Mónica Medina

@momedinamunoz.bsky.social

4.2K followers 1.3K following 300 posts

Mom. Coral reef scientist and environmentalist. Host-microbe interactions. Anthropocene coral holobionts. Diversity in STEM advocate. Former fencer. Diver. Sailor wannabe. medinalab.org, redcientificacol.org 🇨🇴, diversifyoceansciences.org, spawnwatch.org .. more

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Mónica Medina is a professor of organismal biology at the Pennsylvania State University. She is known for environmental activism, such as fighting to protect Varadero Reef, and her research on the ecology and evolution of symbiosis by studying the relationships between cnidarian, endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, and other microbes. .. more

Environmental science 47%

Biology 19%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Pure Science @purescience.news · 1d

A Microscopic Coral Trick Could Help Save the Great Barrier Reef #Science #Biology #Ecology #CoralReefConservation #GreatBarrierReef #EcologicalInnovation

https://scitechdaily.com/a-microscopic-coral-trick-could-help-save-the-great-barrier-reef/

A Microscopic Coral Trick Could Help Save the Great Barrier Reef

Scientists have revealed how corals anchor themselves to reefs through a multi-step biological process. The findings could help restoration efforts focus on coral species most likely to survive and thrive.

scitechdaily.com

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 3d

Just finished guest teaching a 2-week module in evolutionary and ancient DNA genomics for Hong Kong U’s masters program on Integrative Marine Ecology & Conservation. Great students! Great fun! Great location! Thabk you for the invitatiob! www.scifac.hku.hk/prospective/...

Group photo with students and instructors during break

View of SWIMS marine reserve from Accra road

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 6d

www.scifac.hku.hk/prospective/...

Master of Science in Integrative Marine Ecology and Conservation

www.scifac.hku.hk

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 6d

It has been great fun to teach about marine genomics for the masters program in marine ecology at Hong Kong U’s marine lab (SWIMS). We have even been able to discuss the importance of equity in marine conservation practices in the region. How refreshing!! 🧪🪸🦑🧬

Student presenting at SWIMS group tutorial on Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Masters students working in groups during a tutorial at SWIMS

Classroom view from HKU’s Swire Institute of Marine Science in Cape D‘Aguilar

View of SWIMS from the visitor’s housing

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Joanna Thompson @jojofoshosho.bsky.social · 11d

The Trump administration is trying to shut down USDA’s flagship campus. Here’s what that would mean. 🌎🧪

Advocates and Lawmakers Are Fighting to Save the USDA’s Flagship Campus

The Trump administration wants to get rid of the “crown jewel” of the Anacostia watershed

www.sierraclub.org

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · 17d

Florida’s coral reefs help prevent hundreds of millions in annual flood damages, with preservation and restoration offering significant economic and coastal protection benefits. doi.org/hbk63s

Florida reefs offer multimillion-dollar flood protection—if they survive

It's no secret that Florida's iconic coral reefs are in trouble. Repeated body blows from hurricanes, pollution, disease, climate change—and a near-knockout punch from a 2023 marine heat wave—has effectively wiped several species off the map and shrunk the reefs that stretch from the Keys throughout South Florida.

phys.org

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 18d

🧪🌎🇨🇴🌐🌿

Reposted by Jesse R. Lasky

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 18d

Today we had Dr. Felipe Zapata come talk to our UCLA Evolution graduate class about how Caldas, a naturalist in the vice kingdom of Nueva Granada in the early 19th century plaid a key role in shaping Humboldt’s theory of plant altitudinal distributions

Picture of Francisco José de Caldas, an illustrious scholar of Colombia’s 19th century

Felipe Zapata presenting the altitudinal map of plan distribution in the Andes produced by Caldas

Felipe presenting a topographical map of Colombia illustrating how the geography contributes to the high biodiversity of the country, the second most bio diverse country in the planet that is only 2.5X the size of California

Felipe Zapata showing the famous map made by Humboldt, which he drew after meeting Caldas upon his return to Europe from the New World

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 18d

A bid to clean up shipping industry intensified a coral bleaching event on Great Barrier Reef, study says

The removal of sulphur from shipping fuels caused ‘a lot of extra sunlight’ to get through atmosphere and hit reef in 2022 Steps to clean up the shipping industry by removing sulphur from fuels intensified a major coral bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef by allowing more of the sun’s energy to hit the oceanic wonder, according to a new study. Sulphur pollution can cause respiratory problems for humans and cause acid rain, but it also has a shading effect and can make clouds brighter, providing more shade to areas underneath. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Springer @springer.springernature.com · 19d

🦑 New research in 'Symbiosis' explores the #mycobiome of the upside-down jellyfish using culture-based methods and metagenomic sequencing. This study reveals how location shapes fungal diversity in a benthic #jellyfish. bit.ly/3Nu1Hav @raulgoch.bsky.social @momedinamunoz.bsky.social 🪼🧪🐙🪸

Reposted by A. E. Dessler, Peter Thorne, Mónica Medina , and 1 more A. E. Dessler, Peter Thorne, Mónica Medina, Andrew Watkins

Leon Simons @leonsimons.com · 23d

A crazy amount of heat has accumulated in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean over the past two months.

Hold on to your hats when this reaches the surface with the next El Niño.

Y-axis shows depth, X-axis shows degree longitude (one degree equals 111 km) and colors temp anomalies.

@noaa.gov PMEL data

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 25d

Lovely! I have added you to the starter pack.

Reposted by Mónica Medina, Rosemary A. Joyce

Ruth Ann Crystal @drruth.bsky.social · 25d

States, health organizations reject new CDC vaccine guidelines on reducing the number of vaccinations for children.

👉At least 19 states have announced that they will follow the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidance on immunizations instead. buff.ly/QH2e2x5

#medsky #pedsky 🛟😷🧪

US map with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin highlighted in green.

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · 25d

Terrific origin story, history, and future of bioRxiv and medRxiv by @richardsever.bsky.social in @mbio.bsky.social

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The Story behind the Science: Preprints of pandemic potential—how bioRxiv and medRxiv brought preprints to the life sciences | mBio

When we launched medRxiv in mid-2019, we never could have anticipated that just a few months later, New York would be at the epicenter of a rapidly escalating global pandemic, and we would be handling...

journals.asm.org

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · 25d

One more Upside-down Jelly paper!🧪🦑🐙🪸

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 26d

December 2025 was the 5th warmest December on record globally. This month was about 1.42°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average. Note the sharp temperature anomaly contrast across North America!

Summary of month from @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social: climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... 🌊🧪⚒️

Orthographic map showing 2-m air temperature anomalies in December 2025 relative to a 1981-2010 baseline. This visualization shows North and South America. Most areas are warmer than average, except for Alaska and Canada.

Orthographic map showing 2-m air temperature anomalies in December 2025 relative to a 1981-2010 baseline using ERA5 data. This visualization shows Africa, Europe, and western Asia. Most areas are warmer than average, except parts of Siberia and India.

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, David Lazer, Mónica Medina , and 1 more Kim L. Scheppele, David Lazer, Mónica Medina, Melanie C. Green

Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 26d

Hey! @wired.com is doing a bunch of hiring. Here we go with a thread of five great jobs, with a few more coming shortly:

1) We are hiring a senior editor for our science desk, which means you get to work with geniuses like @timmarchman.bsky.social @mollytaft.com and @emilymullin.bsky.social

Senior Editor, Science

WIRED is where a better future is imagined. For three decades, we have been the indispensable guide to a world in constant transformation. We cover humanity’s biggest challenges, from climate change t...

condenast.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Mónica Medina

Brian McNoldy @bmcnoldy.bsky.social · 28d

This is one of my favorite ways to visualize #SeaLevelRise...

With another year of verified water levels at Key West behind us now (as of today), here's the updated version of this chart I've been making for the past decade or so. 🧪🌊

[1/3]

"Heatmap" chart showing the number of hours per day from 1913-2025 that the water level spent above the mean high tide (using the current 1983-2001 epoch) at Key West FL.

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Coral Morphologic @coralmorphologic.bsky.social · 29d

Twisted Tentacles 🪸💈🪸 #coralmorphologic

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · Jan 10

While most of the #Arctic Ocean is predominately ice covered in January, the edges reveal warming at the ocean surface. Warming trends are particularly large in the North Atlantic and Davis Strait/Labrador Sea. 🌊

Data from OISSTv2.1. For more info: arctic.noaa.gov/report-card/...

Polar stereographic map showing sea surface temperature (SST) trends for Januarys from 1979 to 2024. There are no trends over most of the Arctic Ocean due to ice cover. But there is warming in the North Atlantic and little-to-no trend in SSTs for the North Pacific.

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Jan 10

Ocean Warming Breaks Record for Ninth Straight Year insideclimatenews.org/news/0901202...

Ocean Warming Breaks Record for Ninth Straight Year - Inside Climate News

Every second of last year, the Earth’s oceans absorbed the equivalent in energy to 12 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs. Global ocean heat content (OHC) increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2025, a...

insideclimatenews.org

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Jan 10

Congress Set to Finalize Science Budgets Rejecting Trump Cuts www.aip.org/fyi/congress...

Congress Set to Finalize Science Budgets Rejecting Trump Cuts

The bipartisan deal still reduces funding for many science agencies, including NSF and NASA.

www.aip.org

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · Jan 10

Upside-down jelly continues to grow as a model organism! www.nature.com/articles/s41... DNA damage modulates sleep drive in basal cnidarians with divergent chronotypes | Nature Communications🧪🧬🪸🪼🐙🦑

Client Challenge

www.nature.com

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · Jan 10

We developed a 7vortex ecosystem 2cm.es/1hBqX including best tools for a stellar science seminar! First year grad students will be reviewing our weekly ecology and evolution seminar to develop/improve their presentation skills. We will be improving the content for all to use! 🧪

Screenshot of the table of content of a 7vortex ecosystem developing by graduate students in ecology and evolutionary biology on how to give an excellent science seminar

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · Jan 6

Starting our exciting class with Hugo Araujo training our UCLA EEB graduate students on how to use www.7vortex.com for another learning adventure! We are reading Darwin's Origin of Species and learning about scientific writing. Looking forward learning from the student ecosystem creations!🧪🌎

Menu of how 7-Vortex works. Presented by Dr. Hugo Araujo to a graduate class

Reposted by Diarmid Campbell‐Lendrum, Mónica Medina

Ed Maibach @maibached.bsky.social · Dec 29

Science's 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy.

Sample factoid: In 2024, China installed wind & solar electrical generation capacity roughly equivalent to what would be produced by 100 nuclear power plants.

@docsforclimate.bsky.social
@gchalliance.bsky.social

Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy

Clean energy infrastructure is being deployed with unmatched scale and speed—and China is leading the way

www.science.org

Reposted by Julie L. Lockwood, Mónica Medina

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · Dec 28

A paper published in Nature in September suggests a quarter of heatwave events from 2000-23 would have been near impossible without anthropogenic climate change. The paper also indicates that major carbon emitters are responsible for around 50% of the increase in intensity of these events. ⚒️ 🧪

Systematic attribution of heatwaves to the emissions of carbon majors - Nature

Climate change made 213 historical heatwaves reported over 2000–2023 more likely and more intense, to which each of the 180 carbon majors (fossil fuel and cement producers) substantially contributed.

go.nature.com

Reposted by Doerthe Tetzlaff, Mónica Medina, Christopher Wright , and 1 more Doerthe Tetzlaff, Mónica Medina, Christopher Wright, Guy Pe’er

Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · Dec 28

West Papua Indonesia Earth's oldest living eco system existing for at least 70 million years

Look at the 292 square Kilometers of ancient forest cleared in just 21 months

Now army brought in to fast track 5 million more acres

www.ft.com/content/27a6...

Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social · Dec 22

I have been bringing music into the classroom to discuss topics related to climate change and biodiversity loss. I find some of the songs quite helpful to engage in a positive way to address eco-anxiety among students. However, some songs are indeed quite negative and difficulty to share.

Reposted by Mónica Medina

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · Dec 22

I’ve watched at least two dozen reels, showing the terrible snow conditions in Colorado and Europe right now.

Guess how many of those videos mentioned climate change? And how many mentioned chemtrails?

The same number. ONE. 😱

The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it

How do you talk to someone who doesn't believe in climate change? Not by rehashing the same data and facts we've been discussing for years, says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. In this inspiring, ...

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