John Hodge

@jghodge

Post-doc at UIUC studying stomatal patterning. Botanist by training with interests broadly in evo-devo, mechanistic modeling, and genetics, particularly in relation to grasses and cereals. Opinions my own.

727 Following1,414 Followers610 Posts

Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and jghodge.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

John Hodge@jghodge· 5d

Addendum to my earlier point: OMG HE’S SO SMOL!!

Image of a young plains rattle snake curled up amongst scattered sandstone shards and nearby a small crucifixion thorn illuminated by a head lamp

John Hodge@jghodge· 5d

And on yesterday’s post-Botany note, back to fieldwork

Image of high steps with mixed scrub brush on a sandstone covered landscape resting under a azure purple sky just before dawn

John Hodge@jghodge· 6d

TIL that apparently the first air force one designated aircraft was called the “Columbine”. Still managing to find botany-related trivia even with it being the day after Botany meeting at the Pima Air & Space Museum.

Image of the front of a 1940-50s era 4 prop aircraft transport aircraft with the name “Columbine” stenciled onto it alongside an Aquilegia flower.

John Hodge@jghodge· 17d

Okay, which maize geneticist is guest writing for the Onion, @jrossibarra.bsky.social was this you?

Image from the Onion newspaper decreeing: “Corn Named World’s Sexiest Plant”

John Hodge@jghodge· 18d

Parasitoid wasps FTW, the savior of my tomato patch every season!

Image surrounded by a tangled canopy of tomato leaves but looking in a tomato horn worm can be seen holding onto a leaf after it has been heavily parasitized almost appearing carpeted in long white wasp egg cases.

John Hodge@jghodge· 22d

Third hanging thief spotted in as many days, safe to say peak dragon fly and robber fly season is here in Urbana

Image looking out of a coffee shop window staring out at an intersection with a small jade plant off to the side but a large and distinct insect with incredibly long legs and mandibles pawing at the outside of the glass.

John Hodge@jghodge· Jul 3

Going into the holiday weekend with a mix of replenishing germplasm for next years veggie garden while channeling Mendel vibes

Image of a small mound of green/yellow peas in various stages of drying next to their split pods

John Hodge@jghodge· Jun 30

Looks like someone zonked out over this morning’s breakfast last night

A bumblebee sleeping on an Echinacea flower

John Hodge@jghodge· Jun 22

Also important to teach them the value of tagging plots/pots for bookkeeping purposes (maybe even the etiquette of not just grabbing someone else’s tags too)

John Hodge@jghodge· Jun 17

Apparently there’s a silver lining to doing early AM confocal scans on leaf epidermal tissue besides not needing to compete for scope time as hard

Confocal scan of a cleared and untreated grass leaf cross section in which blue and green autofluorescence can be seen in the mesophyll and veins respectively alongside a orange-gold hue along the outer epidermal boundary on the surface of each side of the leaf.

John Hodge@jghodge· Jun 5

Splashes of summer color are beginning to appear in the pocket prairie. Feel like this part of the garden is now at a point I can sit back and enjoy because it honestly doesn’t need my help anymore!

Image of a butterfly weed inflorescence with green immature blooms off to the edges while the leading floral axis has begun to flower showing the characteristic orange blooms off this species as well as the typical floral morphology of Apocynaceae.

John Hodge@jghodge· May 31

Feel like my day at least always goes a lil better after seeing a turtle so behold this absolute unit of a soft shell turtle spotted while out and about this morning for those in need

Image of a softshell turtle basking in this sun at the most exposed end of a submerged tree stump along the bank of a creek. A submerged cinder block of approximately the same size gives some sense of how large it is.

John Hodge@jghodge· May 23

Let’s spare a thought for poor Keiko, that woman’s life was nothing but curveballs through all of DS9.

Opening credits card to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine satirical reads: “Logs of a botanist living on a cramped formerly fascist space station”.

John Hodge@jghodge· May 8

Celebrating fluorescence Friday with a leaf that apparently aspires to be a stellar nursery instead of a

Abstract image of predominantly yellow clouds with star bursts alongside highlights of red clouds and rings scattered throughout.

John Hodge@jghodge· May 5

That is a whole heck of a lot of yellow channel signal…

Confocal microscope image with blue highlighting the cell walls of a grass leaf cross section in which a single very bright and very large yellow spot (Alexa Fluor 546 marker) can be seen

John Hodge@jghodge· May 4

Galium season has arrived for those who celebrate throwing sticky plants at people you know as they walk by

Image of a hand holding up two branches of Gallium recognizable from its whorls of six “leaves” and its small white flowers

John Hodge@jghodge· May 3

Spring garden planting is well underway and it would appear that one of my thai basil plants might have a fasciation phenotype with the four leaves at the top initiating from the same node. Now to watch and wait if this is a one off or a continued pattern from the SAM over time…

Image of a pot bathed in a pink hue of light from the grow light where a small basil seedling can be seen with its first set of leaves as a pair of opposite leaves while the second pair has doubled to be two mirrored sets of opposite leaves for a total of four.

John Hodge@jghodge· May 1

Maybe this will be the year the biodiversity garden Liatris survives the yard rabbits.

Image of a early season pocket prairie with rosettes of various grasses and asters emerging while the camera is focused on the long strap-like leaves of a blazing star.

John Hodge@jghodge· Apr 26

The herps were making the most of it a bit further south, pretty sure I caught this rat snake(?) mid failed chipmunk hunt while he was tangled in an old burrow

Image of a tan snake with regular black spots on a gravel trail with its body at a odd jointed angle a 1/3 of it’s body length down due to it being looped into an old burrow (which I know chipmunks were using last year)

John Hodge@jghodge· Apr 26

This turtle has the right idea for spring vibes today

Image looking above down into a creek where a school of carp can be seen swimming just under some drift wood lodged against the legs of the bridge upon which a river turtle can be seen lazily resting and soaking up some sunlight.

John Hodge@jghodge· Apr 18

Last night’s storm caused my Echinocereus to shed its first pup, fortunately @wmhammond.bsky.social provided me with the perfect starter pot for small cacti a while back!

A image of a small cactus on a patio table which is almost globe like and bedecked in spines emerging out of a small pot with an illustrated cactus and the comment “looking sharp” on it.

John Hodge@jghodge· Apr 13

Image of the Iconic “I want to believe” UFO poster from the X-Files with a Joshua Tree superimposed over the UFO in the sky with the slap dashed image editing effort befitting conspiracy theory threads on the internet.

John Hodge@jghodge· Apr 3

How today started vs. how it feels. Didn’t actually think any of these seeds would successfully germinate so this was a pleasant surprise to wake up to!

Two panel image with the top showing grass seeds contained in a humid chamber with one clearly showing signs of germination with the root elongating and the coleoptile greening up. The second shot from “The Martian” in which Mark Watney finds his very first potatoes sprouting from the soil.

John Hodge@jghodge· Feb 20

Been a busy, but productive week here at UIUC with the first successful Setaria HCR FISH attempt in the books!! Big thanks to @minyaaa.bsky.social for providing the lab space that made this project possible, looking forward to more with some actual target genes in the near future!

John Hodge@jghodge· Feb 14

“Hello operator? Yes, I’d like to report a crime that’s just taken place…”

Image of pineapple infused bratwurst being sold at 15% off (probably because most people had the same off put reaction)

John Hodge@jghodge· Feb 11

Off to the next activity (HCR FISH prep) now that Zeavolution has wrapped up today

Image of a lab cart filled to capacity with glass staining dishes wrapped in foil.

John Hodge@jghodge· Jan 27

Sorghum leaf primordia, “you’re getting very sleepy…”

Image of a grass cross section with multiple leaf primordia wrapped in the sheath in a spiraling arrangement.

John Hodge@jghodge· Jan 19

An abysmally cold day here in Illinois has the yard squirrels embracing cat “sunbeam is life” energy

Picture of a squirrel perched along the top of a fence with its fur gleaming from the sunbeam landing on it for warmth.

John Hodge@jghodge· Jan 16

This exercise is quite a bit more stressful trying to cycle through quickly while keeping everything RNAse free. Last batch of samples for this months experiments are in wax at least now.

Image of an embedding station cold plate with 11 paraffin embedded blocks arranged in rows along it slowly cooling down.

John Hodge@jghodge· Dec 28

Challenge her to a rematch at Aspens, even if you lose you still get to grow a tiny forest!