A plot from the post showing how the annual cost of grants at BBSRC has increased over time
A colleague said that the reason funding has got more competitive in the UK is due to increased grant costs, meaning less to go around. A quick crunch of the numbers to see if they have a point. 🧪
New Value: increasing cost of UKRI research grants
quantixed.org/2026/04/22/n...
Hello academics of Bluesky, does anybody have any tips or advice for dragging yourself through the last few months of a PhD 🙃
Motivation superrrrr hard to squeeze out right now, if you can share any fun tips or rituals you built for yourself to help you through it would be much appreciated 🫶
"The selfish ribosome" paper is now published in @plosbiology.org . Have a look! Many thanks to the editors and reviewers!
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Mesmerizing light sheet imaging of neutrophils swarming at a yeast target!
The neutrophils were labeled with SPY650-DNA (yellow) and a calcium dye (blue).
This movie is part of the recent manuscript by @strickland-evelyn.bsky.social that we highly recommend reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Absolutely loved this episode! I often didn't enjoy Melvyn Bragg's science IOT episodes, Misha Glenny brings a kinder enthusiasm and good humour.
New work w/ Zach Kelso and @madeleinecsnyder.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Our negative results on classical conditioning in planarian flatworms. This was surprising, given the long history of work (including sensational findings of memory transfer and retention through decapitation).
These images show live embryos of animals (jellyfish, crustacean, worm, sea urchin, sea squirt, beetle) and one of animals closest single-celled relatives. They were captured taking advantage of fluorescent proteins localised on the outer membrane of cells, allowing us to observe cell outlines. 1/9
Introvert reaction: Death holds no fear after weeks trapped aboard a vessel enduring organised fun.
ME: [wincing, covering up Starmer's ears] sorry, do you mind not talking about politics around Keir? He doesn't know about scary things like nuclear war or poverty or Peter Mandelson and we'd like to maintain his innocence for a bit longer
KEIR: my father was a drill bit
ME: that's right Keir!
An illustrated summary of the BSDB Spring Meeting 2026
In this post, @alexneaverson.bsky.social shares her insights on using illustration to share the joy of developmental biology at the 2026 @bsdb.bsky.social meeting.
thenode.biologists.com/an-illustrat...
#SciArt
In Turkey, an elderly man who earns his living by shining shoes is visited every morning at the same time by a cat that asks to have its fur brushed. The man never turns down this little friend.😍👍💙
How every layer of science's "self-correcting machinery" failed when Iva Veseli and I simply wanted to reproduce the findings of a high-profile study on gut microbiome and autism:
merenlab.org/2026/04/15/u...
There was me thinking the parrot tulips were a modern abomination
Congratulations to our Head of Department, @mjafreeman.bsky.social, awarded the @biochemsoc.bsky.social Centenary Award!
This recognises his contributions in the field of intramembrane proteases and pseudoproteases, and his commitment to supporting talent within the scientific community.
Whole organism 3D mapping reveals universal branching topology and biophysical optimization governs vascular and nervous system development
Read about our work here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
for all who celebrate
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxTd...
Undaria pinnatifida gametophyte
Our work on chromatin evolution in brown algae is now published in @natecoevo.nature.com! We show that developmentally complex brown algae evolved without epigenetic silencing pathways long thought universal, underscoring why non-model lineages are important to study. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🤩💪 Out now! 3D regulatory hubs in sex determination
With @mamartirenom.bsky.social & Capel labs, led by @imotagom.bsky.social & @jrotwitguez.bsky.social
1️⃣ METALoci – explore #3DGenome 🧬
2️⃣ Non-coding region controlling Fgf9 🧩
3️⃣ Meis genes = new key players 🌟
👉 rdcu.be/e5sm2
1/n Bluetorial 👇
I really don't understand this practice and find it a curse. Author names should not be in a dusty annexe! Real people should be stood proud upon the crest of the paper!
Something of the Xenomorph about it!
A question I get asked all the time by @dev-journal.bsky.social authors "Why does it cost so much to publish a paper?"
We break down the finances and explain where the money goes
Spoiler: quality publishing takes a village (people + infrastructure)
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
"Why is publishing so expensive?" It's a question I hear all the time, so we at @biologists.bsky.social thought we'd try to dispel some of the myths around publishing economics & provide transparency around our costs. Today, we publish editorials in all 5 of our journals - links in the thread below.
Cholera-causing bacteria are locked in an evolutionary arms race with their viral nemesis found in the human gut, according to a new study. 🦠
Find the full story here ⤵️
www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/on...
Butterfly Conservation's Butterflies and Moths to see in April: Holly Blue, Emperor moth, Orange-tip, Ruby Tiger, Brimstone, Streamer, Speckled Wood, Purple Thorn, Peacock
April has us all aflutter with more beautiful butterflies and moths to look for in our gardens and green spaces 🌷🦋
What have you seen recently?
Cysts (indicated by white arrows) around the ears of the lesser brown horseshoe bat
Female Ascodipteron euryale neosome, a beige, vase-shaped creature with brown teeth-filled mouthpart at the anterior and a spine-lined bulb at the posterior, freshly plucked from a cyst
Ascodipteron euryale is a newly described species of wingless, endoparasitic fly. The female fly burrows into the base of the ears on a bat and form a cyst where she will spend the rest of her life. 🧪
zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1835...
Pleased to announce two new publications, in Current Biology and PNAS, from outstanding postdoc Delai (Dylan) Huang, just a week before he leaves to start his new faculty position at Zhejiang University.
I've seen referee reports like this
40 over 40 actually! With each new age bracket there are more of us competing with increasingly desperate ideas
My first act as CEO would be to give exclusive rights to vendors of the following foodstuffs for staff lunch:
Corn on the cob
Cob(b) salad
Cob-e beef
Peach cobbler
