Phil Stevenson

How an annual ‘wedding flight’ of 1,000 virgin queens is ensuring the revival of Europe’s dark bee The Belgian ceremony attracts beekeepers from the Netherlands, France and Germany keen to boost dark bee numbers and stop the spread of the hybrid honeybee

Is it just me or does “saving” a different coloured race of a honeybee from “foreign” races because “it’s the only one that should be here” sound a bit Far Right. It’s a domestic animal FFS & it didn’t “evolve” in UK - Hbees arrived after ice age possibly w/ Tillia ~7000BC. tinyurl.com/4hs2e6t7

As journalists working today many of us are taught to recognise disinformation when we see it and fight back against it.

Unfortunately there are some who willingly seek it out and put it on their front pages. A disgrace to the profession.

‘The most bitter news’: Iran reels as more than 100 children reportedly killed in school bombing The building appears to be among many devastated in Trump’s ‘major combat operations’ as long expected attacks arrive

More than 100 children killed in one hit on a school in Iran. Is this collaterel damage? This is horrifying. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

This is what Bored of peace looks like.

US-Israel attack on Iran: Tehran launches retaliatory strikes as Trump says ‘major combat operation’ under way – live Explosions reported across the Middle East as Iran hits back after major attack by US and Israel

This is what Bored of Peace looks like. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Vegetarians have ‘substantially lower risk’ of five types of cancer Study shows lower risk for multiple myeloma as well as pancreatic, prostate, breast and kidney cancers

Vegetarians have a substantially lower risk from five types of cancer. Stopping eating meat is good for you and the planet. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

'Grok' spills its code: Elon’s AI ‘truth machine’ admits it’s wired for propaganda So much for neutrality — Grok confessed to 27 right-wing biases, from defending Elon Musk at all costs to pushing Israeli propaganda

Self professed “free speech absolutist” gets caught with pants down: www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/20...

Road air pollution harms the reproductive success of a bee‐pollinated wildflower: A dusty threat to biodiversity Dust, a common form of air pollution, is particularly problematic on roadsides, which are important habitats for plants and pollinators. We investigated whether and how road dust affects plant sexual...

Road air pollution harms the reproductive success of a bee pollinated wild flower. @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Number of academics working in the UK falls for first time Some universities reduce staff teams by more than a fifth after year of cutbacks and job losses, new data show

Number of academics working in the UK falls for first time www.timeshighereducation.com/news/number-...

Coffee-growing countries becoming too hot to cultivate beans, analysis finds Five countries responsible for 75% of world’s coffee supply record average of 57 extra days of coffee-harming heat a year

Coffee-growing countries becoming too hot to cultivate beans, analysis finds.
Five countries responsible for 75% of world’s coffee supply record average of 57 extra days of coffee-harming heat a year www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Researchers creating map of mosquito genes to help control disease A “map” of mosquito genes being developed by Keele researchers could pave the way for effective new control methods to protect human and animal health.

Researchers @keeleuniversity.bsky.social creating map of mosquito genes to help control disease www.keele.ac.uk/about/news/2... 🦟🧬

Unfortunately I don’t think he gives a crap and probably quite happy that evidence based social media has been undermined - by him.

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!

"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."

It’s ironic that one of the birds (greenfinch) featured on the packaging for this Wild Bird food is in severe decline directly as a consequence of people feeding birds in gardens & the spread of bird diseases. The other is in severe decline owing to loss of hedgerows & agricultural intensification.

CO2 is a danger to human health, and that of the planet,

as is The Telegraph

The mathematician lifting the lid on Trump’s ‘attacks’ Scientist behind Trump Action Tracker uses skills in data collection to look for patterns in president’s seemingly scattergun approach

The mathematician lifting the lid on Trump’s ‘attacks’
Scientist behind Trump Action Tracker uses skills in data collection to look for patterns in president’s chaos www.timeshighereducation.com/news/mathema...

Starmer tells Jim Ratcliffe to apologise for saying UK ‘colonised’ by immigrants PM calls comments by Man United co-owner, who also hit out at people on benefits, ‘offensive and wrong’

Read all about it! UK Billionaire who pays hardly any tax blames all UKs problems in immigrants using false data. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

US scientists warn tensions have hurt relations with Greenland Academics counting cost of Donald Trump’s threats to take over the territory say ‘the damage is done’ and impact on research will linger for years

US scientists warn “tensions” have hurt relations with Greenland. Incredible use by THE of that word tensions. What you mean is USA threatening to invade Europe using military force (and still might) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-scie...

UK could ‘lose generation of scientists’ with cuts to projects and research facilities UK’s research funding body warned best scientists taking posts oversees due to lack of job stability at home

UK could ‘lose generation of scientists’ with cuts to projects & facilities. UK’s research funding body warned best scientists taking posts oversees due to lack of job stability at home. PIs asked to report on how their research would fare with cuts up to 60% www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Bending the curve of agricultural expansion offers a new era for biodiversity and climate Abstract. A defining feature of humanity through the Holocene has been our inexorable expansion of agriculture. This increased the supply of provisioning s

Bending the curve of agricultural expansion offers a new era for biodiversity & climate. Agriculture is a dominant driver of biodiversity loss. Global Biodiversity Framework goals depend more on management of global agriculture than traditional biodiversity conservation. doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

15 yrs since we published this, but some scholars still define (animal) colour vision as just wavelength discrimination independently of intensity. Colour vision requires having vision - and this means seeing an image in which things have colour properties.

USAmericans shoulda been this motivated in Nov24. Coulda’ nipped it in the bud. But you let the devil out of hell with millions of helpers. This isn’t just a domestic issue you dumped this massive problem on the world. Insulting, disrespectful, war mongering & friendless global bullies. FUSA.

Ian Chapman ‘very sorry’ for UKRI not engaging on funding changes - Research Professional News Chief executive says funder has “not done our communications in the right way”

Ian Chapman Head of UKRI ‘very sorry’ for not engaging on funding changes - Chief executive says funder has “not done our communications in the right way”
He apologised for not doing a “good enough job” engaging with R&I community about changes UKRI www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Three UK research councils suspend funding opportunities Temporary block on grant applications by MRC, BBSRC and EPSRC heightens concerns over funding cuts

Three UK research councils suspend funding opportunities
Temporary block on grant applications by MRC, BBSRC and EPSRC heightens concerns over funding cuts www.timeshighereducation.com/news/three-u...

Convergent evolution of red
hummingbird-pollinated flowers
explained by: reduced visitation by bee pollinators (avoidance)
and/or increased attraction to
hummingbirds (bird preference). Leon-Osper et al. www.cell.com/action/showP...

Smaller farms to be prioritised for UK nature funding, minister to announce Emma Reynolds is expected to say an application window for the Sustainable Farming Incentive will be opened to smaller and new farms first

Smaller farms to be prioritised for UK nature funding, minister to announce. Emma Reynolds is expected to say an application window for the Sustainable Farming Incentive will be opened to smaller and new farms first www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The last chapter from PhD thesis by Juri Felix (co-supervised with @philstevenson.bsky.social) is now out in @oikosjournal.bsky.social! The study explores the effects of tree species identity and spatial scale on tree diversity effects #TreeDivNet nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Thrilled to see our new paper out from our amazingly productive PhD student Juri Felix’s who studied at @rhulbiology.bsky.social & @rbgkew.bsky.social. Congrats to Juri & @juliakoricheva.bsky.social

Species identity and spatial scale drive context‑dependent tree diversity effects in a Finnish forest experiment Tree species diversity is known to affect tree growth and leaf traits, which in turn can influence various ecosystem processes. However, the reported direction of these tree diversity effects is inco...

Our new paper is out in @oikosjournal.bsky.social w/ @juliakoricheva.bsky.social & Juri Felix. Species identity & spatial scale drive context‑dependent tree diversity effects in a Finnish forest experiment. @rbgkew.bsky.social @rhulbiology.bsky.social

url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/OfSjCQ6Rki...