A message from 2021 GSA President, Hugo Bellen. If there is anything we have learned from this pandemic, it is to prioritize what is important to us and what sustains us in times of trouble. For me, it is promoting science and technology, providing mentorship, ensuring that my family is safe and happy, and helping…

Scientists generated a karyotype, chromosome-scale genome assembly, and manual genome annotation for a common ctenophore. Ctenophores—beautiful marine invertebrates also known as “comb jellies”—have long fascinated and perplexed biologists. Phylogeneticists believe that either ctenophores or sponges were the first organisms to branch off from the tree of life, making them the “sister clade” to all other…