Kenneth Wasmund
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kennethwasmund.bsky.social
Kenneth Wasmund
@kennethwasmund.bsky.social
240 followers 410 following 47 posts
Lecturer in Environmental Microbiology -- marine systems, wastewater; biodegradation; functional & microbiome genomics.

Big fan of the ocean, summer & sports!

https://sites.google.com/view/kenneth-wasmund/home
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Not just in American classrooms. And it’s been in discussion and implementation for 2-plus years now in many universities. The sort that are quite keen for their degrees to retain value for their students while we all navigate new AI landscapes.
November 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
alastairdunning.bsky.social
This is an astonishing story. Journal 'Science of the Total Environment' published *10,000 articles a year* Many were bogus.

Great summary of why our publication culture needs to be changed.
November 29, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
greenparty.org.uk
Hope is here.

Help us beat Reform in May. Donate today ⤵️
November 28, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
hansonmark.bsky.social
If Sci Rep, MDPI, etc... cannot guarantee a meaningful peer review process, can we please just delist them already @clarivate.com ? Why is academic publishing treated as "the highest rigour" when indexing of scientific journals is done by saying "website seems legit, they even say they peer review."
November 28, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
number10cat.bsky.social
Next time someone asks what's the matter with Musk's Twitter, show them this:
An account in India, amplifying a billionaire from South Africa being cheered by an Irish passport holder (using an alias) to encourage civil unrest in the UK.
November 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
nelani.bsky.social
PhD Opportunity: Advance UTI treatment with on-chip tech! 🔬🧫
Work at the microbiology-bioengineering interface with Hywel Morgan, @fnobrega.bsky.social and me.
Program EPSRC/MOD CISDnS CDT cisdns-cdt.ac.uk
Co-funded by IfLS Southampton
tinyurl.com/infoUTI
tinyurl.com/applyUTI
Deadline: 8 Dec 2025
Advancing urinary tract infection treatment through on-chip technological innovation at University of Southampton on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Advancing urinary tract infection treatment through on-chip technological innovation at University of Southampton, listed on FindAPhD.com
tinyurl.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
eikofried.bsky.social
70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons and whether attrition and displacement are correlated with the relative value of the teaspoons or type of tearoom. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Research institute ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 20, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.690213v1
November 25, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
They grow bacteria on those hairy arms and then lick the bacteria off for a delightful snack, isn't that gross and cool?
vireosy.bsky.social Emil L’Amour @vireosy.bsky.social · 7d
yeti crab

#art #sciart 🎨🦑🦀
Drawing of a yeti crab on a dark slate gray background. It is a white crustacean with long forearms covered in fine hairlike filaments, tinted somewhat teal as if seen from underwater.
November 24, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
daanspeth.bsky.social
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...

The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
GlobDB: a comprehensive species-dereplicated microbial genome resource
AbstractMotivation. Over the past years, substantial numbers of microbial species’ genomes have been deposited outside of conventional INSDC databases.Resu
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
dmain.bsky.social
Reading from AI summaries (via LLMs) rather than doing your own minimal reading impairs learning and produces shallower knowledge.

"...learning from LLM syntheses (vs. web links) can, at times, limit the development of deeper, more original knowledge."
🧪

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
November 17, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
jamesemcdonald.bsky.social
🧵 1/ New preprint alert! From the FUTURE OAK project, led by the super talented @alejandra1909.bsky.social

Large-scale culturing of the tree microbiome enables targeted disease suppression

Here's what we found... 👇

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Large-scale culturing of the tree microbiome enables targeted disease suppression
The tree microbiome is essential for host health and pathogen suppression. Synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) are emerging as important tools to understand microbiome dynamics and engineer micr...
www.biorxiv.org
November 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
jcamthrash.bsky.social
Multiheme selenoenzyme essential for elemental sulfur respiration www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #jcampubs
November 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
mossmatters.bsky.social
Update: the university is now allegedly offering compensation to faculty who move their exams because of a football game we're not even guaranteed to play in yet.
mossmatters.bsky.social Matt Johnson, PhD @mossmatters.bsky.social · 14d
Because the Big XII championship game is during final exams, our Provost suggests faculty choose from ideas including "exempt students from the exam" and "change your whole method of assessment" with 1 week notice

More than usual I'm feeling I work for a football team with a school on the side.
Exempt the final exam for students who have maintained a high average in the course. Give students a choice to adjust grading by weighting another exam more heavily or revising the grading schema. Contact [email redacted] for assistance with changes in RaiderCanvas. Replace the final exam with an alternative assignment that meets the course’s learning goals. Move the final exam online and consider a broader testing window. Continue with your scheduled exam time on Saturday, Dec. 6.
November 20, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
anne-daebeler.bsky.social
📢 Extra, extra: our collaborative study on trace gas oxidizers in a warmer soil is out as a preprint

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Big thanks to @thanh0109.bsky.social @bobpmleung.bsky.social @wutkowska.bsky.social @andreasrichter.bsky.social @mathildebio.bsky.social @greening.bsky.social

...
Soil trace gas oxidizers divergently respond to short- and long-term warming
The upland soil microbiome is dominated by aerobic bacteria that oxidize atmospheric trace gases, including CO, H2, and CH4. As a result, soils are the largest biological sink for these climate-active...
www.biorxiv.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
mollycrabapple.bsky.social
Hey authors! Check to see if Anthropic stole your book to train their slop generator on. You’re entitled to $1500 per stolen Work.

Look up your work, and if you’re in the database, file a claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
Submit a Claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
vdlorenzo.bsky.social
Despite the tidy maps found in textbooks, metabolism is still full of unresolved mysteries. Few people are better at uncovering these overlooked but essential puzzles than Antoine Danchin. Here here an analysis of the intriguing guanidine enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Metabolic Origin, Role and Fate of the Denaturant Guanidine
The origin of metabolic guanidine is largely a mystery. We suggest it is created when guanine-containing nucleotides are oxidised by molecular oxygen instead of being broken down into urea as purines....
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
zenothankyou.bsky.social
Every single thing I read in UK news is about some new form of cruelty and suffering to be meted out against asylum seekers/immigrants/trans people but everytime I'm actually in the UK I'm reminded of what a warm, welcoming, culturally vibrant place it actually is.
November 16, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'The HeatHub was developed by Thermify and is part of UK Power Networks' SHIELD project, external, which aims to come up with innovative ways for low-income households to transition to net zero.' 1/2
'I heat my Essex home with a data centre in the shed'
www.bbc.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
arzamasovalex.bsky.social
Very cool print demonstrating how variation in at TonB-dependent transporter repertoires shapes the ability of Bacteroides and Phocaeicola species to utilize fructooligosaccharides (FOS) of different chain lengths
November 16, 2025 at 1:48 AM
kennethwasmund.bsky.social
So Denmark already does that? Eesh...
georgemonbiot.bsky.social George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 16d
If the government really intends to seize jewellery and other valuables from refugees,
either
- it is staggeringly ignorant of the historical precedents
or
- it's aware of the precedents, and thinks, yeah, we'll have some of that.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
No 10 tells Labour MPs it expects support for tough new asylum policies
Some backbenchers already opposing planned immigration crackdown seen as ‘economically and culturally illiterate’
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
scurry.bsky.social
Regretfully (for the sake of the authors and journal staff), I have this morning declined an invitation to review for a @royalsociety.org journal because of the Society’s continued refusal to stand up for its values in dealing with Elon Musk FRS.
Text of letter reads: “With apologies to the authors and to the staff at Royal Society Open Science who are blameless in all this, but I am not willing to devote time to review a Royal Society that continues to honour Elon Musk with its fellowship. Mr Musk stands in clear breach of the code of conduct which applies to all Fellows. He runs one of the most voluminous sources of misinformation on the planet (his social media platform X), to which he personally contributes without any regard for the Society's values of truth and evidence. Moreover, as head of DOGE he presided gleefully over the dismantling of USAID, an action hat has already lead to the deaths of an estimated 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. In the coming years millions more will die because of his actions. I am truly sickened by the Royal Society's failure to sand up for its values or indeed for umanity. Until I see a clear demonstration that it is prepared to enforce its code of conduct, I cannot see myself devoting time to reviewing for the Society's journals. Yours faithfully, Stephen Curry” P.S. Please feel free to forward this communication to the President of the Royal Society
November 14, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
21group.bsky.social
Dundee Uni won ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ in 2024… then its principal resigned amid a £30m deficit that exposed serious financial mismanagement

THE awards are spin, branding & optics

They don't align with what's happening behind the scenes
November 14, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
symbiostoic.bsky.social
Submit your abstract to our ASLO–SIL 2026 session!
If your waters bubble, breathe, or burp, join SS002 – “Gassy Waters” to explore gas fluxes across the aquatic continuum.

See you in Montreal, 12–16 May 2026!

www.aslo.org/aslo-sil-2026

#ASLOSIL26
@aslo.org
@szndohrn.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted by Kenneth Wasmund
harriswang.bsky.social
Very excited to share our latest work in Science on metagenomic editing (MetaEdit) of the gut microbiome in vivo & directly modifying unculturable immune-modulatory SFB bug in the small intestine. 🦠🧬🛠️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Metagenomic editing of commensal bacteria in vivo using CRISPR-associated transposases
Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 8:53 PM