Erik Hom
@erikfyhom.bsky.social
Symbiosis, microbes, evolution, synthetic ecology, biodiversity, STEM education, sustainability and stewardship @erikfyhom
Finally optogenetics gets recognized. Nice that this field was made possibly by a humble #algal protein characterized by Hegemann years ago... German and US scientists win Nobel Prize 2026 in medicine
German and US scientists win Nobel Prize in medicine
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the award for discoveries that provide new insights into how we might treat blindness, depression, addiction and dementia.
amp.dw.com
October 5, 2026 at 12:08 PM
Finally optogenetics gets recognized. Nice that this field was made possibly by a humble #algal protein characterized by Hegemann years ago... German and US scientists win Nobel Prize 2026 in medicine
This award-winning microscopy image used AI — igniting controversy in a prestigious competition
This award-winning microscopy image used AI — igniting controversy in a prestigious competition
Nature - Researchers say that using artificial-intelligence tools to visualize scientific images can become problematic when models misrepresent the underlying data.
www.nature.com
October 1, 2026 at 1:32 PM
This award-winning microscopy image used AI — igniting controversy in a prestigious competition
The importance of insect biodiversity for vertebrates
The importance of insect biodiversity for vertebrates
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Changes in insect diversity and abundance can affect vertebrates but understanding these consequences relies on having rich information about vertebrate–insect...
www.nature.com
October 1, 2026 at 4:20 AM
The importance of insect biodiversity for vertebrates
Look forward to watching this... You Can See Everything | Official Trailer HD | A24
You Can See Everything | Official Trailer HD | A24
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A documentary by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING – In theaters October 16.
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youtu.be
September 24, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Look forward to watching this... You Can See Everything | Official Trailer HD | A24
Wow, lots of sobering food for thought...how many really care enough to sacrifice in helping for the long haul? In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?
In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.
www.nytimes.com
September 21, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Wow, lots of sobering food for thought...how many really care enough to sacrifice in helping for the long haul? In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?
Why is ICE not going after these guys, real criminals? How Romanian Crime Rings are Draining US Welfare Accounts www.wsj.com/us-news/...
September 21, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Why is ICE not going after these guys, real criminals? How Romanian Crime Rings are Draining US Welfare Accounts www.wsj.com/us-news/...
These Mice Have Partly Human Brains www.nytimes.com/2026...
September 20, 2026 at 8:50 PM
These Mice Have Partly Human Brains www.nytimes.com/2026...
Great to be back briefly in the San Francisco Bay Area--feels like coming home.... Here for a couple of days to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the #UCSF #Biophysics Graduate Program. Look forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new ones!
September 17, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Great to be back briefly in the San Francisco Bay Area--feels like coming home.... Here for a couple of days to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the #UCSF #Biophysics Graduate Program. Look forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new ones!
Prophage-encoding engineered bacteria enable prophylactic lytic phage therapy for enteric infection in mice
Prophage-encoding engineered bacteria enable prophylactic lytic phage therapy for enteric infection in mice
Nature Microbiology - An engineered non-pathogenic bacterium produces lytic phages and is protective in mouse models of Salmonella infection.
www.nature.com
September 17, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Prophage-encoding engineered bacteria enable prophylactic lytic phage therapy for enteric infection in mice
AI researchers reckon with the $1.5 million ‘academia tax’
AI researchers reckon with the $1.5 million ‘academia tax’
Nature - Academics explain that their research freedom beats the increased salary they would get in the corporate sector, but emerging hybrid models might allow them to get the best of both worlds.
www.nature.com
September 13, 2026 at 2:19 PM
AI researchers reckon with the $1.5 million ‘academia tax’
I'm reminded about how the brilliant Marie Curie worked with radioactivity; if only she knew the health dangers of what she was handling,.she might have been with us longer....
We Must Pace the Frontier darioamodei.com/post...
We Must Pace the Frontier darioamodei.com/post...
September 13, 2026 at 1:27 PM
I'm reminded about how the brilliant Marie Curie worked with radioactivity; if only she knew the health dangers of what she was handling,.she might have been with us longer....
We Must Pace the Frontier darioamodei.com/post...
We Must Pace the Frontier darioamodei.com/post...
Anthropic’s moral conflict is playing out in real time www.msn.com/en-us/ne...
September 13, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Anthropic’s moral conflict is playing out in real time www.msn.com/en-us/ne...
Novel insight into the effects of the metabolites from gut microbiota in both unmedicated depressive adolescents and mice: key roles of indole derivatives-aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in neurogenesis and microglial homeostasis
Novel insight into the effects of the metabolites from gut microbiota in both unmedicated depressive adolescents and mice: key roles of indole derivatives-aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in neurogenesis and microglial homeostasis
Molecular Psychiatry - Novel insight into the effects of the metabolites from gut microbiota in both unmedicated depressive adolescents and mice: key roles of indole derivatives-aryl hydrocarbon...
www.nature.com
September 13, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Novel insight into the effects of the metabolites from gut microbiota in both unmedicated depressive adolescents and mice: key roles of indole derivatives-aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling in neurogenesis and microglial homeostasis
Greening masks stability loss in drylands
Greening masks stability loss in drylands
Nature Climate Change - The authors consider greening trends and interannual variability, linked to ecosystem stability, in dryland ecosystems across 40 years (1982–2020). They show...
www.nature.com
September 13, 2026 at 3:26 AM
Greening masks stability loss in drylands
A cryptic symmetry switch allosterically controls how the PF4 self-protein turns into a pathogenic antigen
A cryptic symmetry switch allosterically controls how the PF4 self-protein turns into a pathogenic antigen
Nature Communications - Platelet Factor 4 (PF4) is a chemokine involved in several physiological processes. Ma et al. discovered that an allosteric switch exposes cryptic PF4 epitopes, suggesting...
www.nature.com
September 13, 2026 at 2:32 AM
A cryptic symmetry switch allosterically controls how the PF4 self-protein turns into a pathogenic antigen
Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia in East Asian populations
Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia in East Asian populations
Nature Genetics - Genomic analyses in populations of East Asian ancestry identify rare copy number variants associated with schizophrenia. Meta-analyses with populations of European ancestry...
www.nature.com
September 13, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia in East Asian populations
AI Is Powerful Enough to Crack Our Hardest Math Problems—and Kill Us All www.wsj.com/tech/ai/...
September 12, 2026 at 11:23 AM
AI Is Powerful Enough to Crack Our Hardest Math Problems—and Kill Us All www.wsj.com/tech/ai/...
Was trying to use #Gemini to generate renderings of #landscaping rework using native plants for our yard, and boy, what epic fails--Gemini kept giving me text outputs and no visualizations and kept 'lying'.... If anyone else has better (free) AI options for this, I'm all ears...
August 30, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Was trying to use #Gemini to generate renderings of #landscaping rework using native plants for our yard, and boy, what epic fails--Gemini kept giving me text outputs and no visualizations and kept 'lying'.... If anyone else has better (free) AI options for this, I'm all ears...
Moral of the story for musicians or those who want to stand in solidarity: don't fly #KLM "Conductor confronts pilot as KLM refuses to board instruments"
Conductor confronts pilot as KLM refuses to board instruments - Slippedisc
From Det Kongelige Kapel in Copenhagen: The Royal...
slippedisc.com
August 24, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Moral of the story for musicians or those who want to stand in solidarity: don't fly #KLM "Conductor confronts pilot as KLM refuses to board instruments"
TLDR: A few min intense burst work out may be better than a long one, at least the resulting metabolic profile is substantially different Exercise intensity modulates interorgan communication and is associated with cardiometabolic health outcomes in humans www.cell.com/cell-re...
August 19, 2026 at 12:14 PM
TLDR: A few min intense burst work out may be better than a long one, at least the resulting metabolic profile is substantially different Exercise intensity modulates interorgan communication and is associated with cardiometabolic health outcomes in humans www.cell.com/cell-re...
Glucose-responsive probiotics for glycaemic modulation in mice and monkeys
Glucose-responsive probiotics for glycaemic modulation in mice and monkeys
Nature - Engineered probiotics equipped with a synthetic glucose-responsive circuit transiently colonize the gut and secrete therapeutic factors when glucose levels increase, enabling safe, oral,...
www.nature.com
August 14, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Glucose-responsive probiotics for glycaemic modulation in mice and monkeys
Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?
www.theguardian.com
August 12, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
Sobering essay...sadly, I've witnessed some of the craziness of academia... "Why I Quit the Tenure Track"
Confessions of a Token Black Professor - The Atlantic
The insufferable hypocrisy of elite academia
www.theatlantic.com
August 11, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Sobering essay...sadly, I've witnessed some of the craziness of academia... "Why I Quit the Tenure Track"
Plastics and fatty liver connection... Spatial transcriptome mapping identifies Ppara-Anxa2 cross-talk in microplastic-induced hepatotoxicity www.science.org/doi/...
August 9, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Plastics and fatty liver connection... Spatial transcriptome mapping identifies Ppara-Anxa2 cross-talk in microplastic-induced hepatotoxicity www.science.org/doi/...