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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈

@raccoonologist.bsky.social
2.6K followers 2.5K following 1.1K posts

Postdoc in Vienna specializing in tooling and object manipulation research 🦜🐒🦝 Urban wildlife nerd & bin animal aficionado. She/her. Manages @asab.org @araa.at @behaviour2027.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I heard angry Sulphur-crested Cockatoos overhead and found them yelling at a Grey Goshawk! #birds
Photo of three birds against a bright blue sky, backlit by the late afternoon sun. Two birds are Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (large white parrots with yellow crests and yellow underwings), and one is a Grey Goshawk (a grey and brown hawk with what appears to be a broader wingspan than the cockatoos).

Not pictured: At least 5 other cockatoos, also pursuing and yelling at the goshawk.Photo of the grey goshawk with its underside lit by the low sun. It is grey and brown with orange feet and red eyes.As before but a side view with the goshawk's wings on the downbeat, also lit by the sun.Wider angle photo showing the Goshawk and four cockatoos. Their sizes are not dissimilar, which is saying something if you've ever met a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
David C. Simon @davidcsimon.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo trying (and failing) to break into our neighbour's jacaranda seed pods. #birds
Photo of a large white cockatoo with a yellow crest in a bare-limbed jacaranda tree (save for a few buds of new growth). It is holding a large seedpod in one foot and biting its edge. The pod looks like a wooden poppadom. The cockatoo looks eager to taste what lies within.Same subject, cropped to the face. The cockatoo continues to try to break into the seed pod, but now looks frustrated.
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Don’t know if any of you are @theskepticsguide.bsky.social fans, but I’m really hoping that Julia is guesting on the podcast because theyre considering making her a rogue. It’d be so cool if the podcast carried on to the next Novella generation… !
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
Dermot Lynott @dermotlynott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Me: I need to keep this computational environment stable for reproducibility purposes, so I'm just going to switch off automatic system updates for now IT Services:
The fuck you are
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Every blue moon I wonder what the cockatoo folks are up to at the moment in Hong Kong. The answer: pretty cool stuff !
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Behaviour 2027 @behaviour2027.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Should we let you in on a sneak preview? Join us for #Behaviour2027 in Vienna, Austria, August 23-27 ✨ Follow us to keep up to date and check out our website behaviour2027.eventsairsite.com
“Pssst Want a sneak peek of Behaviour 2027" photo of a conspiring looking Galapgos marine iguana
XXXIX International Ethological Congress – Behaviour 2027
Vienna, Austria 23-27 August 2027
SundayAfternoon: Check-in / Registration
Social Events (TBD)
Monday (Standard Schedule)
09:00-10:00: Plenary 1 - Martin Wikelski
10:00-10:30: Coffee Break and late check in
 10:30-12:30: Parallel talks 
12:30-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Plenary 2 - Ellen Garland
15:00-15:30: Coffee Break
15:30-17:30: Parallel Talks 
17:30-19:00: Social Events (TBD)
 
Tuesday (Standard Schedule)
09:00-10:00: Plenary 3 - Maydianne Andrade
10:00-10:30: Coffee Break 
 10:30-12:30: Parallel talks 
12:30-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Plenary 4 - Marcelo-Araya Salas
15:00-15:30: Coffee Break
15:30-17:30: Parallel Talks 
17:30-19:00: Poster Session 1
Evening: Social event (TBD)


Wednesday (Workshops/Excursions + Afternoon)
Morning: Workshops/Excursions
14:00-15:00: Plenary 5 - Peter Apell
15:00-15:30: Coffee Break
15:30-17:30: Parallel talks
17:30-19:00: Poster Session 2
Evening: Social event (TBD)
 
Thursday  (Standard Schedule)
09:00-10:00: Plenary 6 — Patricia Brennan
 
10:00-10:30: Coffee Break
10:30- 12:30: Parallel Talks
12:30-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Plenary 7 - Culum Brown
15:00-15:30: Coffee Break
15:30-17:30: Parallel talks
18:30-22:00: Conference Dinner
 
 
Friday (Closing Day)
10:30-12:30: Parallel Symposia
12:30-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Plenary 8 - Alice Auersperg
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-17:30: Conference Wrap-up & Award Announcements
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Bon Hanson @bonhanson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Not your typical 'cat stuck in a tree' call. A baby bobcat got stuck on the top of a power pole in Kelowna. He waited until the rescue man reached him in the lift and said, "No thanks, I got it," and shimmied down himself. 😂🤣 www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
ctvnews.ca
Baby bobcat stuck on Kelowna utility pole prompts rescue effort
Around midday Friday, the Okanagan Humane Society received a call from witnesses and a foster volunteer, who said a baby bobcat was stuck up a utility pole on Mayfair Road in Kelowna’s Rutland neighbo...
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Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
never the wrong time for this classic
Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?" 
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is Huckleberry, an animal ambassador at the Nashville Zoo. Huckleberry is a Javan ferret-badger (Melogale orientalis) & I think he is amazing, but you need to meet the rest of the ferret-badger crew (babies incoming 😃). Let's learn about ferret-badgers!
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Dr Space Junk (Alice Gorman) @drspacejunk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The first time I saw a bottle of clamato juice on a Canadian supermarket shelf I felt like the world had glitched
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Canadians: “Hear me out, what if we made a Bloody Mary…” World: “Yes?” Canadians: “… but we add clamato juice…” World: “Sorry, tomato uhhh… clam… juice?” Canadians: “… and we call it a Caesar so it sounds exotic” 😁 World: “Yeah, so, uh what was that about clams again???” 🥴
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Just a couple of a postdocs working on papers in the graveyard. PI called, tried to make her guess where we were.
Jen and Theresa on a bench in the zentralfriedhof graveyard in Vienna
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
Mike Keesey @tmkeesey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
PhyloPic is having an October fundraiser. The goal is to raise enough money to cover web hosting for the past six months. Please share the link, and chip in a bit if you can! www.phylopic.org
phylopic.org
PhyloPic
PhyloPic is an open database of free silhouette images of animals, plants, and other life forms, available for reuse under Creative Commons licenses. Download silhouettes for use in educational materi...
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This was my first PhD experiment…. I learned a lot about how not to design an apparatus 😂 Sometimes you can take the “comparative” part of cognition too literally …
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I’m not fancy, but I’m feeling awfully fancy with my new scientist access card for the Austrian National Library 😎
Hand with a card reading “Jahreskarte
Wissenschaft
Osterreichische
Nationalbibliothek”Jen wearing a ball cap and headphones in front of a fancy building with statues and columns and a stone lion
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My home province man. Bleak. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Crows are being given naloxone after suspected drug overdoses in Prince George | CBC News
The increased toxicity of the illicit drug supply has prompted public warnings in the north-central B.C. city.
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Brendan Barrett @bjjbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I am part of a team guest editing a special issue of the American Journal of Primatology on "Digitization and use of legacy datasets in primatology” and we are seeking out submissions due on 1 September 2027. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...
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Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
📣🎓 Open #PhD Position (3.5 years) 🎓📣 Want to come work with me on culture and social bonds in apes? 🐵 Apply to join my new group in the @livingingroups.bsky.social at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social. Full job posting: imprs-qbee.mpg.de/131133/cultu... Deadline 📅 23 October 2026 Please share widely!
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Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Why care about weird animal behaviors? Just out as an advanced publication, my contribution to the next Frans de Waal special issue in Behaviour @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Unusual behaviors are a recurring theme in my career, and I much enjoyed writing this perspective! doi.org/10.1163/1568...
doi.org
The science of the unusual: how rare observations reveal the diversity of animal behaviour
Abstract Behavioural biology often focuses on identifying general patterns, yet unusual or rare behaviours at both the population and individual level can provide insight into animal behaviour. Here, ...
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
What I love about living in Vienna is that it’s just chock-full of gothic, Greek and Neoclassical revival stuff, just statuary and columns everywhere, then out of nowhere BAM there’s things like the Spittelau Incinerator
An incinerator at dusk with uneven shapes, mosaic tiles, onion domes, vibrant colors, and trees
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Bibiana Rojas @biobiiana.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This year has been very challenging for our research on #firesalamanders due to the very dry spring we experienced 😢 That’s why we celebrate every drop of rain 🙏🏼🌧️ Nothing like seeing this beauties out again! 😍 🟡⚫️🦎⚫️🟡 @klivvvienna.bsky.social
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Jessie🦇 @atropius.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I caught the cutest thing ever on the Katmai bear cams
A photo of a large brown bear, taken from behind, laying on the ground with her back legs splayed out. Her two cubs are laying against her right side, both using her butt as a pillow. They're laying next to a river
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Fun thing about Joelle and I being the babies of the family is that THREE of our Gen X siblings are currently going through divorces 🥴
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Behaviour 2027 @behaviour2027.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Spread the word! Behaviour 2027 will be taking place in Vienna, Austria, from August 23-27.
Galapagos short-eared owl with text "Who is excited about behaviour 2027? Join us in Vienna August 23-27"
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
ARAA @araa.at · 24/09/2026
#HotOffThePress 🔥🖊️ “Body awareness in Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana)” 🦜 Sept 2026. Scientific Reports. P. Hundegger, R. Folkertsma, @drracheldale.bsky.social, @auersperga.bsky.social & @biotay.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
Body awareness in Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Body awareness in Goffin’s cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana)
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It’s that time of the year again.
A tractor bucket full of pumpkins
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Do you hate academic reading and writing? Do you hate them so much that you’ll buy an app to turn them into tiktoks and slop for you? Try this one simple trick: Do something else
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I love watching mullet review because I find it super interesting how Chinese food varies regionally (btw Indian Chinese food is 🔥😍) I still wasn’t prepared for how ubiquitous mac & cheese, pizza, and mayo oysters were in buffets in the US south 🤔 The “is it mayo or is it cheese game” has me 💀
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Kākāpō numbers pass 300 for the first time in 75 years. New Zealand’s flightless, nocturnal parrot now totals 325 birds, after a record 90 chicks fledged this season, built on the Department of Conservation’s recovery programme, which started with just 51 birds in 1995. DOC buff.ly/7YIOBd9
doc.govt.nz
Kākāpō population reaches new milestone
The official population of the critically endangered kākāpō has reached a recovery-era high of 325 birds.
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
Premee Mohamed @premeemohamed.com · 17/09/2026
Seems fine? Very normal ratio of crocodile to athlete??
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 14/09/2026
thinking about this tweet again, and the fact that it's got such a hold on me that I genuinely think about it whenever I write a feature because I don't want to do "the hot dog thing"
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ARAA @araa.at · 14/09/2026
Very lovely view at the top of Dunkel Stein! We had a picnic and signed the guest book. Safe to say the first ever Goffin camping trip was a success 🥰
Folks walking on a grassy trail into the trees from behind. Martina is striking a poseA group of smiling folks in front a valley view. Jen has a walking stick and Lona and Martina are holding paper cranes Group of folks smiling at a picnic table with a checkered picnic basket in the woods Louise signing a guest book in front of Jen by a box, Eva is sneaking to half pop up behind the box
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Andrew Iwaniuk @evoneuro.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Fellow academics, if someone is providing feedback on your grant, there is an expectation of a thank you. At some point. Increasingly, I spend hours working on someone else's stuff and never hear anything back. If I wanted that kind of relationship I would talk to senior admin more. #academicsky
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Tay (Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró) @biotay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
1/3 Raccoon toys Researchers have documented two young pygmy raccoon sisters that soaked pieces of paper in water and shaped them into balls to play with. Across 14 documented attempts, they successfully produced 8 balls (Cozumel, Mexico) (paper) www.mdpi.com/3042-4526/3/...
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Tay (Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró) @biotay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
1/9 Not attacks This study brings together evidence suggesting that Iberian killer whales are not aggressively attacking boats. What is happening seems far more complex, and closer to a cultural tradition of play. (paper) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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ARAA @araa.at · 13/09/2026
For our hike up to Dunkel Stein 🪨, the campers had the “tool trail” to solve (20 pictures of tools - had to guess which species used which and for what 🛠️) Extra points for each origami crane they found on the path!🏅 Kudos to @zewaldj.bsky.social who made it and got up super early to set it up!🙏😮‍💨
Folks gathered around trees with signs on them writing on paper Kiwi pointing to a crane, Lona holding a small frog and Thibault picking up a crane from a stump
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The Goffin lab camping trip brought out the full Canadian in @labellejoel.bsky.social and me haha 🇨🇦
Joelle posing in front of the fire with an axe Jen in a cowboy hat and western fleece with a guitar in front of the fire beside Louise
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ARAA @araa.at · 12/09/2026
Very successful visit to the Goffin lab: the birds were met, the birds were pet, then showed off how clever (and mischievous) they can be
Group of smiling folks in front of the aviary, little white goffins cockatoos are watching from the other sideFolks watching a demo in the aviary, there is a bird on a table approaching a puzzle box and two scientists watching
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ARAA @araa.at · 12/09/2026
It was a cozy fit getting everyone into the office at the Goffin lab HQ but we managed for some fantastic talks by @theroesa.bsky.social 🐦 @thibhly.bsky.social 🐊 and Lona Lalić 🥰
A crowd of people in an old fashioned room, photos of Theresa, Thibault and and Lona on the floor by laptops and a big screen
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Dr Alex Evans 𓅫 @avianevans.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The latest episodes of @sebiology.bsky.social's Living Biology podcast are available now! In this two-part special, @rgleadow.bsky.social shares her research into the devastating impacts of plant-produced cyanide on agriculture and human health. I will never look at cassava the same way again.
open.spotify.com
A Different Path to Plant Science – with Ros Gleadow (Part 1)
Living Biology · Episode
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As both an academic and a writer, I am repelled by the "this looks like a long document. Would you like me to summarize it for you?" that seems to appear at the top of every pdf viewer now. NO. The *entire point* of good writing (either books or journal papers) is that every sentence has a purpose.
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I’m mutuals with quite a few folks in the writing world. What’s the general feeling about L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future?
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ARAA @araa.at · 09/09/2026
So proud that two of our ARAA folk won awards at #ECBB2026! 🤩🥰 Congrats to @annaek.bsky.social and @awanib.bsky.social 🙌
Anna in front of the stage holding an award from Jacob DunnAwani in front of the stage holding an award from Jacob Dunn
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Deepali Kank @deepalikank.in · 09/09/2026
#TidyTuesday week 36 - The Cappuccino Index #DataViz #Rstats
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Sue @cameratrapsue.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
This happy looking raccoon would like to wish you a good rest of the week. #mammals
A black and white night photo showing part of my garden with small landscaping rocks in the foreground, plants shrubs and flowers in the middle and background. A raccoon is sitting in the center of the frame, looking towards the camera with its mouth open, its face looks as though it could be smiling and its eyes look happy, it is indeed very friend shaped. We can see its black face mask and nose, white whiskers and little, raccoon ears. Its tail is only just visible with only a hint of black at the end.
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Since we’re renaming things anyways… victoriabuzz.com/2026/09/dona...
victoriabuzz.com
‘Donald J. Trump Memorial’ sign appears above Victoria public washroom
A strange little mystery is unfolding along Victoria’s Galloping Goose Regional Trail.Someone has apparently dedicated a public toilet near the Selkirk Trestle to the US president.
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Susana Monsó @susanamonso.com · 07/09/2026
Interested in doing a PhD in philosophy of animal minds in lovely Murcia? We have just published a call for expressions of interest to do a PhD as part of our research project on ecological validity in comparative cognitive science. Please consider applying if this is up your street!
ecologicalvalidity.wordpress.com
Call for expressions of interest: PhD position
The Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation is about to publish a call for pre-doctoral scholarships (FPI) adhered to scientific projects that have been approved for funding in 2026. We invite …
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Reposted by Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈
Altmetric @altmetric.com · 08/09/2026
Update: The academic flight from Twitter is now complete and appears permanent. April 2023, after the pandemic research surge, we recorded 2,234,307 posts sharing research on Twitter. As of April this year, "X" had 896,741 posts about research. That's a 60% drop in traffic.
Graph showing cumulative research sharing across platforms, including Twitter - April 2023Graph of April 2026 cumulative research sharing including "X". One third of what it was.
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
One of the best parts of working for ASAB is that @sophiadaoudi.bsky.social does my hair for me each day of the conferences. As you can see, she’s a braiding genius 🤩
Sophia and Jen smiling in front of a Cambridge uni building. Several shots of Jen with intricately braided hair with her side shave
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Dr Jen Colbourne 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @raccoonologist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
In German class, we learned so much email etiquette - specific greetings/sign-offs for strangers, folks you work with, folks you know well... Meanwhile I'm receiving one line emails out of the blue from HR that are just "Frau Colbourne you must URGENTLY send your right-to-work NOW" (in German) lol
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