Stuart Thompson
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drdsthompson.bsky.social
Stuart Thompson
@drdsthompson.bsky.social
270 followers 480 following 450 posts
Into plants, science fiction and comics, naturism (inasmuch as defining yourself by what you wear or don't is meaningful), mythology and archaeology.
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Reposted by Stuart Thompson
newphyt.bsky.social
New light on old stones: a fossil #fungus in #symbiosis with one of the oldest known land plants

@chistinesd.bsky.social, et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@dromius.bsky.social @ffercoq.bsky.social #PlantScience

Summary also available in French and Spanish.
November 14, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
philsci-archive.bsky.social
New on the Archive:

Norton, John D. (2024) The Rise and Fall of Karl Popper's Anti-inductivism. [Preprint]

https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27217/
November 13, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social
Redistribution of excitation energy between two photosystems during light-shade adaptation in marine diatoms: State conversion of light-harvesting complexes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688172v1
November 14, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
pnas.org
Some plants secrete brine from their leaves to cope with salty soil. Such plants use a subcuticular space to separate surface brine from secreting cells, a trick that could be useful for salt-tolerant crops or desalination devices. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/Aich50Xr3Fl
The study used the secreting salt gland of the flowering plant Nolana mollis as a model system.
November 14, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
talbotlabtsl.bsky.social
Dogs have been part of human culture for far longer than previously thought based on genomic evidence from @lachiescarsbrook.bsky.social and team. Great read. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Genomic evidence for the Holocene codispersal of dogs and humans across Eastern Eurasia
As the first domestic species, dogs likely dispersed with different cultural groups during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed 73 ancient dog genomes, including 17 ...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
jeffmold.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Transposable elements are vectors of recurrent transgenerational epigenetic inheritance
DNA methylation loss at transposable elements (TEs) can affect neighboring genes and be epigenetically inherited in plants, yet the determinants and importance of this additional system of inheritance...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
thelondoneconomic.bsky.social
Oh the irony
November 13, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
leamoncoucy.bsky.social
1/Paper out today in Phil Trans B @royalsocietypublishing.org alsocietypublishing.org in a Special Issue «Evolutionary functions of consciousness», by @axc.bsky.social, Catherine Tallon-Baudry, @krysdolega.bsky.social and myself.

👉Open-access at this link: doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

⬇️ Summary below:
The value of consciousness: experiences worth having | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DC. Dennett (2020,personal communication) asked: ‘How do we go from doing things for reasons to having reasons for doing things?’. This question targets a fundamental shift in nature: while all organi...
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'The prospect of hundreds of job cuts at Lancaster University could damage the city's economy, students have warned.'

'Could'? Surely 'will'.
Fears Lancaster University job cuts would hit city's businesses
Lancaster University is seeking to cut 400 full-time posts as part of efforts to save £30m.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
mrjamesob.bsky.social
The remarkable story we discussed this morning. (No paywall but do consider subscribing.) www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Prescott himself doctored Trump quote in his anti-BBC report
A report alleging Panorama broadcast misleading Trump quotes contains misleading quotes itself
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
nature.com
Global fossil-fuel emissions are likely to hit yet another record high this year, but there are signs that the world is approaching a peak

Read the full story: go.nature.com/3LAtSUd
When will carbon emissions peak?. Line chart showing predicted global Greenhouse-gas emissions to 2023. Greenhouse-gas emissions have been increasing every year since 1990. When emissions will peak, by how much they will decline, depends on governmental policies and actions."
November 13, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
rahmstorf.bsky.social
Never forget: At breakneck speed we are leaving the stable Holocene climate in which human society developed and thrived. Weather extremes are outside historical experience. Sea-level rise is accelerating. Dangerous tipping points are ahead.
Graph: ed-hawkins.github.io/climate-visu...
November 13, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social
Key molecular and cellular events of table olive fruit abscission zone formation during natural maturation and after ethephon treatment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687704v1
November 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social
Effects of Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields on Early Growth of Brassica rapa var. rapa https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.11.687793v1
November 12, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
stevecooke.org
Oh look, a thousandth data point on the ‘Silicone Valley is filled with dreadful eugenicists’ plot.
November 11, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
newphyt.bsky.social
The optimization of crop response to climatic stress through modulation of plant stress response mechanisms. Opportunities for #biostimulants and plant hormones to meet climate challenges.

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Li et al.

@WileyPlantSci #PlantScience
The mechanisms underlying plant stress responses (a) and the roles of exogenous bioactive compounds in modulating cascade pathways (b). P
November 11, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
apmweber.bsky.social
Strong BSC enrichment of GLDP, GLDT, SHM, GGT, GOX, and GS2/GOGAT — the full photorespiratory glycine–serine–NH₃ cycle is shifted from mesophyll to BSC in C3-C4 Moricandia arvensis
This shift couples CO₂ concentration, nitrogen re-assimilation, and redox balance within BSC mitochondria and plastids.
jxbotany.bsky.social Journal of Experimental Botany @jxbotany.bsky.social · 3d
🌿 RESEARCH 🌿

Single-nucleus RNAseq reveals bundle sheath cell-specific photorespiration pathways in Moricandia arvensis, incl ammonium assimilation & redox regulation, highlighting metabolic compartmentalization in C3–C4 photosynthesis – Triesch et al.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
Fig. 2.UMAP visualizations of the integrated Moricandia arvensis single-nuclei RNA-Seq and Kim et al. (2021) Arabidopsis thaliana single-cell RNA-Seq dataset colored by cell type (A) and species (B). (C) Heatmaps indicating normalized expression in mesophyll and bundle sheath clusters in A. thaliana and M. arvensis. Expression was normalized to the highest expressed marker gene in the respective cluster and species. (D) Enrichment of MapMan bins for 110 BSC-specific differentially partitioned genes between M. arvensis and A. thaliana. (E) Sankey diagram indicating the expression of M. arvensis marker genes (right side of the diagram) in A. thaliana clusters (left side).
November 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
newphyt.bsky.social
Maximum entropy networks show that plant–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associations are anti-nested and modular

Ajaz et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The two possible structures of plant–arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi association bipartite networks analysed in this work. There are two sets or layers of nodes (plant species/populations and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal taxa).
November 10, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
apaterlini.bsky.social
Few Plant science programmes are left in the UK and they are critical to train the next generation.
This move by @uniofnottingham.bsky.social goes against recommendations made in the recent PS Education manifesto. Big mistake! Sign the petition! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
November 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
cahirokane.bsky.social
A genomic perspective on the origins of different synaptic functions
November 10, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
newphyt.bsky.social
Moss shutdown-restart mechanism for drought survival

Xiao et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/5JPZDK...
Phenotypic responses and water loss dynamics in Physcomitrium patens gametophores and Arabidopsis thaliana plants during dehydration–rehydration treatments.
November 10, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
keanuheydari.bsky.social
My two cents.
Tehran's water shortage has become a lens through which the limits of Iran's developmental and administrative model are revealed. The capital's principal reservoirs (Karaj, Lar, Latyan, Mamloo, and Taleghan) have declined to levels that threaten urban stability. This depletion results from overlapping pressures: persistent drought, decades of over-extraction, and a policy framework that privileges short-term economic output over sustainable resource management. Industrial and agricultural expansion into semi-arid regions has intensified demand while outpacing the capacity of existing infrastructure. The crisis is therefore less an isolated ecological event than a structural feature of governance, shaped by the state's dependence on growth-oriented planning and the absence of coherent environmental regulation. The political repercussions extend beyond water management. Unequal distribution across neighborhoods reinforces class divisions within Tehran's urban fabric. Households in the city's periphery experience scarcity most acutely, transforming technical dysfunction into a visible sign of administrative inequality. Each episode of rationing or emergency relief amplifies the perception that state institutions lack the capacity to guarantee basic welfare. Environmental governance thus becomes a domain of political accountability to the extent that citizens interpret the management of water as a measure of fairness and authority. Tehran's water crisis discloses a broader tension within the Islamic Republic's social contract.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
duhe.bsky.social
“Mutations are directed but not Lamarckian”. Exciting stuff! @eesupdate.bsky.social #philbio www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
De novo rates of a Trypanosoma-resistant mutation in two human populations | PNAS
Mutation rates have long been measured as averages across many genomic positions. Recently, a method to measure the rates of individual mutations w...
www.pnas.org
November 9, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social
The hitchhiker’s guide to cross-species DNA delivery

@cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Spotlight by Kotaro Kiga and Rodrigo Ibarra-Chávez

www.cell.com/trends/micro...
The hitchhiker’s guide to cross-species DNA delivery
Microbial hitchhikers are rewriting the rules of horizontal gene transfer. He, Patkowski, et al. reveal how phage satellites assemble chimeric infective particles that deliver DNA across species bound...
www.cell.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Stuart Thompson
charliejgardner.bsky.social
In 1850 the weight of all the world's wild mammals equalled the weight of humans and our livestock

Today they are outweighed 1 to 20

Reconfiguring life on this planet to produce cheap meat and dairy

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 28, 2025 at 11:53 AM