A Clemson physicist teaches her students that figure skaters pulling their arms inward spin faster, speedskaters lean dramatically without falling, and ski jumpers' tight suits control drags. Students learn to see athletic performances as real-world applications of classroom lessons. buff.ly/vc7RdvF

Male Satin Bowerbird molting into his mature plumage. #birds

We have come a long way from the Turing test. I just failed three consecutive attempts to prove I am a human on Cloudflare, to download a paper that I wrote (or did I?)

Duckweeds are an important plant research model but have been challenging to modify genetically. A study published in @newphyt.bsky.social by the Marí-Ordóñez group at the GMI, presents a new and highly reproducible method for genetic transformation in the duckweed species Spirodela polyrhiza.

Random q: Does anyone know if it's still possible to access the titles and abstracts from the Evolution 2025 meeting? Asking for someone who forgot to save his own text...

Thrilled to be part of this new study that aims to derive a meaningful classification of distinct and recognisable Australian terrestrial bird communities. Lead by @martinemaron.bsky.social and Hannah Fraser with many other colleagues check it out here. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Please share! PhD position (4 years) available in my group @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social. We look for candidates with solid aptitude in computer science to cross disciplines and use cutting edge imaging to understand host infection by destructive plant pathogens. uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

"‘Reminds me of Anne Frank’: Jewish seniors are offering to hide their Haitian caregivers as Trump’s TPS end looms"

I am looking for a PhD student to join my new Socio-Eco-Evo group, hosted in Katie Peichel's Evolutionary Ecology Division @ University of Bern. We're offering a fully funded 4-year position, studying social plasticity and behavioral adaptation among stickleback in Greenland. Please share around!

Wow. This is devastating. www.science.org/content/arti...

Yay, my snapdragons segregatedddd. I managed to isolate what looks like a true breeding white and an ultra dark purple line. No luck on stable tricot but will keep sifting through the seeds for that elusive trait. I love plant breeding!

I love happy little accidents. I forgot to push in this explant and only the ones that stuck out from the media didn't brown out and made callus. Great sign that media is the issue; explant itself just fine. Plant bioengineering is such bliss. Endless puzzles most beautiful.

One major downside to industrial work is I can't share the cool works in progress. Bums me out since your feedback also fuels me when things get tough. At least you'll be able to enjoy our plants soon. Lots of lovely species with cool phenotypes on the horizon at Neoplants.

“At 14 research agencies Science examined in detail, departures outnumbered new hires last year by a ratio of 11 to one, resulting in a net loss of 4224 STEM Ph.D.s. “ www.science.org/content/arti...

I am excited to offer a postdoctoral research position in my lab in Oxford studying the distribution of small RNAs during plant sexual reproduction. shorturl.at/7Goxt Reposts appreciated! Obligatory cat video to brighten your day. :-)

Great new paper just out about responsible cat ownership in @pacificconsbio.bsky.social. Also do yourself a favour and follow Oceania’s only dedicated conservation journal here on Bluesky to find out about the latest conservation research as it happens.

Getting so much better at macrocarrier loading. Almost perfect spread of nanoparticles and all within the aperture of the gene gun barrel. Its so hard to describe these steps so protocols omit the crucial details. Videos help so I'll likely make one soon.

So proud of my munchkins; they did so good with their first gene gun shots with a proper protocol. Test shots positive all over the place. Some more optimizations soon but we're on our way. Teaching is the best part of RnD management.

ASHS HortLegend Chris Watkins has been a member of ASHS since 1981. He recommends attending the ASHS conferences as a place to connect with your peers from around the world and to interact with attendees at different stages in their careers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVpqWkbXvwA

‘UCONNAA001’ is a product of a planned breeding program UConn CAHNR to develop red chokeberry genotypes w/ shorter stature and fuller basal branching than typical, while maintaining or enhancing the ornamental characteristics of the species. #HortScience https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI19115-25

Forgot to post earlier this really cool story by my colleagues here @oconnorlab.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social. Blister beetle larvae mimic flower scents to attract bees. Led by Ryan Alam and Tobias Köllner. #secmet

New paper + new mug = official celebration 🎉☕ Here is Jakob with our review: “Diversity and ecological functions of anthocyanins” doi.org/10.1186/s128... Paper mugs are a tradition in our group — and this one is well earned. Congrats! 🌸🔬 #Anthocyanins #Pigments #Flavonoids #Evolution

GPS pioneer and mathematician Gladys West has died. She was 95.

Intellectual humility allows for one to develop deep skills and not let ego get in the way of one's true growth. You can spot a veteran in the trenches easily by the hesitance in their claim of expertise. Experience is often humbling in uniquely painful ways, lol.

Defending PhD student, looking over their thesis: “If I knew then what I know now, I could’ve done all of this in like 9 months.” A thread about my favorite pioneering cave explorers and why I don’t think AI will ever “solve” biology.

Haven't been this excited in a long long time. My mom watched Apollo when she was a kid and now I get to watch Artemis with her in glorious 4K. Goosebumps. GO ARTEMIS!!!!

Truly amazing work 😍🌈

Along the way, a friend reminded me of a famous Soviet-era children’s story from his childhood: The Rainbow Flower. In it, a young girl receives a flower whose every petal grants a wish. By the end, she learns that the flower’s true power is using it to help others.

That’s because the gene I use, RUBY, only encodes pink betacyanin pigments. With the support of @kamounlab.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social I’ve been making a genetic toolkit to encode all floral colors of the rainbow 🌈

These are just the first parts and flowers of OpenFlower, a nonprofit aimed at creating designer flowers for art & education as a community 🧬✨ Stay tuned for exciting announcements!

With these genes, one can encode blends of pigments reaching a spectrum of colors.. Just look at this overlap of RUBY & GOLD . DM or email me for the DNA parts, which have been whole plasmid sequenced thanks to @plasmidsaurus.bsky.social !

Why I’m genetically engineering a rainbow flower… And how a Russian fairy tale inspired the idea 🧵

My poster on flower bioengineering at the #AIEBaB26 conference in Bristol last week 🌹 🧬 ✨

💡 #KnowledgeHighlight | Course: Data Analysis with Python by @bpucker.bsky.social @unibonn.bsky.social @puckerlab.bsky.social 🐍🖥️ github.com/bpucker/teac... Explore open-access training materials in the ERGA #KnowledgeHub ➡️ knowledge.erga-biodiversity.eu #Phyton #DataAnalysis #Bioinformatics #data

Fantastic opportunity with a great scientist, highly recommend applying! #PlantSciJobs

Are you, or do you know someone that is excited to do a PhD in plant biology. We are happy to offer a position to explore physiology, gene regulatory networks and wild species. Come join our team in a stimulating scientific environment at the University of Groningen! werkenbij.rug.nl/vacature/phd...

#kakapo mating and fridge update: last night Rakiura + Komaru on Whenua Hou, and Yasmine + Ariki and Stella + Horton on Anchor. Two more matings the night before too, and something might be happening on Te Kākahu... #conservation #parrots

Bumped into 27 year old male #kakapo Sinbad today. He's of Fiordland descent so has important genetics, but he hasn't been a very successful breeder so far - probably because he's partially imprinted. He's in great condition this year. #conservation #parrots #birds

So pleased to share this work on alkaloid biosynthesis. Great collaboration with @unsworthchem.bsky.social. Well done to all authors. We have found key alkaloid producing enzymes that look like those normally found in bacteria. www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Great, in-depth take on the new Dietary Guidelines by @kcklatt.bsky.social. He digs deep in the sat fat vs. seed oil issue, and also makes a point that's important about the standards of evidence the DGAs purport to use. kcklatt.substack.com/p/ambiguous-...

For anyone interested in the new Dietary Guidelines, here's a breakdown and my thoughts: kcklatt.substack.com/p/ambiguous-...

Now would be a great time for academia to start valuing SciComm in service, tenure & promotion. The status quo of publishing in pay-walled journals for narrow audiences in the dozens & handwaving about 'broader impacts' is a threat to your funding, a broader understanding of science & public health.

Journalists, please get quotes on the Dietary Guidelines from non-USA nutrition scientists. Not only because our guidelines deviate so heavily from them, but because there's a high risk of retribution for American scientists speaking up, and speaking up honestly.

This is a beautiful paper examining the molecular genetics of facultative multicellularity in a marine black yeast. I also love that they figure out the ecological context for the behavior (MC form when in sponges, where there are nutrients, & uni when starving!). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The phys.org treatment of our new paper describing Solanum nectarifolium and its cool extrafloral nectaries. #ozplants

Fully funded PhD opportunity in my lab to study threatened plant species responses to drought and heat. This is part of mu recently funded DECRA fellowship.

Research Scientist position at the Cornell Biological Field Station: exciting opportunity for an aquatic ecologist/fisheries scientist to work with a 50+ year time series of fish and limnology data on Oneida Lake $90-95K/yr academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31352

Plants are master synthesisers of defensive compounds. So are spruce trees producing anti-microbial compounds that are protecting them against fungal infection. 🧵1/5 Image credit: Benjamin Weiss, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Pretty cool to see the progress being made at Boston Dynamics www.cbsnews.com/news/boston-...