iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alice Rizzardo

Grant @syncingsinking.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This is just to say I have solved the open questions that were in your paper and which you were probably saving for your phd students Forgive me they were delicious so incentive-laden and followed so readily once your postdoc's drafts mysteriously found their way into my training data

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I was chuffed with this picture of a peacock on a drizzly day, taken at Ruthin castle. Peacocks are so long! Getting it on the diagonal allowed me to fit more of the bird in without zooming out too much #flyday

A peacock about to jump down from a handrail

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Overheard on the train, from a *very* cheerful group of people: “Day drinking is better, because you get to go to bed early!” How wholesome <3

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Great article about gardening! I liked the pragmatic and balanced approach to native plants. It also reminded me that while I tend to think of pollinators, there are many more cool insects a well thought out garden can host.

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Antonio Vecoli (@tonyveco on X) @tonyveco.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

🔴⚠️🌡️🌊The unprecedented #heatwave over #Europe is bringing its effects also to the Mediterranean Sea. In the last few days the #Copernicus Sea Surface Temperature has rapidly increased and the latest anomaly data exceed 8°C ⬇️SST daily anomaly on 27 June 2026 #climateemergency

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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) @ukceh.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

New data on insect pollinators show a dramatic decline in hoverflies across Great Britain between 2017–2024. 📉 Around one third reduction in abundance & number of hoverfly species recorded as part of @pomscheme.bsky.social www.ceh.ac.uk/press/new-da... 1/ @jncc.bsky.social 🧪

Epistrophe grossulariae hoverfly and pollen beetles on hogweed, and text headline New data show dramatic decline in hoverflies across Great Britain

Meliscaeva cinctella hoverfly, and text about hoverflies and UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme results

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Greggs should hire someone to write the Northern English response to the Currywurst song and it should start like this (same melody): Going for a stroll Hunger in my soul A sausage roll Feeling kind of droll I can't cook at all A sausage roll I'm sad and I'm blue I'll better get two Sausage rolls

youtube.com

Currywurst (Remastered 2016)

YouTube video by Herbert Grönemeyer - Topic

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Devastating burn for all of us prigs writing essays. From Middlemarch. #booksky

"Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild gravity.

"Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class."

"There is correct English: that is not slang."

"I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of poets."

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Exciting news for UK wildlife today as badger culls will stop soon! Here is a Cumbrian badger looking handsome #wildlife #naturephotography

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Reposted by Alice Rizzardo

Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

This map shows annual truck traffic on European main roads, colored by route distance. The map gives a sense of on which corridors the long distance traffic travels and how far the infrastructure interdependencies within the network road reach. Source: buff.ly/TyeZr2D HT Jakob Rogstadius

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

In very important news, the cutest hedgehog moved into my mom's garden

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Reposted by Alice Rizzardo

Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · 08/05/2026

Spiralling global temperatures (1850-2026) It is exactly 10 years since I first put this animated graphic of changes in global temperature online. #ClimateSpiral It instantly went viral. People watched it over and over again. It still offers the power to shock a decade on.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I think this is a really big deal and few people on Bluesky are talking about it: An LLM (GPT-5.4 Pro) just solved a relatively well-known open problem in number theory. The proof contains a “new idea”: briefly, it adapts an existing strategy to apply it with a different ingredient.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

One of the things I love about German is the sheer number of words that translate (loosely) to know-it-all, with varying degrees of rudeness and *so* much more creativity than the English options -- which are mostly just combinations of smart, wise, and ass. 1/3

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Breaking news from Germany: a wolf bit a woman in Altona, a hip neighborhood in Hamburg. They were both in a supermarket and the woman tried to help the wolf with the automatic doors, which the young wolf did not appreciate.

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19thnews @19thnews.org · 23/02/2026

The trove of files released by the Department of Justice, illuminates Epstein’s deep interest and entrenchment in the scientific community. But the files also underscore how he used his power and money in ways that kept women out of places where they might succeed. bit.ly/4qWgPLz

bit.ly

The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM

In one email, an AI researcher suggested it’s “hard to be brilliant if you are worrying if you look fat or why another woman hates you.”

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

80% of agricultural land is used for livestock (and textiles), yet this huge land use provides only 17% of our calories and 38% of our protein. 16% of the land used for crops provides 83% of our calories and 62% of our protein. It's past time we rethink what we eat.

An infographic from Our World in Data titled "Global land use for food production" uses a series of stacked horizontal bar charts to visualize the distribution of Earth's surface and the disproportionate land requirements of livestock. The first bar shows Earth's surface is 71% ocean and 29% land (141 million km²); the land surface is then broken down into 76% habitable land, 10% glaciers, and 14% barren land. Of the habitable land, 45% (48 million km²) is used for agriculture, while 38% is forests and 13% is shrubland. The agricultural land bar reveals a major disparity: 80% (38 million km²) is dedicated to livestock (meat, dairy, and textiles) including grazing land and cropland for feed, while only 16% is used for crops for direct human consumption and 4% for non-food crops. Finally, two smaller bars at the bottom contrast this land use with nutritional output, showing that while livestock uses 80% of agricultural land, it only provides 17% of global calories and 38% of global protein, whereas plant-based foods provide 83% of calories and 62% of protein.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

How to write a long thread on bluesky: the 20-step process I follow every time 🧵

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Gilgamesh, the Mesopotamian epic hero, is described as 2/3 divine and 1/3 human. This is an unusual god:human ratio! Many epic heroes are demigods, half god and half human, but Gilgamesh is unique in having a 2:1 divinity ratio. How could this be? 💙📚 1/n

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I finished marking my class test! And everyone passed! Here is a happy seal from my summer vacation:

A seal tilting his head to avoid some spray from a stray wave. His eyes are closed and he looks like he is smiling.

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Reposted by Alice Rizzardo

Ryan Katz-Rosene, PhD @ryankatzrosene.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

About *a third* of global fossil fuel CO2 emissions emitted during the Industrial age have occurred in roughly the last 17 years. The previous third was emitted over a period of roughly 26 years. The first third was emitted over a period of about 131 years.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Here's some start-of-the-semester good news: my students are chatty again! For a few years after COVID, students of my course wouldn't talk to each other during breaks. I couldn't get them to work together, either. It was heartbreaking. But now they're back to being sociable and it makes me happy

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Reposted by Alice Rizzardo

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Critics of renewables often point to land use as a reason not to invest in wind & solar. Land use IS a real issue for all energy assets incl renewables (unless on-site). But what critics conveniently forget is the huge land impact of fossil fuels. Aerial view of fracking sites in Wickett, Texas. 👇

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

What’s sad and perplexing about this is that I studied at the University in Bologna for 5 years and I didn’t learn about her until now. The classrooms in the maths department are named after mathematicians with a connection to Bologna, except for one which is aptly named “7th floor classroom”...

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

"The first woman in the modern period to make a substantial contribution to mathematics was the Italian Maria Agnesi (1718–1799) who in 1748 published one of the earliest textbooks on the differential and integral calculus, 🧵1/n

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Fiona Mathews @fionamathews.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Fantastic news for British wildlife and the climate 🌎🦤: a ban on burning deep peatlands (>30cm). This terrible practice is used to manage moors for grouse shooting. Comes into force on 30th Sept, a day ahead of new burning season. 👏 @defra.gov.uk www.gov.uk/government/n...

gov.uk

Burning banned on England’s deep peat to protect wildlife

Ban on burning heather and grass on deep peat extended to improve air quality for local communities, reduce flood risk and protect wildlife.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

"When the bellows-blowers relaxed their efforts and the fires dimmed, he would remind them of their duties by a blast from a cow horn" #MondayMotivation

trinityhouse.co.uk

Lizard Lighthouse

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Reposted by Alice Rizzardo

WRI Climate @wriclimate.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

🌍 1/3 of global emissions come from the food system. Even if fossil fuels are phased out, food emissions alone could push us past 1.5°C. We must transform how we grow, distribute, eat & waste food. Explore #SystemsChangeLab 👉 bit.ly/3SWc9qv

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Invention of the wheel, ca. 1890. Source unknown.

An old photograph of a group of men looking intently at a stone with a round hole in the middle. A child standing near the stone looks unimpressed.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

“All novels are translations, even in their original language”. That's the beginning of Michael Cunningham’s introduction to Michael Henry Heim’s translation of Death in Venice. It's a beautiful meditation on the many difficulties of translating a book,

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

I just misunderstood the lyrics "kein Schwein ruft mich an" (nobody ever calls me) for "ein Schwein ruft mich an" (a pig phones me up) making the song a lot more interesting and also proving my point that German is fiddly

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

When do girls fall behind in maths? According to this study, maths abilities of boys and girls are very similar when starting school, but after just a few months of schooling they start diverging sharply with girls lagging behind. I'd love to learn more about what happens in that crucial first year.

nature.com

When do girls fall behind in maths? Gigantic study pinpoints the moment

Analysis of almost three million children captures when ‘mathematical gender gap’ first emerges and could help focus efforts to stop girls from falling behind.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Insects are crucial to nature. We are starving our birds, but we are also putting ourselves in danger: insects perform essential tasks to human survival such as pollination, decomposition of organic matter and feces, pest suppression, and so many more that we are just beginning to understand.

theguardian.com

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

This cool article shows how little transportation affects the carbon footprint of (most of) what we eat, so that “eat local” is not as important if shrinking your carbon footprint is your main objective. I was curious to see how this would apply to my own diet: a thread! 1/n

ourworldindata.org

You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food? Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local

“Eat local” is a common recommendation to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet. How does the impact of what you eat compare to where it's come from?

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Here is a cool map about land use in the UK, and the agricultural land abroad used to feed the UK. Note the huge amount of land we use for beef and lamb pastures. Altogether, the amount of land used to rear these animals + grow their food is slightly bigger than the area of the UK itself.

A map of the UK, subdivided into imaginary regions of size corresponding to the actual amount of land in the UK dedicated to various purposes (such as "Beef and lamb pastures, "Cereals", "Built up"). Additional hexagons to the side indicate the amount of overseas land also used to feed the UK.

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Are you upset about climate change? Here’s something useful that you can do relatively easily (!), and that will make you feel good: change your bank! Banks are among the major funders of the fossil fuel industry. You can check how your bank is doing or find a greener alternative here:

bank.green

Find Ethical & Sustainable Banks In Your Area - Bank.Green

Bank.Green is sounding the alarm on the climate-destroying activities of banks while recommending sustainable alternatives and empowering consumer action.

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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Last year the EU challenged the UK's closure of industrial sandeel fishing in its waters. These closures are a lifeline for the millions of seabirds which rely on sandeels for food. Reversing them would be a blow for hungry Puffins, Kittiwakes, and other birds.

A Puffin with its beak full of sandeel fish looks down the camera.

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School of Physical Sciences @livunisps.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

📣 Join us for the 2025 Terry Wall Lecture with Professor Wendelin Werner on 1st May at 4pm in Lecture Theatre B! The talk, "Connections via chains of random loops," explores exciting connections in mathematics and physics. ☕️ Coffee at 3:30pm, refreshments after! Learn more🔗 tinyurl.com/48a398wf

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Alice Rizzardo @alicerizzardo.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Labour: Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Also Labour: let’s finish the job and deplete it once and for all so we can stop worrying about it

rskwilding.com

A Letter to MPs on Part III of the P&I Bill

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Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

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