@laurap18
South African sustainability scientist. Prof in Sustainability Transformations and Futures at Global Change Institute, Wits University and researcher at Stockholm Resilience Centre. IPBES expert, Earth Commissioner and general academic traveller
Thinking of those with Iranian links in the UK, worrying about family and friends.
"There is every chance the regime will get tougher on Iranians to cover its vulnerability. I worry that ordinary people in Iran and beyond will be in harm’s way.”
www.thetimes.com/world/middle...
Headlines moved on quickly from the schoolgirls in Minab. We don’t know their names; no media profiles about their lives and aspirations. No smiling photos attached to quotes from mourning families.
How unfair that some dead are memorialised while others are relegated to ‘estimated casualties.’
A new study published today in @natsustain.nature.com reveals major blind spots in global sustainability research, overlooking critical strategies, sectors & actors needed to address climate & biodiversity crises. #SystemsChange
transformationscommunity.org/news/new-ana...
Just don’t link to the paper or we’ll have the 🧌 s after us
Guys… gold dust of narratives. I can’t believe this is actually published (thankfully in the appendix… who reads the appendix 👀- unless they’ve had their eyes gene spliced)
🚨 HUGE NEWS! 🚨
All Will Rise is now LIVE on Kickstarter! Fundraising has begun to bring our revenge fantasy against the powerful to life.
Want to try before you fund? All Will Rise currently has a demo on Steam too!
Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/spe...
#IndieGame #GameDev #IndieDev
The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.
A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.
Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.
This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.
‘Give your love a book or something’ ❤️ 🥀
Then we need to make a plan!
A view of the IPBES 12 Plenary in Manchester former railway station.
IPBES Chair David Obura.
Working Group 1 Co-Chair Eeva Primmer providing an update during the stocktaking plenary.
Working Group 2 Co-Chair Hesiquio Benítez Díaz providing an update during the stocktaking plenary.
This morning, delegates at #IPBES12 heard about progress across negotiation groups
The @ipbes.net Plenary is wrapping up on Sunday and delegates need to finalize their consideration of the #BizBiodiversity Assessment and other outstanding matters before then
New Paper ❗️
🪸Reimagining #CoralReef futures
Where we develop aspirational visions for coral reefs towards a #SafeAndJust space
👇🏽
doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00179-6
With @joachimclaudet.bsky.social @jessicablythe.bsky.social @vbrn.bsky.social et al @sthlmresilience.bsky.social
*DEADLINE EXTENDED* February 8
Submit your suggestions and nominate (yourself or others) as a co-author for the 2026 edition of the 10 New Insights in Climate Science
⚡ #BreakingNews ⚡ / 🚨 Paper Alert! 🚨
🚀 The Ocean Equity Index is out! 🫂 🎣 🐟
The Ocean Equity Index (#OEI) is a tool to guide the development of more equitable #ocean #governance and #management.
📰 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
🚨 Paper Alert! 🚨
🪸🐟🎣🫂 Reimagining #CoralReef futures 🌟🌠🌌
♾️ Visions + narratives constitute key stepping stones to reimagining desirable relationships between people and coral reefs and speak to both anticipatory and adaptive pathways toward desired change.
doi.org/10.1038/s441...
Today’s crises aren’t just about what we do but who decides and what we value.
Commissioner @laurap18.bsky.social highlights the need to rethink the goals and power structures shaping our economic and governance systems.
A #SafeAndJust future means changing direction, not just speed.
🌊 The global community has made ambitious commitments to advancing ocean equity – what is missing is a transparent & replicable way to measure equity and track progress 🐠
📢 Our new @nature.com paper, the #OceanEquityIndex, offers a simple yet robust solution: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Honoured to be able to speak today on the #BBNJ and #oceangovernance and what this means for #Africa here on the @greenpeace.org #RainbowWarrior 🌈 🌊
"But when I landed in Minneapolis and saw the size, scope and lawlessness of the federal onslaught unfolding here, I understood that Good’s killing was emblematic of its true mission: to stage a spectacle of cruelty upon a city that stands in stark defiance of Trump’s dark vision of America."
💙So excited for this epic project with @joachimclaudet.bsky.social @sebasvillasante.bsky.social and the e rest of the team @inspiriprojecteu.bsky.social
🌊Watch this space over the next 3 years 💪🏾
🌊 How do we imagine the future of European oceans and waters? We proudly introduce INSPIRI – an EU funded Horizon Europe project dedicated to co-designing actionable visions for a restored ocean and water system in the EU by 2030 and 2050.
Watch our launch video below to learn more!
After a long journey: why user values, power relationships and language have to be accounted for to construct user-relevant trustworthy climate information: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... @wegenercenter.bsky.social @stefansobo.bsky.social @laurap18.bsky.social @leabdiaz.bsky.social
"The Trump administration’s oil grab and plans to expand Venezuelan production flouts last year’s landmark climate ruling from the International Court of Justice"
@ninalakhani.bsky.social's first piece for @drilledmedia.bsky.social:
drilled.media/news/Venezue...
Great thread here 👇🏽
As I often say, you cannot distinguish justice as a research or policy objective from epistemic injustice and knowledge politics - if our research is based on positivist models of Western science, we won't see the real problems - and maybe not even the solutions. I recommend reading both papers...
Solidarity with climate warriors @harjeet11.bsky.social & Jyoti Aswati, whose Delhi home was raided by Indian authorities amid outrageous claims their fossil fuels campaign is funded by foreign actors and threatens national security - part of a global crackdown
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.” 🧪
IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors. 🌍
Split-screen image on a deep green background. Left side contains a statement from Dr David Obura, IPBES Chair, regarding the US withdrawal from IPBES and extinction threats to over 1 million species. Right side shows a photograph of a man wearing glasses, dressed in a dark jacket and grey shirt, seated at a conference table with a microphone. The IPBES logo appears at the bottom with the tagline "Science and Policy for People and Nature". The design features white typography on the dark green background, creating a professional contrast. Several small pins or badges are visible on the speaker's jacket.
“We cannot withdraw from the fact that over 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction.”
IPBES remains committed to its mandate to provide the most credible science and evidence about biodiversity to all decision makers and actors.
— @davidobura.bsky.social , @ipbes.net Chair
There, the expedition aims to establish a 'zero baseline' for monitoring biodiversity in the Eastern Weddell Sea.
Read more about the expedition and Susa Niiranens role on our webpage: buff.ly/dS4W6tM
And follow the expedition here: buff.ly/b03rFUO
'Every state not calling out this blatant aggression helps hold the axe that shatters the international order.'
Why the biggest problem for international law is not the invasion of Venezuela and capture of President Maduro, but how the US and the world made sense of it ⬇️
