Richard Fisher

Orcas haven’t changed, but our view of the killer whale has | Aeon Essays Sea pandas or sadistic killers? These enigmatic creatures invite contradictory labels that say far more about us than them

‘A historical view of our relationship with orcas reveals that they have often served as a Rorschach test for humanity’s conflicted attitudes toward the sea.’ This Essay by environmental historian Jason Colby explores how our understanding of orcas has shifted over the last century

Thanks for sharing Caspar

In an early draft, Jason speculated that now would be a timely moment to (re)make a movie about a revenge-seeking orca. To our great surprise, we learnt somebody already has, and it's just come out

The long-term relationship between people and orcas, from killers to sea pandas to avengers - an excellent essay from historian Jason Colby that was a pleasure to work on aeon.co/essays/orcas...

Ask Wirecutter: Stop Stressing About Turning Off the Lights When Leaving the Room! If you’re of a certain age, you may be following outdated light bulb advice.

Major news for Dads everywhere www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...

Thank you, that's nice to hear - Elay put a LOT of hours into explaining it

I don't know if that was generally incredibly well-written, or if I just think so because it had exactly the level of technical detail I required to stick with the thread, but damn that was an interesting read.

Philosopher @elayshech.bsky.social explains the mind-bending reality of a third class of 2D particles called 'anyons' - using baseballs, holes, loops, and a coffee cup that's topologically equivalent to a doughnut
aeon.co/essays/anyon...

The life and work of Satyendra Nath Bose - who lent his name to bosons, collaborated with Einstein, and shaped quantum mechanics aeon.co/essays/why-s...

If you missed this before Christmas, this @aeon.co piece by
@karenlloyd.bsky.social is terrific. I really enjoyed working on it. (+ thanks to my colleague Sam Dresser for the inspired headline: 'Long live the aeonophiles!') aeon.co/essays/the-d...

This was the most read piece on Psyche in Nov/Dec and I can't get enough of the picture psyche.co/guides/how-t...

The discovery of aeonophiles expands our definition of life | Aeon Essays The discovery of organisms that have been alive for many thousands of years requires a revolution in how we understand life

They're not "waiting to return to the surface," they're waiting for the planet to be blasted into pebbles to that they can reach another star-system #panspermia #intraterrestrials #aeonophiles

https://aeon.co/essays/the-discovery-of-aeonophiles-expands-our-definition-of-life

The discovery of aeonophiles expands our definition of life | Aeon Essays The discovery of organisms that have been alive for many thousands of years requires a revolution in how we understand life

The discovery of organisms that have been alive for many thousands of years requires a revolution in how we understand life. An Essay by @karenlloyd.bsky.social

The unfinished painting that captures perfectionism | Psyche Notes to Self When you need to complete a complex task, imagine daubing paint on a canvas rather than perfecting intricate brushwork

When you need to complete a complex task, imagine daubing paint on a canvas rather than perfecting intricate brushwork. A Note to Self by @richardfisher.bsky.social

As an editor for @aeon.co, commissioning an essay about ultra-long-lived organisms called *aeonophiles* was a no-brainer. I loved working on this. Biologist @karenlloyd.bsky.social's research is deeply fascinating... + check out her brilliant book Intraterrestrials! aeon.co/essays/the-d...

A short piece I wrote on the benefits of 'tactical satisficing' psyche.co/notes-to-sel...

The existential balm of seeing yourself as a verb, not a noun psyche.co/ideas/the-ex...

Originally published here: aeon.co/essays/gener...

What AI doesn’t know: we could be creating a global ‘knowledge collapse’ | Deepak Varuvel Dennison The long read: As GenAI becomes the primary way to find information, local and traditional wisdom is being lost. And we are only beginning to realise what we’re missing

Nice to see The Guardian Long Reads republished our @aeon.co essay about the missing knowledge/languages inside AI models www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...

'The most desolate place in the world': The sea of ice that inspired Frankenstein This French glacier has given rise to countless works of art in the past 200 years. Paintings, photos and satellites reveal how the site has dramatically transformed.

In the spirit of sharing good writing, here's a fab piece by @richardfisher.bsky.social about the glacier that inspired a key scene in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - and the fact that it is now disappearing because of climate change.

share.google/oDSLK0gKOppk...

"Unlike many glacier retreats around the world... the Mer de Glace is unusual because its changes have been captured in painting, photography and literature. By comparing [these] across the years, it's possible to see how this once-stunning sea of ice has transformed."

'The most desolate place in the world': The sea of ice that inspired Frankenstein This French glacier has given rise to countless works of art in the past 200 years. Paintings, photos and satellites reveal how the site has dramatically transformed.

I wrote this for the BBC about the glacier that inspired Mary Shelley - and many other writers and artists. It has retreated by a staggering amount since the 1800s www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

Thank you, it's a terrific image (I am the writer)! I really liked how you based it on the actual view from Montenvers. I initially thought it was a frontispiece-style image from the 1800s - timeless!

'Urban geology': How to find fossils (and other discoveries) in your city's buildings If you look closer at the building stones, tiles and pavements of the big city, you can find a hidden world of geology and history, from fascinating fossils to unusual rocks.

Many thanks to @richardfisher.bsky.social for this lovely article on my #urbangeology rambles! www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

'Urban geology': How to find fossils (and other discoveries) in your city's buildings If you look closer at the building stones, tiles and pavements of the big city, you can find a hidden world of geology and history, from fascinating fossils to unusual rocks.

This was a lot of fun to write for the BBC - the joys of 'urban geology': fossil-hunting and more in the buildings of central London with @pavementgeology.bsky.social. She even showed me a possible dinosaur bone! #urbangeology www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Highly recommend this whole article!

Should we intervene in evolution? The ethics of ‘editing’ nature | Aeon Essays Countless species are dying from human-induced environmental change. Should we use genetic technology to alter and save them?

Many species won't survive without our help, but what should that help look like? I wrote about this for @aeon.co
aeon.co/essays/shoul...

that's me in the picture, enjoying my mid-40s

A short Note to Self I wrote for @psyche.co about the graph that more or less changed the course of my life psyche.co/notes-to-sel...

The astronaut-scientist Harrison Schmitt during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity at the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon, 13 December 1972. Courtesy NASA

My debut for @aeon.co:

Life formed incredibly early in Earth's history, so the idea that our world was once an unliveable hellscape is just not true.

https://aeon.co/essays/life-on-earth-emerged-fast-far-quicker-than-we-thought