourth pics are close views of the glue that holds it all together. #ProtistsonSky #Amoebae #Peatlands

Wonderful set of co-authors: @phylieu.bsky.social, @reactionnorm.bsky.social, @evelinepinseel.bsky.social, @wrroberts.bsky.social, @karolina-brylka.bsky.social, and many others

Phylogenomics reveals the slow-burning fuse of diatom evolution | PNAS Evolution is often uneven in its pace and outcomes, with long periods of stasis interrupted by abrupt increases in morphological and ecological dis...

New paper on diatom phylogenomics from our lab. Ten years in the making, but it always took a backseat to student and postdoc papers.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Ozarks at Large Ozarks at Large is a daily news magazine highlighting the people, places and events of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas River Valley.

I had a chance to talk about the importance of #NSF on our local public radio station.
www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-...

The NSF Is Being Dismantled — With Broad Implications For The American Economy The economic consequences of cuts to the National Science Foundation and restricting scientific inquiry on this scale could be far-reaching.

www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...