Yet again, machine learning — even gussied up via the transformer architecture — encodes and reinforces societal biases. This study reveals that LLM-based peer review relies heavily on author institution in its decisions. arxiv.org/abs/2509.15122

This Primer explores two @plosbiology.org studies that reveal how short axon cells in the #OlfactoryBulb integrate #cholinergic input from the basal #forebrain to dynamically regulate #olfactory input 🧪Papers: plos.io/4pvost3 plos.io/3VnO1hT Primer: plos.io/3Ivzcqy

How do your #linguistic, #economic & #gender backgrounds impact your #scientific productivity? @tatsuya-amano.bsky.social & co reveal that being a woman, a non-native English speaker, and from a low-income country is associated with a 70% reduction in productivity @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4n3RLRQ

This looks terrific & the photo is artsy to boot. It however reminds me of my Twitter timeline in the first months of the pandemic, when the whole world seemed to be baking bread while I homeschooled two kids & started a new job… cortisol levels on the rise just thinking about it 😱

The rise of AI is reshaping how we think, write, and review science. This #PeerReviewWeek, we’re asking how do we preserve trust and transparency in a system that’s rapidly evolving? 🔗 Read our latest blog: plos.io/46d8BI9 @peerreviewweek.bsky.social #OpenScience #PRW2025

We have submitted a response to the National Institutes of Health's Request for Information on Maximizing Research Funds by Limiting Allowable Publishing Costs. We believe that equitable access to publishing is essential to advancing open science. 🔗 Read our full response here: plos.io/4n9MEzF

Retuning here always warms my heart ❤️

Look out for our Editor in Chief at “The Human Microbiome” symposium @embl.org this week! We are keen to provide those of you working with human-associated microbes a home for your research, so do reach out to @npariente.bsky.social for a chat

Starting the final leg of my journey to the @embl.org symposium “The Human Microbiome” It’s been a surprisingly long travel day! I am really looking forward to seeing everyone there, and to Heidelberg itself, where I lived 9yrs. It’s always a pleasure to visit Come say hello this week!

Three Associate Professor (or Professor) positions available at Oxford Biology. Come be my colleague! www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/we-a...

This really is devolving into an authoritarian state at record speed Now he wants sham trials…

Restringir la comercialización y aumentar los impuestos a los ultraprocesados. Prohibir su venta y su publicidad en las escuelas, y hacer frente a las injerencias de su industria. Propuestas que más de uno y de una tildaría aquí de comunistas-dictatoriales-bolivarianas, pero que hace... UNICEF.

Science is under siege from weaponised disinformation – posing a threat to human civilisation | Michael Mann and Peter Hotez

I'm happy to be at @oecd-ocde.bsky.social today, co-running the "Access to research software: Opportunities and challenges" workshop (www.oecd.org/en/events/20...), which hopefully will lead to new policies that support access to research software as a key enabler towards advancing open science

Dangerous misinformation and quackery on the rise in the UK… www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Uropathogenic #Ecoli #UPEC proliferate as round coccoid cells during intracellular infection; @alaskapokhrel.bsky.social @bill-lab.bsky.social &co show that accelerated division via FtsZ constriction drives this, the coccobacillus form persisting for generations @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4gdx97i

Science has already saved countless lives and will save many more if we let it. Hearing firsthand from patients whose lives have been saved by medical research (tinyurl.com/m65339fh) shows how vital this funding is, even for those lucky enough not to have needed it yet. Please share #ScienceSavedMe

This is so so so cool! Evolution is amazing - xenoparous reproduction “females must clone males of another species because they require their sperm to produce the worker caste. […] males from the same mother exhibit distinct genomes and morphologies” 🤯 😎🧪

A new arXiv preprint from Iain Hrynaszkiewicz and Lauren Cadwallader at PLOS with Prof Giovanni Colavizza, explores links between open science practices and citation impact across over 576,000 publications. 🔗 Read the full preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2508.20747 #OpenScience #OSI #Preprints

When other journals were too nervous to lean into this topic, this one leaned in. They specifically have a discovery report section for new insights based on initial observations. Can’t recommend this @plosbiology.org team enough!

Probing the evolutionary diversity of placental development: Francesca Soncin explores a @plosbiology.org study that provides a spatial transcriptomic characterization of the porcine #placenta, developing a new swine trophoblast #organoid model 🧪 Paper: plos.io/47jf3yd Primer: plos.io/3HZodFB

What causes viral transmission bottlenecks? This study uses barcoded virions to show that in the case of #influenza A #virus, early within-host replication dynamics (rather than a reduced inoculum population) drive loss of diversity during transmission @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ngicDK

What determines the human gut fungal community? @emilyvansyoc.bsky.social @erdavenport.bsky.social @symbionticism.bsky.social &co present the first #GWAS of human genetic loci that influence the abundance of gut #fungi, linking these to disease risk #mycobiome @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/42bCKou

The UN need to rethink the location of their headquarters pronto. This is outrageous

Just back from Spain and demoralized at what passes for produce in the UK. Are all plants bonsai now? Full prize for miniature tomatoes (wrapped in plastic) and toy-sized aubergines 😰

El pequeño Marco Rubio, ministro de Asuntos Exteriores del tirano Taco I, ha denegado las visas de entrada de múltiples miembros de la Autoridad Palestina para asistir a la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas que va a tener lugar en Septiembre. Quizás sea el momento de plantearse una nueva sede.

I absolutely love the FEARLESS Dr. Peter Hotez!!!!!

How can we improve the #training of future #biology researchers? This Community Page presents a competency-based framework to use to align curriculum and trainee outcomes with educational objectives in the life sciences. 🧪 #academicsky plos.io/3HIpuB1

How does the alvinellid worm Paralvinella hessleri survive the toxic extremes of deep-sea #HydrothermalVents? A new study shows that it detoxifies its environment by forming orpiment minerals inside cells; this unique #biomineralization is a novel adaptation to toxic environments.🧪 plos.io/3HtVCZ6

This is how your email finds me #IlloteAreoso #Arousa #IlladeArousa #Galicia #GalizaCalidade

This is how your email finds me #IlloteAreoso #Arousa #IlladeArousa #Galicia #GalizaCalidade

1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said." It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy. I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.

I need to have this LEGO

Amusing way, in Vilanova de Arousa, of saying that they don’t split the bill 🤣🤣

tl;dr — this EO co-opts the language of open science to implement a system of political control wherein presidential appointees are given broad latitude to designate any number of reasonable scientific activities and inferences as scientific misconduct, and to penalize those involved accordingly.

Really excited to see this new partnership between MetaROR and PLOS Biology 👏 @metaror.bsky.social @plosbiology.org

Oropouche virus is a lesser-known tropical infection that’s been spreading across Central and South America in recent years. It's carried by midges, although not those found in the UK or wider Europe. Full details in our travel health news story: www.gov.uk/government/n...

It was great to work with @ludowaltman.bsky.social on this partnership I look forward to seeing MetaROR drive #openscience forward in the #metaresearch space 🧪

Some positive stories 👇🏾 “Countries with widespread HPV vaccination and regular cervical cancer screenings are already seeing dramatic reductions in cancer rates. They demonstrate that it’s possible to effectively eliminate the disease” @scientificdiscovery.dev ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...

NIH is considering changes in supporting publication costs--some ideas are quite radical and would endanger our ability to publish at all. I don't love the cots from the big for-profits but it does cost$ to run a journal. Please repost. Comment at: osp.od.nih.gov/comment-form....

In a thought-provoking @plosbiology.org Perspective article, @briannosek.bsky.social asks whether science’s openness can be used against it, looking at how transparency and self-skepticism might be reframed in today’s discourse around golden standards plos.io/4l8rNuE #OpenScience 🧪

What happens to the colossal stash of C- and N-rich (but chemically inaccessible) chitin generated by the global insect population? Love this @plosbiology.org paper from Justin Nodwell & co which shows that #Streptomyces have the equipment to exploit it...

Ever wondered how adult #NeuralStemCells develop and acquire their lifelong potential? Excited to share our latest work on the origin of #AdultNeurogenesis by Cris Medina @paulatiradom.bsky.social Lingling Li & @pilar-rguezm.bsky.social now in @plosbiology.org🧪🧠 @institutocajal.bsky.social 👇🧵

Happy to have some good science news - our new study with @aqperkins.bsky.social is out in @plosbiology.org! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Streptomyces venezuelae uses secreted chitinases and a designated ABC transporter to support the competitive saprophytic catabolism of chitin vs Bacillus subtilis @plosbiology.org by Anne van der Meij et al from Justin Nodwell with Marie Elliot journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

My new PLOS Bio piece about when one's work is misrepresented: "[T]here is a normative expectation within scholarly research that all parties are well-intentioned and truth-seeking...when invitations to engage genuinely are not accepted..scholarly discourse is ill-equipped to resolve the conflict."

VACANCY - We’re recruiting for a visionary group leader to lead fundamental research on Discovery Plant Science as part of our vibrant research community Successful candidate will be offered a six-year tenure-track position with the opportunity to apply for tenure: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

Feels surreal to say but: I'm hiring! If you are or know anyone interested in looking at the evolution of phage resistance using A. baumannii and natural transformation, then this might be for you www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...