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Bevan Weir

@rhizobia.nz

New Zealand mycology / bacteriology scientist at Manaaki Whenua working on 🍄 #fungi and 🦠 #bacteria taxonomy mostly using 🧬 on 🧫. Hobbies: #fountainpens, #cycling, #homebrew, #photography, and #archery website: https://rhizobia.nz/about

227 Posts1055 Follower928 Folgt
Mike Dickison@adzebill.bsky.social · 2w ago

Over the last 18 months @thneed.bsky.social and I have been experimenting with being Wikipedians (or Wikimedians) in Residence at conferences—photographing academics, checking they and their papers are in Wikidata, and improving Wikipedia articles related to their research.

Mike and Tamsin with their bestickered laptops at the University of Otago
Bevan Weir@rhizobia.nz · 3w ago

Great to see Dr Greta Stevenson's remarkable legacy featured by 1News. Kew's digitisation project is making historic fungal collections accessible to researchers worldwide. I had a brief cameo explaining why these specimens still matter today. www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/18/r... #mycology

Renowned London gardens shine light on Kiwi scientist's work

The renowned Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has recently digitised more than seven million plant and fungal specimens, including hundreds of Dr Greta Stevenson's discoveries from New Zealand.

1news.co.nz

IMA Fungus@imafungus.pensoft.net · 3w ago

🍄🌏 Save the date! The 13th International Mycological Congress #IMC13 comes to Incheon, Republic of Korea, 8-12 August 2027! Join mycologists worldwide for cutting-edge science, symposia & networking. Abstract submission opens Aug 2026. Details: imafungus.pensoft.net/news/1340 @ima-mycology.org

The 13th International Mycological Congress (IMC13) 2027 - Join the Global Mycology Community in Korea

The 13th International Mycological Congress (IMC13) will be held from 8-12 August 2027 in Incheon, Republic of Korea. Organized by the Korean Society of Mycology (KSM) in collaboration with the Intern...

imafungus.pensoft.net

Bevan Weir@rhizobia.nz · 2mo ago

I was pleased to be nominated for a Science NZ award for my work on the toxic fungus that causes the disease 'facial eczema' in cattle and sheep. It was a great awards evening showcasing the science of many people and groups. Short video of finalists in my category: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxbY... 🧪

Science New Zealand 2026 - Collaboration for Impact Finalists.

Science New Zealand 2026 - Collaboration for Impact Finalists. Featuring scientists from the Public Research Organisations; Bioeconomy Science Institute, Earth Sciences New Zealand, and Public Health…

youtube.com

Kate Evans@kategevans.bsky.social · 3mo ago

500 years ago, people starting building pā all over northern NZ—fortifying their settlements with rows of palisades, cut from nearby bush. Why? What were pā defending—or trying to say? The trees themselves, combined with mātauranga Māori, tell a story. www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-... 🇳🇿🧪 #archaeology

The pā builders

Five hundred years ago, people starting building pā all over northern New Zealand—fortifying their settlements with rows of pointed palisades, cut from the surrounding forests. Why? What were pā defen...

nzgeo.com

Bevan Weir@rhizobia.nz · 4mo ago

Vote for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Fungus of the Year 2026! We have launched the annual vote for #NZ's favourite fungus: interactives.landcareresearch.co.nz/foty/ 🧪 #fungi #mycology

Vote for NZ's Fungus of the Year 2026 - Interactives | Bioeconomy Science Institute (Manaaki Whenua Group)

Vote for your favourite fungus, or maybe vote for a fungus that is threatened, or culturally important, or edible, or (on the negative side) one that’s causing an important disease.

interactives.landcareresearch.co.nz

Krista Bonfantine 🔥💧@aridideas.bsky.social · 7mo ago

The latest from the Kobziar Fire Ecology Lab with a photo taken by yours truly. We’ve recovered many fungal pathogens in wildland fire 🔥 smoke. Viability was confirmed through culturing & mice developed lung disease when exposed. Lots still to learn abt smoke as a microbial reservoir & vector. 🧬💻🧪

Eos@eos.org · 8mo ago

Wildfire smoke, already a health hazard, may come with a dangerous hitchhiker: fungal spores. Research presented at #AGU25 by @kobziar.bsky.social, @phin-lampman.bsky.social, & colleagues. eos.org/articles/fun...

Bevan Weir@rhizobia.nz · 8mo ago

Black-billed gull (Chroicocephalus bulleri) [Tarāpuka] on the beach in Gisborne, NZ, more slender and less common than the Black-billed gull, this one was was still eyeing up some unattended bags for possible lunch! Shot on #Nikon Z8 with a 180-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250, ISO250 #birds #nzbirds

a small gull with a dark black bill, looking up towards the sun. standing on grass.
Dr Abeba Birhane@abeba.blacksky.app · 8mo ago

an important read for at least 2 reasons: 1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research 2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader taranis.ie/datacenters-...

Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.

There is a rush for AI companies to team up with space launch/satellite companies to build datacenters in space. TL;DR: It's not going to work.

taranis.ie

Paolo Crosetto@paolocrosetto.bsky.social · 9mo ago

What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma. It's *scientific publishing*. We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_... Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇

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Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year.
Craig McCormick@craigmccormick.bsky.social · 2y ago

This is true. Measles virus can infect and kill your memory B and T cells, effectively wiping out your immune system’s record of past infections or vaccinations. Good article here journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

On invariant T cells and measles: A theory of “innate immune amnesia”

journals.plos.org

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis@kendrawrites.com · 2y ago

Measles can cause immune amnesia effectively wiping out every immunity you've ever had from a prior infection or vaccination

Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles@siouxsiew.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Morning peeps! I’ve written a piece for @thespinoff.bsky.social on why I ended up taking legal action against my employer and a little bit about how it played out. The whole story needs a book to tell but this is a good start 😂 thespinoff.co.nz/society/01-1... thespinoff.co.nz/society/01-1...

Siouxsie Wiles: Why I’m crowdfunding despite winning my legal battle

'Between the ERA and the Employment Court, my husband and I have spent over $632,000.'

thespinoff.co.nz