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Eva Amsen

@evaamsen.com
1.4K followers 693 following 1.7K posts

Science writer. 🇳🇱🇪🇺in🇬🇧 I write about science in magazines, in a newsletter, in books, on social media and on loose scraps of paper. Also a violinist. 🔬🧬👩‍💻🎨🎻 🐈 Fun newsletter: mixture.substack.com Portfolio: evaamsen.com/writing

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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 29/09/2026
2 of 4 deadlines met and it's only Tuesday morning. (But the other two are more work so this is all still according to plan and I don't actually have a lot of time left)
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 28/09/2026
I cannot even begin to imagine what it's like to have an "uncluttered mind". My mind is filled to the brim with clutter! www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Stephen Hawking biography explores an ‘exceptionally clear, uncluttered mind’
An elegant account of the physicist’s unusual life story highlights the relationships that inspired him.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 28/09/2026
I'm organising this institute visit for science writers in the UK. Come with @absw.bsky.social to the University of Manchester on November 13! www.absw.org.uk/events/insti...
absw.org.uk
Institute visit - University of Manchester
This trip aims to inspire you, show you what research is out there, and give you a chance to talk to researchers in person. No obligation to report.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 25/09/2026
Was Darwin a nepo baby?, I wondered while wandering through his large house and in his expansive gardens earlier this week. Maybe kinda, I decided here: mixture.substack.com/p/was-darwin...
mixture.substack.com
Was Darwin a nepo baby?
Plus: interesting science links from across the web
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 20/09/2026
Taking advantage of climate change by drying laundry outside in late September.
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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Why AI is speeding up scientific research but not lab experiments www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...
scientificamerican.com
Why AI is speeding up scientific research but not lab experiments
A new report from Google, Google DeepMind and M.I.T. finds that researchers are using AI—a lot. It’s just not helping as much in the lab
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 18/09/2026
This is cool! I get lucid dreams but my control is limited. I can wake myself up if I don’t like the dream, though, which is helpful.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 18/09/2026
If you can get past the initial gut "ick" reaction when you see the mention of AI, this idea is actually in line with what many publishers and research management experts are looking at as future of publishing. Forget the AI part of it for a minute... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Reimagining research papers as interactive and reliable AI agents - Nature
Paper2Agent converts research papers into interactive artificial intelligence agents by turning manuscripts, code and data into model context protocol-based tool-invoking systems that reproduce origin...
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 18/09/2026
This includes the UK! (Thanks to Horizon association, I think)
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 18/09/2026
Someone in Westminster does their job for once and it immediately makes the news.... uk.news.yahoo.com/larry-cat-ca...
uk.news.yahoo.com
Larry the Cat catches a mouse
Chief Mouser is seen catching a rodent before casually returning to 10 Downing Street. .
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 17/09/2026
An impostor managed to get a news article published in Science under someone else's byline, by pretending to be her in the pitch to the editor. They pitched other publications as well, but editors who were familiar with the REAL Caroline noticed something was off. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
linkedin.com
Fake Caroline update: The person who was impersonating me managed to get an article published in Science, under my by-line. And they got paid for it! I've seen the pitches (bad), and the email…...
Fake Caroline update: The person who was impersonating me managed to get an article published in Science, under my by-line. And they got paid for it! I've seen the pitches (bad), and the email chai...
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 17/09/2026
I just counted and I have about 20 projects on the go of which only about 10 are work. (But the others have deadlines and responsibilities as well. Most of them committee work.)
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 17/09/2026
I'm starting my weekly Discord coworking sessions again! Open to science writers and #scicomm people who need some focused time to work on their own projects, but be motivated by other people doing the same. We're mostly on mute! discord.gg/pZu3YFH6j
discord.gg
Join the SciComm Coworking Discord Server!
This is a place for science communicators, science writers and scientists to work on scicomm projects and share tips. | 553 members
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 15/09/2026
This week I’m finally setting aside some time to look at the story analyses in this book. It’s been on or near my desk for months now! www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci... #scicomm
Hand holding a copy of “The Best Science Stories and How They Work” in front of a bookcase
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 14/09/2026
I also don't understand this. Why don't AI CEOs *do* something to *start* the regulation process? When biologists in the 1970s realised that genetic engineering could be dangerous, they collectively stopped their work and started working on guidelines that have since become regulations. Do that!
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 13/09/2026
Warning: our democracy won’t survive the death of reading. Read on if you still can | John Harris
theguardian.com
Warning: our democracy won’t survive the death of reading. Read on if you still can | John Harris
While fascists protest in UK ports and purvey nonsense and poison online, ever fewer people have the perspective or analytical tools to challenge them, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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David Bradley @sciencebase.com · 08/09/2026
If you're after a science writer, the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) has a Bluesky starter pack just for you go.bsky.app/F6bdkUY
go.bsky.app
Association of British Science Writers members
Join the conversation
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 09/09/2026
I have an article in the current issue of Earth Island Journal, about the impact that climate change has on schools. Some are prone to flooding, others to heat or wildfires, and it's only getting worse. Find out what's being done and studied about it: www.earthisland.org/journal/inde... #scicomm
earthisland.org
Class Interrupted
From Kenya to California, increasingly severe weather is keeping kids out of school.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 09/09/2026
I have an article in the current issue of Earth Island Journal, about the impact that climate change has on schools. Some are prone to flooding, others to heat or wildfires, and it's only getting worse. Find out what's being done and studied about it: www.earthisland.org/journal/inde... #scicomm
earthisland.org
Class Interrupted
From Kenya to California, increasingly severe weather is keeping kids out of school.
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Earth Island Journal @earthislandjournal.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
UNICEF estimates that climate events disrupted the schooling of 242 million students across 85 countries in 2024. How educators, administrators, and policymakers address this urgent threat will determine whether today’s youth receive the education — and preparation — that they deserve.
earthisland.org
Class Interrupted
From Kenya to California, increasingly severe weather is keeping kids out of school.
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Mark @njdoc.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Anthropic Researcher Quits Over ‘Out-of-Control’ AI Fears
Concerns are rising inside AI labs that competition is pushing tech companies to race toward self-improving models that risk spiraling out of human control.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 07/09/2026
@bethanyblack.bsky.social I hope you’ve seen this! The first line is one of your posts :) vm.tiktok.com/ZN82Nd9R8/
vm.tiktok.com
TikTok - Make Your Day
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 07/09/2026
Whatever happened to flying cars? Well, apparently a Dutch company plans to have them in the air by 2028. That's...soon! nltimes.nl/2026/09/07/d...
nltimes.nl
Dutch PAL-V gets green light to start producing flying car; Could hit the sky in 2028
Dutch company PAL-V is a significant step closer to selling its flying car, the PAL-V Liberty. The European aviation authority EASA has given the company the green light to start production. If all go...
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 07/09/2026
I am back from my holiday! Enjoy four random photos of my first trip back to Canada since 2015. It had been waaaaay too long. (For context: I lived in Canada from 2002 to 2010 and in the winter of 2000/2001 so it's a second home. Third home? I don't know how to rank my countries.)
Maman sculpture in Ottawa. It's a huge metal spider, and people are walking underneath.Pedestrianised street in Montreal. People walking in the middle of the street past patios. Canoeing in the rain in Algonquin Park. A mural of Toronto's (no longer running) Spadina Bus. I only know this bus from the Shuffle Demons' song Spadina Bus. It was already no longer running when I moved to Toronto in 2002.
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The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 04/09/2026
How best to blow one's nose? The late professor Tokuji Unno detailed some techniques in a 1977 paper, for which he was awarded the Ig Nobel Medicine Prize on Thursday.
ebx.sh
Late Japanese researcher wins Ig Nobel Prize for study on blowing one’s nose
Unno was awarded the prize for his 1977 paper, “How to Blow the Nose – An Aerodynamic Study of the Nose Blowing.”
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 31/08/2026
I’m briefly back in Toronto and the hotel room comes with a record player! If I know you and you’re in TO, message me for hangout details for Tuesday. Or email eva.amsen [at] gmail [dot] com
White brick wall with a wooden shelf on which is a record player and a stack of records. A Ramones record is on top.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 30/08/2026
Hello from the middle of my holiday.
Fire pit and beerTea, book and chocolate on an outdoor table
Outside furniture on a wooden deck in a forest
Forest lake
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 21/08/2026
UK students interested in science writing: this event is for you!
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 20/08/2026
The American Chemical Society and the (UK) Vegan Society both changed their logo this month. These organisations are very different from each other, and also both very different from a generic tech company, but you wouldn't know it from the logos... (Expand them to see the full effect)
A generic circle shaped thing that I think is supposed to be an atom, next to the letters ACS. Sans-serif font, with a bit of a curve in the horizontal part of the A, but otherwise just letters.A generic circle-shaped thing that in this case probably hints at the sunflower from their old logo, but you wouldn't know it. Next to it the text "The Vegan Society" and the word "Vegan" in a somewhat interesting font but nothing that you can't just find as a default in Canva.
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Springer Nature @springernature.com · 19/08/2026
#OnThisDay, we celebrate World Photography Day! On 19 August 1839, the French government announced Louis Daguerre's photographic process as a gift "free to the world," helping make photography accessible and forever changing how we capture and share our lives. 📸
Daguerrotype image of a man in a suit holding a case with 9 small daguerreotype photos. Text: Did You Know? Early daguerreotype photographs often required subjects to remain still for several minutes because of long exposure times.
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💜 phonakins 🍉🌲 @phonakins.com · 17/08/2026
"Guardian analysis finds one section of report includes links to academic articles that do not exist, but authors deny the references were made up by AI" So you just lied then? Or were you incompetent? Which is worse? www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
A young woman with dark hair in a bun and glasses sits in profile facing left, knees drawn up as she intently views a glowing green tablet held in both hands. Yellow dotted lines emanate from the tablet toward her eyes. A dotted circular path orbits her torso, displaying the Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram logos along with a large stylized X. The entire image has a blue and cyan duotone filter with a grainy halftone texture. To the left, a news headline reads: Report supporting teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears. Below it: Guardian analysis finds one section of report includes links to academic articles that do not exist, but authors deny the references were made up by AI. The word Exclusive appears in red at the top left, with 5h ago at the bottom left.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 14/08/2026
New Mixture about the sense of community from eclipse watching, with this photo I took that looks like that Seurat painting from Ferris Bueller, and with Google Trends for a very predictable search term. mixture.substack.com/p/staring-at...
An image of people sitting and standing on (dry) grass in a park, to look at the solar eclipse this week. The composition is similar to George Seraut's famous painting that Cameron looks at in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
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Johnny Normality @probgobl.in · 14/08/2026
EVERY STORY ABOUT BEAVERS FOR THE LAST DECADE READS LIKE: WE RELEASED A DOZEN PADDLE TAILED LITTLE FREAKS AND THEY IMMEDIATELY BEGAN A TERRAFORMING PROJECT THAT REVERSED A CENTURY OF ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IN THREE WEEKS.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 14/08/2026
I wrote an article about heatwaves during one of the previous heatwaves and it came back for edits a few days ago, so I got to work on it again during London Heatwave number 5. (Not to be confused with Mambo Number 5)
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 13/08/2026
Once in a while I accidentally Google otters instead of opening Otter (the transcription software) and it's always a delightful mistake.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 12/08/2026
Come watch the eclipse with me! (Also on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. I'm trying to get back into making videos and this was good motivation to get one done quickly without too much effort.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 12/08/2026
I've discovered that I cannot type "flavivirus" correctly on the first try, ever. Just typing it here took me three tries. "Falv...Flavivu...Flavivirus"
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 12/08/2026
I kind of get why people left buying eclipse glasses until the very last moment. There really wasn't any buzz about it until the last few days so some people simply didn't know about it. I was briefly outside of my scicomm bubble last weekend and met so many people who had no idea!
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 07/08/2026
I just did a Zoom interview (with video!) on the Eurostar and it only fully dropped once! I’ve been on this train so often that I knew which stretch bas few tunnels and good reception, so I timed it based on when I would be there.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 06/08/2026
I came up with an idea for a study and I really hope someone is already planning it or working on it: A longitudinal study following many people of the same age who currently have varying degrees of GenAI usage. Cognitive tests now (or rather, a few years ago) and in a decade. Check for differences.
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Caspar Addyman @kzzprr.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Reminder to folk in Iceland and Western Europe. I've created a live earth viewer that will let you dry run next weeks eclipse. Click the Eclipse option, drop a pin at your location and then see a timeline of how much the sun is occluded. 🔭🌞🌑🧪 earth-clock.onemonkey.org
Screenshoot of earth-clock eclipse viewer, showing path of totality and sun-disc silhouette for 12 August solar eclipse
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 05/08/2026
#bugsky #invertesky You can get your insect/bug/invertebrate question answered directly on The Guardian. Only the next few hours! They usually don't have science-themed Q&As so let's show them that this is what the people want :) #scicomm
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 05/08/2026
If you have any questions about invertebrates, you can ask them directly to Guardian writer Patrick Barkham -- only today! #scicomm www.theguardian.com/community/li...
theguardian.com
Reader Q&A: what have you always wanted to know about insects? Grill Patrick Barkham on the natural world
This week, we launched our third annual vote to honour nature’s unsung heroes. The Guardian’s natural history writer – and woodlouse fanboy – Patrick Barkham will be here from 4pm BST (11am EDT) to di...
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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 31/07/2026
A little behind the scenes of a new(ish) article. open.substack.com/pub/mixture/...
open.substack.com
Behind the scenes of a science story
I started to work on this article a year ago
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 24/07/2026
It took a few months, but my feature about data sharing in pharma to improve AI tools is now in C&EN!
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Jonathan Jarry @jonathanjarry.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
If you’re a science communicator and you use AI, read this. This is about what’s happening to Hank Green.
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 31/07/2026
Starting in five minutes! Call details are in the link. Free to attend and aimed at science journalists in European countries (other countries welcome!)
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Eva Amsen @evaamsen.com · 31/07/2026
Tune in just over an hour from now to hear more about the Young Science Writer Award and how other countries can set up similar competitions to connect science journalists with schools. #scicomm efsj.eu/2026/07/09/e...
efsj.eu
EFSJ online webinar July 31st – Connecting young people with science journalism: lessons from the UK’s Young Science Writer Award
Join EFSJ members for this free webinar on July 31st to learn from Maisie Keogh what a science writing competition for school students can teach journalists about the next generation of science writer...
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 30/07/2026
oh my god!!!! there's an actual answer!!!! Google Maps does hide Brighton!!!!!!! bsky.app/profile/robi...
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