Fin Warsop Thomas

microbio PhD candidate at ASU. ecology, symbiosis, and biocrust enthusiast 🧫

[paris martineau @parismartineau]

my latest investigation for @ConsumerReports is based on months of reporting and 120+ lab tests of popular snacks

we found over a third of grocery products had more additives or contaminants in one serving than what health agencies have identified as safe to consume daily (🧵)

[IrishJ83 @irish_j83]

I absolutely love how the Blue Bells are growing from this falling tree

[Daniel Tabin @DanTabin]

New article suggests that Neanderthals were doing dental work on cavities 59,000 years ago! Read it here: https://t.co/NZ21jZQ4HM

[Betül Kaçar @betulland]

Life doesn’t wait for Earth to become “easy.”

Our new study shows that ancient life used rare Earth metals (molybdenum and tungsten) 3 billion years ago, reshaping how we think about metabolism, evolution, and the search for life beyond Earth.

https://t.co/DOa7IoH2fm @NASA

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Hope for Britain’s Ash trees thanks to scientific ‘eureka’ moment

Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have found a way to speed up the germination of seeds, allowing disease-resistant Ash trees to grow, writes @alextomo

Read our latest newsletter here: https://t.co/tXRT15od7Z

[Andy Masley @AndyMasley]

This one's a completely real problem, the data center is technically under the noise threshold where the county acts but produces enough constant annoying low level hum that it's lowering quality of life for the homes nearby. A lot of the noise is coming from temporary gas turbines that will be gone once it's fully connected to the grid, but that timeline's been extended way back and could be as much as 7 years now. This is a ridiculous situation that imo a lot of places don't have good rules to govern well right now.

[Sam Knowlton @samdknowlton]

The phyllosphere, the microbial community on leaf and stem surfaces, covers roughly one billion square kilometers globally. It is Earth’s largest terrestrial habitat for microbes, and it’s been overlooked by agriculture.

A single gram of leaf tissue carries ten million bacterial cells that fix nitrogen, mineralize phosphorus, produce siderophores outperforming synthetic chelates, and synthesize B vitamins plants depend on.

Broad-spectrum fungicides, antimicrobial surfactants, and other conventional and organic ag practices strip out these beneficial microbes, narrowing diversity and driving pathogen pressure higher each cycle.

The full essay covers the mechanisms, trial data, and practical considerations for fostering beneficial leaf-surface biology in the field.

https://t.co/FS2lGLZAs9

[The SETI Institute @SETIInstitute]

NASA’s Curiosity rover conducted its first successful wet-chemistry experiment on Mars, revealing a diverse array of ancient organic molecules in a 3.5-billion-year-old rock. Nathalie A. Cabrol, Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute, examines what the results mean and why they are important (even though they are #NotAliens).

Learn more: https://t.co/CwBBTE4Gx4

[Elisabeth Bik @MicrobiomDigest]

I knew this was coming. We are so f*cked - fake and real now look the same.

We desperately need tools to show journals and researchers that data is real, not AI-generated.

[🌸Cassandra🌸🏳️‍⚧️🦕🖌️ @TenontosaurusT]

new cambrian stem-chelicerate megachelicerax cousteaui pushes origins of chelicerate arthropods back to the cambrian period

[Steve Marek @stephenmarek2]

The archaeal roots of eukaryotic life | PNAS https://t.co/ACoDN3Y6Dd

[Archaeology & Art @archaeologyart]

The main reason Galileo noticed the craters and mountains on the Moon was his training in painting- thanks to the chiaroscuro (light and shadow) technique he taught at the Accademia del Disegno in Florence,he realized the shadows indicated a three-dimensional surface structure; meanwhile, the Englishman Thomas Harriot, who observed the Moon with a telescope around the same time, didn't have this training and therefore described the surface shadows merely as a *strange spottedness.*

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

A single dose of antibiotics can have lasting effects on your gut microbiome, with changes that last well beyond 4 years. Three types of antibiotics stood out for their long term disruptive impact (3 at left, Figure)
@NatureMedicine
https://t.co/ObWU56P9Bd

[Karen Vaites @karenvaites]

No one in the learning science community is remotely surprised by these findings.

"Skimming AI summaries does not produce durable learning" is about the most obvious finding in the world.

[News from Science @NewsfromScience]

About 400 million years ago—long before the first giant dinosaurs—a massive and strange organism up to 8 meters long loomed over the Lilliputian plants, mushrooms, and bugs that carpeted the land. ⁠
⁠
Ever since its discovery in 1859, paleontologists have argued about the identity of this log-shaped giant, known as Prototaxites. Was it an ancient conifer, a mass of algae, a rolled-up mat of liverworts, or, as many paleontologists now believe, “the Godzilla of fungus”: a gigantic mushroom?⁠
⁠
After analyzing a new and extremely well-preserved specimen, researchers argue that its chemistry and cellular structure mean Prototaxites cannot be a fungus and is instead an unknown type of multicellular life. ⁠

Learn more: https://t.co/BVQwyRgkYs

[Christine Rabinak @BrainsBeesBikes]

The first time you start a research lab, there’s no manual.

So I made one.

A practical toolkit for postdocs and early-career faculty launching their first lab: hiring, startup planning, collaborations, and building a sustainable research program.

https://t.co/a30LLykjKq

[Andrew Côté @Andercot]

Life strives to climb an energy gradient to fight entropy

So if we define entropy as 'evil' then I have good news:

Almost all evil in the universe is trapped inside supermassive black holes

[Brian Cox @ProfBrianCox]

It’s always the case that when funding is fiddled around with (for no good reason I can discern in this case) it’s young scientists who get hammered. Destroy the future on a whim, basically. I’m increasingly angry about this.

[Benji Naesen @BenjiNaesen]

I'm sorry but it's hard to see people lie about how legal immigration to the United Kingdom works, and say nothing about it.

I am a legal immigrant to the UK. In 2023, I had to spent roughly £5,000 for a 2.5 years visa, NHS surcharge, biometric appointment and language tests.

I will have to spend £4,000 this year, to extend my visa by another 2.5 years, after which, I'll need to pay again for indefinite leave-to-remain.

On top of that, as a legal immigrant, I am understandably required to pay taxes, national insurance and can NOT claim benefits.

This on-going myth that legal immigrants are free-loading on UK taxpayers is complete bullshit. If anything, I'm subsidising them.

My legal immigrant ass is a net benefit to your country.