Markus Eichhorn

Yeah well chalcids are just wannabe flies.

Roberta Cowell (1918 - 2011) was a fighter pilot during the Second World War.

She was the first known British trans woman to undergo gender-affirming surgery in 1951.

TRANS WILL WIN.

That's fighting talk right there

And the rest you just frittered.

The ethics panel was overwhelmed. New guidance came out. "We meant real animals, not those animals!" What count as real animals? Silence. The policy was quietly scrapped.

Applications flooded in from studies by people watching pollinators on flowers. Moving crab spiders between bushes. Mapping corals on reefs. Studying movement in jellyfish. Every phyla you could think of.

Fun story. A few years ago the university I worked at had a new ethics policy requiring that all research on animals, including observations, had to go through the central ethics panel. "All animals?", we asked. "Yes, anything classified as an animal." Ok, we said. Here it comes.

I thought that's what this place is. It's my bubble and I like it here.

Is that what we're calling Hodges Figgis these days?

It sounds as though arson has been discounted as a motive and they're able to open as usual. Keep supporting independent bookstores like @booksupstairs.bsky.social regardless.

Oh, this one really boils my piss. I LOVE Books Upstairs — they a vast selection of affordable books. I will definitely be ordering online once I'm able to help support their remodeling costs. I invite y'all to join me. ❤️

Books Upstairs is a fine store with a particularly excellent poetry section. Why not support them by ordering your books online instead: booksupstairs.ie

What kind of absolute ghoul sets fire to a bookshop? Glad to hear the damage was largely only to the outside but fucksake.

To be fair, the company statement on this is spot on: an emphasis on the number of hectares restored, and on the need for emission reductions first. Lessons learnt, at great expense.

I'm a strong supporter of forest restoration and realise that we need industry support to make it happen at scale. My wish is that the carbon off-setting claims could be taken out of it.

The number of trees planted is always misleading. If a forest reaches full stature you expect 50-90% of the trees to die naturally (depending on species and spacing), and that's if things go *right*.

I'm not a fan of Brewdog, particularly their founders, but on this one issue I get the sense that they wanted to do the right thing, but ended up making a hash of it.

BrewDog sells Lost Forest after series of tree-planting controversies Brewdog has announced it has sold its “Lost Forest” after 250,000 of the trees it planted on the Scottish estate died ...

This complete shambles is a useful reminder of why companies who say "Don't worry about the carbon, we're planting trees for that" should be treated with scepticism.

India vs Pakistan LIVE: Women's Cricket World Cup 2025 score, radio, highlights & updates India face Pakistan in the ICC Women's World Cup - follow live scores, video highlights, radio commentary and updates.

Cricket disrupted by insects, delighting fans of entomological wordplay.

I used to buy the 'not perfect but better than the alternative' and 'lesser of two evils' perspectives but we're now at the end of Animal Farm.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Not again! Hope you're back on your feet again soon.

Oh that's interesting. I guess things have moved on so fast that the moment has probably passed by now, but I'd be interested to see if later versions are any better.

Hyperfocus is getting so caught up in preparing everything for the afternoon meeting that you forget to attend the afternoon meeting.

I suspect my last words will be "I'm just about ready to start on that manuscript..."

Why might something not be published? Things happen in your personal life (or to members of your research group), politics or money get in the way, or you just run out of time and energy. It's often nothing to do with the quality of the work.

These unpublished works are the things that most disrupt my sleep and stain my conscience with an enduring sense of guilt. Trying to let go is a real challenge, even when I know it's never going to happen.

It's easy to say that all research can be published, and maybe should be published, but lots isn't, and often for perfectly valid and understandable reasons.

Fellow academics: what is your greatest research achievement that will never be published? Let's reassure one another with the triumphs of our file drawers.

Broadcaster and scríbhneoir Manchán Magan dies aged 55 The writer, broadcaster and documentary maker Manchán Magan has died at the age of 55, his family has confirmed.

This is a real loss. Few people did as much as Manchán Magan to connect the Irish landscape to its language and culture. His books are impressive works of accessible scholarship and will hopefully be read for many years to come. #SpeirGorm