Dr Aaron Phillips

Our Darwin Review is now online at @JXBot! You can have a read of 'New crops on the block' at doi.org/10.1093/jxb/er….

My latest #R package is up on #CRAN ('MRgrowth'). It calculates individual growth curves using mark-recaptured data without known ages based on the Gomperts, logistic, and von Bertalanffy methods (Faben’s reformulation). 1/2

@ATinyGreenCell Foul

No lines at JFK terminal 1 but ICE everywhere. Definitely an air of quiet anxiety from everyone here.

@JesslovesMJK @MicrobiomDigest @MatthewHalma So, is the issue that you’ve been called middle author, that you’ve not been called Dr. Rose, or that you’ve been called out? 🤔

@MicrobiomDigest @MatthewHalma As you demonstrated in this reactive post: I have a name. You can call me Dr. Rose. I have earned my five post-secondary degrees, and I promise that none of them are "honorary".

It's interesting how Elizabeth M Bik refers to me as "middle author" when she reposted comments I made on this platform (July 2025). It's interesting because this is precisely how I was referred to by Marschalek in another recent scandal revolving around pubpeer. @MatthewHalma @Kevin_McKernan @jikkyleaks @SabinehazanMD @SciGuardians substacktools.com/sharex/AVQhsZ2P

@sailor_saturnus @RaziaAliani @RaziaAliani notice how real impact was made through this one comment without the need to self promote or flood readers with utter noise?

@RaziaAliani Here's the link google.com/url?sa=t&sourc…

I've met tons of researchers who hate stats! If you're one of these, this book is for you ⤵️ Save (with 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦.𝘮𝘦) & Repost The author says it perfectly: "The most important concepts of statistics can be explained, so that ordinary people can understand it." — No complex formulas. — No expensive software needed. — Just spreadsheets & clear thinking. The book covers: — Sample surveys — Data presentation — Confidence intervals — Statistical tests Written for people who need to collect data. — Analyze results. — Present findings. But don't want to become mathematicians. Real examples throughout. — Like the Fitness Club survey with 30 kids. Shows you exactly how to spot bias. When to use different tests. How to avoid common mistakes. Perfect for public health researchers. Statistics doesn't have to be scary. (𝘢𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨) 💬 Comment if you'd like a link to download this book!

@JoshuaBarzon Where are the First Nations people of Australia being represented?

6000 Years of World History in 1 Picture

Rubisco is (arguably) the most abundant protein on Earth. (LPP surely comes close, right?) It’s an enzyme that fixes CO₂ into sugars during photosynthesis. Unfortunately, as most people learn in school, Rubisco is inefficient. Sometimes it confuses O₂ for CO₂ and wastes energy. Plants make up for this in raw concentration; up to half the soluble protein in a leaf is Rubisco. People have been trying to engineer better Rubiscos for many decades, but it's not easy because the proteins are big, do not fold easily (they need chaperone proteins to help out), are made from 16 subunits in land plants. But there's a new paper in Nature Plants that looks really interesting. The TL;DR is that a group in Australia figured out how to express plant Rubiscos (and all SEVEN of their folding chaperones) using a set of 3 plasmids inside of E. coli cells. This enabled them to do "directed evolution" of Rubisco in bacterial cells, and quickly find Rubisco mutants that have higher enzymatic efficiency or that fold better. In addition to the 3 plasmids, the researchers also coaxed E. coli to make ribulose-1,5-biphosphate, or RuBP, which is the 5-carbon sugar that Rubisco smashes into carbon dioxide to make molecules of 3-PGA for central metabolism. Now, the clever bit is that you RANDOMLY MUTATE the three plasmids encoding the Rubisco to make millions of variants. Then, you transform those mutated plasmids into E. coli. If the E. coli do NOT make a functional Rubisco, RuBP levels build up and kill the cell; the molecule becomes toxic. But if the E. coli DO make a functional Rubisco, then they keep the RuBP levels in check and live just fine. Using this "screening assay," the researchers found 46 fast-growing colonies of E. coli. Two of those colonies encoded really useful mutations. One mutation (M116L) makes Rubisco about 25–40% faster. The other (A242V) makes it fold and assemble much more efficiently. They put this mutation into a "hybrid Arabidopsis–tobacco Rubisco," put that into tobacco plants, and measured growth. The plants with M116L grew 75% faster than wildtype. No guarantees this will scale to more useful crops, like wheat and corn and soybeans etc. But it seems like a nice in vitro assay for faster prototyping!

@PlantPhys Just to confirm, the new deadline November this year?

#ASPBPlantPhysMonday #ICYMI

🧵 Why the obsession with p < 0.05 is hurting science. A meme. A truth. A reality check.

@CentroLeaks No mega typhlosion :(

Final list of all 26 new Mega Evolutions in Pokémon Legends: Z-A Kanto: Mega Clefable Mega Starmie Mega Victreebell Mega Dragonite Johto: Mega Meganium Mega Feraligatr Mega Skarmory Sinnoh: Mega Froslass Unova: Mega Emboar Mega Scolipede Mega Excadrill Mega Eelektross Mega Scrafty Mega Chandelure Kalos: Mega Chesnaught Mega Delphox Mega Greninja Mega Pyroar Mega Malamar Mega Barbaracle Mega Dragalge Mega Hawlucha Mega Eternal Flower Floette Mega Zygarde Alola: Mega Drampa Galar: Mega Falinks

@Light_88_ I want to trust them to make good designs for these Pokémon, but then I remember that these are the same people who gave us Flamigo and Orthworm…….

All Megas confirmed, we are missing 26 and 27. Their first types should be Electric and Psychic.

1/ 🚨 Does aluminum in vaccines cause autism? A recent article by Nicolas Hulscher claims aluminum adjuvants are strongly associated with autism and should be removed from vaccines. But does the science support this? Let’s break it down. 🧵⬇️

@ATinyGreenCell I think ethics processes within Universities need to be streamlined. The bar shouldn’t be lowered, but the way the universities deal with the endless forms is…not good.

I'm more disappointed at the influences and powers that shaped this human to be so devoid of humanity. It's like reading a 1940's german propaganda poster about the infirm and their cost to society. Was it lack of love? Does he have friends who care? This is really sad. Sincerely

A massive thanks to co-authors @porridgepusher and Carolyn Schultz for many interesting conversations on emerging crops, and to @JXBot for the opportunity to write a Darwin Review.

We urge readers to consider that the need for sustained investment in research and development across the entire value chain to facilitate the exploration of diverse species and genetic resources to enhance crop resilience and adaptability to future environmental conditions.

Our Darwin Review is now online at @JXBot! You can have a read of 'New crops on the block' at doi.org/10.1093/jxb/er….

Proud to share the 4th paper from my PhD! Hemp stomata drive water conservation and assimilation, with stomata responding rapidly to changes in water availability. @aaronlphillips7 @LoveysBeth @DrTracyLawson @porridgepusher @IDigSoil doi.org/10.1016/j.enve…