iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Matt Kerr

The Onion @theonion.com · 16/09/2026

Biologists Announce There Absolutely Nothing We Can Learn From Clams theonion.com/biologists-announce-th…

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tomjwebb @tomjwebb.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Here you go - short enough just to post here! I added the alt text so you can copy if you find it useful. The paper I cited is this one: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Screenshot of response to review:

Better to avoid first and second person and use only the third when writing scientific articles. This supports the need for a neutral and independent article.

We respectfully disagree - as do almost all modern style guides for scientific writing, most journal guidelines, and the vast majority of recently published papers. To quote from one recent example (Brennan 2024, PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.2316966121): “Writing in the first person can help make our articles easier to read and understand, not to mention more concise, impactful, and accessible.” Making the changes requested would have the opposite effect, lengthening our manuscript, introducing ambiguity, and reducing readability.

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Altmetric @altmetric.com · 08/09/2026

Update: The academic flight from Twitter is now complete and appears permanent. April 2023, after the pandemic research surge, we recorded 2,234,307 posts sharing research on Twitter. As of April this year, "X" had 896,741 posts about research. That's a 60% drop in traffic.

Graph showing cumulative research sharing across platforms, including Twitter - April 2023

Graph of April 2026 cumulative research sharing including "X". One third of what it was.

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John Alroy @johnalroy.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Fitting the geometric Weibull distribution yields low-bias species richness estimates when either museum catalogue data or citizen science observations are analysed: an example involving Australian frogs. New paper in Global Ecology and Biogeography. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Eric Schares @eschares.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

🚨Update: Our analysis of global APC expenditure has now been expanded to cover more publishers (7 -> 14) and more years (2019-2025). We estimate $15B in APCs paid over seven years, $3.7B in 2025 alone. Elsevier crosses the $1B threshold by itself in 2025. arxiv.org/abs/2608.16322 #ScholComm

Line chart showing 5 biggest publishers from 2019-2025

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Emma-Liina Marjakangas @emmamarjakangas.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

📢 Postdoc opportunity in interaction networks under global change @ University of Helsinki! The position includes leading fieldwork & analyses on seed dispersal networks & mentoring junior researchers. Apply by 30 Sept: jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki... #Postdoc #Ecology #Conservation #AcademicJobs

jobs.helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecological Networks and Biodiversity Conservation

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Hey Paleo Folks! Rowan Lockwood (PS President) sent me this description of the Paleobotany short course at this year's GSA. “A primer for researchers of all stages interested in trait-based paleoecology and deep time vegetation-climate interactions. Attendees will be trained to make measurements…

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SORTEE @sortee.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

2026 SORTEE Conference Plenary speakers announced — Dr Lauren Cadwallader (PLOS) & Dr Tatsuya Amano (UQ)! Program & registration now open. New this year: microgrants for conference barriers, apply by Sept 6. Details available here: sortee.org/upcoming/ See you in October!

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Ecography @ecography.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Global analysis suggests nitrogen deposition as an underestimated driver of vegetation greening vist.ly/5fcap #Anthropocence #GlobalWarming #Restoration

Map of global EVI trends with pink and green shades, plus graphs showing EVI trends related to environmental predictors.

Graphical analysis and world maps showing climate and vegetation data by region.

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Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I don’t think there’s ever been a clearer example of the British media bullying someone, who was so clearly vulnerable, to death so shamelessly in my lifetime for engagement and clicks And now we’ll have to watch the people that did it claim they’re shocked, and horrified Revolting

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Gabriel S. Ferreira (he/his) @gsferreira.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

"interesting" that returning illegally acquired fossils to where they belong is a no no, but selling a whole collection is a yes yes 🤑 www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...

theguardian.com

One of UK’s best fossil collections sold overseas in ‘loss to the nation’

Exclusive: Lack of funds left British museums unable to pay eight-figure sum for collection, which went to Abu Dhabi institution

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Prof Lisa Schipper 🌍🍉💪 @lisaschipper.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

What could be causing the heating, I wonder…

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Jonas Trepel @jonastrepel.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Using satellite observations from 2001–2024, we assessed how vegetation greening relates to N deposition alongside climate change, fire and human land-use change. Across most major climate zones and ecosystem types, nitrogen deposition showed the strongest association with greening. (2/5)

Figure showing positive association between N deposition and increases in green plant biomass across biomes. Models for changes in EVI as a function of N deposition were fitted for a variety of subsets separately, including Köppen–Geiger climatic regions (A)–(B) and aggregated biomes based on the functional biomes of Higgins et al. (2016) (C)–(D). (A) Coefficient estimates for each Köppen–Geiger climatic region separately. Error bars indicate the 95% confidence interval; (B) spatial distribution of climatic regions; (C) coefficient estimates for aggregated biomes separately; (D) spatial distribution of aggregated biomes. All variables have been scaled and centered for modeling. Variables were considered significant when the 95% confidence interval of the coefficient estimate did not overlap zero. A positive coefficient estimate indicates a positive relationship between the respective predictor variable and the response.

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UVic Faculty of Social Sciences @uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

In a recent study in Nature Climate Change, lead author and #uvic @uvicenvi.bsky.social PhD student Claire Wright and co-author Dr. Eric Higgs examines how #climatechange is driving the emergence of ecological conditions with no precedent. #ecology #environment #climate www.uvic.ca/socialscienc...

uvic.ca

Ecological novelty - Social Sciences - University of Victoria

Inspired by and honouring place, we are a community-minded, globally engaged university where we transform ideas into meaningful impact.

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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

There is ample evidence that climate change is altering ecosystems into novel configurations. Chuffed to have been part of this new paper on how climate change induces ecological novelty, and how we can possibly adapt and mitigate the impacts. www.nature.com/articles/s41558-026-02697-8

nature.com

Ecological novelty induced by climate change - Nature Climate Change

The authors review ecological novelty—ecological situations with no precedent—arising from climate change. They discuss ecological novelty due to direct and indirect effects of climate change, and due...

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Niki Hubbard, PhD 🐙🦀 @nikihubbard.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Your plots and figures deserve some sea slug style! The nudibranch colour palette package is up on CRAN! 🎨 Can now be found and installed without even needing to tab away from R Studio. cran.r-project.org/web/packages... #rstats #nudibranch #dataviz 🦑🐙🧪 #marinelife #invertebrates

Close up with a beautiful nudibranch on a rocky reef. The lower half of the image is a palette of swatches made from the nudi's vibrant colours.

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Jan Geert Hiddink @jangeerthiddink.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Great to see a spatial assessment of bottom trawling in Ghana’s using vessel monitoring system data. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... A quick calculation suggests a maximum swept-area-ratio of about 0.16 y-1, which is very low relative to many other areas (maximum in Europe is 74 y-1).

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Grantham Research Institute at LSE @granthamlse.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

We regret that our event on Extreme Heat: Improving governance and strengthening action around the world has been cancelled due to the red extreme heat warning issued by the UK Met Office. Our apologies to everyone who was planning to attend the event.

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Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

National Museums Northern Ireland are hiring a curator of vertebrates!! Details here - deadline soon!! ce0568li.webitrent.com/ce0568li_web...

ce0568li.webitrent.com

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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Was really cool to be part of data collection effort of this study - which involved a huge effort and authors from all continents. Really important results for moving forward with open science too - read for details and advice! And thanks @nhcooper123.bsky.social for leading us all with patience 🙏🏼

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Ashkaan K. Fahimipour @akfbio.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Reptiles with longer Wikipedia pages tend to be bigger. The relationship is a power law with exponent = 0.85. I guess humans really like writing about big lizards? The longest article is the Komodo Dragon.

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Markus Wagner @wagnermarkus.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

A nice opportunity in Nothern Ireland: @savebutterflies.bsky.social Limestone Grassland Project Manager. Deadline for applying is 8 June. More information here: butterflyconservation.livevacancies.co.uk#/job/details... #NatureRecovery #GenerationRestoration

butterflyconservation.livevacancies.co.uk

hireful.

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UCL Science and Technology Studies (STS) @stsucl.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

We’re hiring! We are recruiting for a Lectureship in Global History of Science to join our Department from September 2026. For more info and to apply, please visit: bit.ly/3R94V58 Closing Date: 9th June 2026 #WeAreSTS #Science #Historyofscience #Globalscience

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Brian Maitner @maitner.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Important new paper out today led by @jonastrepel.bsky.social that explains how common approaches to quantifying the impacts of #introduced #herbivores are fundamentally flawed, including those used by the #IUCN. #Rewilding doi.org/10.1111/cobi...

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Jonas Trepel @jonastrepel.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

This has been a really fun collaboration with a wonderful team: @mattkerr.bsky.social, Rob Buitenwerf, @kristymferraro.bsky.social, Liza le Roux, Erick Lundgren, @maitner.bsky.social, @tanyadoesscience.bsky.social and @jcsvenning.bsky.social @econovoau.bsky.social. Thanks everyone!

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Jonas Trepel @jonastrepel.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Check out our new letter in Conservation Biology where we argue that (re-)introduced large herbivores are often wrongly framed as harmful because herbivory is automatically equated with ecological damage - overlooking their potential to restore biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Herbivory is a fundamental ecological process; treating it as harm (like recent work has suggested) misinforms conservation decisions about introduced herbivores. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reevaluating introduced herbivores in conservation

Click on the article title to read more.

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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

And when you point this out the response is usually “leave people alone” or “mind your own business,” as though an industry explicitly designed to shape aesthetics doesn’t impact people. Extreme thinness is framed as an individual choice and not something that shapes, or is shaped by, pop culture.

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Florian Altermatt @florianaltermatt.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Open #PhD #position on “Projecting the #human #impact on #biodiversity” (fully funded 4 years position) in my group @University Zurich & @eawag.bsky.social 🌐 🌍 📈 🦀 🐟 🌳 All #details & application instructions 🎯: apply.refline.ch/673277/1356/... ❗Thx for spreading the word / apply now!

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Francois Keck @francoiskeck.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

I’m super happy to share that we’re looking for a PhD student to join us! It’s an exciting project and a great opportunity to work together on big questions about biodiversity and human impacts. Come work with us! and please share with people who might be interested 👉 m.refline.ch/673277/1356/...

m.refline.ch

PhD position “Projecting the Human Impact on Biodiversity” (4 years position)

The Altermatt lab at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies of University of Zurich and the Department of Aquatic Ecology of Eawag have a vacancy for a

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Eric Higgs @ehiggs.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Great to share the podium with @lauralgovers.bsky.social at the University of Aarhus speaking about emerging novelty with the ECONOVO group. Thanks @anordonez1.bsky.social, @matt and @jcsvenning.bsky.social for hosting.

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Ecography @ecography.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Biogeography of intertidal invertebrates is influenced by latitude along the west coast of Australia vist.ly/4zwgv #Invertebrates #MarineEcology #SDM

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Danna Staaf @dannastaaf.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

What do I think about the giant Cretaceous octopuses? - First that I'm delighted people are asking me 😁 - Second that WOW! Scientists used an amazing technique to discover HUGE fossil cephalopod beaks! 🤩 - Third that OH BOY do I have questions...🧵🧪🐙 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Earliest octopuses were giant top predators in Cretaceous oceans

Top predators drive changes in ecosystem structure. For the last ~370 million years, large-sized vertebrates have dominated the apex of the marine food chain, while invertebrates have served as smalle...

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Jo Rhodes @drjorhodes.com · 13/04/2026

Names matter: the word ‘citizen’ carries legal, political, and cultural meanings that are not neutral, say @britishecologicalsociety.org. Instead, consider using the term ‘community science’.

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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

It seems every week a new citation-based metric appears, claiming to fix a big problem with the old ones. Our new preprint discusses how adding new metrics would only serve to exacerbate privilege gaps in academia - worsening existing biases and introducing new ones. doi.org/10.32942/X2R...

doi.org

Novel citation-based indices exacerbate privilege gaps in academic publishing

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Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance @invertebrates.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Vote for Mollusc of the Year 2026. The winner will have its complete genome sequenced. There are some cool species in the running this year! www.unitasmalacologica.org/mollusc-of-t...

unitasmalacologica.org

Mollusc of the Year 2026

Click here to see previous Mollusc of the Year winners.

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British Ecological Society @britishecologicalsociety.org · 08/04/2026

Ecological Solutions and Evidence is accepting proposals for their latest Special Feature! They invite scientists and practitioners to share experiences from management projects that didn't turn out as expected, but still provided important insights into how best to manage ecosystems and species 🌱

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Anne-Laure D 🌿 @aldpaleo.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

M. Krings, C. Harper & I are organizing a symposium for early career researchers: -👤students to 2 years post PhD -🌿 any #paleobotany or #palynology subject - 💶 awards for the 3 best talks We hope to gather a diversity of subjects & presenters. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions!

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ICES - International Council for the Exploration of the Sea @icesmarine.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Are you thinking about taking our intro to stock assessment course? If you work with fisheries data, this course shows you what happens between "survey index" and "stock status estimate." 📍 Copenhagen 📅 1–5 June ⏰6 April deadline👉 ices.dk/events/Training/Pages/stock_assessment_introduction_2026.aspx

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Jens-Christian Svenning @jcsvenning.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Ecosystem integrity is a central concept in #conservation & #restoration. I argue for shifting from pattern-focused views to ecological processes & evolutionary lineages. Happy to see it accepted in @restorationecology.bsky.social🌿It'll become available at DOI: 10.1111/rec.70390 #ecosystemintegrity

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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Cool package, and really interested to see how it develops - these types of tools will always be super useful for developing fisheries policy and advice. Especially for fishers. We developed a similar tool for MPA design a few years back using vessel data: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Assessing efficacy in MPA design decisions using a bespoke and interactive fisheries management tool

Large marine protected areas (LMPAs) represent one of the main strategic options for achieving international targets on mitigating biodiversity loss a…

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Paolo G. Albano @pgalbano.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Compared to continental ones, only a few #marine species are considered #extinct. Now we have one more, the #snail Conus lugubris from São Vicente Island (Cape Verde Archipelago). This species had a very restricted range now lost to "development". www.iucnredlist.org/species/1922...

A specimen of Conus lugubris, a cone snail from Cape Verde, characterized by its smooth surface and brown colour with a central white band and some smaller white, mostly triangular, spots.

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leland c. graber @bug4bug.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Do you (or have you ever) worked with natural history collections? Are you trans or non-binary? If you said "yes" to both of those, @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and I want to hear from you! Please consider filling out our survey and please share with others! 🏳️‍⚧️ 🐛🦕🦴🌿 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.com

Trans in Natural History Survey 2026

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Matt Kerr @mattkerr.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

New preprint is out - a very large team got together last year, virtually and in person and assessed code and data sharing in BES journals. The key take away? Data sharing was good (97% shared), code sharing was poorer (35%). README files were also highly variable in quality. Publish your code!

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Andy Lee, PhD @andylee.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

I am still actively looking for postdoc positions — please lmk if you (or your friends and colleagues) need a hardworking postdoc with field, lab, and bioinformatic skills! I am broadly interested in evolution in the ocean, conservation and population genetics, and rapid evolution.

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