John Mackay

And probably the safest time to be around bees - when they’re full of honey to swarm!

Ah oh. The occupational hazard of a bee health researcher: a beesuit and hive tool coming for Christmas perhaps ?

Hoarding stuff? Not me!
I mean, I *might* need these COVID oligos again. Del69/70 assay anyone? L452R ?

A great team of humans to work with . . . and we know they’re human eh Andrew @digs.bsky.social ?

Thoughts on Apimondia 2025 “No, no, not that one . .

An amazing conference, my collection of random thoughts on the people met and talks heard at @apimondia.bsky.social 2025
www.linkedin.com/pulse/though...

Flight this morning is full of teachers and educators. Am sure the hostess wants to tell them to sit down and be quiet.

Very cool to see a 40-foot-high Keith Haring mural in the wild (Amsterdam). Only recently restored a few years ago after having been covered up for 30 years

Trying amazing honeys here at @apimondia.bsky.social ! Thanks to the Swedish beekeeper who rocked up to our stand with his lactic acid bacteria fermented honey.

This week we’re in Copenhagen for the world’s biggest beekeeping and bee research conference Apimondia.
Setting up our stand and presenting out work on the innovative Foster Method for AFB, as well as varroa treatment resistance marker detection tests.

Flying to @apimondia.bsky.social conference in Copenhagen - farewelled by a local Tairawhiti beekeeper at Auckland airport. Cheers Bill @wildcape

Cool gift all right (and not just saying that because I bought same for my better half)

When you’re hunting through the freezer of tubes, looking for a single dye tube . . knowing you’re not going to find it.
And then you do.

If you're at #Apimondia2025, visit our stand to learn about the fast & sensitive #FosterMethod plus all our other apiculture DNA tests.
Bringing New Zealand ingenuity to the apiculture world.....🧬🐝🍯

Good to see you H ! Love your work, hate the disease ! #AFB

A researcher (kat holt) speaking to a room full of scientists and beekeepers about pollen.

Researchers and scientists enjoying a drink after a long day of science talks.

Researchers and scientists enjoying a drink after a long day of science talks.

Researchers and scientists enjoying a drink after a long day of science talks.

What a wonderful honeybee research symposium we have just had in Wellington! Really interesting talks from around the country and interested Apiarists asking great questions. So glad I came along this year! Many thanks to the organisers and sponsors! #NZLabLife #phages

Damn PCR primers have finally crapped out. 14 years ! Not bad LGC Biosearch

Anyone in Dunedin with some SYBR Green dye or EvaGreen dye they could lend out ?? Asking for a teaching lab there . . .

Abstracts close on Friday for the 6th NZHBRS: mailchi.mp/df88dc733a1a...

Hmm, Catlins ??

A takahē chick being held in a person's hands. Credit: Andrew Digby

Knowing the sex of #takahe chicks as soon as possible is important for efficient breeding management. With a new rapid #qPCR sex test developed by @dnature.bsky.social , we can now determine the sex of up to 48 chicks in less an hour in the field. A game changer! #conservation #genetics

For those interested in honey bee research in New Zealand, the 6th research symposium is now open for registrations:
mailchi.mp/c45d92937ba8...

Me: getting older, watch the carbs and alcohol intake, keep up sport, don’t go overboard on processed stuff
Also me: woohoo, supermarket has jet planes on special

Hmm, poster accessory must be sold separately ?

The INTEGRA Voyager pipette has its birthplace with the Matrix pipette mentioned above

Biologist whose innovation saved the life of British teenager wins $3m Breakthrough prize Prof David Liu is among the winners of 2025’s ‘Oscars of science’, with honours also going to researchers for landmark work on multiple sclerosis, particle physics and ‘skinny jabs’ For the past five years, David Liu – a professor at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a biomedical research facility in Massachusetts – has marked Thanksgiving by handing over his entire annual salary, after taking care of taxes, to the staff and students in his laboratory. It started as the pandemic broke and Liu heard that students who wanted to cycle instead of taking public transport could not afford bicycles. Given how hard they worked and how little they were paid, Liu stepped in. He couldn’t unilaterally raise their incomes, so emailed them Amazon eGift cards. This ran into problems too, however. “Everyone thought they were being scammed,” he recalls. And so he switched to writing cheques. Continue reading...

Biologist whose innovation saved the life of British teenager wins $3m Breakthrough prize

Work with bees and honey and a hobby beekeeper with a shit-ton of honey . . . so what to buy when travelling? Yep. . .

Always great to see what’s new at Emerson’s. Words to inspire my wife

Want !

That sigh of relief when you drop off a rental car unscratched