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Sophie Westacott

@sophwestacott.bsky.social
433 followers 892 following 14 posts

Postdoc at Bristol as part of the Henehan lab's PETRARCH project. Growing radiolarians for B and Si isotopes. Interested in all things marine silica.

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Reposted by Sophie Westacott
Elsa @erli.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I can't stop thinking how wrong the tech bros have understood creativity and creators. Or even just having hobbies. #erliart
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Reposted by Sophie Westacott
Anna Karnkowska @ankarn.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Postdoc opportunity! Join PERKFresh project and explore Perkinsea diversity, ecology & host–parasite interactions in freshwaters 📍 University of Warsaw ⏰ Deadline: 6 Nov 2026 🔗 euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/466845 #protistonsky #postdoc
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PARADIVE UW @paleoparadive.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🦠 We're hiring a 2-year postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Warsaw, to join the PARADIVE lab: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/469223
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
Assistant Professor (post-doc) - Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw (WB-KG-15/2026)
The position of Assistant Professor in the programme/project/undertaking The impact of mass extinctions on parasite diversity and evolution.
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jon ben-menachem @jbenmenachem.com · 23/08/2026
I think the class of school administrators (not just in higher ed) who act fast to insulate core pedagogical functions from AI will reap major rewards for their trouble. In a few years, there will be an extremely stark difference between people who used AI in school and people who are competent
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
🌊
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Seth Finnegan @sethf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship program is accepting applications until November 1. If you're a finishing Ph.D student or recent grad interested in coming to Berkeley to work on a project in paleobiology/paleoecology/geobiology please feel free to reach out! ppfp.ucop.edu/info/
ppfp.ucop.edu
University of California | President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
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European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 25/09/2026
Do you have professional experience in Continuous Improvement, process/organisational improvement or change management? Want to work for the ERC for 8 months? Role and application info 👉 link.europa.eu/jJyDHW Deadline: 30/09 @ 12.00 CEST
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Reposted by Sophie Westacott
Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026
We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/
a cartoon of three fieldworkers. One has a small trans flag. The logos of the university of leeds, research england, and canopy robin are shown, as well as the URL: InclusiveFieldwork (dot) Leeds (dot) AC (dot) UK (slash) trans
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University of Nottingham UCU branch @uonucu.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
With strike action set to begin in a week and a half, here is a quick overview of what is happening at your university, why it is happening, what UCU is doing about it, and how you can support us as we fight for the future of UoN. #UCU #UoN #UoNUCU #UniversityOfNotting #StopTheCuts #SaveHE
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
UMaine is hiring a director of our new PFAS lab: fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... If you've got a PhD in analytical or environmental chemistry and 5+ years of PFAS research experience, check it out!
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
Assistant or Associate Extension Professor, PFAS and Environmental Contaminants Analytical Specialist, and PFAS Lab Director
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is seeking an accomplished scientist and collaborative leader to establish and grow the University's PFAS analytical and Extension program. This is a uniq...
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Sophie Westacott @sophwestacott.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I had such a fun time doing this. I've been wanting to showcase the beauty of microfossils for a long time, and watching the microfossil-printed bunting build up over the course of the weekend was a dream come true #radiolaria #foraminifera #linocut #microfossil #paleontology #scicomm
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Met4Cast @met4cast.net · 15/08/2026
Sub-surface ocean temperatures in the Pacific have now reached 9.96°C above average, significantly warmer than the previous record event in 1997. This El Niño continues to set new records. Nobody alive today has witnessed an event of this magnitude.
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Jakub Nowosad @jakubnowosad.com · 22/07/2026
A resource from Jérôme Guélat for anyone working with spatial data in R. *Spatial Data Processing with R* combines GIS fundamentals with practical, reusable workflows for analysis and map making. 🗺️ jguelat.github.io/spatial-r/ #rspatial #rstats #SpatialAnalysis #OpenSource
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Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Local plumbers two steps ahead of every university administrator in america 👏
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
The US is adopting a strategy of attacking water storage and desalination plants designed to render the region uninhabitable. If continued, this strategy will make the Gulf littoral uninhabitable in the coming decades. Yet there is no discussion of these tactics and their repercussion in the US.
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Michael Froomkin @mfroomkin.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
ICE caught routinely evading Court orders, shipping detainees away and even deporting them before habeas hearings. This was routine and secret. Judge is Not Happy. www.wlrn.org/government-p...
wlrn.org
Miami-Dade's brushfires helped reveal that ICE violated over 100 court orders in South Florida
The incident has opened a can of worms in federal court after a federal judge was notified that 47 of those detainees were shipped outside the Southern District of Florida in direct violation of court...
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Lauren Sumner-Rooney @laurensr.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
📢 Heads-up: I'm currently finalising the job description for a 30-month postdoc modelling visual abilities in these very gorgeous and very dead creatures! If you're interested, please get in touch - anticipated start is late 2026/early 2027 and the project combines great colleagues in UK + S Korea!
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
This clever map shows us what time it is across the world, which regions are awake, working or sleeping, all rotating in sync with the Earth. Go to the source where the image only rotates by 3.75 degrees every 15 minutes to remain up to date. Source: buff.ly/tyQ2Z3g
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Why is air conditioning rare in Europe? Until very recently it just wasn’t hot enough. This will change now I assume.
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Michael Burchert @michaelburchert.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
In France they take climate adaptation seriously, that's why we see the new normal happen: They are #strawbuilding #strawhouse schools. The concept is "bioclimatique". They acknowledge the multi-benefits of natural insulation, besides CO2. See some examples here: strawbuilding.eu
Map of straw buildings across Europe, a lot of them clustered in France.
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Kit Marie Rackley @geogramblings.com · 11/07/2026
DON'T MAKE ME TAP THE SIGN.
Climate change is a child
safeguarding issue
Geogramblings.com
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John Dolan @tintinnman.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Wonders of Deep Sea Mud - from "Das Leben in den grössten Meerestiefen" (Haeckel 1870). Rads, Forams, Diatoms & the infamous Bathybius- Lost art of scientific illustration. #protistsonsky
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Heidi Burdett @hlburdett.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
** Join us! ** Interested in marine observation? Motivated to make it better for the future? We have a 4-year #PhD position in Marine Observation System Resilience open! 📆 Deadline 16 August 2026 📍 @umeaunimarine.bsky.social, Sweden 🔗 heidiburdett.wordpress.com/2026/06/12/j... 🦑🧪🌎
join us! Phd position in marine observation system resilience, deadline 16 august 2026
plus images of people sampling water on ice and from a boat, and an envirnomental monitoring buoy
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Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
You can: 1) Contact your senators and reps, especially in coastal states. 2) Urge scientific societies and advocacy groups to speak out and mobilize their members. 3) Write op eds, posts, threads, etc. explaining what the OOI actually does and why it matters. 4) Share articles like this:
eos.org
Trump Administration to Remove Hundreds of Deep-Ocean Observation Instruments, Dismantling $368 Million Program - Eos
The Trump administration’s National Science Foundation (NSF) has begun dismantling the infrastructure of a $368 million deep-ocean observing program critical to monitoring marine ecosystems, global cu...
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Chaz Hutton @chazhutton.com · 11/12/2024
Googling Stuff: Then v Now.
This title if the comic is ‘Googling Stuff…’
The comic shows two columns: on the left is “Then” showing search results with one thing listed as “the thing you want”

On the right column is ‘Now’ - also showing search results but in this case it’s a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need:

AI TAKING A WILD STAB AT IT WITH SOME
BLATANT MISINFORMATION

SPONSORED RESULT

SPONSORED RESULT

SPONSORED RESULT

SPONSORED RESULT

PEOPLE ALSO ASK

VIEW PRODUCTS

And then right at the bottom just off screen is ‘the thing you want’
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Luis D. Verde Arregoitia @liomys.mx · 29/04/2026
📦 new #rstats package to overlay ggplot2 plots, gt tables, or code snippets onto images, with optional perspective warp and transparency. 🪄powered by magick luisdva.github.io/overlay/
Photo of a beach with some buildings, overlaid with a map and a table with weather averages for Dakar Senegal
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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Life hack from a marine biologist: When your blue sea dragons need a little snack, remember that they never evolved to swim, so you have to drive the Portuguese man-o-war around and pick them up like a little bus 🎥 by me during field work :)
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...
slate.com
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.
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Prof Michael Meredith 🌊🧪🥼❄️ @oceanandice.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
📢 4-year postdoc opportunity!! Magda Carr (Newcastle University) is recruiting a Leverhulme-funded postdoc to experimentally investigate the generation of internal tsunamis by glacial calving. The award is linked to the POLOMINTS project (www.polomints.ac.uk). Please share! lnkd.in/ePHmPxbD
polomints.ac.uk
Polar Ocean Mixing by Internal Tsunamis
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Elizabeth Beston @elizabethbeston.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I’m going through my old files and came across this GORGEOUS Calanus sp. copepod. I hadn’t even realised I’d seen a member of this genus! 1/2 #marinebiology #zooplankton #microscopy #plankton #copepods
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The R Foundation @r-foundation.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
In memoriam Tomáš Kalibera (1978–2026). www.r-project.org/doc/obit/tom...
r-project.org
R:
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Dorian J. Burnette @djburnette.com · 19/05/2026
"The U.S.’ economic prosperity has been built in no small part on its world-leading success in science and technology. The ingredients of that success are generous federal research funding, intellectual freedom, and openness to foreign talent. Remove these ingredients at the nation’s peril." 🧪
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Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Come join us! We have a one-year, part-time, education-focussed Assistant Professor post in Palaeobiology. Deadline for applications is 2nd June 2026. Please see more at the below link: edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
Assistant Professor (Education) in Palaeobiology - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences - 107465 - Grade 8
You will contribute to a range of education-related activities. In addition you will be expected to demonstrate academic citizenship, developing and maintaining mutually respectful and supportive work...
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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I don't see this said enough: the widespread use of generative AI is not only making our jobs as educators harder logistically, but also emotionally. It is genuinely sad to be suspicious of students when you have spent so much time building a pedagogy based on trust and not being a cop. It sucks.
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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Words matter. They especially matter when talking about likelihoods. As it turns out we have different ideas what type of likelihood we link with certain descriptors. Source: buff.ly/lsjYx0d
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Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿 @palaeojules.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Eeee!!!! So, good news: me and @lepidodendron.bsky.social will be co-hosting a symposium at EPPC this year looking at plant Paleoart!!!!! This has been a long time coming, so I'm incredibly excited that we can finally announce it! #paleoart #paleobotany #conference #FossilFriday #botany
A black background with a plant recon on the right and logos in the bottom left.
Writing in white reads:
European paleobotany and palynology conference 2026.
20th to 25th September 2026
Symposium 
Plant Paleoart: perspectives and promises
Julianne Kiely and Mario Coiro
Abstract submissions welcome.
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Mark Riedl @markriedl.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
ArXiV has a new LLM policy (Screenshots with alt text so you don’t have to click through to the other place and see all the stupid responses)
Attention @arxiv authors: Our Code of Conduct states that by signing your name as an author of a paper, each author takes full responsibility for all its contents, irrespective of how the contents were generated. 1/If generative AI tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect references, or misleading content, and that output is included in scientific works, it is the responsibility of the author(s). 2/

We have recently clarified our penalties for this. If a submission contains incontrovertible evidence that the authors did not check the results of LLM generation, this means we can't trust anything in the paper. 3/The penalty is a 1-year ban from arXiv followed by the requirement that subsequent arXiv submissions must first be accepted at a reputable peer-reviewed venue. 4/

Examples of incontrovertible evidence: hallucinated references, meta-comments from the LLM ("here is a 200 word summary; would you like me to make any changes?"; "the data in this table is illustrative, fill it in with the real numbers from your experiments") end/
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Thomas Dietterich @tdietterich.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
We are implementing a similar policy at @arxiv.bsky.social. If there is incontrovertible evidence of LLM slop in a paper, this means the authors did not take the time to read the LLM output and we can't trust anything else in the paper. Penalty is 1 year ban from arXiv followed by...
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👻 David Weiskopf believes in spooks 👻 @dave.bzky.team · 08/05/2026
Another incredible #climatejob opportunity with the best team in climate policy and politics! We are looking for a passionate, strategic Michigan State lead! Remote in MI with frequent travel to Lansing! Join us!
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Michigan State Lead - Lobbyist and Strategist
Remote
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Darcy Shapiro @darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
We’re looking for researchers in any discipline of natural history: if you have a paper coming out and you want to pitch @pbseons.bsky.social on a potential episode about it, send me a DM! #scicomm #paleosky #FossilFriday (Arsinoitherium says please and thank you!)
Arsinoitherium skull with two giant horns
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Kim Cobb @kimcobb.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
I'd love to co-develop project ideas on research involving paleoclimate, water isotopes, urban heat islands, coastal resilience, and/or work at the energy/climate nexus.
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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
BREAKING: Maryland is about to become the first state in the nation to ban the use of surveillance data and dynamic pricing at grocery stores. The Maryland House has just passed the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act. Governor Wes Moore plans to sign the bill.
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Dr SpookyGoth @ghostingdani.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The point of the university as a concept is that it's been here for a thousand years and meant to be here another thousand. Turning education over to producing what the market needed five years ago is never going to work well.
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Catherine Sheard @sheardcat.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Want to switch countries for a postdoc? Specifically, are you European, or are you non-European wanting to come to Europe? Now's the time to reach out to potential host labs! (It's very normal to cold-email a PI about potentially hosting -- don't be shy!)
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 11/04/2026
A milestone in March: for the first time ever, renewables provided more power on the US grid than natural gas.
canarymedia.com
In a first, renewables beat natural gas on US grid last month
It’s just one month, but it’s a sign of where the U.S. is headed as renewable energy — namely solar — surges onto the grid.
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Rolf Erdahl @rolferd.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Looking for a meaningful and impactful climate fellowship? Check out Project Drawdown. If you don’t have the science chops to apply, follow #Drawdown to see and support the wonderful work they are accomplishing to reverse the effects of climate change.
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Manon Laget @manonlaget.eurosky.social · 06/04/2026
🌊🧪 Marine snow particles sinking from the surface ocean are critical for deep sea food webs and the oceanic carbon cycle. How fast they sink determines how much carbon reaches the deep ocean, but measuring their speed directly in the field is a challenge in oceanography.
A marine snow particle recorded with an underwater camera. The scale bar shows 2 mm.Another marine snow particle recorded with an underwater camera. The scale bar shows 2 mm.
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