John Manners
@jmaus.bsky.social
People Science Plants Planet Art Nature
Turns out we can harness apomixis to develop self-reproducing sorghum hybrids. Our newly published paper with Corteva Agriscience @cortevaagriscience.bsky.social
Paper available in Plant Biotechnology Journal today: doi.org/10.1111/pbi.... 🧪
Paper available in Plant Biotechnology Journal today: doi.org/10.1111/pbi.... 🧪
November 6, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Sugarcane has the most complex genome of all crops. New genomics paper reveals origins including mysterious unknown ancestors. ‘The genomic footprints of wild Saccharum species trace domestication, diversification, and modern breeding of sugarcane’ Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... #plantscience 🧪
The genomic footprints of wild Saccharum species trace domestication, diversification, and modern breeding of sugarcane
Genomic analyses of 390 accessions reveal the domestication history of highly polyploid
sugarcane and the wild contributors to its diversification and to modern cultivars.
www.cell.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Sugarcane has the most complex genome of all crops. New genomics paper reveals origins including mysterious unknown ancestors. ‘The genomic footprints of wild Saccharum species trace domestication, diversification, and modern breeding of sugarcane’ Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... #plantscience 🧪
Sadly I heard today that Jim Peacock has died. Jim was the foremost pioneer of plant molecular biology in Australia & globally. He was both my mentor and friend and will be sorely missed by many #plantscience 🧪 www.science.org.au/news-and-eve...
Academy farewells champion of Australian science
Dr Jim Peacock AC, former Academy President, made outstanding contributions to Australian science. The Australian Academy of Science is saddened to learn of the passing of its former President and
www.science.org.au
October 22, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Sadly I heard today that Jim Peacock has died. Jim was the foremost pioneer of plant molecular biology in Australia & globally. He was both my mentor and friend and will be sorely missed by many #plantscience 🧪 www.science.org.au/news-and-eve...
Reposted by John Manners
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...
It IS alarming - but not surprising. I was talking about this in the early 1990s and told I was exaggerating - still, if we can even save 0.5degC it’s worth it
It IS alarming - but not surprising. I was talking about this in the early 1990s and told I was exaggerating - still, if we can even save 0.5degC it’s worth it
Australia’s horrifying climate future in four charts – and how we can avoid the worst
Maps released by the Australian Climate Service show just how bad things will get for heatwaves, drought and coastal flooding
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 2:30 AM
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se...
It IS alarming - but not surprising. I was talking about this in the early 1990s and told I was exaggerating - still, if we can even save 0.5degC it’s worth it
It IS alarming - but not surprising. I was talking about this in the early 1990s and told I was exaggerating - still, if we can even save 0.5degC it’s worth it
Cirque du Soleil’s stunning Corteo production currently touring Australia - check it out and wonder at what an amazing spectacle trusting teams of acrobats can create #acrobats #circus #gymnastics
September 23, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Cirque du Soleil’s stunning Corteo production currently touring Australia - check it out and wonder at what an amazing spectacle trusting teams of acrobats can create #acrobats #circus #gymnastics
Sad news. Plant science has lost a global champion with the passing of Steve Long. His recent work on engineering enhanced photosynthesis portends future breakthroughs in crop yield and food security. Here is a tribute from the Uni Essex where started 🧪 #plantscience www.essex.ac.uk/blog/staff/p...
Tribute to Professor Steve Long | Blog | University of Essex
Professor Steve Long was a visionary scientist. His research helped shape our understanding of fundamental plant biology and the long-term impacts of climate change on plant productivity, with wide-ra...
www.essex.ac.uk
September 20, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Sad news. Plant science has lost a global champion with the passing of Steve Long. His recent work on engineering enhanced photosynthesis portends future breakthroughs in crop yield and food security. Here is a tribute from the Uni Essex where started 🧪 #plantscience www.essex.ac.uk/blog/staff/p...
Some useful suggestions here for how best communicate and hold a conversation about the importance of science with diverse audiences 🧪 #plantscience #climate particle.scitech.org.au/people/scien...
Science communication is a conversation, not a script | Particle
How science is told matters as much as what it says.
particle.scitech.org.au
September 19, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Some useful suggestions here for how best communicate and hold a conversation about the importance of science with diverse audiences 🧪 #plantscience #climate particle.scitech.org.au/people/scien...
Get some botany into your vaccine via a soap-bark tree based adjuvant #plantscience 🧪 🌿 observer.co.uk/news/science...
Botanists unlock the Chilean medical marvel that Charles ...
Vaccine properties of the soapbark tree to be cultivated in days rather than years by new process
observer.co.uk
September 17, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Get some botany into your vaccine via a soap-bark tree based adjuvant #plantscience 🧪 🌿 observer.co.uk/news/science...
Reposted by John Manners
Are we blind to the life that keeps our world alive? 🌿🌱🧪
Plant blindness is shaping how we see (or don’t see) the natural world.
Plant blindness is shaping how we see (or don’t see) the natural world.
September 3, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Are we blind to the life that keeps our world alive? 🌿🌱🧪
Plant blindness is shaping how we see (or don’t see) the natural world.
Plant blindness is shaping how we see (or don’t see) the natural world.
Let science set you free 🧪 www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Kathleen Folbigg on her wrongful conviction and how the truth — and science — freed her
After being exonerated for the deaths of her four infant children, Kathleen Folbigg is adjusting to life after 20 years wrongfully imprisoned — thanks to the enduring support of her lifelong friend an...
www.abc.net.au
September 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Let science set you free 🧪 www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Reposted by John Manners
Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It’s time to lift living standards for all | Cassandra Goldie
Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It’s time to lift living standards for all | Cassandra Goldie
We cannot improve productivity without closing tax loopholes, recognising overseas qualifications and tackling ableism, racism and ageism
*
One Big Idea is a series on how to transform Australia’s economy in the lead-up to Jim Chalmers’ economic roundtable
Discussions about productivity cannot be separated from discussions about the kind of society we want to live in and whose living standards we are trying to lift. We must address Australia’s growing inequality which is one of the major causes of weak productivity and declining living standards in Australia. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
August 19, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It’s time to lift living standards for all | Cassandra Goldie
India drops its 66% tariff on imported Australian chickpeas to just 10%, opening up this massive export market again for Australian farmers #plantscience 🧪 🌿🪴https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-04/australian-chickpeas-boom-as-indian-market-returns/105538646?utm_source=abc_news_app
Farmers go all in on chickpeas as Indian market reopens
Australian growers are planting large crops of chickpeas encouraged by a stabilised trade relationship with India.
www.abc.net.au
August 4, 2025 at 1:36 AM
India drops its 66% tariff on imported Australian chickpeas to just 10%, opening up this massive export market again for Australian farmers #plantscience 🧪 🌿🪴https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-04/australian-chickpeas-boom-as-indian-market-returns/105538646?utm_source=abc_news_app
Tribute to Joanne Chory just published in PNAS - a wonderful plant scientist and woman. I saw her present at a few conferences and met her once. As we chatted I learnt so much about using Arabidopsis for the dissection of hormone signalling #plantscience 🧪
Jennifer Nemhauser’s and my tribute to our amazing friend and mentor, the extraordinary Joanne Chory.
Read about our personal and professional reminiscences. Thanks to all who provided background for this.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Read about our personal and professional reminiscences. Thanks to all who provided background for this.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Joanne Chory (1955–2024): Plant geneticist extraordinaire | PNAS
Joanne Chory (1955–2024) was a pioneering biologist whose research transformed our
understanding of plant growth and development. Her groundbreakin...
www.pnas.org
July 24, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Tribute to Joanne Chory just published in PNAS - a wonderful plant scientist and woman. I saw her present at a few conferences and met her once. As we chatted I learnt so much about using Arabidopsis for the dissection of hormone signalling #plantscience 🧪
Genuine question - what would you include in a playlist for a local community climate change action group party - so far I have got Tracy Chapman’s song ‘Change’ - any more suggestions welcome #climatechange #climate 🧪 m.youtube.com/watch?v=bukX...
Tracy Chapman - Change (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Tracy Chapman
m.youtube.com
July 22, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Genuine question - what would you include in a playlist for a local community climate change action group party - so far I have got Tracy Chapman’s song ‘Change’ - any more suggestions welcome #climatechange #climate 🧪 m.youtube.com/watch?v=bukX...
Reposted by John Manners
Neil at Glasto 2025
NEIL YOUNG 2025.06.28 Glastonbury Music Festival
This is "NEIL YOUNG 2025.06.28 Glastonbury Music Festival" by JoeRay Skrha on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.
vimeo.com
June 29, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Neil at Glasto 2025
The world’s biggest plant might surprise you. It’s not a massive tree but a seagrass found in Western Australia and it’s very very old. #plantscience 🧪 www.uwa.edu.au/news/article...
Largest known plant on earth discovered at Shark Bay and it's 4,500 years old
Researchers from UWA and Flinders University have located what is believed to be the largest plant in the world – an ancient and incredibly resilient seagrass stretching across 180km that is estimated...
www.uwa.edu.au
June 21, 2025 at 1:13 AM
The world’s biggest plant might surprise you. It’s not a massive tree but a seagrass found in Western Australia and it’s very very old. #plantscience 🧪 www.uwa.edu.au/news/article...
Just visited the Taman Negara National Park in Peninsular Malaysia & went out with the team conserving the critically endangered Malayan Tiger. Now down to only 150 adults - despite poachers and habitat loss the heroic team are optimistic & so committed - hope & despair m.youtube.com/watch?v=BOLl...
Camera Trap Footage – Malayan Tigers
YouTube video by World Wildlife Fund
m.youtube.com
May 29, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Just visited the Taman Negara National Park in Peninsular Malaysia & went out with the team conserving the critically endangered Malayan Tiger. Now down to only 150 adults - despite poachers and habitat loss the heroic team are optimistic & so committed - hope & despair m.youtube.com/watch?v=BOLl...
New paper showing that genomic prediction for crop breeding using genome sequence and trait inputs can be greatly enhanced by co-analysis of environmental and transcriptome data. #plantscience 🧪 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40395282/
Incorporating gene expression and environment for genomic prediction in wheat - PubMed
Our results show there is a predictive advantage to direct inclusion of the transcriptome for genomic evaluation in wheat breeding for traits where <i>G</i> × <i>E</i> is a factor. However, the comple...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
May 26, 2025 at 1:21 AM
New paper showing that genomic prediction for crop breeding using genome sequence and trait inputs can be greatly enhanced by co-analysis of environmental and transcriptome data. #plantscience 🧪 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40395282/
Reposted by John Manners
Maybe it's called a corpse flower because that's a dead ballerina stuffed in a bucket.
May 23, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Maybe it's called a corpse flower because that's a dead ballerina stuffed in a bucket.
Plant nostalgia from the Singapore Botanical Garden. Founding Director HN Ridley imported 22 seeds of the rubber tree from Kew Gardens in 1877 and in 1905 perfected the herringbone method of tapping latex. By 1917, his team had provided >7 million seeds for the new Malayan industry #plantscience 🧪
May 23, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Plant nostalgia from the Singapore Botanical Garden. Founding Director HN Ridley imported 22 seeds of the rubber tree from Kew Gardens in 1877 and in 1905 perfected the herringbone method of tapping latex. By 1917, his team had provided >7 million seeds for the new Malayan industry #plantscience 🧪
Check out these well researched and written chapters if you are interested in how we got to where we are in modern plant biology #plantscience 🧪
Over the last couple of years I have been writing individual chapters of what I call
𝗔 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
Each chapter covers a specific, basic, but for some reason special and interesting aspect of #PlantScience research.
Have a look here 👇🧵
𝗔 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
Each chapter covers a specific, basic, but for some reason special and interesting aspect of #PlantScience research.
Have a look here 👇🧵
May 18, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Check out these well researched and written chapters if you are interested in how we got to where we are in modern plant biology #plantscience 🧪
Latest carbon dioxide concentrations from air samples at CSIRO Cape Grim site released today - via LinkedIn post below #climatechange 🧪 www.linkedin.com/posts/csiro_...
#kennaookcapegrimco2update | CSIRO
We've released the latest greenhouse gas data from one of the cleanest air sources in the world.
Kennaook / Cape Grim is a world-famous atmospheric gas monitoring station managed by us and the Bu...
www.linkedin.com
May 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Latest carbon dioxide concentrations from air samples at CSIRO Cape Grim site released today - via LinkedIn post below #climatechange 🧪 www.linkedin.com/posts/csiro_...
A beautiful Coastal Carpet Python (Morelia spilota mcdowwelli) soaking up the sun on the pool box this morning. Looks like it has eaten something big recently - checked the pets and it’s not one of ours. Hopefully it will move on once it has finished digesting #snakes 🧪
May 13, 2025 at 12:13 AM
A beautiful Coastal Carpet Python (Morelia spilota mcdowwelli) soaking up the sun on the pool box this morning. Looks like it has eaten something big recently - checked the pets and it’s not one of ours. Hopefully it will move on once it has finished digesting #snakes 🧪
Visiting the the 🇦🇺Gold Coast? Take the 30 min drive to Murwillumbah in NSW to the Tweed Regional Gallery. It has a stunning Margaret Olley collection and reconstruction of her Sydney home & btw also Monet’s Haystack😲. Views across the caldera to Wollumbin and riverside dining at The River House
May 8, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Visiting the the 🇦🇺Gold Coast? Take the 30 min drive to Murwillumbah in NSW to the Tweed Regional Gallery. It has a stunning Margaret Olley collection and reconstruction of her Sydney home & btw also Monet’s Haystack😲. Views across the caldera to Wollumbin and riverside dining at The River House
India approves two gene-edited rice varieties with improved salinity and drought tolerance. Heralding a new era of modern plant breeding in this major staple crop - article in Nature as below #plantscience 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d44... as
India approves first genome-edited rice varieties
Using CRISPR-Cas9, scientists have developed high-yield, stress-tolerant, climate-resilient rice varieties free of foreign DNA
www.nature.com
May 5, 2025 at 11:48 PM
India approves two gene-edited rice varieties with improved salinity and drought tolerance. Heralding a new era of modern plant breeding in this major staple crop - article in Nature as below #plantscience 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d44... as