iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Leonie Mercedes

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

So what is a #Supermoon? Well, the Moon is typically ~¼ million miles away (30 Earths in a row), but thanks to its elliptical orbit, that distance changes. Tonight the Full Moon is 2-Earths closer than normal (221,823 miles away), making it appear ~15% brighter than usual hence #Supermoon! 🔭🧪

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Your regular reminder to rinse and give your cavolo nero a little shake before you cook it, in case it’s harbouring one of these @royentsoc.bsky.social, what is this guy?

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Was delighted to discover this titbit about Tom Lehrer, the mathematician who put the chemical elements to music: (Original article here: www.economist.com/prospero/201...)

A screenshotted part of an article that reads: When 2 Chainz, a rapper, asked to sample “The Old Dope Peddler” in one of his tracks, Mr Lehrer was keen to help. “I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this,” he supposedly answered. “Please give my regards to Mr Chainz, or may I call him 2?”

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

Asian elephants work out we’re paying attention to them by observing how our face and body are oriented: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #scicomm 🧪

Two images sit side by side: one shows a TV screen with the word “Netflix” on it with a male viewer in the foreground and a brick wall in the background, while the other shows an advancing Asian elephant with vegetation in the background. Each has the caption: “big, long memory, knows when you’re watching”.

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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Oh dang. This is an excellent analogy.

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Vagina Museum @vaginamuseum.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Big congratulations to Chunk for taking the crown as this year's #FatBearWeek winner! Today feels like as good a day as any to tell you all about a little trick that bears have to ensure pregnancy takes place during OPTIMAL FATNESS.

A very fat bear standing in a river. He is brown and furry, with a broken jaw which makes his tongue stick out.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

I fell hard for diamonds reporting this feature for #Ingenia – did you know they could play a role in destroying forever chemicals, diagnosing infectious diseases, and making our data centres less energy-hungry? It's all here: www.ingenia.org.uk/articles/not... #chemsky #materialsscience 🧪

ingenia.org.uk

Not just a pretty face: lab-grown diamonds in engineering

Diamond is an incredibly versatile material that can help us solve some of our biggest problems – from diagnosing diseases earlier to making the electronics underpinning data centres more efficient. L...

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Reposted by Leonie Mercedes

Dr. Laci Brock 🪐 @stellerarts.com · 30/09/2025

Sometimes your ideas fail, and other times they turn out better than expected! #sciart

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

#OTD 19 September 1991, walkers in the high Ötztal alps on the Italian border, found a body melting out of the ice. It turned out to be the remains of a c.5200 year old man preserved with all his kit. Of course, it was essential to replicate him in Playmobil. 1🧵 #PlaymobilÖtzi #PlaymobilInfestation

Playmobil figure kitted out as prehistoric iceman Ötzi.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

This week's newsletter lands in about 5 minutes! This week's edition features: ✂️ A couple of Galileo's severed fingers 📐 That time trigonometry saved farmers' bacon 🌿 The scientific reason why those who like coriander are wrong Subscribe here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/subscribe #science 🧪

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Puzzmo @puzzmo.com · 15/09/2025

If a group of crows is called a murder then a group of bird watchers should be called an investigation.

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Leah @leah.myatproto.social · 23/08/2025

The only dating advice book published in the invertebrate world is "How to win friends and protect your sperm during mating" Tips and life hacks: Give her a tasty protein tubule for snack Surrender your own flesh to her gaping maw Do a sexy dance 🧪🦗

media.tenor.com

a close up of a jumping spider with the website lawebloca.net in the corner

Alt: a close up of a peacock spider waving its paws

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Dr Dan Jones @hookean.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

I didn't realise that there was a precursor to Powers of Ten, made in Canada and called Cosmic Zoom 🙂 #PhysicsEd #iTeachPhysics #Science 🧪 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgfw...

Reposted by Leonie Mercedes

Shanil Virani @shanilv.ca · 12/08/2025

💫 Who taught us that the calcium in our bones and the iron in our blood were born in stars — and then fought to open observatories to women? Born #OTD in 1919, Eleanor Margaret Burbidge changed both science and who gets to do it. 🔭🧪 #Astronomy #WomenInScience

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

#Onthisday in 1888, Bertha Benz took the first ever long-distance car journey. She solved snags as they arose, using a hat pin to clear a blockage, and replacing the brake blocks with leather, effectively inventing brake pads. More here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/live-from-... #histsci

A crudely assembled image of an old motor car, which looks like little more than two bicycles with a seat in the middle, upon a background of a rolling German countryside with different trees. In the foreground is an autobahn sign along with another sign that reads “Nope no autobahn yet. Come back in 40+ years. Danke.”

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Reposted by Leonie Mercedes

CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 05/08/2025

Hahaha! This preprint! 🔭🧪 Chance of event happening to you or the planet, and if so, chance it will be lethal? Turns out .... we are more likely to be hit by an impactor 140m and greater than: - being struck by lightning - getting killed by elephants and coyotes arxiv.org/abs/2508.02418

Plot that shows a one-in-X chance of an event occuring to someone or the planet over a human lifetime on x-axis and then the one in X chance of a fatality if that event occurs. Several events are plotted such as contracting rabies, influenze, being hit by a car, being attacked by a coyote or elephant, being struck by lighting, carbon monoxide poisinging and the Earth being struck by an impactor greater than 140m in diameter

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Need to go to bed but can’t tear myself away from this stream, live from 3,623m under the sea. Watch this research team 🧪 searching for various invertebrates who call the seafloor home: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uL0...

youtube.com

Lance 36 Mar Del Plata Canyon | SOI Divestream 820 Part 2

YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

The teaser from last week's newsletter. Get the answer here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/neurotic-r...

The following text on a purple background: Under what system does mathematics = DX, logic = CLX, and medicine = DCX?

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

A delicious piece of #scicomm that just makes me want to go out and learn everything about bats

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

In this week's newsletter, why some astronomers thought there were canals on Mars as late as the 1950s: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/neurotic-r... #histsci #mars

Crudely assembled image of a magnifying glass hovering over the planet Mars showing a Venetian vista complete with canals and gondolas through the lens

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Joseph W. BRRRAAAIIINNNSSS @josephwb.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

I am sorry to report to all vying for the title, but the "Best Article Subtitle" award for 2025 has been snatched early by Lauren Wolf with their subtitle "Arsenic and old lakes" www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪

nature.com

Controversial ‘arsenic life’ paper retracted after 15 years — but authors fight back

The journal Science retracts a headline-grabbing study, but the authors vigorously defend their data and say the retraction is unwarranted.

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Dr Jamie Gallagher @jamiebgall.co.uk · 27/07/2025

Buffy is so old there were only 103 named elements, we’re at 118 now. (Yes I pause every show that has a periodic table to see if its period accurate)

Photo of a tv. Onscreen a woman holds an axe with a periodic table visible behind.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

In 1955, a researcher flew bees from a lab in Paris to an identical lab in New York to test their sense of time. Find out what happened when they arrived: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/space-rice... #histsci #bees #scienceexperiments

A crudely assembled image of nine flying bees in the foreground, each with a tiny yellow alarm clock hovering over its head, and an out-of-focus New York skyline in the background

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Dr Jasmine Janes @jazjanes.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Found this slug having a good munch on this puffball mushroom yesterday. 🍄🧪

A big black slug has eaten its way inside a puffball mushroom.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Here’s the brainteaser from last week’s newsletter. It was teamed with the 1930 Times #crossword clue: Sounds like a curious song (6) Answer here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/dog-tv-dri...

The following text, on a purple background: "A 1969 song soundtracked the first music video shot in space. What is the second word in its title?"

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Here's a little brainteaser from the newsletter archive. Find the answer here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/cosplaying...

White text on a deep purple background, reading: "What vehicle, unveiled in 1976, would have been named "Constitution" if it weren't for a campaign by Star Trek fans?"

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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 02/07/2025

Well this is fun. The Met Office are taking suggestions for new storm names. Sure would be a shame if we named them BigOil, BP, Equinor, Exxon, and Shell 👀 www.metoffice.gov.uk/forms/name-o...

metoffice.gov.uk

Name our Storms

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Hurrah to @timharford.ft.com & the BBC R4 More or Less team who have set the record straight on the erroneous report that the Rubin Observatory can resolve a golf ball on the moon 🧐 Rubin is absolutely awesome, but there is the atmosphere, light diffraction..... 🔭🧪 📻: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Fellow sweaty people: if you're feeling jetlag-levels of knackered this morning, *hit the electrolytes*. Caffeine ain't gonna do it

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Nerds! If you like science talks and lectures, but don't like going outside, good news! I've found 38 – yes, 38 – science talks you can stream into your shady abode this week. Stay seated: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/aha-moment...

kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com

Aha! moments, bear dentistry, and a stuck Mars rover

Plus 38 (yes, 38) talks and lectures on space, birds, games, and much, much more

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Andre the Chemist @andrechemist.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? Water is such a weird substance. Just absolutely bizarre. It's used as a standard or reference point for so much because it's so ubiquitous, but it's very different than pretty much every other liquid and every molecule of similar size.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

In this week's newsletter: 🧭 how to find a "Manhattanhenge" near you 🍪 what biscuit can take a 30-second dunk 🏓 ping-pong playing pigeons Get it here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/tough-cook...

kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com

Tough cookies, animal culture, and pigeons playing ping-pong

Plus 16 talks and lectures on stars, gender, volcanoes, beer and more

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Reposted by Leonie Mercedes

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 13/06/2025

This is a solar eclipse. Seen from the surface of Mars by the Perseverance rover in 2022. That moon is the little space potato Phobos. And you can even see sunspots!

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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

hello can I help you fellows

a bunch of huge bugs outside of a doorway

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

This week's newsletter goes live soon! Inside this week's edition: 🐴 how to dress up a horse being bothered by flies 🌕 why the Moon will likely look massive this week 🖖 why a US president yielded to the demands of Star Trek fans. Subscribe here thank you: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/subscribe

kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com

Science, Please

Free science talks, urban astronomy and nature delivered every Friday

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Reposted by Leonie Mercedes

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 22/05/2025

Found a baby songbird? Here's a newly updated chart!

A chart that explains what to do If You Find A Baby Songbird Out Of The Nest. Is it hurt or did a cat get it? (Cat bites & scratches cause deadly infections.) or, Has a person kept it for over a day, given it food or water, or gotten it wet? If yes, Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator
or wildlife care center near you. An online search can help. If no, what does it look like? Eyes not yet open. You have a hatchling. It's very young. Eyes open; feathers few & may be in tube-like sheaths. You have a nestling. Feathered; awkwardly hops or flutters; tail & wings short. You have a fledgling. Many sharp teeth; large claw on second toe. You have a velociraptor. If a hatchling or nestling, can you see the nest? If yes, Return it to its nest. The parents won’t care if they can smell you. If no, Make a nest from a basket & dried grass. Wire it to a tree. (Note: A few species, like Juncos, need a nest on the ground.) If a fledgling, is it in immediate danger? If yes, carefully move it to a safer spot nearby. If no, DO NOT INTERVENE! Though the bird looks awkward, it’s in a natural stage & the parents are still feeding it. If a velociraptor, has it seen you? If yes, back away slowly. Do not show fear. If no, run. Watch for others that may attack from the sides. FYI: Some babies (eg. swifts, most woodpeckers) only sit on the ground if in trouble. When in doubt, keep watch & contact a wildlife rehabilitator if needed!

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Radiotelescoop Dwingeloo @radiotelescoop.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

On the occasion of the @unesco.org International Day of Light, we created a 'light painting' using the Dwingeloo Telescope by mounting a light bulb at the focus for half an hour. #lightday2025 @idlofficial.bsky.social

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

If you like science and fun and nice things, check out my newsletter! In the latest one, discover: 🐶 how looking at cute things could make us better surgeons (maybe) 🤩 a shiny surprise in the sky for early risers 🪲 what flesh-eating beetles and making breakfast have in common.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Discover… 🦄 how a “unicorn” was made on a farm in 1936 ✈️ the 10-month, 15,000-mile journey of a swift compressed into 48 seconds 🍫 the median survival time of a chocolate on a hospital ward... …in this week’s newsletter, now live! Find it here: kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/unicorns-q...

A black cow with a fake green horn turns toward the camera from the left, in front of about a dozen cows in the background, a Maine farm with farmhouse and wind turbines in the distance.

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Hend Amry @libyaliberty.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Yup. And I tell my kids this. Those who actually learn to write will have a comparatively huge advantage over ChatGPT educations-because learning how to be a good writer isn’t just about the text produced. Writing teaches a host of critical skills needed across all fields and in your personal life.

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Sarah Cosgriff 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇭 @acescicomm.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

🌟 Open for bookings for Pride Month! 🌟 (please repost) Are you looking for a LGBT+ speaker to help you mark Pride Month? I am an asexual activist who gives engaging talks about asexuality, a lesser known sexual orientation which describes people who experience little to no sexual attraction.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

This week's newsletter is now live! so if you always wanted to know: 🍍 how much it cost to grow a pineapple in England in 1764 ⚓ what a tattooed tardigrade looks like 🦘 whether a cat flea or dog flea would win in a long jump competition… come say hello! kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/cockney-ma...

kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com

Cockney mammoths, sky triangles, and a flea face-off

Dive into a quirky scientific exploration of pineapple economics, tattooed tardigrades, flea competitions, and surprising food taste changes in this eclectic science newsletter.

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Leonie Mercedes @leoniemercedes.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

This week's newsletter is now live! If you've always wanted to know: 🤔 The half-life of break room teaspoons 🚌 The fate of NASA's 1962 "Moon Bus" 🐦‍⬛ What birds are tweeting about in the dawn chorus... ...take a look! (Or even better, subscribe!) kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com/p/a-bus-to-t...

kicksfromscience.beehiiv.com

A bus to the Moon, disappearing spoons, and birds on the pull

Plus 8 talks and lectures on biotech, dinosaur meat, and Star Wars

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The Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...

A light blue diagram depicting the sea, with the water's surface at the top, and just below it is an outline of the Mary Rose, with the depth (12m, 40ft or 6.7 fathoms). There is a line showing the seabed, which takes a rapid dive into the vertical...

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