Double-take detail in this interview with Edith Heard, head of the Crick Her French husband decided against getting a spouse visa because of the UK's "intrusive" immigration rules If that's happening with one of the UK's most senior scientists, how many others are being put off completely?

POSTDOC OPPORTUNITY 🌍 Are you an early-career researcher interested in working at the interface of climate science, law, and policy? A new opportunity at @granthamicl.bsky.social at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social 👇

The first publication from the Dallaire and Kameoka labs is out! A forward-looking review on the status of mycorrhiza research in 2026, with emphasis on AM fungi doi.org/10.1111/nph.... @newphyt.bsky.social @ulaval.ca 🇨🇦

Ahead of International Women’s Day, we asked our colleagues to share what has helped them in their careers. Scroll through to see what they said ⤵️

Interesting editorial on the mixed bag of using AI in research and scientific communication. Nice touch to launch on a turgid AI summary of the theme for illustrative purposes. 😉 #MicroSky #AcademicSky

Among the plant pathogens, there are just so many rusts! 85% of plant diseases caused by fungi are rusts, 200 genera, 18 families, 7000-8000 species astounding stats from Cathie Aime. #Fungal26 11/15

The rise of resistance to anti-fungals was highlighted in new Fungal Spore Lecture, given with great style by Matt Fisher. Use of the same fungicide MoA's in agriculture and medicine is causing massive clinical problems with complexity highlighted Eveline Snelders. #Fungal26 9/15

Some reflections on #Fungal26 This was a great meeting as always but set against some turbulent times of course, which meant many regular attendees were not present. This thread is mainly for them. However, the proportion of first-time attendees was very high and very international. #Fungal26 1/15

The approach, focus and content of the REDS Conference is quality assured by working with a REDS Advisory Group of up to 20 members. For the 2026/28 period (a two-year term), we are recruiting 5 new members, to join the experienced team. Read more and apply: redsconference.co.uk/2026/03/09/c...

Just spotted this in a paper. First time I've seen something like this.

On 24 March, @ukrio.bsky.social will host a public webinar exploring the role of supervisors in shaping positive research culture – including what effective and supportive supervision looks like and how it can be sustained over time. 🔗 Learn more and register: ukrio.org/the-role-of-...

Little Red Dots xkcd.com/3212/

Great article. Another issue I've seen among friends is an unwillingness to treat themselves (e.g. going on holiday) because they believe that they should minimise their own impact. The ascetic approach is no good for long-term mental health.

"“The sector was never designed with the well-being of the workforce in mind,” Mohan says, noting that many conservation leaders, often from a scientific background, haven’t had training in how to run an organization or how to help maintain staff well-being."

Webinar Today! Negotiating Your First Group Leader Position Join us today to hear from three group leaders — including a co-author of a BMC Proceedings article on this topic — about their experiences and practical tips for negotiating your first group leader role. 👉 www.embl.org/about/info/e...

This is one of the most reasoned & persuasive arguments for not allowing LLMs anywhere near reading & writing intensive classrooms. We can 100% choose not to outsource our reading & writing labor to a bot, and model for our students why they should do the same. #EduSky www.tue.nl/en/our-unive...

ChatGPT training data is 93% English language says Nikesh Gosalia. Is AI democratising access to scholarly publishing or encoding colonialism at scale? The evidence suggests we are heading down a dangerous path #R2RConf

Our AI only "sees" Western, English speakers. 93% of training data for #GPT is in English. Is AI democratizing access to scholcomm OR encoding colonialism at scale. (SR NOTE: TLDR - my vote is the latter). #NikeshGosalia #R2RConf

"Everyone deserves to be seen" re: AI. Commerce or equity? Efficiency or justice? AI that only works for 20% of researchers is NOT neutral. You have choices around HOW you use it. How YOU use it matters: #NikeshGosalia #R2RConf

A brilliant presentation by @nikeshgo.bsky.social from @cactusglobal.bsky.social #r2rconf Outlining the many ways in which AI amplifies the biases built into scholarly publishing.

This is not a metaphor for #colonialism. It is colonialism. #NikeshGosalia #R2RConf And every minute it gets worse. Compounding with each new training instance. AI is being optimized for specific user base. Non-english speakers not "seen" in these tools. #academicsky #AI #sciencesky

Solutions from @nikeshgo.bsky.social #r2rconf.

#NikeshGosalia kicking off #R2RConf session on #AI impact on global south - fascinating story of "Shirley cards" used by Kodak to calibrate for color of their printers. They KNEW the whole time that it didn't work on brown/black ppl. Techonly changed when chocolate makers didn't like how it looked.

Care work doesn’t wait. Parenting. School calendars. Aging parents. It doesn’t replace work. It runs in parallel. And yet academia is designed for uninterrupted lives Read more about this in my latest post on @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social blog scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/02/09/d...

Standing Up by Stepping Down scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/02/25/s...

Are you a PhD student looking for a placement? I’m offering a 3-month project at @rbgkew.bsky.social to build on @forest-protection.bsky.social research on pest and pathogen risks to trees 🪲🪾🦠🪾 Apply by 13th March! www.kew.org/science/training-and-education/placements-for-phd-students

Oh dear me. Having found nothing, they pin hope on a result that is significant “before adjusting for multiple comparisons”. People: this adjustment is not optional. It’s clear nobody will ever give up on this quest.

To help protect nature, all publicly owned or managed land in England will now have deer management plans within 10 years, and landowners will be paid to shoot deer, both in and out of woodlands. Food for thought re Ireland's surging deer numbers crisis too? share.google/yT1kZOQG0UgV...

Thanks to @shaunoboyle.bsky.social for this very helpful resource when preparing prideinstem.org/2024/11/18/t... Also check out @schoolsoutuk.bsky.social for more info on #LGBTHistoryMonth #LGBTPlusHM

Why were people obsessed with Nikola Tesla’s (lack of) sex life? What happened when work took me to a country where being gay can mean life imprisonment? Why did a queer astronaut take that secret to her grave? Some of the many Qs I covered in my #LGBTHistoryMonth talk to @aktcharity.bsky.social

"Coffee-harming heat"! Even the most virulent climate skeptic might start caring if the beans stop flowing...

when i posted this three days ago i was hoping it would catch and i'd get to hear a buncha people share their special interest info and it got a decent response it randomly caught today and i am so. so. happy. i miss being in school and i love getting to just genuinely share knowledge. so. thanks💜

Important article for anyone hiring academics or researchers

🎉 Today is Darwin’s birthday! This is an actual wild tomato plant that he collected, over 180 years ago! 🍅 We have millions of specimens like these in our collection, but did you know you can now see them on our new Data Portal, for free!? 👇 👉 https://ow.ly/2ZuW50YcG4Z #DarwinDay

The collections at @nhm-london.bsky.social are full of glorious specimens esp the Flies. But they also come with lots of extra information Roger Crosskey wrote down his feelings 50 years ago about this species complex - his frustration evident @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

The new #EmploymentRightsBill is requiring organisations over 250 employees to have a "Menopause Action Plan". EDICa's consulting with government advocating this covers #MenstrualHealth more widely. We're hosting workshops on what would an Action Plan look like. edicaucus.ac.uk/impact#menst... 1/2

We all have opinions about using genAI, but what happens when our collaborators, students or stakeholders hold different views? I've already run into several of the challenges @manusaunders.bsky.social identifies here.

"...open science behaviors function as honest signals of a researcher’s willingness to expose their work to scrutiny. As with honest signalling in biological systems, the value lies ... in that these behaviors are sufficiently costly ... that they are disproportionately avoided by [bad] actors"

Is academia a job, career, or calling? Yes, yes, and yes. The answer is not defined by the role, it is defined by the person in the role. It is perfectly acceptable to decide it is any of these for one's interests and well-being, and to live and work accordingly.

Is academia just a job? We assigned this paper in our professional development seminar last week and it was quite popular. My view: I grew up in a working class family and no one I knew considered their job "a calling". I also had a bunch of jobs that felt, well, like jobs.

They just don’t get it - they’re trying to replace the part of our job we like the *most*. If they could make an AI tool to vibe-complete travel, reimbursement, and annual reporting paperwork they would make a fucking FORTUNE

1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded. Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.

Context: www.nature.com/articles/d41... But also a reminder that you need to plan your own notes and data archiving and backups regardless of whether you use LLM tools or not. If you think paper-hungry pet will save you from a retraction, think again #ResearchIntegrity #ScientificPublishing

Join the quest - especially historians of London science! 👇So far we have narrowed this down to some lab branded as "Mill Hill" in London E1 postcode in the 1960s (i.e. not actually in Mill Hill)

This year, the taxonomists on the Fungarium Sequencing Project had a goal to review 10,000 specimens. They hit their target an impressive three months ahead of schedule, so to celebrate their hard work, here are some of the stories they’ve uncovered!

Jesus saves, but professionals back up and real academics don't do their work in an ai prompt window

lmao get wrecked imo www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Still time to apply: New Generation Thinkers 2026 AHRC is partnering with BBC Radio 4 to offer five early-career researchers the opportunity to work with programme makers, appear on air, and gain first-hand experience of how ideas make it to broadcast. Apply by 28 Jan 2026

#REDSConference2026 Kay Guccione's closing remarks: Watch out for the call for new REDS Conference Advisory Group members to help shape next year's conference. Many presentations will be turned into blog articles with help from the team. Follow the REDS LinkedIn page www.linkedin.com/company/rese...

#REDSConference2026: Next year's REDS is on 20th and 21st January 2027. This has been excellent, I highly recommend people register for next year. And it's free!