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Alexandre de Menezes

@abmmicro

Microbial ecologist. Science and nature. https://www.demenezeslab.com/

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10.04.2024
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Latest posts by Alexandre de Menezes @abmmicro

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BBC Radio 4 - Rare Earth, Lakes, Lochs and Loughs Plunge into the chilly, much-disputed waters of the lakes of the British Isles.

AMR is one of the biggest public health threats of our time. I found genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs in every water sample I tested from Lough Neagh and talk about this on BBC Rare Earth today. Full report in the Guardian tomorrow www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

13.03.2026 12:57 πŸ‘ 74 πŸ” 38 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Noise cancelling earbuds are saving my life

26.02.2026 11:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Found an additional graphic that gets even more of these quotes together.

I've kept "I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees" pinned above my desk since I first started studying evolutionary biology as an undergraduate. So relatable to get extremely frustrated with your study system.

12.02.2026 19:19 πŸ‘ 4997 πŸ” 1793 πŸ’¬ 76 πŸ“Œ 167
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Yellowstone’s earthquakes spark microbial boom deep underground Earthquake swarms can supercharge microbial growth

During a rare "swarm" of earthquakes in Yellowstone, the amount of microbial life present increased by 6.5 times before dropping back to normal after the tremors subsided

09.02.2026 14:50 πŸ‘ 217 πŸ” 40 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 7
3-panel comic. (1) [Three small arthropods on ocean floor.] ARTHROPOD 1: Now that we’re multicellular, what are your plans? I’m gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them! ARTHROPOD 2: I’m gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff! ARTHROPOD 3: I’m gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals. (2) [Silence] (3) ARTHROPOD 1: *Dude.* ARTHROPOD 2: Can you *please* just be normal about this? ARTHROPOD 3: *What??!*

3-panel comic. (1) [Three small arthropods on ocean floor.] ARTHROPOD 1: Now that we’re multicellular, what are your plans? I’m gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them! ARTHROPOD 2: I’m gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff! ARTHROPOD 3: I’m gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals. (2) [Silence] (3) ARTHROPOD 1: *Dude.* ARTHROPOD 2: Can you *please* just be normal about this? ARTHROPOD 3: *What??!*

Early Arthropods

xkcd.com/3199/

28.01.2026 19:57 πŸ‘ 4567 πŸ” 882 πŸ’¬ 27 πŸ“Œ 24
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The global extent of the grassland biome and implications for the terrestrial carbon sink Nature Ecology & Evolution - By combining satellite observations with ground-based data and expert validation, this analysis demonstrates considerable misestimation of grassland extent and...

New publication πŸ₯³
I am very pleased to contribute with one of these dots, particularly as it is from an area overlooked for its many grassland habitats. #climate #biodiversity #grassland #carbon🌍πŸ§ͺ
@stockholm-uni.bsky.social
rdcu.be/e0YLg

27.01.2026 15:15 πŸ‘ 39 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2
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Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

21.01.2026 19:25 πŸ‘ 1136 πŸ” 414 πŸ’¬ 39 πŸ“Œ 110
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Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...

Some really interesting findings for all of us later bloomers who struggled to connect across fields and build a base of broad knowledge:
"Across the highest adult performance levels, peak performance is negatively correlated with early performance."
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

21.12.2025 14:01 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
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Identifying hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands in the European Union - Nature Communications An EU-wide analysis shows that drained peatlands are major, underreported sources of greenhouse gases. By mapping emission hotspots, the study provides guidance for targeted rewetting and strengthens ...

New paper: Identifying hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions from drained peatlands in the European Union

06.12.2025 15:30 πŸ‘ 68 πŸ” 42 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
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a century of glaciers melting πŸ§ͺ🌐

03.11.2025 17:21 πŸ‘ 1045 πŸ” 617 πŸ’¬ 49 πŸ“Œ 58
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23.10.2025 15:09 πŸ‘ 129 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 12
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26.09.2025 11:26 πŸ‘ 464 πŸ” 65 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2
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Brazilian activist Thiago Avilla reports six explosions on different boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters

23.09.2025 23:24 πŸ‘ 43 πŸ” 31 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 5
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Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

β€œIn Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

It costs a lot less to house people.

21.09.2025 06:24 πŸ‘ 6000 πŸ” 2307 πŸ’¬ 112 πŸ“Œ 185

Oh, what the fuck?!? All my published academic papers are in here. Somehow when I heard, β€œauthors,” I forgot about myself and academic work.

15.09.2025 15:17 πŸ‘ 168 πŸ” 68 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 1
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Researchers discover evidence for West African ancestry in Anglo Saxon England, revealing the diverse, cosmopolitan nature of early medieval Britain 🏺 #Archaeology

Read the original research articles in Antiquity πŸ†“ doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

13.08.2025 09:36 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 22 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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22.08.2025 22:44 πŸ‘ 3572 πŸ” 538 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 44
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I think most western countries don’t have a housing crisis at all, they have an asset price crisis πŸ˜… and too many people vote like they’re temporarily disgraced millionaires, rather than to tax wealth hoarders

#comic #comics #webcomic

19.08.2025 11:04 πŸ‘ 2614 πŸ” 565 πŸ’¬ 44 πŸ“Œ 17

A very interesting article about the origin of potatoes.

So worth reading, I'll forgive the author the terrible (glorious) pun at the end.

#Potatoes #Tomatoes

17.08.2025 12:46 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Smart! A Raven doing Raven things.

12.08.2025 16:48 πŸ‘ 11534 πŸ” 1795 πŸ’¬ 396 πŸ“Œ 202
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Applying ecological principles to microbiome engineering - Nature Microbiology This Perspective discusses the application of ecological principles of macro-ecosystems to microbiome engineering. The authors propose research priorities necessary to facilitate the application of th...

#Perspective

In this perspective, the authors propose research priorities necessary to facilitate the application of these ecological principles to improve microbiome functionality.

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

07.08.2025 18:30 πŸ‘ 30 πŸ” 12 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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gm to the bird crew

03.08.2025 15:27 πŸ‘ 4109 πŸ” 464 πŸ’¬ 137 πŸ“Œ 73
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A British crow is asking passersby if they're alright.

02.08.2025 18:12 πŸ‘ 9646 πŸ” 1880 πŸ’¬ 236 πŸ“Œ 199
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Motherfucking wind farms…

30.07.2025 17:02 πŸ‘ 47115 πŸ” 17675 πŸ’¬ 1136 πŸ“Œ 2376
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Global hotspots of mycorrhizal fungal richness are poorly protected - Nature Machine-learning algorithms trained on 25,000 geolocated soil samples are used to create high-resolution global maps of mycorrhizal fungi, revealing that less than 10% of their biodiversity hotspots a...

Reading in journal club

Van Nuland et al.
Global hotspots of mycorrhizal fungal richness are poorly protected

@spun.earth

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

28.07.2025 07:21 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Sun ejecting Plasma, as captured by the Parker Solar Probe.

-Credits: NASA

24.07.2025 20:28 πŸ‘ 7892 πŸ” 1396 πŸ’¬ 263 πŸ“Œ 155

RIP Ozzy Osbourne 🀘

22.07.2025 20:59 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

🀘

22.07.2025 20:59 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God." --U.S. founding father Thomas Jefferson

14.07.2025 04:25 πŸ‘ 9724 πŸ” 2073 πŸ’¬ 198 πŸ“Œ 82