iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Rebecca Williams @volcanologist.bsky.social · 15h

Turning knowledge generation into an economic endeavour is the root cause of problems in UK Higher Education. From student loans & tuition fees, through to UKRI 'growth agenda'. Knowledge stopped being valued as intrinsic good for society leading to less* being generated overall.

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Monica @jolemamels.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I’m tired of this grandpa eagles fan well that’s too damn bad Nick sirianni

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Darin Self @darinself.com · 28/09/2026

The mayor of Ithaca (my friend and former fellow PhD candidate in Government at Cornell) announces a moratorium on permitting Greek Life activities until Cornell produces new standards of addressing sexual assault.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

There are few things more frustrating than watching a poorly coached football team

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Jimmy Kempski @jimmykempski.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Certainly, the Bears are thrilled they punted.

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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I would humbly suggest that we start covering the wide receivers #GoBirds

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Chris Widga @widga.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Although I can't be with those of you who are out in the rain advocating for your museum today...I thought I might be a good idea to post some Academy of Natural Sciences fossils to keep you warm and dry on the inside. @savetheacademy.bsky.social

An ammonite scultpure outside the side entrance of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Another dimension of this whole discussion is that more alfalfa and less row crops would be a good thing in the Midwest and Great Plains from the standpoint of both soil erosion and water quality.

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And this bit: "Areas that often have wet soil with high humidity show significant declines in alfalfa productivity. Diseases of the root and crown occur under excessively wet conditions (S. B. Orloff et al., 1997). The arid climate in the western United States is thus ideal for production."

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

And this is relevant: "In California, alfalfa is a $1B/year crop feeding a $5B/year dairy industry, the largest agricultural sector in the state. California is now the #1 dairy state, while New Mexico (#9), Arizona (#13), Colorado (#15), and Utah (#21) are also key national dairy producers."

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This report is *fascinating*.

crbagwater.colostate.edu

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Alfalfa's an excellent nitrogen fixer--it does in some sense the *opposite* of nutrient leeching and is a key part of crop rotation. It basically can't go away completely and have viable farming (another reason I don't like this discourse), but monocropping it is also horrible idea.

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Elizabeth V @geolizzy.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Eastern water law is gonna have to change too. Climate is getting drier and they continue to use water like it’s infinite. VA DEQ put out a report that the Potomac Aquifer is getting depleted leading to subsidence and salt water intrusion. And many of the withdrawals are unpermitted so big problem

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Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Vote for the mineral that literally moves mountains. Vote #Halite. #MinCup26 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology #geosky #GIS 🍎 🪐 🔭 🌋 📚 🌿

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Eos @eos.org · 26/09/2026

See here! We're voting for #quartz in today's #MinCup26 quartz-erfinals. Gaze at this quartz (and bronze, marble, frit and obsidian) @metmuseum.org find from ancient Greece ... www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Eyes ready to be inset into an over-life-size sculpture in ancient Greece

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Kepler 🍁ΘΔ @andromedaphoenix.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Team art history again with Cuprite's use as a pigment! Also wow what a close vote rn #MinCup26

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Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Girl dinner

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Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A Thoreau quote you might not know: "There is no such thing as pure objective observation. Your observation, to be interesting, i.e. to be significant, must be subjective." (May 6, 1854)

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Harold Tobin @haroldtobin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Back from a 5 day backpacking-as-field-work venture into the Olympic mountains interior. We covered 45 miles on the Skyline Ridge trail and back, with 16,000 feet of total vertical in 5 days. All to recon another swath of deeply subducted rocks from the paleo-seismogenic zone. Subduction rocks! ⚒️

Two geologists hiking along steep bare hillside seen from behind, with distant moountain ridge and blue sky.

Close up shot of rock outcrop of severely deformed meta-sedimentary rocks with a block-in-matrix melange fabric. Pencil shown for scale.

Geologist standing at dusk against a rocky landscape, brushing their teeth with a headlamp on.

Person stands on rocky knob against blue skyline with Mt. Olympus (Washington) in background.

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Prof Col Macpherson @colinmacpherson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Better still - use the fact that it gives them access to the Hugoton gas field, one of the world's major helium sources, thus allowing them to keep their party balloons aloft.

Map of western Oklahoma showing the states surrounding the panhandle, plus the extent of the Hugoton Gas Field.

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Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This morning Krugman published a piece on this issue and used this argument when he cited Jared Bernstein. Bernstein makes the point clearly. "refiners will be seeking to replace lost profits from exports, and thus will try to avoid passing through the full savings" Protip: They will avoid

substack.com

Shutting in Domestic Diesel Through Export Controls Won’t Work

If the admin wants to lower energy prices, they need to end the damn war.

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Elizabeth V @geolizzy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I’m voting for the copper ore #chrysocolla today and not the one that can give you hypertension #MinCup26

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Maya Wei-Haas, PhD @mayaweihaas.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

BIG NEWS! I’m writing a book about the amazing processes of the deep Earth that shaped the surface as we know it. We’ll venture from the crust to the core, examining the surprising links that connect us to Earth’s deepest reaches. I’m so excited to dig in! ⚒️🧪🪨🌎🌋

Screenshot of book announcement reads: Science journalist Maya Wei-Haas, PhD's HOW EARTH
WORKS: THE HIDDEN MACHINE BENEATH OUR FEET, an adventure into the 12 geological processes that have turned this planet from a ball of rock into the most dynamic self-regulating system in the known universe, to Mo Crist at Bloomsbury, at auction, by Becky Sweren at Aevitas Creative Management (NA). Rights also to Sarah Rigby at Elliott & Thompson (UK). Rights:
efiles@aevitascreative.com

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Eos @eos.org · 22/09/2026

Another #MinCup26 matchup, another contender that looks like a mineralized version of a marine creature. This time it’s #pyromorphite that gets our vote with an admirable impression of a spiny sea urchin.

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Elizabeth V @geolizzy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It’s certainly not a mining company, that’s for sure. It turns out a legitimate exploration company (Greenland Mines) was bought out by Klotho Neurosciences, Inc back in March. For what reason? I have no idea.

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Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It’s official, the 2026 El Niño has broken a record for the highest ocean anomaly in 170+ years… Incredibly reaching that threshold a full 2 months ahead of 2015’s record of +3.02C set on Nov 18th. See that red line? That’s 2026. Every other bold line are the strongest El Niño’s on record. 1/

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felinecannonball @felinecannon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Couldn't find the graph I wanted at the energy information agency, so I made one. Appears they are scraping the bottom of the barrel with the strategic petroleum reserve and may stop short of drawing down to the statutory minimum reserve due to engineering issues. www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/his...

chart showing reserves and withdrawals from the SPR. Statuatory minimum reserve is 252 million barrels. Practical engineering limit is 250-300 million barrels. Reserves as of 9/11 were 284 million barrels.

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VMSG @vmsg.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We're excited to announce registration for our 2027 VMSG Annual Meeting in Cambridge is now open! See our webpage here: vmsg.org.uk/events/vmsg2... For this year we also have bursary support available to help attendees, deadline to apply 9th October!

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Mikki Brock @mikkibrock.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

good lord. this is ridiculous and so demoralizing for faculty and students alike. if you are unwilling or unable to write your own stuff--be it op-eds, articles, or emails--then you should not be working at a university, much less leading one.

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Ross O'Connor @oconnor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Good luck with that. Canada exports more potash to the US than Belarus produces.

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Vicky Veritas @vickyveritas.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Since the minerals, liquids, and gases are well protected from chemical alteration, #quartz inclusions open a window to the past that can help scientists reconstruct the chemical and physical conditions that existed when the rock formed.

This bubble is in liquid inside of a negative crystal which is in a quartz cabochon host. In other words, a two-phase inclusion that happens to be in a negative crystal. (Photos: Wimon Manorotkul)

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christina @xtinatheegreat.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

another week, another win 😭

the eagles do not care about my cardiovascular health!!!

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ben @vtben.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Losing to the Tennessee Titans would be a new recent low for the Eagles, I told my wife the TC Williams Titans that Denzel coached could beat the NFL Titans.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Drexel clearly only gave us 3 weeks notice before they close the Museum to give us insufficient time to properly organize. But in that time we made a petition w/8000+ signers, hosted a rally with hundreds of people, held a press conference at city Council who then voted to investigate Drexel, & more

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Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Any university claiming the have the authority itself to evaluate a discipline is tacitly challenging all of the professionals and professions that the university hosts but which enjoy legitimacy precisely because they independent of particular corporate interests of a university organization.

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I think it is important not to connect these in the wrong way. We have seen, again and again now, Wokeness or DEI offered as an explanation, especially where any noticeable number of the lucky few to get the chance at a career come from fields dealing with such “divisive” topics as gender or race.

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

But academia itself has a similar (not identical; but maybe related) problem. There are a few stars, and a larger handful of people privileged with secure senior positions. And there is a sea of casual labour. But there is less and less of a middle where people can make real careers by solid work.

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Elizabeth V @geolizzy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Interestingly, they claim to be able to recover high purity silica “and potentially alumina, iron and copper”. And this is where I get skeptical because they are basically claiming that can recover almost everything and have very few tailings. If they can do it, it would be great, but we shall see.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Help! Parton Community Council has 60 days to raise £70k to buy Parton Kirk (resting place of James Clerk Maxwell). They plan to turn it into a visitor centre celebrating our great hero! The other buyers could turn it into long-term storage 😬 Even £5 would help 🙏🧪⚛️ www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

justgiving.com

Help raise £70000 to Save Parton Kirk – JustGiving Crowdfunding

Iʼm raising money to Save Parton Kirk. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

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Volcano Earth @volcanoearth.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The image below is a translated summary of INGV's weekly report on Etna. Transcript included in the alt-text. Source (Italian): www.ct.ingv.it/index.php/mo...

$In light of the monitoring data, the following stands out: 1) VOLCANOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS: Degassing activity at variable levels from the summit craters, associated with almost continuous ash emissions from the Northeast Crater; weak and sporadic Strombolian activity and occasional ash emissions from the Bocca Nuova Crater. 2) SEISMOLOGY: Low fracturing seismic activity: only one event reached the ML>=2.0 threshold. Tremor amplitude is between a low and medium level. 3) INFRASOUND: Low-energy infrasonic activity with occurrence frequencies varying between low and very high levels. 4) GROUND DEFORMATIONS: Signals from ground deformation monitoring networks showed no significant changes. 5) GEOCHEMISTRY: SO2 flux at a medium level. CO2 flux from the soil (Etnagas): at average values. Partial pressure of dissolved CO2 in groundwater (EtnaAcque Network): no updates. Helium isotopic ratio at peripheral sites: no updates, last data was high (August 26, 2026). 6) SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS: Thermal activity observed by satellite in the summit area was generally low. 7) OTHER OBSERVATIONS: RADONETNA network data during September 2026 showed anomalies at the southern flank sites that preceded by a few days those observed at the northern flank sites. EXPECTED SCENARIOS Frequent explosive activity at the summit craters with the formation of ash clouds and fallout of coarse pyroclastic materials, accompanied by lava emissions in the summit area. A rapid escalation of ongoing activity into more energetic events with eruptive columns, ash clouds, and collapses of parts of the summit cones forming pyroclastic flows cannot be ruled out.$

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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 16/09/2026

the hardest thing for the politician-bureaucrats to understand -- but which NSF staff *absolutely do* understand and always have -- is that you actually make scientific progress by giving young people money and promising not to bother them

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Early Career and Post-Docs This is an important part of our community. Trying to think of how best support, but no new announcements for now.

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The fallacy that University leaders pushing AI are falling into is thinking that the point of undergraduate research is to find things out. It isn't. What students find out is typically already generally known. The point of undergraduate research is to learn how to find things out.

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Chrysocolla sounds like a butterfly species, and is just as delicate and mesmerizing. Commonly found with glorious-green copper minerals like malachite, you just can't help but fall in love with these interference colors. Vote the copper beauty this round! #MinCup26 ⚒️

From Alex Streikesen: "Fibrous aggregates of chrysocolla (high interference colors). Copper ore, Arizona (USA). XPL image, 10x (Field of view = 2mm)". Link: https://www.alexstrekeisen.it/english/meta/chrysocolla.php

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Nick Barber 🌋 @volcannick.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I will always be ride or die for my favorite inosilicate family, the ever perplexing amphibole group! The utility of #riebeckite in curling only adds to the alure. Vote riebeckite!! #MinCup26 ⚒️🌋

Sample box with pencil for scale. Label reads “riebeckite.” Two dark great minerals visible. One in back injected with quartz veins, and showing distinctive amphibole cleavage

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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Overall more quartz than I would have expected *and* what are pretty clearly olivine grains. Lots of "dark" minerals compared to similar Earth sand. Weird! But not surprising, maybe, given lack of an active water cycle. Grain roundness is also interesting....

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