Britt Koskella's Avatar

Britt Koskella

@bkoskella.bsky.social

Evo-ecologist (Assoc Prof at UC Berkeley) studying interactions among phages, microbiomes, and plants. Skeets (own view) about science, teaching, social justice, and politics. (profile pic unedited photo by my six-year-old son)

4,401 Followers  |  987 Following  |  276 Posts  |  Joined: 28.08.2023
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Posts by Britt Koskella (@bkoskella.bsky.social)


The Gen X urge to jump up jump up and get down.

22.02.2026 23:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

And I would apply to work with you…. So we need both a Time Machine and ability to clone ourselves. Watch out science!!

06.02.2026 01:28 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Me three

06.02.2026 01:12 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Jeff Bezos took over the Washington Post Editorial Board and turned it into a mouthpiece for pro-corporate, pro-billionaire propaganda.

Now, WaPo is laying off hundreds of *real* journalists β€” including the reporter covering Amazon.

Democracy dies in billionaire hands.

04.02.2026 17:27 β€” πŸ‘ 5300    πŸ” 1742    πŸ’¬ 188    πŸ“Œ 62

β€œYou’re in the government database of people legally protesting the actions of the current administration” is a four-alarm fire, peeps.

30.01.2026 13:59 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The President is going to steal >1 NSFs worth of money from the US government

04.02.2026 14:06 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Forest interactions Explore plant interactions in forest environments at all levels from micro- to macro-scales and across the whole spectrum of plant biology.

Save the date!

48th New Phytologist Symposium: Forest interactions

πŸ“… 13–16 October 2026
πŸ“ Leysin, Switzerland

www.newphytologist.org/events/48-nps

#PlantScience

04.02.2026 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Homeless Oregon youth got $1,000 a month for two years. Most found housing after β€’ Oregon Capital Chronicle Oregon is the second of its kind in the nation to implement the direct cash transfer program after New York City.

"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed."

A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends.

Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.

04.02.2026 14:12 β€” πŸ‘ 3088    πŸ” 1298    πŸ’¬ 36    πŸ“Œ 98

Happy Simon’s rejection day to my fellow 97%ers!

And excited to hear more about the 3% left standing!!

03.02.2026 05:21 β€” πŸ‘ 20    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s over last year www.science.org/content/arti... #jobs #STEM #science #research

27.01.2026 23:25 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Two likely contenders for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination have taken opposite sides on California’s proposed wealth tax.

One of them is completely wrong.

Here's what you should know: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/a-wealth-tax-that-will-work

28.01.2026 00:15 β€” πŸ‘ 672    πŸ” 179    πŸ’¬ 59    πŸ“Œ 12
Screenshot from GRC portal confirming microbial population biology meeting June 27, 2027 in Andover, New Hampshire.

Screenshot from GRC portal confirming microbial population biology meeting June 27, 2027 in Andover, New Hampshire.

It’s officially happening folks! The Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference is back in Andover, New Hampshire starting June 27th of 2027!
See you there!!

@wcratcliff.bsky.social @ksbakes.bsky.social @surtlab.bsky.social

#microsky #mevosky

10.12.2025 14:35 β€” πŸ‘ 82    πŸ” 44    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 5
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Paracetamol is safe in pregnancy, says new evidence against Trump autism claims Researchers say their gold-standard review should put an end to the debate over use of the common painkiller during pregnancy.

Shout it from the rooftops.

17.01.2026 11:26 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Bad Bunny Super Bowl promo is beautiful.

Hate is so embarrassing. Imaging being against everyone together dancing to good music πŸ₯ΉπŸ₯ΉπŸ₯Ή

17.01.2026 08:12 β€” πŸ‘ 504    πŸ” 205    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 59
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U.S. Attacked Boat With Aircraft That Looked Like a Civilian Plane

Breaking NYT:

The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first boat attack, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The laws of armed conflict forbid combatants from feigning civilian status.

That is a war crime called "perfidy."

13.01.2026 00:05 β€” πŸ‘ 27886    πŸ” 12206    πŸ’¬ 1503    πŸ“Œ 1348
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The effect of a temperature‐sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen Viruses are key actors of ecosystems and have major impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. Prophages deserve particular attention as they are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes and can enter a lytic cycle when triggered by environmental conditions. ...

Might be worth checking out some of the data on prophage induction and temperature? pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... or journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

12.01.2026 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Registration now open for @embo.org workshop on the evolution of biological interactions on April 24 - 27, 2026! Come join us in Taipei, Taiwan to see how interactions shaped the genomes of various organisms and meeting people from across the globe. Info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bio...

07.01.2026 01:15 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Corporation for Public Broadcasting Votes to Shut Down

πŸ’”

06.01.2026 00:22 β€” πŸ‘ 155    πŸ” 38    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 13
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Dear US researchers: break the outrage addiction. I survived the besieging of science. So can you As I watch US researchers respond to threats against science, I’m reminded of when scientists in Brazil navigated a similar storm.

This column in a word: boss-up, y’all. It is not a warm and fuzzy hug, or an outrage sing-along. It’s a clear reflection of the present, a wake up call, and a preview of the future. We aren’t going to complain Trump away. It’s survival time. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

04.01.2026 17:03 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Oooorrrrrrrrrrr…. This one. Damn this is hard.

30.12.2025 03:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Followed in close second by:

30.12.2025 03:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image 30.12.2025 03:50 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It's 2025, and we're sharing bootleg 60 Minutes segments broadcast in other countries because our own country is being run by fascists and their billionaire-owned state media helpers, just as the Founding Fathers intended, of course.

23.12.2025 01:49 β€” πŸ‘ 3738    πŸ” 1042    πŸ’¬ 36    πŸ“Œ 41

"the researchers found that withdrawing support for rapidly advancing mRNA vaccine technology could result in over 49,000 preventable deaths annually among patients diagnosed with four major cancers"

23.12.2025 02:50 β€” πŸ‘ 602    πŸ” 357    πŸ’¬ 17    πŸ“Œ 19

#phage #phagesky
πŸ’―:

Addressing methodological bias in phageome research to clarify bacteriophage diversity

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Evaluation of phages as a signature of microbiome health: a systematic review & meta-analysis
@bkoskella.bsky.social

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

07.12.2025 16:46 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Conceptual overview of the costs and benefits of adaptation via loci carried by mobile genetic elements

Conceptual overview of the costs and benefits of adaptation via loci carried by mobile genetic elements

Mobile genetic elements enable microbial local adaptation with cascading consequences for plants

πŸ“– nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#TansleyInsight article by Porter et al.

@Bkoskella.bsky.social @dholtappels.bsky.social
Image created in BioRender biorender.com/lnio3pw.

06.12.2025 15:59 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

Last week, ICE arrested and separated a father and son after a routine check-in. Six-year-old Yuanxin had just enrolled in the first grade at an elementary school in Astoria. Now he's in custody, alone. ICE won't say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end.

02.12.2025 21:16 β€” πŸ‘ 36629    πŸ” 11330    πŸ’¬ 850    πŸ“Œ 472
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A Farewell to Arms: The Trade-off Between Growth and Defence in Bacteria (York YBDTP Project) at University of York on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - A Farewell to Arms: The Trade-off Between Growth and Defence in Bacteria (York YBDTP Project) at University of York, listed on FindAPhD.com

Two fully-funded PhD openings in my research group at the University of York.
If you’re excited about viromes, phage biology, Nanopore sequencing, soils and the odd bit of alpine or agricultural field sampling, we’d love to hear from you!
πŸŒ±πŸ¦ πŸ”οΈ

tiny.cc/c4pv001
tiny.cc/e4pv001

27.11.2025 17:57 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 27    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Breaking: Administration officials working overtime to find turkeys with sexual assault and crypto scam convictions so the President can pardon them

21.11.2025 18:01 β€” πŸ‘ 5905    πŸ” 1125    πŸ’¬ 116    πŸ“Œ 72