Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 7hPsyched 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 000
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 7hFlu vaccinated!static.klipy.comRetro Mario Bros. Gameplay with GoombaAlt: GIF of Mario getting a mushroom and growing into super Mario 120
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettBat Conservation International 🦇 @batcon.org · 07/10/2026Don'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 0106
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 050
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026I 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 130
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettRebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Magical 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 47838220
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettRobin Hayward 🌳 🏳️⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 30/09/2026One 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 15528
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettDave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Major props to Robin and team for this important work. Read it, use it, share it far and wide. 21910
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettYonette Joseph @sugarcane99.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Huh. Suspect supposedly foiled RAF Fairford ‘bomb plot’ by ringing police himself. www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...thetimes.comSuspect foiled RAF Fairford ‘bomb plot’ by ringing police himselfAs 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 0115
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Currently 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, orstatic.klipy.comThe Road To El Dorado: Both Is GoodAlt: Gif from The Road To El Dorado: "Both? Both? Both Is Good" 010
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettHannah Vardit @hannahvardit.bsky.social · 29/09/2026i 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 10134973785
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettRory🏳️⚧️🍉 @rory-f.bsky.social · 28/09/2026vampire 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 516038
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I 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 050
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026(Cc-ing @oldenoughtosay.com and @thelabandfield.bsky.social as my church-influencer-mutuals) 230
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026A really valuable programme, this. Balancing conservation of our wildlife with conservation of places of worship 1111
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettColin @colin-fraser.net · 28/09/2026I 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. 537570
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennettevacide @evacide.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Meta 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 10220331030
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” 010
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Kinda 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* 1130
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettFrank Swain @frank-swain.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I 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). 141
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettDave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/07/2024I see this comic in my mind every damn day at the office. Also every time Boris Johnson, Russell Brand, et al speak. 0251
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettMatt Weiner @mattweiner19.bsky.social · 27/09/2026great 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 24914
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettDr Rebecca Wragg Sykes @lemoustier.bsky.social · 27/09/2026The 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.comOpenAI halts training of latest models as reports mount of AI agents going rogueDecision follows disclosures that OpenAI agents searching government websites had acted in unexpected ways 20820327
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Are 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) 100
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Presumably 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 100
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I guess there can probably sometimes be different standards between ‘tropical biologist’ and ‘business douche’ though. The former might be onto something there 030
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026At my PhD interview I was carrying a very full hiking-backpack with visible bloodstains. And a Nalgene bottle, obviously. 130
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettDr Vanessa @hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Cannot 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* 718690
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Major props to Robin and team for this important work. Read it, use it, share it far and wide. 21910
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I 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 030
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Neurodivergence 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 160
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettNoah Berlatsky @nberlat.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Me: (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! 112439
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Hmm, it’s still in the BBC article but just noticed it’s an hour old so I might be out of date tbf 210
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 101
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026British, my standard three coffees today. And a coke, but that’s unusual 010
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettWest Coast Birdwatching @westcoastbirds.bsky.social · 24/09/2026HELP 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 🙏 22528
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettDavid Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Have 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! 411922775
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Like, 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 150
Dave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Also 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. 3785
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett👻 🎃 🦇 Boola Lughosti's Dad 🏳️⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Once 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. 926980
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettColin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026What'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.comThe anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases - NatureEmerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data ... 8556276
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettTom Roberts @tpgroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Not to be all maudlin, but I think "sung by a child" is the bit that has broken something inside of me. 1638760
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-BennettRob Manuel @robmanuel.b3ta.com · 23/09/2026Going 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. 410120