iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

🌱 We introduce Segment Any Plant (SAP) in @jxbotany.bsky.social Alex Abbey developed a framework for plant image segmentation that works without task-specific training 🪩 Building on foundation vision model SAM2, SAP can segment and track growing plants across time and z-stacks tinyurl.com/4uw64paf

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🌱🪩 Optical illusions in plants? New paper @pnas.org: Nonlinear distributed sensing of light patterns leads to perceptual distortions in plants, or any distributed system tinyurl.com/5x79sxaj 📽️ opposing lights cancel, plant grows toward weaker light 🤩 R Kempinski, @amirporat.bsky.social, M Rivière

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This house is like doing research 😅

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Orit Peleg @oritpeleg.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In a future where AI scientists run their own labs, Jonathon Keats and I argue they should learn from more than human minds. Our new essay in @nautil.us asks: What can ants, pigeons, and chimpanzees teach AI about doing better science? nautil.us/a-natural-so...

nautil.us

A Natural Solution to the Replication Crisis in Science - Nautilus

Dear scientists: Follow the ants

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Optical illusions provide a window into underlying rules of perception in a sensory system. What illusions affect single cells? Plants?…

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Pau Formosa-Jordan @pauformosa.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Our article “Time-dependent bistability leads to critical slowing down during floral transition in Arabidopsis” is now published in @natcomms.nature.com. Link: rdcu.be/fBZ3S. What an exciting collaboration with the Coupland lab! @mpipz.bsky.social @ceplas.bsky.social #PlantDevelopment #criticality

Top: Waddington/quasi-potential landscape cartoon illustrating a bistable transition. Bottom: Scheme of a simplified regulatory network underlying floral transition at the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem. Adapted from Rodríguez-Maroto, Wang et al. (2026). Link: https://rdcu.be/fBZ3S

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Plant braiding 🪴 🪢 Young "searcher" shoots of climbing plants twine on each others, increasing their collective stiffness 🧞‍♂️, thus increasing their reach 🤘, allowing to find supports farther away. 💡 So smart! Central Park, New York.

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

📏 How many distinct length scales can you spot here? I think I see 3… ⏳ Granular media people - what sets this? (or am I wrong and it’s in my head) Beautiful Great Sand Dunes in Colorado!

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Determination (solitary flower in the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado)

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Determination (solitary flower in the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado)

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Yesterday I visited @oritpeleg.bsky.social’s apiary at Boulder, and was super super lucky to witness bees swarming back to the hive 🐝 ! The tense smile is somewhere between super excited and super nervous about the bees on my face net....

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Gabriella Mosca @moscabiomeclab.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Check out our Review on #AFM in plants now on @jxbotany.bsky.social !

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Looking forwards! And i am sticking around Boulder for a couple of weeks if anyone wants to chat 😁

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Adrienne Roeder Lab @roederlab.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Ever stretch a plastic bag until it wrinkled? Keeping a thin sheet flat while it rapidly expands is surprisingly difficult. So how do growing plant leaves remain flat as they rapidly grow? Check out our new @currentbiology.bsky.social review, How to Grow a Flat Leaf www.cell.com/current-biol...

cell.com

How to grow a flat leaf

Peng et al. review mechanisms driving lamina expansion, including gene expression, auxin-mediated proliferation, and microtubule-directed growth, linking disrupted coordination to morphological defect...

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Underwater aliens? Beautiful byproducts of a spherification demo 😅

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

🎲 This week in "Physics of Living Systems, Lab+Kitchen": Diffusion and random walks! 🧞‍♂️ Magic connection between microscopic random movement & deterministic bulk dynamics 🦄 How these dynamics shape organisms? 👨‍🍳 Chef Shahar Dabbah exemplified diffusion length via spherification of tasty gel spheres!🧋

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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 13/06/2026

Fireflies “have been doing computer science well before we even existed.” — Andrew Moiseff, a biologist at the University of Connecticut quantamagazine.org/how-do-firef...

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

🔬 This week in my course “Physics of Living Systems - in the Lab and Kitchen”, we explored viscosity & its microscopic origins. 👨‍🍳 Chef Yaniv Gur Arieh demonstrated different methods for sauce thickening: emulsions, gelatinization, reduction & modernist polymers. So much (tasty) soft matter physics!

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Plants are everywhere 🌳 but rarely thought of as computing. New review (preprint 🪩 lnkd.in/d5KwzzPN): plants sense, compute, and move without a brain - via growth, combining physical computation, embodied intelligence & functional noise. A physics view of decentralized behavior in living matter 🌱

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

🥐 Master Baker Yuval Elhadeff shows how dough elasticity is manipulated by changing network properties of gluten! 🪩 1st demo in my course ”Physics of living systems, lab+kitchen”. When we cook we manipulate bio tissue with processes rooted in physics. More to come!

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Me and a small nugget of love. 🇸🇪♥️🇺🇦 @mnotme.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Awesome view from Artemis II this morning.

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Pauline Fleischmann @cataglyphilosophy.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

28 months later: In December 2024, I participated in the Ernst Strüngmann Forum on #Navigation #Research 🧭🧪 Now the book has been published including our chapter of group 2 ("team zoo" 🦠🐜🐦🦞🐒🦍🐢🤖) on the "Universal Principles of Navigation across Species and Spatial Scales" ↘️ doi.org/10.1007/978-... ↙️

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Preprint 🌱 Plants build nonlinear vectorial representations of light patterns! Surprising results: Opposing cues cancel, so plants grow towards a weaker tie-breaker light. Plants respond to sum of transduced signals, not physical sum of light: optical “illusions”! 🪩 tinyurl.com/44f83xh8

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Orit Peleg @oritpeleg.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Honeybee swarms do not come together and fall apart in the same way 🐝 In this new preprint led by Danielle Chase, we report how to trick swarms to repeatedly assemble and disassemble in front of our cameras, while tracking individual bees in 3D! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

New preprint 🌱 Segment plants in time-series images using foundation model SAM2 - without training a model 🪩. Magician Alex Abbey! 💡SAP works across species, scales, and even z-stacks. From single cells to whole plants→ quantitative growth & dynamics . tinyurl.com/3raedtvm @biosofttau.bsky.social

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

🌱 “To twine or not to twine?” Preprint 🪩 Plants use inherent circular movements (circumnuations) for active sensing of support mechanical stability (eg whisking 🐭), twining occurs at a torque threshold. Heroic experiments by Amir Ohad, fancy simulations @amirporat.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/2syh4ny3

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@MEmilieTerret @memilieterret.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

#LivingArchitectures Congratulations @manuelthery.bsky.social @lblanchoin.bsky.social and all Scientists of the #CytoMorphoLab for their poetic vision of the microscopic level.

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Orit Peleg @oritpeleg.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

✨ New preprint from the lab on firefly synchronization, led by Owen Martin (freshly Dr. Martin!), with Nataliya Nechyporenko and Kaushik Jayaram. Our measured firefly phase-response curves reveal excitatory and inhibitory timing rules that facilitate population synchrony ✨ doi.org/10.64898/202...

Diagram of field LED perturbations of fireflies, showing entrainment patterns and a phase response curve linking phase delay/advance to relative timing.

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Hadrien Oliveri @hadrienoliveri.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Job alert🚨I am advertising a 2-year postdoctoral position to work on the mathematics of plant morphogenesis @mpipz.bsky.social. Candidates with interests in mathematical modelling, mechanics, or biophysics are strongly encouraged to apply. 🌱Reposts are appreciated! jobs.mpipz.mpg.de/jobposting/4...

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Artist+friend Liat Segal and I gave a fun talk at TRANSMEET Art+Science Festival (www.transmeet-festival.org ) "Art–science collaborations: Generators of new ideas and serendipitous events" (based on our paper bit.ly/4ohpuHu) After all, both artists & scientists are driven by asking questions

bit.ly

Art–science collaborations: Generators of new ideas and serendipitous events | Quantitative Plant Biology | Cambridge Core

Art–science collaborations: Generators of new ideas and serendipitous events - Volume 4

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

It's funny how in space all intuition about basic stuff - like water - goes out the window

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Prakash Lab @ Miami @vprakashlab.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

We’re hiring! 🚨 Assistant Professor (TT) in Theoretical or Computational Biological Physics @univmiami.bsky.social 😀 Come build the future of interdisciplinary biophysics with us! Apply by Dec 15 → tinyurl.com/5n9bk836 #Biophysics #PhysicsJobs #AcademicJobs #UMiami

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BejaLabTechnion @bejalab.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Call for Applications for the Azrieli International Postdoctoral Fellowship-2026-27 azrielifoundation.org/azrieli-fell...

azrielifoundation.org

Call for Applications for the Azrieli International Postdoctoral Fellowship-2026-27 - The Azrieli Foundation

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

New paper!💡 Amir Ohad developed this nifty setup to measure weak forces generated by freely moving plants, based on the deflection of a pendulum (straw from the cafeteria 😎), which does not require any tethering of the plant: academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-... Plant-obstacle interactions here we come!

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yohai @yohaibs.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

הכנתי לסטודנטים כמה הדגמות של ויזואליזציה של פונקציות מרוכבות למי שבעניין yohai.github.io/complex

yohai.github.io

Visualization of complex functions | Yohai Bar-Sinai research group

YBS research group in Tel-Aviv University

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

💡Best way to learn electronics and ARDUINO for lab work? 🎨In an artist’s studio of course! Inspired by her amazing work, students (and some brave PIs) joined artist & friend Liat Segal in her studio for a workshop on the basics. Thanks @biosofttau.bsky.social for help funding!

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Oxford Mathematics @oxfordmathematics.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Come fly with us, let's fly, let's fly away. Full details: www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/74169

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Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪 Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360 PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies! Let me briefly explain what we're looking for: 1/10

Tenure-track Position in Biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Open Date: Sep 19, 2025

Description
The Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics. The appointment is intended to be at the Assistant Professor level, but exceptional candidates at a higher level may also be considered. We seek outstanding candidates with a strong record in cellular and subcellular biophysics. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, uncovering how key characteristics of living systems arise from the interplay between supramolecular cellular structures, how the emergent cellular circuitry defines goals and enables robust decision making, and how metabolic resources are allocated. This encompasses understanding of how information is learned, stored, transduced, and processed across subcellular structures. Applicants with theoretical, data science, or experimental backgrounds within biological physics are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will strengthen and extend research programs of current biophysics faculty in the Department of Physics and collaborate with broader life science activities across many departments at CMU and the wider Pittsburgh area.

More details on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/174360

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Surface tension wins when there’s no gravity! I love this video

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Max-Planck-Gesellschaft @maxplanck.de · 19/09/2025

Truly chuffed for our fearless food physicists @mpipks.bsky.social + collabs from AT @istaresearch.bsky.social, IT & ES who won this year’s Ig Nobel - the #NobelPrize of hearts❤️for cracking the science of perfect pasta !🍝Kudos to all for intrepidly consuming lots of cheese in the name of science!😋

the-scientist.com

The Secret to a Smooth Pasta Sauce Wins Ig Nobel Prize

Italian researchers studied how the ingredients of the traditional Roman dish cacio e pepe emulsify into a creamy sauce, winning the 2025 Physics Ig Nobel Prize.

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Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour @cbehav.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

New Episode! What is it like being inside an egg? Can you feel your sibling eggs nearby? How do you tell your parents when you are ready to come out? Dr Gabriella Gall is here to tell us all about her research into the world of egg communication. www.exc.uni-konstanz.de/collective-b...

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Karen Alim @karenalim.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Join my team for a PhD in Learning in living adaptive networks (Theory). Apply by October 7th through www.portal.graduatecenter.lmu.de/ocgc/qmb

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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...

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Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Is cognition a universal feature of the living world? How can we define it? Is a nervous system needed? If so, why? If not, why not? Check this fascinating @royalsocietypublishing.org Theme Issue led by @drmichaellevin.bsky.social & co. on Basal Cognition royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

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Meroz Lab @merozlab.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Mechanical interactions between plants and surroundings plays a huge role in understanding how plants negotiate their environment - but measuring low forces of free plants is hard! In this preprint Amir Ohad presents a new sensor - using a drinking straw! www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

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