Stuart Thompson

Two-year postdoc w/ Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science! Scholars in all areas of #philsci, inclusive of philosophical approaches to logic&math, are eligible. This is understood broadly to include issues in the history&practice of particular sciences.Deadline 5 Dec 2025.
buff.ly/MhR4PcK

Great PhD project in an excellent lab #PlantScience #PhDChat #Photosynthesis #AwesomePeople #Rubisco

These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits.

Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits

go.nature.com/4mN2Rd4

The Function, Evolution, and Future of Carboxysomes Abstract. Since their discovery as rubisco-containing compartments more than 50 years ago, significant breakthroughs have advanced our understanding of car

We really enjoyed putting together this Darwin Review for JXB. Fun to think about how carboxysomes work and why plants don't have them.

@jxbotany.bsky.social

Function, Evolution, and Future of Carboxysomes url: academic.oup.com/jxb/article-...

🌟 Thrilled to share that my lab’s first publication is now out in @natmetabolism.nature.com. Congrats to the team 🎉

🧠 We discovered that neurons use endogenous fatty acids as an energy fuel, challenging long-standing models of sugars being the exclusive energy source for neurons. 1/3

Research shows that ChatGPT is changing your brain People worry that students are increasingly using generative AI in their work. It saves time, but what is it doing to their brains?

✍️ Research shows that ChatGPT is changing your brain

What happens to your brain when you use ChatGPT to write your essay? MIT watched students’ brain activity to find out. The results are worrying.

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social

Complex chemicals found on Enceladus improve prospects for life The Cassini mission’s samples from Saturn’s moon Enceladus have signs of various organic molecules that could be among the ingredients needed for life to get started

Enceladus - most interesting moon in the solar system? Does it edge out Titan?
@alexwilkins.bsky.social on the new analysis of Cassini data suggesting there are chemical pathways to produce fats or nucleotide bases www.newscientist.com/article/2447...

Six journal rejections and a major rethink: why I’m happy to admit to my research failures, and you should too Outlining the trial-and-error processes that are involved in every research project could help others to become more efficient and paint a more honest picture of life as a researcher.

Outlining the trial-and-error processes that are involved in every research project could help others to become more efficient and paint a more honest picture of life as a researcher, says Séverine Toussaert

go.nature.com/4q4TPLs

The University of Glasgow groundspeople are going to be quite annoyed when they come in to work tomorrow...

If you happen to be in London on October 10th, this will be a great time!

Former student who ran paper mill up to 11 retractions Sameer Quazi A former bioinformatics student who operated a paper mill while at the University of Manchester has lost another paper, bringing his total to 11 retractions.  Sameer Quazi had bee…

A former bioinformatics student who operated a paper mill while at the University of Manchester has lost another paper, bringing his total to 11 retractions.

Opinions of evolutionists on the prevalence of different modes of evolution.

Study is exploring what paleontologists and neontologists know about the punctuated equilibria, and how they perceive the dominant modes of evolution. As expected, there is a significant variance in views on evolution reflecting differing backgrounds.
doi.org/10.1017/pab....
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #EvoBio

Subsidies for international illegal fishing are abolished Twenty-five years after talks on limiting fishing subsidies first began, a legally binding agreement has come into force

“A long-awaited step toward better management of our shared seas.”

The WTO has struck its first ever environmental agreement, targeting subsidies that fuel overfishing and deplete marine life.

👏👏👏

Just a reminder of the brilliant folk at Bylines.

YouTube video by Dr. Jane Goodall & the Jane Goodall Institute USA Wounda's Journey - Jane Goodall Witnesses Release of Chimpanzee Into New Island Sanctuary Site

Like you, I've read so many nice things about Jane Goodall's amazing life and legacy today, but this video of the realease of the chimp called Wounda is beyond words ♥️

If only we could find the will to stop destroying the extraordinary natural world around us...

youtu.be/ClOMa_GufsA?...

Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

Jane Goodall, known for her pioneering work with chimpanzees, has passed away aged 91

go.nature.com/46K10ja

Bad Idea #24 "We’ll just use Hydrogen!" with Michael Liebreich Listen now | 🔍 Episode Summary:

New Saving the World from Bad Ideas 🎙️

With @mliebreich.bsky.social
I tackle Bad Idea #24: “We’ll just use Hydrogen!” 💧

Hydrogen hype ≠ climate strategy. We break down why it’s overblown, where it might fit, and why pragmatism wins.

🎧 savingtheworldfrombadideas.substack.com/p/bad-idea-2...

How did North American and European fungi end up in Argentine forests?

New research in @newphyt.bsky.social from UE @nahpo.bsky.social and @martin-nunez.bsky.social looks underground at how non-native tree species and their fungal partners have spread.

Read here: buff.ly/919OOs0

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences: Vol 380, No 1936

How dit life originate in our planet? How can we create it in the lab?Our @royalsocietypublishing.org Theme Issue "Origins of Life: the possible and the actual", coedited with @sfiscience.bsky.social C Kempes and Susan Stepney is out! royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202... @manlius.bsky.social

CRISPR activation for SCN2A-related neurodevelopmental disorders - Nature Using SCN2A haploinsufficiency as a proof-of-concept, upregulation of the existing functional gene copy through CRISPR activation was able to rescue neurological-associated phenotypes in Scn2a haploinsufficient mice and human neurons.

Nature research paper: CRISPR activation for SCN2A-related neurodevelopmental disorders

go.nature.com/3VmV1vp

Fig. 3 Model of phyA and phyB nuclear translocation.

✨ Paper spotlight ✨

(🧵 1/6) Light signal transduction in plants: insights from phytochrome nuclear translocation and photobody formation
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

📢You have until this Sunday evening to register for the Black in Plant Science Conference 2025!

Join us for an unforgettable day of connection and celebration and hear from some of the leading plant enthusiasts from the UK and beyond.

Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1362997455...

Fig. 1 (shortened, full legend in paper): Defence reactions of the host plant to chewing insects and to phloem-feeding insects when cultivated without (–Si, left) and with Si amendment (+Si, right). When plants are supplemented with Si, a physical barrier is created in the form of Si deposits (blue outline) strengthening the cell walls of the epidermis. Chewing insects can directly damage their mouthparts on this barrier. The application of Si helps to better maintain the cell turgor and integrity of the host plant challenged by insect pests. After the penetration of a phloem feeder, Si triggers a more rapid induction of callose deposition associated with decreased feeding efficiency manifested by reduced honeydew production in the case of aphids. Application of Si induces a faster and more intense production/activity of phenols, flavonoids, peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and glucanase (GLU)...

🪰🌾 REVIEW 🌾🪰

🪰🌾 Bathoova et al. summarize the current research regarding the effect of silicon application on phloem sap-feeding and chewing insect pest performance, and on plant resistance against these pests 🪰🌾

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...

#PlantScience 🧪

A colleague received proofs of an accepted manuscript, and the "proofing process" clearly involved running the text through ChatGPT. Their voice has been erased, and errors introduced. This is from a supposedly reputable publisher. Anyone else been put through this particular form of hell? #MicroSky

Record number of corporate lawsuits target climate action in controversial tribunal Behind closed doors in Washington, D.C., fossil fuel and mining companies are suing governments over lost profits. Follow the Money has analysed how a system built to protect foreign investors poses a...

2025 is a record-breaking year for claims filed by fossil fuel and mining firms against democratic policies – marking a grim milestone in a surge of polluting industries seeking compensation for lost profits via a secretive tribunal.

For @ftm.eu with contributions by ao @anilyilmaz.bsky.social

Harnessing ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis and multi-omics for wheat rust resistance gene discovery Wheat rust diseases pose major threats to global food security; accelerated gene discovery is critical for developing resistant varieties. The Mutational Omics Discovery Pipeline (MODP) integrates ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis (typically 0.3–1.2% v/v) with multi-omics analyses to accelerate the identification of resistance genes in wheat. EMS can induce G→A and C→T transitions, which may result in the loss of disease resistance due to mutation in the target genes. In the M2 generation, by inoculating with the rust pathogens and employing high-throughput phenotyping, we can efficiently identify susceptible independent mutants.

Harnessing ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis and multi-omics for wheat rust resistance gene discovery #plantscience

Schematic representation of the experimental design used in this study.

DNA methylation contributes to plant acclimation to naturally fluctuating light

📖 buff.ly/3QP9OJ5
by Emmerson et al.

@robynemm.bsky.social @raduzabet.bsky.social @ubechtold.bsky.social @proftlawson.bsky.social #PlantScience

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Gene therapy saving lives again. The results look so wonderful, I hope they stand up to full scrutiny and larger scale studies. It seems likely they will 🧪

We argue that moral expressions—that signal one’s sense of right and wrong—are highly sensitive to social norms. These norms can amplify moral expressions (eg social media) or restrain them (eg work settings)

See our new paper on How Social Influence Shapes Moral Expression:
osf.io/preprints/ps...

Text: A Lingering Loss Surprisingly, almost 90% of NNES respondents also said that frequent use of English in academia had interfered with their ability to do philosophy in their own language. I (Uwe) can relate. I’m a German (originally from East Berlin). After almost a decade of doing philosophy in English-speaking countries (e.g., New Zealand, Canada, the UK), I now struggle to explain my research in German. All I know in philosophy is ‘encoded’ in English in my mind. When German-speaking colleagues ask what I work on, I often freeze because I don’t know how to say it in German. Reaching a certain NNES proficiency may come at the cost of fluency in one’s native language—a loss that may be subtle but deeply felt.

I have heard about this issue for some time. I had an undergraduate professor and a colleague (now sadly died) from Argentina, and both reported their frustration with this fact to me.

I think the value of having a lingua franca is probably worth it, but it's also good to acknowledge the loss.