Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering's Avatar

Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering

@pickeringrobyn.bsky.social

Assoc. Professor University of Cape Town, South Africa πŸ‡ΏπŸ‡¦ Co-director Human Evolution Research Institute | geology, isotopes, U-Pb dating carbonates, human evolution, southern African palaeoclimates | equitable fieldwork | decolonisation |she/her

2,833 Followers  |  1,978 Following  |  132 Posts  |  Joined: 01.09.2023
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Posts by Assoc Prof Robyn Pickering (@pickeringrobyn.bsky.social)

Open Access

Comment on Nixon, A. L. et al.
(2022) on Intracontinental Fault
Reactivation in High Heat Production Areas of Central Australia: Insights From Apatite Fission Track Thermochronology

A. L. Nixon, S. Glorie

e2025GC012887 | First Published: 24 February 2026

Key Points

We have identified an error in Imro values leading to values calculated as ~4% too high

Open Access Comment on Nixon, A. L. et al. (2022) on Intracontinental Fault Reactivation in High Heat Production Areas of Central Australia: Insights From Apatite Fission Track Thermochronology A. L. Nixon, S. Glorie e2025GC012887 | First Published: 24 February 2026 Key Points We have identified an error in Imro values leading to values calculated as ~4% too high

More of this please; people commenting on and correcting mistakes *in their own papers from a few years back* πŸ‘πŸΎ

25.02.2026 18:11 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

4/5 of these talented young researchers are in my group 🀩🀩🀩

It’s so rewarding to see all these projects making it to publication.

#brag #proudsupervisor

25.02.2026 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Schließung des Instituts für ArchÀologie an der HU-Berlin Die ArchÀologie gehârt seit fast 200 Jahren zur wissenschaftlichen Tradition der Humboldt-UniversitÀt. Ihre Schließung bedeutet den Abbruch einer gewachsenen Forschungstradition und eine dauerhafte Sc...

Please support the petition against the planned #closure of #Archaeology at the Humboldt-UniversitΓ€t zu Berlin.
Archaeology has been a part of Humboldt-UniversitΓ€t academic tradition for almost 200 years, so closing it would break a long-standing research tradition

weact.campact.de/petitions/sc...

20.02.2026 17:08 β€” πŸ‘ 465    πŸ” 289    πŸ’¬ 34    πŸ“Œ 20

I’m honoured and excited to be the GSSA 2026 Du Toit lecturer!! Only the second woman since 1949 πŸ₯΄

I’ll be doing 5 lectures all over South Africa πŸ‡ΏπŸ‡¦ and 1 in Botswana πŸ‡§πŸ‡Ό

So save the date!!

20.02.2026 14:28 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 0
Image description: Earth and the moon connected by a slackline. Text reading:' Peer support programme Registration is now open for experienced attendees! No worries, I’m here to help! It’s my frirst time at #EGU26 Register NOW! 31 March 2026.'

Image description: Earth and the moon connected by a slackline. Text reading:' Peer support programme Registration is now open for experienced attendees! No worries, I’m here to help! It’s my frirst time at #EGU26 Register NOW! 31 March 2026.'

Are you attending #EGU26 and remember how overwhelming your first conference felt? Why not apply to the Peer Support Programme and help first-time attendees feel supported?
πŸ‘‰ More information about the programme: egu.eu/3YUO9G
πŸ“† Register by 31 March 2026.

19.02.2026 10:54 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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HERI Co-Directors Rebecca Ackermann and Robyn Pickering invite contributions to the symposium β€œNew Directions in Palaeoanthropological Research in Southern Africa” at IPC7.
To submit an abstract, please email the convenors.
Details and information on all 29 symposia are available at: www.ipc7.site

16.02.2026 08:00 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Image description: A group of people during a field. Text reading:  "Apply for funds to run a training school or conference series in 2027!" with a deadline of "15 May 2026." The EGU logo is in the bottom left corner.

Image description: A group of people during a field. Text reading: "Apply for funds to run a training school or conference series in 2027!" with a deadline of "15 May 2026." The EGU logo is in the bottom left corner.

Interested in running a training school or conference series? Apply now and receive #EGU funding!

πŸ’° Funding opportunities:
βœ”οΈTraining schools: up to €6000!
βœ”οΈEGU Conference series: up to €8000!

πŸ“… Apply by 15 May 2026: egu.eu/7MIIAO
πŸ“Έ: Kalyani Nayak on imaggeo.egu.eu

18.02.2026 11:19 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This season our goal is to reach 5,000 new readers β€” and you can help. Invite one or two friends to subscribe and bring this kind of reporting to more people.

Read Issue 228 here: www.thecontinent.org/_files/ugd/2...

14.02.2026 13:15 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Don't miss our wonderful new @EmpirePodUK series on
THE BRONZE APOCALYPSE

@anitaanand.bsky.social & I dive into the most dramatic imperial collapse in history.

15.02.2026 05:55 β€” πŸ‘ 54    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

Girls don’t want flowers for Valentine’s Day.

They want you to reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions ⛽️ ☠️ πŸ’™ 🌎

14.02.2026 19:41 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ§ͺ🏺 Update - authors have new paper showing how useless gen- #AI is for archaeological illustration.
All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts.

JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

13.02.2026 18:09 β€” πŸ‘ 636    πŸ” 247    πŸ’¬ 28    πŸ“Œ 32
Vista de Barreras que afectan a las mujeres mexicanas en la paleontologΓ­a: desafΓ­os y propuestas para formar una red de apoyo femenina

New paper to reflect on during the International Women in Science Day.
πŸ§ͺβ›οΈβš’οΈπŸ¦•πŸ¦–
"Barriers Affecting Mexican Women in Paleontology: Challenges and Proposals for Building a Women’s Support Network"

paleontologiamexicana.geologia.unam.mx/index.php/pa...

11.02.2026 22:00 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Lucia Perez Diaz: Expressing Earth with Art - Eos A geoscientist and illustrator finds artistic inspiration in plate tectonics and geodynamics.

β€œScience is full of inspiring stories,” says @drlperezdiaz.bsky.social. β€œArt is a really great vehicle to tell them.”

eos.org/features/luc...

11.02.2026 15:02 β€” πŸ‘ 31    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 4

I second that!!

11.02.2026 15:33 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Well done @Marang Keebine✨🎊

11.02.2026 09:49 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Big congratulations to my MSc student who won the best poster prize πŸ† at the BIOGRIP conference!

11.02.2026 10:50 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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🌍✨ Know someone whose work is changing the world for the better?

🌟 AGU Honors recognizes individuals making lasting impacts in scienceβ€”from research and discovery to sustainability and education.

πŸ‘‰ Nominate a colleague, student, mentor, or peer today: buff.ly/0gyjMIW

10.02.2026 18:30 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A β€œQuitGPT” campaign is urging people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions Backlash against ICE is fueling a broader movement against AI companies’ ties to President Trump.

Quit, cancel, never sign up.

10.02.2026 18:28 β€” πŸ‘ 128    πŸ” 43    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

"Whiteness" isn't really about sunlight or skin, it is the category that was created to constitute a legally and socially privileged group of European immigrants in contrast to enslaved Africans and indentured Asians.

09.02.2026 15:43 β€” πŸ‘ 83    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Two!! On the streets!! This feels huge

09.02.2026 18:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A woman wearing a cardigan with oversized wing-like sleeves, it is patterned to look like a monarch butterfly

A woman wearing a cardigan with oversized wing-like sleeves, it is patterned to look like a monarch butterfly

A woman wearing a cardigan with oversized wing-like sleeves, it is patterned to look like a luna moth

A woman wearing a cardigan with oversized wing-like sleeves, it is patterned to look like a luna moth

I have acquired the best sweaters ever

06.02.2026 17:52 β€” πŸ‘ 136    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 2

I have nothing of substance to add re: the condemnation of paleo associations with Epstein, but as the initiator of one of the more recent high-profile SVP ethics cases who spent months going through their process, I have some thoughts re: SVP's handling of ethics cases/reports.

A thread 🧡:

05.02.2026 15:04 β€” πŸ‘ 57    πŸ” 25    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff.

Democracy dies in oligarchy.

05.02.2026 00:16 β€” πŸ‘ 52450    πŸ” 14659    πŸ’¬ 1190    πŸ“Œ 556
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THE WONDER OF LIFE ON EARTH - published today www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr...

05.02.2026 07:10 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Job alert in Malta on my ERC funded IslandLab Project for a post excavation research assistant. A bachalor's degree in Archaeology, or related fields is required, ideally with experience working on faunal assemblages and handling bones/fossils, and curating finds.
www.um.edu.mt/media/um/doc...

05.02.2026 10:16 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

β€˜We found that using AI assistance led to a statistically significant decrease in mastery. On a quiz that covered concepts they’d used just a few minutes before, participants in the AI group scored 17% lower than those who coded by hand’

Blog on Anthropic’s site
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...

03.02.2026 21:06 β€” πŸ‘ 58    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
Screenshot of a statement from SVP that they find β€œno policy violations” in having members appear in the Epstein letters

Screenshot of a statement from SVP that they find β€œno policy violations” in having members appear in the Epstein letters

Really SVP? You’re just going to ignore decades of sexual and academic misconduct, marrying a student AT one of your conferences, and every report I’ve filed (implying that’s what you do with reports) to defend famous Horner? You’d rather have pedophiles than students is your message?

04.02.2026 17:03 β€” πŸ‘ 150    πŸ” 51    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 7
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#WomeninScience in #SouthAfrica βš’οΈ

HERI Master’s student Marang Keebine studies past #climate & environmental change using sediments from an ancient lake in the Karoo.

Her work sheds light on how dry landscapes responded to drought and rainfall – and how we can respond today.

04.02.2026 08:01 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Reminder: ASAPA abstract deadline 31 Jan ⏰

We invite abstracts for our session on the Pleistocene record of the Kalahari and interior southern Africa, including comparative studies with other regions of southern Africa or Africa.

Submit via the ASAPA portal: asapa2026.co.za/submissions....

21.01.2026 10:02 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0