Chris Balakrishnan
@evolutionpirate.bsky.social
Nerd Nite Founder and author/editor of "How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi" http://bit.ly/NerdNiteBook opinions my own
Still the best holiday album as far as I know: youtube.com/watch?v=kImY...
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings "Silver Bells"
YouTube video by DaptoneRecords
youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Still the best holiday album as far as I know: youtube.com/watch?v=kImY...
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
I think the answer to stopping the harms of the Big AI companies is *not* to say "we need to kill all the AI", even though we hate seeing the creeping impacts of that bad AI in our lives. The model has to be how Bluesky is a better alternative to Twitter. We need a tolerable AI alternative instead.
December 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I think the answer to stopping the harms of the Big AI companies is *not* to say "we need to kill all the AI", even though we hate seeing the creeping impacts of that bad AI in our lives. The model has to be how Bluesky is a better alternative to Twitter. We need a tolerable AI alternative instead.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Grateful to share our paper on gene-specific selective sweeps in human gut microbiomes, now out in Nature! It has been a joy to work with @rwolff.bsky.social, whose insights and hard work made this possible.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Gene-specific selective sweeps are pervasive across human gut microbiomes - Nature
Development and application of the integrated linkage disequilibrium score (iLDS) reveals both selective pressures impacting the human gut microbiome and the mechanisms by which gut bacteria adapt to ...
www.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Grateful to share our paper on gene-specific selective sweeps in human gut microbiomes, now out in Nature! It has been a joy to work with @rwolff.bsky.social, whose insights and hard work made this possible.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA?
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes
Muller's ratchet predicts that non-recombining genomes can accumulate deleterious mutations, though molecular evidence for it is rare. Previous studies have tried to detect ratchet-like behavior in mi...
www.biorxiv.org
December 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA?
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Well, wonder no more!
(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)
"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A good time for a reminder that the BIO Directorate will hold a Virtual Office Hour on Thursday www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...
December 16, 2025 at 1:21 PM
A good time for a reminder that the BIO Directorate will hold a Virtual Office Hour on Thursday www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...
I know there are pressing issues afoot, but why did Apple move everything that was on top to the bottom and vice versa in the new iOS?
December 15, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I know there are pressing issues afoot, but why did Apple move everything that was on top to the bottom and vice versa in the new iOS?
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Zoe Weissman - survivor of 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL
Mia Tretta - survivor of 2019 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, CA
Both are now students at Brown University in Providence, RI.
Mia Tretta - survivor of 2019 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, CA
Both are now students at Brown University in Providence, RI.
Zoe Weissman, a sophomore at Brown University, joins us to discuss the shooting on Brown's campus in Providence, Rhode Island. She was in middle school in Parkland, Florida during the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. She is now an advocate for gun control and gun violence prevention.
December 14, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Zoe Weissman - survivor of 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL
Mia Tretta - survivor of 2019 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, CA
Both are now students at Brown University in Providence, RI.
Mia Tretta - survivor of 2019 Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, CA
Both are now students at Brown University in Providence, RI.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
New paper out. If you like colorful birds, hybridization, and phylogenetics, read on! 🧵https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003501
A colorful legacy of hybridization in wood-warblers includes frequent sharing of carotenoid genes among species and genera
Introgression between species can shape evolutionary trajectories in important ways. This study of the entire family of the colorful wood-warblers (Parulidae) uses whole-genome sequencing to reveal fr...
doi.org
December 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM
New paper out. If you like colorful birds, hybridization, and phylogenetics, read on! 🧵https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003501
Ok, now with the correct link! BiO-wide virtual office hours at the NSF! www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...
NSF BIO Virtual Office Hour: Updates from the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences
Please join the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences for a virtual office hour on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
www.nsf.gov
December 11, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Ok, now with the correct link! BiO-wide virtual office hours at the NSF! www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-b...
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
December 11, 2025 at 11:16 AM
NSF
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
- Forced reorg
- POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements)
- Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …)
I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing.
“Details matter” 🙃
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Now out in @asm.org #mSystems! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Congratulations to Robert and thanks to all collaborators. See thread below for a summary of the work, exploring the use of cross-species coexpression analyses to predict primary and secondary metabolic interactions in microbiomes.
Congratulations to Robert and thanks to all collaborators. See thread below for a summary of the work, exploring the use of cross-species coexpression analyses to predict primary and secondary metabolic interactions in microbiomes.
December 10, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Now out in @asm.org #mSystems! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Congratulations to Robert and thanks to all collaborators. See thread below for a summary of the work, exploring the use of cross-species coexpression analyses to predict primary and secondary metabolic interactions in microbiomes.
Congratulations to Robert and thanks to all collaborators. See thread below for a summary of the work, exploring the use of cross-species coexpression analyses to predict primary and secondary metabolic interactions in microbiomes.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
In collaboration w/ @groundwork.bsky.social & @moreperfectunion.bsky.social, we convened hundreds of volunteers from across the country to investigate Instacart’s AI-assisted pricing experiments at popular grocery stores like Target & Kroger. Read our full investigation below:
Instacart’s AI-Enabled Pricing Experiments May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill, CR and Groundwork Collaborative Investigation Finds - Consumer Reports
Exclusive: Instacart’s AI pricing may be inflating your grocery bill.
www.consumerreports.org
December 9, 2025 at 3:43 PM
In collaboration w/ @groundwork.bsky.social & @moreperfectunion.bsky.social, we convened hundreds of volunteers from across the country to investigate Instacart’s AI-assisted pricing experiments at popular grocery stores like Target & Kroger. Read our full investigation below:
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Fascinated to learn that we are still discovering new species at the highest rate ever. Mapping Earth's biodiversity is far from over, and while we learn more and more about it, let's protect what we do know as well as we can!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The past and future of known biodiversity: Rates, patterns, and projections of new species over time
The number of known species on Earth is increasing rapidly, suggesting unexpectedly large numbers of many groups.
www.science.org
December 8, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Fascinated to learn that we are still discovering new species at the highest rate ever. Mapping Earth's biodiversity is far from over, and while we learn more and more about it, let's protect what we do know as well as we can!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Why is the adobe “Ask AI assistant” right in the middle of the text I am trying to read?
December 1, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Why is the adobe “Ask AI assistant” right in the middle of the text I am trying to read?
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved.
Don't look up!
Don't look up!
Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Lol, Zillow tried to rate the climate risks facing individual properties. The real estate industry *hated* it, precisely because it worked -- it made selling risky properties more difficult. So they rebelled & Zillow caved.
Don't look up!
Don't look up!
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Also, I am so grateful for funding - notably from the NSF PurSUiT program - that has valued and recognized the importance of biodiversity & discovery science and that is enabling our lab to continue this geothermal research.
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
November 26, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Also, I am so grateful for funding - notably from the NSF PurSUiT program - that has valued and recognized the importance of biodiversity & discovery science and that is enabling our lab to continue this geothermal research.
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
Incl @maureenmkearney.bsky.social @evolutionpirate.bsky.social & others
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Introducing ** Incendiamoeba **, a eukaryote that can live at temperatures well beyond what we thought possible. 63C!!
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Read @hbrappap.bsky.social thread to see what we’ve already started to learn from this amazing organism!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
#MicroSky #protistsonsky 🧪 #evobio
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
4) US being left behind: The US absence was quickly normalized. Whether out of frustration or honest conviction, delegates spoke of the US declining in relevance. As an African govt rep said: “Americans should realize the world is moving on from them... other nations are this as an opportunity.”
November 24, 2025 at 6:33 PM
4) US being left behind: The US absence was quickly normalized. Whether out of frustration or honest conviction, delegates spoke of the US declining in relevance. As an African govt rep said: “Americans should realize the world is moving on from them... other nations are this as an opportunity.”
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Not that you asked, but here's a thread of intriguing (real!) food facts to amuse/bore your friends and family.
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Not that you asked, but here's a thread of intriguing (real!) food facts to amuse/bore your friends and family.
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Great for gatherings when you need to change the subject!
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
I keep saying, Google intentionally making its search worse is a world-historical fumble, and it's a huge opportunity for so many others across the internet, if they'll just seize it..
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I keep saying, Google intentionally making its search worse is a world-historical fumble, and it's a huge opportunity for so many others across the internet, if they'll just seize it..
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Hearing news that Carl Dieffenbach, the Director of the Division of AIDS at #NIH (NIAID), has been removed from his position because he was "not aligned with HHS/OMB."
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
Russell Vought continues to remove great scientists as part of the Project 2025 mission to politicize and destroy NIH.
🧪 1/
November 24, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Unfortunately, I can confirm that this is true.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
I have known Carl for 2 decades and he is smart, dedicated, and quite apolitical, focused on science and getting stuff done on important problems.
Huge unnecessary loss of leadership and expertise.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
Trump’s thugs have come to my state to kidnap people/put them in concentration camps
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
A US citizen filmed federal agents smashing his car window, as authorities begin a surge of immigration enforcement operations in North Carolina.
The Honduran-born Charlotte resident filed a police report after the officers let him go.
The Honduran-born Charlotte resident filed a police report after the officers let him go.
November 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Trump’s thugs have come to my state to kidnap people/put them in concentration camps
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
Anthony Lewis, Superintendent of Durham Public Schools, sent around a really wonderful letter to all parents explaining how DPS would handle any of these thugs coming to any public school
What a time we live in 😢
All time achievement. Our #nerdnite book “How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi” is touching @edyong209.bsky.social ‘s book.
November 16, 2025 at 12:18 AM
All time achievement. Our #nerdnite book “How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi” is touching @edyong209.bsky.social ‘s book.
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
two contradictory ideas that i hold in my head at the same time: 1) i think the threat to both SNAP recipients and federal workers is significant enough now that even bad deals are worth making to prevent further harm, and, 2) everyone who caves now should retire in shame
November 10, 2025 at 12:46 AM
two contradictory ideas that i hold in my head at the same time: 1) i think the threat to both SNAP recipients and federal workers is significant enough now that even bad deals are worth making to prevent further harm, and, 2) everyone who caves now should retire in shame
Reposted by Chris Balakrishnan
I so appreciate this attention to what we’ve been doing with ed tech at CUNY and the notion that the higher ed ecosystem can benefit from it. Too many folks to name have been involved in those projects over the years, and it builds upon work and commitments at CUNY that goes back generations.
Huge thanks to @mattseybold.bsky.social for writing this great post, which highlights CUNY's transformative potential to build open educational infrastructure
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
theamericanvandal.substack.com/p/mamdani-wi...
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I so appreciate this attention to what we’ve been doing with ed tech at CUNY and the notion that the higher ed ecosystem can benefit from it. Too many folks to name have been involved in those projects over the years, and it builds upon work and commitments at CUNY that goes back generations.