More Like this

1. The demise of Monechma: new combinations and a new classification in the resurrected genera Meiosperma and Pogonospermum (Acanthaceae)

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-022-10003-w  

   Darbyshire, Iain; Kiel, Carrie A.; Chase, Frances M.; Manzitto-Tripp, Erin A. (March 2022, Kew Bulletin)

   Summary Recent molecular phylogenetic results have demonstrated that Monechma s.l., a group of plants with ecological importance in the savanna and succulent biomes of sub-Saharan Africa, is polyphyletic with two discrete lineages recognisable. In the present work, we recognise Monechma Groups I and II at the generic rank, which can be distinguished by differences in inflorescence characteristics and seed morphology. The nomenclatural implications of these findings are investigated. The lectotype of Monechma , M. bracteatum Hochst., is a part of a small lineage of plants closely allied to Justicia L. sect. Harnieria (Solms) Benth. for which the earliest valid name is found to be Meiosperma Raf. Hence, Monechma is synonymised within Meiosperma , which comprises six accepted species and two undescribed taxa. The majority of species of former Monechma s.l. are resolved within the second lineage for which the only validly published generic name is Pogonospermum Hochst. This resurrected genus comprises 34 accepted species plus two undescribed taxa. Pogonospermum displays considerable morphological variation and is here subdivided into six sections based primarily on differences in plant habit, inflorescence form, calyx, bract and bracteole venation, and seed indumentum. The new combinations and new sections are validated, and seven accepted species names are lectotypified. 

   more » « less
2. Science and the New Constitutionalism

   Sheila Jasanoff (June 2022, Danish Association for Science and Technology Studies)

   Keynote talk 

   more » « less
3. Science and the New Constitutionalism

   Sheila Jasanoff (September 2022, Carr Center for Human Rights, Harvard Kennedy School)
4. New genres and obsolete expertise in the new textiles economy

   https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2022.2087719  

   Lynch, Caitrin; Coppola, Adam; Holmes, Andrew; Rosner, Margaret (September 2022, Journal of Cultural Economy)

   This paper examines the role of distinctions between genres in conflicts over expertise in an American textile mill. Riverway is a struggling 150-year-old New England textile mill where members of a diverse workforce focus on producing high quality fabric in a context that demands daily adaptive expertise. Based on fieldwork from 2015–19, we examine how Riverway workers interacted with documentation systems at the mill. They engaged with managers and coworkers around new forms of technology and shifting valuations about skill and expertise, and, in the process, made sense of their roles as workers in a declining industry where their skills and forms of expertise were nearly obsolete. Through analysis of conflicts in the mill, we examine how members of the mill's community of practice made sense of a changing genre ecology of tools for communicating, recording information, communicating asynchronously, and asserting expertise. We show how technologies for making fabric and communicating about fabric production became symbols of valuations tangentially linked to production. These technologies became lightning rods for debates about expertise, skill, and knowledge, and for everyday distinctions that workers and managers made about the value of their work during a time of economic change marked by mill closures. 

   more » « less
5. The Case for Studying New Viruses of New Hosts

   https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-virology-100220-112915  

   Stenglein, Mark D. (September 2022, Annual Review of Virology)

   Virology has largely focused on viruses that are pathogenic to humans or to the other species that we care most about. There is no doubt that this has been a worthwhile investment. But many transformative advances have been made through the in-depth study of relatively obscure viruses that do not appear on lists of prioritized pathogens. In this review, I highlight the benefits that can accrue from the study of viruses and hosts off the beaten track. I take stock of viral sequence diversity across host taxa as an estimate of the bias that exists in our understanding of host-virus interactions. I describe the gains that have been made through the metagenomic discovery of thousands of new viruses in previously unsampled hosts as well as the limitations of metagenomic surveys. I conclude by suggesting that the study of viruses that naturally infect existing and emerging model organisms represents an opportunity to push virology forward in useful and hard to predict ways. 

   more » « less