Recent Posts

Why Does Plant Science Need More Storytellers?

,
The world has grown impatient, especially with science. People want information about things they care about, from people whom they can trust. Trust is built through stories that connect scientific research to everyday life. These stories must feel relevant, told by people who show what they care about…

Saying No in Academia: Setting Boundaries Without Guilt

,
In research, work never really ends “Happy to give this presentation.”  “Sure, I can take on teaching hours.” “I can do an extra side project.” “I’ll take care of this experiment over the weekend.” Do phrases like that sound familiar? Whether it comes from enthusiasm or guilt,…

Visualizing Female Meiosis in Arabidopsis

,
In plants, compared to male meiosis, female meiosis has remained largely unexplored. In our recent study published in The Plant Cell (Hu and Prusicki et al., 2026), by live cell imaging, we visualize female meiosis in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, advancing the knowledge of reproductive development. Background:…

The Subtle Art of Pivot: Navigating Topic Changes in Your Research

,
It was a cold Tuesday afternoon in my second year when my advisor sat across from me and said, almost gently, "I think we need to reconsider the direction of your project." I had spent the last year optimizing the phenotyping protocol for drought response in a specific Arabidopsis mutant line. I had…

How to Negotiate Your First Lab Manager Offer?

,
Competition for scientific job positions is increasingly fierce nowadays. That pressure is felt even more strongly in the global south, where stable and well-funded jobs for highly trained scientists are limited, often available in a select few cities (Kent et al, 2022[1]). Major employers include…