Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Jul 16

youtu.be/Vkv0vI6jCnM?...

Letter from NAS Members to the Honorable Senators and Representatives of the United States

YouTube video by Biochemistry Channel

youtu.be

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Jul 12

This Jungle Plant Is a Good Landlord to Its Tenant Ants www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/s...

This Jungle Plant Is a Good Landlord to Its Tenant Ants

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Sam Price @evovert.bsky.social · Jul 10

Call your senator TONIGHT or tomorrow morning if they are on the appropriations committee and encourage them to support the subcommittee recommendation - i just did!

Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · Jul 10

🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding.

Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24.

See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it.

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Subcommittee Markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

www.appropriations.senate.gov

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jul 10

Alexandria Declaration coming out from courageous NSF staff.

www.importantcontext.news/p/national-s...

I knew this was it in the works, but did not know the timing. Stay tuned...

National Science Foundation Workers to Issue “Alexandria Declaration” Decrying “Catastrophic Changes” Under Trump Administration

The new declaration echoes similar efforts from NIH and EPA.

www.importantcontext.news

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Jun 21

Such an amazing story about meiosis in pentaploid roses...
rdcu.be/esxPd

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Jun 6

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

Comparative population genomics of relictual Caribbean island Gossypium hirsutum

Gossypium hirsutum is the world's most important source of cotton fiber, yet the diversity and population structure of its wild forms remain largely unexplored. The complex domestication history of G....

www.biorxiv.org

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Jun 5

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Pangenome analysis reveals yield- and fiber-related diversity and interspecific gene flow in Gossypium barbadense L. - Nature Communications

Comparing to Gossypium hirsutum, G. barbadense cotton lines have superior fiber quality but lower fiber yield. Here, the authors construct pangenome using 12 newly assembled G. barbadense genomes and ...

doi.org

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Fay-Wei Li @fernway.bsky.social · Apr 9

Jacob Suissa and I wrote a #book about #ferns! It's beautifully illustrated by the amazing artist Laura Silburn. Will be released in May and you can preorder from Amazon. We hope this book could help you forget all the bad things happening on Earth right now. More here: mailchi.mp/btiscience/f...

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · May 26

Done; thanks for the link, Kelly

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · May 23

Your regular reminder that the entire global economy is subject to the whipsaw whims of a person who doesn’t understand how the global economy works

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

The Sainsbury Laboratory @thesainsburylab.bsky.social · May 22

Check out Tatsuya Nobori’s amazing Tansley Review in New Phytologist on exploring the untapped potential of single-cell and spatial omics in plant biology

www.tsl.ac.uk/news/emergin...

Emerging technologies to define the status of each cell in a plant

www.tsl.ac.uk

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · May 19

Harvard Paid $27 for a Copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It’s an Original. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/w...

Harvard Paid $27 for a Copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It’s an Original.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Irene Villa-Machío @irvilma.bsky.social · May 8

Explore how hybridisation drives biodiversity! New research shows recurrent hybridisation and HHS shape genetic diversity & create incipient hybrids in Iberian Phalacrocarpum 🌱⛰️
D. Criado, R. Piñeiro, @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social, and G. Nieto. @annbot.bsky.social

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

Homoploid hybrid speciation and recurrent hybridization along the northwestern Iberian mountain chain

AbstractBackground and Aims. Natural hybridisation can lead to diversification and adaptive introgression, among other outcomes. However, the mechanistic u

academic.oup.com

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · May 7

Polyploidy Conference: www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/evolution...
Registration deadline is fast approaching! (May 19th)

Evolutionary and ecological genomics of polyploidy in plants: temporal dynamics across scales of biological organization from molecules to ecosystems

Roscoff (Bretagne), France, September 15-19, 2025Deadline for application: May 5, 2025

www.insb.cnrs.fr

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Apr 17

Ugh…. Sigh…. Slump…. Cry a bit…

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Apr 17

Thanks for this series!

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · Apr 16

Steve Kerr: "I believe in academic freedom. I think it's crucial for all of our institutions to be able to handle their own business the way they want to. And they should not be shaken down and told what to teach, what to say, by our government. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Ben Ross @benross.bsky.social · Apr 16

Steve Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt after the Warriors’ win tonight: “Yes, this is me supporting Harvard. Way to go. Way to stand up to the bully.”

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Apr 14

Meh too!

Elinne Becket, PhD @bielleogy.bsky.social · Apr 14

I don't like the constant messaging that humans are *naturally* endurance runners. As an abled person who has clawed very hard for years (even being into fitness forever) to be a meh-pace runner, it sends a very... exasperating message that makes one want to give up.

Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Lena Struwe @drgentian.bsky.social · Apr 7

Possibly the largest dandelion in the world? I love it!

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · Apr 7

Mona Caron, contemporary Swiss-born artist, known for her large scale environmentally themed murals #WomensArt

Photo of a highrise building with a mural featuring a dandelion painted on the entire front covering many storeys

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Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Nature Plants @natplants.nature.com · Apr 7

New Article: "Phenotypic and genomic signatures across wild Rosa species open new horizons for modern rose breeding" rdcu.be/egIj3

With News & Views: "An evolutionary bouquet for roses" rdcu.be/egIkd

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Apr 2

Why we keep going
open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...

Why we keep going

Today thousands of health workers at the CDC and FDA lost their jobs—effective immediately.

open.substack.com

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Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Apr 1

@scottzona.bsky.social

Jonathan Wendel @jonathanfwendel.bsky.social · Apr 1

Alligator pepper? But I'm confused too, because I thought this was only West African in distribution.... Anyway, I love plant quizzes, so thanks!

Reposted by Jonathan Wendel

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · Apr 1

"This will go down as one of the darkest days in modern scientific history." Story on the decimation of NIH by @maxkozlov.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...?

‘One of the darkest days’: NIH purges agency leadership amid mass layoffs

In shock move, four institute directors at the US biomedical agency are removed from their posts.

www.nature.com

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