Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 31/07/2026roses are red, Bryan Johnson's latest teaser: 020
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 16/07/2026Big thanks to @tweetisaurus.bsky.social @profpaulbarrett.bsky.social and @stevebrusatte.bsky.social for talking me through the real cost of dinosaur auctions. $50 mil is just the surface of what's lost when fossils wind up in people's living rooms @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/50-million-d...iflscience.com$50 Million Dinosaur Sale Smashes Auction Record. Three Palaeontologists Told Us Why That’s Potentially Catastrophic For Science And Education“Dinosaurs like Gus belong in museums,” said Prof Steve Brusatte to IFLScience. 12610
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026a rather cursed one for #mushroommonday but can anyone tell me what sin grew inside this can of baked beans? #fungifriends 2201
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 01/05/2026thank goodness, this will really help all the people who can't afford food and energy 020
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Come for the #science behind Andy Weir's "Eridians" in #ProjectHailMary, stay for the part where he acts out how whales inspired the vocalizations they make. www.iflscience.com/project-hail... @iflscience.com @amazonmgmstudios.bsky.socialiflscience.comProject Hail Mary: Author Andy Weir On Creating Erid, Eridians, And The Curious Biology Of “Rocky”Plus why if astrophage were a thing, it would be up to the amateur astronomers to save us all. 001
Reposted by Rachael FunnellCethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 19/03/2026RIP the metaverse. Can't believe combining the worst parts of going to the office and the worst parts of working at home didn't make it. 18112
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 12/03/2026Forever amazed by the incredible stuff people get up to at museums to bring exhibits to life! Loved this chat with exhibition developer Ben Miller and scenting consultant Liam Findlay 🦖 000
Reposted by Rachael FunnellDr Alfredo Carpineti @drcarpineti.bsky.social · 28/01/2026Very surreal to see the book on sale on Bookshop and Waterstones. "When will you feel that it's real, Alfredo?" After the last two years and the drama with Unbound... maybe, when I have a physical copy? Or Never? 😅 uk.bookshop.org/p/books/invi...uk.bookshop.orgInvisible Rainbows: The Unseen Universe Beyond Our SensesThe Unseen Universe Beyond Our Senses 1293
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Can't believe I get to chat to people about their enormous pickled fish collections and call it work. Was such a pleasure chatting with @briansidlauskas.bsky.social about the Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute's fascinating haul (and history) - interview/podcast coming soon! 141
Reposted by Rachael FunnellJérôme OLLIER @jeromeollier.bsky.social · 15/01/2026"Globsters" Like The St Augustine Monster Have Been Washing Up For Centuries, But What Are They? - @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/globsters-li...iflscience.com"Globsters" Like The St Augustine Monster Have Been Washing Up For Centuries, But What Are They?The hairy mass was initially thought to be an enormous new species of octopus. 011
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 15/12/2025Ever watched Home Alone and thought "wow, wouldn't Harry and Marv just... die"? Me too, so I asked an intensive care doctor just how gravely injured we're talking "Two words: scrotal exploration" - www.iflscience.com/would-the-bu... @iflscience.comiflscience.comWouldn't The Burglars In "Home Alone" Have Died? We Asked An Intensive Care DoctorThe only thing more awkward than forgetting your kid? Finding him Home Alone with two corpses. 021
Reposted by Rachael FunnellTess Gallagher @tessasaurus.bsky.social · 10/12/2025Excited to announce that my second manuscript, “Fossilised Melanosomes Reveal Colour Patterning in A Sauropod Dinosaur” has been published in @royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26 5327135
Reposted by Rachael FunnellJérôme OLLIER @jeromeollier.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Why Do Cuttlefish Have Wavy Pupils? - @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/why-do-cuttl...iflscience.comCuttlefish Have Seriously Freaky Eyes. Why Are Their Pupils Shaped Like A "W"?Is it camouflage, or something more? 011
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 11/12/2025If an ancient scroll’s to be believed, a 110-year-old magician who sank 100 jars of beer daily once wowed a Pharaoh by bringing a decapitated goose back to life www.iflscience.com/does-this-an... @iflscience.comiflscience.comDoes This Ancient Egyptian Scroll Recount The World’s Oldest Magic Trick?The decapitated goose trick is as wild as it sounds. 140
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 10/12/2025In 1979, a pair of magicians infiltrated a study into the paranormal, using tricks to test the scientific rigor of the experiments in a hoax that lasted three years. www.iflscience.com/project-alph...iflscience.comProject Alpha: What Happened When Magicians Infiltrated Research Into The Paranormal?From ghosts appearing in photographs to a lot of bent spoons, things got pretty weird when the “Alpha Kids” crashed a study. 2348
Reposted by Rachael FunnellProject CETI @projectceti.bsky.social · 18/11/2025Thank you @iflscience.com and @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social for featuring our research! By: @begus.bsky.social, Ronald Sprouse, Andrej Leban, Miles Silva and Shane Gero. 062
Reposted by Rachael FunnellDr. Solomon David @solomonrdavid.bsky.social · 05/11/2025“Behold The GARLIATH!”: Enormous “Living Fossil” Hauled From Mississippi Floodplains Stuns Scientists www.iflscience.com/behold-the-g... By @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social @iflscience.com on that big Alligator Gar tagged & released @garlab.bsky.social #GarWeekiflscience.com“Behold The GARLIATH!”: Scientists Catch (And Release) An Enormous River Monster On Mississippi FloodplainsAlligator gars: putting the “gar” in gargantuan for 100 million years. 05618
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 11/09/2025Do you know where your cat is? It's like that 60s PSA, but seriously, a free-roaming Mr Crumbles could be cooking up some wildcat hybrids - and that's a big problem. @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/domestic-cat...iflscience.comDomestic Cats Can Be A Nightmare For Conservation For A Weird Reason: They Keep Making HybridsNot again, Mr Crumbles. 000
Reposted by Rachael FunnellGeorge Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 09/09/2025This is infuriating. What is the point of a Marine Protected Area if trawlers are allowed to keep ploughing it? Yet again, the government has succumbed to commercial lobbying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.comBottom trawling to continue in English protected waters, government rulesDefra says blanket ban on ‘destructive’ fishing practice disproportionate as MPs urge minister to reconsider 882394978
Reposted by Rachael FunnellDr Matt Dempsey @sketchy-raptor.bsky.social · 27/08/2025Introducing a crazy new look for Spicomellus, based on new osteoderms unlike anything we've ever seen before. I was brought in to produce a life reconstruction based on the new material, published today in Nature by Maidment et al: 627468
Reposted by Rachael FunnellProf Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 27/08/2025Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!! 33962369
Reposted by Rachael FunnellJohn Scalzi @scalzi.com · 26/08/2025OH GREAT NOW THE SWAMP IS WOKE www.iflscience.com/deep-in-virg...iflscience.comDeep In Virginia, When The Light Hits Just Right, A "Rainbow Swamp" AppearsSwamps typically bring to mind an array of mushy greens and murky browns, but in Virginia, they do things differently. 565170732354
Reposted by Rachael FunnellIFLScience @iflscience.com · 03/06/2025Did you know that flies hate cocaine? These well-adapted creatures have evolved to avoid things that might do them harm by developing a distaste for bitter things. Not these ones though. 🧪 www.iflscience.com/scientists-h...iflscience.comFlies Hated Cocaine. Then Scientists Tinkered With Their Taste Receptors, And Now They’re Hooked“This opens the door to testing human variants associated with cocaine use disorder." 063
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 23/05/2025To my science and writer pals, we've got a great opportunity tomorrow to speak with #neuroscientist @docaustinlim.bsky.social, who recently wrote Horror On The Brain: The Neuroscience Behind Science Fiction. CURIOUS Live kicks off at 10amCST/4pmBST @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/she-would-se...iflscience.com“She Would See That Face Morph Into The Face Of A Dragon”: Strange Tales From Neuroscience At CURIOUS LiveJoin us as we talk Horror On The Brain with neuroscientist Dr Austin Lim. 011
Reposted by Rachael FunnellKaty Evans @katyfevans.bsky.social · 21/05/2025We had a little sneak peek ahead of #WalkingwithDinosaurs starting this week and chatted to the folks behind the scenes who made the science and (VFX) magic happen. And of course, people stole things from set 😏🪺. More scoops here 👇youtube.comWalking With Dinosaurs: How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Looked And Sounded Like?YouTube video by IFLScience 142
Reposted by Rachael FunnellPolar Observer @polarobs.bsky.social · 22/01/2025Incredible Footage Shows Ultra Rare All-Black King Penguin On South Georgia Island via @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/incredible-f...iflscience.comIncredible Footage Shows Ultra Rare All-Black King Penguin On South Georgia Island“I don’t believe anyone has seen this all black penguin before.” 063
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 30/12/2024it's got to be a high-scoring kind of spoonerism to accidentally call a spoonbill a spillboon 000
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 17/12/2024The jumping guabine is considered pretty common in its home of Trinidad, but it's secretly been pulling off one of nature's greatest expeditions using its tail to breathe. Check out the amazing sequence from #TheSecretLivesOfAnimals @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/tail-breathi...iflscience.comTail-Breathing Killifish Can Travel 6,000 Times Their Body Length On LandFittingly, they’re known locally as jumping guabine. 061
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 28/11/2024haunted by the way that modern culture has warped what it means to spend time with family, my saturday plans are now building a christmas tree out of gherkins 000
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 27/11/2024When you see one chasing a human, the closest living relative of T. rex does kind of make sense #Paleontology @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/what-is-the-...iflscience.comWhat Is The Closest Living Relative To T. Rex? You Might Be SurprisedSort of makes sense when they’re chasing you. 061
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 26/11/2024Ever heard of the squirting cucumber? It's high time you got uncomfortably familiar with the mechanism that allows it to spew seeds 10m in a way that might be unique in the plant kingdom @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/explosive-st...iflscience.comExplosive Study Reveals How Squirting Cucumber Engorges And Erupts, Shooting Seeds 10 Meters“The seeds spurt out, even endangering the eyes.” 021
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 25/11/2024Do #chimpanzees have culture? Simple and complex tool use is seen across different groups, and it seems the most sophisticated toolsets spread as females switch groups. As for whether her new community wants to learn? That's another thing @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/groundbreaki...iflscience.comGroundbreaking “Genetic Time Machine” Reveals Evidence Of Cumulative Culture In ChimpanzeesWhen females switch social groups, they take all kinds of tricks with them. 031
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 22/11/2024has anyone given a name to the phenomenon of thinking things are AI when they probably aren't because I've been looking so closely at hands for so long that now they all look wrong 000
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 22/11/2024If you loved #JurassicPark III then you'll love this new research trying to work out what #dinosaurs sounded like with Parasaurolophus pipes, aka, the linophone @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/what-did-din...iflscience.comWhat Did Dinosaurs Sound Like? New Parasaurolophus Model Hopes To Find Out"We'll have a chance to listen to the actual sound of a dinosaur in 21st century." 010
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 21/11/2024One of the world's largest #scorpions also has a nifty habit of fluorescing like a Halloween decoration under UV light: meet the emperor scorpion @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/the-fluoresc...iflscience.comThe Fluorescent Emperor Scorpion Crushes Prey To Death With Its Fearsome ClawsThey only sting as babies. Then, it’s crushing time. 041
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 20/11/2024In a discovery that's being described “like winning a million-dollar jackpot," scientists have retrieved 145-year-old seeds from a shipwreck in Michigan, and now they're going to make it into whiskey @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/scientists-r...iflscience.comScientists Resurrect 145-Year-Old Shipwreck Seeds. Now, They Want To Make WhiskeyThe discovery’s been described “like winning a million-dollar jackpot.” 051
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 19/11/2024Some geese are poisonous, that's just a fact you have to roll with & we dive into more weird #science with Jack Baddams and Roddy Shaw, incredible hosts of comedy nature podcast How Many Geese - catch the full episode of #WeHaveQuestions now @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/iflscience-w...iflscience.comIFLScience We Have Questions: The Biggest Wild Goose Is... Poisonous?With special guests from the How Many Geese comedy nature podcast. 010
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 18/11/2024There’s a whole world out there that glows, we just don’t have the eyes to see it. #Biofluorescence is being reported in more and more species with a new preprint adding another 15, and you can help find more with 1 piece of kit @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/15-species-t...iflscience.com15 Species That Glow Under UV Light Identified, And You Could Help Scientists Find MoreAll you need is a blacklight and enthusiasm. 0103
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 17/11/2024Romanticise your life, they said, so I’ve started looking forward to switching off the dehumidifier at the end of each day and guessing how much water it’s sucked out of my wet mushroom of a rental property 000
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 15/11/2024Something big has been lurking in the Solomon Islands, sitting unseen 12m below the surface for 300 years. This is a lovely tale of hope and really, really big coral. @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/divers-thoug...iflscience.comDivers Thought They'd Found A Shipwreck, But This Giant Shadow Is AliveIt's so big, it can be seen from space. 0124
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 14/11/2024A really cool discovery that the skull of a tiny dino-era “opposite bird,” an extinct group that diverged from modern birds 130 million years ago, shows perfect midway brain evolution between bird-like dinos & the clever crows we see today @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/dinosaur-era...iflscience.comDinosaur-Era Bird Fills A 70-Million-Year Gap In The Evolution Of Bird Intelligence“This fossil is truly so one-of-a-kind that I was awestruck from the moment I first saw it.” 061
Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 13/11/2024Some big news from the deep sea yesterday as @mbarinews.bsky.social finally unmasked the "mystery mollusk" that's been perplexing scientists for 20 years, revealing a sea slug "unlike all other nudibranchs" @iflscience.bsky.social www.iflscience.com/mystery-moll...iflscience.com“Mystery Mollusk” Unmasked As First-Known Nudibranch To Live In The Midnight ZoneAnd it would’ve got away with it too, if it weren’t for these meddling scientists. 082