Siobhan Leachman

Women in Red is a global volunteer project dedicated to turning red links—articles which don't yet exist—into blue links, making the history of women more openly accessible.

Get more info at WomenInRed.org and help make the internet more equitable.

This Sunday, 8 March 2026 we're celebrating International Women's Day 👩‍🔬💪🎉

Despite their impact on history, science, and the arts, thousands of notable women are missing from Wikipedia, where they make up only 20% of articles about people.

For background on the project see "BioNames: linking taxonomy, texts, and trees" (https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj. 190 L) and "Ten years and a million links: building a global taxonomic library connecting persistent identifiers for names, publications and people" (https://doi.org/BDJ.11.e107914 L). Database Statistics Distinct name clusters Names with publications Names with DOls Names with free PDFs Total names 5,464,929 4,496,603 1,782,674 504,962 286,091

Slowly adding content to bionames.org and tweaking the interface. Hope page loads faster now and looks a little better on mobile. Lots of DOIs and PDFs for taxonomic papers, but so much to do. Half a million names linked to DOIs, wish it were more.

SimpleMappr Create free point maps for publications and presentations

Regrettably, I have decided to decommission SimpleMappr, www.simplemappr.net on September 1, 2026. You may read about its origins, what others have accomplished in its 18 year run, and the reasons why I must turn it off in a document I wrote last night bit.ly/simplemappr.

Covid hospitalisations climb as New Zealand enters new wave There’s been an increase in hospitalisations and in wastewater detections, and it’s expected to last another month or two.

There is a COVID wave currently hitting NZ atm. Go get your booster if you are eligible and wear masks if you want to protect yourself, loved ones etc www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

@biodivlibrary.bsky.social Just in case you weren't aware, I've come across this publication about you! doi.org/10.22456/fei...

A female kākāpō looking out of a nest, with one small chick showing. Credit: Andrew Digby

Female #kakapo Kohengi on her nest with a newly-hatched chick and an egg (unseen). We removed the egg from underneath her and gave it to another female (Phoenix) who had infertile eggs. We're trying to ensure each female on Anchor Island has 1-2 fertile eggs to hatch. #kakapo2026 #conservation

We agree it’s the best news, but BHL provides an even greater date range of invaluable research materials than many know. BHL’s 63+ million page “incredible free open treasure trove of nature papers and books” spans the 1100s to 2026!

David Klein: For the love of birds (and Wellington) Calling all bird lovers! In a celebration of our feathery friends, David Klein shares fun scientific facts with a dollop of silly at the Wellington Fringe Festival in the aptly named David Klein prese...

It's important to champion the increase in bird numbers around Wellington.

But at an ecosystem level, it's uneven recovery. Plants, lizards, wetlands, freshwater fish, pāua etc all continue to decline.

David Klein: For the love of birds (and Wellington) www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

a cartoon sloth is walking with a cane and wearing a green shirt . Alt: a cartoon sloth is walking with a cane and wearing a green shirt .

When I was first shown the internet on a "fastest you could buy as a private individual" set up in 1994 my reaction was ... "could be faster". I'm currently copying lots of little files to a USB stick in case a software update goes wrong ... and I repeat my original statement. *sigh*

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

This is wonderful news!

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is a crown jewel of biodiversity literature and is deserving of both stability and ongoing support.

Thanks to the Field Museum for recognizing that.

Transition Update #8: The Field Museum to Host BHL’s Technical Infrastructure With the Biodiversity Heritage Library now officially operating in its new chapter following its transition away from the Smithsonian Institution, we are delighted to announce that the Field Museum…

This is such fabulous news for @biodivlibrary.bsky.social! A huge thank you to the #FieldMuseum for hosting BHL's technical infrastructure. blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...

Thanks! I find it a bit worrying that GBIF only gives 6 million of these links. It just emphasises that institutions aren't taking advantage of existing linking. ALL my contributions should be roundtripped into collection management systems & then uploaded by institutions into GBIF.

Post a picture you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

And 12 million by ME!!! 😂

Newly formed Bioeconomy Science Institute to cut 134 jobs The downsizing comes after several agencies earlier cut 152 jobs and were merged to create the Bioeconomy Science Institute.

More science jobs exported. #NzPol

There are five collections to choose from, which are available for the residency, including this fabulous recent #WomenInSurgery acquisition bsky.app/profile/rcse...

Government deciding whether US should get access to New Zealanders' biometric data Officials are in talks with the US about a new travel deal.

Fucking hell

University class making sure Wikipedia doesn't erase LGBTQ+ history A professor and her students are editing Wikipedia pages to ensure they preserve and represent the lives and stories of LGBTQ+ people

If it’s not on Wikipedia, does the internet think it exists? 🧐

This professor and her students are ensuring LGBTQ+ history isn’t lost by improving coverage on Wikipedia. Over 900 million views later, they are making the internet a more inclusive place. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Check out the full story: bit.ly/4aA458D

Highlights from Kākāpō Cam: Rakiura - 2026 nest - YouTube Highlights from Kākāpō Cam: Rakiura - 2026 nest. Learn more and donate to Kākāpō Recovery: www.doc.govt.nz/kakapocam

Did you know you can see highlights from our #kakapo nestcam: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...? In the last 24 hours we've seen a chick hatch and a rare short-tailed bat flying - and walking - around the nest. Exciting to see things never seen before! #conservation #kakapo2026

So lucky to have nest cam this time around. Also glad you got to see our new little fluff ball! May she be a female as that would very much help the species.

Black and white still image with a ball of white fluff that is a kāpāpō chick

I would like to see the baby. #Kākāpō www.youtube.com/live/BfGL7A2...

Ruth Rose is herself an absolutely fascinating figure: a broadway actress, official historian of the New York Zoological society, naturalist, and writer of a number of films, including She, The Last Days of Pompeii, Mighty Joe Young, and (of course!) King Kong. I'd kill for a good biography of her.

Fabulous!

from the New York Daily Nrews, Feb. 11, 1925 Party Sails To Pluck Secrets From Graveyard Of Oceans Carrying a party of scientists, among whom are several young and attractive female specialists, the steamship Arcturus, specially equipped for deep sea exploration, sailed yesterday afternoon at 3 p.m. from Brooklyn and headed towards the mysterious Sargasso sea.

101 years ago!

Critically endangered kākāpō Vori-A1, who has important genes from the Fiordland kākāpō Richard Henry, born live on camera in the nest of foster mother Rakiura. Almost no one has seen these birds hatch before! The egg had only been delivered 1.5 hours earlier.

I LOVE that!

Deepest-ever rock core extracted from under Antarctic ice sheet Analyses will help to reveal how far the West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated in the past — and what it might do in the future.

Last week was crazy and I'm late to posting, but my first story for @nature.com marks the success of the @swais2c.bsky.social team in extracting the longest ever rock core from below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (or any ice sheet) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I love that William Beebe employed women historians, scientists and artists on his Arcturus expedition. Images via @biodivlibrary.bsky.social & #WikiCommons L:Ruth Rose diving at Cocos and R:Illustration by Isabel Cooper. #Legend