Italian white truffles sold for up to $11,000/kg last year. Scientists are slowly unraveling the mysteries of how they reproduce. They’ve also cultivated them for the first time. My piece for nature with Claude Murat Prof Paul Thomas FRSA. The Mycological Book Club nature.com/articles/d4158…

Workplace bullies wreck careers and lives in science labs too. International researchers have it worse. Five told me about the verbal abuse, 14-hour days, financial exploitation and threats of visa loss for Nature Careers with Academic Parity Movement Morteza Mahmoudi, PhD nature.com/articles/d4158…

Lab bosses can be bullies too. Researchers on working visas are especially vulnerable. But they can fight back, by knowing their rights, gathering evidence, reaching out and joining unions. My piece for @naturecareers w Neal Sweeney @cant_b Morteza Mahmoudi, PhD nature.com/articles/d4158…

Hacking the body's responses to DNA damage could provide new treatments for neurological conditions from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to spinal cord, acoustic nerve + traumatic brain injuries. My piece in Nature Middle East (En) with UoB Neuroscience and Ophthalmology + Gabriel Balmus natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast…

Grenoble punches well above its weight in science and tech. Lots of cutting-edge quantum computing, AI, electronics, green tech, medtech happening. My piece for nature with @IRTnanoelec Hani Sh CEA-Leti Julien Mairal @InvestInGrenobl @wageenergy nature.com/articles/d4158…

‘A silver lining’: how Covid ushered in a vaccines golden era theguardian.com/science/2023/a…

Mansplaining, the "Black tax", patronised, interrupted, comments about legs, groping.. hearing what it can be like to be female and/or Black at academic meetings was shocking and an education. Thank you Pas Garcia Martinez Sydney Freeman Jr. Lucie In The Sky 🌻 Leah Hollis nature.com/articles/d4158…

Researchers say the proposed new EU Data Act fails to give them with the same access to new data it gives to consumers, businesses and public sector bodies. My piece for Nature Index with @ChicotJulien Viivi Lähteenoja (she/her) Morten Dæhlen nature.com/articles/d4158…

I have it on good authority that "Nazaré: Life and Death with the Big Wave Surfers" is a great read. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Congratulations Matt Majendie

The UK market in mushroom extracts is roughly tripling annually. They are touted as treatments for cancers, diabetes, anxiety and more. But is there proper evidence they work? I trawled the studies + spoke to some scientists to find out for The Observer New Review theguardian.com/science/2023/o…

News! The Times and Sunday Times has a new chief literary critic - and I’m delighted to say it’s me. Congratulations to @robbiemillen who will rule over the seven-day operation with the brilliantly talented Laura Hackett and Susie Goldsbrough. I’ll continue to run Young Writer Award.

I've been to Glen Affric hundreds of times in the past 45 years, but being there today really took my breath away. There was a remarkably thick hoar frost coating all the vegetation, especially the birch trees, and it transformed the whole area into a fabulous frozen forest.

A stunning day for a traverse of the Aonach Eagach along Glencoe's hearty skyline with views to the sea lochs, islands and Ben Nevis himself, covered in snow. When Scotland is on form, there's no place like it.

Spacecraft are getting smaller, mission design is speeding up and how AI will help humans boldly go where we haven't been before. One I wrote for Guardian Labs, with Portsmouth Cosmology and Lucinda King. Read all about it: theguardian.com/creating-impac…

A farewell to Scottish winter? If that's a wrap, then what a way to go. In Glencoe chasing sunrise, snow and the sublime.

Honoured that our @tartobs University of Tartu research has been highlighted in the latest nature issue: nature.com/articles/d4158… Big thanks to Nic Fleming, @larjamiisa, Oleksandr, Andres Kuusk for making this happen.

Don't know how other authors feel, but seeing the first physical copy of your book, after years of looking at Word files and PDFs... Seems surreal. It's as if someone else wrote it... Anyway, this advance copy arrived in the mail. One more month to pub date

Bishopston Matters WEST Cllr Don Alexander @James_CrBS7 @bristol_pip Please, oh please, can someone confirm that the section of Concorde Way by Ashley Down station will reopen in time for children to have a safe & shorter route to school by the start of term next week?! #bristol

The influence of diet on our immune system function is getting increasingly recognized, a feature today nature nature.com/articles/d4158… Nic Fleming open-access

Does intermittent fasting work? Which of the health claims are supported by science? My piece for nature, with Mark Mattson, from Johns Hopkins University, Courtney Peterson, Krista Varady, Nisa Maruthur, MD, MHS, FACP, Omer Yilmaz, Satchin Panda Read all about it, hot off the press: nature.com/articles/d4158…