Mak Saito
@maksaito.bsky.social
Biogeochemist, oceanographer, proteomics scientist, guitarist for Deep Six, half-Scottish half-Japanese American
We're out at sea with C-COMP @microbialplanet.bsky.social and the AUV Clio. Clio's social media account has migrated from the other place to the blue place @clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social , follow for mild sarcastic pseudo-first robot humor
updates...
updates...
Since I've new to 'blueocean', here's some background about me. I'm Clio the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that, unusual for a AUV, operates only in vertical mode, collecting samples in profiles down to 6000m. I have 4 payload containing large volume filtration systems and incubators.🌊🔬
September 9, 2025 at 5:01 PM
We're out at sea with C-COMP @microbialplanet.bsky.social and the AUV Clio. Clio's social media account has migrated from the other place to the blue place @clio-thebgcauv.bsky.social , follow for mild sarcastic pseudo-first robot humor
updates...
updates...
Reposted by Mak Saito
🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
July 25, 2025 at 7:50 PM
🌊❄️🧪 🇦🇶 Please share:
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
We have learned that the National Science Foundation is moving ahead with plans to decommission the U.S. Research Vessel/Ice Breaker Nathaniel B. Palmer this October.
If you care about Antarctic research, please read on (1/n)
Reposted by Mak Saito
🌊 ↪️↩️ Deep ocean currents play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life across the South Pacific Ocean, according to a groundbreaking study led by @jcvi.org and Scripps Oceanography scientists. More on the study published by @science.org. ⬇️
Study Reveals how Deep Ocean Currents Shape Microbial Life across South Pacific
A groundbreaking study in the journal Science, has unveiled how deep ocean currents—known as global overturning circulation—play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life ...
scripps.ucsd.edu
July 15, 2025 at 4:42 PM
🌊 ↪️↩️ Deep ocean currents play a pivotal role in shaping the diversity and function of microbial life across the South Pacific Ocean, according to a groundbreaking study led by @jcvi.org and Scripps Oceanography scientists. More on the study published by @science.org. ⬇️
Reposted by Mak Saito
New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump (Gift Article)
Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.
www.nytimes.com
June 4, 2025 at 3:01 PM
New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Mak Saito
Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST.
I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.
🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky
www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...
I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.
🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky
www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...
2025 LIFE RCN Seminar Series Episode 1: Dr. Rogier Braakman — LIFE Research Coordination Network
On June 10th, 2025, at 8AM PDT/11AM EDT, the LIFE RCN will be excited to introduce Dr. Rogier Braakman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct scientist at Th...
www.lifercn.org
June 4, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST.
I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.
🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky
www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...
I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.
🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky
www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...
Reposted by Mak Saito
One visible impact of the illegal firing of NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL) employees -
no 2025 data updates for water quality in W Lake Erie, meaning no public info on the harmful algal blooms.
We detected toxins in April, but we lost the folks who organize & report this data
no 2025 data updates for water quality in W Lake Erie, meaning no public info on the harmful algal blooms.
We detected toxins in April, but we lost the folks who organize & report this data
NOAA-GLERL WLE Weekly Data
Visual archive of weekly sampling data from
Western Lake Erie during the 2012 through roughly present year harmful algal bloom seasons
www.glerl.noaa.gov
May 29, 2025 at 2:59 PM
One visible impact of the illegal firing of NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (GLERL) employees -
no 2025 data updates for water quality in W Lake Erie, meaning no public info on the harmful algal blooms.
We detected toxins in April, but we lost the folks who organize & report this data
no 2025 data updates for water quality in W Lake Erie, meaning no public info on the harmful algal blooms.
We detected toxins in April, but we lost the folks who organize & report this data
Reposted by Mak Saito
🌊 Pre-registration is open for GEOTRACES Summer School 2025!
📅 17–21 Nov | 📍 Cape Town
🎓 Training in marine biogeochemistry of trace elements & isotopes for 36 students.
Apply by 30 June 2025 👉 geotraces-2025.sciencesconf.org
#MarineScience #Biogeochemistry #SummerSchool
@scor-int.bsky.social
📅 17–21 Nov | 📍 Cape Town
🎓 Training in marine biogeochemistry of trace elements & isotopes for 36 students.
Apply by 30 June 2025 👉 geotraces-2025.sciencesconf.org
#MarineScience #Biogeochemistry #SummerSchool
@scor-int.bsky.social
May 27, 2025 at 1:43 PM
🌊 Pre-registration is open for GEOTRACES Summer School 2025!
📅 17–21 Nov | 📍 Cape Town
🎓 Training in marine biogeochemistry of trace elements & isotopes for 36 students.
Apply by 30 June 2025 👉 geotraces-2025.sciencesconf.org
#MarineScience #Biogeochemistry #SummerSchool
@scor-int.bsky.social
📅 17–21 Nov | 📍 Cape Town
🎓 Training in marine biogeochemistry of trace elements & isotopes for 36 students.
Apply by 30 June 2025 👉 geotraces-2025.sciencesconf.org
#MarineScience #Biogeochemistry #SummerSchool
@scor-int.bsky.social
Is the Zinc Hypothesis true? (Zn control of marine primary production). Apparently yes: by multiple independent lines of evidence, including zinc stress protein biomarkers, in the low pCO2 waters of a coastal Antarctica bloom. Thesis work by Riss Kell and many wonderful collabs. In Open review BG. 🌊
Zinc stimulation of phytoplankton in a low carbon dioxide, coastal Antarctic environment: evidence for the Zn hypothesis
Abstract. The ocean acts as a carbon sink, absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and resulting in substantial uptake of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. As biological processes in the oceans such as net pr...
egusphere.copernicus.org
April 15, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Is the Zinc Hypothesis true? (Zn control of marine primary production). Apparently yes: by multiple independent lines of evidence, including zinc stress protein biomarkers, in the low pCO2 waters of a coastal Antarctica bloom. Thesis work by Riss Kell and many wonderful collabs. In Open review BG. 🌊
Reposted by Mak Saito
The Scottish have won the AI Wars.
March 5, 2025 at 7:23 PM
The Scottish have won the AI Wars.
Reposted by Mak Saito
Super glad to share two new papers about how nutrient gradients impact alkaline phosphatase in the ocean. This was "that project" which followed from PhD to Postdoc to Assist. Prof, motivated by awesome collaborators! egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20... egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
Part 1: Zonal gradients in phosphorus and nitrogen acquisition and stress revealed by metaproteomes of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus
Abstract. Ocean warming alongside changes to the natural and anthropogenic supply of key nutrient resources such as nitrogen, phosphorus and trace metals is predicted to alter the magnitude and stoich...
egusphere.copernicus.org
March 4, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Super glad to share two new papers about how nutrient gradients impact alkaline phosphatase in the ocean. This was "that project" which followed from PhD to Postdoc to Assist. Prof, motivated by awesome collaborators! egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20... egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
Reposted by Mak Saito
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Inside the Collapse at NIH
Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
www.theatlantic.com
February 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Reposted by Mak Saito
"John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more - Photosynthesis Research
This is a tribute to a truly inspirational plant biologist, Prof. John A. Raven, FRS, FRSE (25th June 1941– 23rd May 2024), who died at the age of 82. He was a leader in the field of evolution and phy...
link.springer.com
February 18, 2025 at 4:17 AM
"John Raven, FRS, FRSE: a truly great innovator in plant physiology, photosynthesis and much more" link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Mak Saito
Research universities are often the largest employers in their region. They are often the primary health care providers to communities. This funding shift will not only reduce US research leadership, it will put working people out of work and reduce healthcare access.
Excellent 🧵 on this evening's NIH announcement of a dramatic reduction in indirect rates for research institutions, which amounts to a generational restructuring of the US research and development ecosystem. These cuts are effective immediately, not just for new grants but for existing ones.
6. The policy does not just affect funding going forward. All existing NIH grants will have their indirect rates cut to 15% as of today, the date of issuance.
For a large university, this creates a sudden and catastrophic shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars against already budgeted funds.
For a large university, this creates a sudden and catastrophic shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars against already budgeted funds.
February 8, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Research universities are often the largest employers in their region. They are often the primary health care providers to communities. This funding shift will not only reduce US research leadership, it will put working people out of work and reduce healthcare access.
Rapid Zinc uptake rates in Antarctica with a new stable isotope method, by former student Riss. If you know how easy it is to contaminate for zinc you’ll appreciate this study.
Hello bluesky! I am so happy to share that some of my Antarctic work was published today in BG: bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/.... This paper is seven (!) years in the making! Zinc is an essential micronutrient for phytoplankton, and is uptaken rapidly (biogeochem modelers please take note!)
High metabolic zinc demand within native Amundsen and Ross sea phytoplankton communities determined by stable isotope uptake rate measurements
Abstract. Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for most eukaryotic phytoplankton. Zn uptake by phytoplankton within the euphotic zone results in nutrient-like dissolved Zn (dZn) profiles with a lar...
bg.copernicus.org
February 8, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Rapid Zinc uptake rates in Antarctica with a new stable isotope method, by former student Riss. If you know how easy it is to contaminate for zinc you’ll appreciate this study.
Sunset on a chilly walk in Woods Hole
January 6, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Sunset on a chilly walk in Woods Hole
Reposted by Mak Saito
We are very happy to announce a free-to-attend #anvio workshop and ECR symposium in Oldenburg to discuss integrated microbial 'omics and learn applications of anvi'o.
More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...
Please apply and/or circulate 😇
More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...
Please apply and/or circulate 😇
December 16, 2024 at 10:38 AM
We are very happy to announce a free-to-attend #anvio workshop and ECR symposium in Oldenburg to discuss integrated microbial 'omics and learn applications of anvi'o.
More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...
Please apply and/or circulate 😇
More information and application link (application deadline is Jan 10): anvio.org/workshops/20...
Please apply and/or circulate 😇
Ocean Metaproteomics intercomparison study out. Really fun project working together with colleagues to examine this method. And Intercomparisons are really valuable to connect between dstasets across time and space in the environment bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
Results from a multi-laboratory ocean metaproteomic intercomparison: effects of LC-MS acquisition and data analysis procedures
Abstract. Metaproteomics is an increasingly popular methodology that provides information regarding the metabolic functions of specific microbial taxa and has potential for contributing to ocean ecolo...
bg.copernicus.org
November 10, 2024 at 9:22 AM
Ocean Metaproteomics intercomparison study out. Really fun project working together with colleagues to examine this method. And Intercomparisons are really valuable to connect between dstasets across time and space in the environment bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
Our rock group, Deep Six, just released a second album this week, The Abyss. Mostly instrumental tunes, melancholy, but hopeful, good writing or walking tunes. With fellow marine chemists Adam Subhas and Tristan Horner. Enjoy!
deepsixwoho.hearnow.com
deepsixwoho.hearnow.com
The Abyss
Have you heard The Abyss by Deep Six on #hearnow?
deepsixwoho.hearnow.com
January 29, 2024 at 10:11 PM
Our rock group, Deep Six, just released a second album this week, The Abyss. Mostly instrumental tunes, melancholy, but hopeful, good writing or walking tunes. With fellow marine chemists Adam Subhas and Tristan Horner. Enjoy!
deepsixwoho.hearnow.com
deepsixwoho.hearnow.com
Our new multi-omic and micronutrient study,
A 1km section in the western North Atlantic measured by the AUV Clio. We also sent Clio on a 4000m dive and detected fungi in the large nephaloid layers there. Congrats @oceanatalie.bsky.social !
A 1km section in the western North Atlantic measured by the AUV Clio. We also sent Clio on a 4000m dive and detected fungi in the large nephaloid layers there. Congrats @oceanatalie.bsky.social !
Woo we finally have our preprint out! Using transcripts and proteins collected with a AUV Clio, we found shifts in marine microeukaryotes vertically in the water column and signatures of changing nutrient stress across a coastal gradient: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 12, 2023 at 1:46 AM
Our new multi-omic and micronutrient study,
A 1km section in the western North Atlantic measured by the AUV Clio. We also sent Clio on a 4000m dive and detected fungi in the large nephaloid layers there. Congrats @oceanatalie.bsky.social !
A 1km section in the western North Atlantic measured by the AUV Clio. We also sent Clio on a 4000m dive and detected fungi in the large nephaloid layers there. Congrats @oceanatalie.bsky.social !
Hello BlueSky! Excited to be here (thanks @ben for the umpteen codes...).
December 6, 2023 at 6:23 PM
Hello BlueSky! Excited to be here (thanks @ben for the umpteen codes...).