NEW ANALYSIS: UK emissions fell 2.4% in 2025 as coal fell to a 400-year low. Incredibly, we used less coal last year than than in 1600, when Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne and Shakespeare was writing Hamlet.
All the details in our article: www.carbonbrief.org/...
The bureaucracy of science has grown so much, the system is collapsing upon itself:
Scientists have become administrators of grants rather than spending time on science.
Paid administrators are demanding even more administrative work from scientists.
Administrators are eating the science budget.
Many scientists contacted the SITC concerned about UKRI cuts, especially to large Physics projects. Sir Ian said the overall budget was not being reduced but rising costs created a funding gap driving the reductions announced. He admitted a communications failure.
I watched much of Ian Chapman's (Head of @ukri.org) appearance this morning at @ukparliament.parliament.uk Science, Innovation and Technology Committee..
A few points and new information that bioscientists may find interesting...
A 🧵
Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding.
“Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail.
Both MRC and BBSRC responsive modes now withdrawn until further notice. Existing applications unlikely to succeed (late 2025 round expecting 1-5% success rate).
Listen, I get that UKRI wants to pivot. But killing both at once is devastating.
Let's hope at least one opens by summer... #AcademicSky
Three UK research councils suspend funding opportunities
“Temporary block on grant applications by MRC, BBSRC and EPSRC heightens concerns over funding cuts”
Absolutely this. Well said Mike.
Funding?
I'm a simple academic, so I'll have to await someone smart to explain to me how "pausing" MRC and BBSRC funding is the action of a biomedical science superpower...?
A 2024 study found that ants best humans at tests of collective intelligence.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/42nMvQJ #ScienceMagArchives
📝 Online now - the Review "Structural transport and inhibition mechanism of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier" from Edmund Kunji (@mrc-mbu.bsky.social) and co.
#SLC54 #MPC #EnergyMetabolism #MembraneProteinStructure #StructureBasedDrugDesign
Read it here 👉 authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
Here, we critically review the structures of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) in apo and ligand-bound states, highlighting controversies with regard to the orientation in the inner membrane, interpretation of the transport states, and modelling of the inhibitors.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
CRISPR-based tools can’t easily access the DNA in mitochondria, but researchers are finding other ways in
go.nature.com/46WbLQL
A brilliant new paper by @Marilia Meira Dias and @Thomas MacVicar and others is out! It has discovered that a mitochondrial carrier SLC25A45 is involved in the uptake of methylated lysine and arginine, a key step in carnitine biosynthesis!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our review on the peculiar properties of mitochondrial carriers of the SLC25 family out: portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...
holy shit lmao
This is amazing, and is a huge step forward. Congratulations to all involved!
In space, Venus flanks Earth on the left, with a hellfire greenhouse effect. Mars on the right, which long ago had running water. Today, it's bone dry. Something bad happened on each planet.
Seems like the wrong time to limit the Nation’s capacity to conduct climate research.
Ever wondered why eating something sugary gives you such an energy boost? 🍰
It is believed that proton conductance by the mitochondrial uncoupling protein (UCP1) is inhibited specifically by purine nucleotides, but we show that pyrimidine nucleotides also inhibit UCP1 with similar affinities in a pH-dependent manner. #mitochondria
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Thought that only purine nucleotides could inhibit mitochondrial thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue? Edmund Kunji and coworkers @mitocarriers.bsky.social @mrc-mbu.bsky.social show that pyrimidines bind and inhibit UCP1 in similar manner
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Our paper is finally out: Molecular basis of pyruvate transport and inhibition of the human mitochondrial pyruvate carrier | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#mitochondria #cryo-EM
