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Daniel Villar

@daniel-a-villar.bsky.social
3.1K followers 5.2K following 940 posts

Conservation biologist and behavioural ecologist. Treasurer of Scientists for Labour. Postdoc at @durhamanthropology.bsky.social, DPhil from @biology.ox.ac.uk

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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 5h
Never thought I’d say I agree with JRM more than the majority but on this he’s right I think; if you’re a British citizen you’re equally British whether you naturalised this morning of whether your ancestors have lived in the U.K. since the Beaker people
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 6h
I suppose these are the times “when all ahead seemed dark as night”
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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 7h
Unbelievably depressing... the kind of result that drains you of all hope for the future
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 9h
Looks like Bolsonaro has either won in the first round, or narrowly not won in the first round and is the favourite to win in the second. Dark days indeed for both LatAm democracy and for the environment. I guess it was nice having an Amazon
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Tom Hunter @onelifestand87.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The fact an MP openly supporting terrorism is seen as a non story tells you how desperate they are for the far right to win
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you want to make the electoral less of the crapshoot that you get in a severely fractured FBTP landscape, why not just copy what Australia has done since 1919?
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 02/10/2026
One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “A refined phylochronology of the second plague pandemic in Western Eurasia.” Explore the article here: ow.ly/9kYE50ZTHmE For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/If0k50ZTHmF.
Schematic workflow from data generation to the PhIRM and historical contextualization. Icons are modified from Flaticon.com.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It might not feel like it but we live in an age of unimaginable abundance, not just compared to our ancestors a century ago or those living in the third world today, but even compared to our own country when my parents were my age
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Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery @naturerecovery.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How are tropical insect communities responding to rapid environmental change? In this talk @louiseaashton.bsky.social explores what long-term data on tropical insects can tell us about the impacts of climate change, habitat loss & other pressures & what this means for tropical forest ecosystems.
youtu.be
Tropical insects in the Anthropocene
YouTube video by Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery
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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
As unprofessional as it may be, I suspect I will be shouting "we have been saying this for years" a lot today. Harsher immigration policies don't just ruin individual lives, they damage the economy, reduce jobs, and generally harm the whole country.
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The press coverage of the Academy of Natural Sciences has gone from "Oh how sad" to sounding like a hostage negotiation. Which maybe sounds bad, but elected leaders, the press, the people online, all saying "You don't have to do this, man" is better than mourning. share.inquirer.com/YTQg0s
share.inquirer.com
Philadelphia shouldn’t give up on the Academy of Natural Sciences’ historic museum | Editorial
The Academy's 150-year-old building faces roughly $150 million in deferred maintenance costs. While that may seem daunting, it is not insurmountable.
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Dana Bergstrom @danambergstrom.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Conservation success story but climate change, ongoing human activity and krill fishing in Antarctica remained challenges for whales
abc.net.au
Forty years after whaling was banned, threats remain
Since whaling was banned in 1986, whale numbers have rebounded but threats, mostly human-made, remain and are on the agenda at a meeting in Hobart.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I actually do, in some abstract sense, like the idea of a liberal education. But people dunking on this guy are just betraying how America-centric their worldview is. Many countries (I think most?) have university systems where you take classes in what you’re studying and that’s it
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I remember seeing the results from Knox County Indiana start coming in, and once they were at 25% or so doing some quick back of a napkin maths to see Trump had won. Whereupon I proceeded to go to bed whilst my friends insisted that Harris still had a chance
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Rich @pibasedlifeform.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I'd happily measure the Uk against anyother country in the world as an example of a successful multicultural democracy and society We should be proud of that, and its a shining example of what the UK is and what it stands for Shout it from the rooftops everyone It is a great thing
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My second attempt was a bit more succesful: MP Chain 🏛️ I recognised 1️⃣5️⃣3️⃣ MPs in a row. How long is your chain? toys.jamesomalley.co.uk/mpchain/
toys.jamesomalley.co.uk
MP Chain — How many MPs can you recognise?
Pick the named MP from two portraits. One wrong answer ends your chain.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Ngl a lot of this is based on “oh yea I vaguely remember seeing this face on Wikipedia MP Chain 🏛️ I recognised 3️⃣8️⃣ MPs in a row. How long is your chain? toys.jamesomalley.co.uk/mpchain/
toys.jamesomalley.co.uk
MP Chain — How many MPs can you recognise?
Pick the named MP from two portraits. One wrong answer ends your chain.
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James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is a low key tragedy. A broad consensus torched by a handful of ideologues and opportunists who do not even understand what net zero target is and why it was adopted. The reality is temperatures will continue to spiral until we reach net zero or civilisation collapses, whichever comes first.
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The Neotoma Paleoecology Database @neotomadb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🌍 Great to see the Neotoma Paleoecology Database recognized among AGU’s Impactful Datasets in Earth, Space & Environmental Sciences—highlighting the value of open, curated data for paleoecology and global-change research. 🔗 data.agu.org/impactful-da... #Neotoma #OpenData #AGU
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Turning a generation of young men into Davey Scatinos
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Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Will keep boringly saying this (no disrespect to OP): it's not a health surcharge. It's not hypothecated to the NHS; you can't choose not to pay it and thereby eschew healthcare. You could equally call it an education or roads surcharge. It's using the NHS's sanctified status to rip off immigrants.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not doing brilliantly ngl MP Recall 🏛️ I named 56/649 current MPs in five minutes. 🟥 40/403 LAB 🟦 10/118 CON 🟧 5/71 LD 🟨 1/8 SNP Can you beat me? toys.jamesomalley.co.uk/mprecall/
toys.jamesomalley.co.uk
MP Recall — How many MPs can you remember?
Name as many current UK MPs as you can in five minutes.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Britain's finest hour was when it stood alone against the fascism enveloping the world, sacrificing its great power status in the process. These fascists wish we had fought on the other side, and should face the full extent of the law for their transgressions
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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New review of what we know and don't know about the evolutionary history of birds and their close fossil relatives! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🪶🧪 (📷Benito & @lizzysteell.bsky.social)
Diagram showing the evolutionary relationships and geologic ages of birds and closely related bird-like dinosaurs.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Those who know the history of biodiversity conservation know how much of its origins stems from hunters wanting to protect what they hunted. Interesting to find that the same relationship is continuing to shape mammal conservation status positively www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Sport hunting associated with favourable conservation status of mammals - Nature Sustainability
While controversial, the practice of sport hunting has been argued to incentivize the conservation of various animal species. This study provides evidence that can facilitate further discussion for mu...
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 22/09/2026
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings fail to systematically penalize companies for deforestation. Incorporating quantifiable spatial deforestation data—such as data from remote sensing—into assessments could help inform ratings. In PNAS: ow.ly/rW0550ZPSs9
Deforestation in Brazil. Stock photo.
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Nathan @nwylabour.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Of course, this is what happens when you make your tax base so narrow that most immigration becomes a fiscal loss: you try to make it fiscally positive by other means. In this case, in a horrifically arbitrary and punitive fashion.
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
As a biology equivalent I’d say: 1) birds are dinosaurs 2) fish aren’t a coherent category 3) organic agriculture is often worse for the environment than the alternative 4) selfish evolution explain cooperation very well 5) however many beetle species you think there are, there’s more
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I am sure we have all heard that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; turns out the same principle holds to the protection of tropical forests. doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org
Protecting tropical forests is more cost-effective for biodiversity and climate than restoration
Halting deforestation and promoting restoration are at the core of strategies to confront the biodiversity and climate crises in tropical forests. Avoiding forest disturbances is also critically impor...
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M☿th @monroetempleton.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
at lot gets written on how social media has led to a social atomisation, and I cannot think of a more striking example of this atomisation than people in coastal communities turning on the altruistic public-good orgs like the RNLI because of predatory fascist recruitment
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Nathan @nwylabour.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Much is made of the impact of England's tuition fee system, but if you take a look at Scotland it becomes clear that the rot goes much deeper than that. The UK as a whole has just given up on the idea of universities as a public good.
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Torsten Bell @torstenbell.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
These are thugs being thugs, not legitimate protests
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Nathan @nwylabour.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If only there were politicians in the UK looking to Carney for inspiration right now
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Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Check out the new research here by @macroecoevoale.bsky.social & many colleagues. Congrats! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
The body temperature of Tyrannosaurus rex
Despite an extensive history of study, quantitative constraints on the thermophysiology of Tyrannosaurus rex remain limited. Here, we derive a thermodynamically based determination of T. rex body temp...
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Nathan @nwylabour.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
True democratic freedom is to be found in representative democracy, which in Crosland's words allows the ordinary citizen to 'tend to the garden', having empowered full-time, democratically accountable, elected representatives to act on their behalf
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Jay Zedbee @jayzedbee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I was really struck at how, watching an obviously distraught mother of two afraid for her fucking children, Derbyshire kept pushing her with a lot more insistence than you see in an average bbc farage interview
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It seems to me like recent advances in renewables and medical technology are as likely to transform human civilization as AI but the former two sectors have less flamboyant hype men.
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
It's a rare policy that would be welcomed by both business and trade unions - and at the same time would *improve* the UK's fiscal position. Dropping these proposals - for which there is no economic, moral or political case - would be one. www.ft.com/content/8a00...
ft.com
Unions demand softening of UK immigration reforms
Proposals will ‘punish’ low-paid migrants doing essential work in public services and create a new staffing crisis in social care, says motion passed at TUC
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Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 14/09/2026
Here is the latest combined forecast across all 14 models, compared to past strong El Nino events. It shows just how extreme and unprecedented this event is forecast to be:
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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 14/09/2026
EARLY VIEW in IBIS The latest book reviews, thanks to Reviews Editor Daniel Villar onlinelibrary.wiley.... #ornithology
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
After a certain point, not everything can be shaped around “I want the benefits of living in a core city but without the drawbacks”
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Freedom of movement between CANZUK but within the EU would be both A) a good idea AND B) place egg on the face on all the people who thought Brexit would somehow revitalise the connections to the former dominions to what they were before the U.K. joined the EEC
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Please read the latest book review section of Ibis @bou.org.uk , featuring reviews of bird guides to Australia, county bird guides, and of @stevebrusatte.bsky.social ‘s latest book on bird evolution, amongst others #ornithology doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
doi.org
Book Review
Click on the article title to read more.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
A serious democratic society simply cannot allow this. That's £72 million from just two men. (Both, until lately, based overseas). The average UK earner (full-time) would have to work for over 1,800 years to raise that much. It's a nuclear strike on any pretence at the equality of political power
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British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) @bou.org.uk · 10/09/2026
NEW on #theBOUblog from Michał Jezierski Wren evolution in the British Isles: How might island evolution generate patterns of avian diversity? bou.org.uk/blog-jezi... #ornithology 🪶
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Robert Shrimsley @robertshrimsley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It's hard to think of anything less British than the morons doing this to the heroic RNLI
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Reform being quite genuinely a foreign plot against the nation is one of those amusing ironies that also makes me sad.
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Scary Mr. Olmec Man @scarymrolmecman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Indeed, a lot of bad shit going on right now would be remedied by the simple principle of "you are liable for what your product does"
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Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Kind of struggling to express how big a deal this is. One comparison is imagining that an AI-generated film won an Oscar, but that doesn't really work because Oscars are judged by humans and won every year. Solving Navier-Stokes is much much much harder
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Daniel Villar @daniel-a-villar.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It’s remarkable that the Tories did actually have a major policy success in education, and bluntly devolved countries that didn’t do the same are a natural experiment showing it isn’t coincidental, and they couldn’t capitalise on it, at all? I don’t think the Tories mentioned it once last GE?
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