iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 09/09/2026

I never had fancy ones, made my own from cut up cereal boxes and I made them small to conceal in my hand. Here is a real one of mine from a ca. 1992 speech on holograms!

A brown rectangular piece of cardboard cut from a cereal box. It is a cue card to assist in giving a speech. the speech notes are written in pencil.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 07/09/2026

New paper on the risk of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death to New Zealand & the S Pacific. This cross #BSI collaboration, supported through #B3NZ, assesses threats to pōhutukawa, rātā and other hosts, identifies spread pathways, and highlights priorities for surveillance and preparedness. doi.org/10.1007/s105...

Maps of New Zealand a and b showing:

Estimate of suitability of Aotearoa New Zealand regions for the establishment of rapid ‘ōhi’a death (ROD) pathogens Ceratocystis lukuohia and C. huliohia, predicted by Hawaiian temperature-disease relationships (Fortini et al. 2019) for (a) mean annual temperature, and (b) mean temperature of the warmest quarter. Grey indicates mean annual temperature ≤10.7°C (temperatures below those recorded in Hawaiʻi). Orange indicates temperatures between 10.7 and 13.6°C, red indicates temperatures above the 13.6°C threshold for disease presence, up to the maximum mean annual temperature for Aotearoa New Zealand, 16.2°C, and maximum mean temperature of the warmest quarter, 25.0°C. Mean annual temperature and temperature of the warmest quarter data from 1950–1980, NZEnvDS (McCarthy et al. 2021a, 2021b)

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 16/08/2026

The Local Organising Committee at #ISME20 Julie and I are the welfare officers. We have ‘office hours’ at the ISME booth, but contact us anytime

Headshots of the ISME20 LOC. I have picked up a few grey hairs since that photo!

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 16/08/2026

Wow 1924 people attending #ISME20

A dark conference hall filled with people on seats

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 10/01/2026

Yes it was crazy, the photos seem like they have a heavy filter, but that's really what it looked like. My petty story was that I was painting the lounge ceiling that day, took out the ceiling lights, so had to judge where my paint lines were with this terrible light. In AU the loss was real.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 10/01/2026

At the end of the beach were two sea lions! This picture is shot at 600mm so I was more than the 10m away from them as required.

sea lion with head raised, covered in beach sand. flys surround the head.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 10/01/2026

Spent some time before Xmas in Dunedin. Sandfly Bay is a lovey spot!, no wonder @paullecomtephoto.nz & @peterkdearden.bsky.social and many others live in the region! #nz #nikon Z8 panorama

Panorama image of a beach in the distance flanked by green hils

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 10/12/2025

Black-billed gull (Chroicocephalus bulleri) [Tarāpuka] on the beach in Gisborne, NZ, more slender and less common than the Black-billed gull, this one was was still eyeing up some unattended bags for possible lunch! Shot on #Nikon Z8 with a 180-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250, ISO250 #birds #nzbirds

a small gull with a dark black bill, looking up towards the sun. standing on grass.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 07/12/2025

Royal spoonbills (Platalea regia) [Kōtuku ngutupapa] on mud flats in a blustery breeze in Auckland, NZ. Curious looking birds that self mitigated from Australia. Brief video of the same scene: youtu.be/BkeTZXX6hC4 Shot on #Nikon Z8 with a 180-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO90 #birds #nzbirds

Royal spoonbills, a white bird with a curious black spoon-shaped bill

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 21/10/2025

No Microsoft Word spell check, I did actually intend the word "Species" not your suggested spelling "skirr Hodon"

screenshot showing silly suggested spelling correction

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 04/10/2025

Good video! Agreed but of course my weird specific use case is this tiny bulb in my boot (trunk) that I replaced with an LED. The boot apparently is coated with vanta black so I need every photon!

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 13/09/2025

Sacred kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) [Kōtare] perched on a tōtara branch in Auckland, New Zealand. Shot on #Nikon Z8 with a 180-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO7200 #birds #nzbirds

a kingfisher bird with bright blue wing feathers and white to tan chest feathers perched looking to the left

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 31/08/2025

Whew finally landed, one of the craziest flight paths i have seen over this city. No other flights are taking off. #aviation

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 31/08/2025

China Eastern Airlines CES711 having a bit of trouble landing in this #Auckland wind, did a go around.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 30/08/2025

Of course the norm for social media is to only post the perfect pictures, but of not all shots are like this! In this one the bird slipped over while going for the sugar water! and the shot is a bit out of focus. That is reality! #birds #nzbirds

bird caught in the act of slipping over as it tries to drink from a sugar water feeder

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 30/08/2025

Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) [Tauhou] perched at dusk on a willow twig in Auckland, New Zealand. Shot on #Nikon Z8 with 180-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1600s, ISO2800 #birds #nzbirds

small green, brown, and grey bird with a striking white rim around its eye perching on a small twig

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 24/08/2025

Swamp harrier (Circus approximans) [kāhu] circling overhead during golden hour in Auckland, New Zealand. Shot on Nikon Z8 with 180-600 @ 600mm, f/8, 1/1250s, ISO500 #birds #nzbirds

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 20/08/2025

Rare taxonomic #mycology job in NZ! Conduct fungal biodiversity & taxonomy research, secure funding, publish outputs. Working with the National Collections. PhD + postdoc experience required 🧪. Apply here: careers.sciencenewzealand.org/jobdetails?a...

example mushroom you could be working on!

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 15/07/2025

Ah nice, AirNZ is doing a domestic Wifi trial on two of the A320D aircraft. Just left Auckland…

View from airplane widow in flight with sea and coastline

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 15/06/2025

These fighting possums are damn noisy!

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 20/05/2025

For Farmers this discovery means that the current method of accessing FE risk by spore counting could also be counting non-toxic spores leading to inaccurate assessments. The image shows the spores of three different Pseudopithomyces species, could you tell them apart under the microscope?!

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 20/05/2025

Understanding Facial Eczema in livestock 🐄 🧪 We discovered only one of two near-identical fungi on NZ farms makes the toxin that causes FE—and it now has a name: Pseudopithomyces toxicarius. This could change how we assess spore risk on farms. Full study: doi.org/10.3114/sim.... #mycology #taxonomy

The new toxin-producing species Pseudopithomyces toxicarius with sporulation on grass, photo growing on agar plates, and microscopy images of the spores

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 09/03/2025

Auckland is a banger on a good day! On Mt. Albert looking towards the CBD. #nikon #photography

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 02/02/2025

some #fountainpens currently inked with: Diamine gold star shimmer, Diamine kopi o kaw, Kyo-no-oto rokuyuiro, iroshizuku: yu-yake, yama guri, fuyu-syogun, and Parker Quink blue. Nice to have a bit of variety to write with!

seven different fountain pen inks in bottles with pens filled with each ink in front. The ink colours are sparkling gold, dark coffee, shimmer green, orange, dark brown, grey, and blue

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 24/01/2025

Having “farewell to the CRIs” drinks. Pink gin slushy on the recommendation of a senior technician. Not my normal libation but tasty! I have been at Manaaki Whenua 24 years now, let’s see if I last as long in the next one. #nzpol #nzsci

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 13/01/2025

Looks like my #homebrew wine fermentation is coming to an end. The blue line is the specific gravity that drops as sugars are converted to ethanol. The red line is the fermentation temperature. Will still need more time for the yeast to drop out then clarification and stabilisation. Worth it.

A line graph. the res line at the top is fairly consistent temperate at 21 degrees celsius. A blue line below is a curve from high to low.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 01/01/2025

Cold brew #coffee today. The green beans were aged for six months in whiskey barrels, the smokey #whiskey flavour really comes through!

A glass of coffee with ice cubes, in the background a paper bag of mt Atkinson coffee

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 01/01/2025

Ever been annoyed waiting for your oven to heat without knowing when it's ready? With my very rudimentary skills, I made a simple #Arduino device that monitors the oven light and buzzes when it’s at temperature. Check out my blog for details and code: buff.ly/4gSPUvE

Arduino board wired up as per the circuit diagram. It has a black circular buzzer, a red LED, and a thing that look like a clear LED but is a photo-transistor that detects light. At the bottom is the Arduino circuit board.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 25/12/2024

Ah NZ whiskey for Christmas!

A bottle of “broken heart” whiskey and glass

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 07/12/2024

Latest batch of beer kegged and kegerator organised on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon, if only I had something to quench my thirst… #homebrew

A custom fridge with three beer kegs and several beer cans

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 14/11/2024

Thanks Apple Watch can confirm I am feeling terrible this morning

Screenshot showing abnormally high heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature during sleep last night

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 10/11/2024

Weekend afternoon activity of refletching arrows and replacing a nock (due to a ‘Robin Hood’ incident) successfully completed #archery

Arrow with purple and white vanes (fletches) being repaired, mounted in a jig. A tube of cyanoacrylate glue sits on the bench

A line of arrows on a deck leaning up against a glass door

Two orange archery nocks, the one on the left is splayed and damaged.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 01/11/2024

Well we found out after much scurrying about and checking that the burning smell in the lab was actually coming from a large grass #fire on an adjacent mountain. The fire engines are now leaving but there is a sizeable patch of burnt grass

Large dark area of burnt grass on mountain

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 17/09/2024

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,322,713!

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 10/08/2024

I have arrived at #IMC12 mycology conference in Maastricht, The Netherlands. looking forward to a great week of mycology talks, and meeting colleagues I have not seen since the last IMC six years ago! 🧪

outside picture of a conferece venue with a 'welcome to the conference' sign.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 08/07/2024

At the launch of the “save science” coalition. New Zealand’s science system has very significant cuts. Our first report details the problems. scientists.org.nz/Save-Science... 🧪

Speakers in front of a ‘save science’ sign

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 04/07/2024

Sadly I didn't get to eat my banana for lunch today. Happily I got something new to isolate from! 🧪 If this is caused by a fungus I'll soon find out. #mycology #plantpathology

Diseased banana cut open, inside is a hard fibrous red mass along with normal banana fruit

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 09/06/2024

A good but windy day at the #archery range

Archery target with 8 arrows in the gold centre of the target

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 20/05/2024

I talked to Hilary Barry today about mould on food as part of a new campaign called ‘Eat me First’ from Love Food Hate Waste: lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz/eat-me-first/ Watch me on the TV show ‘Seven Sharp’ at 7 pm tonight.

Photo of mycologist Dr Bevan Weir and TV presenter Hilary Barry

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 18/05/2024

Just spent a week doing field work near Havelock in the South Island, sure can see more stars down there than in Auckland!

Southern Hemisphere night sky with the milky way

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 22/04/2024

Always a nice surprise to get a mysterious package of diseased plant material in the mail. This one is likely Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. nerii causing galls on oleander leaves 🧪#plantpathology

oleander plant leaves with small black swollen galls

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 28/01/2024

The saga continues, happily this bird figures out the right way to feed.

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Bevan Weir @rhizobia.nz · 28/01/2024

The height of a sugar water feeder is always a comprise between #bird sizes. Here a Silvereye / wax-eye / tauhou (Zosterops lateralis) from New Zealand struggles to find the right way to feed. More comments in the alt text. 🪶

Bird too far forward on the feeder and needs to crane its neck to reach

Awkwardly reaching to the sugar-feeder nozzle

bird loses footing and nearly slips off, frantically flapping to stay in place!

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