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
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
@jcv.bsky.social penned an obituary for Ham Smith in @nature.com. Since the early 90s, Ham has been a key figure at the Institute for his invaluable contributions and mentorship. "Ham was the best colleague that one could ever have in science and a great friend."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Hamilton Smith obituary: molecular biologist who co-discovered precise molecular scissors for cutting DNA
Nobel laureate who helped to sequence the first bacterial and human genomes.
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:32 PM
@jcv.bsky.social penned an obituary for Ham Smith in @nature.com. Since the early 90s, Ham has been a key figure at the Institute for his invaluable contributions and mentorship. "Ham was the best colleague that one could ever have in science and a great friend."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This. Is. A. Different. Interview. Than. The. Other. Magnet. One.
November 11, 2025 at 12:25 AM
This. Is. A. Different. Interview. Than. The. Other. Magnet. One.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
If you’re seeing this viral claim that Trump is working on 15-year car loans, it’s fake.
November 10, 2025 at 11:38 PM
If you’re seeing this viral claim that Trump is working on 15-year car loans, it’s fake.
“No, he didn’t say that” I thought to myself
November 10, 2025 at 9:41 PM
“No, he didn’t say that” I thought to myself
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Going to repeat this every time I see the GOP "plan":
I have kidney failure. I require dialysis to live. Three times a week every single week. It costs $1000 per treatment.
So either they need to give me a MINIMUM of $156,000 a year...or I'm going to die.
I have kidney failure. I require dialysis to live. Three times a week every single week. It costs $1000 per treatment.
So either they need to give me a MINIMUM of $156,000 a year...or I'm going to die.
I was at an event yesterday where Rand Paul spoke via video and talked about how great it was to send ACA money "directly to the people" so that they could work collectively to get better deals on health care.
November 10, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Going to repeat this every time I see the GOP "plan":
I have kidney failure. I require dialysis to live. Three times a week every single week. It costs $1000 per treatment.
So either they need to give me a MINIMUM of $156,000 a year...or I'm going to die.
I have kidney failure. I require dialysis to live. Three times a week every single week. It costs $1000 per treatment.
So either they need to give me a MINIMUM of $156,000 a year...or I'm going to die.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Joyce Carol Oates owned Elon so hard he's spent the last day posting about movies he hasn't seen in 15 years
November 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Joyce Carol Oates owned Elon so hard he's spent the last day posting about movies he hasn't seen in 15 years
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.
Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
As President Trump's call for National Guard deployments rings out across the U.S., a small contingent of Ohio guard members is quietly expressing concern in an encrypted group chat.
www.wunc.org/2025-11-10/i...
www.wunc.org/2025-11-10/i...
In an encrypted group chat, National Guard members question Trump deployments
As President Trump's call for National Guard deployments rings out across the U.S., a small contingent of Ohio guard members is quietly expressing concern in an encrypted group chat.
www.wunc.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:23 PM
As President Trump's call for National Guard deployments rings out across the U.S., a small contingent of Ohio guard members is quietly expressing concern in an encrypted group chat.
www.wunc.org/2025-11-10/i...
www.wunc.org/2025-11-10/i...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
ICYMI: New online! Microbial genomics for antimicrobial resistance ecology and action
Microbial genomics for antimicrobial resistance ecology and action
Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 03 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41576-025-00909-zMicrobial genomics can improve our understanding of antimicrobial resistance dynamics across ecosystems. In this Comment, Kathryn Holt emphasizes the interconnectedness of human, animal and environmental health and calls for greater integration of microbial genomic data through robust analytical frameworks to unravel the complexity of antimicrobial resistance dynamics.
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:08 PM
ICYMI: New online! Microbial genomics for antimicrobial resistance ecology and action
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
‘How is this possible?’: a new film looks inside the appalling abuses of the Alabama prison system
In the year’s most shocking documentary, The Alabama Solution, prisoners share astonishing footage in a plea for help
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:38 PM
And now, if you read the devastating piece about what Venezuelan deportees endured at the El Salvador torture prison, read what incarcerated U.S. citizens endure in Alabama prisons.
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
State prisons in the U.S. that are massive systems of human rights violations.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry.
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
Yikes. USDA sent threatening letter to states telling them that if they sent out EBT money —which many states did during the window when a lower court said SNAP funds had to be released—they have to take it back (?)
Trying to sort out what this means and if states even can claw back the funds
Trying to sort out what this means and if states even can claw back the funds
November 9, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Astonishing how hard this administration is working to keep people hungry.
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
It's clear they are trying maximize public suffering, in hopes of getting people to blame Dems for that suffering. But it's transparently the White House working overtime to keep the suffering going!
bsky.app/profile/cram...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Our reporters interviewed 40 of the men the Trump administration sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador: They described being beaten, sexually assaulted by guards and driven to the brink of suicide. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Our reporters interviewed 40 of the men the Trump administration sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador: They described being beaten, sexually assaulted by guards and driven to the brink of suicide. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
If you think it is necessary to provide “nuance” or “context” about the life of a horrible person who has passed they will not see it. But the people this horribleness hurt will wonder why you feel it necessary to continue that person’s malign impact on the world.
November 9, 2025 at 3:52 PM
If you think it is necessary to provide “nuance” or “context” about the life of a horrible person who has passed they will not see it. But the people this horribleness hurt will wonder why you feel it necessary to continue that person’s malign impact on the world.
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
What happened when I dug into some of the key studies and ideas quoted in The Tipping Point and its sequel… kucharski.substack.com/p/the-real-r...
November 9, 2025 at 1:44 PM
What happened when I dug into some of the key studies and ideas quoted in The Tipping Point and its sequel… kucharski.substack.com/p/the-real-r...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
“The dual class action suits allege that the functions—which followed thousands of sexual harassment and assault lawsuits against Uber and Lyft over the years— have limited the economic opportunities for men and discriminated against them because of their gender.”
Male Drivers Sue Uber and Lyft Over Women-Only Ride-Hailing
The lawsuits allege that male drivers receive fewer rides because of the feature, violating sex discrimination laws.
time.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:14 AM
“The dual class action suits allege that the functions—which followed thousands of sexual harassment and assault lawsuits against Uber and Lyft over the years— have limited the economic opportunities for men and discriminated against them because of their gender.”
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
The hitchhiker’s guide to cross-species DNA delivery
@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Spotlight by Kotaro Kiga and Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez
www.cell.com/trends/micro...
@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Spotlight by Kotaro Kiga and Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez
www.cell.com/trends/micro...
The hitchhiker’s guide to cross-species DNA delivery
Microbial hitchhikers are rewriting the rules of horizontal gene transfer. He, Patkowski,
et al. reveal how phage satellites assemble chimeric infective particles that deliver
DNA across species bound...
www.cell.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM
The hitchhiker’s guide to cross-species DNA delivery
@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Spotlight by Kotaro Kiga and Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez
www.cell.com/trends/micro...
@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Spotlight by Kotaro Kiga and Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez
www.cell.com/trends/micro...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
November 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Tech guys six months ago: haha yes we’re cutting all this WASTEFUL spending by eliminating medical research and USAID
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Tech guys now: yes I think taxpayers will be excited to bailout my non consensual pornography machine
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
If you look at the text of the Double Helix, that ‘eureka’ moment implies a man with no depth in crystallography could magically glance and see a structure where Franklin could not from the photographs of the B form of DNA. (Watson’s book only says B form)
Read below.
bsky.app/profile/matt...
Read below.
bsky.app/profile/matt...
November 8, 2025 at 4:23 PM
If you look at the text of the Double Helix, that ‘eureka’ moment implies a man with no depth in crystallography could magically glance and see a structure where Franklin could not from the photographs of the B form of DNA. (Watson’s book only says B form)
Read below.
bsky.app/profile/matt...
Read below.
bsky.app/profile/matt...
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
I recommend reading this thread from F. Crick’s granddaughter.
Apparently even the scene at the Eagle pub, where we all went as scientific pilgrims, is not true?
Just mythology
Apparently even the scene at the Eagle pub, where we all went as scientific pilgrims, is not true?
Just mythology
"If you publish your book now, in the teeth of my opposition, history will condemn you”
“the tone used to describe Rosalind's work in the Epilogue
is perfectly reasonable,
but contrasts ludicrously with
the descriptions of her
in the text itself.”
-Francis Crick
Letter criticizing Watson’s book 🧪
“the tone used to describe Rosalind's work in the Epilogue
is perfectly reasonable,
but contrasts ludicrously with
the descriptions of her
in the text itself.”
-Francis Crick
Letter criticizing Watson’s book 🧪
November 8, 2025 at 10:47 PM
I recommend reading this thread from F. Crick’s granddaughter.
Apparently even the scene at the Eagle pub, where we all went as scientific pilgrims, is not true?
Just mythology
Apparently even the scene at the Eagle pub, where we all went as scientific pilgrims, is not true?
Just mythology
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
Shout out to people routinely working in their 2nd or 3rd language.
Yesterday I gave a 1-hour research seminar in French. Afterwards, my brain was pretty much done for the day.
Respect to the loads of scientists who do this daily (and usually a lot more effectively than me!)
Yesterday I gave a 1-hour research seminar in French. Afterwards, my brain was pretty much done for the day.
Respect to the loads of scientists who do this daily (and usually a lot more effectively than me!)
November 7, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Shout out to people routinely working in their 2nd or 3rd language.
Yesterday I gave a 1-hour research seminar in French. Afterwards, my brain was pretty much done for the day.
Respect to the loads of scientists who do this daily (and usually a lot more effectively than me!)
Yesterday I gave a 1-hour research seminar in French. Afterwards, my brain was pretty much done for the day.
Respect to the loads of scientists who do this daily (and usually a lot more effectively than me!)
Reposted by Dave Baltrus 🦦
A nice write-up on the latest paper from my lab: news.ku.edu/news/article...
More commentary to come!
#PlantBiology #Drought #Corn #Maize #Microbiome #PlantScience #SoilHealth #PlantHealth
More commentary to come!
#PlantBiology #Drought #Corn #Maize #Microbiome #PlantScience #SoilHealth #PlantHealth
New study explores ‘legacy effects’ of soil microbes on plants across Kansas
Click for more on research in Nature Microbiology
news.ku.edu
November 8, 2025 at 1:54 AM
A nice write-up on the latest paper from my lab: news.ku.edu/news/article...
More commentary to come!
#PlantBiology #Drought #Corn #Maize #Microbiome #PlantScience #SoilHealth #PlantHealth
More commentary to come!
#PlantBiology #Drought #Corn #Maize #Microbiome #PlantScience #SoilHealth #PlantHealth