Emily Bryson, PhD

A red-brown haired King Charles Cavalier is laying on his side under a desk with his ear flopped out. He is wedged between a table leg, chair leg, and his human mum’s foot. He seems happy with his placement and proximity to his mum.

My #wfh mate is keeping close this morning. I’m not moving without him knowing about it.

Don’t worry, I’m not trapped for long. Elevenses isn’t too far off and that’s when he gets his daily chewie. And he likes to keep to his snack schedule.

#DogMum #Academic

Sign up for February 2026 webinar Australia - Thursday 26th February AEDT 9 amCanada & USA - Wednesday 25th February EST 5pmFree registration. Sign up today and EPWN will email you an event link.Speaker Dr. Emily Bryson studieshttps:/...

Heads up to all my pals with #dogs:

I’m doing a webinar this week for @epwn.bsky.social on some of the common myths about #composting dog poo. I’ll cover my own #research and other #evidence out there.

Sign up in advance to chat with me live. It’ll be recorded, too.

www.epwn.org/post/view-fe...

#compost #dog #waste #manure #FoodWaste #WasteToResource #HomeCompost #sustainability #CompostQuality #CompostProcess #EnvironmentalScience #EnvironmentalManagement #organics #chemical #physical #indicators #contaminants #AppliedScience #AustralianStandard #research

Have you ever wondered if putting dog poo in your backyard compost would make a good soil conditioner for your home garden?
It can! You can even mix it with kitchen scraps.
But be patient - stability is the magic ingredient. Good home compost needs time, not heat.
🐶 💩 🪴 🗓️
doi.org/10.1016/j.ha...

A pale skinned woman glasses with purple curly hair smiles at a restaurant table. She is wearing a rainbow necklace and a dress with paw prints.

This is me at 49. Had a great day with my favourite person buying plants and sharing yumyums. Looking forward to more naps, playtime, and art making this year.

It’s not that complex. #auspol #climate

‘The CSIRO has found that extreme fire weather days have increased in Australia by 56 per cent over the past four decades.’

STOP SUBSIDISING & BURNING FOSSIL FUELS ASAP‼️ #Climatecrisis #auspol #BlackSummers
www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

PLEASE support a science-based future #Bushfire #ClimateEmergency #Heatwave
While this image shows the situation in #Victoria today, it’s not much better in NSW

Several parts of Australia are likely to face the worst heatwaves since the 2019/2020 bushfires.

Volunteers and underpaid frontline workers will step up to help communities.

Meanwhile, in just one year, the Australian government gave $14.9 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel producers and users.

Blergh. This makes it so much harder for authors to make revisions. I’ve been stuck for a week trying to address vague, generic R2 comments. Does my manuscript genuinely need all these changes or is this an LLM’s non-expert opinion? The other reviewer didn’t see the need for them.

That last point 💯. That was drilled into me early in my PhD and it’s something I pass on to my undergrad students every term. Also a frequent comment when I review manuscripts.

Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals, confirms “no opt-out" for authors The US publisher is the latest to capitalise on deals to give tech firms access to its authors’ content to train their Large Language Models (LLMs).

Everybody makes money out of academic authors except the authors...News.

Wiley is the latest academic publisher to reach a multi-million deal to allow access to its content to AI developers, with no opt out, let alone payment, for the authors who created that content.

An anole extends its dewlap, which says "call for scientists!"

Seeking scientist volunteers for this fall! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? I need collaborators for the next cohort of SciComm & Comics art and design students. All countries and scientific fields eligible.

Fossil Fuel and Petrochemical Lobbyists Overrun Plastics Treaty Negotiations - Center for International Environmental Law At least 234 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered to participate in the final scheduled round of plastics treaty negotiations (INC-5.2).

📈 New analysis by @ciel.org & other civil society organisations highlights another increase in #fossilfuel & petrochemical lobbyists to at least 234, outnumbering EU delegates, as well as @scientistscoa.bsky.social members by ~4: 1 at the #PlasticsTreaty negotiations!
www.ciel.org/news/inc-5-2...

My bestie @aclearing.bsky.social and I bought our first artwork today from the Incognito Art Show. All pieces are $100 and artists are anonymous during the sale. All profits support artists with disabilities.

Can’t wait to have this guy in our home. 🎨🐙🌈

#cephalopod #ArtForArtists #SciArt

If Jeff Bezos can afford to rent Venice for a $50 million wedding, he can afford to pay his fair share in taxes.

Sounds about right!

That looks like a joyful read based on the illustrations. Reminds me of Padma Lakshmi’s Taste the Nation series. We loved that.

A hand holds up a book in front of a white wall. The book title is “Faking It: Artificial Intelligence in a Human World” by Toby Walsh. FAKING IT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN A HUMAN WORLD TOBY WALSH Al will be as big a game-changer as the smart phone and nal computer - or bigger! This book will help you navigate the revolution! -Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Photo of the back of a book called Faking It. The brave new world of faking it ... Artificial intelligence is, as the name suggests, artificial and fundamentally different to human intelligence. Yet often the goal of Al is to fake human intelligence. This deceit has been there from the very beginning. We've been trying to fake it since Alan Turing answered the question 'Can machines think?' by proposing that machines pretend to be humans. Now we are starting to build Al that truly deceives us. Powerful Als such as ChatGPT can convince us they are intelligent and blur the distinction between what is real and what is simulated. In reality, they lack true understanding, sentience and common sense. But this doesn't mean they can't change the world. Can Al systems ever be creative? Can they be moral? What can we do to ensure they are not harmful? In this fun and fascinating book, Professor Toby Walsh explores all the ways Al fakes it, and what this means for humanity - now and in the future. 'Refreshingly clear-eyed ... Faking It is an insightful and intelligent book that's a must for those looking for facts about Al hype.' -Books+Publishing Toby Walsh is one of the world's leading researchers in artificial intelligence. He is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales and chief scientist at its new Al institute, UNSW.ai. He is also the author of three previous books about Al, including Machines Behaving Badly. ISBN 9781760644826

What are y’all reading these days?

I’ve just started Faking It by Toby Walsh, a Prof of AI at UNSW.

GenAI isn’t really my cup of tea, but it’s unavoidable as an academic now.

Looking for some guidance on how to teach my students to use it responsibly, if that’s even possible.

#booksky 💙📚

Seafood Animals Are Probably Sentient — Now What? - Faunalytics Evidence indicates that octopuses, squids, lobsters, crabs, and shrimps experience pain and suffering. The seafood industry needs to change.

Great summary by @faunalytics.bsky.social of our recent paper on welfare risks for cephalopods and decapods
faunalytics.org/seafood-anim...

Here’s a video of him tucking into his cake. It’s made from chicken, rice and veggies and “frosted” with mashed taters.
Bailey did share this with his dog friends, but, apparently, not before thoroughly tasting the whole thing!

A ruby coloured Cavalier King Charles dog sits in front of a colourful background with gold balloons that spell out “happy birthday”. He is looking intently at a birthday cake in front of him. The cake is wrapped in dog bones and a red festive ribbon. The top of the cake has red and orange “frosting” made from mashed potatoes and food colouring.

2 dogs at doggy daycare smile in front of a colourful background with black and white paw balloons and gold balloons spelling out “happy birthday”. Both dogs appear happy and have open mouths and pink tongues.

2 dogs at doggy daycare smile in front of a colourful background with black and white paw balloons and gold balloons spelling out “happy birthday”. Both dogs appear happy and have open mouths and pink tongues. The dog in the foreground is the birthday boy and is wearing a pink sequinned bow tie attached to his harness at his chest.

2 dogs at doggy daycare smile in front of a colourful background with black and white paw balloons and gold balloons spelling out “happy birthday”. Both dogs appear happy.

On a more joyful topic, Bailey had his 9-and-half birthday party at daycare last month. He changed doggy daycares in Jan and has been absolutely loving his new human and pup mates. They also take fun very seriously and throw awesome parties!
#DogMum #FurFriends

Average house price surpasses $1 million, sparking affordability fears The average home in Australia has surpassed $1 million for the first time, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The main drivers of the rise were increases in house prices in Western Aust...

This is bad news for so many people struggling to afford rent. Such a shame housing, an essential human right, has been co-opted as a tool for creating wealth.

I bought my first house, well, mortgage, ~1.5 years ago to escape the insecurity of renting with a dog.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06...

Screen shot of conference program showing Emily’s upcoming presentation on Wednesday June 4: Understanding and managing PFAS and microplastics in FOGO waste

Hey fellow compost nerds!

I’m really looking forward to next week’s AORA conference in Newcastle where I’ll be giving a talk on PFAS and microplastic contamination in FOGO waste.

Be sure to say hi and show me photos of your pets please.
#compost #microplastics #pfas

Breaking: Australia's largest gas project approved for operation to 2070 The life of Australia's largest oil and gas project will be extended to 2070, with Environment Minister Murray Watt giving the long-awaited environmental approval for Woodside's North West Shelf proje...

I feel sick. I feel angry. I feel so, so sad.

What a legacy, @albomp.bsky.social.

I'll NEVER forgive what you've done to this country and our future.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

Acronyms are one of my biggest pet peeves in academic literature. They’re fine for abbreviating an experiment’s treatments and commonly used things like UN SDGs and OECD.

But, seriously people, use your words. Readers shouldn’t have to have to play hide & seek to find out what you’re talking about.

Please listen to the story the birds are telling us #ForTheOceans

A bar graph titled Figure 2-1: Future Scenario of global data centre (DC) electricity consumption with the y-axis labeled Annual Electricity Consumption in TWh ranging from 0 to 1600. The x-axis spans from 2010 to 2030 with labels for 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025, and 2030. The graph shows stacked bars in different colors representing various categories: Other Data Centres in green, Cryptocurrencies in dark green, Large Scale DCs (10% CAGR) in light green, and Large Scale DCs (18% CAGR) in dark green with an upper scenario line. Data points are marked for years 2010 (487 TWh), 2015 (563 TWh), 2020 (661 TWh), 2025 (879 TWh), and 2030 (1381 TWh). Source compilation based on IEA 2022, Deloitte 2024, McKinsey 2024, LBNL 2024, Digiconomist 2025.

A bar graph titled Figure 2-4: Estimated greenhouse gas emissions from data centres (2023-2030) by type with the y-axis labeled Million tonnes CO2e from data centres by type ranging from 0 to 400. The x-axis spans from 2023 to 2030. The graph shows stacked bars in different colors representing various categories: Other DC in light green, Cryptocurrencies DC in dark green, and AI specific DC in green. Data points are marked for each year: 2023 (212, 55, 28), 2024 (217, 55, 30), 2025 (242, 55, 30), 2026 (267, 63, 40), 2027 (292, 63, 81), 2028 (317, 63, 103), 2029 (342, 63, 151), 2030 (366, 63, 196). Source: own calculation based on expected electricity consumption (Figure 2-1), electricity emission factors from ember-energy.org and comments on declining emission factors.

Fantastic and very detailed, evidence-based report from @greenpeace.eu @oekoinstitut.bsky.social
out today on the environmental impacts of uncontrolled data centre expansion, predicated largely on machine learning applications like generation of text and images ->

www.greenpeace.de/publikatione...