John Burns
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burnsajohn.bsky.social
John Burns
@burnsajohn.bsky.social
I like to think about how cells work, especially among #protists. Driven by curiosity and a love to share detailed research and odd observations. Senior Research Scientist, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. He/him. https://www.protistsystems.org/
...of those objective lasers to try and cut holes in tiny cells and see whether they can heal. The way stentor pulls itself back together is like:
November 11, 2025 at 8:23 PM
I was trying to culture a local alga, but instead I created this tiny "amoebopolis". I think they ate the algae. Better luck next time, me!
November 7, 2025 at 3:54 PM
November 7, 2025 at 12:45 PM
TIL about brackish water jellyfish like this Bay Nettle in the Chesapeake Bay. Cute little things.

www.vims.edu/bayinfo/jell...
November 7, 2025 at 4:22 AM
The radiolarian hipster says to the diatoms "I was a spiky glass cell before it was cool" (first radiolarians appeared ~500 million years ago; first diatoms ~200 million years ago).

But the diatoms grow *much* faster. No one even knows how radiolarians grow at all! They don't seem to eat diatoms 😅
September 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Some little circus performers. #protistsonsky
September 20, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Clearing out the skeleton in the last stages of swarmer release (sped up about 8x).
September 12, 2025 at 3:26 PM