Free and open-source images, icons, and tools for creating scientific illustrations doi.org/10.59350/5zt... 🧪

📢 EffectorGeneP is finally here! Stop missing small, single-exon or orphan genes from your favourite pathogen genome. Current tools only annotate 15%-78% of effector genes, EffectorGeneP finds 95% - including the large AvrSr26 family in stem rust. #Bioinformatics 📖 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

My tribute to the one and only, Sir David Attenborough theconversation.com/from-fossick... Happy birthday!

New preprint out! We generated haplotype-phased genome assemblies for two poplar rust fungi. These resources open new opportunities to explore rust genome architecture, haplotype diversity, and TE-driven evolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Important announcement!!! 💫 Would you have a tooth pulled if it helped your chances to get an important grant funded? Absurd question, but the funding situation is so bad, that I bet some of you actually considered it for a second… keep your teeth! we created something that might help! 👇 (1/16)

📣 New paper! We showed @inaturalist.bsky.social can be used for “next-level” applications to document the occurrence of Hesperomyces harmoniae on its host, using Québec as a case study. ▶️ www.eaglehill.us/NENAonline/a... @michieldegroot.bsky.social @dhaelewa.bsky.social @teamlaboul.bsky.social

Seriously!😡 I have no words! 🤬FU_RBA

New from The Strain Team: 🎊 Springer Nature Discovers MDPI 🎊 Springer Nature has spawned a copycat journal series called "Discover" mimicking #MDPI journal titles and citation behaviours. We even made a browser game to prove it (see 🔗). Gross! 😀 1/n #ResearchIntegrity #SciPub #AcademicSky

The 5 stages of keeping up with the literature: Denial (“If it’s important I’ll hear about it”) Anger (“it’s probably AI garbage”) Bargaining (“I’ll have NotebookLM summarize it”) Depression (“maybe I’ll move to consulting”) Acceptance (“no one reads papers anyway”)

🦠 Can microbes think? 🍄 Can they learn, remember, and react? 🤔 "Cognition without brains? Learning and memory in microorganisms" by @kostchristian.bsky.social lab raises some legit #Points2Ponder. #MicrobeMatters #MicrobialMemory

THE UNETHICAL JOBS OF THE FUTURE (PART 1) We often talk about the “jobs of the future”. AI specialist, Data scientists and sustainability experts are typical But what about the roles that are emerging quietly alongside them? The ones that no one advertises… but many recognise. 🧵

How to design effective scientific figures

🍂🌱 An international research team led by @teamthomma.bsky.social has discovered the surprising evolutionary origin of fungal effector proteins: molecules that pathogens use today to infect their hosts appear to have evolved from ancient antimicrobial proteins. More: ➡️ uni.koeln/UCMWQ #UniCologne

RIP. Growing up, he was an inspiration; a legend; someone who showed endless possibilities in biotech.

Since rising to public prominence, the manosphere has been treated as if it’s just a niche corner of the internet. But those days are long gone.

I argued that when a grant rejection can hinge on something small, and you then have to wait years to resubmit, the cost becomes so high that instead of suggesting “high-risk high-gain” plans scientists will prepare more cautious, less ambitious proposals (2/3)

It’s not review unless it comes from the Review region of France, otherwise it’s just sparkling criticism

"Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are." It turns out, microbes follow the same rule! Very proud to share our lab's new paper in @natmicrobiol.nature.com showing that bacteria don't just respond to their environment, they respond to each other. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🍄 Australia is the world's 4th largest producer of black truffles, though their introduction happened quite recently in mid 1990s. 🦠 New microbiome research suggests that one reason black truffles have thrived in Australia could be the low competition from similar types of fungi. #MycologyMonday

A study in Scientific Reports shows that rice seeds and seedlings can sense the sound of rain impacting the soil or water surface above them and respond by accelerating germination. go.nature.com/48jckEA #plantscience 🧪

When neighbors control metabolite fate: consequences for plant pathogen virulence and biocontrol outcomes Applied Environmental Microbiology Commentary by @neftalyl.bsky.social and colleagues on De Rop et al AEM paper from Monica Höfte group at Gent University journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The findngs of a study in Nature Communications show reveal previously unrecognised effects of coffee on the microbiota–gut–brain axis, suggesting that #microbiome profiles could potentially predict coffee consumption patterns. go.nature.com/4mMKabb#microbiome🧪

Congratulations to @stephenking.bsky.social for this well-deserved honor!👍 (Novels/Novellas: Approximately 65 to 67 Non-fiction books: 5 books. Short Stories: Over 200 Pseudonyms: 7 novels were published as Richard Bachman. Frequency: He has published at least one book almost every year since 1974)

Soil isn't just "dirt." It is one of the most complex and essential living systems on Earth. To recognize #EarthDay2026, Ramos & Timmis explain why soil health is not just an environmental issue but a global priority tied to the future of our society in our #FEMSmicroBlog: buff.ly/MVTsa5y

Image of a cross section of a different plant species from same site (~409 million years old) taken by Hans Kerp. You can see the packed parenchyma cells and also the presumably mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi (blue ring) that were partners of land plants from the beginning…glass-like preservation.

Most bacteria remain uncultured with vast microbial ‘dark matter’ awaiting discovery.. to address this am excited to share EDEN - an enhanced domestication method to grow uncultured bacteria & new diversity. Using EDEN we isolate a new species active against MDR pathogens.. doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Australia produces enough food for 75 million people. But intensifying heat and natural disasters plus competition for water are eroding food security. 👉 Read the full story: theconversation.com/overhea...

Did you know that 83% of Australia’s gas is used for exports? Australia Institute research shows Australia exported enough gas in five years to supply the country for over 20 years. ✍ Sign the petition to support a 25% gas export tax: https://theaus.in/4tWQy1H

🔔 FEMS & Biolog Webinar 🔔 Explore how microbial communities function and respond to environmental stressors using high‑throughput phenotypic profiling, from plant pathogens to glacier‑fed streams. 📅 13 May 2026 | 16:00 CEST 👉 Register: buff.ly/STz8YNU

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

Evaluation of combined root exudate & rhizosphere microbiota sampling approaches to elucidate plant–soil–microbe interactions Escudero-Martinez et al. @carmen-escudero.bsky.social @bulgarelli-d.bsky.social @plantecohutton.bsky.social @irnasa.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Thinking about a Master's in plant pathology? BSPP is offering up to 5 bursaries of £4,000 each to support students on MSc, MRes, or MPhil courses with a plant pathology focus. You don't need to be a BSPP member or based in the UK to apply. Deadline: 30 June 2026 bspp.org.uk/funds/mscmres

👇🏽 One of the reasons I'd rather prefer AI-driven reviews. Would be great if there's a way of removing bias inherited from training material. @qedscience.bsky.social @odedrechavi.bsky.social

Wait until you hear about "cars"

Myconauts will find 🍄 mushrooms even though the mission was to find 🌱 weeds! 😅 📸 Mature Puffballs. L: Scleroderma sp. citrinum? , R: Calvatia sp. craniformis? 📍Yarrawonga, VIC #FungalFriday #Mushrooms #Fungi #Mycology

🪔 Many communities in South Asia & Southeast Asia celebrate their traditional New Year, today. 🌄 This much anticipated and extremely important holiday period is a socio-cultural celebration inherited from agrarian societies thrived in these regions over millennia.

Happy to see this out! Congratulations Abdalmenem and Jose Luis 👏 This work was only possible thanks to Fonds de recherche du Québec and Palestine Academy for Science & Technology (PalAST) support! More coming soon! apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/...

Save the date! 🗓️ Thu 23 April 12pm (AEST) / 2pm (NZST) Our April seminar will feature Solomon Maerowitz-McMahan from @westsyduhie on fire and fungi! @esaplantsoilecol.bsky.social www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com/post/april-2...

Stop Reducing Us into Simplistic Numbers: An Academic Outcry! Please reject simplistic metrics and evaluate academics with nuance, integrity, and real impact! stnjournal.com/stop-reducin...

📣 Check out this excellent #Postdoc opportunity @leibniz-hki.de which is part of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions #MSCA #COFUND. Consider applying to join my lab if you’re interested in opportunistic infections caused by #Fusarium (research area 5). Call ends 26 May 2026 www.fellows4fungi.eu

Every scientist is a bit of an artist and every artist is a bit of a scientist

In general, (re)orienting education wholly or chiefly to specific perceived market needs is always going to produce disaster once the near term passes. It also eviscerates institutions that might otherwise help people weather change, intellectually and in other ways

New in @science.org ‼️ In the most comprehensive study to date, we show that wildlife trade is driving animal-to-human zoonotic spillover at a planetary scale, with +1 spillover per host every 10 years. Live animal markets and illegal trade pose even greater risks. 🔓 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The rising use of pesticides may explain the global increase of type 2 diabetes in nonobese people. Learn more: https://scim.ag/41nwBFg

Coevolution of plant–microbe interactions, friend–foe continuum, and microbiome engineering for a sustainable future Molecular Plant (@mplantpcom.bsky.social) review www.cell.com/molecular-pl...

"Research is often described as ‘basic’, but there is nothing basic about it. The links between discovery-based research and downstream applications aren’t always clear at the outset. Although a translational output may require years to achieve" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Scary experiment: create a FAKE disease & upload FAKE studies to preprint servers to support and PRESTO AI thinks real. Ugh. Good example of how easily AI can warp knowledge base... Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Every credulous buffoon in Tech Journalism:

First ever photo captured from the far side of the Moon.