Stuart Thompson

Nigel and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Week From racist MPs to phantom audits, Reform UK’s revolution is starting to look less “take back control” and more “lost the password again.”

Capping off the week, Farage and Co have had a terrible week - and were likely to see more of it going forward.

Just as people don't wear swimwear everywhere.
That having been said I think that nore public things like the WNBRs have a place because they provide a context for people to discover that they (and others) aren't actually bothered by nudity

Botrytis cinerea infection is promoted by chitotetraose treatment, which plays a role as a negative regulator of grapevine immunity, inhibiting MAPK phosphorylation and defense-related gene expression in both roots and leaves.

🍇🌱 RESEARCH 🌱🍇

Botrytis cinerea infection is promoted by chitotetraose treatment, which has a role as a negative regulator of grapevine immunity, inhibiting MAPK phosphorylation and defense-related gene expression in roots & leaves - Marzari et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪

Does gravity produce quantum weirdness? Proposal divides physicists Nature - A theoretical study suggests that gravity could have quantum effects without itself being a quantum theory. Other researchers aren’t so sure.

The nature of gravity — and whether it can be reconciled with quantum mechanics — is one of the biggest mysteries in physics

go.nature.com/47F3ukv

A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover taken on June 15, 2018, in Mars’ Gale Crater. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Chemical analysis of water trapped in Martian rocks shows high concentrations of oxygen-18, just like in closed-basin lakes on Earth that have partially evaporated. The authors infer that Gale Crater on Mars once held a lake that then evaporated. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/z0Ge50Xh0KX

Paraphymatoceros luguhuensis.

Large-scale #hornwort plastomes unlock RNA editing, new species, and diversification history.

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Xu et al.

@WileyPlantSci

Stomata of Restionoideae species do not respond to red light and have large substomatal cavities lined with protective cells.

Stomata of Leptocarpoideae species respond to red light and have small substomatal cavities lined with chlorenchyma

Cryptic signals: substomatal architecture influences stomatal responses to red light and CO2

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Haroon et al.

@WileyPlantSci #bluelight #guardcells

Projected changes in the annual proportion of the population experiencing power outages per census tract, calculated as the difference in power outage rates between the hindcast period (1995–2014) and the late century period (2071–2100) considering a 3 °C of warming scenario.

Climate modeling suggests that if the Earth warms by 3 °C by the late 21st century, hurricane-induced power outages will increase significantly in northern Florida, Georgia, the mid-Atlantic, and the North Atlantic coast. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Lu7I50Xgj05

A quote from the article. Text reads: "The decline of soil biodiversity has visible and growing consequences. The science is clear, the frameworks exist, and the need for action is urgent."

.@cmarin.bsky.social and 127 co-authors present a global call to strengthen national #SoilBiodiversity action, in an #OpenLetter to policymakers at 27th meeting of the @unbiodiversity.bsky.social SBSTTA taking place in Panamá City this week.

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#SBSTTA27

Faulty mitochondria cause deadly diseases: fixing them is about to get a lot easier Nature - CRISPR-based tools can’t easily access the DNA in these organelles, but researchers are finding other ways in.

CRISPR-based tools can’t easily access the DNA in mitochondria, but researchers are finding other ways in

go.nature.com/46WbLQL

Purists in philosophy forget that even their heroes knew and contributed to science. Worth hearing how much Descartes contributed by listening to the excellent podcast by @histphilosophy.bsky.social

Circulating short chain fatty acids are associated with depression severity and predict remission from major depressive disorder Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have been shown to improve depression-like behavior in animal models. However, their predictive value for depression o…

#publichealth #geriatrics #health #microbiome #mentalhealth #MDD #primaryhealthcare #biomarkers #SCFAs #neurology #dietetics #biosensors #gastroenterology

Higher plasma butyrate (produced by gut microbiota)
predicts remission from depression within 6 months.
.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Correction for multiple comparisons should be ubiquitous - Nature Human Behaviour Nature Human Behaviour - Correction for multiple comparisons should be ubiquitous

Please RT! 🙏🙏🙏
1/3 How do you correct for multiple comparisons? Do you take into account *all* comparisons that can render the paper publishable? Most of us don’t. In this NHB piece, Yoav Benjamini, Yoav Zeevi and I argue that it’s time to change our practices >>
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Another good example is RNAi and transvection phenomenon in plants… eg - argonaut and most of the RISC complex was identified in plants. But plant research didn’t feature prominently in the Nobel for RNAi www.nature.com/articles/443...

German far right setting agenda as opponents amplify its ideas, study finds Normalisation of far-right stances likely to affect success of such parties at ballot boxes across Europe, say researchers

German study shows how far right sets agenda thanks to mainstream parties reshaping their communications to respond to what are initially fringe issues, boosting the spread of these ideas and signalling to voters that these ideas and stances were legitimate

shorturl.at/OFfig

Three sisters intercropping system. Maize (blue), beans (red), and squash (yellow) are grown together. Factors making the system more robust and higher yielding than monocropping are listed in boxes.

#Intercropping & #CropRotation are ancient #agricultural practices that increase yield & #DiseaseResistance in #crops. This Essay discusses the role of plant-derived metabolites & microbes in these systems and how they can contribute to #SustainableAgriculture @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4op7k6W

But when we crave power over life—endless wealth, unassailable safety, immortality—then desire becomes greed. And if knowledge allies itself to that greed, then comes evil. Then the balance of the world is swayed, and ruin weighs heavy in the scale.

Architectural immunity: Ants alter their nest networks to prevent epidemics In animal groups, spatial structure shapes social interaction patterns, thereby influencing the transmission of infectious diseases. Active modifications to the spatial environment could therefore be ...

New in @science.org, a paper from my PhD showing that ant groups fight epidemics by modifying the structure of their nests, giving them “architectural immunity”!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Post from WH about Chicago "in chaos," showing scene from another state.

A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

In-plane dielectric constant and conductivity of confined water - Nature Scanning dielectric microscopy of nanocapillaries filled with water reveals that interfacial and strongly confined water exhibits a large in-plane dielectric constant and an in-plane conductivity approaching superionic values. 

Nature research paper: In-plane dielectric constant and conductivity of confined water

go.nature.com/46U0GQm

Some species of microscopic unicellular algae known as diatoms live inside Arctic ice, gliding across frozen surfaces at temperatures as low as -15 °C, using special mucilage to stick to the ice. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Artist’s depiction of planet TRAPPIST-1 d passing in front of its turbulent star, with other members of the closely packed system shown in the background. CREDIT: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Attention exoplanet fans: A collection of articles showcases how the James Webb Space Telescope has enabled atmospheric studies of distant worlds, including work on the atmospheres of sub-Neptunes and the challenges of detecting biosignatures. In PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Modern adzuki bean (right) and charred adzuki bean recovered from Xiaogao, China (left). CREDIT: Haohong Cai

Behold an adzuki bean from over 8,000 years ago, a little charred, displayed next to a modern bean. Ancient beans found in Shandong, China, shed light on the domestication of the crop, which is still commonly eaten as red bean paste. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Examples of Early and Middle Holocene human burials from southern China. This figure shows six human burials from Huiyaotian (A: M14, B: M19, C: M20) in Nanning and Liyupo (D: M23, E: M24, F: M28) in Long’an, both shell-midden sites located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. All individuals are in flexed positions, with several exhibiting hyper-flexed postures (A and E: male, B–D and F: female).

World’s oldest mummification found: smoke-dried remains from SE Asia & S. China date back 12,000 years—predating Egypt & Chinchorro, with ties to Indigenous New Guinea & Australia..

In @archaeologymag.bsky.social: archaeology.org/news/2025/09...
In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Topsentia ophiraphidites from the Bahamas. CREDIT: Tse-Lynn Loh

Demosponges were one of the first multicellular animals. Chemical fossils of distinctive steroids made by demosponges show that the group dates back to the Neoproterozoic era, significantly predating the Cambrian explosion. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/qNB750XaAmV

Sea slugs. Image credit: Corey Allard (Harvard University).

“Kleptosome” helps #SeaSlug master #photosynthesis—and could offer clues to the #evolution of #symbiosis. In PNAS Journal Club: https://ow.ly/iP2U50XaCxQ

#chloroplast

The El Castillo structure at the Classic Maya center of Xunantunich in modern-day Belize. CREDIT: Bridgette Degnan

A study of the Classic Period Maya sheds light on conditions that give rise to cities. Collective projects of agricultural irrigation and defense during an arid era were likely catalysts. As environmental conditions improved, the cities fell. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/9TJq50XaCPB

Walls for the Hunt: Europe’s Forgotten Megastructures and the Rise of Prehistoric Cooperation Four massive stone traps hidden in the hills of Slovenia and Italy suggest that Europe’s earliest communities engineered landscapes to capture not just animals, but collective purpose.

Massive stone “funnels” found in Slovenia and Italy may be Europe’s oldest hunting megastructures—proof that early societies shaped landscapes through cooperation and ingenuity. #Archaeology #Prehistory #HumanEvolution @pnas.org www.anthropology.net/p/walls-for-...

DNA analysis reveals West African ancestry in early medieval England An unrelated pair of people buried in cemeteries in 7th-century Britain probably had grandparents from West Africa

This is an extraordinarily cool study:

Two unrelated young people buried in cemeteries in Anglo-Saxon times in England probably had grandparents who came from West Africa.

It was a joy to cover this for @newscientist.com #science #archaeology #history 🧪

www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

"We don't want to abandon our people who live in the forest" - Rosalino Picanerai, Ayoreo people, Paraguay. Image of Rosalino in a top and jacket in the foreground.

Many of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode people of #Paraguay have been forced into contact, and agribusiness has been destroying their home, the Chaco forest.

To this day, some members are still resisting contact. Rosalino Picanerai is speaking out in support of them.