Rebecca Bloomer

They were, and I had some Cliched Divorcing Millennial feelings listening to... most of it, honestly. Physically paying for going out on a school night today, but mentally fully worth it.

Majority of Govt's $231m tech institute funded through research funding cuts 'It will be a cornerstone of our plan to grow a high-tech, high-value economy.'

www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/... Majority of Government’s $231m spend on Advanced Technology Institute funded through planned research funding cuts

We are now discussing whether the re-emergence of lead sentences starting with "Plants, as sessile organisms..." is due to LLMs trained on the literature or what.

There were signs about testing the tsunami sirens around Sumner - maybe that? Heard them go about 11am while walking over Godley Head earlier.

Frankenmoa and the fantasy of undoing extinction www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

Okay but hear me out: brown emus

can sir peter instead spend a colossal amount of money conserving the near-extinct things we still have please and thank you

🧵 Thread on #SessilePlants:

Plant Scientists: "As sessile organisms, plants [𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 "𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨" 𝘢𝘯𝘥/𝘰𝘳 "𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴"].

David Attenborough: "👇"

I AM EXCITEDDDDD

Long-term flowering-time data on Japanese mountain cherry (recorded since the 9th century!) shows a shift in full-flowering date beginning in the late 19th century.

Fascinating new @newphyt.bsky.social paper by @jgpausas.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

This garbage photo literally from the playground by my suburban house in Lincoln...

They're 250g blocks 😕 but even then...

We're looking for TWO lecturers (in Conservation Biology & Evolutionary Ecology) to join us in this beautiful corner of the world! Come join our pretty awesome (if I do say so myself!) department! 💚 @zoologyotago.bsky.social

otago.taleo.net/careersectio...

otago.taleo.net/careersectio...

A graph showing the values in NZ$ after tax of the living wage, minimum wage, training wage, and a Marsden Fund PhD stipend and Masters stipend. PhDs after year 3 are typically unpaid (shown as a value of NZ$0). Values are given from 2010 to 2025. As of 2025 the PhD stipend is only just worth more than the training wage.

I keep putting this off because Current Events but I can't any longer: it's the 2025 Marsden PhD stipend graph! 🧪

Really wish people would stop talking about the problem with Science under Trump as “budget cuts”.

No. Budgets are set deliberatively by elected members of congress. Budgets haven’t been cut.

What’s happening are *purges* and *censorship*.

Image text: ASPB Reaffirms Its Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. Statement from ASPB’s Board of Directors, February 11, 2025. Featuring ASPB logo.

ASPB "remains committed to robustly supporting and strongly advocating for diversity and inclusion in the plant sciences, period."

Read full statement 👉 https://blog.aspb.org/aspb-reaffirms-its-commitment-to-diversity-and-inclusion/.

Future of Crown Research Institutes to be revealed A long-delayed report expected to overhaul the science sector is due to be released.

Spare a thought for your science friends today (again). Whatever it is will undoubtedly leave everyone feeling a bit of uncertainty

Future of Crown Research Institutes to be revealed www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

It's been a hectic week but we have finally got a formal press release up on our website regarding the Marsden Fund changes - needless to say, the NZAS finds nothing good here. Seems to us there's about as much of a plan for the science sector as there is for the Cook Strait ferries!

A cell phone tower with broadcast antennae has been "cleverly" disguised as a giant aluminum pine tree with guide-wires. The humor is that it's not all that well concealed, but they've glued some fake limbs to it.

Maybe you've heard of the #BirdsArentReal movement, but here's an equally wild idea that is nevertheless true:

TREES DON'T EXIST (phylogenetically).

By which I mean "trees" aren't a distinctive group or 'clade', they're a shape that plants grow into, like how animals tend to evolve into crabs.

‘Under threat like never before’: Science sector's funding fears More than 350 jobs lost in cuts, says report calling for urgent Government investment.

The one point I will clarify from this otherwise very good article is that while the National Science Challenges were always time-limited, their funding was pulled from *existing* science funding. That's practically a whole Marsden Fund gone, relative to 2014.

Thanks Kim! She had 16 pretty amazing years, we were very lucky to share them with her.

We farewelled our ElderDog today, and I could not be more grateful to the universe for giving her such a sendoff 🥹

Recent unexpected parenting convo with 4yo: "mum, can you please read me your fungus book while I poo?". Kids love a well-illustrated field guide!

I want to know everyone's experiences publishing in:
* MDPI journals
* Hindawi journals
* Frontiers journals

Not stories about what you heard, please, but your literal experience. what happened to you.

Editors of said journals particularly welcome.

RT this. A lot.

Sign the Petition The decision by Duke University to close their herbarium is deeply concerning. Herbaria are not just repositories of plant specimens, they are living libraries of life on Earth. They hold the keys to ...

Duke University is closing their herbarium. There is a petition now for them to reconsider the decision. Please sign!

www.change.org/p/urge-duke-...

#PlantBiology #Conservation 🌎

There have been no formal announcements about what is likely to be a silent end to New Zealand's most significant attempt at reforming the research system in decades. As I say in here, large cuts to important research capacity appear to be well on their way. www.science.org/content/arti...

Rosalind Elsie Franklin was an English chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal, and graphite. Description: Dr. Franklin looks across a checkered table at everyday objects. I think this is in a cafe or a breakroom. Since we know this is Paris, this photo is likely from 1946?

With all she did to make Watson and Crick's discovery possible, Rosalind Franklin was essentially "a de facto collaborator," says Lynne Osman Elkin. Novartis Foundation Dr. Franklin looks to her right, wearing a dark necklace and broad-yoked shirt or blouse. She has short dark hair and eyebrows, and has a look of sharp intelligence, with an edge of weariness.

It's International Women in Science Day ♀️, and I want to talk briefly about Rosalind Franklin.

A conventional choice for unconventional reasons: Dr. Franklin was one of the FIRST STRUCTURAL VIROLOGISTS. Let's talk about her work outside of the Crick & Watson debacle.

Women in Science: 6 Pioneers in Plant Photobiology To celebrate the “International Day of Girls and Women in Science”, Botany One highlights six exceptional female researchers who greatly contributed to shed new light on Plant Photobiology – a scienti...

Women in Science: 6 Pioneers in Plant Photobiology

To celebrate the “International Day of Girls and Women in Science”, Botany One highlights six exceptional female researchers who greatly contributed to shed new light on Plant Photobiology.
botany.one/2024/02/wome...

Queenstown New Zealand | Official Tourism Website Queenstown NZ is the official website for Queenstown accommodation, things to do in Queenstown, activities, shopping, wine, events, conferences and more!

Please spread the word! This year’s Stromlo Plant Pathology Meeting will be held in beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand, on Aug 31-Sep 01 (www.queenstownresearchweek.org/plant-microb...)! Queenstown at that time of year is simply amazing, with lots to do: queenstownnz.co.nz