Royal Society of
Biology
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY
1 Naoroji Street, London WC1X 0GB
Tel: 020 3925 3440 info@rsb.org.uk; www.rsb.org.uk
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor Tom Ireland MRSB, tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk
Chair of the Editorial Board
Professor Dan Davis FRSB,
Imperial College London
Editorial Board
Professor Matthew Cobb FRSB,
The University of Manchester Dr Anthony Flemming FRSB, Syngenta
Dr Sarah Maddocks CBiol MRSB,
Cardiff Met University Dr Esther Odenkule MRSB, GSK Professor Shaun D Pattinson FRSB,
Durham University Dr J mes Poulter MRSB,
University of Leeds Professor Diane Purchase FRSB,
Middlesex University Dr Natasha de Vere, National Botanical Garden of Wales
Membership enquiries
Tel: 020 3925 3441; membership@rsb.org.uk
Subscription enquiries
Tel: 020 3925 3464;
info@rsb.org.uk
The Biologist is produced on behalf of the
Royal Society of Biology by
Think Media Group, 20 Mortimer Street,
London W1T 3JW www.thinkpublishing.co.uk;
020 3771 7200
Printed by Full Spectrum, Basildon
Senior designer
Juanita Adu Production editor
Sian Campbell
Sub editor Kirsty Fortune Group account director
John Innes,
john.innes@thinkpublishing.co.uk
ISSN 0006-3347
Advertising in The Biologist represents an unparalleled opportunity to reach a large community of professional biologists.
For advertising information contact tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk; 020 3925 3464
Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board or the Royal Society of Biology. © 2023 Royal Society of Biology
(Registered charity no. 277981)
The Society permits single copying of individual articles for private study or research, irrespective of where the copying is done. Multiple copying of individual articles for teaching purposes is also permitted without specific permission. For copying or reproduction for any other purpose, written permission must be sought from the Society. Exceptions to the above are those institutions and non-publishing organisations that have an agreement or licence with the UK Copyright Licensing Agency or the
US Copyright Clearance Center. Access to the magazine is available online; please see thebiologist.rsb.org.uk for more details.
Cover: Sea angel, photographed by Alexander Semenov lamy
, A
ibrar y
LPhoto ience
Sc
TheBiologistVol 70 No 2 • Summer 2023
THE MAGAZINE OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY w w w . r s b . o r g . u k
VOLUME 70 NO 2 Summer 2023
Small wonder
Revealing the hidden world of plankton at night
INSIDE
METABOLISING
PLASTIC Can microbes help us clean up our planet?
GROWING ON GAMMA The fungi that feed on deadly radiation
AI AND BIODIVERSITY Using machine learning to discover new proteins
ON THE COVER 16 Migration in miniature An extract from Planktonia, a new book on the nightly migrations of plankton from the depths
Contents
12 The amazing possibilities of radiotrophic fungi Chernobyl studies suggest some fungi can use deadly radiation for growth
32 Reality check Plastic-eating bacteria can make an impact, but we have work to do irst
28 Mind the gaps Can ecologists iron out eDNA’s accuracy issues?
CONNECT WITH US Have an idea for an article or interested in writing for us?
G 0
• 0 e tom.ireland@rsb.org.uk facebook.com/ RoyalSocBio thebiologist.rsb.org.uk
@RoyalSocBio www.youtube.com/ royalsocbio
UP FRONT 04 Society and policy news RSB hits accreditation milestone, welcomes new Honorary Fellow and urges UK government to stay in Horizon Europe
08 Policy priorities Areas of focus for the next ive years and impacts from 2022
10 Opinion The anxieties of in-person learning for the ‘COVID cohort’
FEATURES 12 Fallout fungi What we can learn from species that thrive on radiation
16 From the depths An exclusive extract from Erich Hoyt’s Planktonia
20 Biomolecule boom Startup Basecamp Research on AI, proteins and biodiversity
24 Focus on PHUGS How Defra studentships are boosting UK plant science
28 Sampling panacea? How scientists are integrating eDNA into their work
32 On the microbial menu Can plastic-eating bacteria really clean up our oceans?
REGULARS 36 Members 40 Book reviews 43 Treasurer’s report 2022 44 Branches 47 Crossword 48 Amazing experiments Margaret Bastock’s yellow mutants
Vol 70 No 2 / THE BIOLOGIST / 1
