Ten of us!!! Lazy river takeover by the Johnson Lab

From Palm Springs pool to Alabama bog that would be a dream team for sure!

If you need someone to ID the mosses I know a guy…

You’ve heard of Moon Joy, but have you ever considered:

BOG JOY?!

Recent panel service here - four of the proposals I was asked to review include the word "biodiversity" in the proposal text.

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation. [alt text from NASA]

#Artemis II lunar flyby images are showing up! 😍

A crescent Earth setting behind the Moon.

TFW you studied lunar geology for your PhD and you just heard the Artemis II crew describe lunar meteor impact flashes from the far side of the moon

science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/kels...

I went back to capture what the astronauts said in full when the clock was stopped at T-10 minutes and they were asked if they were go for launch:

This is Victor. We are going for our families.
This is Christina. We are going for our teammates.
This is Jeremy. We are going for all humanity.

Did you know it costs us $64 a month to host Biology PhD stipends?

Excited for this upgrade which takes our hosting costs to $0!

mlgaynor.com/BiologyPhDSt...

Sphagnum Moss Disperses Spores with Vortex Rings Fluid dynamics similar to those known to drive smoke rings shoot moss spores far and wide.

For example, Sphagnum spores get ejected at over 60 mph and fly a distance more than 120x the size of the spore capsule thanks to vortex rings: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A

Photo of a shipping container that says EW LINES. I suppose a letter fell off?

Me when I mess up my R plot

Here is a link to a video of the speech.

xcancel.com/netflix/stat...

Guess who’s got two thumbs, a sword, and tenure? 🎉🍾 grateful to the wonderful friends and colleagues and collaborators who have enabled me getting here 💕 @mossmatters.bsky.social

Good news is hard to come by, so I must celebrate a great week:
• Paper accepted
• Paper submitted
• 3 of my lab undergrads got into grad school
• Scholarship offers to both of my prospective PhD students
• My faculty development leave approved for Spring 2027
• @lisalimeri.bsky.social got tenure!

SPrOUT: A computational and targeted sequencing approach for mixed plant DNA identification with Angiosperms353 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

GitHub - nhu92/SPrOUT: A computational pipeline designed for predicting species taxonomic information from single and mixed plant samples, using target sequencing arrays. A computational pipeline designed for predicting species taxonomic information from single and mixed plant samples, using target sequencing arrays. - nhu92/SPrOUT

Github page: github.com/nhu92/SPrOUT

logo for SPrOUT: Species Prediction of Unknown Taxa - a line drawing of a plant with two green leaves emerging from a flask containing multiple DNA helices. Logo designed by Lisa Limeri, with images from the Noun Project flask from Noun Project user Humam flower from Noun Project user Vanicon studio DNA from Noun Project user Akhmad Zaini

Figure from the linked preprint, showing the relationship between the number of Angiosperms353 reference genes and Accuracy of detecting plant families in mixed reads. Based on several z-score values, SPrOUT is generally at 98% accuracy with fewer than 100 genes.

New from our lab! Introducing SPrOUT: Species Prediction of Unknown Taxa.

We developed and tested a novel method to ID plants in mixed DNA with Angiosperms353 using cumulative phylogenetic distances. >98% accuracy to family level for in silico and real test data.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Well well well. We witch, ya?

roses are red
violets are blue
anthocyanin!
(betalain, too)

It was "orgo" for us at Duke in the 00s, "o-chem" at Texas Tech since I've been here. In my Bio department, "organic" would get it confused with our "Organic Evolution" course.

Texas Tech struggles with new policy on gender, race The system’s chancellor meant to instill clarity and accountability, but three weeks into the spring semester, some instructors say the standards have led to “censorship.”

www.texastribune.org/2026/02/04/t...

A number of our students got the following comment back on a rejection for the NSF GFRP. They are in an eligible STEM field. Is this something people in other places are getting too? Is it a quirk or targeted?

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.

A curved stone bench with a chiseled inscription: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" - Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Reflecting today on this quote etched into a bench on campus, as I wonder how many on that campus understand its message.

"You died when you refused to stand up for right, you died when you refused to stand up for truth, you died when you refused to stand up for justice." youtu.be/pOjpaIO2seY?...

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

If not equally important, did they give a ratio of importance? Or generally how broader impacts would be evaluated?

Here to stay, I’m afraid

Promotional graphic on a red background featuring two black-and-white raglan shirts from the Botanical Society of America’s “Stranger Plants” collection. One shirt shows a large illustrated plant scene; the other displays a grid of illustrated unusual plants. White text reads “We love the Stranger Plants BSA SWAG!” Below, descriptive text explains that the shirts highlight strange plants, with common and scientific names listed on the back in a concert-style format. A QR code labeled “Scan to Shop” appears at the lower right, along with BSA logos and text promoting additional BSA apparel.

We 💚 the Stranger Plants—and now they’re on #BSAswag!

The shirts feature bold illustrations by BSA’s own Catrina Adams, with a list of each species by common & scientific name on the back.

BSA members (exp. 2026+) get 10% off—email aneely@botany.org for code.

www.bonfire.com/store/bsa-wi...

If Stranger Things were released today, it would be set in 1992. Feeling old yet?