I love hearing stories like this. Young people taking an interest in fungi while trying to solve environmental problems. Keep at it Gloria!

Bloomington eighth-grader Gloria Chi is turning used coffee grounds from local cafes into oyster mushrooms through her nonprofit, Fungi For Future. Read more: ipm.org/news/2026-05-20/eigh…

Biologists at Indiana University Bloomington have been locked out of their labs for more than a week, after the university suddenly changed locks on its biology building on 7 May. The move comes amid an investigation by the US government. go.nature.com/4dAr9oe

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. scim.ag/4u133d3

BREAKING: The USDA told IU to lock down the lab of Professor Roger Innes, a biologist and former employer of deported Chinese postdoc Youhuang Xiang. Three other labs were locked down at the same time as well as several offices @WFIUWTIUNews ipm.org/news/2026-05-08/iu-l…

Plant Ecology in a Changing World also provides online student and instructor resources, supplemental materials, problem sets, study and exam questions, essays, and models. Explore and learn more at Http://plantecology.site Please visit today.

Even though transience is part of lab culture, it’s still hard to say goodbye. This summer we bid adieu to long-time lab manager Elizabeth Huenupi, tech Zoe Worman & post-doc Daniel Beverly. Thanks for helping us do amazing science and bringing kindness & generosity to the lab!

🚨Interested in plants, microbes & biogeochemistry? If yes, ya'll have 2d to submit your abstract to our session "B088: The Effect of Plant Communities and Their Microbial Associations on Soil Biogeochemistry" agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/pre… Convened by @carboncaitlin Amelia Fitch & me

New TSMP: EXERCISE AS MIRACLE DRUG Two big studies in the last 12 months: 1. Euan Ashley, the chair of medicine at Stanford, and a team of bioinformatics researchers put rats on treadmills, cut into their tissues, and found that exercise basically improved every measurable system, including metabolism, mitochondrial function, immunity, inflammation, and tissue-specific adaptation. He has estimated that "one minute of exercise, on average, extends one's life by five minutes." 2. In a recent NEJM study, 900 patients who had undergone surgery on their advanced colon cancer were randomly assigned to two groups: a “structured exercise program" vs. a control group. The exercise group saw “significantly” more years without cancer, a 7 percentage point increase in the overall survival rate after 8 years, and a dramatic reduction in new primary cancers. The MAHA movement, and RFK's weird antagonism toward vaccines and therapies, has polarized aspects of healthy living as anti-science woo-woo, in some circles, But exercise is probably the single most potent medical invention ever devised—more broadly effective, at a population level, than any medicine discovered in the natural world or created in a laboratory.

We used NEON data to explore the relationship between fine root and soil carbon stocks. With @JosephTumber @mingzhen_lu @aaberhe et al. doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-0…

📜New on our blog: NSF DEB is reaffirming its commitment to ecological research, with updates on funding, engagement opportunities, and proposal tips. Don’t miss your chance to connect — DEB Program Officers will be at the Annual Meeting this August! esa.org/esablog/2025/06/24/n…

Growth–Mortality Coordination Differs Among Xerophytic Versus Mesophytic Tree Species During Severe Drought 🔗 buff.ly/EusvJo2

Just published in Soil Biology and Biochemistry and well done Dr Manon @RumeauManon, funded by @NERCscience and @BIFoRUoB . @LES_UniBham Root exudate stoichiometry is a key driver of soil N cycling: implicat... sciencedirect.com/science/ar…