Wednesday at 4pm UK i'm giving a talk to Cornell CALS about bees and co-formulants. Hop on if you're free! cals.cornell.edu/threat-posed...

Hit a double digits h-index today. Whether the double-digiti-ness rests on a single shameless self citation in my latest paper is not the question you asked though.

Añadidos Ed Straw @edstraw.bsky.social y Dara Stanley @darastanley.bsky.social al #StarterPack sobre abejas silvestres. go.bsky.app/AcsMDum

Do you know about bees but want to start looking at pesticides (or know someone who does)? Then why not start with reading our primer - setting out the basics to get started in bee and pesticide research! Led by @edstraw.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

ATTENTION ECOTOX PEOPLE: We wrote a primer on bee and pesticide science! Specifically written to be an accessible short guide for post / undergrads. It explains all the basic lingo and concepts in simple language. A great resource for the community! @darastanley.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Agree with you 100%:"...people will read whatever they want into science and will use it to further their agenda however they want."

New blog from me!! A step-by-step guide* on getting your science paper glued to the front of a pesticide company's door in a protest! (*ok not quite, but an interesting dissection of what SciComm on social media actually looks like). appliedecologistsblog.com/2024/12/04/s...

New paper coming out in the next few weeks. Can’t wait to share it with y’all. Glad this site has taken off in time!

Very excited to see Ecotox Twitter reforming on here. All we need now is a new EFSA opinion on glyphosate and we’ll be off to the races.

#Insect #Entomology bluesky, is this a thrip? It is approximately 0.25mm long. #Herbarium bluesky, are thrips known herbarium pests? I can't find anything documented.

If you could stick a bunch of sensors into a bee colony placed out in farmlands, what would you want to measure? I've got temperature, humidity, colony weight and bee entry/exit down, but I imagine there are other metrics that'd be super interesting. Thoughts?

Fantastic project at UCD, great funding body, great project! Come join Darren in a project that'll build on some super exciting work we've been doing lately on bumblebee's response to pesticides.

NEW PAPER: We report, for the first time, the scale of how many different pesticides are on sale in the UK and Ireland. Nearly 2,500 different pesticides are on sale in the UK, from 266 different active ingredients. doi.org/10.1016/j.di...

Alarming instances of PFAS contamination in pesticides (both deliberate and accidental) in USA. Highlights the weaknesses in transparency regarding pesticides. doi.org/10.1289/EHP1...

Emergency authorisations of banned pesticides aren't so 'emergency' after all. Many are approved for longer than is allowed, or repeatedly re-approved, stretching the definition of emergency! doi.org/10.1016/j.sc...

PFAS in UK pesticides. Great report from FIDRA on 'forever chemical' usage. Not sure I agree with a wholesale ban, but great to see them shining a light on the scale of the issue. www.fidra.org.uk/download/pfa...

I am on the job hunt currently! Looking for positions in the south-west of England (or remote), in anything science based, academic or not. If you see anything, please do let me know, would be hugely appreciated!

EU new legislation on safeners and synergists. Good stuff, could be better. Will need to read it more thoroughly. Basically putting safeners and synergists on same level of testing as active ingredients. ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

New article from me about all the other ingredients in pesticides. Goes some way to helping us talk about pesticide bans with more nuance. "Pesticides are more than just the main ingredient" www.farmersjournal.ie/focus/crop-p...

Have any of you ever done Professional Pesticide training (i.e. for spray qualification)? In any country. Would you be willing to chat about your experience with me at some point?

Just hit my 300th citation today, very exciting! If you're ever curious about my research go check my paper out at scholar.google.co.uk/citations?us...

Any of you ever worked with a herbicide that was orally and acutely lethal to bees? Any suggestions welcome.

All three were rejected within 24 hours. Gotta appreciate the dream-crushing efficiency of academia... There's always next year.

The first of my three fellowship grants currently pending has been rejected. Rough.

I have a whole cabinet of pesticide formulations if anyone is ever in need for experiments. Fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, adjuvants. Happy to share.

Hive Mind: Can you send me on any papers that test both an active ingredient and a corresponding formulation on bees (same active ingredient). Any bee species, any type of testing, any type of paper. Need to see what's out there!

Complaint about modern academic papers: Acronyms. Example: Each of these acronyms is only used in this specific table, and there's clearly enough room to expand the acronyms into full text. UAMPHTR,FNBAA: Using acronyms makes papers harder to read, for no benefit at all.

New blog from TCD on 'How protected are protected areas?' A great article discussing how well we're doing at keeping protected areas shielded from human interference. And what drivers are causing what issues. 🧪 www.ecoevoblog.com/2024/02/28/h...

New Paper! Here I argue that the list of ingredients on the back of a pesticide should no longer be a secret. Secrecy isn't in farmer's or consumer's interests! I also take on the industry arguments defending the practice. 🧪 doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103701

@ctrlalttim.bsky.social Any chance I could get added to the Science feed 🧪🧪🧪please? My Google Scholar: scholar.google.co.uk/citations?us...

New Paper: When we're writing about our experiments, we must be clear about what pesticide we tested. If a formulation was tested, don't blame the active ingredient. Read it free here: rdcu.be/dxJ23

Irish bee people, is anyone seeing terrestris queens out yet?

Pesticide residues are found in nectar and soils. But are there implications for bees, and what can we do to help? Read on to find out more from the PROTECTS project in Ireland! protects.ucd.ie t.co/6jeVzOmJsw 1/16

We discussed our recent 🐝 research (👇🏻) and the state of pesticide regulation theconversation.com/silent-field...

This is not the direction we need to be moving 🌎🧪

EU scraps plans to reduce pesticide use by 50%. Disappointing lack of leadership here. The 50% target had flaws, but was needed to drive the kind of reductions we need to see. Sad to see it scrapped entirely not reworked. www.politico.eu/article/ursu...

New Paper: When we're writing about our experiments, we must be clear about what pesticide we tested. If a formulation was tested, don't blame the active ingredient. Read it free here: rdcu.be/dxJ23

One paper published and another accepted, great news to return to after a bank holiday!

In case (like me) you missed the Irish Pollinator Research Network meeting, here's the low-down on what went down! Some really cool science. campusbuzz.blog/2024/01/22/p...

Our systematic review of co-formulant and adjuvant impacts on bees is Proceedings Of The Royal Society: B’s most cited paper of 2022.

UK government re-authorises emergency approval for thiamethoxam (neonicotinoid). Basically yearly occurrence at this point. www.bbc.com/news/science...

Any advice on how I'd go about looking for Bombus terrestris spring queens in agricultural landscapes? I need to catch 10-15 queens from reasonably farmed landscapes. Not sure what landscape features to prioritise, and what forage plants to seek out.

Hive Mind: Can you send me on any papers that test both an active ingredient and a corresponding formulation on bees (same active ingredient). Any bee species, any type of testing, any type of paper. Need to see what's out there!

Interesting paper on how we can break out of the treadmill of pesticide approvals and subsequent bans. I agree with the author's characterisation of the problems but am unconvinced by some of the solutions offered. Very much worth a read. doi.org/10.1093/bios...

New paper comparing how toxic a pesticide is to 7 different species of bee. Really cool results, and well worth a read. Always great to see more and more species brought into pesticide testing. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Three out of three funding applications submitted for this funding cycle. God it's been exhausting, but at least it's over. Here's to hoping for the good graces of the funding gods.

Just had reviews back on a paper, and they're good reviews, but one has an ominously threatening ending: "I hope you will make the needed changes in all the appropriate places; I will not make these suggestions again". Not quite sure how to respond to that!

Just found a cool industry study comparing active ingredient toxicity versus formulated pesticide product toxicity in honeybees They scraped US and EU regulatory databases to compare the LD50 values. Remarkably few formulations were more toxic. Food for thought. academic.oup.com/jee/article/...

New Review on the risks of adjuvants to honeybees Fab write-up by Brandon Shannon on all the evidence we have regarding how adjuvants (bonus pesticide additives) could be impacting the economically important honeybee. academic.oup.com/jinsectscien...

Check out this write-up on how co-formulants and adjuvants can impact bees by Jennie Durant. Fab intro to the topic and a great summary of recent research. theconversation.com/inert-ingred...