Richard Smith

5,639 reputation

2050

bio	website	phyta.org
	location	Cambridge, UK
	age	27
visits	member for	1 year, 3 months
	seen	May 9 at 10:33
stats	profile views	153

PhD student in Plant Sciences at Cambridge working on dissecting the molecular basis of C4 photosynthesis. Formerly plant biologist, data analyst, bioinformatician and programmer at the Millennium Seed Bank.

My expertise is in plant biology, especially:

Seed biology, dormancy and germination
C4 photosynthesis and carbon fixation/concentrating mechanisms in general
Environmental plant physiology
Molecular biology of plant organogenesis, i.e. organ patterning, auxin, shoot and root branching

I write software in Objective-C and Python, and I have some experience with JS and data vis libraries like the beautiful D3.js, and with R.

If you tag a question with plant-physiology or botany, it will get my attention.

	5,639 reputation	bio	website	phyta.org	visits	member for	1 year, 3 months
2050 badges		location	Cambridge, UK		seen	May 9 at 10:33

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Aug 2	comment	Is the theory of evolution being disproved by bats? +1 classic paper, and good point
Aug 1	comment	How does the brain instinctively know the math behind Newtonian Physics? I agree with @nico, a child does have the intellectual power to calculate trajectories and launch energies, and they develop the ability through trial and error. Your question is backwards - the brain doesn't know the math until it explictly learns it, and you don't need math to interact with physical systems, only to describe them in the abstract.
Aug 1	answered	Is the theory of evolution being disproved by bats?
Aug 1	comment	Shortest strings not present in the human genome @KonradRudolph can you turn that into an answer and expand on it? Sounds interesting but I'd love to know why it would be that hard and what that solution would look like.
Aug 1	reviewed	Reject suggested edit on What is the difference between naive and adjusted p-values in a GWAS study?
Jul 31	comment	What is the difference between naive and adjusted p-values in a GWAS study? Agree, including the unadjusted p-value is just waving around a big red herring.
Jul 31	comment	What is the difference between naive and adjusted p-values in a GWAS study? I would have liked to +2 this: +1 for an excellent, precise answer and +1 for xkcdification.
Jul 31	comment	What is the effect of a pure-oxygen environment on a plant? why would radioactivity make a difference?
Jul 31	comment	What is the effect of a pure-oxygen environment on a plant? +1 This is the answer I would have written
Jul 31	comment	Can parents' learned traits be transmitted genetically? Vote to reopen - whilst the other question is similar, there are specific features related to the human case which warrant a separate answer (which I was just about to post when the Q was closed!)
Jul 31	comment	Can parents' learned traits be transmitted genetically? @KonradRudolph he's right that many studies claim increased stress-related disorders in Holocaust survivors' offspring. I'll write up a full answer and include some. The key point is that none of those studies claim it's a genetic effect; that was an assumption of the asker.
Jul 31	comment	How are the boundaries of a gene determined? But how do those software determine gene boundaries? What are they looking for that is indicative of a gene boundary?
Jul 31	comment	Can parents' learned traits be transmitted genetically? This is a perfectly good question, but my answer linked above is relevant. The short version: it's not genetic; stress is transmitted hormonally from mother to child.
Jul 31	revised	Can parents' learned traits be transmitted genetically? grammar
Jul 30	comment	Is there any biological reason that professional swimming is dominated by white people? It will get downvoted because it's perceived as racist to highlight or suggest biological differences between races (I'm not saying I agree with the downvotes). The answer to your question is no, there's no biological basis, the explanation is most likely cultural.
Jul 27	awarded	Enlightened
Jul 27	awarded	Nice Answer
Jul 26	answered	Black bumps on the cut surface of an avocado
Jul 26	comment	Black bumps on the cut surface of an avocado This is on-topic, the answer is about plant anantomy
Jul 25	revised	Are mature trees as susceptible to mutation from exposure to radiation as seedlings? edited title