Nirodha Weeraratne
@nirodhaweeraratne.bsky.social
PostDoc 👩🏾🔬 🔬🦠 🧫 🍄🍄🟫 🌾
Plant-soil-microbial interactions & tertiary education in agriculture.
#fungi #bacteria #microbiomes #biofilms
#bioinoculants #biocontrol #biopesticides
🇱🇰 🇦🇺 1stGen 👩🏾🌾👩👦💃 multicultural foodie, language nerd, movie buff, thalassophile.
Plant-soil-microbial interactions & tertiary education in agriculture.
#fungi #bacteria #microbiomes #biofilms
#bioinoculants #biocontrol #biopesticides
🇱🇰 🇦🇺 1stGen 👩🏾🌾👩👦💃 multicultural foodie, language nerd, movie buff, thalassophile.
Pinned
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
#straya
Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes - Nature Methods
By developing a strategy of metagenomic coassembly and prioritizing divergent marker gene sequences, Bin Chicken efficiently recovers more than 77,000 microbial genomes with high novel diversity, ther...
www.nature.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:23 AM
#straya
Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bin Chicken: targeted metagenomic coassembly for the efficient recovery of novel genomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
The journal’s version of a paper that has already been preprinted and QEDed.
November 7, 2025 at 8:14 AM
The journal’s version of a paper that has already been preprinted and QEDed.
😃 Super excited to kickstart a conversation on #BioSolutions tomorrow.
🌏 At #DAS25 we'll explore the current landscape of #biological #AgInnovations in Australia & discuss sector limitations, gaps, opportunities, pathways & priorities for R&D & extension.
@gulbali-institute.bsky.social @csu.edu.au
🌏 At #DAS25 we'll explore the current landscape of #biological #AgInnovations in Australia & discuss sector limitations, gaps, opportunities, pathways & priorities for R&D & extension.
@gulbali-institute.bsky.social @csu.edu.au
November 4, 2025 at 9:56 AM
😃 Super excited to kickstart a conversation on #BioSolutions tomorrow.
🌏 At #DAS25 we'll explore the current landscape of #biological #AgInnovations in Australia & discuss sector limitations, gaps, opportunities, pathways & priorities for R&D & extension.
@gulbali-institute.bsky.social @csu.edu.au
🌏 At #DAS25 we'll explore the current landscape of #biological #AgInnovations in Australia & discuss sector limitations, gaps, opportunities, pathways & priorities for R&D & extension.
@gulbali-institute.bsky.social @csu.edu.au
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
📢Available position: Postdoc in Fungal Ecology and Evolution. Application deadline: 20 November 2025. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/384592
Postdoc in Fungal Ecology and Evolution
We are inviting applications for a postdoctoral researcher to support the Laboratory of Fungal Ecology and Evolution, and join our project studying obligatory multitrophic interactions. Project Overvi...
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
November 1, 2025 at 4:52 PM
📢Available position: Postdoc in Fungal Ecology and Evolution. Application deadline: 20 November 2025. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/384592
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
What looked like a hearing organ on a tiny stinkbug’s leg turned out to be something far stranger: a fungal nursery that mother bugs use to coat their newly laid eggs in protective symbiotic hyphae, shielding their offspring from parasitic wasps.
Learn more in Science: https://scim.ag/4nDrDNm
Learn more in Science: https://scim.ag/4nDrDNm
![(A) An adult female in the field on Sicyos angulatus. (B) Back view of an adult female reared on cucumber, whose hindleg organs are covered with fungal hyphae (arrowheads). (C) Magnified image of the hindleg organ. (D to L) Morphology of hind tibia of adult male [(D) to (F)], immature adult female [(G) to (I)], and mature adult female [(J) to (L)]. [(D), (G), and (I)] Brightfield images. [(E), (H), and (K)] Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. [(F), (I), and (L)] Magnified SEM images. (M to O) Peculiar behavior of egg-laying adult female. After laying each egg (M), the female rhythmically scratches the hyphae-covered hindleg organ with tarsal claws of the opposite hindleg (N) and then rubs the egg surface with the claws in a skillful manner (O). Also see movie S1. (P to R) Egg mass covered with fungal hyphae at 0-day (P), 3-day (Q), and 10-day (R) intervals after oviposition. Reddish color of 10-day eggs reflects the body color of developing nymphs inside.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vqgovau5gkirnk3ss5qwjdmz/bafkreiatozcclrv3q5pr2susooiojtvkwr6kwnd22hwxh3ijzh7lpi276q@jpeg)
November 1, 2025 at 9:14 PM
What looked like a hearing organ on a tiny stinkbug’s leg turned out to be something far stranger: a fungal nursery that mother bugs use to coat their newly laid eggs in protective symbiotic hyphae, shielding their offspring from parasitic wasps.
Learn more in Science: https://scim.ag/4nDrDNm
Learn more in Science: https://scim.ag/4nDrDNm
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
This week's @nature.com cover highlights a report of A.I.- mediated distortion
When #ChatGPT was asked to rate 40,000 résumés, it ranked the older male candidates as better quality than the younger female applicants nature.com/articles/s41...
When #ChatGPT was asked to rate 40,000 résumés, it ranked the older male candidates as better quality than the younger female applicants nature.com/articles/s41...
November 2, 2025 at 6:12 PM
This week's @nature.com cover highlights a report of A.I.- mediated distortion
When #ChatGPT was asked to rate 40,000 résumés, it ranked the older male candidates as better quality than the younger female applicants nature.com/articles/s41...
When #ChatGPT was asked to rate 40,000 résumés, it ranked the older male candidates as better quality than the younger female applicants nature.com/articles/s41...
What's more scary than ghosts & ghouls in your line of work?
🎃 restructuring
🤡 intern let loose
🧛♂️ boss "helping" lab/field work
👽 data saved only (somewhere) in the cloud
👻 highly - cited "paper-mill" article
#HappyHalloween #FridayFun
🎃 restructuring
🤡 intern let loose
🧛♂️ boss "helping" lab/field work
👽 data saved only (somewhere) in the cloud
👻 highly - cited "paper-mill" article
#HappyHalloween #FridayFun
October 31, 2025 at 10:50 AM
What's more scary than ghosts & ghouls in your line of work?
🎃 restructuring
🤡 intern let loose
🧛♂️ boss "helping" lab/field work
👽 data saved only (somewhere) in the cloud
👻 highly - cited "paper-mill" article
#HappyHalloween #FridayFun
🎃 restructuring
🤡 intern let loose
🧛♂️ boss "helping" lab/field work
👽 data saved only (somewhere) in the cloud
👻 highly - cited "paper-mill" article
#HappyHalloween #FridayFun
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning
Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
👩🏾🔬 I am excited to expand my engagement with #microbes to the next level as the Science Lead for Charles Sturt Uni AgriPark - Elders #BioSolutions Innovations and Knowledge Hub.
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Looking forward to mediating uni & industry #R&D collaborations on plant- microbe- soil- animal- seaweed- interactions.
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Looking forward to mediating uni & industry #R&D collaborations on plant- microbe- soil- animal- seaweed- interactions.
October 28, 2025 at 4:14 AM
👩🏾🔬 I am excited to expand my engagement with #microbes to the next level as the Science Lead for Charles Sturt Uni AgriPark - Elders #BioSolutions Innovations and Knowledge Hub.
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Looking forward to mediating uni & industry #R&D collaborations on plant- microbe- soil- animal- seaweed- interactions.
🫱🏻🫲🏾 Looking forward to mediating uni & industry #R&D collaborations on plant- microbe- soil- animal- seaweed- interactions.
Excellent analysis by @vanbadham.bsky.social delving into the realities of 21st-century workplace which operates in the cultural & administrative framework of 1950s.
I have personally experienced & felt the same in 🇦🇺 academia that is stubbornly stuck in a bygone era in many aspects.
I have personally experienced & felt the same in 🇦🇺 academia that is stubbornly stuck in a bygone era in many aspects.
Westpac’s work-from-home complaint was a cultural miff that doesn’t resonate in today’s Australia | Van Badham
Westpac’s work-from-home complaint was a cultural miff that doesn’t resonate in today’s Australia | Van Badham
Women who manage to perform their jobs well while caring for children should get a bloody medal, not a trip to Fair Work
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A decision made by the Fair Work Commission in a work-from-home judgment last week has established a potentially transformational precedent for the Australian workplace.
Friends, Fair Work has recognised that the Australian workplace of 2025 is not the workplace of 1980s and, oh boy, some corporate types sure are wetting their pants about it. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Excellent analysis by @vanbadham.bsky.social delving into the realities of 21st-century workplace which operates in the cultural & administrative framework of 1950s.
I have personally experienced & felt the same in 🇦🇺 academia that is stubbornly stuck in a bygone era in many aspects.
I have personally experienced & felt the same in 🇦🇺 academia that is stubbornly stuck in a bygone era in many aspects.
Just as we thought the little baby 🐣 Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) 🐦⬛ have left the nest, they're back to shelter from the storms! ⛈️
October 26, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Just as we thought the little baby 🐣 Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) 🐦⬛ have left the nest, they're back to shelter from the storms! ⛈️
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
Disappearing jewels. Today’s Age cartoon
October 25, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Disappearing jewels. Today’s Age cartoon
It was a race against the storm ⛈️ yesterday in Pira 🇦🇺 recording weeds in wheat, but we managed to cover >600 sampling points in 2 days! 💪🏽
That brings an end to this season's weed mapping 🛰 blitz that ran over the last 8 weeks.
So proud of my team's dedication to gathering the most accurate data. 👩🏾💻
That brings an end to this season's weed mapping 🛰 blitz that ran over the last 8 weeks.
So proud of my team's dedication to gathering the most accurate data. 👩🏾💻
October 22, 2025 at 8:32 AM
It was a race against the storm ⛈️ yesterday in Pira 🇦🇺 recording weeds in wheat, but we managed to cover >600 sampling points in 2 days! 💪🏽
That brings an end to this season's weed mapping 🛰 blitz that ran over the last 8 weeks.
So proud of my team's dedication to gathering the most accurate data. 👩🏾💻
That brings an end to this season's weed mapping 🛰 blitz that ran over the last 8 weeks.
So proud of my team's dedication to gathering the most accurate data. 👩🏾💻
Picked this from the dark side. Donald VIC 🇦🇺 and the surrounding is a prime agricultural production region and has millions of ag R & D dollars invested there.
I can't fathom how much damage this rare earth mineral mining will cause to food & water security, environment, and biodiversity assets.
I can't fathom how much damage this rare earth mineral mining will cause to food & water security, environment, and biodiversity assets.
October 20, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Picked this from the dark side. Donald VIC 🇦🇺 and the surrounding is a prime agricultural production region and has millions of ag R & D dollars invested there.
I can't fathom how much damage this rare earth mineral mining will cause to food & water security, environment, and biodiversity assets.
I can't fathom how much damage this rare earth mineral mining will cause to food & water security, environment, and biodiversity assets.
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
Save the date!
🗓️ Thu 30 Oct, 12pm AEDT/2pm NZDT
Our October seminar will feature Dr. Yi Ding from the University of Sydney on plant-fungal interactions in crops!
Free registration (donations welcome)
@plant-pathogens.bsky.social
www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com/post/october...
🗓️ Thu 30 Oct, 12pm AEDT/2pm NZDT
Our October seminar will feature Dr. Yi Ding from the University of Sydney on plant-fungal interactions in crops!
Free registration (donations welcome)
@plant-pathogens.bsky.social
www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com/post/october...
October 2025 AMS virtual seminar: Dr. Yi Ding, on fungal plant pathogens!
We invite you to attend our upcoming AMS virtual seminar. This month, we're excited to feature Dr. Yi Ding, a Lecturer and a Research Fellow in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the Uni...
www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Save the date!
🗓️ Thu 30 Oct, 12pm AEDT/2pm NZDT
Our October seminar will feature Dr. Yi Ding from the University of Sydney on plant-fungal interactions in crops!
Free registration (donations welcome)
@plant-pathogens.bsky.social
www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com/post/october...
🗓️ Thu 30 Oct, 12pm AEDT/2pm NZDT
Our October seminar will feature Dr. Yi Ding from the University of Sydney on plant-fungal interactions in crops!
Free registration (donations welcome)
@plant-pathogens.bsky.social
www.australasianmycologicalsociety.com/post/october...
Re(-new, -gain, -structure)
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
rm -rf ~/
rm -rf ~/
"The chancellor approved it"
October 14, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Re(-new, -gain, -structure)
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
'All three awards (...) honored achievements rooted in fundamental research from decades ago. Some experts interpret the selections by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as representing the importance of slow, basic science, work pursued out of a desire to better understand the world.'
Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:49 AM
'All three awards (...) honored achievements rooted in fundamental research from decades ago. Some experts interpret the selections by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as representing the importance of slow, basic science, work pursued out of a desire to better understand the world.'
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
3️⃣ PhD (Field Ecology & Plant Health in Diverse Communities) 🪴 🌾
Investigating ecological patterns of plant–pathogen interactions in the field to uncover the “underground rules” of community resilience. 🔗 Vacancy link www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...
Investigating ecological patterns of plant–pathogen interactions in the field to uncover the “underground rules” of community resilience. 🔗 Vacancy link www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...
PhD Position - Uncovering the underground rules of plant health and community resilience (ERC Advanced Grant DIGDEEP)
www.wur.nl
October 7, 2025 at 9:06 AM
3️⃣ PhD (Field Ecology & Plant Health in Diverse Communities) 🪴 🌾
Investigating ecological patterns of plant–pathogen interactions in the field to uncover the “underground rules” of community resilience. 🔗 Vacancy link www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...
Investigating ecological patterns of plant–pathogen interactions in the field to uncover the “underground rules” of community resilience. 🔗 Vacancy link www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...
It's gnomes galore at Commonwealth Park, but only 10 very special 'sciency gnomes' 🧙♂️ to find! 🔎
Thanks for this great 🌷 display themed 'Science & Nature', #Floriade2025 Canberra.
Thanks for this great 🌷 display themed 'Science & Nature', #Floriade2025 Canberra.
October 6, 2025 at 4:54 AM
It's gnomes galore at Commonwealth Park, but only 10 very special 'sciency gnomes' 🧙♂️ to find! 🔎
Thanks for this great 🌷 display themed 'Science & Nature', #Floriade2025 Canberra.
Thanks for this great 🌷 display themed 'Science & Nature', #Floriade2025 Canberra.
In the bubble for a little while
October 5, 2025 at 11:54 AM
In the bubble for a little while
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
YES! THIS on GenAI!
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Large Language Muddle | The Editors
The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...
www.nplusonemag.com
September 29, 2025 at 7:07 PM
YES! THIS on GenAI!
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:
"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."
🌾Cereal #agronomy and #pathology field day jointly organised by NSW DPIRD (formerly NSW DPI) Agronomy & Pathology team with @csu.edu.au cereal #phenology and #physiology researchers.
September 29, 2025 at 11:16 AM
🌾Cereal #agronomy and #pathology field day jointly organised by NSW DPIRD (formerly NSW DPI) Agronomy & Pathology team with @csu.edu.au cereal #phenology and #physiology researchers.
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
For their first project, my Kids and Society students have to create an infographic clarifying a common misconception about "kids these days." I'd prefer that they not use AI to create their projects, so I made my own infographic explaining why : )
September 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM
For their first project, my Kids and Society students have to create an infographic clarifying a common misconception about "kids these days." I'd prefer that they not use AI to create their projects, so I made my own infographic explaining why : )
Reposted by Nirodha Weeraratne
Our research on Microsoft’s data centers is out and it’s 😬
💡Huge energy demand (as much as New England by 2030!)
⛽️ Fossil fuel reliance (most data centers in states with ≥50% FF grids)
🏫Local impacts (data centers used to justify more gas)
Learn more and take action: stand.earth/microsoft-ai
💡Huge energy demand (as much as New England by 2030!)
⛽️ Fossil fuel reliance (most data centers in states with ≥50% FF grids)
🏫Local impacts (data centers used to justify more gas)
Learn more and take action: stand.earth/microsoft-ai
September 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Our research on Microsoft’s data centers is out and it’s 😬
💡Huge energy demand (as much as New England by 2030!)
⛽️ Fossil fuel reliance (most data centers in states with ≥50% FF grids)
🏫Local impacts (data centers used to justify more gas)
Learn more and take action: stand.earth/microsoft-ai
💡Huge energy demand (as much as New England by 2030!)
⛽️ Fossil fuel reliance (most data centers in states with ≥50% FF grids)
🏫Local impacts (data centers used to justify more gas)
Learn more and take action: stand.earth/microsoft-ai