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Rachael Funnell

@rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social
230 followers 80 following 39 posts

Journalist and writer: @iflscience | iflscience.com | Literary agent: theliteraryoffice.com

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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
roses are red, Bryan Johnson's latest teaser:
tweet that says "kate's period blood is in my -80 degrees freezer"
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Big 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.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
a rather cursed one for #mushroommonday but can anyone tell me what sin grew inside this can of baked beans? #fungifriends
black wormy looking mushroom type thing with strange brain-like centre
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
thank goodness, this will really help all the people who can't afford food and energy
bbc news top story reads "trump to remove whisky tariffs after king's visit"
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Come 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.social
iflscience.com
Project 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.
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Cethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 19/03/2026
RIP 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.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Forever 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 🦖
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Jack @jackinpogform.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
The meme of three white men at a bar/pub table with pints only the men have various bugs for faces

'Here comes trouble' says a long horned beetle
'Looks like they'll let anyone in here' - a fly
'There he is' - a green cricket
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Dr Alfredo Carpineti @drcarpineti.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Very 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.org
Invisible Rainbows: The Unseen Universe Beyond Our Senses
The Unseen Universe Beyond Our Senses
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Can'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!
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Jérôme 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.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Ever 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.com
iflscience.com
Wouldn't The Burglars In "Home Alone" Have Died? We Asked An Intensive Care Doctor
The only thing more awkward than forgetting your kid? Finding him Home Alone with two corpses.
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Tess Gallagher @tessasaurus.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Excited 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
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Jérôme OLLIER @jeromeollier.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Why Do Cuttlefish Have Wavy Pupils? - @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/why-do-cuttl...
iflscience.com
Cuttlefish Have Seriously Freaky Eyes. Why Are Their Pupils Shaped Like A "W"?
Is it camouflage, or something more?
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
If 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.com
iflscience.com
Does This Ancient Egyptian Scroll Recount The World’s Oldest Magic Trick?
The decapitated goose trick is as wild as it sounds.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
In 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.com
Project 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.
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Project CETI @projectceti.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Thank you @iflscience.com and @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social for featuring our research! By: @begus.bsky.social, Ronald Sprouse, Andrej Leban, Miles Silva and Shane Gero.
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Dr. 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 #GarWeek
iflscience.com
“Behold The GARLIATH!”: Scientists Catch (And Release) An Enormous River Monster On Mississippi Floodplains
Alligator gars: putting the “gar” in gargantuan for 100 million years.
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Tom Hale @tommyhale.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
British people:
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Do 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.com
Domestic Cats Can Be A Nightmare For Conservation For A Weird Reason: They Keep Making Hybrids
Not again, Mr Crumbles.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
This 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.com
Bottom trawling to continue in English protected waters, government rules
Defra says blanket ban on ‘destructive’ fishing practice disproportionate as MPs urge minister to reconsider
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Dr Matt Dempsey @sketchy-raptor.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Introducing 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:
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Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Hi 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!!
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 26/08/2025
OH GREAT NOW THE SWAMP IS WOKE www.iflscience.com/deep-in-virg...
iflscience.com
Deep In Virginia, When The Light Hits Just Right, A "Rainbow Swamp" Appears
Swamps typically bring to mind an array of mushy greens and murky browns, but in Virginia, they do things differently.
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IFLScience @iflscience.com · 03/06/2025
Did 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.com
Flies 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."
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
To 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 Live
Join us as we talk Horror On The Brain with neuroscientist Dr Austin Lim.
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Katy Evans @katyfevans.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
We 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.com
Walking With Dinosaurs: How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Looked And Sounded Like?
YouTube video by IFLScience
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
just discovered my new favourite word
dictionary definition reads: flopperoo, a complete failure especially within theatre, cinema, or TV
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Polar Observer @polarobs.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Incredible Footage Shows Ultra Rare All-Black King Penguin On South Georgia Island via @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/incredible-f...
iflscience.com
Incredible Footage Shows Ultra Rare All-Black King Penguin On South Georgia Island
“I don’t believe anyone has seen this all black penguin before.”
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
it's got to be a high-scoring kind of spoonerism to accidentally call a spoonbill a spillboon
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
The 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.com
Tail-Breathing Killifish Can Travel 6,000 Times Their Body Length On Land
Fittingly, they’re known locally as jumping guabine.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
and we're gonna put it in the bin
email from Evri reads "we've got your zooplus parcel"
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
haunted 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
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
When 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.com
What Is The Closest Living Relative To T. Rex? You Might Be Surprised
Sort of makes sense when they’re chasing you.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Ever 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.com
Explosive Study Reveals How Squirting Cucumber Engorges And Erupts, Shooting Seeds 10 Meters
“The seeds spurt out, even endangering the eyes.”
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Do #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.com
Groundbreaking “Genetic Time Machine” Reveals Evidence Of Cumulative Culture In Chimpanzees
When females switch social groups, they take all kinds of tricks with them.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
has 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
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
If 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.com
What 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."
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
One 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.com
The Fluorescent Emperor Scorpion Crushes Prey To Death With Its Fearsome Claws
They only sting as babies. Then, it’s crushing time.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
In 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.com
Scientists Resurrect 145-Year-Old Shipwreck Seeds. Now, They Want To Make Whiskey
The discovery’s been described “like winning a million-dollar jackpot.”
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
initiating wotsits protocol
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Some 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.com
IFLScience We Have Questions: The Biggest Wild Goose Is... Poisonous?
With special guests from the How Many Geese comedy nature podcast.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
There’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.com
15 Species That Glow Under UV Light Identified, And You Could Help Scientists Find More
All you need is a blacklight and enthusiasm.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Romanticise 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
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Something 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.com
Divers Thought They'd Found A Shipwreck, But This Giant Shadow Is Alive
It's so big, it can be seen from space.
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
A 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.com
Dinosaur-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.”
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Rachael Funnell @rachaelhfunnell.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
Some 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 Zone
And it would’ve got away with it too, if it weren’t for these meddling scientists.
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