Ben Walther

Viomalin? Tubamaba? Obomoboe?... Oh, saxamaphone!

Message me with any questions!

Do you work on connectivity and management of #estuarine dependent species? Submit to our Special Collection on in the journal Estuaries & Coasts! Open submission with a deadline of June 1, 2026. More information at bit.ly/ESCOconnectivity @cerfscience.bsky.social @estuariescoasts.bsky.social

Dewey Mears took this moody, atmospheric photo of Austin's Congress Avenue in 1947. It's almost film-noirish, isn't it? I wonder what it was like to walk down the sidewalk when Austin was a normal, quiet town. 😉

From the Austin History Center, a great place to visit if you're in downtown Austin.

Three curves (carbon dioxide, temperature and sea level) showing historical climate changes covering the last 2000 years.

Climate variations over the last 2000 years provide valuable context and help answer questions about how unusual the recent changes are.

Now with added global sea level rise: climatelabbook.substack.com/p/climate-ch...

Graphics: ed-hawkins.github.io/climate-visu...

#octopusday #worldoctopusday

Tomorrow morning! Come hear about hypoxia and fishes! Register at bit.ly/4oTTo5V

#Eels and isotopes, oh my! New paper out from my lab led by the amazing @mikecurtis.bsky.social! What kind of variation is found in #stableisotopes in American eel in the understudied subtropical part of its range? Find out now! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Are you interested in #hypoxia and #oceans? Come attend this webinar on 23 September! I'll be presenting some work from our #otolith methods to reconstruct hypoxia histories in fish, and talking with some wonderful colleagues about global change! Register at bit.ly/4oTTo5V

Excited to be a part of this new and fantastic paper!

How easy is it to fudge your scientific rank? Meet Larry, the world’s most cited cat “Exercise in absurdity” reveals flaws in Google Scholar’s productivity metrics

Larry Richardson appeared to be an early-career mathematician with potential, racking up more than 130 citations in 4 years.

It would all be rather remarkable—if the studies weren’t complete gibberish. And if Larry wasn’t a cat. #InternationalCatDay scim.ag/4lg3wTp

Postdoctoral Researcher All Job Postings will close at 12:01a.m. CST (1:01a.m. EST) on the specified Closing Date (if designated). If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application progre...

Fun news: I'm hiring a postdoc in ichthyology!

Please spread the word #TeamFish, and message me if you have questions.

(Job requisition id is R00107333 if LSU link below takes you elsewhere.)

lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/LSU/de...

I'm pleased to be participating in a @cerfscience.bsky.social webinar on Communicating with Policy Makers on 28 September. Free to CERF members. Check it out.

www.cerf.science/index.php?op...

Atlantic Mackerel (Scomber scombrus) and their beautifully patterned backs.
County Clare, Ireland.

Meet the CERF 2025–2027 Governing Board Officers! Join us in congratulating CERF’s new President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer 🎉 Learn more about the incoming Board and Affiliate Society Representatives at ow.ly/EjMR50Wublt

Meet the 2025–2027 CERF Governing Board Members at Large! Join us in congratulating our new Members at Large and Student Member at Large 🎉Learn more about the incoming Board and Affiliate Society Representatives at ow.ly/bOfc50Wublr

Academia:
"Dear Dr. Gleick, write 10,000 words for us and we won't charge you for it."

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Your AFS SciComm Section will be hosting another student feedback session on Thursday, July 31 at 7:00pm CT. We encourage student members to attend and present their presentation or poster for the upcoming @americanfisheries Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX! Students will receive feedback from other AFS SciComm Section members on how to improve their presentations ahead of their big days in the Lonestar State. Members can find a link to access the 7/31 feedback session in their email.

We will be hosting another student feedback session on Thursday, July 31 at 7pm CT. Students can receive feedback on how to improve their #fishscicomm ahead of their big days at the @amfisheriessoc.bsky.social Annual Meeting in the Lonestar State.

Kicked off #SharkWeek with a student research panel at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library! Jaz, Katie, and Kyle presented lightning talks on their shark-related work here at the Island University. 🦈 #TAMUCC

What's marine functional connectivity? And where is the research going next? I'm excited to be a part of this new major review of the field along with some amazing colleagues! Check it out! doi.org/10.3354/meps...

What it took to get tenure in the Batman Studies Department in the 1960s, and what it takes to get tenure in Batman Studies today...

PhD-level intelligence or the graduate student from hell AI companies love to tout that their models are approaching—or have reached—PhD-level intelligence. This is blatant nonsensical marketing geared towards an audience that deeply misunderstands what a P...

Some thoughts on the performance of current AI models in a research setting.
open.substack.com/pub/clauswil...

A black and white photo of a middle aged white man dressed in a white dress shirt and plaid tie with round glasses. Four lizards are crawling on his shirt and tie.

Ideal professional headshot

Oh yay! I'm so glad y'all connected!!

Reviews and syntheses: Review of proxies for low-oxygen paleoceanographic reconstructions Abstract. A growing body of observations has revealed rapid changes in both the total inventory and the distribution of marine oxygen over the latter half of the 20th century, leading to increased int...

A mammoth effort from all involved. Great to see this published. bg.copernicus.org/articles/22/...

High-resolution biologging of an Atlantic bluefin tuna captured and eaten by a supposed orca - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - High-resolution biologging of an Atlantic bluefin tuna captured and eaten by a supposed orca

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Loving this paper on recent collaboration between Cefas and partners, including @universityofexeter.bsky.social

...in essence, tagging of a tuna that got eaten by a whale 🍣

HOMEWORK MACHINE The Homework Machine, oh the Homework Machine Most perfect contraption that's ever been seen. Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime, Snap on the switch, and in ten seconds' time, Your homework comes out, quick and clean as can be. Here it is — "nine plus four?" and the answer is "three." Three? Oh me ... I guess it's not as perfect As I thought it would be.

shel silverstein on the LLM, 1981

Uncertain United States seafood sustainability in a manufactured crisis In 2025, the United States (U.S.) administration issued a new Executive Order (EO), Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness, intensifying efforts t…

Uncertain United States seafood sustainability in a manufactured crisis
By @dochfroehlich.bsky.social @jagephart.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The impact of invasive fishes lasts a lifetime -
we found lifetime trophic shifts in native species using fish eye lens stable isotope analysis coupled with otolith growth measurements 🐟 👁️ 📈

Check out the new pub with @oldenfish.bsky.social
esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Thank you!