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jess cockerill

@jesscockerill.bsky.social

science & culture journalist | checking facts and writing news at sciencealert.com

165 Followers  |  632 Following  |  17 Posts  |  Joined: 19.11.2024  |  2.2013

Latest posts by jesscockerill.bsky.social on Bluesky

An illustration of the Earth with nurse caps scattered across different continents, symbolizing global migration of nurses. Text reads: “1 in 7 nurses practices in a country different from where they were born.”

An illustration of the Earth with nurse caps scattered across different continents, symbolizing global migration of nurses. Text reads: “1 in 7 nurses practices in a country different from where they were born.”

Globally, one nurse in seven and nearly a quarter in high-income countries are foreign-born, highlighting reliance on international migration.

More in the State of the World’s Nursing Report 👉 bit.ly/4dcr5dz #InternationalNursesDay

12.05.2025 10:52 — 👍 219    🔁 71    💬 4    📌 4
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Ginormous Claws Found in The Gobi Desert Belong to a Never-Before-Seen Species A newly discovered species of feathered, bipedal dinosaur with "exceptionally preserved and atypical hands" had just two fingers, each one tipped with a gigantic, claw-like talon.

This new species of dinosaur had 'exceptional' and 'atypical' hands 🖐
www.sciencealert.com/ginormous-cl...

28.03.2025 08:48 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Large areas of WA’s Ningaloo corals could die in ‘weeks ahead’ after widespread bleaching documented Conservationists call for urgent government action as prolonged heatwave affects renowned reef, including Turquoise Bay, Tantabiddi and Bundegi

Large areas of WA’s Ningaloo corals could die in ‘weeks ahead’ after widespread bleaching documented

by @donnadlu.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

18.02.2025 01:00 — 👍 59    🔁 32    💬 5    📌 3
Image of red moss sporophytes rising above green moss and white lichen.

Image of red moss sporophytes rising above green moss and white lichen.

I will not be terrorized. We shall stand in our power. Movements of resilience and resistance - however small and seemingly diminutive on their own - stand on the right path of justice and history.

06.02.2025 16:03 — 👍 163    🔁 18    💬 2    📌 0
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I wrote this NASA page about wildfires and climate change, and I'm so excited it's finally live. It's a tireless effort to get big pages published at NASA - as it should be!

How long will it remain up? Who knows. Check it out while you still can. 🧪 #climatesky

science.nasa.gov/wildfires-an...

10.02.2025 20:39 — 👍 629    🔁 215    💬 27    📌 15
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The Mysterious Network of Plants May Be Nastier Than We Thought When the 'wood-wide web' was first described in the journal Nature in 1997, our view of plant life took on a utopian glean.

The wood wide web is extremely cool, but its probably not the socialist utopia we've imagined: www.sciencealert.com/the-mysterio...

10.02.2025 12:22 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Remarkable Fossil Discovery Hints at Antarctic Origins of All Modern Birds A near-perfect fossilized skull discovered in Antarctica reveals the bridge between prehistoric and modern birds, a new study has found.

Modern birds survived through the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs, which really gives me some much-needed hope yknow? It's almost like diversity is life's greatest strength...
www.sciencealert.com/remarkable-fossil-discovery-hints-at-antarctic-origins-of-all-modern-birds

07.02.2025 01:11 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Science funding agency threatened with mass layoffs National Science Foundation staff heard the plans at a meeting Tuesday.

25%-50% cuts to NSF www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

05.02.2025 00:32 — 👍 172    🔁 95    💬 10    📌 39
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Doge staffers enter Noaa headquarters and incite reports of cuts and threats Members reportedly sought access to IT systems at agency that Project 2025 has called ‘harmful to US prosperity’

I have covered NOAA and it’s work for like 15 years and this is brutal. If you’re there and want to chat or share anything, signal is davelevitan.26

05.02.2025 03:15 — 👍 3602    🔁 1604    💬 205    📌 290
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GUEST COLUMN: The current ‘mindf*ck’ of being a trans journalist Katelyn Burns explains the personal and professional toll of Trump's anti-trans executive orders.

“These first two weeks of Trump’s new term and the extensive executive orders removing nearly every right I have as a trans American have been by far the worst in all my professional years.”

In The Handbasket’s first guest piece @katelynburns.com explains the toll on trans journalists right now:

05.02.2025 00:18 — 👍 1253    🔁 300    💬 11    📌 5
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Earth's Underworld Is Full of Life, And It Goes Deeper Than We Ever Knew The surface of our Earth is wriggling with life: it's the defining feature of our planet, which, far as we know, makes it unique among the cosmos.

The diversity of life forms discovered kilometers below ground follow an unexpected pattern.
www.sciencealert.com/earths-under...

03.02.2025 10:24 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
A male Acorn Woodpecker perched at the entrance of its nest cavity. The bird has a streaked breast and a bold, clown-like color pattern on its head and face. This individual has colored bands on its legs, used for identification in a research study.

A male Acorn Woodpecker perched at the entrance of its nest cavity. The bird has a streaked breast and a bold, clown-like color pattern on its head and face. This individual has colored bands on its legs, used for identification in a research study.

Screen grab of the first page of a paper published in 1924 in the ornithology journal The Condor, entitled "Communism in the California Woodpecker."

Screen grab of the first page of a paper published in 1924 in the ornithology journal The Condor, entitled "Communism in the California Woodpecker."

Apropos of nothing, here are 12 #birds that aren't dismantling the democratic order. #birdsky

#1: Acorn Woodpecker
Once accused of communism. Even used to be called the "California Woodpecker," amirite? And yet, not dismantling the democratic order.

02.02.2025 22:02 — 👍 194    🔁 35    💬 3    📌 7
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Trump administration’s halt of CDC’s weekly scientific report stalls bird flu studies | CNN The Trump administration has intervened in the release of important studies on the bird flu, as an outbreak escalates across the United States.

“This idea that science cannot continue until there’s a political lens over it is unprecedented,” said Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director at the CDC. “I hope it’s going to be very short-lived, but if it’s not short-lived, it’s censorship.”
edition.cnn.com/2025/01/30/h...

31.01.2025 00:10 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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In northern California, the Karuk Tribe is burning its way back to a centuries-old relationship with fire The Karuk of Northern California are one of many Native peoples with a long tradition of burning their ancestral lands. These practices are key inspiration for an annual prescribed fire training that’...

“It’s not just knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It’s about how to steward this place, it's about actively, physically tending to this place and rebuilding these sacred relationships.'" - Aja Conrad, www.boisestatepublicradio.org/environment/...

30.01.2025 23:25 — 👍 50    🔁 15    💬 0    📌 1

Everyone just wants to have a good time.

27.01.2025 22:29 — 👍 39    🔁 2    💬 3    📌 1
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This 'Walking' Coral Moves Around, And We Finally Know How When you imagine a coral, it's probably not walking around.

Walking coral! Look at them go!!
www.sciencealert.com/this-walking...

27.01.2025 22:19 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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The First Dinosaurs May Be Hidden in Earth's Least Accessible Places Ancient fossils of the world's very first dinosaurs may be buried in places almost impossible to investigate, according to new research from University College London and the UK's Natural History Muse...

As they say, it's always in the last place you look...
www.sciencealert.com/the-first-di...

27.01.2025 04:16 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Did you know you can age some perennial kelps by counting rings just like trees?

We aged populations of two species first surveyed in the '80s (by Klinger and DeWreede!) to see if their age structure had changed.

Our new paper is out, just in time for #PhycologyFriday!
doi.org/10.1111/jpy....

25.01.2025 00:52 — 👍 47    🔁 14    💬 3    📌 3

Are there ever any fossils of the soft bodies of molluscs? How does that occur?

26.01.2025 12:40 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1

Hi, Vox reporter here: If you've had a study section, NIH travel, or other NIH-related meeting cancelled (or not), raise your hand! Reply or DM me, and repost for visibility if you're able.

#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social

23.01.2025 18:03 — 👍 627    🔁 593    💬 22    📌 9

reposting to remind myself of this practical response to bad elections

23.01.2025 11:30 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare

Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning.

21.01.2025 17:56 — 👍 480    🔁 193    💬 18    📌 77

this incredible find was brought to light and led by microbiologists Francesco Smedile and Violetta la Cono and geophysicist Stefano Urbini

16.01.2025 15:29 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Mysterious Frozen Lake Is a Time Capsule From Millions of Years Ago A living time capsule frozen in the depths of Lake Enigma in Antarctica contains a unique ecosystem that has been isolated from the rest of the world since its surface permanently froze.

an entire ecosystem (!!!) has just been doing its own thing inside an Antarctic ice bubble for millions of years:
www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-f...

16.01.2025 15:26 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Post image 15.01.2025 13:29 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Breathtaking Tattoos Revealed on Peruvian Mummies From 1,200 Years Ago The intricate details of tattoos inscribed on the skin of South American mummies are now revealed in all their breathtaking glory.

1,200 years ago, Chancay artists were making tattoo lines as thin as 0.1 millimeter. That's on a par with current-day microneedling -- and they were probably doing it with sharpened bones or cactus spines.

Look at how beautiful they are 😍🧪

15.01.2025 00:04 — 👍 106    🔁 26    💬 0    📌 3
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Reigniting a land of extinction 2019 bushfires in Tasmania’s Central Highlands sparked a debate about traditional land management, conservation, colonisation, climate…

Revisiting this article from 2020, since we're talking fire management... There's a lot of differences between North America and Australia, but also a lot of shared fire attitudes, for better or worse. medium.com/the-walkley-...

15.01.2025 06:16 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Oldest Unbroken Record of Earth's Climate Pulled From Antarctic Ice Sheet A colossal ice core sample drilled in Antarctica may contain the oldest, unbroken timeline of Earth's climate, stretching back more than a million years.

A colossal ice core just drilled in Antarctica may contain the oldest, unbroken timeline of Earth's climate, going back 1.2 million years.

Each meter holds ~13k years of deep, compressed history. The whole sample could extend across the Golden Gate Bridge. 🧪🌏

www.sciencealert.com/oldest-unbro...

14.01.2025 22:54 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Research by Natalie Mastick and Chelsea Wood out of @uwsafs.bsky.social 🥫🐟

14.01.2025 06:50 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

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