Time to switch off the socials for my annual Digital Detox - see you on the other side

“a partridge in a pear tree”

🧩 Three independent research studies, recently highlighted by Cort Johnson — on ME/CFS, Long COVID, and Fibromyalgia — point to a common underlying mechanism. At first glance, they seem unrelated.
But together, they fit into a single framework 👇🧵

“A Christmas lesson from plant ecology: why plants like holly and mistletoe may not be as well defended as we think” - pleased to have been involved in this project jeffollerton.co.uk/2025/12/24/a...

This Paul Kelly song contains a message of hope and forgiveness this Christmas

Our new Tansley Review reveals hydrogen isotopes in plant carbohydrates aren't just climate indicators - they're powerful tools for understanding how plants actually function and perform metabolically. - New Phytologist

Can’t come soon enough #AusPol - but why allow someone to own 4 guns? Even one is too many www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

For Jesus’ birthday this year, he’s asking for affordable housing, universal healthcare, and for people to stop using his name to explain why they’re being cruel to strangers.

The best of social media: Showing #365Minerals to @gleadology.bsky.social - and watching him get excited and tell stories about where he’s seen them IRL

Brutal Long COVID. Millions with relentless fatigue and a mix of debilitating symptoms, with crashes that send everything spiralling over again. Time governments fully recognised LC - especially as an occupational injury for healthcare workers who risked everything. 🔗 www.echolive.ie/corknews/ari...

I would like Australians to start a tradition where we sing Waltzing Mathilda every December 14th in memory of Mathilda and the others who were killed in Chanukah terrorism attack and remind our country of the dangers of rising antisemitism

Who’s going to make the gravy? Makes me cry. Every. Year.

Researchers call for urgent changes to Long COVID trials. With at least 400 million affected and no proven treatments, they highlight the need to track post-exertional malaise, use longitudinal data, and design trials around disease variability. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New postdoctoral fellowship opportunity! Please pass along. Excited to announce the launch of the Tom Lovejoy Fellowship Program at the University of Arizona for innovative research to protect species, sustain ecosystems, and promote a thriving planet lovejoycenter.arizona.edu/lovejoy-fell... 🧪🌐🌾

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!🎄✨

“agrivoltaics [love this term] is …yielding unexpected benefits for the animals involved”

“We're spending more on a single submarine than we'll spend on medical research in 30 years” - proud to have this person as my rep

Some good news

#ClimateChaos is not helping agricultural output. New tech and varieties can only get us so far - we have to stop burning fossil fuels www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"Trump aims to take down ‘global mothership’ of climate science" by Rafi Schwarz for @theweek.com: theweek.com/politics/tru...

At an @agu.org Town Hall today, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social President Antonio Busalacchi spoke to #AGU25 attendees about what's at stake if NCAR is dismantled. One attendee asked anyone who uses NCAR research to stand up. Almost everyone in the room stood. Read more here: eos.org/research-and...

Queensland researchers find COVID alters brain tissue #ThatCovidLife #CovidIsNotOver

Important message from Jewish Council of Australia #AusPol

"The only kind of thinking that matters in science is structured thinking. The only way to give structure and substance to your thoughts is to write them down. Writing. Is. Thinking." Thinking about this in the context of AI tools....

If only we could have a journalist like @georgemonbiot.bsky.social in every country!!! :) What he has done describing the #GreatestMEdicalScandal and the abuse and injustice #pwME - despite everything and everyone with power silencing it... To me the perfect definition of what journalism means.

The cuts to CSIRO are terrible - worse than the Abbott era cuts. This is a stay of execution for 12 months. Time for lobbying. 🧪 #AusPol www.davidpocock.com.au/extra_csiro_... @davidpocock.bsky.social

Time to repurpose #AGU25 as a mass mobilization in support of NCAR, NSF, NOAA, NASA, USGS, DOE BER, and the Congressional power of the purse.

What is it about Xmas? Woke up wanting to eat a mince tart for breakfast. I don’t even like them. Finally gave in and ate one for lunch. And it’s 35 degC 🎄 🤷🏻‍♀️ ☀️#ChristmasInAustralia

#AusPol no one needs to own any gun, let alone 6, except a handful of professionals www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Coming up today for people suitable time zones - hosted by @globalplantgpc.bsky.social #SafeCassava #Plantbreeding 🪴🌱🌾

From the geniuses down the corridor www.monash.edu/science/news... 🌿🌱🌾🪴

There is still time to register for this important webinar on cassava breeding and cyanogens by Hernan Ceballos (formerly CIAT). Please post on multiple networks to ensure it reaches African cassava breeders. #Cassava #SafeCassava #cyanide #Konzo #PlantBreeding #PlantScience 🌾🌱⚕️

The Red Cross is still shipping blood from interstate for the Bondi victims and is calling for more - particulary for O Negative #ABCRadioNews #Bondi #blood

Holiday gathering reminder 🎁 If your guests test w/rapids twice before the event, 48 hours apart, it’ll catch 63% of Covid cases even if they have no symptoms. Testing 3x improves that to 79%! This is how we curb the annual January surge that gave me Long Covid—thanks for protecting yr community 🤍

We need tighter gun laws, not less. Hopefully the current tragedy will put paid to any pending deal with the micro hunters and fishers party #AusPol www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/21523/...

Via Daniel Sinnott on X: “Shout out to the #bondi beach life guard who, while there was shots being fired and we were all ducking for cover behind their buggy, noticed someone in the water struggling so grabbed a board and went to rescue them.”

It would’ve been 100s dead if they’d had assault rifles - our laws do help - sympathy to those who lost love ones 💔

Looks like they were hunting rifles. No one needs guns in Australia except a handful of professionals www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...

terrible attack on a community Hanukkah party at Bondi beach / 10 fatalities, including one of the shooters. 12 injured including 10 police; other shooter is in custody; possible bomb threat current

Fabulous performance of Handle’s Messiah by the MSO last night in Hamer Hall. What amazing music #Melbourne 🎶

This has been obvious for years: ‘capture and storage technology ‘should be in no way treated as a climate solution’ www.theguardian.com/environment/...

🏆We are pleased to announce that our Eminent Ecologist for 2025 is Angela Moles! ✨Angela has collected a few of her favourite Journal of Ecology papers together here: buff.ly/86uQ6v5

Huge thanks to @mikehoney.bsky.social for all the valuable COVID data he tracks. His work has become incredibly important for scientists and health professionals, and with so little data available now, it really matters for people who want to stay safe and informed. www.sbs.com.au/news/article...

The German government has committed half a billion euros for research on long COVID and other post-infection syndromes go.nature.com/48qFiTA

A reminder to make sure you’re vaccinated before you go oversees - measles is extremely contagious. Check if your parents hesitated to get your shots in the 90s - see your doctor and get up to date. Start with MMR - it’s very safe

Such huge inequality is not a recipe for stability - the superrich are vastly more wealthy than monarchs of old #TaxTheRich #AusPol www.theguardian.com/news/2025/de...

Really unhelpful to see infectious disease 'experts' reviving the covid culture wars in the middle of a serious influenza wave. If you have flu, staying home if your employment allows, is a great idea. And if you must see others, wear a mask, its will help. Nobody is talking about mandates here.

Our strelitzia nicolai is flowering again this year #MyGarden

I'm recruiting a #PhDstudent ! Deadline Feb 10th! Explore how forest management shapes peatlands, riparian zones, streams and the #biodiversity that depends on them. www.slu.se/en/about-slu...