Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 3hBritish and American English have many confusing noun variants. Autumn/fall, lift/elevator. And the trousers/pants thing is clearly childishness on their part. But with birds the options can be wonderfully wholesome wherever you are. - Titmice versus chickadees - Goldcrests versus kinglets 000
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 17hInteresting idea. the-one-percent.qedscience.com "QED Score evaluates any life science manuscript on two dimensions: originality, (how far the finding advances the field ) and validity (how well the evidence supports the conclusions ). Before scoring begins, every manuscript is fully anonymized."the-one-percent.qedscience.comQED — The most compelling preprints of 2025 000
Reposted by Simon EvansEmily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.wisn.comSkydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airportFour people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m. 122102422641
Reposted by Simon EvansAntigoni Samourdani @antisamourdani.bsky.social · 24/09/2026An inspiring feminist talk! The science is great but what resonated with me most was taking the space to talk about all the societal obstacles she faced, the motivation from seeing other women suceed in what seemed impossible & the importance of trying and trying again. 151
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The state of science today: study of tumour evolution within patients is open access; the accompanying overview is paywalled. You are a mess, Nature. Albeit a highly profitable one. www.nature.com/articles/d41... nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comEvolution of drug-resistant ovarian-cancer clones tracked in patientsTherapy-resistant clones are typically present at diagnosis but are rare and have distinctive genomic features. 000
Reposted by Simon EvansSusie Dent @susiedentwords.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Etymology of the day: the expression ‘you have another thing coming’ was originally ‘you have another think coming’: today’s version appeared within a year of the original, back in the 1800s. A short piece on the joyful messiness of linguistic evolution. susiedent.substack.com/p/another-th...susiedent.substack.comAnother think comingHow linguistic evolution is as messy as it is joyful 3634449
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Perhaps the most underappreciated negative impact of chatbots on science is that publishers reinforced paywalls just as we seemed on the brink of a revolution in access. 000
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 23/09/2026If I could invite any one person to give a seminar —and I mean absolutely anyone—it would be David Lack. How about you? Who would you invite? 100
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Rosemary Grant telling us in her @bes-evolecol.bsky.social webinar that even after finishing school, as a woman she was not allowed to open a bank account without a man accompanying her. Ghastly experience, but wonderful to hear of the early steps on her path to such enormous scientific impact. 021
Reposted by Simon EvansSandy Horne @sandyhorne.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Happy Wrensday Wednesday! A male white-winged fairywren at the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden. #wrensday 211704215
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 23/09/2026One hour away! And you’re already halfway through the week! So reward yourself with some of the very best of evolutionary ecology, starting in just under one hour: www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/evol...britishecologicalsociety.orgEvolutionary Ecology Webinar: Darwin's Finches | BES 2026Join the BES Evolutionary Ecology SIG webinar with Rosemary Grant on Darwin's finches, natural selection, genetics, behaviour and rapid evolution. 061
Reposted by Simon EvansAlberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026New review of what we know and don't know about the evolutionary history of birds and their close fossil relatives! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🪶🧪 (📷Benito & @lizzysteell.bsky.social) 07540
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Hospitals have back-up generators. Surely a contractor would have suggested it would be a sensible precaution on a remote equatorial island, even if electric fences were not your sole means of containing a nine ton carnivore? 010
Reposted by Simon EvansJeremy Yoder says no war @jbyoder.org · 20/09/2026ALMOST EVERY PEER REVIEWED PAPER HAS A SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS RIGHT BELOW ITS TITLE 7645160
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Building a tool to forewarn us of approaching (or surpassed) tipping points in the North Atlantic subpolar gyre. Innovative, exciting, impactful. 000
Reposted by Simon EvansAdvanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) @aria-research.bsky.social · 21/09/2026From new techniques to protect trees and amphibians from disease, to governance approaches for novel ecological interventions, meet the teams who are exploring how we can expand our conservation toolkit as part of our Accelerated Adaptation programme: link.aria.org.uk/AA-Creatorslink.aria.org.ukFunded projects | Accelerated AdaptationExplore the project we're funding in the Accelerated Adaptation programme. 083
Reposted by Simon EvansCharles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 19/09/202621,627 applications for the Marie Curie early career fellowships. 711944
Reposted by Simon EvansSimon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 18/09/2026This animated map shows every river in mainland Spain and Portugal, animated using only its own water flow. The Iberian Peninsula practically breathes: river discharge swings from just 890 m³/s at the summer low to 33,600 m³/s at the February 2026 peak. A 38-fold difference. HT @AaronJBecker 26030
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 19/09/2026This is potentially a very important result: reciprocal transplants show that most adaptation is so localised that we overlook it. 021
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 19/09/2026“Speech is not violence” quotes @virginiaheffernan.bsky.social of Steven Pinker. Which is just as well for him, for this would otherwise be a hospitalising beating. A pen swung like a sword. 020
Reposted by Simon EvansLiam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I haven't found the science that people are writing up with AI much more or less interesting than things previously. Neither are interesting compared to when my friends would tell me what they really thought, drunk or high or jacked up on coffee, in secret 121
Reposted by Simon EvansElias Greig @eliasgreig.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I keep seeing articles about men worrying they won't pass on their genes, and I don't understand why the media won't tell the plain truth: as a man hoping to sire children, the most important thing to do is artfully assemble a bower and surround it with a collection of startlingly blue objects. 27629143
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Next week! Rosemary Grant (yes, THE Rosemary Grant) is giving a free online seminar! Wednesday at 3pm, UK time. You need to register beforehand to join. 030
Reposted by Simon EvansAinsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Today in great scientific figures: the flight path of two midges, immediately preceding ❤️romance❤️ 526973
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I think biology has to be jazz. Everyone enjoys it in the background but it is far too complex to make any sense when you pay proper attention. 031
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 09/09/2026“Physics is the prog rock of science, equal parts brilliant and pretentious nonsense.” Classic @ali--wilson.bsky.social, the man who memorably described the guillemot as “the thinking man’s puffin.” 020
Reposted by Simon Evans𝕯𝖆𝖓🍂🎃🕸️ @arepublic86.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Charlotte Wainwright restoring and saving old/ancient books. www.wainwrightbookbinding.com 521190795422
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Interesting that Roger Hallam of Extinction Rebellion was given a five-year jail sentence for *planning* to obstruct a motorway. His motivation was drawing attention the climate crisis. 020
Reposted by Simon EvansDave Hemprich-Bennett @davehb.bsky.social · 03/09/2026What a time to be alive: Aedes aegypti have been found breeding in east London, in a first for the UK 🦟 www.gov.uk/government/n...gov.ukInvasive mosquito species detected in east LondonUKHSA finds invasive Aedes aegypti breeding in east London, prompting enhanced surveillance. 164
Reposted by Simon EvansJennie Kermode @jenniekermode.bsky.social · 30/08/2026A decade or so ago, I reaached out to ParkRun on behalf of a trans woman who wanted to participate but felt too nervous to ask for herself. It was such a no-brainer for them that they were shocked. They not only welcomed her but offered to arrange befriending if it would help her feel safe. 1597
Reposted by Simon EvansJames Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 30/08/2026ITS FUCKING PARKRUN. THERE IS NO 'FEMALE EVENT'. IT IS FUCKING PARKRUN 22911147
Reposted by Simon EvansDan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · 30/08/2026We’re a butterfly banding station now @celltracktech.bsky.social 1011311
Reposted by Simon EvansAlistair King @alistairking.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Struggling to work out why Jenrick would single out these three Commonwealth countries rather than, say, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, whose citizens have exactly the same rights. It’s a head-scratcher. 31168941707
Reposted by Simon EvansThiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 30/08/2026'Our findings illustrate a curious paradox: despite universities being key producers of evidence and seeking the use of their research to inform public policymaking, they are less adept at using evidence to inform their own decision-making.' blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...blogs.lse.ac.ukUniversities rarely use research evidence in their decision-making, so why do they expect anyone else to? - LSE ImpactDespite universities’ important role as evidence-producing organisations, they rarely draw upon research evidence for internal decision making, why? 25126
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 29/08/2026www.theguardian.com/education/20... Exeter University seems be accelerating its ambition to make itself a cautionary tale on Business Management syllabuses.theguardian.comExeter University approves deal with Saudi Arabia to train military officers and officialsIn move that could generate millions, Exeter academics to deliver MA at National Defense University in Riyadh 000
Reposted by Simon EvansMcGill-Queen's University Press @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Get $5 off the hardcover edition of The Lives of Lake Ontario by Daniel Macfarlane, the authoritative history of the use and abuse of Lake Ontario! Use coupon code ONTARIO, valid until the end of September. www.mqup.ca/Books/T/The-...mqup.caThe Lives of Lake OntarioLake Ontario has profoundly influenced the historical evolution of North America. For centuries it has enabled and enriched the societies that crowded its edges, from fertile agricultural landscapes t... 023
Reposted by Simon EvansTed Stankowich @tedstankowich.bsky.social · 25/08/2026The bold stripes help potential predators learn to not attack skunks. Individual skunks can vary considerably, from narrow stripes to nearly all-white coats, but are more variable where there are fewer predators. #TautonymTuesday #TaxonomyTuesday #Systematics academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...academic.oup.comPredation risk drives aposematic signal conformityWarning signals should be consistent across individuals to facilitate predator learning and reduce ambiguity about the presence of an unpleasant defense. T 2105
Reposted by Simon EvansHanna Kokko @kokkonut.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Come and work with us (the Kokkonuts) as a postdoc! Our research within (theory-evo-eco) is broad; let's say it's implicitly defined by the journal club papers we read. Which is why the application process includes a JC-related task, I hope it'll be a fun one for you! www.evoldir.net/brian/evoldi...evoldir.net 195117
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 26/08/2026However begrudging, we ought to salute the enormous effort that must have gone into crafting such a sentence fragment. 010
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Do you still qualify for the vanity tattoo? www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.com‘Unsafe for swimming’: Ironman Leeds is latest casualty of heat-fuelled toxic algaeAthletes faced last-minute cancelling of 2.4-mile swim, as experts say pollution and extreme heat are causing blooms 001
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 21/08/2026As I watched my son spread butter all over his hands at the dinner table, I realised that the Swedish word for butter (smör) must share an origin with the English word ‘smear’. Apparently, the common origin word meant ‘grease’. 010
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 21/08/2026I really don't understand why you have to be virulently anti-AI to be deemed acceptable in this space. Even ambivalence is apparently a giveaway sign of a fanatical fascist. It's all seems very Twitter, ironically. 210
Reposted by Simon EvansNatural History Museum, London @nhm-london.bsky.social · 21/08/2026This beautiful dictionary of colours found in nature dates back to more than a century before Pantone. 🎨 Werner's Nomenclature of Colour was an indispensable resource for Charles Darwin, helping him describe new species. We love these natural colours - which page do you like best? 8273109
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 21/08/2026This is a good example of what is happening, and why I think we need a less hysterical and more informed discussion. The reality is that AI has recently solved historical math problems. www.newscientist.com/article/2511...newscientist.comAmateur mathematicians solve long-standing maths problems with AI | New ScientistProfessional mathematicians have been stunned by the progress amateurs have made in solving long-standing problems with the assistance of AI tools, and say it could lead to a new way of doing mathemat... 330
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 21/08/2026“Daddy, do you want to come and smell my tractor?” is an enjoyable restorative after all this. 000
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 20/08/2026This is the thing. All this really sucks. But to criticise AI for its hallucinations on the one hand, while blindly embracing any criticism of it—however absurd—is Illogical. In my opinion. It’s fine to disagree. You don’t necessarily need to write a rude response that just supports my point. 1130
Simon Evans @sevans.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Academic BlueSky is becoming an echo chamber about AI. Like a monastery chuckling about how the printing press can’t embellish a letter with gold leaf. 104726