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Dr. Tanya Samman

@t-s-sci.bsky.social
3.6K followers 2.8K following 151 posts

Communicator | Scientist | Editor. Geoscientist/Palaeontologist. she/her. My views are my own.

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Reposted by Dr. Tanya Samman
Nature @nature.com · 21h
Existing legal frameworks have not halted planetary crises. Recognizing the rights of nature could offer a different path. go.nature.com/4rFLVZX
go.nature.com
Nature has rights — it is time the world recognized them
Existing legal frameworks have not halted planetary crises. Recognizing the rights of nature could offer a different path.
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Reposted by Dr. Tanya Samman
psvrh.bsky.social @psvrh.bsky.social · 21h
I pull this out whenever this topic comes up. When Jalopnik, which is about as pro-car as it gets, says that drivers not hitting stuff is a skill issue, you can be reassured that complainers are just that. www.jalopnik.com/its-not-the-...
jalopnik.com
It's Not The Bike Lane's Fault You're A Bad Driver - Jalopnik
Last week, Vancouver-area radio host Jill Bennett went viral after tweeting a photo of a Dodge Durango straddling a bright yellow concrete barrier that the driver had hit. “Hey @CityofVancouver⁩ this ...
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American Museum of Natural History @amnh.org · 21h
Happy Fossil Friday from the Museum’s Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs! Behold Styracosaurus. A relative of the famous horned dinosaur Triceratops, Styracosaurus had huge spikes sticking out from its frill, the bony collar that projects rearward from the skull, and a singular nasal horn.
A photo of the fossilized remains of styracosaurus. The animal has a beak, a long hooked nasal horn, and a spiky frill. Its remains are brownish in color.
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Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
One knock on effect of Musk buying out Twitter is that the “respectable” racists have lost their sense of how many layers of kayfabe they have to slap on their bigotry.
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John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · 21h
We've got to just stop it with the AI woo-woo. I don't think it's even helpful to the tech companies, let alone the rest of us. biblioracle.substack.com/p/can-we-ple...
biblioracle.substack.com
Can We Please Stop it with the AI Woo-Woo?
If we're going to deal with this technology we have to cut through the fake mystery.
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Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 21h
When adaptation for one thing leads to worsening risk for another - retiring farmland as a drought adaptation means that land turns into something else. 3/4 of the time in the western US, it transitions to scrubland, but about 20% of time time it turns into high-risk burnable metro development. Joy.
iopscience.iop.org
Out of the frying pan, into the fire? Tradeoffs between drought adaptation and wildfire risk under cropland loss and urbanization in the western United States
Out of the frying pan, into the fire? Tradeoffs between drought adaptation and wildfire risk under cropland loss and urbanization in the western United States, Lorenz, Austen A, Gordon, Beatrice L, Boisrame, Gabrielle F S, Berkey, Julia, Cough, Chelsea, Carroll, Rosemary W H, Albano, Christine M
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Pat G🇨🇦 🍁🏳️‍🌈🍉 @pguist.bsky.social · 22h
🤬 🤬 🤬
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David @crookedknight.bsky.social · 22h
Rarely has this XKCD been more on point
Stick-figure comic of a man in a lab coat standing on a chair, pointing a pistol at a desk that has a tray and a microscope on it.

"When you see a claim that a common drug or vitamin 'kills cancer cells in a petri dish,' keep in mind: So does a handgun."
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 21h
They have erased the history of the tech industry and tech innovation so that their workers don’t ask what happened to prior generations of innovators and innovations. It’s a very intentional strategy.
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Christopher Michel @christophermichel.com · 23h
Caltech Professor John Preskill has spent decades figuring out how to make quantum computers actually work. He helped develop fault-tolerant quantum computing, coined NISQ, and pushed quantum information into black holes and spacetime. More: explorers.com/john-preskill/ @nationalacademies.org
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John Kostyack @kostyack.bsky.social · 22h
More than half of AI investments come from other AI firms. Why care about this circular financing? When a supplier finances a customer, part of its revenue reflects this investment. This makes it harder to gauge what part of the current AI boom is based on organic demand....
ft.com
Is circular financing in AI a problem?
Only if the wheel stops spinning
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 21h
Here's the reality that was clear from the start: Carney wants a pipeline. He will steamroll environmental protections and Indigenous rights to get it. He will use public funds to cover costs and risks while profits go to the private sector (including US investors).
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Nikki DuCoté @raisedbyvalaya.bsky.social · 22h
In a society that rewards people for holding power, there will never ever be a pure enough victim that cant be torn down to reinforce that.
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Canadian Science Publishing @cdnsciencepub.com · 21h
Publishing research in the age of open science? Join Dr. Natalie Sopinka for practical insights, breakout discussions, and an Editor Q&A at #CEW2026. 📅 Oct. 4 | 2:00-4:15 PM 📍 Florence Room ℹ️ ow.ly/lczP50ZSiE4 #OpenScience #Ecotoxicology Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop
View of Saskatoon skyline with a river and bridge, promoting the 52nd Canadian Ecotoxicity Workshop in October 2026.
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James McLeod @jamespmcleod.ca · 02/10/2026
Exquisite.
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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I have just published my sixth report on Alpha School, still focusing on its Survival Challenge. What I've learned: -- Students' medical supplies were inexplicably confiscated, including epi-pens -- Attendance was not taken for three days -- One guide left due to heat stroke Read more here:
buildcognitiveresonance.substack.com
SIXTH REPORT: Alpha School’s Survival Challenge — literally
More details emerge: Students’ medical supplies were inexplicably confiscated; attendance was not taken while students were in the Texas wilderness; additional information on guide that was fired
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Sam Burgess @oceanterra.org · 02/10/2026
#Climate change is not just raising temperatures. It is increasing the likelihood of prolonged periods when heat, water stress and wildfire risk occur simultaneously. Understanding these compound extremes is essential for building resilience across our water, food, energy and health systems.
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Sarah Kay @k-interarma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As I said before: one “side” are a small number of extremists forcing their way where they have been politely told it would be best not to in order not to reopen wounds. The other side is, quite literally, everyone else
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Jim Woodgett @jwoodgett.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I have the confidence in my cognitive abilities to write perfectly well enough without resorting to tools built from stealing the writing of others. So do you. We’ve all been doing this for a long time. Don’t let people whose wealth depends on making you feel incompetent convince you otherwise.
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 02/10/2026
Nothing really important has happened in science (I am talking about my area) because of that. We only have more papers
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Melissa Perreault, PhD @mlperreault.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
👇👇👇🔥🔥🔥 A very eloquent way of putting it. My words are less eloquent. Stop being so lazy and contributing to the loss of critical thinking in next generation of scientists.
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Reposted by Dr. Tanya Samman
Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Carney's first-ever project designated as being in the “national interest" is...a crude oil pipeline. That means the oil pipeline can bulldoze past environmental laws, impact assessments, and Indigenous consultation. It can also kill all of Vancouver's orcas. Here's what you need to know:
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Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
As @jameswsthomson.com noted already, the sheer audacity of Carney to begin his oil pipeline announcement by mentioning a wildfire that almost levelled the town. WHAT IS EXACERBATING THE WILDFIRES MARK???? MARK???
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 02/10/2026
AI weapons systems are already here. Algorithms must not decide who lives and dies | Kenneth Roth
theguardian.com
AI weapons systems are already here. Algorithms must not decide who lives and dies | Kenneth Roth
Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows the danger of using AI in warfare. Humans must remain at the center of wartime decisions
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
“There’s a fundamental contradiction between the tone Carney has struck at the summit and while globe-trotting, and the anger he showed this week after the Stelco news.” This is exactly correct. Another way of putting this is that Carney has been trying to run the old FDI playbook in a new world.…
thestar.com
Why laying off 500 workers at Hamilton's Stelco is an unpleasantly familiar warning for Mark Carney
From Stelco to Stellantis to shuttered factories, a pattern keeps repeating — and Carney's summit buzz won't fix it.
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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting.
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Jon B. Wolfsthal @jonatomic.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A.I. Is Going Rogue. Who Should Be Held Responsible? www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/t... AI companies is the only acceptable answer.
nytimes.com
Who’s to Blame When A.I. Goes Rogue?
Many think artificial intelligence companies should be held liable for their runaway technology. But legal scholars say applying existing law could be messy
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Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It was hard, especially as a survivor, but I dug through the court documents and the right-wing reaction to the Cornell case. What I've learned is the backlash to #MeToo did its job, reinscribing hatred of survivors. We need more #MeToo, not less. www.salon.com/2026/10/02/c...
salon.com
Cornell assault case shows #MeToo didn’t go far enough
The backlash against the woman suing Chi Phi fraternity members is turning into a witch hunt
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A glorious bit of How It Works here, being said openly in public
Alex Wickham € @alexwickham
X.com
Exclusive with @AlexDooler @DNair5
UAE officials have warned the UK government that the severity of Man City's punishment could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain, according to people familiar with the matter
They consider the Premier League's actions to have an influence on the bilateral state relationship, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing undisclosed information
The extraordinary pressure comes after Andy Burnham faced criticism, including from within government, for saying Man City's Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified specifically because of the investment they bring to Britain
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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Not long until we cut people out of this loop entirely, so that the machines can send each other their verbose sycophantic emails undisturbed by us pesky humans.
Cartoon by Tom Fishburne on how A.I. is transforming our day-to-day communications. In the left-hand panel, a man sits next to his computer and gestures to a single line of text showing on the screen. He explains to his neighbouring colleague how "A.I. turns this single bullet point into a long email I can pretend I wrote". In the right-hand panel, a woman somewhere else is sitting next to her computer gesturing to a big block of text, explaining to a colleague how "A.I. makes a single bullet point out of this long email I can pretend I read". And so the circle of life continues.
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Madame Decadent Sneezy-Bottom @darklyadapted.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
So should all golf courses perish. www.countryfile.com/news/a-new-n...
countryfile.com
New National Trust site has turned a golf course into a bustling wetland the size of 42 football pitches – here’s why it is so important | Countryfile.com
The Lincolnshire coastline has been transformed.
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 02/10/2026
My daughter is a graphic designer. She's kind of leaving the profession, maybe she'll go into psychology, but her colleagues in the field are suffering from this abuse of AI in the field. I don't think this is normal.
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 02/10/2026
> We do not throw each other under the bus in a civil society. I hope you understand this to be the bare minimum.
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 02/10/2026
> A hard ban on LLM/"AI" use in a FLOSS project is the moderate stance. I am not a moderate person. > Giving space to these machines is throwing the millions of people whose work they stole, the millions of people who suffer under their crawlers' assault under the bus. More at link below
come-from.mad-scientist.club
Be beating only just round the room, and with a grasshopper. Get.
Little creature!" said the Savage.
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Kimberly @kimbasgarden.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yes. And more horrifying still is the notion that the UAE might be a model for the world.
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Dr Mark | 北马克 |🍉🇦🇺🇲🇾🇹🇭 @ajaanmark.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Man, those sunglasses!
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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 02/10/2026
The next space race is not about making rockets faster, bigger or more capacious, but about reusing them reliably and cheaply. The US is well ahead, but can China catch up?
newscientist.com
Is China catching up to the US and SpaceX on reusable rockets? | New Scientist
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WHO @who.int · 02/10/2026
What is the world’s biggest killer? It's ischaemic heart disease, responsible for 16% of the world’s total deaths - that is equal to 9.5 million deaths in 2023. New global health estimates bit.ly/4z5Vfsx
Bar chart showing top global causes of death in 2023: Ischaemic heart disease leads, followed by stroke and COPD, with deaths in millions.
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Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · 02/10/2026
Great to see some coverage of great public instititions & servants doing their work www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Librarians Discuss the Challenges and Triumphs of Running a Library Today
We asked dozens of them about America’s libraries — what they provide, what they need to survive. Here’s what they told us.
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Nathan Tankus @nathantankus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Not the least bit surprising but still extremely grim to read. time.com/article/2026...
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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folukeifejola @folukeifejola.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
My fellow eccentrics: There are so many shamelessly evil people in the world. Be shamelessly eccentric and spread joy. You want to dance down your street? Do it. You want to talk to yourself on the bus? Go ahead. You want to wear an outfit someone described as "quirky"? Why not? Be happy. Be you.
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André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
How Canada’s experiment in private plasma turned into a blood feud. Grifols’s debut ignited a debate about a scarce and life-saving resource. Then, two deaths in Winnipeg supercharged it, by @hannay.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com
theglobeandmail.com
How Canada’s experiment in private plasma turned into a blood feud
Grifols’s debut ignited a debate about a scarce and life-saving resource. Then, two deaths in Winnipeg supercharged it
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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
He also, if walking behind a woman, intentionally changed pace to either walk around or slow way down, so she didn’t have a strange large man walking right behind her. This is basic decency. It’s recognizing that while HE knows he’s a nice guy, women have no way of knowing that.
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Natalie Wright, Ph.D. @coereba.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Dude, be the opposite of this. A (very large, tall) male friend once told me he knew it’s scary for women when he walks behind them, esp at night. So he pretends to call a friend to chat & says “yeah, I’m headed to X location, walking down Central now…” so women know he’s not following them.
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Alaina Wood @thegarbagequeen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I used to see maybe 1-3 monarch butterflies during migration season in East Tennessee, but now I'm seeing 3-6 a day thanks to people planting small native flower patches!! Keep on planting native, y'all. It's working!!
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
You won’t see any of the organizations or leaders associated with liberal democracy identity groups. They won’t be doing any lip service around “Black” or “gay“ orgs etc. They are already operating in a post Black and minority world that they intend to build.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
You will also see a smaller push to advocate for revolutionary or justice AI. They don’t have to court those organizations. most will willingly embrace the idea of it because funding environment for non profits is so bad.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Following the Pope’s encyclical about AI, you’re going to see a lot more religious intervention in shaping public opinion about tech companies. There are only two social institutions resilient enough to counter AI politically — states and religion. They bought the first. Standby on the second.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“For months, Anthropic has been hosting private meetings like this one, shuttling in dozens of religious scholars from across the world, papering them with nondisclosure agreements and demanding that key aspects of many conversations remain confidential.“ www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Is Claude Conscious? Inside Anthropic’s Quest to Instill Morality Into Its A.I. Models (Gift Article)
In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.
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Corey @kh0rish.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The dumbest possible reason to need Cyberpunk Red/2077’s “Blackwall”
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