Sign in

Jared Popowski

@jaredpopo.bsky.social
220 followers 224 following 50 posts

Getting my PhD in intelligent active glasses/plant biophysics from UvA! 🧫🌱 Physics MSc from UBC, 2023 Scholar: scholar.google.com/citations?user=D… jaredpopowski.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jared Popowski
ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The Garden of Earthly Delights (detail), by Hieronymus Bosch, 1480-1505
203689515
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I'm the guy to call during a summer heatwave
000
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Nico Schramma @nicoschramma.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Our work on chloroplast packing was featured by @quantamagazine.bsky.social in @maxlevy.bsky.social's article. It was a fun colab with @mazi1.bsky.social and Eric Weeks during my PhD that led to this work. Article: www.quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-m... Paper in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
share.google
The Hidden Mathematical Dance Inside Plant Cells | Quanta Magazine
The sunlight-collecting organelles known as chloroplasts solve a packing problem: how to optimize photosynthesis without sustaining damage from dangerously intense rays.
0102
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Nature @nature.com · 29/04/2026
These highly sentient creatures have weak protections for their well-being. That must change. go.nature.com/48vuHGw
go.nature.com
Cephalopods deserve higher welfare standards in research
These highly sentient creatures have weak protections for their well-being. That must change.
17721
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Science Magazine @science.org · 23/01/2026
Researchers have designed an electrode that allows for a month-long, noninvasive method of studying physiology and health in a diverse array of plants. Learn more in this week’s issue of #ScienceAdvances: scim.ag/4aay3yP
A tobacco plant showing slight signs of aging after three days of signal-to-noise ratio testing.
0428
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Very good point about the strain put on researchers as the overall average yearly output increases. That is indeed unsustainable if we want to avoid low-quality reviews (which we should!)
000
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Camouflage 😶‍🌫️
010
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
The newspaper headlines. It's insane that he got away with this unpunished.
A collection of newspaper front pages, "Assault on democracy," "Insurrection," and more.
911536
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Project 2025 drives policy decisions in the US government, and I expect that to continue over the next year. I (unaffiliated) found this site that tracks their progress: www.project2025.observer/en Already 50% of Project 2025's policy proposals have been implemented in Trump's first year.
project2025.observer
Project 2025 Tracker
A comprehensive, community-driven initiative to track the implementation of Project 2025's policy proposals
010
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Yes do it!! 😊 For the best videos that I managed to get of trichome rupture, I placed our microscope horizontally (1-5x mag) with a white LED panel in the background to illuminate, and imaged the top of the tomato stem w/ a digital camera on the output of the microscope bsky.app/profile/jare...
110
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
🔬🪲 SPECIAL ISSUE RESEARCH 🔬🪲 Glandular trichomes function as ultra-fast biomechanical defense triggers in tomatoes, rupturing upon contact with insects and exposing them to sticky and toxic secretions - Popowski et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪 @jaredpopo.bsky.social
Fig. 3.Thrips nymphs rupture tomato trichomes. (A) Frames from a microscopy video (Supplementary Video S4) before, during, and after a thrips leg causes type VI glandular trichome rupture on an S. habrochaites tomato stem sample. Zoomed-in panels are shown below each frame, with illustrative labels for the leg, glandular head, and fluid filament formed afterward. The colors assigned to the frames indicate the time of the experiment in the leg position versus time plot of (B) The plot also tracks the formation and length of the filament over the course of the video, as the insect struggles to move.
0103
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
📣 Check out the Journal of Experimental Botany's newest special issue 📣 🍅 Tomato - Issue 21 of 2025 🍅 📘 Guest edited by Yves Gibon, Diane Beckles, Sonia Osorio & Hiroshi Ezura 🔗 academic.oup.com/jxb... #JXBspecialissues #PlantScience 🧪 @sebiology.bsky.social @dianemariabeckles.bsky.social
The cover of Vol 76 | Issue 21 | 2025 of the Journal of Experimental Botany, Special Issue: Tomato. Purple banners border the top and bottom of the page and in the centre is an image of a ripe tomato fruit on its truss (credit: Marine Honoré).
01911
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
*lack of jetting haha. The fluid very clearly wets the trichome stalk!
010
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Human breeding for larger yields/tastier fruits/etc has reduced trichome density & variety vs wild plants, reinforcing reliance on harmful pesticides. I hope our work inspires recognition of nature's natural pesticide factories and efforts to recover these micro-defenses for stronger future crops!
010
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
We can even use the trichomes as mini force-sensors! Modeling the stalk as a truncated cone and measuring its bending moduli, we estimated insect rupture forces from stalk deflection during contact. We find the same order of magnitude compared to our direct micropipette force measurements!
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Finally, we wanted to test whether small insects could rupture these heads. We placed Western flower thrips larvae (a major tomato plant) on the plant surface and indeed witnessed rupture events in both tomato species!
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Comparing two tomato species (the supermarket cultivar type vs wild-type), we found significantly higher rupture forces for cultivar stem trichomes. This indicates reduced defense ability for supermarket tomatoes against small predators, at least on the stem.
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Since we poked trichomes with calibrated micropipette force sensors, we could extract force loading curves to rupture. We consistently find elastic loading followed by abrupt failure - characteristic of rupture in a brittle material.
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Rupture consistently occurs at the junction where the glandular head meets the stalk, regardless of poking angle. We hypothesize this is due to how the head cavity gets filled with metabolite during development, concentrating stress at the junction where the cavity meets the stalk.
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Poking plant surfaces with glass micropipette force sensors, we discovered that these glandular trichome heads rupture extremely rapidly. We needed high-speed cameras to resolve it! (This video: 28,000 fps). The lack of wetting shows surface tension dominates over gravity and inertia.
210
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Trichomes are the little hair-like structures that you see here, on the side of a wild-type (S. habrochaites) tomato leaf. Trichomes play a big role in many plants' defense against insects, impeding movement and storing specialized chemicals that act as sticky insecticides upon mechanical contact.
110
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
The JXB Tomato special edition is out, featuring the first publication of my PhD! We found that glandular trichome head rupture in tomato is an ultra-sensitive defense against insect predation. 🧵on plant biomechanics, fluid dynamics, and plant-insect interactions! 🧪 academic.oup.com/jxb/article/...
academic.oup.com
Glandular trichome rupture in tomato plants is an ultra-fast and sensitive defense mechanism against insects
Glandular trichomes function as ultra-fast biomechanical defense triggers in tomatoes, rupturing upon contact with insects and exposing them to sticky and
1102
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Kaare H. Jensen @jensen-research.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Roses don’t just defend themselves. Their prickles are geometrically ideal for gripping surfaces, supporting vertical growth, and, when needed, creating lacerations that deter herbivores. Students - join us to investigate how biological form and physical law work together!
074
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Link to the full NY Times conversation transcript: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/p...
nytimes.com
We Asked Roblox’s C.E.O. About Child Safety. It Got Tense.
000
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Thanks @caseynewton.bsky.social for releasing this wild interview, and for all the reporting you and Kevin do on Hard Fork. Love the show!
110
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Truly unbelievable responses here
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
I've never heard more business bullshitting than while listening to the CEO of Roblox, Dave Baszucki, trying to startup-speak his way around the problem of child predators on his platform during a planned interview on the subject
110
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Nature @nature.com · 01/11/2025
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government go.nature.com/47hn0n5
go.nature.com
7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
5372146
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Nature @nature.com · 17/10/2025
Success rates for Europe’s leading research grants are declining as a surge in applications far outweighs the funds available go.nature.com/479Sni6
go.nature.com
Is academic research becoming too competitive? Nature examines the data
Applications for European research grants increased in 2025. Scientists say they’re feeling the competition.
37043
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
How about we don't tie fundamental research funding up with defense in the EU? The push for defense applications could take away spending in other critical areas like medicine or environmental science
000
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Isabelle Eisenmann @isabelleeisenmann.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Happy to share that our work on active phase separation by photophobic microalgae is now published in PRL! journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... When surrounded by multiple light sources, cells hide behind each other, leading to the quick formation of a macroscopic branching pattern.
131
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Cool animal that I didn't know existed: this is a crab spider that I saw on a hike in Brittany, strategically positioned amidst the densest group of butterflies that I had seen on the trail
A white crab spider stands prone with arms outstretched on a leaf.
020
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
It's a fantastic one!!
110
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
Beautiful video!
010
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The URL didn't work for me :)
000
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Nico Schramma @nicoschramma.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
In the last couple of months I helped biodesigner Chris Bellamy in a collaboration with fashion designer Iris van Herpen to make a bioluminescent dress for Paris Haute Couture week. And the outcome was absolutely stunning!!!! www.uva.nl/en/shared-co...
uva.nl
Physics meets fashion: a bioluminescent dress
A very special look was presented earlier this week by fashion designer Iris van Herpen at the Paris Haute Couture Week. The garment: a bioluminescent dress, created from 125 million living algae. Bio...
37928
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
This is the future I want for all active fault zones! Let's get cheap sensors everywhere+statistical modeling to alert us to incoming earthquakes/volcanic eruptions
000
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Toby Kiers @tobykiers.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Join us in Amsterdam to explore the inner lives of mycorrhizal fungi using robotics, fluorescence microscopy & machine learning. Work at AMOLF w/ @thomasshimizu.bsky.social + more 📅 Application Deadline: 15 May, 2025 Advert here: amolf.nl/wp-content/u... Photo (!) @vkokkoris.bsky.social
02012
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 11/04/2025
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency. Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
science.org
Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency
White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted
11621351653
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
www.scientificamerican.com/article/top-...
scientificamerican.com
Top U.S. Scientists Are Calling Out Trump’s ‘Climate of Fear’
Despite fears that speaking out will make them targets, top researchers warn that the Trump administration’s “wholesale assault on U.S. science” will harm the nation
12618
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Hey we don't know each other, but I empathize with you Lennart. We live in a challenging time and it can frequently be overwhelming. But don't forget to give yourself some grace, you can only do your best!
110
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
These observations overall point to a beautiful and complex spatiotemporal pattern to these biological waves, namely that of a highly excitable system. It's exciting to think about connections to other excitable signaling systems, such as neuronal or electrochemical systems in plants!
000
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Bierbach et al. quantified the predator-prey interactions, and observed that these excitations cause noticeable changes in the birds' hunting abilities! Top row shows time until first attack, while bottom time between attacks after beginning. The more waves, the longer both these times are!
100
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
These fish are densely packed at the surface of shallow water, with ~1000 fish per square meter. Upon visual cues signaling predators to the fish, they reliably swim rapidly downwards, forming a wave that propagates.
110
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
🧵 Watch closely the waves on the surface as a bird moves through the water! This is one of my favorite videos that I've seen recently - dense collections of fish using collective escape waves that confuse birds 🌊 Great new paper by David Bierbach et al. : royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
120
Reposted by Jared Popowski
Nico Schramma @nicoschramma.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Are you at the #APSGlobalSummit2025? I'm extremely honored to be finalist for the @apsdsoft.bsky.social Emerging Soft Matter Excellence Award! Curious? Come by on Tuesday 8-11am at the Session MAR-F65 (my talk: 10:24am) 😊 Also just message me if you wanna have a chat :) @apsphysics.bsky.social
0133
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
To my friends and colleagues back in the US, my heart aches as I watch the Trump administration dismantle the scientific research that made our country so important on the world stage. It's a critical time to speak up, whether at home or abroad. ❤️ standupforscience2025.org standupforscience.fr
standupforscience2025.org
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
March 7, 2025. Washington DC and nationwide. Because science is for everyone.
010
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Soft matter physics is either: 1. Fluid does weird thing 2. Granular system does weird thing 3. Physicists playing biologist (identity crisis)
250
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Congrats to all involved, this is super exciting work!
110
Jared Popowski @jaredpopo.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
So excited for the week ahead at Les Houches!
010