Developing quantitative skills, or being academically numerate, is part of the curriculum agenda in science teaching and learning. For many of our students, being asked to ‘do maths’ as part of ‘doing science’ leads to disengagement from learning. Notions of ‘I can't do maths’ speak of a rigidity of mind, a ‘standoff’, forming a barrier to learning in science that needs to be addressed if we, as science educators, are to offer solutions to the so-called ‘maths problem’ and to support students as they move from being novice to expert. Moving from novice to expert is complex and we lean on several theoretical frameworks (thinking dispositions, threshold concepts and mindfulness in learning) to characterize this pathway in science, with a focus on quantitative skills. Fluid thinking and application of numeracy skills are required to manipulate experimental data sets and are integral to our science practice; we need to stop students from seeing them as optional ‘maths’ or ‘statistics’ tasks within our discipline. Being explicit about the ways those in the discipline think, how quantitative data is processed, and allowing places for students to address their skills (including their confidence) offer some ways forward.

We discuss recent advances in chlorophyll research in the context of chlorophyll evolution and conclude that some derivations of the formyl side chain arrangement of the porphyrin ring from that of the Chl a macrocycle can extend the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) of these molecules, for example, Chl d and Chl f absorb light in the near‐infrared region, up to ∼750 nm. Derivations such as this confer a selective advantage in particular niches and may, therefore, be beneficial for photosynthetic organisms thriving in light environments with particular light signatures, such as red‐ and near‐far‐red light‐enriched niches. Modelling of formyl side chain substitutions of Chl a revealed yet unidentified but theoretically possible Chls with a distinct shift of light absorption properties when compared to Chl a.

The zoanthid Zoanthus robustus was used as a model organism to develop procedures for isolating pure symbiosomes and symbiosome membranes. The symbiosome is comprised of a zooxanthella (Symbiodinium sp.) cell that divides rarely and is separated from the host gastrodermal cytoplasm by a symbiosome multimembrane complex. Devising a method to isolate membranes at the interface between the symbiotic partners is a critical first step in characterising the molecular components involved in the metabolic trafficking necessary to sustain an effective symbiosis. After zoanthid gastrodermal cells were extracted, symbiosomes were released by mechanical disruption, recovered by centrifugation, and then purified using discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation. The material forming the membrane complex around symbiosomes proved highly resistant to disruption. Methods used to dissociate this interface from symbionts included (1) Triton X-100 detergent solubilisation, (2) osmotic shock with mechanical disrup...