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Nick Evershed!?

@nickevershed.bsky.social
11K followers 1.6K following 1.7K posts

Data and interactives ed. at the Guardian Aus dataviz, music, investigative journalism, programming etc work: nick.evershed@theguardian.com tip-offs: nick.evershed@protonmail.com latest: www.theguardian.com/profile/nick-ev…

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Reposted by Nick Evershed!?
Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 21h
My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com
Title: Just announced! Three new Gruffalo books commissioned from bestselling authors!

Lee Chilld:
The Gruffalo just wants a quiet life, but when a crime syndicate moves into the deep dark wood, he must use his terrible claws and the terrible teeth in his terrible jaws to protect the fellow.

Sally Rooney:
The Gruffalo moves to contemporary Dublin. He  
ill ever see past his orange eyes, purple prickles and poisonous wart.

Kazuo Ishiguro:
After a long absence, the gruffalo returns to the forest and attempts to make sense of his past. Encounters with a mouse, a fox, an owl and a snake uncover long-buried memories, regrets and revelations.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A timeline of One Nation’s instability: more than half of Hanson’s MPs have quit or been expelled. As party numbers swell to record levels, Guardian analysis reveals a three-decade history of tumult www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
pauline hanson's head surrounded by coloured dots showing the number of politicians who have quit the party, lost at election, or remain as incumbents
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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
yes my bull went rogue in your china shop but I think we can all agree there’s no liability here it’s an agentic being
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Karen Geier @karengeier.com · 25/09/2026
when i've gotta scratch my grond
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon. many more here: www.newscientist.com/author/tom-gauld/
Image: A graph with lots of red dots clustered together in a curve. The are all looking upwards at a single red dot wearing sunglasses. 

Caption: Mike was an outlier and would probably be excluded from the study, but all the other data points secretly thought he was really cool.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I can't articulate how I feel about this 4corners ep without getting into defo territory, but look to single out cars from china is problematic to say the least www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Asleep at the Wheel
Four Corners is the home of Australian investigative journalism.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Huge El Niño projected to cause more than 450,000 deaths by February www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Map showing forecast additional heat-related deaths in Sep 2026 to Feb 2027 compared to 1996-2025, the worst countries affected are Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Sudan and Brazil
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ok stupid question for econ people - why does the PBO assume consumers will switch to legal ciggies even if the price for legal ciggies comes down? won't the black market just lower prices in response?
The PBO’s modelling of the package, including an 80 per cent excise reduction, estimates the Budget balance would improve by around $8 billion over the first four years (roughly doubling excise revenue) and more than $20 billion over a decade. 

The PBO found that smaller excise cuts leave too large a gap between legal and illegal prices to substantially change buying behaviour. 

At an 80 per cent reduction, that price gap is dramatically narrowed, shifting sales from the black market back into legal businesses.
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phil @philjamesson.com · 20/09/2026
when i start ruminating on the boxed cereals which destroyed my memory, nothing can help me sleep. not even getting in full military regalia
image of a woman in bed wearing military regalia with several bars and medals pinned to her lapel
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Turns out the "AI will cause a catastrophe" crowd are right, but not because of self-improving superintelligent machines, but because people keep using it for incredibly stupid things jfc edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
edition.cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
The episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 17/09/2026
“A senior executive at Microsoft said A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as ‘an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions’ and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”
orlandosentinel.com
Docs in A.I. copyright suit reveal startling admission by Microsoft exec over ‘astonishing theft’
The admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel and tech companies Microsoft and OpenAI...
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Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Obvious, but still worth reading. #BigDumbUtes
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sephirAmy @sephiramy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
how about some good news: new cat just dropped!!!!
a photo of a small, spotted wild cat, with orange fur and brown circular markings, staring up with big golden eyes.Meet the First New Cat Species Discovered in 100 Years

A small, spotted tiger cat from Bolivia may just be the beginning of a wave of new small cat species.

This 10-year-old male tiger cat is the first of his species (named Leopardus tilcayo) known to science. He is approximately 18 inches from head to end of body and weighs only 3 pounds, making him smaller than the average domestic cat. This video was captured at the Senda Verde Animal Refuge in Bolivia’s Yungas region, where he currently resides.
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CosmicRami 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @rami.spaceaustralia.com · 18/09/2026
I'm finally so excited to share this! My second PhD paper, and what I've spent the last year working on ... We've discovered not one, BUT TWO, profile change events on the closest and brightest millisecond pulsar (MSP) to Earth! www.spaceaustralia.com/feature/disc... Let's jump ito a 🧵👇 🔭📡
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
look I know this is a fool's errand, but I'm trying to wrap my head around how One Nation could achieve negative NoM with the visa cuts they detailed, and I still get a positive figure any way I slice it (assuming all else stats the same)... 🤷‍♂️
table of one nations proposed visa changes
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The dominance of AI is not inevitable. We can choose to change things for the better! In other words: you're right to push back www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The dominance of AI is not inevitable. We can choose to change things for the better | Nick Evershed
Countries have come together before to make international agreements in the face of existential threats
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
happy slow horses day to all those that celebrate
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
everything is protein now
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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 16/09/2026
Alice Springs heavy metal music venue raises $1m in donations in fight to stay open
theguardian.com
Alice Springs heavy metal music venue raises $1m in donations in fight to stay open
Supporters from around Australia back the Black Wreath, a volunteer-run centre far off the beaten touring track Alice Springs has a population of 34,000 and exactly one dedicated live music space: a heavy metal venue called the Black Wreath. It has hosted hundreds of bands from around the country over the past decade – despite being 1,500km from the nearest city. For musicians in central Australia, the Black Wreath is a one-of-a-kind resource. So when its operators were informed last year of the owners’ plans to sell, they negotiated a stay of execution and began devising a fundraiser that could save the desert venue. A month-long crowdfunding campaign, which called for donations that would let the team behind the Black Wreath buy the venue and place it in a trust, hit its $1m target on Friday. Continue reading...
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beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Three panel comic. Panel 1: a man is standing in front of an older gentleman walking his dog in the park. The man, making a friendly gesture towards the little white dog, asks, “does he bite?” The older man replies, “no.” Panel 2: the little dog grabs the first man’s hand with his paw and gives the back of his hand a sensual smooch. Panel 3: the man pulls his hand back in disgust.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
it's kinda cool luthiers are still called luthiers even though they don't make lutes any more
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Margaret Morgan 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇦🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Muogamarra is unquestionably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. That Hawkesbury sandstone, dry sclerophyll forest environment is what I grew up with, and it's in my bones. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
This wildflower paradise is only open six weeks a year. As soon as I entered, my mind started to calm
There is something profoundly peaceful about witnessing the landscape as it used to be before western intervention
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I genuinely cannot understand this - if you think the company/industry you work for is careening towards creating an Existential Doom Machine, surely the sane response is to turn whistleblower and convince the media/gov of the risk in as much detail as possible?
Screenshot of a tweet from Drake Thomas saying: I would burn my equity to the ground in a heartbeat for a 1% higher chance we make it out of this situation alive. I expect a great many of my colleagues across the industry would as well. 

I promise you, we are actually just fucking scared, it's not galaxy brained marketing.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
aus parliament website seems to be on struggle street this morning? tgif!!!!
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Gerry Doyle @mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta Ran Hundreds of Ads Showing AI Child Sexual Abuse, NGO Says
Meta Platforms Inc. has run more than 300 advertisements on Instagram and Facebook containing suspected child sexual abuse material this year, according to a report Tuesday by the nonprofit Tech Trans...
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's extra infuriating these days to see stories of "[random person] arrested for AI CSAM" because they remind us of the absolutely-no-consequences-whatsoever that SpaceX and Meta will suffer for collecting revenue to generate and share the exact same thing.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
pretty wild account of the lead-up to OpenAI scooping research on maths prize problem from one of the academics who has been working on it for quite a while! cims.nyu.edu/~tristanb/st...
cims.nyu.edu
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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 07/09/2026
More here: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
The US now has access to more than half Australia’s military bases – could it drag the country unwillingly into war?
Exclusive: US-controlled weapons corporations and forces have control or access to more than 100 facilities across the continent, which some analysts describe as a ‘colonisation’ of Australia’s milita...
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Guardian Australia @australia.theguardian.com · 07/09/2026
Exclusive: US-controlled weapons corporations and forces have control or access to more than 100 facilities across the continent, which some analysts describe as a ‘colonisation’ of Australia’s military.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
party hat ass lookin map projection
it's the Collignon projection where the earth is a triangle
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
3 hikers who say they used AI to plan their trip were rescued after becoming stranded on California's Mount Shasta 'They were advised by Gemini to bring far less food and water than their group required,' the sheriff’s office said
abcnews.com
3 hikers who say they used AI to plan trip rescued after becoming stranded on Mount Shasta
Three hikers were rescued on Monday after they became stranded on Mount Shasta near Clear Creek Route.
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
this little bloke just casually wandered past me on the footpath
it's an echidna walking down the street like he owns the place
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
this is probably one of the most bewildering parts of the whole story - if you try and google these hallucinated references to see if they're real, often Google's AI summary will give you a summary as if it's a *real paper* making the whole issue worse
A graphic titled 'The cycle of misinformation: AI search summaries cite AI errors, making factchecking difficult'. Steps 1) AI is used, introducing a hallucinated journal article into an inquiry submission 2) The submission is published on the government website 3) The submission is indexed by search engines and AI crawlers 4) Searching the hallucinated reference may now show an AI summary as if it were a real study, sometimes citing the submission as a source
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
‘Scary’: how misinformation and AI hallucinations are infiltrating Australia’s parliament - Guardian analysis reveals that dozens of policy submissions from across the political spectrum incorrectly summarise real research and invent or wrongly cite sources www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
‘Scary’: how misinformation and AI hallucinations are infiltrating Australia’s parliament
Exclusive: Guardian analysis reveals that dozens of policy submissions from across the political spectrum incorrectly summarise real research and invent or wrongly cite sources
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
meirl
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ABC News Australia @news.abc.net.au · 27/08/2026
Twenty years on from Gardasil vaccine launch, Australia on track to eliminate cervical cancer
abc.net.au
Australia on track to eliminate cervical cancer 20 years on from vaccine launch
Twenty years on from the launch of the world-first vaccine against cervical cancer, Australian Immunisation Register data shows HPV vaccine coverage for girls and girls is dropping.
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aric @aghastronaut.com · 28/08/2026
The Good News: There's a cure for career burnout. The Bad News:
Wall Street Journal article titled The New Cure for Career Burnout: Clown School.

It pictures a large group of people with clown noses staring at the camera.
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Eloise Powers @elnopower.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Common Green Magpie A neon-colored, noisy, highly social bird of lowland and mid-altitude subtropical forests. It is found from the lower Himalayas in north eastern India in a broad south easterly band down into central Thailand, Malaysia, & Sumatra. 📸: @monakar.vishal
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I'm a bit sad over Dolly this morning because the world has lost an amazing musician and person, but also my god, what an amazing legacy. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Dolly Parton, country star, actor and philanthropist, dies aged 80 from cancer
Songwriter of I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5 also invested millions in child literacy, Covid-19 vaccine development and other causes
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CAMERON WILSON @cameronwilson.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
NEW: AI music is going to be banned from Australia's top music charts unless it can prove that it was "substantially human-made" This comes weeks after a song with AI vocals became Australia's most played song www.abc.net.au/news/...
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
more like tempafrost am I right 😢 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
The threatening thaw: climate professor on heatwave risks to tipping point of permafrost
Prof Gustaf Hugelius warns wildfires could accelerate release of methane and carbon as vast regions approach irreversible thresholds
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Children’s lungs grew bigger and stronger after the most polluting vehicles were restricted from entering London, a study has found. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Ulez led to better lung size and function among London children, study finds
Researchers find capacity stunted by pollution restored after introduction of ultra-low emission zone
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
google drive is down?!?! but all my stuff is there
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Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Morph.io needs your help! Are there any Ruby developers who could volunteer to help OpenAustralia with morph.io? www.linkedin.com/posts/ben-fa...
linkedin.com
#ruby #rubyonrails #civictech #opensource #australia | Ben Fairless
Writing this post was a bit embarassing, but I think it's important to know when to put your hand up and ask for help. Why is why I'm asking if there Ruby developers here who could help us with morph...
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Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
3M knew for more than 50 years that its products could harm humans, Australian government alleges in court documents www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
3M knew for more than 50 years that its products could harm humans, Australian government alleges in court documents
Exclusive: federal government court filings claim internal company documents included warnings about products being toxic
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Guardian analysis finds one section of age assurance technology trial report includes links to academic articles that do not exist, but authors deny the references were made up by AI. Story @joshtaylor.bsky.social and me www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears
Exclusive: 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
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Josh Taylor @joshtaylor.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
New: The authors of the age assurance tech trial report underpinning the social media ban have conceded ChatGPT was used in editing the report but denied citation errors discovered were due to AI hallucinations (w/ @nickevershed.bsky.social ) www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to contain AI hallucinations, Senate hears
Exclusive: 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
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Nick Evershed!? @nickevershed.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
hot take: melons are a garbage-tier fruit
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The Cathy Wilcox @cathywilcox.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Slop. My @smh @theage cartoon.
Single frame. Title - instruction: “[place cartoon here - ed]”. Appearance of yellow torn out lined note paper held in place by sticky tape. Text: “The Herald-Sun has this week published an AI cartoon, where previously they might have commissioned one of their (dwindling) stable of artists. And it makes sense. (Not the cartoon.) After all, what is a cartoon, but a picture with a caption and maybe some helpful labels to make a point? In this case, a point the editor who prompted it wanted to make.
I mean, how hard can cartooning be? We would all be doing them if it weren’t for our lack of drawing skill (and some cartoonists aren’t very skilled, let’s face it), and AI means nobody has to pay the outrageous fees that “artists” charge, while they can “borrow” their existing work to train AI. It’s literally a no-brainer!” (Small picture of a brain crossed out) “We can only hope they can keep up the quality, once the AI can only be trained using other AI cartoons.”
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