woof ≈80% of assignments this summer term have essentially been just raw chatgpt/claude output, including assignments that required designing stuff in illustrator/affinity/canva. The battle is lost for asynchronous online courses.

Tired of AI-generated figures? I asked our talented scientific illustrator Manon Zuurmond to draw some of the instruments and lab equipment we missed in NIH's otherwise fantastic BioArt resource. First batch now available as CC BY. Free for everyone to use in publications: github.com/Center-for-P...

JOB ALERT! 3-year postdoc position to work on plant robustness in an interdisciplinary project. Great for somebody with experience who can take a central role, coordinate experiments and co-supervise students, and contribute conceptually. @greenrobust.de @unituebingen.bsky.social Please re-post.

We have a funded 4-year wet/dry PhD position (UK applicants) available to work with me at Strathclyde, and Ashleigh Holmes and Sonia Humphris at the James Hutton Institute. Closing date: 3rd August 2026 🧵 www.findaphd.com/phds/project... www.ibioic.com/skills-train... 1/5

We had a great project meeting for our BarleyCopa project: co-pan-genomics of host and pathogens. Cool to see close to 200 genotypes in the field ...and computational and wet lab biologists looking for disease symptoms. 😅

A high-quality peer review should always be standard. But paying reviewers seems reasonable, especially when journals charge such substantial publishing fees and the reviewing process is so important

Have ideas for your own, independent research program in Theoretical Biology? Then come and join us as a Group Leader at the @mpi-evolbio.bsky.social in Plön, Germany!

Yay, grant accepted; celebration time! With @sev1panier.bsky.social the group will venture into quantitative resistance against Phytoplasma! Looking forward to seeing this project take shape in the coming years.

"Why paying peer reviewers works" Very cool initiative by @biologyopen.bsky.social and EiC Daniel Goerlick. Paying vetted(!) peer reviewers increased turnaround time & quality of #PeerReview! I continue to be a big fan of the Company of @biologists.bsky.social & their work. 👍 #SciPub

Happy to see this paper out! This started after Moses pointed out that our 2024 review overlooked sub-Saharan Africa. The writing was eye-opening and highlighted how unevenly research capacity is globally. Maybe contributes, in a small way, to a more balanced picture. doi.org/10.1094/PDIS...

Happy to see this paper out! This started after Moses pointed out that our 2024 review overlooked sub-Saharan Africa. The writing was eye-opening and highlighted how unevenly research capacity is globally. Maybe contributes, in a small way, to a more balanced picture. doi.org/10.1094/PDIS...

klasse, dass uns fruchtschorlen und kopfbedeckungen empfohlen werden, aber wer empfiehlt eigentlich rwe endlich aufzuhören kohle und gas zu verbrennen?

Der Tankrabatt kostete den deutschen Steuerzahler 1,6 Mrd. Euro. Der Einbau einer Klimaanlage in ein Klassenzimmer kostet im Durchschnitt rund 5000 Euro. Bedeutet: Für 2 Monate billiger Tanken hätte man sage & schreibe 320.000 Klassenzimmer hitzefit machen können. Prioritäten…so wichtig!

As Britain swelters through another heatwave, few people will have heard that ministers have quietly dropped plans for solar carports. Cars cooler in summer. Shelter from the rain in winter. Clean electricity all year round. A missed opportunity? @eastangliabylines.co.uk

Katherina Reiche zerstört mit ihrer Politik gezielt Tausende von Arbeitsplätzen … und die angebliche Wirtschaftspartei CDU lässt ihr das durchgehen. #Energiewende #Solar #Wirtschaft #Arbeitsplätze

Leadership.

Professorship Agricultural Bioinformatics. Gießen, Germany. #plantscijob #plantscijobs #Plantsciencejobs www.academics.de/jobs/w3-prof...

🌾🧬 An atlas of cloned wheat genes is now available for CRISPR based improvement. This resource accelerates trait discovery and breeding for stress tolerance and quality. A roadmap for genome engineering in wheat #plantscience @newphyt.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Wer hier spart, verliert Einfluss Das BMZ will internationale Hochschulkooperationen beenden und gefährdet damit Netzwerke, Vertrauen und die deutsche Außenwissenschaftspolitik. Ein Gastbeitrag von Claudia Roth und Ayşe Asar. Im Wiarda-Blog: www.jmwiarda.de/blog/2026/06...

‼️Job alert📢🚨 We are recruiting a Junior Group Leader (f) in Protein Science at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, jointly hosted by the Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology and our Collaborative Research Centre CRC 1664 "Plant Proteoform Diversity – SNP2Prot."

🌱 A big step for plant breeding in Europe The EU has approved the #NGT Regulation — creating “clear conditions for applying modern breeding approaches”, says our CEO Felix Büchting. A step towards more resource‑efficient, sustainable agriculture 🌎 Our Press release: www.kws.com/corp/en/medi...

A big win for science and sustainable farming in the EU! New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) have the potential to help farmers grow more resilient crops, reduce inputs such as pesticides and fertilisers, strengthen food security, and support a more sustainable agricultural system.

Right now anti-gene-editing groups are lobbying MEPs to block crucial innovation that will make European agriculture more sustainable. The final vote on legislation governing the use of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) will take place next week. Sign our petition: act.weplanet.org/p/eu-support...

Am 17.06. steht die finale Abstimmung im EU-Parlament auf der Tagesordnung. Nach eigenen Angaben der Demeter-Kampagne wurden EU-Parlamentarier*innen bisher mit 200.000 E-Mails vollgespamt. Heute wurden Nummern veröffentlicht, um die MdEPs jetzt noch mit Telefonterror mürbe zu machen. Völlig irre.

Host killing by necrotrophs is really complex. Using a 29-gene knockout series in Botrytis cinerea, we show that removing nearly all known cell death-inducing proteins and major phytotoxins is not sufficient to prevent host necrosis. Check out the paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

It would be funny, if it weren't so sad.

This work nicely quantifies a major issue in our universities: "In higher education, administrative costs have risen much faster than instruction and research costs (4). MIT Faculty grew by only 9.2% between 1985 and 2023, while administrative staff grew by 189%." www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

So cool to see that the wild tomato species we're doing our research on are now also on display at the Kiel Botanical gardens! Thanks to all staff for making this possible and @sev1panier.bsky.social for organizing this!

Autofahrer rast mit 98km/h durch Berlin, tötet Fußgänger, und begeht Fahrerflucht. Urteil gerade: 22 Monate auf Bewährung. Klimaaktivist blockiert wiederholt für 30 min eine Straße um die Gesellschaft für die Klimakrise aufzurütteln. Urteil: 22 Monate Knast ohne Bewährung Ein völliger Wahnsinn!

Stop scrolling and click this link! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3... I'm so excited to share this open-access theme issue on Wild Plant Pathosystems in #PhilTransB Co-edited with Rachel Penczykowski @rachelpenczy.bsky.social Remco Stam @rstam.bsky.social & Emme Bruns @ebruns.bsky.social

In our intro article, we review recent contributions on the ecology & evolution of wild plant pathogens 🌱🦠🌳 and introduce the articles in this theme issue, emphasizing their relevance to agriculture 🌽🌾🧑‍🌾 and the broader field of disease ecology 🦇🦌🦋🤒👩‍⚕️: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article...

Really cool to see this issue on Wild Plant Pathosystems Philosophical Transactions B with my picture online. royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3... Articles on topics from community ecology, to genomics. Co-edited with @fletcher-h.bsky.social @ebruns.bsky.social and Rachel Penzcykoswki.

Another #PlantScience job opening here at @kwsgroup.bsky.social! We are looking for a #Phytopathology Scientist at our station in Murcia, Spain. As I have already written in one of last posts: Our vegetable division is expanding & it's a good time to get on board! #PlantSciJobs #PlantScienceJobs

Die Prioritäten dieser Bundesregierung: ca. 1.000–1.500 Mio. € jährlich für die Pendlerpauschale ca. 660 Mio. € jährlich für das Dieselprivileg ca. 100 Mio. € jährlich für das Dienstwagenprivileg 250–350 Mio. € sollen bei Unis gekürzt werden. Das ist kein Sparzwang. Das sind falsche Prioritäten.

We are looking for a sugar beet breeder here at @kwsgroup.bsky.social to work on insect/pest resistance traits. This is a full-time, permanent position here in Einbeck (remote work possible) You will most likely get a chance to work with me on #PlantImmunity! #PlantScienceJobs #plantscijobs

Game over, phylogeneticists! New DNA foundation model "Carbon" reconstructs the tree of life. 🙃 huggingface.co/spaces/Huggi...

Kiel University can renew its "KiTE" postdoc fellowship program. If you are interested in developing a postdoc project and applying for this fellowship to join my group, please get in touch! www.uni-kiel.de/en/universit...

Thrilled to see this finally out!! Our new work suggests #Starships helped #Colletotrichum acquire the genes needed to infect lupin. A glimpse into how fungal pathogens emerge through horizontal transfer and genome reshaping. biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Fungi #Genomics #Pathogenicity #evolution

The preliminary programme of International Conference of our German Society for #PlantSci, the Botanik-Tagung, is online botanik-tagung.de/programme.html 📆 6-10 September 2026 📍Bochum, Germany Makes it easier to plan your participation. Register today! botanik-tagung.de/registration...

A highly recommended read for all plant people :)

“the very prospect of challenging a luminary in the field serves as a deterrent for entry by outsiders. Indeed, most of the entry we see occurs in those fields that lost a star who was especially accomplished.” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

PhD or Postdoc from the US and interested in expanding experience with quantitative disease resistance? The German State Ministry of Research now offers "hop-on" fellowships. These can add extra expertise to some ongoing projects, by supporting fellowships for up to 3 years. Interested? DM!

Agri-food coalition: Don’t label precision-bred crops like GMOs🚨🌾 31 EU orgs say swift NGT adoption = climate-ready farms + food security. Extra rules for Category 1 NGTs would hurt competitiveness. Other countries already moved. EU can’t wait. #plantscience www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiote...

Don’t reach for ChatGPT Images or Nano Banana as your first option when creating scientific images There are multiple free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations. #plantscience @stephenturner.us blog.stephenturner.us/p/free-open-...

PhD or Postdoc from the US and interested in expanding experience with quantitative disease resistance? The German State Ministry of Research now offers "hop-on" fellowships. These can add extra expertise to some ongoing projects, by supporting fellowships for up to 3 years. Interested? DM!

Hoheneder F, Steidele CE, Gigl M, Dawid C, Hückelhoven R ( 2026) Transcriptome and hormone regulations shape drought stress-dependent Fusarium Head Blight susceptibility in different barley genotypes. PC&E 70566 doi.org/10.1111/pce....

Someone in the Arabidopsis/clock community seems to deeply dislike my work on research culture. Just want to say: whoever you are, please write & debate me directly instead of cowering behind anonymous grant reviews that threaten my students’ work. (2nd year in a row)

Thinking about this more, the 2 and 3 year bans are real career killers… who’d hire a tenure track candidate, or an (associate) professor that has one of those hanging around their necks?

We are hiring! We’re excited to recruit a postdoc to our lab at UC Davis to work on plant immune engineering and single-cell analyses of plant pathogen interactions. Apply by June 1. Please repost. www.coakerlab.org/postdoctoral...