J. Chris Pires

“Inconvenience is the price of community”

Living together means compromise: waiting, yielding, helping. Motonormativity flips this, teaching us that speed and personal convenience outrank care for others.

A yellow lab sitting awkwardly on a couch and he is half asleep

Somewhere deep inside Gus is the DNA of a wolf

Gymnosperms having “fruits” is always a fun thing.

The world needs a better way to share genetic information That will involve a wholesale rethink of the Nagoya protocol

The Economist on the trials and tribulations due to the Nagoya Protocol: The world needs a better way to share genetic information
economist.com/leaders/2025...

Born #OnThisDay in 1964 was astronaut and engineer Joan Higginbotham. She is the third African American woman to go into space, spending over 308 hours in orbit on board Space Shuttle Discovery for mission STS-116 and assisting in the construction of the International Space Station. #WomenInSTEM

Portrait of Margaret Rossiter from the Cornell STS homepage. https://sts.cornell.edu/margaret-rossiter

Margaret Rossiter, whose #histsci scholarship revealed structural inequalities affecting #WomenInSTEM, has passed away. Dr. Rossiter was co-founder of @historyscience.bsky.social’s Women’s Caucus & namesake of a prize honoring work on the history of women in science. May her memory be a blessing.

A black-and-white photograph of a Neanderthal skull in right profile view, displayed on a small pedestal. The cranium shows a large, irregular hole on the parietal region. The skull has a robust brow ridge, receding forehead, and protruding midface. The mandible is present.

A frontal black-and-white photograph of the same Neanderthal skull. The orbits are large and round, and the nasal opening is broad. The brow ridges are thick and prominent. The maxilla and mandible are both incomplete, with several missing teeth and broken portions along the lower jaw.

#OnThisDay in 1908, the remarkable Neanderthal known as the Old Man from La Chapelle was discovered. 🏺🧪

#botany2025 was incredible! Thank you to all the organizers, speakers, and conference center staff!

I loved seeing old seeing old friends and making new ones! I always come home inspired and renewed!

See you all in Tucson in 2026!

Me standing at a podium talking about the BIOFAIR Vision and roadmap.

Me standing at a podium in front of a slide that read Linking Functional Traits and Niches to Lineage Diversification in Asclepias.

A group of 5 people standing shoulder to shoulder smiling at a camera on Joshue Tree National Park.

A flower of Asclepias eriocarpa that is cream colored with many yellow-orange aphids around it.

Had such a great time at #botany2025! Hearing about everyone's research was very inspiring and generated some new ideas for my own work.

See you all in Tucson next year!

it’s a real testament to the intellectual traditions of these centuries-old institutions, folding to authoritarian pressure like paper in a storm and kneeling to naked financial extortion

Terence Tao (@teorth.bsky.social) has written a thread on Mastodon about the impact of the federal grant freeze to UCLA, particularly to his own field of Mathematics. UCLA's IPAM (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics) could shut down entirely

mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1149568...

How the mystery of Winston Churchill's dead platypus was finally solved - BBC News The platypus was a top secret gift from Australia, found dead in his enclosure as war raged in the seas around him.

Research by Harrison Croft on the story of Winston Churchill's dead platypus, first published as a Snapshot in Environment and History, made it to the front page of the BBC website today! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #envhist

Seabed-Mining Firm Faces Legal Questions Over Controversial Trump Policy After Trump pledged to open international waters to mining, The Metals Company sought U.S. permits. But other countries are raising legal concerns.

Seabed-Mining Firm Faces Legal Questions Over Controversial Trump deep sea mining Policy www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/c... 🧪🌎🦑

sometimes I am asked to write letters of recommendation for colleagues up for promotion or residents applying for fellowship

I always dread starting

BUT invariably find it incredibly heartwarming and fulfilling

One long silky grey cat is stretched out languidly on a bed up against a botanical print pillow. In front of him is sitting a smaller silky grey cat who is staring into the camera with big green eyes.

If you want to talk to Atlas, you have to get past security (Betelgeuse)

(Our old New England house has bats; most do. We encounter bats a couple of times a year. We have a safe bat extraction process. The drawers have been sanitized and the linen is being rewashed. I’m an ecologist. Bats are helpful neighbors.

Hopefully that anticipates the most common replies.)

Arizona Conservation Science TNC's conservation science in AZ engages stakeholders and expertise in applied science and policy to develop new ideas and tools to help solve the most pressing challenges affecting people and nature.

In Arizona, we rely on science to confront our biggest challenges—wildfires, droughts and biodiversity loss. To deliver fast, large-scale solutions that protect communities and nature, TNC pursues evidence-based strategies grounded in our research. Learn more at nature.org/scienceAZ.

Enjoyed a beautiful visit to Flagstaff this week to share sunshine and beers with TNC Arizona's Forest Program. The are doing incredible work with stakeholders across Northern Arizona to increase pace and scale of restoration and reduce wildfire risks, learn more here: www.nature.org/en-us/about-...

Arizona Conservation Science TNC's conservation science in AZ engages stakeholders and expertise in applied science and policy to develop new ideas and tools to help solve the most pressing challenges affecting people and nature.

I am a scientist who works with passionate conservationists to restore lands and waters across the Western USA. I believe science is an amazing tool to create positive change for future generations, and that it is essential to couple science with ethics. See our work at nature.org/scienceAZ

A little brown bat making an angry face with its mouth open, lying on a red picnic table.

We relocated this beautiful sky puppy from my kitchen linen drawer to the picnic table outside with some water. After letting me know, vocally, that she did not appreciate us interrupting her nap, she flew off.

Chinese scientists turn Moon soil into oxygen and water needed for life In a breakthrough that could transform the future of space exploration, Chinese scientists have developed a technology that can extract water from lunar soil and use it to produce oxygen and chemicals vital for fuel, dramatically reducing the need to...

Chinese scientists turn Moon soil into oxygen and water needed for life
->India Today | #Moon #Space #Science #Soil #Water | More info from EcoSearch

Mediterranean vineyards adopt new strategies to combat climate change and preserve wine quality Innovative soil management, organic amendments, and shading techniques help vineyards adapt to drought, heatwaves, and environmental challenges

Mediterranean vineyards adopt new strategies to combat climate change and preserve wine quality #ClimateChange #SustainableWine #VineyardInnovation #OrganicFarming #SoilManagement

I'm grateful to @botsocamerica.bsky.social for giving me a Travel Award to attend #Botany2025! These awards really make a difference as an #ECR.

I'm literally on iNat + the Ohio Odonata Society website researcing what dragonfly species are rare in the area to plan my outing tomorrow.

Send help.

Our paper mapping plant and mycorrhizal fungal diversity correlations is out! Relationships are weak at the global level, but both positive and negative at smaller scales. Plants are not always proxies for fungi — fungi need their own conservation focus @spun.earth @ethz.ch
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Tennessee red valencia peanuts grown in my garden in knoxville, with beautiful nodules of rhizobia 🥜🤎

Michael Pisias, Shawn Thomas, Chris Pires, standing in regalia at columns at University of Missouri-Columbia

Michael Pisias and Shawn Thomas standing in regalia at columns at University of Missouri-Columbia

Shawn Thomas, Michael Pisias, and Chris Pires, having a fun photo in regalia at columns at the University of Missouri-Columbia

Traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to celebrate the successful #PhD defenses of my last two esteemed graduate students at the University of Missouri-Columbia! Michael Pisias (PhD Plant Biology, advised by Bing Yang); & Shawn K. Thomas (PhD Biology, co-advised by Jacob Washburn). #Crop #Evolution #agsky

Amanita muscaria in a moosy wood.

#fungifact Amanita muscaria, der Fliegenpilz 🍄📷. In den letzten Jahren wurde Microdosing mit Fliegenpilzen immer beliebter. Muscimol kann Halluzinationen verursachen, für einen positiven Effeķt gibt es allerdings keine Evidenz, ganz im Gegenteil! Also Vorsicht mit Muscimol Gummibärchen et al! 1/2

Know an Evolutionary Genomicist looking for a faculty position? Join us in EEB @utknoxville.bsky.social Position is open for studying any organism, but personally I have some botany bias. 🌱 Apply before Sept 19 for full consideration. apply.interfolio.com/170735 Please share widely. Thanks!

‘Best job in the natural world’: seed collector enlisted as modern-day Darwin to document the world’s plants Newly appointed expedition botanist Matthew Jeffery feels ‘daunted’ but inspired by his unique globetrotting role collecting wild species

Maybe the #Darwin #seed collector should travel to the #Falklands and explore native #vegetation as well as #tussac #conservation www.theguardian.com/environment/... My take here nkozphoto.com/index.php/20... #science #botany #Climate #climatechange #evolution #kelp