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Andrew Iwaniuk

@evoneuro.bsky.social
3.1K followers 2.2K following 2.9K posts

neurobiologist, ornithologist, scruffy looking nerfherder, social distancing since 1974, Canadian in Alberta, Treaty 7 lands 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 🧪🪶🧠 stuff open access link for our book: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6…

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Reposted by Andrew Iwaniuk
Canadian Paintings @canadianpaintings.bsky.social · 12h
The road to reconciliation begins with truth Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe c. 2022
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Anti-Colonial History @anticolonialhistry.bsky.social · 6h
On this day in 1974, RCMP brutally attack the Native Peoples' Caravan on Parliament Hill in Ottawa following a cross-country trek starting in Vancouver. RCMP officers indiscriminately swing batons at Native women and children, as well as men. anticolonialhistory.com/event/299/
Flier for the caravan's arrival in Toronto (before heading on to Ottawa)

"Support the Native Peoples' Fight!
Indians Stand Up for Rights"
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APTN News @aptnnews.bsky.social · 7h
Today is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and we’re live at 11 a.m. ET leading up to the special 90-minute multilingual commemoration, Remembering the Children. Watch live in English, Plains Cree, Anishinaabemowin, Kanien'kéha and Inuktitut here: www.aptnnews.ca/ourstories/r...
aptnnews.ca
Remembering the Children | APTN News
For 160 years, Indigenous children were taken and put into institutions across Canada. September 30 is a day to remember the children.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 21h
I was privileged to see two yellow eyed penguins in the Otago area way back in 2005. Didn’t think that the population numbers would get this bad so quickly 😢 #ornithology
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Mongabay @mongabay.com · 21h
With New Zealand’s mainland yellow-eyed penguin population down to 117 breeding pairs, the government has banned set-net fishing around the Otago Peninsula. The measure aims to curb fishing-related deaths. “We can stop killing them in set nets tomorrow.” Edward Carver reports for #Mongabay.
mongabay.cc
As yellow-eyed penguins disappear, conservationists focus on deaths in fishing nets
OTAGO PENINSULA, Aotearoa New Zealand — Sandfly Bay was long a key nesting area for yellow-eyed penguins (Megadyptes antipodes), noisy, pink-footed birds that spend long days foraging at sea. But…
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Angry and disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that some graduate students here are planning mini vacations for Truth and Reconciliation Day tomorrow. Zero reflection, just an opportunity to head to the mountains and/or party. #yql
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Tessa Montague @tessamontague.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm excited to share our new preprint: Generation of a transgenic cephalopod tinyurl.com/pc86jxz8 Cephalopods (cuttlefish, octopus & squid) are crazy critters that dynamically camouflage to their surroundings by changing the color, pattern, & texture of their skin, which they control w their brain.
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Schwantz 👊🔥🇨🇦 @schwantz.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Albertans need to crush this idiotic separation nonsense. Don't you dare let any of your friends and neighbours stay home! youtube.com/shorts/o3dyd...
youtube.com
Alberta soldier fighting in Ukraine heartbroken over separation debate
YouTube video by CBC News Alberta
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Lethbridge in the news for all the wrong reasons again. Given my experiences with long term residents and the school system here, this story does not surprise me sadly. #yql #Alberta www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Lethbridge youth charged with terrorism offences related to violent online group 764 | CBC News
RCMP have charged a 17-year-old in Lethbridge, Alta., with multiple offences related to terrorism, child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and animal cruelty. The accused’s online activity was c...
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Dr. Andy Holt @drandyholt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
As I watch the aggressiveness of drivers in Alberta continue to increase, I am now firmly of the belief that far more widespread use should be made of licence suspensions. People don't care about fines. Drive aggressively or inconsiderately? You're not driving anywhere for 2 weeks. That will work.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Frost warning tonight so decided to haul in some of the harvest. Nearly 1.5 kg of tomatillos for making salsa verde to get us through the winter months #yql
A stainless steel bowl filled with green tomato-like fruit covered in papery outer coverings. The bowl is sitting on a kitchen scale on a black granite counter top.
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John E Marriott Photography @johnemarriott.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
davidstalling.substack.com/p/teach-them...
davidstalling.substack.com
Teach Them to Kill, Call It Conservation
By David Stalling
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Sandy Horne @sandyhorne.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Due to heavy autumn and winter rains across central Australia, I predicted that it would be a bumper spring/summer season for budgies and cockatiels. Well, I wasn't wrong! There were 1000s of budgies and cockatiels at Gluepot. That's not an exaggeration. It was incredible.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
With our kids now #BackToSchool, never forget that we ARE the traffic that we’re afraid of. If more kids walked, biked or rode transit to school, it would erase a LOT of car trips each day, and our kids would be safer, healthier and better at school as a result. HT Ian Lockwood. Spread the word.
Cartoon of a mom and dad with a kid in front of a minivan. The parents are saying “there is too much traffic for Billy to walk to school, so we drive him.” The caption at the bottom says “traffic inducing traffic.” Let kids walk and bike to school, and tell your leaders to make that trip safe and enjoyable for kids and families. #LetKidsWalk #LetKidsBike
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Dan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Zebra Nuthatch
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George Olah @georgeolah.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
New paper in @conservationsp.bsky.social! 🦜 We applied #genomic auditing to private #macaw collections, uncovering cryptic hybridisation and inbreeding to guide #conservation breeding. Dedicated to Dr. Janice Boyd. Photo of Ara militaris by R. León. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
A large green macaw (a Military Macaw - Ara militaris), one of the focal species in genomic auditing for conservation breeding. Photo by R. León.
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 27/09/2026
Fans of Cormorant TV will love the new series by The Daily Plover: Long-billed Curlew Vision. 🪶
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Pretty clear that something is going on with the cohort of students in my neuroanatomy class this year. Similar lectures and quiz questions to the past 12 years and a slower pace in class, but the average has dropped about 15%.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Great. Another grant rejection to add to my cv of failures. Happy Friday? #academicsky
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Birds Canada @birdscanada.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This month in the 2026 Birds Canada calendar features a breathtaking shot of two Evening Grosbeaks photographed by Missy Mandel. Did you know that Evening Grosbeaks moult completely just once a year, at the end of the breeding season?
A male and a female evening grosbeak perch next to each other on a branch
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Western University @westernu.ca · 25/09/2026
Literary icon Margaret Atwood has gifted $1M to #WesternU, honouring her longtime partner Graeme Gibson, BA'58, to establish the Graeme Gibson Chair in Avian Biology - advancing research on how birds move, behave and adapt in a changing world. #AllinWesternU news.westernu.ca/2026/09/grae...
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Senator Paula Simons 🇨🇦 @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Useful context for Alberta’s anti-inmigrant referendum questions. We are not being “flooded” with newcomers. And scapegoating immigrants for longstanding structural problems with our public health care system, in particular, is gutter politics. #cdnpoli #abpoli #notothenine.
ca.finance.yahoo.com
Canada's population growth slows to lowest level in 80 years
The population is also aging with the median age now at 40.9 years
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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Taronga Western Plains Zoo is actually run by the Apostlebirds. #birds
Photo of three Apostlebirds huddled closely together on a metal cafeteria chair. They are grey and fluffy with dark eyes and beaks, and mottled brown on their wings and tails. Two are looking directly at the viewer while a third preens.
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Brian Smith @briansmith-photos.eurosky.social · 24/09/2026
One for the alt theme for #BirdoftheDay, and #BirdStare, and the Least Bittern from the Las Gallinas trip the other day - giving me a look, but hanging around and carrying on fishing. #Birds #eck 🪶
A frontal view of a Least Bittern (Botaurus exilis) (Ixobrychus exilis) perched on vertical green reeds at the water's edge. The small heron is looking directly at the camera, its brown and white streaked plumage providing camouflage against the dense vegetation. Its long legs and large feet are visible gripping the stalks above the green, reflective water. The setting is a marshy wetland in Marin County, California.
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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The wild Blue-faced Honeyeaters at Taronga Western Plains Zoo are pretty tolerant of humans as long as you're calm and quiet. #birds
Photo of a Blue Face Honeyeater on a grevillea branch with flower buds. The bird is black and white with a large zone of bare, blue skin around its eyes, and a stout curved beak in grey and black. It is looking to the side.Another Blue-faced Honeyeater (or maybe the same?) in the same grevillea plant with an open flower that is red and yellow. The bird has its head tilted and is looking at the viewer warily.Same subject, close-up crop, it is now drinking from and looking at the flower. The photo is highly detailed, showing the physical structure of the bird's iris.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We all saw this coming: erosion of EDI in research program and greater emphasis on applied research. The last big push for applied research was under Harper and widely acknowledged as a waste of money. universityaffairs.ca/news/remove-...
universityaffairs.ca
Remove EDI from research funding decisions, parliamentary committee says - University Affairs
The Standing Committee on Science and Research says ‘discriminatory’ EDI policies are ‘weakening the quality of Canadian research’.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I understand the need for various plans in wildlife management, but I sincerely hope that Parks Canada is not seriously considering this plan. @johnemarriott.bsky.social any thoughts on the potential for this to happen? www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/arti...
ctvnews.ca
Could ‘The Boss’ be euthanized? Parks Canada addresses plans for Bear 122
The Boss, one of Banff’s best-known bears, has roamed the Bow Valley for decades — but as he advances in age, what does his future hold?
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Two funded MSc positions are available with us thanks to an NSERC-Alliance grant. Working with the McDonald lab, the focus will be on the neurobehavioural effects of chronic exposure to microplastics in rodents. If you or anyone you know are interested, contact us! #neuroskyence #neuroethology
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If Alberta starts charging international students $1400 or more to access healthcare per year, it will further erode research at post secondaries. If I pay that now, that’s $4200 per year = less $$ for undergrads over summer and no conference travel. #abpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Alberta premier floats charging temporary residents $1,900 to access public health care | CBC News
The figure comes as Albertans will vote in the Oct. 19 referendum on charging certain non-permanent residents a "reasonable fee or premium" for access to Alberta's health care and education systems.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Your daily reminder that some birds have eyelashes made of tiny modified feathers. They're found in at least one species of 28 families of birds (out of 205). An example of convergent evolution. Examples: ostriches, secretarybirds, hornbills & hummingbirds. (📷: Nicolas Reusens Photography)
Captured by @nicolasreusens, these close-ups show the eye and eyelid margin of a hummingbird at roughly 3 to 3.5x magnification.

What look like lashes are modified feathers, not hairs, and researchers have proposed that they may help protect the eye from airborne particles during flight. Eyelash-like feather structures have only been documented in a fraction of the bird families surveyed so far.

These photographs were taken at the Catia Hummingbird Sanctuary in Mexico.Captured by @nicolasreusens, these close-ups show the eye and eyelid margin of a hummingbird at roughly 3 to 3.5x magnification.

What look like lashes are modified feathers, not hairs, and researchers have proposed that they may help protect the eye from airborne particles during flight. Eyelash-like feather structures have only been documented in a fraction of the bird families surveyed so far.

These photographs were taken at the Catia Hummingbird Sanctuary in Mexico.
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Andy Farke @andyfarke.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Some Monday morning thoughts on museum closures, spurred in part by the recent Academy of Natural Sciences, but not necessarily specific to that. <thread>
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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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Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 21/09/2026
At the conference I attended this weekend there were a lot of panels on Alberta, the referendum, separatism, etc. To be clear, there were very sober, thoughtful experts, and my takeaway was this: 1/n
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Sandy Horne @sandyhorne.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A bit over a week ago, I had a very good time wandering around a farmer's paddock (with permission) in the southern Flinders Ranges with @boyfrombruce.bsky.social watching the budgies zooming about. Such a thrilling experience!
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Sandy Horne @sandyhorne.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Fat little wild budgies 🙂 This is the natural colour of budgerigars. You don't find blue, purple, etc budgies in the wild. Also, Americans call these 'parakeets'. Most Australians won't recognise that bird name. (It took me years to figure out that parakeets were actually budgies.)
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Daryll Marie @daryllmarie.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Wilson’s storm-petrel feetsies alert!!!!!!! 🪶🌿🦑
A wilson’s storm-petrel flies just above the ocean surface with its feet visible hanging below its body 
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Everything about this thread hits close to home: my spouse has not been considered for any jobs locally for the past 15 years. Her current job is working for a former colleague on natural resource damage assessments in the USA because no one in Canada would even interview her.
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Amanda Hu @amandalhu.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
We gotta talk about how this dismal job market is disproportionately affecting women in their 40s and 50s, specifically many of my exceptional, highly-proficient friends who are bafflingly not getting interviews and job offers.
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Not a great result for UofL admin. It will be interesting to see the response @ydbelanger.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Court overturns University of Lethbridge decision to cancel professor's lecture | CBC News
A Court of King's Bench judge has ruled the University of Lethbridge's decision to cancel a lecture by former Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson was "fundamentally and fatally flawed" ...
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Hazel B. 🇨🇦 @hab3261.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
#abpoli
A man peers intensely through partially opened white window blinds. A dark charcoal text box in the lower right reads, “Rest of Canada watching Alberta” with “VOTE” in large red letters and a red maple leaf.
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Adrift Lab (Marine Science) @adriftlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Exposure to #plastic is increasing rapidly, but few consequences have been described in detail. Does this mean we’re worrying about nothing? Nope! Our #NewPaper highlights the bio-mechanical consequences of #PlasticIngestion on the stomach. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Sandy Horne @sandyhorne.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
More budgie action from Blinman.
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Dr. Kathleen M. Munley @thefishiedoc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I am recruiting 1-2 graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D. track) to join my lab at @psychualberta.bsky.social in Fall 2027! Please share widely, and if you are interested in endocrinology, animal behavior, neuroscience, and/or seasonal biology, I would love to chat! 🐟🧠🧬🍂
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APTN News @aptnnews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This week, Canadian politicians were pitching plans for major projects to foreign investors at a summit in Toronto. Jennifer Laewetz says First Nations rights holder should have been represented. Watch the full discussion on Truth & Politics: youtu.be/kU8VT8h-GD8
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#ornithology #owls 🪶🦉
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The answer is it’s a safety risk when you become a walking/running biohazard with the potential to infect others with dozens to hundreds of infections. Once more, covid taught the human population nothing
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Gull-pocalypse fall edition It’s that time of year that Franklin’s gulls inundate the park behind our house to catch flying ants and other insects. Even spotted a common nighthawk for a bit (but not in this video) #birds 🪶
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David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I paused at the Capertee Rest Stop today and found this Regent Honeyeater mural on the public toilets. The toilets play an audio recording of the honeyeater to help with identification. I visited the valley and *might* have glimpsed one, but alas no photo so I'll never know for sure. #birds
Photo of a public toilet with an impressive mural painted on the side depicting a three Regent Honeyeaters (black birds with bright yellow faces and markings) against a background of burnt trees, a green valley, and a small nest in a flowering eucalypt tree.
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Many Minds podcast @manymindspod.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
News!! 🎉🎉🎉 We've officially re-launched our newsletter! Our first post is a "starter pack"—a brief orientation for newcomers to the show, with suggested episodes on different themes. Feel free to make alternate suggestions in the comments! manymindspodcast.substack.com/p/many-minds...
manymindspodcast.substack.com
Many Minds podcast: A starter pack
A guide for new listeners
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