iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Tom Chalk

Jaime @jysuarezibarra.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Very happy with the gift and amazed by the knitting talent of my colleague #RachelBrown at @unisouthampton.bsky.social, inspired by a figure from a paper led by @carbon8.bsky.social…

Four Globigerinoidws forms in black on a beautifully knitted rainbow background; not to scale.

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

After a couple of months sampling with and for the others - we got to go at sea “for us” and now enjoy these little beauties in the lab 🤩

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

These guys just love the heat! So happy it was a good first outing for our new plankton net. 😀

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Probably the best name for a rock. Nominative determination or destiny for me? I'm not sure. I'm loathed to say coccolith mudstone, because I think carbonates should be exempt from such earthly terminologies. Lithified calcareous ooze.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Great to see more work from our culturing seasons in the Arctic twin to @juliemeilland.bsky.social and my @chalkyoceans.bsky.social Mediterranean culturing space, housed in the @exoceanlab.bsky.social at @climatecerege.bsky.social.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Results show that Mg and Na have strong temperature relationships at low Ts. And that Sr may be able to help us unpick the carbonate system! Intriguing! Sykes et al. put the case for region investigations and calibrations to be applied in polar environments.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

And here, www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... we ask how (trace) element ratios behave in G/ bullies at low temperatures, past where other calibrations have stopped. We also throw in a few weird Arctic experiments like decoupling carbonate, ~glitter~ and salinity.

sciencedirect.com

Constraining environmental controls on the incorporation of Mg, Na and Sr in cultured Globigerina bulloides: implications for biomineralisation and high latitude palaeoceanography

The incorporation of elemental impurities into the shells of the spinose planktic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides, as a function of the physical en…

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Don't worry though. Through careful culture validation and an open access script, you can follow Westgård et al. to distinguish the different components by laser ablation.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Here, www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... we show that care is needed with the heavily crusted N. pachyderma, as the main shell and thick crust show different geochemistries and different sensitivities to environmental change. This is crucial to palaeo-reconstructions where %crust varies.

sciencedirect.com

Laboratory-grown crust in planktic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma; insights into resolving inaccuracies in polar palaeotemperature estimates

Proxy based records of past changes in the polar ocean-cryosphere-climate system can provide invaluable constraints on ongoing and future climate chan…

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Cool off from the heat dome (if affected) with a pair of lovely Arctic papers out recently in GCA from UiT (ex-)students Adele Westgård and Freya Sykes. Take your pick, N. pachyderma or G. bulloides, but they are both successfully cultured in the Tromsø polar culture facility with Mohamed Ezat.

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Thibault de Garidel @tdegaridel.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

PhD proposal open till May 10th : if you are interested in imaging and paleo applied to fish communities, apply here to come and work @climatecerege.bsky.social with @chalkyoceans.bsky.social and univ Valparaiso and the Manta group. schadoc.univ-amu.fr/en/projects/...

schadoc.univ-amu.fr

AIOLI | SCHADOC

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Reposted by Tom Chalk

Julie Meilland @juliemeilland.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

🚨PhD alert 🚨 together with @tbiard.bsky.social and myself, based mostly in Wimereux with multiple stay in the beautiful @exoceanlab.bsky.social and focused on planktonic rhizarians C export and respiration. Get in touch!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Watch this space! More boron-ice comparison in the pipeline. I think 2026 will be a good year for past CO2 & at least my "hot take", we're not so far apart. Super happy to see this challenging data from the blue ice. Let's not forget that just finding it is a feat, & a data point all of its own!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Watch this space for more #foraminifera, #CO2, and of course... more lego scientists @exoceanlab.bsky.social.

Part of the #legolab team, lego Jaime and lego Tom start looking at some new lego sediment core. They are surrounded by the tools of their trade; a giant 3D printed foram and lego mass spectrometer.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Really proud of @jysuarezibarra.bsky.social for his upcoming #MSCA research position with us @climatecerege.bsky.social. Not only a really exciting project to help us find out more about the climate system, but also an excellent career step for a superb young researcher.

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Jaime @jysuarezibarra.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Four days later, I think I can finally process this: I’ve been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (#MSCA -PF 2025). 17,066 applications this year. ~9.6% funded. Still feels slightly unreal.

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CNRS @cnrs.fr · 12/01/2026

#CNRSNews 📰 Scientists have set up standards for marine CO2 removal, which could enable extra oceanic storage of carbon dioxide and its recovery as carbonate or biomass. Yet further research is needed prior to large-scale implementation

news.cnrs.fr

Scooping out oceanic CO₂ to make room for more

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

#exocean advent calendar day 24! Today we thought it was a good fit to show an image/talk about “conception”… One of the thing we (try to) do best at ExoCean is planktonic foraminifera reproduction. Here two immaculate mummies… 😏 We would like to wish you all a beautiful Christmas Eve!

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 23: at exoCean we also look at some old questions: in the late 1800s, during the HMS Challenger expedition, they discovered that you can have a constant rain of shells from above, and still end up with a seafloor that looks like the carbonate budget never existed. Why? Pressure. 🌊

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

More politicians, policymakers, and companies should be on Bluesky.

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 22: Winding down for the holidays often means one thing... more mass spectrometry time is available! With our friends in @cerege.bsky.social's #ENVITOP facility, we're making use! Thanks to their equipment we're working on measuring elemental compositions down to the nano-gramme!

Postdoc Matthieu Buisson loads samples into the rack ready for elemental analysis.

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

#exocean advent calendar Day 21! The strongest link between all of us is our love for the ocean. Leaving Marseille with a magnificent sunrise reminds us each time we go out how lucky we are to do what we love for a living! We already have our ship time for the first 6 months of 2026 - exciting!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Here's to #2026! Please don't hold us to any of these...

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

12 scientific papers 💻, 11 months of good weather 🌞, 10⁴ foram babies 🐚, 9 visiting scientists 👩🏼‍🔬👨🏾‍🔬, 8 successful boat missions 🛥️, 7 website visits 🙏🏼, 6 new hypotheses 💡...*5 gold rings*...4 defended masters 📜, 3 #ForCry mass spec methods 🔍, 2 #Deep-C reactors 🧿...

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 19: Friday edition: today’s post is about the peacocks at CEREGE, because it’s Friday and our brains are in weekend mode. They wander around like they own the campus, scream for no reason, and block paths with absolute confidence. Honestly, goals. 🦚

we love peacocks so much they follow us in our offices

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Essential reading for those interested in going carbon negative 👀. See what @sulpis.bsky.social does for a living and how it connects to @exoceanlab.bsky.social here!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Net accident you say? Ooops, this net came back looking like it had been mauled by a shark, and I think... Maybe it had. A good, but expensive(!) sample. Sorry @tdegaridel.bsky.social!

Look carefully! Fish carefully! A picture of a totally trashed plankton net and the legs of two very tired scientists.

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 16: We're getting closer to the holidays, but we don't stop yet. @erc.europa.eu postdoc @jysuarezibarra.bsky.social was out today presenting his work @maxplanck.de in Mainz. @soniachaabane.bsky.social is also visiting to chat with colleagues.

Jaime introduces his project and ForCry at a team seminar in Mainz. 📷 S. Chaabane

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 15: Some plankton are tiny [citation needed?], and for those we need ways to measure tiny (this is a theme you'll hear us talking about a lot). Sometimes just holding samples in place can be hard.... enter the #Cryostage! ❄️

A rack of tiny samples, about 0.5mm in diameter... Here we've custom made some really clean rings to hold them in place... next step, freeze!

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 14 Footprint reduction: we do lab-based ocean science because we genuinely love it, but also because lab experiments can replace lots of field trips. More control, more insight, and in part, fewer emissions. Bonus: dissolving old sediment cores neutralizes a bit of CO2. 😇

Sometimes you can replace a boat trip with a car trip, ever wondered how much ocean you can get into a Golf?

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 13: Time Machine. Travel back in time with us 6 million years. Part of the reason for our work @exoceanlab.bsky.social is to better understand the past through observing the modern, but sometimes you just need some ancient mud..@chalkyoceans.bsky.social recently went to get some!

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 12: End-of-year celebration - raclette edition. On the agenda for this team meeting: cheese, cheese, cheese, goals for next year: even more cheese. We’ve officially reached our melting point. 🧀

The exoCean team and friends actively brainstorming on hot topics

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 11: Science makes you do strange things. Meet @astridhylen.bsky.social, a postdoc working with carbonate dissolution in coastal sediments. She recently found herself in the middle of a salt marsh, stirring one of the ponds with a (clean) toilet brush taped to a curtain rod.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Correct! That will come later. I thought I added alt text, but that seems to have disappeared.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

There's still much more to come from our trip to Bermuda with @juliemeilland.bsky.social, @thefosterlab.bsky.social and @case4climate.bsky.social. Whilst there, we were all tortured with video interviews... Here's a taster!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

100% recommend for fieldwork. See @maxime-felix.bsky.social for details on availability.

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 9: Meet Maxime (again). At @exoceanlab.bsky.social and @climatecerege.bsky.social Maxime has been conducting several experiments focusing on the culture of marine organisms. One project involved culturing foraminifera in the presence of olivine (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, an igneous mineral.

Don't eat that! A large foraminifera trying to eat grains of olivine. It soon realised that they weren't food, but had no problems afterwards, so... not poison!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

One of many super cool projects started or starting in @exoceanlab.bsky.social. Keep it up Katoo!

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 6: To study the deepest ocean trenches, we’re building reactors that make our lab behave like the deep ocean. Funded by @erc.europa.eu #Deep-C, they will hold cold seawater at ~1000 bar (10km water) so we* watch pressure shape chemistry and biology 🔬🌊 *mostly @sulpis.bsky.social

Schematic of the Deep-C high-pressure reactor and in situ sensors.

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exoCean Laboratory @exoceanlab.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 4: Why did we set up this lab? Part I. What is going to happen to climate as CO2 levels go up? @chalkyoceans.bsky.social and @erc.europa.eu project #ForCry look at CO2 in the past to better understand climate sensitivity. Part of this is making better past CO2 reconstructions.

A schematic graph showing global temperature, plotted against CO2. We know CO2 increases temperature, but the how far and how fast are still not totally constrained. Tipping points, or sensitivity changes could impact this relationship in the future, and may have done in the past.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

It might have been 10 years @whoi.edu, but I still wear your hoodie at sea. Thanks for helping me know what to do when I'm there.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Here comes the final boss: porewater microprofiles, using our favourite tools, pH and oxygen microsensors, made of glass and pure anxiety. Every time one snaps, we just sigh, call our finance manager, and prepare our next monthly order from @unisense.bsky.social. Thanks for the tiny sensors!

A jar of deep sea mud sitting on a height adjustable stand. It has microprobes to measure oxygen (respiration, photosynthesis) and pH (dissolution, precipitation, also respiration etc...) at tiny intervals to see what is going on right at the grain interface.

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Once the cores make it back to our lab, it’s time to get our hands dirty: we slice them like a very unappetizing cake, a couple of cms at a time. If we can, outside of the lab to keep it clean inside. All of that just to rebuild the sediment as it looked on the seabed.

Marine and Olivier cutting the core into slices, at the top it can be really liquid and gooey, so we keep it vertically, but lower down it can be almost like a rock. Despite the complaining from Olivier both of them are remarkably mud-free!

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Tom Chalk @chalkyoceans.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

#exoCeanadvent Day 4: At exoCean we also investigate what happens to calcifiers who mysteriously die (answer: a lot happens). For that we must go at sea and collect evidence, just like CSI but with more seasickness pills, same sunglasses.

Tom holding a surface interface core, like a proud father. The core includes the top layer of mud, with the bottom layer of ocean, including all the creatures living there (and more importantly for Tom, the ones long dead too).

Disclaimer: Tom does not get seasick.

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