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Viviane Callier

@vcallier.bsky.social

freelance science writer, biology, physiology, evolution, ecoevodevo; bylines @quantamagazine @sciam and more. she/her

532 Followers  |  361 Following  |  2 Posts  |  Joined: 12.12.2023  |  1.446

Latest posts by vcallier.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Neurons modulate sensitivity via electron transport chain Some nociceptors can survive a lifetime’s worth of exposure to noxious stimuli by reducing their mitochondria’s production of reactive oxygen species.

How is it that some nociceptors—the sensory neurons that detect heat, chemical irritants and toxins—can withstand a lifespan’s worth of exposure to noxious stimuli, whereas others die? New findings reveal how they do it.

By @vcallier.bsky.social

#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/sensory-syst...

22.10.2025 16:57 — 👍 21    🔁 8    💬 0    📌 0
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New findings solve “developmental biology’s most complicated problem”: how each olfactory neuron in the ant expresses exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.

By @vcallier.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/sensory-perc...

14.10.2025 15:34 — 👍 18    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0
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Ant olfactory neurons reveal new gene regulation mechanism The mechanism enables each olfactory neuron in the ant to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.

Don't miss this piece in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @vcallier.bsky.social on @danielkronauer.bsky.social's latest work! His lab discovered that a protective screen of spurious transcriptional activity enables each olfactory neuron to express exactly one out of hundreds of olfactory receptors.

14.10.2025 19:50 — 👍 16    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 0
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Covering Null Results: How to Turn “Nothing” into News - The Open Notebook Null results—those that contradict a study’s original hypothesis or fail to find a cause-and-effect link between variables—can be easy to dismiss as non-news but may lead to valuable stories that show...

Covering null results can help reporters contribute to a more accurate view of science and the world, writes @bwfund.bsky.social early-career fellow Lucila Pinto in TON’s latest, with insights from @vcallier.bsky.social, @ldattaro.bsky.social, @claricecudi.bsky.social and others. 🧪

30.09.2025 14:33 — 👍 12    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0
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Mitochondria set ‘ancient’ metabolic thermostat for sleep in flies, separate from circadian rhythms During waking hours, a specialized set of sleep neurons in the fly brain accumulates reactive oxygen species, which eventually trigger sleep to clean up and repair the damage they do.

Sleep might be an “inescapable consequence” of aerobic metabolism, new findings in fruit flies suggest.

By @vcallier.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/sleep/mitoch...

09.09.2025 13:49 — 👍 36    🔁 9    💬 1    📌 4
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How Metabolism Can Shape Cells’ Destinies | Quanta Magazine A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy and building materials — plays a vital, overlooked role in the first steps of life.

A growing body of work suggests that cell metabolism — the chemical reactions that provide energy and building materials — plays a vital, overlooked role in the first steps of life.
@vcallier.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/how-metaboli...

21.03.2025 13:42 — 👍 30    🔁 15    💬 1    📌 2
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Gender and retention patterns among U.S. faculty Women faculty are more likely to leave their jobs than men, most often due to workplace climate, rather than work-life balance.

Women leave academia at higher rates than men at every career stage, and attrition is especially high among three groups: tenured faculty, women in non-STEM fields, and women employed at less prestigious institutions, a #ScienceAdvances analysis finds.

23.12.2024 15:07 — 👍 472    🔁 262    💬 19    📌 31
Acute respiratory infections complicated by malaria (previously undiagnosed disease) - Democratic Republic of the Congo This is an update to the Disease Outbreak News on Undiagnosed disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo published on 8 December 2024 (now named acute respiratory infections complicated by malari...

The illnesses & deaths in Panzi region, DRC, were caused by a combo of regular respiratory bugs + malaria, in people weakened by severe malnutrition. Not a new disease but definitely a local tragedy. www.who.int/emergencies/...

27.12.2024 18:05 — 👍 128    🔁 42    💬 4    📌 1
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Living is about taking risks and not knowing the outcome. David Spiegelhalter explains why it’s important to accept and embrace this—if necessary, we might even take a cue from our pet dog:

https://buff.ly/3VEEBiH

16.12.2024 17:35 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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I joined 75+ @nobelprize.bsky.social laureates urging US Senators to oppose RFK Jr.'s confirmation as DHHS Secretary. If you’re in a state with GOP senators, PLEASE reach out to them! I’d deeply appreciate it if you amplified this post! 🙏
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/h...

09.12.2024 23:19 — 👍 505    🔁 240    💬 14    📌 8
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‘It felt very icky’: This scientist’s name was used to write fake peer reviews Elsevier retracts dozens of journal articles that were published based on “fictitious” reviews

Earlier this year, I received news that fake peer reviews were allegedly being submitted impersonating me and approximately six others

I shared my story with Science to, hopefully, reduce the chance of this kind of breach happening again

www.science.org/content/arti...

03.12.2024 09:24 — 👍 438    🔁 198    💬 26    📌 49
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‘Systematic reviews’ that aim to extract broad conclusions from many studies are in peril Fake papers are “poisoning the well” for these gold-standard syntheses, researchers say

A growing problem --- fake papers polluting systematic reviews. And interesting point that the gold-standard protocols that Cochrane is developing to weed out untrustworthy studies, are too much of an effort for systematic-review authors looking at 100s of papers. www.science.org/content/arti...

29.11.2024 11:15 — 👍 227    🔁 117    💬 11    📌 20
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Digestive contents and food webs record the advent of dinosaur supremacy - Nature Integrated analyses of bromalites provide robust pictures of past food webs, explaining early dinosaur evolution and the emergence of larger dinosaur faunas with new feeding patterns.

You’re in luck Sabrina! A new paper on dinosaur faeces just “dropped” today! By the wonderful @perahlberg.bsky.social and colleagues

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

27.11.2024 17:57 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

How cool! Congrats!!

27.11.2024 17:24 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Digestive contents and food webs record the advent of dinosaur supremacy - Nature Integrated analyses of bromalites provide robust pictures of past food webs, explaining early dinosaur evolution and the emergence of larger dinosaur faunas with new feeding patterns.

The new paper from our lab has dropped! 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

27.11.2024 16:40 — 👍 172    🔁 52    💬 6    📌 8
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Shamelessly taking advantage of the bluesky migration to share again some of my favorite echinoderm pics 😀🤩

🔽 Acetylated tubulin (nerves and cilia) and phalloidin (muscles) stains in a juvenile sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) just after metamorphosis ⭐

17.11.2024 18:40 — 👍 285    🔁 55    💬 12    📌 4

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