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Dave Hemprich-Bennett

@davehb.bsky.social
1.5K followers 590 following 2.5K posts

A bunch of stardust with ADHD. Scientist working on the ecology of mosquitoes and bats at Oxford Uni. Used to be @hammerheadbat on twitter. Runner, photographer, guitarist. He/him

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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 7h
Psyched for increased immunity this season, given that I have asthma and we have two small children in the house. Teach your immune system how to nerf the nasties
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 7h
Flu vaccinated!
static.klipy.com
Retro Mario Bros. Gameplay with Goomba
Alt: GIF of Mario getting a mushroom and growing into super Mario
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Bat Conservation International 🦇 @batcon.org · 07/10/2026
Don't let the scariest part of Halloween be the impact your decor has on wildlife 🕸️ Stretchy artificial webs can pose real dangers to bats, birds, and more. Unlike real spiderwebs, artificial webbing doesn’t break easily, meaning bats and birds are easily tangled up in the strands. 📸 Dick Wilkins
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“Oh hooray, time for it to be dark and grey and cold and damp” - words of the utterly deranged
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I think if I lived in a less cloudy climate and so the long nights meant I could enjoy the stars, I’d probably welcome the long nights. As it stands: fuck this shit
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
HELL YEAH
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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Magical creatures don’t exist, eh? Roughly 400 million years ago, before the birth of trees, there were giant mystery cones called “Prototaxites,” which grew nearly 30 feet tall. We literally have no idea what they were. Plant: no Mushroom: no Animal: no Tell me this isn’t a little bit magic
Sunset with giant mystery cones Prototaxites https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/prototaxites-fossil-explained-why-this-prehistoric-colossus-still-baffles-scientists-1773173
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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 30/09/2026
One of the biggest obstacles to trans inclusivity in fieldwork is uncertainty. Here's a video of me talking about it but you can also read about it at inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Major props to Robin and team for this important work. Read it, use it, share it far and wide.
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Yonette Joseph @sugarcane99.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Huh. Suspect supposedly foiled RAF Fairford ‘bomb plot’ by ringing police himself. www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
Suspect foiled RAF Fairford ‘bomb plot’ by ringing police himself
As counterterrorism officers focus on whether the five men from London were proxies for Iran, they are also investigating the motives of the one who called 999
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Currently trying to work out if the big afternoon energy slumps I seem to be getting this week are due to new ADHD meds, general life-with-newborn sleep deprivation, or
static.klipy.com
The Road To El Dorado: Both Is Good
Alt: Gif from The Road To El Dorado: "Both? Both? Both Is Good"
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Hannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
i worry that men think being A Good Guy is dramatically and heroically intervening on behalf of an endangered woman and then being publicly rewarded on a grand scale when actually being A Good Guy is just usually saying, “hey man that’s not funny” or “wow that’s fucked up” and there is no reward
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Rory🏳️‍⚧️🍉 @rory-f.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
vampire bats are champion pissers, because they need to be able to shed all the water from the blood they drink, i think people should incorporate this into their vampire fiction
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I was a field technician for a 'bats in churches' project many years ago. Churches can be invaluable roosts in areas where we've removed most old buildings and trees, but it can come with undeniable impacts for the churches and the people who love them. Good mitigation is important
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
(Cc-ing @oldenoughtosay.com and @thelabandfield.bsky.social as my church-influencer-mutuals)
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A really valuable programme, this. Balancing conservation of our wildlife with conservation of places of worship
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Colin @colin-fraser.net · 28/09/2026
I think if you meaningfully punish OpenAI & co for all of these cyberattacks then they will stop doing them. Whether or not you want to anthropomorphize the agents, you gotta just land there.
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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Meta Muse appears to read your Apple messages and upload them to the cloud even if you explicitly tell it not to: appleinsider.com/articles/26/...
appleinsider.com
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“What we initially thought were liquids for use in explosives were actually liquids for a very different thing”
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Kinda refreshing to see a positive post about the Quiet Lanes: the overwhelming majority of things I've seen about them so far are Facebook 'recommended' posts by local politicians being performatively outraged at the very idea of them *sigh*
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
(both. you can never win)
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Frank Swain @frank-swain.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I wanted to know if Europe's wildfire line is moving northward. So I did what anyone would and mapped thousands of burn scars. If you now live in one of the red cells, your chance of being within 25km of a wildfire next year is 50% (based on rolling 10 year average).
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/07/2024
I see this comic in my mind every damn day at the office. Also every time Boris Johnson, Russell Brand, et al speak.
Calvin and Hobbes strip. Both sitting at a desk, with Calvin writing.
Calvin: “I used to hate writing assignments: but now I enjoy them. I realised that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog! Want to see my book report?”

Hobbes picks up paper and reads.
Hobbes: “the dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives in Dick and Jane: a study in psychic transrelational gender modes”
Calvin: “Academia, here I come!”
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Matt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
great piece would add that one big dange is The Powers That Be putting a system that *isn't* capable of running things in charge of it, and trusting what it does because it is The Machine God the "the supercompetent AI will kill us all!" doomsaying makes that more likely, because Machine God
Most crucially, the real problem with this narrative is that there are real reasons to be afraid. Not in a “Skynet superintelligent AI turning on humanity in a sci-fi judgment day scenario,” but in the incredibly banal “as soon as the powers that be find AI models sufficiently capable to be put in charge of defense, weapons development and guidance (including bioweapons), and information, they will do it.” Smiling serenely and saying (correctly) AI is not super intelligent or sentient will not stop it from being used as though it is.Therein lies the real existential threat: not Skynet, but Shitty Skynet.
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Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The problem isn't rogue #AI models, it's *negligent companies*. If a biomedical firm put their product in public water supply because they wanted to test it 'in the real world', they'd be treated as criminal at corporate & individual level. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
OpenAI halts training of latest models as reports mount of AI agents going rogue
Decision follows disclosures that OpenAI agents searching government websites had acted in unexpected ways
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Are the useful agentic bits rather than the chatbots as far along as that yet? (Genuine question, I’ve probably not been keeping up, but always seem to be low on tokens for my workplace usage)
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Presumably as we approach that point though, that’s when the makers increase their prices to make it so that only those who can afford their agents retain that advantage? With all that entails
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I guess there can probably sometimes be different standards between ‘tropical biologist’ and ‘business douche’ though. The former might be onto something there
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
At my PhD interview I was carrying a very full hiking-backpack with visible bloodstains. And a Nalgene bottle, obviously.
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Dr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Cannot tell you how much I hate this & how ashamed & angry I am that @ukri.org have taken this step. We KNOW this sort of gAI is socially biased, we KNOW it favours slopAI output over human-written. Our research landscape is falling apart due to underfunding, & they do this? it's *appalling*
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Major props to Robin and team for this important work. Read it, use it, share it far and wide.
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I really love being a parent and having a baby and toddler in the house is mostly great fun, however it’s been clear for a very long time that my #ADHD symptoms are more severe when I’m stressed or sleeping poorly… and you can probably see where I’m going with this
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
(Lisdexamfetamine, FWIW)
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Neurodivergence level: today for the first time I took a medication with ‘amfetamine’ in the name, and I’m the calmest and stillest I’ve been in ages
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Noah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Me: (driving car into wall) My car has gone rogue! Me: (dropping phone into tub) My god, my phone has gone rogue! Me: (tripping over table) The table! It's gone rogue!
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ah yeah, I misread. Apologies
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Hmm, it’s still in the BBC article but just noticed it’s an hour old so I might be out of date tbf
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
‘Criminal damage with intent to endanger life’ carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Not saying I think for a moment he’ll get sentenced to that of course, but I’d say the charges reflect the severity
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
British, my standard three coffees today. And a coke, but that’s unusual
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West Coast Birdwatching @westcoastbirds.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
HELP NEEDED! There is a stranded Manx Shearwater in the West Midlands (SOLIHULL) that needs a ride back to the coast. Can anyone in that area help? Even to take it some of the way and pass on to another volunteer? Please call 01437 723193 if you can help 🙏
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Have you ever tried to read a scientific journal article and been told “you don’t have access, pay to download this article?” Did you know that the author of that article gets $0 if you pay? Instead, you can email the author and ask for a free copy! I’d be delighted to help and answer questions!
Screenshot of a scientific journal paywall
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Like, if I were hypothetically discovered to have committed some heinous acts and was being described as ‘Dave’ in the coverage, because I’ve been known as that since I was 12, it would be daft for people to be wanging on about “ohoho, I think you mean ‘David’!”. Just focus on what’s happened jfc
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Also if somebody is widely known by one name but you insist on using the name on their passport, you’re usually just being a tedious pedant. If it’s somebody you disagree with, you hopefully have criticisms that are more valuable pieces of information than getting bogged down in mere pedantry.
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👻 🎃 🦇 Boola Lughosti's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Once again, speaking as a professional archaeologist: "English" is not an ethnicity in any meaningful sense. You only have to go back about 1,000 years before everyone in Europe has the same group of common genealogical ancestors. Humans have lived on the British Isles for almost a million years.
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
What's behind this tidal wave of epidemics? In the largest study ever conducted on emerging infectious diseases, we show that the popular explanation - "our relationship with nature is out of balance" - doesn't hold up. Out now in Nature, after half a decade of work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases - Nature
Emerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data ...
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Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It’s ‘ew’ from me all round
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Tom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not to be all maudlin, but I think "sung by a child" is the bit that has broken something inside of me.
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Rob Manuel @robmanuel.b3ta.com · 23/09/2026
Going to shoplift Meal Deals in Sainsbury's and they can't arrest me because it'll make me a martyr. "Free the scotch eggs" I shout on TikTok, with a mouth full of scotch eggs.
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