Colin Osborne
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colinplants.bsky.social
Colin Osborne
@colinplants.bsky.social
Plant scientist at the University of Sheffield. Science, sustainability, inclusion, running.
Sheffield people - join us on Weds for an evening of psychoactive crops - history, biology and art - it’s a heady mix festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2024/spiegel...
Holy Herbs and the Psychoactive Revolution - Festival of the Mind 2024
Artist Jessica Heywood, historian Professor Phil Withington and Professor Colin Osbourne discuss their art installation exploring the botanical dimensions of Europe’s psychoactive revolution between t...
festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk
September 21, 2024 at 6:38 AM
Science would be so much more pleasurable to read if we could revive introductions like this - why shouldn’t science be a little more poetic?
September 4, 2024 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
I asked my first year #botany students to find botanical anomalies in movies, comics, book, etc.

And WOW, they found a LOT!

Some of my highlights:
May 9, 2024 at 8:52 AM
Modern wheats differ quantitatively in many ways from their wild relatives - but when did these differences arise? New paper with Yixiang Shan uses a comparative approach to map these changes.

academic.oup.com/aob/advance-...

1/2
Diversification of quantitative morphological traits in wheat
AbstractBackground and Aims. The development and morphology of crop plants have been profoundly altered by evolution under cultivation, initially through uncons
academic.oup.com
March 19, 2024 at 4:22 PM
Sorry to hear about the passing of Neil Baker, a pioneer in photosynthesis research. Chlorophyll fluorescence approaches we now take for granted are based on his work www.essex.ac.uk/blog/posts/2...
Professor Neil Baker | Blog | University of Essex
Neil was the Head of our School of Biological and Chemical Sciences between 1996 and 2001. He was an internationally renowned scientist and the work he did around fluorescence analysis of photosynthes...
www.essex.ac.uk
March 8, 2024 at 2:29 PM
Come work with us!

We're hiring two postdoc research fellows working broadly on nature-based climate solutions, including mitigation and natural sinks.

If you'd like to chat about these, please get in touch.

tinyurl.com/mt8stvmr

@sheffieldpps.bsky.social @sheffielduni.bsky.social
February 26, 2024 at 9:37 AM
Standing room only for Merlin Sheldrake’s talk today - lots of love for soil fungi here in Sheffield @sheffieldpps.bsky.social
February 20, 2024 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
🥳This paper from Besiana Sinanaj’s PhD on role of diverse symbiotic 🍄 in plant nutrition was published in @funecology.bsky.social today: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... It's her last day with us in Sheffield so this is a lovely farewell & thanks! short 🧵…
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2435.14516
Wiley Online Library requires cookies for authentication and use of other site features; therefore, cookies must be enabled to browse the site. Detailed information on how Wiley uses cookies can be fo...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 6, 2024 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
A Saturday mycorrhizal treat - I'm so pleased to share our latest findings from our research into the interactions between plants, mycorrhizal fungi and parasitic nematodes in
@NatureComms, open access link to the article here: rdcu.be/dw3NU
January 27, 2024 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
📜 Early human selection of crops’ wild progenitors explains the acquisitive physiology of modern cultivars

🧑‍🔬 Alicia Gómez-Fernández, Rubén Milla, et al.

📔 @natureplants.bsky.social

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#️⃣ (Feeds) #PlantScience #Crops #Agriculture #PlantBreeding #HumanSelection
Early human selection of crops’ wild progenitors explains the acquisitive physiology of modern cul...
In this study, Gómez-Fernández and colleagues show that crops were selected from wild progenitors with productive ecophysiological traits, conflicting with the hypothesis that these resource-acquisi...
www.nature.com
January 29, 2024 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
It's come a long way,
But it's here to stay.
A constraint on the sensitivity of GPP to CO2.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 29, 2023 at 6:55 AM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
The origins of maize were the subject of controversy for well over a century. Even in the 1950's botanists like Edgar Anderson weren't totally sure what continent it came from!

We published today a new model for maize origins (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...). Let me tell you how we got here. 1/
November 30, 2023 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
Pretty amazing graphical abstract of a vascular plant anatomy class
Students are allowed two notecards for exams - look at this one
November 26, 2023 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
The Royal Society intends to deliver a new mid-career Fellowship, funded by a £250 million Government endowment. To be launched in 2024, the Faraday Discovery Fellowships, will support scientists to pursue discovery-led ground-breaking #STEM research:
royalsociety.org/news/2023/11...
£250 million endowment for new Royal Society Fellowships | Royal Society
The Royal Society intends to deliver a new mid-career Fellowship, funded by a £250 million endowment from Government. The funding will support outstanding researchers and scientists for up to ten yea...
royalsociety.org
November 23, 2023 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
Few days to apply and become an integral part of our team @BlackInPlantSci . We are looking for a coordinator. All guidance for how to apply are at the university website. jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?r…
We need you!#communitycoordinatoror. Please share
Current Vacancies - Jobs at the University of Leeds
Vacancies
https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?r…
November 24, 2023 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Colin Osborne
In her webiner today, Amanda pointed out that she has opportunities for two postdocs. She's wonderful - a real gem. Great work too!
🚨PLEASE SHARE! 🚨
We are advertising 2 postdoc positions to join our RIPE project team at the University of Essex! Full details and application can be found here: bit.ly/47rSQdY
November 20, 2023 at 4:52 PM