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Dr Bryony Blades

@bryonyblades.bsky.social
604 followers 863 following 60 posts

Postdoc @ou-eees.bsky.social🦎 DPhil @biology.ox.ac.uk 🪲 Biodiversity, climate, ecology, species distributions, landscape genomics, conservation 🌳

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Reposted by Dr Bryony Blades
Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I strongly believe schools should bring children together rather than try to impose one religious identity on them. If you agree - please add your name and call on the Education Secretary to introduce inclusive assemblies for all, and to keep dangerous Christian Nationalism OUT of our schools.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"The big question is: why are so many species apparently travelling the wrong way?" - interesting piece on why predicting the impact of climate change on biodiversity is such a complex issue www.newscientist.com/article/2589...
newscientist.com
Why are so many animals moving to hotter places as the world warms? | New Scientist
We’ve long expected animals to move to cooler habitats as climate change bites, but it now appears that many are actually doing the opposite. What on earth is going on?
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 22/09/2026
I have a new piece out in Nature today on the record-breaking 2026/2027 El Niño, what impacts we should expect, and how governments can prepare. The Niño3.4 region is currently running more than 1C hotter than any prior event on record, and we remain months away from the peak www.nature.com/artic...
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"For to touch a rock and hear its whispers is to feel the privilege of a time and space that now only exists in our heart and mind." - The Whispers of Rock by @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Great, succinct commentary on why the wilful deceit in Channel 4's 'The Great ADHD Myth' is so harmful: www.newscientist.com/article/2585...
newscientist.com
The Great ADHD Myth? Suggesting that ADHD is a myth is pseudoscientific and dangerous | New Scientist
ADHD is a real condition that can have serious consequences if undiagnosed. An ill-informed documentary that suggests it is a modern, social construct could cause harm, says Caroline Williams
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Positive biodiversity story to start the day. Uplifting to see what can be done when landowners take a landscape-scale approach. On my list of places to visit!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Seeing dolphins whilst out on a paddle board was a pretty epic way to start the day!
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I wrote about a reason not to use generative AI in your writing that I haven't seen anyone talking about. Once I realized this, banning GenAI in our lab's writing became a no-brainer. Feel free to share, I think this is probably useful especially for trainees: www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/the...
carlsonlab.bio
The only reason you’ll ever need not to write with AI — The Carlson Lab
Over the last year, our lab has been developing a policy on AI use. To do this, we did three main things: We read a lot of academic publications and tech news. We set up an #ai channel on our la...
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Calling all past, present, and future users of PLASIM-GENIE! We are looking into launching a user group to facilitate easier access to support when setting up and running the model. We would like input on what would work best, so please get in touch here or on email! bryony.blades@open.ac.uk
A global map of surface air temperature from the intermediate complexity atmosphere-ocean general circulation model PLASIM-GENIE
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
On my way to the Life and Planet meeting in London. Looking forward to a few days discussing the co-evolution of life and Earth 🌍 Let me know if you’ll be there!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Making the most of being on campus today with a walk through the @openlivinglabs.bsky.social . Nothing like a bit of nature restoration to inspire. You can read more about it here: openliving-lab.open.ac.uk 🌳
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Heard a cuckoo whilst walking the dog this morning! Always a treat
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Amazing to see this orange-sided comb-horn (𝘊𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘴) in our suburban garden this week! A Nationally Notable species of true crane fly, it is usually found in the rotting wood of ancient woodlands.
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Guy Leonard @guyleonard.eurosky.social · 12/05/2026
"But AI is so useful". "It's so fun." "It's my therapist." "You will be left behind if you don't use it". "You're doing bad science not incorporating it". "It's the future." "It's inevitable."
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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Our warmest and wildest 100th birthday wishes to Sir David Attenborough, vice-patron of our Society. Today, we are celebrating Priam's Birdwing, which he said he would include in his "ark" to protect from extinction. This illustration is from E Donovan's "An Epitome of...Insects of India" (1800).
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Sir David Attenborough… on your 100th birthday, we thank you. For a lifetime dedicated to the natural world, and for sharing its story with such grace and wonder. Generations have fallen in love with nature because of you. Happy birthday, Sir. 🎉
This photograph captures Sir David Attenborough seated outdoors on the rugged terrain of Skomer Island. Behind him, the ocean and coastal cliffs form a scenic backdrop under a clear sky. Sir David, dressed in a khaki jacket and light trousers, looks towards the camera with a gentle expression, exuding a sense of warmth, calm, and wisdom. Around him, puffins can be seen flying and perched on the rocky ground, illuminated in rays of golden sunlight as the sun sets behind the cliffs.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
𝘊𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪 demonstrating its remarkable defensive behaviour near Mwinilunga, Zambia. When threatened, it raises its front and rear ends, exserts yellow flagellae from the latter, and flicks them above its body. More about the life and taxonomy of this cool moth: dx.doi.org/10.4314/met....
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Now May is here, it’s time to pause the seed and peanut feeders and switch to safer summer feeding with small amounts of mealworms or suet. Remember, feeders can spread disease, so keeping them clean matters. Click the link below for our full guidance on keeping garden birds healthy year round 👇
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Yesterday, we were so pleased to host Prof. Dan Lunt @climatesamwell.bsky.social as a visiting speaker for our @ou-eees.bsky.social School Seminar Series. Thank you so much for your engaging talk on modelling climate through the Phanerozoic and the great discussions afterwards!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Barn owls and their ethereal beauty have been a favourite of mine ever since my parents adopted 'Dusty' from the @barnowltrust.bsky.social as a gift when I was a young child. What a bird.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
A bit of a change from my normal posts, but my husband is leaving the Royal Marines and is looking for a role in cybersecurity and tech. The post speaks for itself (and I know I am biased), but he would be a real asset to any company. Please share and / or reach out if you have any opportunities.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
On this day 2 years ago I was in Madrid listening to the fascinating and diverse work going on at @mncn-csic.bsky.social, including #biodiversity #data extraordinaire (and all-round lovely person) @cristinaronquillo.bsky.social talking about her work with species occurrence records.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
It was a joy to listen to Prof. Ara Monadjem, recipient of the @royalsociety.org Africa Prize, let us know just how much we still don't know about African biodiversity, a topic I thought about a lot during my PhD. Highly recommend catching up on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-oE...
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Can any birders suggest what I might be hearing making a call with three low, slow, descending notes? 1st note is slightly longer than the 2nd, which is slightly longer than the 3rd. It sounds like a little like a lower version of a golden-crowned sparrow (but I'm in Oxford, UK). #ukbirds #birdcalls
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Just seen my first swallow of the year!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
When I was scrolling through very quickly, I thought for a millisecond that this said “postdoctoral sandpiper”. Good for that bird getting its PhD! (Also lovely photo 😍)
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/04/2026
"under the existing laws, our analysis shows that the expected growth in data centers would lead to $118 billion in climate damages and $1.6 billion in health damages by 2050 due to air pollution and emissions from fossil fuel power plants in Michigan" blog.ucs.org/lee-shaver/a...
a chart showing rising emissions partic for high demand growth
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
🎓 My PhD thesis is now available online at dx.doi.org/10.5287/ora-... ! If you're interested in anything biogeography, dung beetles, biodiversity data quality, landscape genomics, the Afrotropics, etc. etc. please have a read! Would love to discuss with anyone who has questions. 🪲🌍
dx.doi.org
Digging deeper: using Afrotropical dung beetles to better understand quality and coverage of biodiversity data - ORA - Oxford University Research Archive
Rapid technological advance over the last century has fundamentally altered the way we understand the world, and the study of biodiversity is no exception. Developments in earth observation and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools have generated expansive maps of the environment,
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Unsurprisingly, yet more news of AI misinformation. Google’s AI summary providing tens of millions of incorrect answers every HOUR.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The amount of times I've seen people replace a simple Google search with a ChatGPT search recently (requiring roughly 10-20 times more energy, apparently) is infuriating/crazy/insert other outraged adjective here, especially when it's so much more difficult to verify the answers!!
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Dan Chibnall @bookowl.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Oh look, more bad news about AI tools. The more we dig into these things the more we discover garbage like this. www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...
New research coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC has found that AI assistants – already a daily information gateway for millions of people – routinely misrepresent news content no matter which language, territory, or AI platform is tested.

The intensive international study of unprecedented scope and scale was launched at the EBU News Assembly, in Naples. Involving 22 public service media (PSM) organizations in 18 countries working in 14 languages, it identified multiple systemic issues across four leading AI tools.Key findings: 

45% of all AI answers had at least one significant issue.
31% of responses showed serious sourcing problems – missing, misleading, or incorrect attributions.
20% contained major accuracy issues, including hallucinated details and outdated information.
Gemini performed worst with significant issues in 76% of responses, more than double the other assistants, largely due to its poor sourcing performance.
Comparison between the BBC’s results earlier this year and this study show some improvements but still high levels of errors.
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John Bistline @bistline.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.
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Tom Booker @tbooker1.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 30/03/2026
Hundreds of millions of people live close enough to data centres used to power AI to feel warmer average temperatures in their local area
newscientist.com
AI data centres can warm surrounding areas by up to 9.1°C
Hundreds of millions of people live close enough to data centres used to power AI to feel warmer average temperatures in their local area
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
That these patterns have been preserved almost 100 million years blows my mind!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
In Zambia a few years ago, we were looking for dung beetles, but we did find some colourful lepidopteran friends as well (Gonimbrasia petiveri, I believe)! A nice parallel to the lovely photos I'm seeing of British moths and butterflies as they emerge.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Fascinating article in yesterday evening's Nature Briefing on how we're no longer getting enough red light and the potential health benefits of red-light therapy. All the more reason to get outside and enjoy the first signs of spring! www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
I’m watching a lecture on YouTube that is an hour long and there is a set of 2 adverts every 2 minutes! When did it get this bad???
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Still enjoy receiving these notifications! Great to see our paper underlining the value of natural history collections supporting further research. You can read it here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Absolutely loving watching everything emerge for spring. A lovely small tortoiseshell today.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Have just heard my first chiffchaff of the year. Spring is definitely here!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Many a brimstone on my way to work this morning! I think spring is here 🌷
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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Regression to the mean effect in reasoning enforced through the AI systems. Here is one more round of 'globalization' and homogenization. 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The homogenizing effect of large language models on human expression and thought
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
For World Book Day, I’m sharing two books which represent important parts of my unusual career trajectory…
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Last month I attended the @tibsaarhus2026.bsky.social conference where I presented a poster on some of my DPhil thesis work and enjoyed discussing all things biodiversity with fellow biogeographers. Can't believe it's been four years since my first TIBS conference as a nervous 1st year PhD student!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Yesterday I had a rewarding day talking all things neurodiversity to members of @openuniversity.bsky.social 's School of Environment, Earth, and Ecosystem Sciences. What a joy to work in a department that cares so deeply about staff and student wellbeing.
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
I gave a workshop today on my experiences doing a PhD with ADHD. I learnt a lot about the specific challenges (and strategies to mitigate them) over the last couple of years, and I’m passionate about helping anyone else in this situation! It was great, and we had an hour long discussion afterwards!
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
🌿 Fully funded #PhD alert! Are you curious about how species shape each other’s evolution? 🦋🌸 We’re looking for a student to study the co-evolution of insects & angiosperms in the Amazon using a multi-species mechanistic model. 🔗 centa.ac.uk/studentship/... #Evolution #Biodiversity #NERC #CENTA
centa.ac.uk
2026-OU06 Co-evolution of insects and angiosperms – CENTA
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Dr Bryony Blades @bryonyblades.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
If I asked you to picture the Zambezi River, I'm sure this wouldn't be what comes to mind! More often captured where it's vast and powerful, I was lucky enough to visit the quiet source of Africa's fourth-longest river on fieldwork in Zambia in 2022.
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