Jessica C. Huss
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j2huss.bsky.social
Jessica C. Huss
@j2huss.bsky.social
240 followers 340 following 18 posts
Scientist 🌵 interested in plants, materials, ecology, renewables & climate
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j2huss.bsky.social
Jessica C. Huss @j2huss.bsky.social · Oct 8
One day in the lab, we accidentally discovered that the spines of a cactus 🌵 straighten when exposed to fog. I was intrigued and so were my collaborators. How does this work and what can be gained from it? Here are some of the answers in our new preprint:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
rahmstorf.bsky.social
As long expected. It’s climate science 101. The vapor thirst of the atmosphere increases exponentially with temperature. A law of physics known since the early 19th C (Clausius–Clapeyron law).
It causes more drought even if rainfall doesn’t decline.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe
Analysis shows how heatwaves are making atmosphere thirstier, damaging water supplies, food production and power generation
www.theguardian.com
July 23, 2026 at 6:45 AM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
hannahcole04.bsky.social
Do humans and birds share an eye for design? 🐦🎨

For my Master's diss, I’m testing if we share aesthetic tastes with bowerbirds.

I need 100 responses to finish!
Visual, anonymous & under 5 mins.
Link: exe.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

🧪 cc: @scienseed.com

#AcademicSky #SciComm
July 22, 2026 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
jasonkoebler.bsky.social
ChatGPT posters and flyers are polluting real life and driving me insane.

Please respond to this with the worst ones you've seen irl. I'll post some in the thread

www.404media.co/we-are-livin...
We Are Living in a ‘ChatGPT Flyer Pandemic’
"Hey if this is your flyer, I’m not going, I’m not donating, I’m not sharing. Don’t ask me."
www.404media.co
July 8, 2026 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
poorlydrawnlines.bsky.social
Sometimes.
April 12, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
science.org
New research in Science reveals that the Venus flytrap's snap is triggered by a rapid softening of the epidermal cell walls, uncovering the physical mechanism behind this remarkable movement.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/4fXQ9sn
A Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) leaf closes around a trapped fly. Photo: Alex Hyde/NPL/Minden Pictures
June 11, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
astrokatie.com
It’s truly astonishing to see how comprehensively the US government is tearing down every part of the system that has made it up until now a world-leading power in science, research, and technological development. The entire world will suffer from this wanton destruction.
danvergano.bsky.social Dan Vergano @danvergano.bsky.social · May 28
White House proposes new rules giving political appointees final approval of research grants

These proposed Office of Management and Budget regulations would render the federal research grant review process opaque

www.scientificamerican.com/article/whit...
White House proposes new rules giving political appointees final say on research grants
These proposed Office of Management and Budget regulations would render the federal research grant review process opaque
www.scientificamerican.com
May 29, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
botanicaljim.bsky.social
Amazing place to work, with a research group with good culture doing exciting science. I would recommend!
May 28, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
aniloza.bsky.social
wow — the preprint host, arxiv, is banning authors for a year if they submit papers with hallucinated citations 🤖
Twitter thread from Thomas Dietterich, reading "Attention @arxiv authors: Our Code of Conduct states that by signing your name as an author of a paper, each author takes full responsibility for all its contents, irrespective of how the contents were generated. 1/ 3:03 PM · May 14, 2026 · 66.7K Views Relevant View quotes Thomas G. Dietterich @tdietterich · 1h If generative AI tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content, and that output is included in scientific works, it is the responsibility of the author(s). 2/ Thomas G. Dietterich @tdietterich · 1h We have recently clarified our penalties for this. If a submission contains incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check the results of LLM generation, this means we can't trust anything in the paper. 3/ Thomas G. Dietterich @tdietterich · 1h The penalty is a 1-year ban from arXiv followed by the requirement that subsequent arXiv submissions must first be accepted at a reputable peer-reviewed venue. 4/ Thomas G. Dietterich @tdietterich · 1h Examples of incontrovertible evidence: hallucinated references, meta-comments from the LLM ("here is a 200 word summary; would you like me to make any changes?"; "the data in this table is illustrative, fill it in with the real numbers from your experiments") end/"
May 14, 2026 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
reeserichardson.bsky.social
How much does it cost to buy your way onto a scientific paper?

To answer this question (and better understand the global market for academic reputation manipulation), we compiled BuyTheBy, a massive dataset of thousands of advertisements from paper mills in seven different countries.

Link below!
A boxplot with authorship slot (1st author through 5th author) on the x axis and price in USD on the y axis. Prices are split by paper mill of origin.
April 28, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
rbreich.bsky.social
Data centers have contaminated ground water in Oregon.

They've released smog into the air in Memphis.

And they've contributed to electricity bill spikes — all while receiving millions of dollars in tax breaks.

Is it any wonder why a nationwide backlash against AI data centers is brewing?
April 22, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
antea04.bsky.social
I'm a data scientist @ourworldindata.org and I need help from a botanist or someone local to Kyoto, Japan! 🌸

We present one of the world’s longest climate records: 1,200 years of peak cherry blossom dates in Kyoto.

The researcher who maintained it, Prof. Yasuyuki Aono, sadly passed away last year.
April 10, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
davidho.bsky.social
I will say this again: Science isn’t just something that nerds do, it’s the foundation of the modern world.

It’s why this app exists. It’s why child mortality rate isn’t 50% anymore. It’s how we’re able to launch people to the moon. It’s how we’re able to grow food that feeds half the world.
Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration
Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.
www.nature.com
April 3, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
kattascha.bsky.social
Ergebnis einer großen Meta-Studie bestätigt: „Der Konsum von misogynen Medieninhalten führt im Durchschnitt zu einer signifikanten Zunahme von frauenfeindlichen Einstellungen, Verhaltensneigungen, sogar Verhaltensweisen.“ Bei jungen Menschen ist der Effekt zudem deutlich stärker ausgeprägter.
Misogynie und Medienkonsum: Frauenfeindliche Inhalte machen Menschen tatsächlich frauenfeindlich
Eine Studie zeigt: Wer misogyne Videos, Games oder Pornos konsumiert, übernimmt oft sexistische Haltungen und aggressives Verhalten. Das gilt mitunter sogar für Frauen.
www.zeit.de
March 20, 2026 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
wxnb.bsky.social
In Phoenix, Arizona, temperatures could reach an unbelievable 107°F (+42°C) on Friday. If that verifies, it would break the record for the earliest occurrence of 107°F since records began in 1895, pulverising the previous record by a whopping 44 days.

This is totally bonkers.
March 18, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
doctorzen.net
If you have any examples of generative A.I. in academic journals, let me know by filling out this form:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

You can see the academic shop collection: doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...
March 5, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
slcuplants.bsky.social
Registrations now open for #SLS26 Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 in Cambridge, UK — Shaping Life: Mechanisms of Morphogenesis!
Join us explore how cellular, genetic & mechanical forces sculpt plant form
📅 22–24 Sept 2026
In-person + livestream
Limited fee waivers
www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/sls
#plantsi
Sainsbury Laboratory Symposium 2026 logo - Shaping Life-Mechanisms of Morphogenesis. Timelapse of a developing Arabidopsis leaf imaged at 9-12 days old under a confocal microscope, with cells segmented and coloured using MorphographX software. Images by Sarah Attrill.
February 16, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
katharinehayhoe.com
Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!

"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."
Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky
Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For
academic.oup.com
February 13, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
timothysnyder.bsky.social
The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna, Austria, invites applicants for the position of Rector. This is an exceptional opportunity to lead a renowned institution dedicated to the humanities and social sciences.
www.iwm.at/news/the-iwm...
The IWM Invites Applications for the Position of Rector
About the IWMWe are an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences. Since its foundation in 1982, the Institute for Human Sciences has promoted intellectual exchange...
www.iwm.at
February 5, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
andreasschmittner.bsky.social
Check out the new version of my climate science textbook. Free, accessible and online. Let me know what you think. open.oregonstate.education/climatescien...
Introduction to Climate Science
Introduction to climate science is for college students of both science and non-science majors and for everybody interested in the topic.
open.oregonstate.education
January 23, 2026 at 3:52 AM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
elisabethbik.bsky.social
‘Science journals retract 500 papers a month. This is why it matters.
A small team of volunteers is tracking thousands of falsified studies, including cases of bribery, fraud and plagiarism’

Ivan Oransky @retractionwatch.com, @alicedreger.bsky.social @thetimes.com

www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Science journals retract 500 papers a month. This is why it matters
A small team of volunteers is tracking thousands of falsified studies, including cases of bribery, fraud and plagiarism
www.thetimes.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
scientificdiscovery.dev
Big new blogpost!

My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more.

--> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...
screenshot of my post
December 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
newphyt.bsky.social
High #temperature acclimation of #photosystem II in land plants

#TansleyReview by @bposch.bsky.social et al.

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

@hultinelab.bsky.social #PlantScience #photosynthesis
Venn diagram of major strategies used to cope with heat stress with examples of species expected to specialize in heat tolerance/acclimation (yellow circles), heat avoidance through drought-deciduousness (green circles), and heat avoidance through homeothermic leaf cooling (blue circles).
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Reposted by Jessica C. Huss
toddwoody.bsky.social
One of today's winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi. Last year I wrote about Yaghi and Atoco, the startup he founded to commercialize his scientific breakthrough with a device that extracts water from air using just sunlight.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Startups Are Racing to Make Water Out of Thin Air
Materials that are bigger on the inside than the outside provide a futuristic solution to supply water to an increasingly arid planet.
www.bloomberg.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:23 PM
j2huss.bsky.social
One day in the lab, we accidentally discovered that the spines of a cactus 🌵 straighten when exposed to fog. I was intrigued and so were my collaborators. How does this work and what can be gained from it? Here are some of the answers in our new preprint:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 8, 2025 at 3:25 PM