iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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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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MwahahahahahadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is it. This is what everyone is enabling by humoring genAI: you spend months writing something that took you years to get at, for an opaque algorithm that a few control to spit a number and cut you off right there and then. This is what we're up against 🧪

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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

As both an academic and a writer, I am repelled by the "this looks like a long document. Would you like me to summarize it for you?" that seems to appear at the top of every pdf viewer now. NO. The *entire point* of good writing (either books or journal papers) is that every sentence has a purpose.

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Daniel Kierzkowski @kierzkowskilab.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

🌱 Our new paper about growth-derived mechanical conflicts in gynoecium and fruit morphogenesis is now out @currentbiology.bsky.social 🎉Congrats to Binghan Wang and all authors. 📄https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)01086-9 @irbv.bsky.social @umontreal-en.bsky.social

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John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

VACANCY - Funded by @European Research Council (ERC), we have three exciting opportunities for Postdoctoral Researchers to join the newly appointed Dr @hassansalem.bsky.social Group. These roles span: Developmental biology - okt.to/nq50wC 🧵

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Anja Geitmann @geitmannlab.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Postdoc Opportunity at McGill University, Montreal, Canada You have worked with Arabidopsis / other plant model systems & are trained in high-end imaging? Details: www.plantbiomechanics.net/joining-the-... #plants, #Arabidopsis, #postdoc, #jobs, #microscopy, #confocal, #molecularbiology

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Adam Tranter @adamtranter.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Cities dismantled their tram networks to become “motor cities of the future”. The result? You could travel further within 30 mins via public transport in 1957 than you can in 2026. Cities are seeking billions to rebuild networks. Incredible piece of work this.

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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 26/07/2026

150,000 marched yesterday in London for trans rights. Opened the Sky News app. Scrolled and scrolled. Nothing. BBC News app. Nothing. Guardian app. Nothing. This is what actual silencing looks like.

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Anja Geitmann @geitmannlab.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Plant performance involves physical processes - from mechanical load bearing and water transport to heat, light, and gas diffusion. Finite-element modeling combined with microCT-imaging allows linking cell-scale architectural details to organ-scale function. Review article: doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

MicroCT image of a section of leaf mesophyll reconstructed in 3D and converted to a finite element model that allows simulating the distribution of forces upon external load application.
www.plantbiomechanics.net

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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

the media and voter messaging should be this: the current government and the government in waiting do not want your children to be able to go to university, they will not support people in the UK to do original research, they do not care about job losses in one of the largest sectors in the economy

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Prof Chris Jackson @seismatters.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I would have voted for chaos with Ed Miliband...but all I got was whatever the last 11 years has been...

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jenny tightpants @jtp.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

social media that's bad for minors is obviously bad for adults too. crazy to me that the move seems to be to just accept that and ban minors rather than regulate the obvious design patterns that were put in there on purpose which make it harmful to its users

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Crucially, remaining on X is against the government's own interests! This has been palpably clear for nearly two years now...

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PWHL @thepwhl.com · 21/05/2026

POUR LA VICTOIRE ‼️ THE MONTRÉAL VICTOIRE ARE THE 2026 PWHL WALTER CUP CHAMPIONS! LA VICTOIRE DE MONTRÉAL SONT LES CHAMPIONNES DE LA COUPE WALTER 2026 DE LA LPHF!

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Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Ok I've designed an LLM prompt to make Google AI just give you a list of links. It's longer than you might think because it kept ignoring the instructions. This is efficient. This is The Future™

imagine you are Google circa 2002. users enter a search query and you return 10 relevant HTML links to specific, real web pages, with no commentary or any extra guff. you must literally only return a list of links. if you do anything apart from that you've got it wrong and need to try again. my query is: cool facts about whales

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 12/05/2026

Fundamentally, a lot of the problems in British politics comes from a political generation being forced to do something they think is a bad idea, to appease voters they think are wrong with beliefs they don't really understand.

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Dr Joby Razzelliot @jobium.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I don't think people realise how much local councils do to maintain basic every day services. Reform are going to wreck the country at the local level and then blame the Government for it in 2029.

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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

This👇

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

A please @labouruk.bsky.social, stop saying that it's up to us to stop Reform. YOU could stop a Reform government in 2029, by introducing the proportional representation so many in the country have been clamouring for. The only way Farage can win is through our crazy first-past-the-post system.

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New Phytologist @newphyt.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Profile of Noni Franklin‐Tong nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Daniel Kierzkowski @kierzkowskilab.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Do you want to know how to build an organ from a single cell? Check out our paper about phyllid development in moss by Weney Lin @irbv.bsky.social Colaboration with Yoan Couder @ensdelyon.bsky.social and and Richard Smith @johninnescentre.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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FocalPlane @focalplane.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

🌱🔬We’re exciting to be hosting a new webinar series on quantitative plant imaging with @ajcellbio.bsky.social & @joemckenna.bsky.social. The first webinar will be on 30 April at 15:00 BST. For more info and to sign up to our mailing list or volunteer to give a talk ⤵️

focalplane.biologists.com

Macro to micro: quantitative plant imaging across scales webinar series - FocalPlane

Macro to micro: quantitative plant imaging across scales webinar series

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Andrea Gómez-Felipe @andreagomezfe.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Happy to see this paper out!

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Priya Ramakrishna @priyaramakrishna.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

A big thanks to Alex, Joe, Marketa, Mark and @biologists.bsky.social for bringing together plant imaging enthusiasts across scales and career stages - all in a classic English countryside setting!🔬🌱 @ajcellbio.bsky.social @joemckenna.bsky.social @focalplane.bsky.social

Workshop venue seating with speakers with introduction by Helen Zenner from Company of Biologists

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Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

In any other sector this would be front page news along with government funding announcements. The UK just seems to not value higher education.

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Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The UK *is* losing a generation of scientists. I know lots of brilliant people who have left their jobs / the country because of the limited jobs & funding. Once lost, they cannot ever be replaced. The UK government is overseeing the death of UK academic science, and it doesn't seem to care.

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Tim O'Brien @proftimob.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Grim news for particle physics, astronomy & nuclear physics research in UK. 30% cut overall with projects asked to consider options ranging to a 60% cut. These areas are a huge success for the UK internationally and a great inspiration to the next generation of scientists and engineers.

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Cargo Bike Ben @cargobikeben.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Labour keeps talking about saving the high street without naming the real problem. Car dependency. You cannot fix town centres while planning everything around driving. The internet is permanent. Retail only survives where footfall is dense, local, frequent, and cheap to access.

theguardian.com

Labour risks election wipeout unless it improves Britain’s high streets, study finds

Decay of town centres a top issue among voters especially Reform UK supporters and is fuelling resentment against Westminster

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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 27/01/2026

Oh, I feel this in my soul. I have a dozen places I think of as home and those roots are deeper for having to search for water.

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Cargo Bike Ben @cargobikeben.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Have you ever wondered why the car lobby is always happy to respond to environmental claims, but you never hear them talk about obesity or public health? That asymmetry isn’t accidental. It’s a strategic choice about which fights they can survive.

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Jack Bernhardt @jackbern.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

"oh you'll never guess what Robert Jenrick has done" no, I won't. In fact, I refuse. the fact you think he is worth my time disgusts me. why do you hate me, and yourself

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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 15/01/2026

The Reform pitch is increasingly “the last government was terrible, so we’ve hired everyone who was in it”.

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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Some Tories, after 14 years in power… …are saying nothing now works in the UK. So they’re joining Reform, so they can complain about the Tory record - and you can vote them right back in, in a few years’ time, under new anti-Tory branding. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.

Dear Sir Paul,

Re: Royal Society Code of Conduct

I am sure that many scientists have written to you about the specific question of Elon Musk’s Fellowship and whether, under the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct, his retaining that Fellowship is appropriate. I will not rehash these issues. Instead, as a female scientist with extensive experience of activities aiming to increase equality, diversity and inclusion in the engineering and physical sciences sector, I am writing to you (in a personal capacity) to ask you to reconsider the statements you have recently made in this context to the UK press about the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct and how it is applied.

A 2018 report from the joint National Academies of the United States of America, concluded that “sexual harassment is common in academic science, engineering, and medicine” and that “greater than 50 percent of women faculty and staff and 20–50 percent of women students encounter or experience sexually harassing conduct in academia”. This report described codes of conduct that make clear that sexual harassment is unethical and will not be tolerated as a “powerful incentive for change”. The authors also noted that sexual harassment can have significant and damaging effects on the integrity of research. In my own praxis, I have found that clear and consistently-implemented codes of conduct that address these issues make female scientists and engineers safer, and allow them to focus more effectively on their research. For codes of conduct to have such a positive effect, it is vital that sanctions for actions which transgress the code are meaningful and substantial.

I was hence aghast to realise that in an interview with the Financial Times published on 9/1/26, you appear to have suggested that the Royal Society “should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective””. Moreover, in a further interview with the Guardian on 11/1/26 you suggested that the code “may need to be looked at again”, with the implication that your aim would be to remove the option of sanctions on Fellows for reasons not strictly related to faults or defects in their research.

I suggest that changing the Royal Society’s code of conduct so that the likelihood of serious sanctions for sexual harassment is reduced, would directly endanger women who interact with the Royal Society at events or otherwise, and would provide a licence to harass to the already powerful people on whom the Society bestows fellowship. The implications of your words - that under your leadership the only infringements of the code which are likely to receive the sanction of the Fellowship being removed are those related to research misconduct - already risk empowering harassers. You stated, in the Financial Times interview, that “there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances”. Given this awareness of the possibility of bad actors in our scientific community, it is wholly irresponsible to suggest that the Royal Society would not act to sanction these people if they harass more vulnerable scientists.

I am hence writing to request that you retract any suggestion that the Society’s Code of Conduct should be changed so that the only reason a Fellow might be sanctioned by the removal of their Fellowship is “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective” research. This action is necessary to safeguard female scientists, a requirement placed on the Society by safeguarding legislation and UK statutory guidance.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Rachel A. Oliver.

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Viraj Alimchandani @virajalim.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Dropped catches, bad reviews, what a wasteful morning really summing up this #Ashes tour

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Andrea Gómez-Felipe @andreagomezfe.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I’m happy to finally share our story on carpel initiation in Arabidopsis and how auxin and cytokinin shape carpel growth patterns. Auxin and cytokinin regulate growth dynamics underlying carpel initiation url: academic.oup.com/jxb/article/...

academic.oup.com

Auxin and cytokinin regulate growth dynamics underlying carpel initiation

Abstract. Plant organ initiation requires precise spatial and temporal coordination of cellular behaviors. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the gynoecium, the fema

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Daniel Kierzkowski @kierzkowskilab.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

New paper from our lab @jxbotany.bsky.social about auxin and cytokinin interactions during carpel initiation in Arabidopsis Led by @andreagomezfe.bsky.social in collaboration with @defolter-lab.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jxb/advance-...

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Mark Grimshaw @markgrimshawtism.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

So, just to confirm, the BBC can’t keep Robin Ince on the air because his trans allyship brings the organisation into disrepute, but they can keep David Walliams, who performed Nazi salutes at the recording of this very show, on the air despite him being predatory towards women. Cool. Very normal.

ITV News: BBC to air Would I Lie To You Boxing Day episode featuring David Walliams

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Viraj Alimchandani @virajalim.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Inevitable after that flurry of boundaries, that being said hopefully this bodes well for Smith in future series. Let's see if a whitewash can be avoided, eh #Ashes

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Viraj Alimchandani @virajalim.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

If England can clean up Australia before lunch, I fully expect Australia to take their 10 wickets before the end of play #Ashes

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Matt Green @mattgreencomedy.com · 18/12/2025

Australia are just a better team. But also England have royally screwed this up and it’s wildly disappointing but not that surprising. A combination of emotions I’ve been getting very used to in recent years. #Ashes

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Viraj Alimchandani @virajalim.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

More TV umpire drama... Bedtime for me, if England are still batting at the close of play I'll be shocked #TheAshes

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Viraj Alimchandani @virajalim.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Pitch looking so easy for Lyon and Boland, so I guarantee it'll be zipping around and England will be 2 down after 5 overs #TheAshes

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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Genuine question: Why's the reaction of many politicians to AI 'it's transformational, we must go faster, we can dismiss concerns over energy, copyright, job losses', yet the reaction to a clean tech transition that's more advanced and has less overt downsides is 'steady now, we need to slow down'.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

The fact is no presenter has ever had to leave the BBC for expressing conservative views, or even explicitly endorsing a right-wing party. Was never a problem for Jeremy Clarkson. Was never a problem for Andrew Neil. Was never a problem for Alan Sugar

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 13/12/2025

Deeply disappointed to hear that the BBC has pushed out one of the most brilliant presenters in all of science communication for speaking with integrity and honor in support of human rights and dignity.

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Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) @slcuplants.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

🌱 2x David Sainsbury Career Development Fellowships at @slcuplants.bsky.social Unique opportunity for early-career researchers to launch their own independent research programme in quantitative plant development, with generous support & world-class facilities. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/david-s...

Interior of Sainsbury Laboratory building showing experimental laboratories on left with floor-to-ceiling glass facing into the main central avenue with people walking on stairs and sitting at study boxes. Lots of natural light and views to the Cambrdge University Botanic Garden. Overlay text "Join SLCU" and logos and closing date of 15 January 2026.

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