Flipboard! Really! Please tell us about Flipboard, I think I tried it briefly years and years ago but it didn't stick, and I haven't heard anyone mention it since.

Ahahaha thank you for sharing, I missed this the first time around. #scicomm is hard. I almost said "at least they tried" but... 😬

Read more about Becah's discovery and the subsequent experiments here: holdenfg.org/blog/newfoun...

Sometimes a really, really exciting research question is a little deflating when you get the results. But alas, such is science! It's still a very cool discovery and encouraging to know *something* is eating garlic mustard (not even the deer will touch it).

The team also launched a region-wide #CitizenScience effort to find out how widespread the aphid already is: Of the 1,300 observations sent in, over 200 found the aphid, with sightings as far west as Nebraska. It seems that wherever garlic mustard lives, the aphid likely already lives.

It's better than nothing, though: Plants with aphids were around 40% smaller in mass and 20% shorter, and importantly had 40% fewer seeds per pod. Further study will be needed to confirm whether this slows down the plant's spread.

I have been eagerly waiting for the results of her & @holdenrestoration.bsky.social's experiment at Holden Forests & Gardens to quantify how much the bugs are actually affecting the invasive plants. Will this European bug rid us of garlic mustard one day??

Spoiler: No, probably not. Darn.

And this fall, I encourage you to #LeaveTheLeaves! But, like, not on your grass. (Unless you're trying to #KillYourLawn but that's a project for another day.) Thanks!

Learn how fast leaves actually break down (spoiler: it can take a few years) and why some decompose so much faster than others: www.wildflower.org/magazine/bre...

This is why I was so excited to write about the science of how leaves decompose for Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Wildflower Magazine’s “Leave the Leaves” campaign.

I had definitely been hearing “raking leaves is so dumb, they go away on their own over winter” for years. Friends, that is absolutely false. My oak and maple leaves were all still there come spring, smothering my grass. (I'm sure all experienced landscapers know this, but alas...)

Well. Plot twist: “Leave the Leaves” doesn’t mean “never rake again” (as some of the less-informed marketing actually, mistakenly, tells you) — it means rake leaves OFF your grass and pile them in garden beds and yard corners where they become free mulch and insect habitat...

Fun fact I reached out to Ripple and one other wolf cascade lab to see if they were taking Ph.D. students for 2012. I forget which was which, one replied "you have to have your MS already," other said "tell me what project you're proposing to do in my lab" (no other PIs responded like this).

I recently learned that some percent of gluten-sensitive (not celiac) people are actually having an issue with fructans, not gluten, which is high in wheat. And they do make a "lactase" for that! Fodzyme (life changing for me): fodzyme.com

This is fascinating because I'm the opposite. I do OK with cooked alliums (garlic and all its oniony relatives) but raw is a disaster. (As far as I know, the culprit molecule is fructans, the F of FODMAP fame.)

I'm gonna have to second this one