Gary W Hartley

Next-generation crop breeding aims to combine yield and carbon storage - Farming Future Food A team of agri-scientists in China have outlined a framework for breeding crops that enhance soil carbon storage while maintaining — or even improving — productivity.

Crop breeding doesn't have to make compromises between yield and #sustainability aims.

Chinese researchers say high productivity and locking in #carbon can be considered together.

farmingfuturefood.com/next-generat...

#farming #genetics #agritech #climate

Hoverflies show potential as dual pollinators and disease-control agents - Farming Future Food Swedish researchers show hoverflies can vector beneficial yeast to flowers, reducing grey mould and improving fruit quality.

Hoverflies are already famed #pollinators and pest-controllers, but scientists in #Sweden reckon they can do even more for farmers.

Their study highlights the insects' potential for ferrying biopesticides to where they're needed.

farmingfuturefood.com/hoverflies-s...

#research #bugsky #scicomm

I will never not adore "and allies" in a fieldguide title. Don't mess with the grasshoppers or the earwigs and crickets and cockroaches will fuck you up

A previously unknown species of butterfly which had been discovered in Peru in 2024 is now officially named "Vanewrightia borussiadortmund" after a BvB fan called Peter Klausmeier, struck by its colouring, spent 2,800 euros sponsoring its scientific naming.

Manchester's endemic two-winged honeybee painted on a wall

If the Mancunians are sticking with this self-identification as hard workers, can they at least start putting the right number of wings on their emblematic honey bees?

#bugsky #UKPolitics

The Mushroom Captivating Wartime Ukraine As the country faces a mental health crisis, some are turning to the psychoactive fungus Amanita muscaria

Amid wartime stress and a nationwide mental health crunch, some Ukrainians are turning to an unlikely coping mechanism: the amanita mushroom.

i have to keep reminding myself the the rupert lowe who wants to bring back the death penalty is the same rupert lowe who appointed clive woodward, a rugby coach with no football qualifications, director of football at southampton football club

9 cards made by kindergartners on a bulletin board with a roly-poly photo in the middle with the words "Thank you friends, I'm happy now". The cards imply that the bug is definitely dead.

When I need cheering up I look at the cards my kid's afterschool program made for a dead bug

It’s UK Public Lending Right time again which means it’s time for my semi-regular reminder that spending your money on books is NOT the only way to support your favourite authors. We DO get paid when you take books out of the library. It’s free for you and good for authors and readers everywhere! 📚

“You pity the moth confusing a lamp for the moon, yet here you are confusing a screen for the world.”

— Jay Alto

Shouting "Waaaayyyyyy" whenever anyone drops a glass in a pub

Dung beetles’ rabbit rescue? Bunny poo can prevent species declines becoming terminal A 26-year dataset tracks how dung beetles respond to livestock loss and urban growth

Heard the one about the rabbit and the dung beetle?

It's a tale of accidental #conservation heroes in an age of rapid landscape change.

medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #beetles #wildlife #scicomm

Waiting for them to score and not changing it, in fact

The Knotweed Factor | Jennifer Kabat If we’ll never be able to undo the worst of our actions, can we can appreciate nature’s adaptations?

Japanese knotweed is almost freakishly resilient. It can grow eight inches in a single day, clone itself from the tiniest piece of stem, and exudes a chemical that repels other plants. It might be time to learn to live alongside it.

Kada neevidentirana vrsta insekta sleti na vašu prozorsku dasku - Zemaljski muzej BiH Bosanski entomolozi istražuju raznolikost insekata — korak po korak Dodati novu vrstu u entomološki spisak Bosne i Hercegovine ponekad je toliko jednostavno da Dejan Kulijer, kustos za entomologiju u ...

This is now on the National Museum of #Bosnia and Herzegovina's website, which is pretty cool.

Maybe your museum needs a bit of me, who knows?

zemaljskimuzej.ba/kada-neevide...

#museums #scicomm #conservation #wildlife

I Was Having a Millennial Midlife Crisis. Until I Picked Up the Most Unhinged Hobby Imaginable. Desperate times called for farcical measures.

"And why not a rubber chicken, America’s trusty totem of self-parody? It’s not as if I could beat the Earth’s best powerlifters, breath-holders, or yo-yo artists. Desperate times called for farcical measures." — @byardduncan.bsky.social for @slate.com

Historical illustration from "Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle" (1851-1860) depicting two beetle species on a beige page. The top beetle, labeled "Fig. 12. — Teflus Megerlii," has a smooth, elongated oval body with pronounced ridges on its elytra (wing covers) and long, thin legs. The bottom beetle, labeled "Fig. 13. — Procerus Audouinii," is larger with a textured, slightly rounded body, prominent antennae featuring multiple segments, and six long, spindly legs. Both beetles are shown from a dorsal view, emphasizing anatomical details like segmented legs, antennae, and body texture in fine black ink linework typical of 19th-century scientific illustrations.

🐞 Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle
Paris: Maresq[1851-1860].

[Source]

Grain of Terror Why is the Western world so afraid of reheating rice? Joe Zadeh reports. Illustration by Ibrahim Rayintakath

Really enjoyed this rice-reheating odyssey from @vittles.bsky.social

www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/grain-of-t...

#food #writing #history #scicomm

Next-generation biopesticide uses RNAi yeast and sugar lures to target fruit fly pest - Farming Future Food U.S. researchers have used RNA interference to engineer yeast that selectively kills spotted wing drosophila when delivered in a sugar bait, offering a potential new class of biorational insecticides.

There are few successful or sustainable ways to tackle the spotted wing drosophila, a notorious #fruit pest, but delivering #RNAi interference via yeast (and some Coca-Cola) looks very promising.

farmingfuturefood.com/next-generat...

#farming #agritech #genetics #scicomm

If I knocked back a shot every time Efan Ekoku said "the football" I'd be long dead #Afcon #CAF #Commentary

Involuntary parks: Human conflict is creating unintended refuges for wildlife Few locations on Earth are as haunting or deeply ironic as so-called involuntary parks — places too toxic, dangerous, or otherwise made off-limits for human habitation, but which have paradoxically…

“Involuntary parks” — lands emptied by war, pollution or conflict — can become accidental refuges for wildlife.

From the radioactive Hanford Reach to the disputed Kuril Islands, nature often rebounds without people, raising hard questions about conservation, recovery and responsibility.

The Reptile Who Plays Possum - bioGraphic Grass snakes fake death to avoid predation.

Possums aren't the only animals who play dead. Creatures across the animal kingdom--including the grass snake pictured below--fake death as a last-ditch defense against predation. The behavior is known as thanatosis, which shares its root with Thanatos, the ancient Greek personification of death.

All major AI models risk encouraging dangerous science experiments Researchers risk fire, explosion or poisoning by allowing AI to design experiments, warn scientists. Some 19 different AI models were tested on hundreds of questions to assess their ability to spot an...

Scientists are using AI to design new experiments, but research shows that all major models fail to spot serious safety problems that risk causing fires, explosions or poisonings.

www.newscientist.com/article/2511...

Screenshot of Sahara Desert and its 4.0 Google review

Thought you might like to know that the Sahara Desert is rated 4.0 on Google. Definite room for improvement.

#maps #Africa #wtfsky #reviews

When a New Species Lands on Your Windowsill Bosnia’s insect experts are rebuilding a lost natural record — one new species at a time.

Wrote this for The New Climate, based on a fascinating interview with Bosnia's keeper of #insect records Dejan Kulijer.

And yes, it's pretty easy to record new species in the Balkans if you're willing to try!

medium.com/the-new-clim...
CC @sarajevo-times.bsky.social

#Bosnia #bugsky #scicomm

There were murmurs that Bornauw wanted out, maybe we're upgrading him? But yeah, a two-footed wingback would be grand

Absolutely not. I was more saying that hits Doekhi's passing stats

Yeah, Union hit it long a lot of the time

Hope so, heard very good things from Union-following friends