Alan Schulman

Some people will remember Thing from the Addams Family

Try this excuse if you get breathalyzed in a traffic stop.

Projected shifts in climate and spring barley yields under future (CMIP6) scenarios across eight environmental zones in Europe Breeding of climate-resilient barley cultivars requires knowledge about shifts in climate hazards and potential yield impacts. This Europe-wide study …

Glad to share our latest work on #barley and #climatechange. The heat is definitely on breeding!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Parallels between RFK Jr and Tofrim Lysenko: When Pseudoscience Infects National Leadership | Skeptical Inquirer His nation’s leadership placed him in a position of profound influence that would impact the health of a nation. Once installed, he offered rapid solutions ...

@kevinfolta.bsky.social writes:

“𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘙𝘍𝘒 𝘑𝘳. 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘬𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, [𝘦.𝘨.] 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩…”

Is gene editing natural and does it matter? A qualitative analysis of citizen-consumers’ and farmers’ views on the use of new genomic techniques in plants - Agriculture and Human Values This study examines the notions of ‘naturalness’ in Finnish citizen-consumers’ and farmers’ perspectives, through ten focus group discussions, on genetic modification (GM) and new genomic techniques (...

Gene Editing, naturally!

Glad to share the results of our survey of consumers and farmers in Finland regarding their views of Gene Editing. The concept of "naturalness" turned out to be important. #geneediting #biotechnology #genomics
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

🌱 📢 8th Fascination of Plants Day 2026 is officially launched! Join us by organising interactive events engaging the public around the 18 May 2026 or as a participant.
More info: www.plantday18may.org 👉 bit.ly/4oVTuZw
#PlantsDay2026 #Plants #PlantScience

Engineering compact Physalis peruviana (goldenberry) to promote its potential as a global crop Goldenberry (Physalis peruviana) produces sweet, nutritionally rich berries, yet like many minor crops, is cultivated in limited geographical regions and has not been a focus of breeding programs for...

A goldenberry (Physalis) with agronomic traits improved by gene editing! At least here in Finland, these delicious and healthful berries are pricey, so easier production would be welcome.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

💡 EPSO welcomes the provisional agreement reached by the Trilogue on the legislative proposal for regulation of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) in plants. EPSO offers to contribute on a scientific basis. 🌱

#PlantScience #Biodiversity #Food2030EU #Bioeconomy #LifeSciences 👉 bit.ly/48Mds37

Europe cannot afford to fall behind on innovation!
We join 25 EU agri-food organizations urging policymakers to conclude #NGTs trilogue talks now.
Science-based rules = resilient crops & global competitiveness. Act today! 🌱
euroseeds.eu/app/uploads/...

🌱📢EPSO wishes to encourage the development of ideas and imaginative thinking in #PlantScience and offers two awards to young scientists to present at the EPSO General Assembly Science Day on 17th June 2026. Submission deadline is 31.1.2026. 👉https://bit.ly/43cbx5Q.

Soon, CDC will be listing protocols for exorcism.

A pangenome and pantranscriptome of hexaploid oat - Nature A pangenome of oat, assembled from 33 wild and domesticated oat lines, sheds light on the evolution and genetic diversity of this cereal crop and will aid genomics-assisted breeding to improve product...

Happy to have been a part of the worldwide effort to assemble a pan-genome and pan-transcriptome for oat! A great cereal crop with lots of health benefits. We hope this resource will advance oat quality improvement, resilience, and sustainability as well as provide a foundation for basic research.

Watson's troubling B-side

Their longevity I've wondered about for a long time. Harder to decipher the lifespan of the Greenland Shark, maybe 500 yr.

A mechanism that I and certainly many others have wondered about has now been revealed.

Happy International Coffee Day. Here is a new EFSA study, but don't lose sleep over it.

Who would have guessed? Why it's worth exploring the various branches of the tree of life.

How about we call genome edited crops "barely mutant"?

Seems to be a nice workshop below btw!

Meet the 2025 Ig Nobel Prize winners The annual award ceremony features miniature operas, scientific demos, and the 24/7 lectures.

The perfect cacio e pepe, how to stop shoe odor, and zebra-stiped cows! arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Integration of environmental changes through dynamic RONSS interactions and redox state in legumes. Abiotic (e.g. heat, salinity, metal toxicity, and nutrient deficiency) and biotic (e.g. pathogens and symbionts) cues induce diverse reactive oxygen (superoxide anion, O2·−); hydrogen peroxide, H2O2) nitrogen (nitric oxide, NO), and sulfur (hydrogen sulfide, H2S) species (RONSS) which combine with those produced during cell function (respiration and photosynthesis). In response to these multiple stimuli, the level of RONSS signalling is strictly controlled by numerous enzymatic and non-enzymatic systems affecting synthesis (such as RBOH/SOD, NRs, and DES) and scavenging (APX, GPX, PhytoGb, and SQR).

🫛 SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW 🫛

Johansson et al. ✍️

Redox-active molecules such as ROS, RNS, and RSS orchestrate legume responses to diverse (a)biotic stresses and symbioses, offering novel strategies to enhance crop resilience in changing environments.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

Heads up on this one.

Nice to see a genome assembly emerge for this barley wild relative. Hopefully, we'll learn how to improve barley's drought tolerance while maintaining yield.

Crisis within CDC is spilling into real world, experts say "I’ve never heard as many colleagues saying things like 'CDC is dead’ as I have today," an agency employee told STAT.

"I’ve never heard as many colleagues saying things like 'CDC is dead’ as I have today," an agency employee told STAT.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...

I miss the old brand #CDC

Graphical pangenomics-enabled characterization of structural variant impact on gene expression in Brassica napus

Pangenome reveals structural variant-driven variation in expression of in winter oilseed rape. Framework enables population-scale SV-eQTL discovery beyond traditional SNP-based approaches - major advance for functional genomics.

Read more here:

New Zealand had some of the most restrictive laws when it came to genetically engineered food crops. This move once again demonstrates how the NZ Government makes Science-based decisions.

Take note, European Union!

#PlantGMOs #PlantNGTs #PlantScience #Agroculture #Sustainability #PlantBreeding

Really interesting to see this systematic and broad study on an important leaf trait.

The campaign against science by the Trump administration through grant slashing has reached FlyBase. There is an effort to crowd-fund this vital database:

It will depend on whether declarations are handled at the national level, what the thresholds are for EU-wide review, what the requirements are for sustainability evidence, and what the labeling and traceability rules are. There is still a lot of negotiation going on.

Happy to announce our current scan of the risk environment for NGT (gene editing) in animals, just published today.
doi.org/10.2903/j.ef...