Dave Baltrus 🦦
@surtlab.bsky.social
Professor at UArizona interested in genome rummaging, microbial evolution, and occasional tales about having backyard farm animals.
“I’m something of a scientist myself”
Baltrus(at)Arizona.edu
“I’m something of a scientist myself”
Baltrus(at)Arizona.edu
TFW you’re quoted in a way that exactly captures your voice….
Students and faculty have been baffled (and frustrated) as NSF turns back applications for its prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Those affected seem to mainly be in the life sciences. My latest for @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/n...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/n...
Students, faculty mystified as NSF turns back applications for prestigious fellowship program
Applicants to a prestigious National Science Foundation fellowship program say many submissions have been mysteriously “returned without review.”
www.statnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:41 PM
TFW you’re quoted in a way that exactly captures your voice….
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
One Boston Children’s Hospital researcher said, “This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
They came to Massachusetts to cure disease. Now they’re packing up their labs. - The Boston Globe
In a first-of-its-kind survey, the Globe asked hundreds of scientists about the impact of federal funding cuts.
www.bostonglobe.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:39 PM
One Boston Children’s Hospital researcher said, “This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
Perfect gif for the situation
10/10, no notes
10/10, no notes
February 11, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Perfect gif for the situation
10/10, no notes
10/10, no notes
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Yup.
The Globe spoke with more than two dozen of the respondents who said the cuts and policy changes had taken an incalculable toll on their professional and personal lives. Several expressed anguish over whether they would be able to continue their life’s work...” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
They came to Massachusetts to cure disease. Now they’re packing up their labs. - The Boston Globe
In a first-of-its-kind survey, the Globe asked hundreds of scientists about the impact of federal funding cuts.
www.bostonglobe.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Yup.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
somebody hit a button they shouldn't have!!
February 11, 2026 at 2:04 PM
somebody hit a button they shouldn't have!!
Personally, as someone living near the southern border of the US, I would very much not like to have a an open war across borders with drug cartels break out. I mean, just saying
- FAA grounds all flights in and out of El Paso for 10 days
- airspace also closed over nearby area of New Mexico
- no reason given why beyond unspecified "special security reasons"
- seems to have caught everybody by surprise
- airspace also closed over nearby area of New Mexico
- no reason given why beyond unspecified "special security reasons"
- seems to have caught everybody by surprise
February 11, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Personally, as someone living near the southern border of the US, I would very much not like to have a an open war across borders with drug cartels break out. I mean, just saying
Feels to me that people in charge in US think scientific successes in country over last 100 years are a product of innate American genius rather than sustained and reliable funding of basic science
Because of this mistaken assumption, American science is f$cked for at least the next couple decades
Because of this mistaken assumption, American science is f$cked for at least the next couple decades
“Success in US science has come from sustained funding and welcoming the best talent from around the world, yet both of these advantages are in decline”
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
China turns the tables in biotech
For at least a century, major scientific research initiatives have reliably occurred in the United States, usually in response to geopolitical competition. This helped establish the country’s status a...
www.science.org
February 11, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Feels to me that people in charge in US think scientific successes in country over last 100 years are a product of innate American genius rather than sustained and reliable funding of basic science
Because of this mistaken assumption, American science is f$cked for at least the next couple decades
Because of this mistaken assumption, American science is f$cked for at least the next couple decades
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
“Success in US science has come from sustained funding and welcoming the best talent from around the world, yet both of these advantages are in decline”
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
China turns the tables in biotech
For at least a century, major scientific research initiatives have reliably occurred in the United States, usually in response to geopolitical competition. This helped establish the country’s status a...
www.science.org
February 11, 2026 at 12:03 PM
“Success in US science has come from sustained funding and welcoming the best talent from around the world, yet both of these advantages are in decline”
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early!
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
February 11, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com is now online-early!
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
We describe independent evolution of bacterial genomes of only ~50–52 kb — the smallest known outside cellular organelles — revealing striking convergence toward minimal gene sets.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
🫴 Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile:
👇
| mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@mbio.bsky.social @spp2330.bsky.social
👇
| mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@mbio.bsky.social @spp2330.bsky.social
Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile | mBio
Past work has seen over-representation of Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates in genome and biology studies on staphylococci. Here, we show by
a selective plating analysis of municipal wastewater ...
journals.asm.org
February 10, 2026 at 8:18 AM
🫴 Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile:
👇
| mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@mbio.bsky.social @spp2330.bsky.social
👇
| mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@mbio.bsky.social @spp2330.bsky.social
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Super cool story from Sam Fenn. He developed a wound model where s. aureus & p. aerunginosa & c. albicans fight it out shows that copper is central to the outcome where Candida and pseudomonas take copper from human tissue to gang up on staph!
But staph being staph is as always one step ahead….
But staph being staph is as always one step ahead….
Copper as a central element critical to interkingdom interactions within a polymicrobial wound environment. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.10.705071v1
February 11, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Super cool story from Sam Fenn. He developed a wound model where s. aureus & p. aerunginosa & c. albicans fight it out shows that copper is central to the outcome where Candida and pseudomonas take copper from human tissue to gang up on staph!
But staph being staph is as always one step ahead….
But staph being staph is as always one step ahead….
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!
Davis Summer Population Genomics Program
Want to learn population genetics? Please fill out this form to indicate your potential interest in a 2-week intensive online summer population genetics course taught by Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra and Graham...
docs.google.com
February 9, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Fun news! @gcbias.bsky.social and I are teaching a 2-week online population genetics workshop this summer to raise money for the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. We're trying to gauge interest -- please fill this out if you might be interested! And please share broadly!
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
So the feds ARE NOT considering an mRNA vaccine for the flu, which could save countless lives, but ARE backing research into whether horse dewormer can cure cancer, because the right views vaccines as elite and ivermectin as populist.
Cool.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Cool.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
FDA won’t review Moderna application for first mRNA-based flu vaccine
The decision, which shocked company officials, comes as the FDA says it will take a stricter approach to federal vaccine approvals.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:24 AM
So the feds ARE NOT considering an mRNA vaccine for the flu, which could save countless lives, but ARE backing research into whether horse dewormer can cure cancer, because the right views vaccines as elite and ivermectin as populist.
Cool.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Cool.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
THEY ARE BUYING UP WAREHOUSES TO HOLD HUMAN BEINGS IN DETENTION INDEFINITELY.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
February 10, 2026 at 11:19 PM
THEY ARE BUYING UP WAREHOUSES TO HOLD HUMAN BEINGS IN DETENTION INDEFINITELY.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
I feel crazy at how everyone is acting like this is normal. These are concentration camps being built right before our eyes. These buildings are not meant to house human beings. People will be caged like cattle and die.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
"construction jobs are way up" [EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER]
February 10, 2026 at 9:44 PM
"construction jobs are way up" [EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER]
Do other people just build in capital equipment money grant budgets so you can actually buy things when capital equipment fails in a way you can’t plan for?
That all feels so stupid
(I’ve gotta now email people to clear a charge >5000$ because my biosafety hood croaked and I didn’t plan for that)
That all feels so stupid
(I’ve gotta now email people to clear a charge >5000$ because my biosafety hood croaked and I didn’t plan for that)
February 10, 2026 at 10:39 PM
Do other people just build in capital equipment money grant budgets so you can actually buy things when capital equipment fails in a way you can’t plan for?
That all feels so stupid
(I’ve gotta now email people to clear a charge >5000$ because my biosafety hood croaked and I didn’t plan for that)
That all feels so stupid
(I’ve gotta now email people to clear a charge >5000$ because my biosafety hood croaked and I didn’t plan for that)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
I know my investigative work on this little indie blog isn’t going to win me a Pulitzer, but this is still important to publicize. My articles are free for everyone, no paywall. Thank you for your support, subscribing, and spreading the word #GPFigure #SkateAmerica
www.patreon.com/posts/follow...
www.patreon.com/posts/follow...
Follow-up: Mrazkova and Mrazek's Newly Tweaked AI-Generated Rhythm Dance is Still Plagiarized Slop | Figure Skating for Baseball Nerds
Get more from Figure Skating for Baseball Nerds on Patreon
www.patreon.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:24 AM
I know my investigative work on this little indie blog isn’t going to win me a Pulitzer, but this is still important to publicize. My articles are free for everyone, no paywall. Thank you for your support, subscribing, and spreading the word #GPFigure #SkateAmerica
www.patreon.com/posts/follow...
www.patreon.com/posts/follow...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
1. there are some restrictions about BPM and stuff like that
2. a big issue in figure skating recently has been clearing the copyright for songs. I think this pair might have assumed using AI could help them avoid that mess but instead it steered them directly into another one
2. a big issue in figure skating recently has been clearing the copyright for songs. I think this pair might have assumed using AI could help them avoid that mess but instead it steered them directly into another one
Why not just use the New Radicals song?
February 10, 2026 at 2:51 PM
1. there are some restrictions about BPM and stuff like that
2. a big issue in figure skating recently has been clearing the copyright for songs. I think this pair might have assumed using AI could help them avoid that mess but instead it steered them directly into another one
2. a big issue in figure skating recently has been clearing the copyright for songs. I think this pair might have assumed using AI could help them avoid that mess but instead it steered them directly into another one
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
wild AI story from the Olympics
ice dancers were told to use songs "in the style of the 1990s." One Czech pair tried using AI to pump out a song to skate to, but their AI bot fully plagiarized "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals and they had to change it
sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-d...
ice dancers were told to use songs "in the style of the 1990s." One Czech pair tried using AI to pump out a song to skate to, but their AI bot fully plagiarized "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals and they had to change it
sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-d...
February 10, 2026 at 2:35 PM
wild AI story from the Olympics
ice dancers were told to use songs "in the style of the 1990s." One Czech pair tried using AI to pump out a song to skate to, but their AI bot fully plagiarized "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals and they had to change it
sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-d...
ice dancers were told to use songs "in the style of the 1990s." One Czech pair tried using AI to pump out a song to skate to, but their AI bot fully plagiarized "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals and they had to change it
sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-d...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
UNC is close to finalizing its policy which outlines permissible circumstances to *SECRETLY RECORD FACULTY IN THE CLASSROOM.*
UNC-Chapel Hill Preps Policy on Recording Professors
The school aims to clarify guidelines after a secret recording controversy and growing fear of surveillance.
www.theassemblync.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:58 PM
UNC is close to finalizing its policy which outlines permissible circumstances to *SECRETLY RECORD FACULTY IN THE CLASSROOM.*
NIH just lighting money on fire now
Holy shit—a terrible waste of $$
Bhattacharya is so kooky
“If lots of people believe it & it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously,” Bhattacharya said at a MAHA event
Great reporting by @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Bhattacharya is so kooky
“If lots of people believe it & it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously,” Bhattacharya said at a MAHA event
Great reporting by @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
US Cancer Institute Studying Ivermectin’s ‘Ability To Kill Cancer Cells’ - KFF Health News
At a January event organized by allies of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., National Cancer Institute Director Anthony Letai said results may be released “in a few months.” Ivermectin, used to d...
kffhealthnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:07 PM
NIH just lighting money on fire now
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
1/3
🚨2 new pre-prints🚨
✅ Molecular scale: "Deconstructing empirical fitness seascapes across scales of granularity."
✅ Host-parasite scale: "Learning virulence-transmission relationships using causal inference."
🚨2 new pre-prints🚨
✅ Molecular scale: "Deconstructing empirical fitness seascapes across scales of granularity."
✅ Host-parasite scale: "Learning virulence-transmission relationships using causal inference."
February 9, 2026 at 8:42 PM
1/3
🚨2 new pre-prints🚨
✅ Molecular scale: "Deconstructing empirical fitness seascapes across scales of granularity."
✅ Host-parasite scale: "Learning virulence-transmission relationships using causal inference."
🚨2 new pre-prints🚨
✅ Molecular scale: "Deconstructing empirical fitness seascapes across scales of granularity."
✅ Host-parasite scale: "Learning virulence-transmission relationships using causal inference."