iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 10h

🚨Postdoc job alert: Come work with my paleontology & evolution group in Edinburgh! Researcher in Cognitive Evolution Over Deep Time. You'll study how brains & neurons have evolved over time, and predict neuron count in extinct species! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DTC355/p...

jobs.ac.uk

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time at The University of Edinburgh

Apply for the Postdoctoral Research Associate in Cognitive Evolution over Deep Time role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.

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Noel Blanco-Touriñán @noelponte.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🧵 1/8 Have you ever wondered how information embedded within exons regulates gene expression in plants? 🌱🧬 Check out our latest work, where we explore how exonic enhancers (EEs) shape gene expression in plants! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Sean McMahon @seanhmcmahon.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

🚨Cover reveal🚨: My first non-academic book: How to Find a Martian: A Fossil Hunter's Guide to the Red Planet. Published Spring 2027 by @oneworldbooks.bsky.social (UK/Ireland/Commonwealth, this cover) and @uchicagopress.bsky.social (North America, other cover). 100% human-authored!

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

🧪 Join Bhatia Group as a Research Assistant! Help uncover how the plant hormone cytokinin shapes plant development using Arabidopsis thaliana, while working in a collaborative & supportive research environment 🌱 www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc... Closes 13 Aug 2026 #plantscijobs

Time-lapse imaging and cell fate mapping to quantify cellular growth patterns in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves. Text overlay reads: Research Assistant: Cytokinin regulations of leaf morphogeneis. Apply by 13 August 2026. Join the Bhatia research group at the Sainsbury Lab Cambridge.

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Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Height does not impair the hydraulic system of the tallest tropical Dipterocarp trees www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... - good to see our #MetabolicScalingTheory predictions we made for scaling of hydraulic resistance and xylem anatomy hold up in some of the tallest trees #allometry #megabiota 🧪🌾🌐

science.org

Height does not impair the hydraulic system of the tallest tropical Dipterocarp trees

Half of the aboveground biomass in forests is stored in a disproportionately small number of very tall trees. These giants are predicted to be more vulnerable to drought-induced damage because height ...

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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Our work on pattern formation in fossil and extant liverworts is out! @dev-journal.bsky.social Check it out if you are interested in fossils, evo-devo, and how mathematical modeling can help us understand the evolution of developmental processes! 🌿🧪 Thread ⬇️

journals.biologists.com

Lateral inhibition governs ancestral cellular patterning in fossil and extant liverworts

Highlighted Article: Comparative and mathematical analyses reveal that oil body cell patterning in fossil and extant liverworts is consistent with a local activation-lateral inhibition mechanism, poin...

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jandevries.bsky.social @jandevries.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Learn about the UV response of the earliest land plants #evolution of the phenylpropanoid pathway—& its divergence in zygnematophyte #algae at Cece's @caeciliafkunz.bsky.social poster 100-042 #PlantBio2026 @aspbofficial.bsky.social & checkout @currentbiology.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

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Sean McMahon @seanhmcmahon.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Here's a taster from my segment on Monday's episode of The Sky at Night, now available on BBC iPlayer:

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Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek 🦕 Comparative rhizotaxy of fossil and living isoetalean rhizomorphs reveals development through rootlet intercalation within a triangular lattice by Wyman and co-authors. #freeaccess article 👉 doi.org/q76q @sandyheth.bsky.social #Paleobotany #PlantEvolution #Botany

Despite dramatic evolutionary changes in size and form, Isoetales have maintained a remarkably consistent root pattern, suggesting a shared developmental mechanism that challenges long-held assumptions about their structure.

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Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

🕸️ DARWIN REVIEW 🕸️ Robil & Scarpella show that vein patterns are more diverse than commonly thought, and identification of vein precursor cells is arbitrary and inconsistent across species, thus challenging current understanding of vein patterns 🌿 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

Fig. 5 (shortened, full legend in paper): Leaf and vein pattern evolution. (A–C) The body of the earliest known vascular plants was a series of leafless axes that repeatedly branched into two axes of equal size oriented in three dimensions. (D–G) Megaphylls may have evolved from axes that repeatedly branched into two axes of equal size oriented in three dimensions (D) by unequal branching that gave rise to a single dominant axis and several non-dominant axes (E), followed by branching of the non-dominant axes in two, as opposed to three, dimensions (F), and eventually by formation of tissue that filled the space between those non-dominant axes (G). (H, I) Microphylls may have evolved from either axis reduction (H) or vascularization of axis outgrowths (I). (J–M) The first megaphylls may have been leaves with very limited tissue growth near the base of single-vein branches (J).

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Josep Mercadal @josepmercadal.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

When did liverwort oil body cells originate? Here, Susan and I provide quantitative evidence that they emerged by at least the Middle Devonian (~390 Ma!), shedding light on a key anti-herbivory defense mechanism of early land plants!

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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

🔥 Published today, and just in time for summer conferences, here are your guidelines for presenting badly www.nature.com/articles/s41... rdcu.be/fqa92

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Because the Rhynie chert plants include plants with xylem but without true phloem, this suggests that xylem and phloem did not have a common origin within the land plants, but rather both tissues evolved gradually and independently, occurring in their modern form in at different times. 10.

Schematic showing the gradual evolution of phloem and xylem from food conducting cells and water conducting cells, respectively, with the phloem evolving sepately in the euphyllophytes and extant lycophytes.

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

This suggests that in the Rhynie chert plants, there was a tissue specialised in sugar conduction, but was distinct, and likely not as specialised and effective, as the phloem of extant vascular plants. 9/

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

But we found that the FCCs of Asteroxylon did have (submicron!) sieve pores, which in extant plants is involved in the movement of sugars through the phloem, suggesting this tissue did have a sugar conduction specialisation. This is the earliest example of sieve pores in the fossil record. 8/

Sieve pores imaged using CLSM and SEM in Asteroxylon mackiei

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

These FCCs had some, but not all, of the features of phloem of extant vascular plants. The Rhynie chert plants didn't have a distinction between FCCs and cortical cells, or a boundary between these tissues, and the FCCs are very large in diameter compared to phloem cells. 7/

Cladogram showing that the Rhynie chert plants lacked a pericycle, and had a grading of tissue between FCCs and cortex.

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

The Rhynie chert plants had a tissue called FCCs (food conducting cells) around the central strand of xylem (or water conducting cells), in the position that phloem is in extant plants. 6/

Asteroxylon mackiei in a thin section from the University of Manchester

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I also compared these plants with the extant lycophytes, the earliest diverging group of living vascular plants, and the group to which one of the Rhynie chert species (Asteroxylon mackiei) belongs. Illustration by @palaeojules.bsky.social 5/

Lycopodium annotinum, illustrated by Julianne Kiely.

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

I imaged the Rhynie chert plants using confocal laser scanning microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, two very high resolution imaging techniques that can be used to identify sub-micron features in these fossil plants. 4/

A CLSM image of Rhynia from the Rhynie chert, thin section from the University of Manchester.

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

The plant species preserved here include non-vascular plants that are close relatives of vascular plants, and plants that belong in modern groups, so they can be used to investigate the early evolution of major traits of vascular plants like phloem. 3/

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

To understand these sort of fundamental questions in plant evolution, we can examine the exceptionally preserved plants of the Rhynie chert, a 407 million year old fossil deposit where some of the earliest land plants are preserved through the activity of a hot spring. Art by Victor Leshyk. 2/

The Rhynie chert ecosystem by Victor Leshyk

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Phloem is the highly specialised sugar conducting tissue found in all living vascular plants, and it is today always occurs with xylem, the specialised water conducting tissue. Both of these tissues enabled plants to become larger and more complex, but how did these tissues evolve? 1/

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Congratulation @transitionalform.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social for publishing the next chapter of your thesis @currentbiology.bsky.social ! Great work showing that the two fundamental vascular tissues - xylem and phloem evolved asynchronously. Read Laura's thread for more details 👇👇

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Laura Cooper @transitionalform.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Our paper on the origin and evolution of phloem, a big part of my PhD work, is out in Current Biology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

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Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

📣 It's out ! ✨32✨ great #paleobotany papers in this special issue of @annbot.bsky.social on fossil #plants 🌿⛏️ edited by Mihai Tomescu, @sandyheth.bsky.social, Brian Atkinson & myself. Thank you to all the authors & all the reviewers for their contributions! 📄 academic.oup.com/aob/issue

Cover of the special issue - with a section in a fern rhizome

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Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

With The Story of Birds now out in the UK, I'm super excited to launch it here in my home of Edinburgh! In one of the most beautiful, charming bookshops in the world: Toppings! Join us on June 23, 7pm. Tickets👇 www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/edinb...

toppingbooks.co.uk

Steve Brusatte for The Story of Birds at Pilrig St. Paul's / LARCH

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Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

The paper is not online yet but it's too pretty not to show for this #FossilFriday: a new species of Keraphyton from the Late Devonian of Australia, part of the work of @toinechampreux.bsky.social. Keraphyton is an iridopteridale, an extinct group related to ferns & horsetails. #paleobotany 🌿⛏️

A transverse section in a stem of the new species of Keraphyton showing the preserved tissues

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Noel Blanco-Touriñán @noelponte.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Our latest review on the evolution of molecular networks involved in the development of plant conducting tissues is now out in @jxbotany.bsky.social @ibmcp.bsky.social Check it out here: academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...

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Eva-Sophie Wallner @eswallner.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Happy to announce that I have started my own research group at the MPIPZ and that I am looking for a postdoc who would like to investigate Marchantia prothallus development with me! Please spread the word and/or apply if interested :)

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Department of Plant Sciences Cambridge @camplantsci.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Huge congratulations to Beverley Glover & Uta Paszkowski on being elected Fellows of the @royalsociety.org - a wonderful recognition of their significant contributions to plant sciences! 🎉 Read more: tinyurl.com/3vetucr4 @beverleycubg.bsky.social @paszkowskilab.bsky.social 🧪

Professor Beverley Glover (left) and Professor Uta Paszkowski (right) – new Fellows of the Royal Society 2026. Photos © University of Cambridge.

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Super excited to see Atlas of Botany in print!!! A pleasure to work with the wonderful team from DK and the @thebotanics.bsky.social I wrote the Ancient Biomes section covering some of my favourite stories about plant evolution from the last 500 million years! @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

Sandy Hetherington standing in a bookshop holding a book titled atlas of botany with red flowers on the cover

Open book on page "Coal Forest Evolve" - in front of the book are examples of Carboniferous fossils include fern leaves and leafy stems

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Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿 @palaeojules.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Hi all, Just a reminder that we're still accepting talk and poster abstracts for our Symposium Plant Paleoart: Perspectives and Promises, and the deadline is in two weeks, on the 31st May! I'm really looking forward to seeing some of you there!!! #FossilFriday #paleobotany #paleoart #sciart

A black background with a plant recon on the right and logos in the bottom left.
Writing in white reads:
European paleobotany and palynology conference 2026.
20th to 25th September 2026
Symposium
Plant Paleoart: perspectives and promises
Julianne Kiely and Mario Coiro
Abstract submission deadline 31st May!

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Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿 @palaeojules.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

This artwork was created last year for @jeremywyman.bsky.social and @sandyheth.bsky.social, to accompany their paper 'Comparative rhizotaxy of fossil and living isoetalean rhizomorphs reveals development through rootlet intercalation within a triangular lattice'. #paleoart #paleobotany #paleontology

A screenshot showing the first page of their paper.

One of the figures from the paper showing the adult plant and associated scans

Figure from the paper of the juvenile plant

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Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿 @palaeojules.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Happy #FossilFriday, So, some fun news: I won a Highly Commended Prize for this year's Marsh Palaeoart Award, run by the @palaeontosoc.bsky.social, for My submission 'Life Restorations of the Rhizotaxy and Growth Architecture of Oxroadia'! #paleoart #paleontology #paleobotany #botany

A photo of me looking hPpy standing next to my artwork.

A selfie of my smiling face next to my artwork

My artwork of Oxroadia, showing a sprawling plant taking up moat of the image, with various close ups and additional illustrations to the right.

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Huge congratulations @tearei.bsky.social ky.social for passing your viva!! Big thanks to Justin Goodrich and Luke Mander for acting as examiners @instmolplantsci.bsky.social 🌿🌿

Tea Reinert, wearing a viva hat in the shape of a witches hat and Sandy Hetherington holding a glass of fizz.

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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

I just published Don’t Perish! A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper (2026 edition) Great science deserves to be read—not buried under unclear writing. This is the updated 2026 edition of your favorite guide to writing scientific papers. medium.com/p/dont-peris...

medium.com

Don’t Perish! A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper (2026 edition)

Great science deserves to be read — not buried under unclear writing. This is the updated 2026 edition of your favorite guide to writing…

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Hugues Renault @huguesrenault.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

[6/8] Using analytical techniques and docking experiments, we demonstrate that PpCUS enzymes catalyze the polymerization of 10,16-dihydroxyhexadecanoic acid (10,16-diOH-C16:0) using a 2-monoacylglycerol (2-MHG) as substrate, producing a reticulated polyester similar to that in flowering plants.

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Hugues Renault @huguesrenault.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

[5/8] Confocal and electron microscopy revealed that PpCUS enzymes localize to the apoplast, where they control cuticle integrity and its diffusion-limiting properties.

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Hugues Renault @huguesrenault.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

[4/8] CRISPR-mediated knockout of CUS genes in the moss Physcomitrium patens (a bryophyte) caused abnormal development of gametophores, the first tissue in the moss life cycle to form a cuticle.

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Hugues Renault @huguesrenault.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

[3/8] Through phylogenetic reconstruction, we found that the CUS family emerged in a common ancestor of bryophytes and tracheophytes, the two sister lineages of land plants, coinciding with the transition to terrestrial environments.

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