Sorry about the language But this sums up what we’ve heard today on electoral reform - as predicted. youtu.be/N3WTlyuhDs0?feature… via @YouTube #auspol #electoralreform

Please repost. We are offering a rare opportunity to work as a postdoc or PhD within an international network pushing the boundaries of developmental biology. Please contact me ASAP if interested. sydney.edu.au/science/news-a…

Our paper on the molecular basis for the Biosynthesis of the 1st reported Fatty Acid Synthase Inhibitor - Cerulenin - is now officially published in @angew_chem Check out our work! @SMS_UWA @mqnatsci microbialscreening.com

🎉Excited to share yet another story from our lab, now @NatureComms revealing how the phytohormone Strigolactone is deactivated/breaking down! We found a unique hormone catabolism process & structural plasticity of a specific class of carboxylesterases nature.com/articles/s41467-0…

Please save the date for IPGSA 2025 to be held in Ft. Collins, CO from June 29 - July 3, 2025.

The latest edition of Phytogen is online! This issue includes contributions from: -@DugaldEReid Whole Plant Rep @SABE_latrobe -@neelohani #ScienceMeetsParliament report -Dr Celine Mens @UQ_News R.N. Robertson Travelling Fellowship report Find it here: asps.org.au/archives/38060

📢Deadline extended until 30 June: 2-year Postdoc position (with possibility to extend) to study the mechanisms of ultra-rapid growth in Vibrio natriegens 🦠! Apply now by following instructions in the ad below 👇 Also: Western Australia is beautiful 😉

Introducing #ipmb2024 day 4️⃣ plenary speaker, XiaoQi Feng from @ISTAustria

Introducing #ipmb2024 day 2️⃣ plenary speaker Robert Furbank from the Australian National University @ANUmedia

Dan, can the department pay for a scientific event for postdocs ? Yes, I say. Then I see the advert in our lifts:

🏆 Congratulations to our new Fellows of 2024! These 24 scientists have been recognised by their peers for their outstanding contributions to science; from an expert in spider venoms to an authority on star formation. Meet the best of the best: science.org.au/news-and-even… #FellowsAA

Join our plenary speakers from the 24th – 28th of June as we dive deep into the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in plant science. See you there! ✨ #IPMB2024 #PlantBiology @XiaoqiFeng_m @CaixiaGaoLab @dcb40 @FagujiIshiyaku

How do karrikins and strigolactones control plant growth? A beautiful structure-function analysis by graduate student @SunhyunChang reveals a major regulatory domain that specifies the development “outputs” of SMXL proteins biorxiv.org/cgi/content/shor…

Was great to work on the #Alphafold3 announcement video, made with #b3d and #MolecularNodes #GeometryNodes

Need to book your flights for #IPMB2024 and apply for your visa? Visit ipmb2024.org for more information and download your visa letter now!

The earlybird extension is closing in less than 24 hours! Register by Friday 5 April to save up to $150! Visit ipmb2024.org for more information.

🎉check out our latest exciting collaborative study published @ScienceMagazine with Dudareva group (Purdue U with @ShabekLab @ucdavisbiology funded by @NSF): communication in plants relies on a KAI2-mediated signaling pathway science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…

A British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read: “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief. Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege. And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that: • Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are. • You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man. This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.” -Nate White

#IPMB2024 early bird registrations extended until 5 April!

Ready for action at #UWAOpenDay to enthuse prospective students about mol biol, biochem, genetics & chemistry! Aided with the lovely chromoprotein set from @ATinyGreenCell :-)