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Nina Munteanu

@aliennextdoor.bsky.social
708 followers 492 following 2.2K posts

I'm an eco-fiction author, limnologist/aquatic ecologist, photographer, instructor at UofT. I explore and celebrate the fractal Natural World from microscopic diatoms and miniature lichens and fungi to the giant cedars and pines of old-growth forests

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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 4h
What happens when the "breathing lands" stop breathing... #northern #peatlands #environment #mining #environmentalimpact themeaningofwater.com/2021/12/12/c...
themeaningofwater.com
Canada’s Northern Peatlands: What Happens When ‘The Breathing Lands’ Stop Breathing?
The ‘Ring of Fire’ region in the Breathing Lands, ON (image by Garth Lenz, WCS Canada The overlapping Hudson and James Bay Lowlands in northern Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba are pockmark…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 5h
When the permafrost thaws... #permafrost #permafrostthaw #Arctic #climatechange #globalwarming themeaningofwater.com/2023/04/30/a...
themeaningofwater.com
As The Permafrost Thaws…
Ice and snow cover the Otonabee River in winter, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu) In my upcoming novel “Gaia’s Revolution,” one of the protagonists, Damien Vogel, contemplates in 2022 a ke…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 5h
When pingos explode... #pingos #permafrost #permafrostthaw #climatechange #globalwarming #Thalweg #ecofiction #TheNorth #Tuk ninamunteanu.me/2026/09/27/w...
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When Pingos Explode … ‘Thalweg’
The sleepy village of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean, NWT (photos by Nina Munteanu) . A few years ago, I travelled to the village Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories on the Arctic Ocean. I wa…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 10h
Why some people litter and others don't ... #littering #human #behaviour themeaningofwater.com/2023/10/01/w...
themeaningofwater.com
Why Some People Litter and Why Some Don’t…
Piles of garbage discarded into the forest of Rouge Park, ON (Nina Munteanu) As a child, my pet peeve was littering.I was only five years old and I found littering a disgusting habit. I didn’t real…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 11h
Eco-fiction books worth reading... #ecofiction #books #bookstoread
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 21h
The earthstar ... a star of the earth... #fungi #puffballs #earthstar ... themeaningofwater.com/2021/05/02/t...
themeaningofwater.com
The Collared Earthstar—A Fungus Study
Colony of earthstars amid decaying cedar logs, Trent Nature Sanctuary, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) It was last spring when I first entered the swamp forest in the Trent Nature Sanctuary. I took the…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Costi Gurgu's political thriller Servitude exposes some deep lessons in our debt-crazy society ... #CostiGurgu #Servitude #books #politicalthriller #dept ninamunteanu.me/2022/12/18/a...
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Absolutism ... and surviving a dictatorship ... #CostiGurgu #boardgames #dictatorship #Romania ninamunteanu.me/2018/06/12/a...
ninamunteanu.me
“Absolutism” in the Time of Climate Change
Once upon a time, there will be one absolute ruler who we, the people, call the Supreme Leader (May He Rule Forever). The Supreme Leader will hate immigrants, writers, scientists, environment and e…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
When we burn books ... why we burn books ... #books #bookburning #HeinrichHeine ninamunteanu.me/2022/01/16/w...
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When We Burn Books…
Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen—Heinrich Heine House of Leaves burning (photo by Learning Lark) . In her 2017 article A Brief History of Book Burning, from the Pr…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The beauty instinct ... #beauty #forests #Nature themeaningofwater.com/2019/12/13/t...
themeaningofwater.com
The Forest and the Beauty Instinct
The Forest When I walk into a forest—not one damaged or impacted by human development or one harvested into scrub but a fully functional and preferably old-growth forest—I feel a deep and abiding s…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Lichens are badass shapeshifters. These unruly organisms that thrive in extreme environments and changing conditions grow everywhere. And most of us don’t even notice them... #lichen themeaningofwater.com/2025/07/27/t...
themeaningofwater.com
The Lichen At the End of the World
Lichens are badass shapeshifters. These unruly organisms that thrive in extreme environments and changing conditions grow everywhere. And most of us don’t even notice them. Lichens can be found all…
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Reposted by Nina Munteanu
Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Foraging the common cattail ... rather 'uncommon' ... #foraging #wildedibles #ediblewild #cattail #Typha #EuellGibbons themeaningofwater.com/2026/09/20/t...
themeaningofwater.com
The Common Cattail (Typha latifolia)—Foraging
Boardwalk through beaver pond marsh of cattails, Elgin Park, BC (photo by Nina Munteanu) . While marshes are usually avoided by many of us as mosquito-ridden, impossible to walk in places, who does…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Today, I'm told, is national tree day ... I think every day should be a tree day ... #trees #forests ninamunteanu.me/2023/12/17/l...
ninamunteanu.me
Losing Myself in the Forest Helps Me Find Myself
Rocky trail through ancient eastern hemlock forest, Catchacoma Park, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu) I look forward to my daily walks. I find that walking helps me centre myself. Dependin…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
When diatoms create a forest... #diatoms #diatomforest #ecology #aquaticecology themeaningofwater.com/2022/12/18/w...
themeaningofwater.com
When Diatoms Create a Forest
Mat of Zygnema and Spirogyra on rocks of Otonabee River at low water level, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) . A while ago, when I was a student at Concordia University, I studied diatoms in freshwater …
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Championing change ... #water #science #change #evolution themeaningofwater.com/2016/10/15/c...
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Championing Change
I was introduced to one of the wonders of water movement over twenty years ago by accident. While fulfilling my studies for a Master’s of Science degree, I made an interesting discovery. I’d chosen…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
#ClimateChange and when Pingos explode #permafrost #thawingpermafrost #TheNorth #pingos themeaningofwater.com/2026/10/04/w...
themeaningofwater.com
When Pingos Explode … ‘Thalweg’
The sleepy village of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean, NWT (photos by Nina Munteanu) . A few years ago, I travelled to the village Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories on the Arctic Sea. I was …
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Agreed. That goes both ways. I've practiced science as a limnologist for over twenty years and I have found that the hegemonies of conservative science have been equally damaging. Science is ultimately about finding the truth. For that we need to be open to it.
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I think the growing data with work by Kessler, Karban, Gagliano and others speaks for itself. And, yes, the language we use is key in our interpretations. I'd like to think that we've matured enough as a species to shed our reliance on human-centric interpretation of communication.
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
My climate thriller "Gaia's Revolution" is selling at Blackwell's in the UK! This store is on Broad Street, Oxford... #GaiasRevolution #UK #bookstores #Oxford #books #ecofiction #climatethriller #climatefiction
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Do plants communicate? Why this is important for us... #plant #communication #SuzanneSimard #plantintelligence themeaningofwater.com/2018/09/09/d...
themeaningofwater.com
Do Plants Communicate? Why Is This Important For Us?
A few weeks ago I went with Margaret on a nature walk led by UBC Professor and botanist Terry McIntosh in the Pacific Spirit Forest Park at UBC. McIntosh led us through a previously logged forest o…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When plants communicate ... #goldenrod #sage #plantstudies #plant #communication themeaningofwater.com/2026/09/27/t...
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The diverse impact of "Gaia's Revolution" ... Read about the controversy this book generated... #ecofiction #climatethriller #GaiasRevolution #books #bookreviews ninamunteanu.me/2026/05/24/t...
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The Diverse Impact of Gaia’s Revolution
“Gaia’s Revolution is a chlorophyll-stained argument about power, survival, and the peril of holy certainty.”Literary Titan “Munteanu seamlessly blends real-life history and technology with t…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
When permafrost thaws ... #permafrost #climatechange #globalwarming ninamunteanu.me/2023/04/30/w...
ninamunteanu.me
When the Permafrost Thaws…
Ice and snow cover the Otonabee River in winter, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu) In my upcoming novel “Gaia’s Revolution,” one of the protagonists, Damien Vogel, contemplates in 2022 a ke…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Sustainable architecture ... using #biomimicry to create #sustainable #architecture ... themeaningofwater.com/2023/09/24/s...
themeaningofwater.com
Sustainable Architecture: Learning from Nature & Embracing the Magic of Symbiosis
Flavours Orchard eco-design by Vincent Callebaut Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are labouring in vain—Leonardo daVinci I write science fiction. T…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Measuring #sustainability using the tool of Soundscape Ecology ... #soundscape #ecology #acoustics #biodiversity www.realityskimming.com/post/measuri...
realityskimming.com
Measuring Sustainability: Soundscape Ecology
Nina Munteanu explores declining bird populations and soundscape ecology
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Ah ... indeed, a special tree... :)
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
What made it special?
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The vine maples were 'popping' red in the rain yesterday... #vinemaples #maple #trees #autumncolours
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The club moss ... From giant tree to tiny herb -- a study #clubmoss #evolution #coalswamp #Paleozoic #carboniferous themeaningofwater.com/2024/12/29/c...
themeaningofwater.com
Club Moss: From Giant Tree to Little Plant—A Study & An Evolution
Dendrolycopodium obscurum in a bed of Polytrichum moss of Catchacoma Sphagnum wetland, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) I’ve been visiting Catchacoma old-growth forest and associated wetland for several…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Nina's boulder -- a moss study... #moss #mosses #study #ecology themeaningofwater.com/2024/06/16/m...
themeaningofwater.com
Moss—A Study of ‘Nina’s Boulder’ in Jackson Creek Old-Growth Forest
“[Mosses] are the most overlooked plants on the planet. But they’re gifts, too. They provide us with another model of how we might live.”Robin Wall Kimmerer Upper slope of creek watershed dominated…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
a rainy misty autumn day in Elgin Park marsh ... #ducks #marsh #autumn
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Me too! So glad we live in this era!... :)
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yevgeny Zamyatin wrote "We" long before Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World" ... both riffed off Zamyatin who no one seems to know ... #books #ecofiction #political #dystopia ninamunteanu.me/2023/07/02/b...
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Book Review: A Plea for Nature and ‘Us’—The Novel “We” by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Penguin classics book cover of “We” “We shall break down all walls—to let the green wind blow free from end to end—across the earth.”I-330 in ‘We’ Just last week, I read for…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Equisetum ... horsetail ... from giant tree to wee little thing ... #evolution #horsetail #equisetum themeaningofwater.com/2022/10/02/f...
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Equisetum: From Giant Tree to Little Plant—A Study & An Evolution
Fertile stems of common horsetail in spring, showing stobili with sporangiophores; by the river, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) Some of you may know it as horsetail, a short wiry rough green plant tha…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When giant insects roamed the earth... #carboniferous #insects #evolution themeaningofwater.com/2023/01/29/t...
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The Age of Oxygen & the Giant Insects
Carboniferous swamp forest landscape (illustration by NTV Tiko Deviant Art) The Carboniferous swamp rainforests of 359-299 million years ago were dominated by giant club mosses (lycopsids such as S…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Why we should stop clearcutting our forests and maintain our #oldgrowth #forests ... #clearcuts #ecology themeaningofwater.com/2021/06/09/t...
themeaningofwater.com
Why We Should Stop Clearcutting — Particularly Old Growth — and Embrace Forest Ecology
Most people hold the misconception that trees are a 100% renewable resource. What’s the problem with clearcutting them? They’ll just grow back, no? It’s like cutting grass…Mow it down and it comes …
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tree plantations are NOT natural ecosystems and therefore don't operate like them ... #trees #ecosystems #treeplantations themeaningofwater.com/2019/11/30/f...
themeaningofwater.com
Forest Plantations Do NOT Create the Natural Forest Ecosystems We Need
We keep seeing on Twitter and Facebook how many nations are pledging to increase their forest cover by planting millions of trees. The Bonn Challenge, a global initiative launched in 2011, calls fo…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How we get tree planting wrong... #trees #treeplanting #ecology themeaningofwater.com/2022/05/08/h...
themeaningofwater.com
How We Get Tree Planting Wrong…
“In the face of impending climate catastrophe, there has been a growing clamor to repopulate the trillions of trees our planet has lost over the centuries,” says  the Guardian. But large-scale tree…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How plants communicate... #plant #communication #biosemiosis themeaningofwater.com/2026/09/27/t...
themeaningofwater.com
The Biosemiotic Communication of Plants
Ornithologists have known for some time that songbirds communicate differently depending on their environment. In an area with relatively few lurking predators, their songs deliver very specific ph…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How the bdelloid rotifer lived for millennia--without sex ... #bdelloid #rotifers #aquatic #invertebrates #evolution themeaningofwater.com/2020/11/08/h...
themeaningofwater.com
How the Bdelloid Rotifer Lived for Millennia—Without Sex
As a child, I always wanted a microscope. I would have collected slimy waters from the scum ponds and murky puddles near my house. I would have brought them home and exposed them to the light of my…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Just a peek at microscopic aquatic life #microscopic #aquatic #life themeaningofwater.com/2015/11/16/w...
themeaningofwater.com
Water and Life: Part 1, Microscopic Aquatic Life
Pond Lily (Nymphia odorata), ON (photo by Nina Munteanu) As a child, I always wanted a microscope. I would have collected slimy waters from the scum ponds and murky puddles near my house. I would h…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
#NinaMunteanu talks about water, atmospheric rivers and climate fiction in this interview with Bob Langstaff #interview #climatefiction #water #atmosphericrivers themeaningofwater.com/2021/08/14/n...
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Nina Munteanu Talks Climate Fiction, Water and Atmospheric Rivers on WAMVam Radio
I recently chatted with Bob Langstaff on his morning show on WAMV-am Radio in Amherst, Virginia. We talked about my recent clifi eco-novel “A Diary in the Age of Water”, on how I develo…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Coming home to the Credit River... #CreditRiver #Ontario #rivers #WorldRiversDay themeaningofwater.com/2016/05/03/c...
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Coming Home to the Credit River
When John Stewart of the Mississauga News asked me why I’d featured the Credit River in my book “Water Is…” over the many rivers I’d encountered in my life’s work and travels around the worl…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
When pingos explode ... #pingo #permafrost #climatechange #books #thalweg #ecofiction #climatefiction #Arctic #Tuktoyaktuk ninamunteanu.me/2026/09/27/w...
ninamunteanu.me
When Pingos Explode … ‘Thalweg’
The sleepy village of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean, NWT (photos by Nina Munteanu) . A few years ago, I travelled to the village Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories on the Arctic Ocean. I wa…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Leading voices in eco-scifi-fiction #scifi #ecofiction #sciencefiction #leadingvoices themeaningofwater.com/2025/08/17/n...
themeaningofwater.com
Nina Munteanu Identified as a Leading Voice in Eco-SciFi Fiction
Inventor/author Kyo Hwang Cho recently identified Nina Munteanu, Kim Stanley Robinson, Jeff VanderMeer, and Richard Powers as Leading Voices in Eco-Science Fiction in an article on the LinkedIn Sky…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Why walking in nature helps me write ... #Nature #walking #onwriting ninamunteanu.me/2019/04/12/h...
ninamunteanu.me
How Walking in Nature Helps Me Write
I don’t often get writer’s block. I just walk out of it into Nature. My favourite place to walk is the forest, along a river. Walking in a forest unclutters my mind and soul. The forest is simple i…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Today, I'm told, is national tree day ... I think every day should be a tree day ... #trees #forests ninamunteanu.me/2023/12/17/l...
ninamunteanu.me
Losing Myself in the Forest Helps Me Find Myself
Rocky trail through ancient eastern hemlock forest, Catchacoma Park, ON (photo and rendition by Nina Munteanu) I look forward to my daily walks. I find that walking helps me centre myself. Dependin…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Lead Children" excellent and intriguing Polish TV series on Netflix during #communist industrialization ... #leadpoisoning ninamunteanu.me/2026/03/29/l...
ninamunteanu.me
“Lead Children”: The Heaviness of Poland under Communism
. I recently discovered the Polish TV series Lead Children on Netflix—and pretty much binge-watched it. This gripping 6-episode series follows young Doctor Jolanta Wadowska-Król (played by Joanna K…
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My short story "The Polywater Equation" now out in English on @metastellar.bsky.social ! It was first published in German in "Tales of Science" Go see! ... #shortstories #polywater #water #stories #science #sciencefiction www.metastellar.com/fiction/the-...
metastellar.com
The Polywater Equation
“The Polywater Equation” follows a retired limnologist’s choice to break convention and follow her heart after a series of serious water mishaps (incidents of water turning to ‘jelly’) …
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Nina Munteanu @aliennextdoor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
On how women scientists navigate the hierarchy of man ... #woman #scientists #androcratic #hierarchy www.realityskimming.com/post/women-o...
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