Talking science news on @newstalkfm.bsky.social shortly with new research on what happens to red blood cells during trail ultramarathons. Obviously I will use this as a pretense to talk about the trail ultras I used to do (longest was 62km, so nothing too extreme). I miss it!
An illustration by the artist Ruth Graham, where the proportions of different elements are connected to their frequency as a response to the question: What have you appreciated about the outdoors recently?'. There is a very large bird in the foreground, along with some small flowers and insects. There are also some trees and roughly 20% of the image is water. The sun is also very large, and it has a smiley face. There is a medium size mountain in the middle left that has 'Things we appreciate in nature' written on it.
We have a cool new paper out in @jscicom.bsky.social 🧪, where we combined climate change and comedy!
@jessamynfairfield.bsky.social and Katy Schütte created an improv show that toured rural Irish communities. I evaluated the shows, and the results are in this new paper. 1/
doi.org/10.22323/157...
I mean this, academics. If you don't feel capable of embedding a trans perspective into your class for time or expertise reasons, ask me and I will come talk to them for you.
I will even try to relate it to paleogeology (or history, English, drama...), god help me.
Photo of a glacial lake in Switzerland with year markers showing the retreat of the glacier.
Going on @newstalkfm.bsky.social shortly to speak about glacial retreat and what it means for mountain communities around the world. Listen in to #Futureproof here: www.goloudplayer.com/radio/newstalk
And for more about our work and how it combines science and improvisation to explore climate change in rural communities, check out our website: webuiltthiscity.ie/about/
A group of improvisers and scientists posing in front of a banner reading 'We Built This City on Rock and Coal'.
We've just had our wonderful first shows of 2025 for We Built This City on Rock and Coal up in Mayo and Donegal, and learned that the project is shortlisted for the #FallingWallsEngage award! Read about brilliant science engagement from around the world here: falling-walls.com/engage/short...
Three women smiling in front of a museum logo backdrop.
So amazed by the @eusea.bsky.social community, and grateful for the opportunity to facilitate a workshop on improvised theatre for engagement with societal challenges based on our project 'We Built This City on Rock and Coal'. What a wonderful group of people bringing together science and arts!
I'm grateful for those who are fighting back, and in the longterm much of this will likely be reversed (already being challenged in courts). Back on Futureproof this weekend with @jonathanmccrea.bsky.social and @shanedbergin.bsky.social to talk science news, because we've gotta keep going.
It's incredible to me that DOGE/etc is being sold as an efficiency initiative, when it wastes so much money, knowledge, and talent that may never be recovered. This is a loss to science in the US and globally.
I know so many people affected by the cuts at NSF/NIH/NOAA, from firings to grant cancellations to politically motivated attacks on research topics like vaccines, transgender healthcare, and climate change.
I was on the radio recently talking about Trump's war on science, a horrific attempt to dismantle the apparatus of science itself. www.newstalk.com/podcasts/fut...
Improv is amazing, and I'm really pleased to be bringing this workshop to @eusea.bsky.social exploring how we used improvised theatre to talk about the climate crisis in our show We Built This City on Rock and Coal!
Photo of Antarctic snow and sea, with a poorly lit smiling woman in sunglasses in front
Hard to know what to do in such "interesting times". We don't have control over a lot, but we can help others, so I'm heading back to Antarctica as faculty for Homeward Bound working with women and non-binary people on leadership for the greater good. A more just world is possible, if we make it!
Gritty holding a pride flag with the message "love is luv"
Gritty continues to be a real one
The insanity of being a fire ecologist in the epicenter of a major fire event, bags packed and ready to evacuate, watching active fire from my window, while taking media requests and explaining to the public, for the 100,000th time how climate change is largely responsible for this
Universities aren't supposed to make money.
Have you ever wondered why should researchers do public engagement events have a read of @jessamynfairfield.bsky.social paper
If gaining communication skills, creative expression, and competence are not enough.
If done right like Bright Club it can be really good fun.
Amazing! Congratulations!!
A TNG scene. We're in the Enterprise conference room, where Picard is holding a meeting with Data, Troi, and Dr Crusher. Barclay is also there, for unknown reasons. Maybe he wandered into the meeting and just sat down, and everyone was too polite to mention it. That happened to me once. I was visiting an office location I didn't normally go to and I wasn't quite sure which conference room I was supposed to be in. I walked into one and sat down and it took me five minutes to realize I was in the wrong meeting. From the perspective of the people in that room, halfway through that meeting, a stranger walked in, sat next to the boss, took notes for five minutes, then walked out without saying a word.
At its heart, Star Trek is a utopian fantasy about a society so advanced that they are capable of holding productive meetings that last no longer than three minutes
president tries to seize power in south korea? significant resistance. president tries to seize power in brazil? president is arrested and banned from running again. president tries to seize power in america? the courts grant him total immunity and the voters reelect him with an allied congress
Same! There are 3 awesome starter packs from @annapr.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/anna...
This thread is 🔥🔥🔥
My US absentee ballot was challenged by some crank who tried to disenfranchise overseas voters in Pennsylvania (who are predominantly Democrats). It was horrible until the ACLU stepped in. www.aclupa.org/en/press-rel...
Voting in #ge2024 was my first general election since I got Irish citizenship, and I have to say it was a way better experience than absentee voting in the last US election. PR-STV is great for voting your actual values, and no one is engaging in voter suppression? What a place!
Yesss I'm delighted to see this! No better person to do it!
This feels like a description of improv!
...while most US anti-trans activism is steeped religious right framings, Mace's rhetoric lately (on gametes & her critics supposedly "silencing" her as a woman) sounds like she's been binging UK "gender critical" blogposts. those talking points debunked here:
juliaserano.medium.com/a-gender-cri...
Oh no, so sorry to hear this Shaun!
I'm well thanks, and delighted you are here!
#sneachta falling in Galway!
