Ian Heller
@ianheller.bsky.social
Biologist 🐟🧬🦴🦨🦇 | PhD Stanford Dev Bio | Philadelphia | he/him
Reposted by Ian Heller
After years of being curious but lazy, I finally got around to documenting what's inside the black walnuts in my yard. In the process I became obsessed with the strange wasp that hunts down the pupae of the resident flies. 🌿 #wasps #diapriidae #nature #diptera colinpurrington.com/2025/11/life...
Life inside rotting walnut husks » Colin Purrington's blog
There’s an eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra) on my neighbor’s property that rains down fruit every fall, and I finally got curious about what species might be inside. So far I’ve found four flies, ...
colinpurrington.com
November 16, 2025 at 10:26 PM
After years of being curious but lazy, I finally got around to documenting what's inside the black walnuts in my yard. In the process I became obsessed with the strange wasp that hunts down the pupae of the resident flies. 🌿 #wasps #diapriidae #nature #diptera colinpurrington.com/2025/11/life...
Reposted by Ian Heller
📣 Paper alert!
I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
November 10, 2025 at 11:11 AM
📣 Paper alert!
I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Reposted by Ian Heller
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Ian Heller
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Ian Heller
This might be the most photogenic bat ever. What a cutie!
just in time for #batweek --Phylogenetic and ML analyses show that viral epidemic potential is not uniform among bats: virulence, transmissibility, and death burden cluster within distinct clades.🦇@carolinecummings.bsky.social @colincarlson.bsky.social @viralemergence.org go.sn.pub/acnbg1
October 31, 2025 at 2:03 AM
This might be the most photogenic bat ever. What a cutie!
Reposted by Ian Heller
Reposted by Ian Heller
Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster, the highest title given to competitors by the International Chess Federation, and a former Junior World Champion, has died at 29.
Daniel Naroditsky, Chess Grandmaster, Dies at 29
He earned the highest title in the chess world as he built a career as an accomplished chess teacher, commentator and author.
nyti.ms
October 20, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster, the highest title given to competitors by the International Chess Federation, and a former Junior World Champion, has died at 29.
Reposted by Ian Heller
Colorful collage of abnormal larval zebrafish hearts. Credit to @dorotheeb.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪
October 19, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Colorful collage of abnormal larval zebrafish hearts. Credit to @dorotheeb.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪
Reposted by Ian Heller
Hey Regen folks 👋 Excited to share that our single-nucleus RNA-seq dataset for Polypterus fin regeneration is now live at the Broad Institute portal! Dive in here: tinyurl.com/5bck22jx
Big thanks to the team for making this happen—looking forward to seeing what you all discover!
Big thanks to the team for making this happen—looking forward to seeing what you all discover!
October 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Hey Regen folks 👋 Excited to share that our single-nucleus RNA-seq dataset for Polypterus fin regeneration is now live at the Broad Institute portal! Dive in here: tinyurl.com/5bck22jx
Big thanks to the team for making this happen—looking forward to seeing what you all discover!
Big thanks to the team for making this happen—looking forward to seeing what you all discover!
Reposted by Ian Heller
The Newfoundland and Labrador public libraries continue to make the absolute best free pins that you can just have if you go to borrow a book
October 7, 2025 at 1:05 PM
The Newfoundland and Labrador public libraries continue to make the absolute best free pins that you can just have if you go to borrow a book
Reposted by Ian Heller
🤩 Fantastic new network plotting package available in Python by Fabio Zanini. The package supports both networkx and igraph networks, and has a wide variety of styling options. iplotx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
October 3, 2025 at 7:11 AM
🤩 Fantastic new network plotting package available in Python by Fabio Zanini. The package supports both networkx and igraph networks, and has a wide variety of styling options. iplotx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
Reposted by Ian Heller
Shutting pregnant women out of clinical trials to protect them and their babies has had the opposite effect, experts say.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/02/c...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/02/c...
Fights over Tylenol, SSRIs highlight the enduring lack of pregnant women in drug trials
Shutting pregnant women out of clinical trials to protect them and their babies has had the opposite effect, experts say.
www.statnews.com
October 2, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Shutting pregnant women out of clinical trials to protect them and their babies has had the opposite effect, experts say.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/02/c...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/02/c...
Reposted by Ian Heller
🚨 First pre-print from my team !!
TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
🚨 First pre-print from my team !!
TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
TL;DR: presence of polymorphism (sequence differences between the homologous chromosomes) can *increase* the local rate of recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana, turning cold regions of the genome hot (purple v. grey) !
Reposted by Ian Heller
I heard there was a secret cove
Where mallards preened and cormorants dove
But you don't really care for birding do ya?
They've slimey skin and pec'tral fins
They get quite big though they're long and thin
the river kings a-lurking, anguillidae
Where mallards preened and cormorants dove
But you don't really care for birding do ya?
They've slimey skin and pec'tral fins
They get quite big though they're long and thin
the river kings a-lurking, anguillidae
September 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
I heard there was a secret cove
Where mallards preened and cormorants dove
But you don't really care for birding do ya?
They've slimey skin and pec'tral fins
They get quite big though they're long and thin
the river kings a-lurking, anguillidae
Where mallards preened and cormorants dove
But you don't really care for birding do ya?
They've slimey skin and pec'tral fins
They get quite big though they're long and thin
the river kings a-lurking, anguillidae
Reposted by Ian Heller
Human-specific tandem repeat in CACNA1C modulates responses to neuronal stimulation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.15.676436v1
September 16, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Human-specific tandem repeat in CACNA1C modulates responses to neuronal stimulation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.15.676436v1
Reposted by Ian Heller
As one of the many trainees influenced by Lucy Shapiro, congratulations and thank you for establishing the incredible Dev Bio department at Stanford. Thank you for being a role model, and thank you for your service to our field and the world.
2025 #LaskerAward winner Lucy Shapiro asked: How do living organisms translate information from a linear genetic code into three-dimensional structures?
And with that, she broke open a new field. 🧪
@pnas.org
#Lasker2025 #systemsbiology
And with that, she broke open a new field. 🧪
@pnas.org
#Lasker2025 #systemsbiology
The Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science awarded to Lucy Shapiro | PNAS
Scientists can contribute to society in numerous ways. Some scientists discover new biological principles and found entirely new fields. Some scien...
www.pnas.org
September 15, 2025 at 7:08 PM
As one of the many trainees influenced by Lucy Shapiro, congratulations and thank you for establishing the incredible Dev Bio department at Stanford. Thank you for being a role model, and thank you for your service to our field and the world.
Reposted by Ian Heller
The world is terrible, but I will be making fresh bread and a roasted tomato squash Harissa Bisque today. The first of many soups!
September 14, 2025 at 3:59 PM
The world is terrible, but I will be making fresh bread and a roasted tomato squash Harissa Bisque today. The first of many soups!
Reposted by Ian Heller
TIL that for some people with irreparably damaged corneas, you can pull one of their teeth, drill a hole in it, install an artificial lens, sew it into their cheek (so tissue attaches), then pull it out and stick it in their damaged eye, and ... it works fine!?! www.nbcboston.com/news/health/...
Man, 34, is no longer blind after tooth is implanted in eye in 'crazy' surgery
Tooth-in-eye surgery sounds like science fiction, but it can help people with severely damaged corneas see again. A patient and his doctors describe what it's like.
www.nbcboston.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:42 PM
TIL that for some people with irreparably damaged corneas, you can pull one of their teeth, drill a hole in it, install an artificial lens, sew it into their cheek (so tissue attaches), then pull it out and stick it in their damaged eye, and ... it works fine!?! www.nbcboston.com/news/health/...
Do bats get acid reflux? Do their stomachs have adaptations for hanging upside down ?
September 6, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Do bats get acid reflux? Do their stomachs have adaptations for hanging upside down ?
Reposted by Ian Heller
Lovely pre-Fall visit to nature with @sarahmackattack.bsky.social and @ianheller.bsky.social today. Nature observed, check. Hoagies consumed, check.
September 1, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Lovely pre-Fall visit to nature with @sarahmackattack.bsky.social and @ianheller.bsky.social today. Nature observed, check. Hoagies consumed, check.
Reposted by Ian Heller
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/s...
Uncovering the Genes That Let Our Ancestors Walk Upright
www.nytimes.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/s...
Reposted by Ian Heller
Time to work on my September 2013 to-do list
August 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Time to work on my September 2013 to-do list
Reposted by Ian Heller
OKAY good morning everyone, let's talk about the ostensible katydid testicles on display here and their horrifying evolution
Like Jesus bro we’re in a park there are kids here come on
August 23, 2025 at 1:47 PM
OKAY good morning everyone, let's talk about the ostensible katydid testicles on display here and their horrifying evolution
Reposted by Ian Heller
Berger's three laws of chatbotics:
1) The bot should never express emotions.
2) The bot should never praise the user.
3) The bot should never say it understands the user's mental state.
There's no use case for these things, and they're obviously problematic.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/t...
1) The bot should never express emotions.
2) The bot should never praise the user.
3) The bot should never say it understands the user's mental state.
There's no use case for these things, and they're obviously problematic.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/t...
Chatbots Can Go Into a Delusional Spiral. Here’s How It Happens.
www.nytimes.com
August 10, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Berger's three laws of chatbotics:
1) The bot should never express emotions.
2) The bot should never praise the user.
3) The bot should never say it understands the user's mental state.
There's no use case for these things, and they're obviously problematic.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/t...
1) The bot should never express emotions.
2) The bot should never praise the user.
3) The bot should never say it understands the user's mental state.
There's no use case for these things, and they're obviously problematic.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/t...
Reposted by Ian Heller
I’ll be honest making stupid eel animations is the most fun I’ve had in a while lol
I think I found the perfect music for this one.
Get! Eel! Facts!!!
EelFacts.Net
Advent calendars benefit @skypeascientist.bsky.social so you should buy one and send them to everyone you know too.
Get! Eel! Facts!!!
EelFacts.Net
Advent calendars benefit @skypeascientist.bsky.social so you should buy one and send them to everyone you know too.
August 8, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I’ll be honest making stupid eel animations is the most fun I’ve had in a while lol