Rob Steele
LightNews LightNews
banner
robthehoosier.bsky.social
Rob Steele
@robthehoosier.bsky.social
160 followers 140 following 9 posts
Professor at UC Irvine, studying the cnidarian Hydra.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Rob Steele
science.org
A specialized appendage responds to female sex hormones, allowing male octopuses to find their sex organs in the dark. https://scim.ag/4roFry3
‘Superarm’ helps male octopuses deliver sperm to females
Specialized appendage responds to female sex hormones, allowing males to find sex organs in the dark
scim.ag
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
currentbiology.bsky.social
Natural and artificial variations of the standard genetic code

Great new review by Julius Lukes & colleagues 👇

www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 26, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
iflscience.com
This will be historic! 🔭
On November 13, 2026, Voyager 1 will reach one full light-day away from Earth
November 26, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
micrott.bsky.social
Is it a flagellate? A tiny ball with tentacles? Contamination in my ciliate culture? NEW SUPERGROUP OF EUKARYOTES? Yes to all 4! Meet Solarion - just out in #Nature doi.org/10.1038/s415... Huge congrats to Marek Valt, Cepicka Lab & the star team! Very happy to be part of this project. #ProtistsOnSky
November 19, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
erictopol.bsky.social
New @pnas.org
"This work represents the most extensive study to
date regarding the effect of tattoo ink on the immune response and raises serious health concerns associated with the tattooing" including reduced response to Covid vaccination
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Tattoo ink induces inflammation in the draining lymph node and alters the immune response to vaccination | PNAS
Despite safety concerns regarding the toxicity of tattoo ink, no studies have reported the consequences of tattooing on the immune response. In thi...
www.pnas.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
whysharksmatter.bsky.social
Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly.

Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!

🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
“Why Are We Funding This?”
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
www.americanscientist.org
November 25, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
science.org
Some archaea—an ancient group of microorganisms—have an entirely novel genetic code, according to a new study in Science.

The findings expand our understanding of how alternative genetic codes evolve and hint at new molecular tools for biotechnology applications. https://scim.ag/4omApQ7
An archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine
Multiple genetic codes developed during the evolution of eukaryotes and bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code is known for archaea. We used proteomics to confirm our prediction that certain archae...
scim.ag
November 25, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
baxevanislab.bsky.social
We've updated our Hydractinia Genome Project Portal! The site includes genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic datasets, genome browsers, an interactive single-cell gene expression atlas, proteome-scale structure predictions, a custom BLAST interface, and more. Check it out! tinyurl.com/hydractinia
The Hydractinia Genome Project Portal: multi-omic annotation and visualization of Hydractinia genomic datasets
AbstractMotivation. The colonial hydroid Hydractinia exhibits several unique biological properties, including its remarkable regenerative capacity and the
academic.oup.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
baxevanislab.bsky.social
"Saving Science by the Sea" – a piece on the importance of marine laboratories in advancing biomedical science, including the beginning of the Meselson-Stahl collaboration that ultimately elucidated the process of DNA replication:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Saving science by the sea
As funding for science tightens across the United States, attention has turned to pressures faced by universities and biomedical research institutions. An often overlooked part of the nation’s science...
www.science.org
November 10, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Reposted by Rob Steele
clytia-vlfr.bsky.social
Drawing together findings from several projects over many years, we make a case that neural cell types in the Clytia larva have two embryological origins: i-cells and ectodermal.
bioRxiv 2025.11.17.688882; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Separation of the Early gastrula into oral and aboral halves shows that some neural cell tupes derive from aboral ectoderm, and others from i-cells
November 19, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Reposted by Rob Steele
hbrappap.bsky.social
So happy to announce our new preprint, “A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes.” We cultured a novel amoeba from Lassen Volcanic NP (CA, USA) that divides at 63°C (145°F) 🔥 - a new record for euk growth!
#protistsonsky 🧵
November 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
cellpress.bsky.social
This #moss survived 9 months directly exposed to the vacuum space and could still reproduce after returning to Earth. 🌚 🌿 spkl.io/63322AdFrp

Tomomichi Fujita & colleagues
@cp-iscience.bsky.social
Sporophyte sample from the space exposure experiment on the ISS CREDIT Tomomichi Fujita Highlights: P. patens spores survive simulate d space conditions with high resilience. Over 80% of spores remained viable after 9 months outside the ISS. Sporangiu m may provide protection against UV, heat, and intensive light stresses. Bryophyte could be used for planetary greening and life support systems.
November 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
science.org
Researchers say they have found RNA molecules within woolly mammoths mummified for millennia in Siberian permafrost. https://scim.ag/3LMfet4
Mammoth mummies up to 50,000 years old yield oldest RNA yet found
Ancient RNA promises to shed light on how genes functioned in extinct animals
scim.ag
November 20, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
fabianrentzsch.bsky.social
Our paper on the role of neurons in Nematostella head regeneration is now out at @currentbiology.bsky.social Big thank you to all collaborators, it was a pleasure!

Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Ectopic head regeneration after nervous system ablation in a sea anemone
Via genetic ablation of neurons, Mazloumi Gavgani et al. show that the nervous system is essential for defining axial polarity during whole-body regeneration in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.
www.cell.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Rob Steele
biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social
Cell type-independent timekeeping gene modules enable embryonic stage prediction in zebrafish https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.12.688039v1
November 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
jack-tamisiea.bsky.social
110 million years ago, a spinosaur's dinner got the best of it. Turns out the dino's fossilized vomit contained a new species of filter-feeding pterosaur!

I came across this paper a few days ago on social media and had a blast covering it for @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...
Fossil vomit contains new species of pterosaur from Brazil
Filter-feeding flying reptile was likely devoured by a dinosaur during the early Cretaceous
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
maxjtelford.bsky.social
My book 'The Tree of Life' is published in the USA and Canada today.

Available as book, on kindle and as audio.

I would be really grateful for reposts.

www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
www.amazon.ca/Tree-Life-So...
Cover of book titled The Tree of Life: solving science's greatest puzzle.
November 11, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
rogerslabucd.bsky.social
Did I already mention that in addition to being in a highly collaborative and collegial institution- working at @ucdavisvetmed.bsky.social @ucdavis.bsky.social has perks like: being a 30 min drive to Napa Valley, 15 mins to Sacramento, 45 mins to Berkeley, 1 hour to SF, & 2-2.5 hours to Lake Tahoe?
Lake Tahoe during the day Sparkling wine at Mumm View of a vineyard from a balcony Lake Tahoe at sunset
November 5, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
natureportfolio.nature.com
Draft atlases of the developing brain of humans and other mammals are presented in a collection of papers from BICAN published in Nature. These resources combine single-cell and spatial technologies to track how brain cell types emerge, diversify, and organize during development. 🧪
BICAN: A cell census of the developing human brain
Building on their landmark efforts to create cell-type atlases of adult brains using single-cell and spatial genomics technologies, researchers in the BRAIN ...
go.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
arnonelab.bsky.social
Our study, just published in #ScienceAdvances and funded by @hfspo.bsky.social, explores the post metamorphic cell composition of the sea urchin juvenile, revealing that its body is head-like. Long considered brainless creatures, they’re all brain instead!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Single-nucleus profiling highlights the all-brain echinoderm nervous system
A sea urchin is a head with a brain-like organization and a vertebrate-type retinal signature.
www.science.org
November 5, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
aidemm.bsky.social
I heard rumors about this but devastating to see it happening.. “the PPFP faculty hiring incentive is sunsetting as of fall 2025” 💔 www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
UC to Stop Funding Systemwide Postdoc Program
Established in 1984 to encourage women and minority Ph.D.s to pursue academia, the program has attracted right-wing criticism for prioritizing diverse candidates.
www.insidehighered.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Reposted by Rob Steele
iflscience.com
💀
October 31, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
erictopol.bsky.social
How do mRNA vaccines help fight cancer?
A @nature.com paper today tells the story, one with big implications, as reviewed here
erictopol.substack.com/p/how-mrna-v...
How mRNA Vaccines Can Help Fight Cancer
Turning "cold" tumors "hot"
erictopol.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
dev-journal.bsky.social
Enhanced RNA quality control maintains long-term regenerative ability in planarians.

Read this #LifelongDevSI #OA Research Article by Michael Zelko, Josien C. van Wolfswinkel and colleagues:

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Figure 7 - Model for the gradual loss of cellular health in the absence of SMEDWI-1. (A) In wild-type stem cells, transcripts that are not coding or are mis-assembled with protein co-factors are routinely recognized and degraded. In the absence of SMEDWI-1, this selection process is defective, and aberrant RNAs can accumulate in the cells. Over time, this leads to a reduction in correctly assembled ribonuclear protein complexes (RNPs) such as the signal recognition particle (SRP). (B) The SRP functions to guide ribosomes that translate secreted proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum to continue protein translation and allow for appropriate folding and transport of the protein product. If such a ribosome is not correctly relocated, the protein product is released in the cytoplasm and marked for degradation together with the mRNA that produced it. Alternatively, the protein product may escape degradation and accumulate in the cytoplasm as a protein that is prone to misfolding and aggregation.
October 21, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Rob Steele
whoi.edu
For 95 years, WHOI scientists have boldly explored the ocean’s extremes, asking provocative questions—and building the tools to answer them.

Find out how we're keeping our high-risk, high-impact research strong for the next century from @bostonglobe.com: go.whoi.edu/globe-campaign
Woods Hole seeks to raise $500 million, billed as largest-ever campaign for ocean research - The Boston Globe
The fundraising campaign comes at a time when federal subsidies for scientific research are being pared back.
go.whoi.edu
October 21, 2025 at 10:15 PM