Book cover of “Organic Progress and Evolutionary Theory” by Silvia De Cesare in the Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Biology series. Against a black background, the title is surrounded by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations of marine organisms—radial, symmetrical forms in vivid blues, oranges, reds, and greens.
New Element in the #PhilBio series by Silvia De Cesare—free to download until March 2! De Cesare examines the thorny issue of 'evolutionary progress,' recounting the arguments against and in favor of cashing out this contested notion 👇📕 www.cambridge.org/core/element... #evosky #HPS #philsky
23.02.2026 11:10
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Mangroves, sawgrass, and hammock tree islands meet where salty and fresh waters converge in Everglades National Park.
CREDIT: Cheryl Doughty
Wetlands can be carbon sinks or sources, depending on management strategies. A study of CO2 and methane fluxes in the Everglades highlights the role of freshwater flows in minimizing methane emissions and the power of mangroves to store carbon. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/tfIn50Yl7yN
24.02.2026 17:01
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Preregistration does not improve the transparent evaluation of severity in Popper’s philosophy of science or when deviations are allowed - Synthese
One justification for preregistering research hypotheses, methods, and analyses is that it improves the transparent evaluation of the severity of hypothesis tests. In this article, I consider two cases in which preregistration does not improve this evaluation. First, I argue that, although preregistration may facilitate the transparent evaluation of severity in Mayo’s error statistical philosophy of science, it does not facilitate this evaluation in Popper’s theory-centric approach. To illustrate, I show that associated concerns about Type I error rate inflation are only relevant in the error statistical approach and not in a theory-centric approach. Second, I argue that a test procedure that is preregistered but that also allows deviations in its implementation (i.e., “a plan, not a prison”) does not provide a more transparent evaluation of Mayoian severity than a non-preregistered procedure. In particular, I argue that sample-based validity-enhancing deviations cause an unknown inflation of the test procedure’s Type I error rate and, consequently, an unknown reduction in its capability to license inferences severely. I conclude that preregistration does not improve the transparent evaluation of severity (a) in Popper’s philosophy of science or (b) in Mayo’s approach when deviations are allowed.
An #OpenAccess article in 'Synthese' examines whether preregistration improves the transparent evaluation of severity in hypothesis testing. bit.ly/3MMHbBM @markrubin.bsky.social #PhilSci
16.02.2026 16:00
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Meeting advertisement for C4-60, a meeting celebrating 60 years since the discovery of C4 photosynthesis.
Registration is open for *C460- From Kranz to Crops: Celebrating 60 Years of C4 Discovery and Innovation*
Celebrating 60 years since the discovery of C4 photosynthesis!
23-25 July 2026 at Lancaster University, UK
Generously funded by @annbot.bsky.social, @newphyt.bsky.social, and others!
13.02.2026 14:24
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CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION in biotic plant interactions.
CLE peptides in plant-biotic interactions
#TansleyInsight by Nicolas Frei dit Frey and Thomas Spallek
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#plantscience
06.02.2026 18:09
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Evolutionary roles of recombination suppression.
Recombination suppression in plant adaptation and speciation
#TansleyReview by Zhang et al.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#plantscience
16.02.2026 23:17
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Absolutely inspirational - work by Pamela Lyon ! 😎🔥
17.02.2026 07:31
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Root-to-shoot signaling in plant adaptation to soil salinity
This work provides a comprehensive summary of the current knowledge of root-borne long-distance signals that propagate through the plant and coordinate who
#Root-to-shoot signaling in plant adaptation to soil #salinity
academic.oup.com/jxb/article/...
#PlantScience #PlantStress @thegsbi.bsky.social @jxbotany.bsky.social @sebiology.bsky.social @esmmicrobes.bsky.social @martinebotany.bsky.social @gfz.bsky.social @root-shoot.bsky.social @rootsaction.org
16.02.2026 11:09
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Top: A representative modeling example from Chimpanzee CPEB3 HDV-like ribozyme (PDB ID: 7QR3), with models predicted by four better-performing methods (blue cartoons) overlaid on experimental structure (gray cartoons). Left to right: DRFold2, DeepFoldRNA, AlphaFold3, RhoFold. Bottom: Structural visualization of the example from coxsackievirus B3 cloverleaf RNA (PDBID: 8DP3), showing experimental structure (left), AlphaFold3’s best prediction from 100 models (middle), and 5th model of DRfold2 (right), respectively. Structures are rainbow-colored from 5′ (blue) to 3′ (red) end.
Accurate RNA structure prediction remains a challenge, despite recent computational advances. This study presents DRFold2, a #DeepLearning framework that significantly enhances accuracy of de novo #RNAstructure prediction by increasing contact prediction precision @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4aoOQiX
18.02.2026 17:25
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The hidden role of amino acids and secondary metabolites in plant drought tolerance
Drought stress (DS) severely threatens global crop productivity by disrupting key physiological, biochemical, and metabolic processes during plant dev…
The hidden role of #amino acids and secondary #metabolites in plant #drought tolerance
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#PlantScience #StressTolerance @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social @plantsciencedbg.bsky.social @plantbiology.bsky.social @plantstress.bsky.social @plantmetabolism.bsky.social
18.02.2026 17:07
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Inner Eurasian forests and grasslands.
CREDIT: Feng Chen
Tree-ring records from inner Eurasia identify cold, low-productivity periods in the 70s–100s, 360s–380s, and 470s–560s CE, which coincide with movements of nomadic steppe groups out of their homelands in today’s northwestern China and Mongolia. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/7Iy850YhHfi
18.02.2026 19:01
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Fig. 1 Visual representation of microbial gene transfer and stress resilience traits in crops.
#Viewpoint: Engineering next-generation crops through #CRISPR-mediated horizontal gene transfer
Kumar Sen et al.
👇
📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#LatestIssue
19.02.2026 19:01
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Mathematical modeling predicts that CRISPR-Cas has a greater potential to benefit its plasmid in defence than in offense. Structure of the mathematical model when a CRISPR-Cas plasmid is the resident (left) or the invader plasmid (right). The authors consider seven distinct cell types: C (CRISPR-Cas bearing) and T (TA-bearing) plasmids reside in host cells; CT denotes a C cell that has been invaded by a T plasmid and vice versa; Cr* and Ci* cells have undergone segregational loss of a T plasmid, and the fate of PSK is not yet resolved; PSK cells are dead cells after post-segregational killing. When the plasmids co-reside, they are subject to basic biological parameter s (segregational loss). CRISPR-Cas and TA alter parameter s by their own modes of action x and y, respectively. Parameter f describes the positive effect PSK cells have on growth of nearby cells, where fr describes the benefit to cells containing the previously resident plasmid. All parameters adopt distinct values when their respective plasmids are resident (r) or invasive (i).
Plasmids use immune systems like #CRISPR-Cas to compete with other #plasmids, but do these systems confer an advantage? @davvi36.bsky.social &co show that CRISPR-Cas benefits resident plasmids but is constrained by toxin-antitoxin systems after horizontal transfer @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4qNbdDt
20.02.2026 14:10
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New from us in @pnas.org :
We considered the limits of condensate diversity, and engineered DNA droplets to form 9 distinct, homotypic, coexisting phases. Very hard to do this except with nucleic acids. Probably you can make more than 9. (1/3)
18.02.2026 18:53
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No animal alive today is ‘primitive’ – why are so many still labeled that way?
All species alive today, from chimpanzees to bacteria, are cousins that each have equally long lineages, rather than ancestors or descendants of one another.
The idea that humans sit atop an evolutionary hierarchy dates back to 1866, when a scientist drew the first tree of life with "Man" at the top. This inaccurate view still shapes how we think of the animal world, despite decades of genomic evidence proving evolution has no hierarchy.
buff.ly/055hdSo
23.02.2026 12:14
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Fig. 7.Net CO2 assimilation (Anet) in response to changes in intercellular CO2 measured at a leaf temperature of 30 °C and irradiance of 2000 μmol PAR m−2 s−1.
🧬🌽 RESEARCH 🧬🌽
Maize with a mutation in carbonic anhydrase 1 (cah1) had higher carbonic anhydrase activity with a concurrent reduction in δ13C, the opposite of expectation based on C4 carbon isotope fractionation theory – Twohey et al.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
#PlantScience 🧪
23.02.2026 12:08
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Is scientific reform an unwinnable arms race?
Methodological improvements should, in theory, mean more robust evidence and inference, and more rapid advances in knowledge. However, these methods are often subsequently used in the pursuit of publi...
Really interesting short piece on the arms race of scientific reform - efforts to improve science have positive impacts by increasing signal but also unintentionally increase noise by making it easy to churn out publications of minimal / negative utility journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
20.02.2026 14:52
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Since it has escaped the bubble, and people are talking about how evolutionary just so stories are used to legitimate rape, let me mention one of may favorite papers: Lisa Lloyd’s demolition of Thornhill & Palmer’s book “A Natural History of Rape”. #sts #hps repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcont...
24.02.2026 06:47
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