Dr Lia Betti

@liabetti.bsky.social

Lecturer in Quantitative Anthropology at UCL. Research interests in human diversity, health inequalities, bioarchaeology, and the evolution of the pelvis and childbirth.

For today's plenary at #EFP2026, we're really pleased to welcome Christine Webb from New York University! She'll present her work on how the myth of human exceptionalism shapes animal science.

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In accordance with ancient tradition, our next Prime Minister is announced to the nation while standing between a furry and a man with a bin on his head.

A victorious Andy Burnham MP (24,937 votes), as the result of the Makerfield by-election is announced, flanked by defeated candidates Count Binface (a bloke in a vaguely sci-fi costume with a large bin for a helmet; 95 votes) and Robert Pownall (who is in a full body fox costume, holding a sign reading "Protect British Wildlife"; 18 votes). There are some other candidates there just out of shot but that's not important right now.

Photo: Jon Super/AP

This is basically harassment of scholars willing to question the Trump administration’s targeting of Chinese colleagues. Innes already had the FBI investigate his lab and was given the all clear. Now USDA is shutting down the Lab, which focuses on making fungus-resistant plants.

IU plant microbiologist Roger Innes says the move Thursday evening is the latest instance of retaliation for a letter he wrote last fall on behalf of Yunqing Jian, a plant scientist postdoc at the University of Michigan who had pled guilty to smuggling biological material and making false statements. The letter to Jian's attorney, intended to be used at her sentencing, argued that what the Chinese postdoc had transported was not dangerous, but she was still ultimately deported.
Her conviction triggered an investigation of Youhuang Xiang, a Chinese postdoc in Innes' lab, that led to Xiang also pleading guilty last month to smuggling loops of DNA known as plasmids. He was also deported.
Science Magazine@science.org · 3mo ago

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

Good morning! Here is a three-day old sea-otter pup, snoozing on their Mama. The image is by one my favourite wildlife photographers, Suzi Eszterhas, who runs girlswhoclick.org - an organisation that mentors girls and young women interested in nature photography. Feel free to share.

A little fuzzy, dark brown sea-otter pup, sleeping peacefully on top of their Mama's belly, as she floats on her back.

Today, the Assisted Dying Bill will fall. The actions of a small group of unelected peers on this Bill have been deplorable. It’s a stain on our democracy and a slap in the face to hundreds of terminally ill people and their families, who were given hope when MPs voted in favour last year.

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