iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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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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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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I’m also super excited to read Jacob’s newest book 📕 🌿 Let’s Botanize Written with Ben Goulet-Scott

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Huge congratulations to the newest Dr from the lab - Dr @sannie-zishanfu.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social!!! A special thanks to Jacob Suissa for making the trip over from the US! It’s been great spending the last couple of days chatting about all things ferns and lycophytes 🌿

Andrew Hudson, Sannie Fu, Jacob Suissa and Sandy Hetherington standing in a row. Sannie is wearing a hat in the style of a mortar board that says congratulations Sannie.

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

The very first Dr from the group! Congratulations Laura @transitionalform.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social for passing your viva yesterday!! 🎉🎉 Thanks so much @seanhmcmahon.bsky.social and Paul Kenrick for acting as examiners

Paul Kenrick, Laura Cooper and Sean McMahon

Sandy Hetherington and Laura Cooper holding a bottle of fizz with balloons

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Excited to share our new investigation of Prototaxites! We found no support for a fungal affinity and instead suggest it is best considered an entirely extinct complex eukaryotic lineage Great team effort @transitionalform.bsky.social Corentin Loron, and many others! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Reconstruction of Prototaxites in the Rhynie chert ecosystem. Reconstruction by Matt Humpage, Northern Rouge Studios.

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Looking for a new 📕 to read about plants?? I highly recommend the brilliant book ‘Ferns, Lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants’ Written by @fernway.bsky.social and Jacob Suissa with amazing illustrations by Laura Silburn 🌿 #FernFriday 🌿

Book front cover with illustrations of fern leaves and the title: Ferns, lessons in survival from Earth’s most adaptable plants
Written by: Fat-Wei Li and Jacob S. Suissa
Illustrated by Laura Silburn

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I had a great time writing this dispatch @currentbiology.bsky.social about Jacob Suissa's recent paper on the link between fern phyllotaxis and vascular architecture. "Evo–devo: Ferns flourished due to developmental covariance between leaves and vasculature" authors.elsevier.com/a/1mH793QW8S...

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Huge congratulations @jeremywyman.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social for publishing the results of your masters thesis @annbot.bsky.social The work includes a new reconstruction of the Carboniferous isoetalean Oxroadia by the brilliant @palaeojules.bsky.social academic.oup.com/aob/advance-...

Left, a zoomed out image of the habit of the green branching lycophytes Oxroadia. Right, a zoomed in image of the highly branched rooting system

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Thanks @wickellomics.bsky.social for the brilliant @instmolplantsci.bsky.social seminar! Fascinating study of CAM evolution and I’m always excited for all things Isoetes.

David standing by large projector screen with images of Isoetes plants

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Real pleasure to be invited to speak at the British Pteridological Society meeting today. Brilliant mix of talks spanning evolution, conservation and botanical collections. And always great to have a tour of the wonderful @thebotanics.bsky.social collections! 🌿

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

What a brilliant conference - thanks so much for the invitation to speak at Morph Up North, and for all the brilliant talks this afternoon!

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Our recent paper @newphyt.bsky.social @anajusagasti.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social is featured today in the Sunday Post! Thanks Sally McDonald for your piece helping to promote and communicate Scotland’s rich fossil heritage nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Page 11 of the Sunday Post. With story 'Fossil find is modern-day Jurassic spark'. The title image is of dinosaurs and below is an image of fossil wood, and a photograph of Anajú Sagasti and Sandy Hetherington

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

This decaying conifer wood preserves evidence of white pocket rot; two types of arthropod boring, likely by beetles and mites; and colonisation by small roots. It therefore preserved evidence of a rich ecosystem occurring on the floor of a Jurassic forest 4/6

Microscope image of fossil wood under the microscope with fossil rootlets and decaying wood evident

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

To investigate the prevalence of this strategy we searched for new fossil nurse logs and reviewed existing literature. We discovered the first nurse log from Scotland, and only the second known from the Jurassic Period 3/6

Rocky coastline on sunny day with blue skye

Anajú Sagasti looking at fossil nurse log on the microscope

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Seedling establishment on the forest floor is a challenging process. Plants have therefore adapted to make use of dead wood as a seed bed. This decaying wood can act as a nursery for seedlings and is termed a nurse log. In conifer forests today nurse logs support >90% of germinating seedlings 2/6

Small tree growing on rotting wood - termed a nurse log

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

So great having @isabelmonte.bsky.social visiting Edinburgh. Thanks for a wonderful seminar and some great discussions. Really pleased the rain held off for a lovely walk round the Botanics - including the obligatory stop to see the Lycopodium clavatum 🪴 🌿 🍄 🦠

Group of 9 people standing on a red bridge in Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh

7 people standing in royal botanic gardens Edinburgh looking down at a small green plant - lycopodium clavatum

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

The visit to #PDevSrC via Boston wouldn’t be complete without seeing the glass flowers in Havard. Great to see Onoclea 🌿 in glass and out in the field! Some unusual development in this frond as it seems to be half fertile and half vegetative rather than a typical sporophyll #FernFriday

Green fern leaf with pinnules on one side and small bead-like sori on the other

Glass models of fern showing the rhizome and frond, and magnified images of the fertile frond and spores

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

The final morning #PDevSRC has included a series of great talks about leaf development and evolution spanning dicots, moss @coudertlab.bsky.social and now grasses @drannisr.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Another great morning #PDevSRC I can see why so many people say this is one of their favourite meetings! Really enjoyed hearing @zoenv.bsky.social talking about the ongoing work on RAB-A5c and mechanical cues in root development @ckirchhelle.bsky.social

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Sticking with roots after the break with great talks about the cambium @apmahonen.bsky.social, root regeneration and xylem maturation @hazaklab.bsky.social #PDevSRC

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Great morning session with talks on stomata @stanfordstomata.bsky.social xylem development @bertderybel.bsky.social regeneration @bas-bargmann.bsky.social and root cel elongation from Flor Ercoli #PDevSRC 🌱 🌿

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Great start to FASEB Mechanisms in Plant Development with the Benfey Memorial Lecture presented by @bradylabs.bsky.social #PDevSRC

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

End of era in the lab @instmolplantsci.bsky.social as we say goodbye to @rafadscruz.bsky.social and @jeremywyman.bsky.social. It’s been a pleasure having you both in the team. Wishing you both the best for your next steps in Australia 🇦🇺 and Brazil 🇧🇷 🌿

Sandy, Jeremy and Rafael standing by a blue sign that says Daniel Rutherford Building, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences

9 members of the lab standing next to a blue sign that reads Daniel Rutherford Building, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Such a pleasure having @baptistebio.bsky.social visit the lab! Wonderful talk and great to hear about lots of exciting fern work! #FernFriday 🌿

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Amazing talk today by @noelponte.bsky.social it’s been brilliant having you visit the lab!

Noel standing by large screen with first title of the seminar on the screen. Text on screen reads: Weaving growth: tissue connectivity in plant postembryonic organ development

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Great to be at the Chengdu NHM for the Chinese Paleontological Society palaeobotany conference, and to have had such interesting visits to Shanghai and Nanjing on the way! Congratulations Sannie on a great presentation today!

Selfie of two people by fossil tree trunk

Two people standing by entrance poster for palaeobotany conference

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

It’s been fun to welcome the most recent visitor to the lab this week! Kicking off the data collection from fossil stomata in the Rhynie chert as part of a @leverhulme.bsky.social project to investigate stomatal evolution #fossilfriday

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

It’s been a pleasure hosting Haru Nishida, Aya Kubota, Nao Kawagoe and Andrew Scott in the lab this week. Thanks for some brilliant palaeobotanical discussions! Topped off with a great #FossilFriday trip to see the Early Carboniferous rocks by Oxroad Bay!

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Great visit to The Lyell Centre today. Thanks Babette Hoogakker for the invite! Especially liked seeing some fossil plants on display too!

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 16/02/2024

Open postdoc with Jill Harrison at Bristol Uni to study the evolution of apical growth Deadline 15th March Come join our HFSP funded team to investigate apical growth! thenode.biologists.com/jobs/would-y...

SEM image of two Selaginella shoot apices

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 27/11/2023

🚨Come join the lab🚨 to lead on developing Selaginella apoda as a genetic model system 🌿 1.5 yr PDRA, Deadline 13th Dec Full details: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Green branching shoots of Selaginella apoda

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 20/10/2023

It’s a real honour to have been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize! A huge thanks to my amazing group and to all my supportive colleagues here in Edinburgh. The prize is going to let us do some new fun work with Selaginella, can’t wait to get started! www.leverhulme.ac.uk/news/philip-...

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Sandy Hetherington @sandyheth.bsky.social · 17/10/2023

Come and join the group! 3yr postdoc position investigating the origin of apical growth in land plants focused on the Rhynie chert fossils! Deadline 30/10/2023 Full details: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

A microscope images of brown spiral of fossil plant leaves

Microscope image of a cross section through the stem of a fossil plant. The stem is circular, light brown and individual cells can be seen

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