Rebecca Gottlieb

PhD BioInventor. Curiosities: science & tech interfaces w/ biology; microbiome; drones; graffiti art; crows; and the existence of dark matter. Opinions my own.

[Katie Mack @AstroKatie]

"The monstrous denizens of the intergalactic deep reveal themselves not through the light they emit, but by how they stir the space-time we share. When a gravitational wave moves through you, you are, for a moment, a different shape" https://t.co/hjk2CTUsTs by me @washingtonpost

[Veera Rajagopal  @doctorveera]

A mind-blowing paper has come out today in @Nature

In 2016, JC Venter Institute scientists trimmed a bacterial genome to its barest minimum required for life to synthesize what they called a "minimal genome" (https://t.co/Rk8oZJ0bUj).

Today, a group of scientists from Indiana University reports how that minimal genome evolved over 2000 generations in comparison to the non-minimal genome.

The authors found that even when you reduce a bacterial genome to its absolute minimum where every nucleotide matters, the genome undergoes mutational events generation after generation as much as the non-minimal genome. One simply cannot stop the evolution.

Just over 300 days of evolution (equivalent to 40,000 years in humans) the minimal cell has gained everything it lacked in fitness on day one in comparison to the non-minimal cell.

When comparing the evolved traits between the minimal and non-minimal cells, the scientists found something striking. The evolutionary process increased the cell size of non-minimal cells but not that of the minimal cell. But that is not the striking part.

The scientists were able to identify the key mutation that resulted in cell size evolution. And it turned out that the mutation that helped the non-minimal cells to grow bigger is the same that helped the minimal cells to stay smaller. Growing bigger had a survival advantage for non-minimal cells and not growing bigger had a survival advantage for minimal cells. So, the mutation had a context-dependent effect. This just demonstrates that the evolutionary effects on traits have no absolute direction. All that matter is what is beneficial for the organism's survival.

The conclusion of the paper is metaphorically a quote from the Jurassic Park movie:

“Listen, if there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us is that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories, and it crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but . . . life finds a way". (https://t.co/UlxRlb86CT)

https://t.co/zA9OAqSoAu

[Feng Zhang @zhangf]

Since the discovery of CRISPR-Cas systems, people have wondered if a similar type of system exists in eukaryotes. Today, we report in @Nature the characterization of Fanzor, a eukaryotic RNA-guided system that can be reprogrammed for human genome editing. https://t.co/aKLMMEBRkk

[Rebecca Gottlieb @gottlr1]

Lol

[Physics In History @PhysInHistory]

"If that's the world's smartest man, God help us."

-- Richard Feynman's mother, Lucille Feynman, after Omni magazine named him the world's smartest man.

[Zak Williams @zakwilliams]

To all the dads out there who go all out for their loved ones, thank you for everything you do. Dad, I'm specifically remembering you for your courage and compassion today. Thank you for helping me learn how to be kind to myself as a first step towards showing up for others. Happy Father's Day, LOVE YOU forever!

[Rebecca Gottlieb @gottlr1]

Incredible diligence and method development to achieve this

[Daniel Kronauer @DanielKronauer]

Our first neurogenetic study of ants survived peer review and just appeared OA in its final form @CellCellPress @CellPressNews: https://t.co/RJj0eas8a1. @teraxurato & team @RockefellerUniv created the first transgenic ants and identified a sensory hub for alarm behavior. 1/8

[Rebecca Gottlieb @gottlr1]

Amazing!

[Adam Glaser @adam_k_glaser]

How do you image the large and the small at the same time? We developed new 🔬 technology to image centimeter-scale specimens - including whole mouse brains 🧠 - with diffraction-limited resolution and without sectioning. #mesoscale #imaging

https://t.co/Kl7ZURNpdM

🧵 (1/n)

[Amanda Gorman @TheAmandaGorman]

One parent could get my poetry banned from classrooms. And yet one country can't ban assault rifles from massacring them.

[Rebecca Gottlieb @gottlr1]

@JanePitt Grew up in the Burgh, moved to LA. Can confirm LA is worse! 🤣 But LA is 6 lanes of traffic while Pgh is 2 or 3 - frustrating either way!

[Luke Sjulson @lukesjulson]

The notion of a lab as a “family” is toxic. I think of my lab as a punk band, where I’m the grizzled old manager who goes around picking up bar tabs, cleaning up broken glass and vomit, and lying to the police

[Rebecca Gottlieb @gottlr1]

I strive for this one day

[Katy Goforth @MarchingFourth]

Staying with my MIL. She’s trained crows to ring a bell in the morning when they’re ready for their tiny peanut butter sandwiches she makes them. I’m not sure there’s anything else to say.

[Katy Goforth @MarchingFourth]

Staying with my MIL. She’s trained crows to ring a bell in the morning when they’re ready for their tiny peanut butter sandwiches she makes them. I’m not sure there’s anything else to say.

[Dust-to-Digital @dusttodigital]

R.I.P. Ahmad Jamal, July 2, 1930 - April 16, 2023. Here he is performing “Ahmad’s Blues” with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums in 1959.

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

This nation was built on peaceful protest. No elected official should lose their job simply for raising their voice – especially when they’re doing it on behalf of our children.

[My Modern Met @mymodernmet]

These two teens developed a trigonometry proof for the famous Pythagorean Theorem, something mathematicians have long thought impossible. Read more about how they presented their proof at an American Mathematical Society conference. https://t.co/7fbuB14ChB

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

How a book written in 1910 could teach you calculus better than several books of today

[Calculus Made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 1910 - full text pdf: https://t.co/W4gspJoGQc or with the table of contents: https://t.co/55dkZAeGmv]

[Rebecca Gottlieb @gottlr1]

@PlantTeaching Add "double click", so you can double-click for a deeper dive on a topic. 😂

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has signed a law guaranteeing free breakfast and lunch for all students in the state, regardless of how much money their parents make. Tens of thousands of food-insecure kids will benefit.

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664

[Mark Lewis, MD, FASCO @marklewismd]

Cancer continues to threaten millions of lives

But to witness a stage IV patient enter remission, having received not a drop of chemotherapy but rather immunotherapy, is a near-miracle I didn’t foresee when my career began

Not all tears in an oncology clinic are shed in sadness