Dr Urska Demsar

A zoomed in look at 4 scientists working with the a lava fountain covering the entire background.

A very tall lava fountain with tiny dots (people) near the base. The image is a bit forced perspective and we are not as close as it looks

Someone captured my colleagues an I servicing the cameras during Kīlauea’s episode 42. We stopped to discuss what we were seeing, but because I talk with my hands it looks like I’m fixing to push someone in…

Credit: Volcano Hideaways

I cannot stress enough that automatic translation into English will flatten your world. We need the delicious friction of different languages; we need to celebrate diversity.

YouTube video by USGS [V1cam] Kīlauea volcano, Hawaii (west Halemaʻumaʻu crater)

Kīlauea is doing the thing again!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk0t...

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

Bluesky is the new science Twitter, new study by @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and Julia Wester concludes!

"Results show that for every reported professional benefit that scientists once gained from Twitter, scientists can now gain that benefit more effectively on Bluesky than on Twitter."

🌍✨
Our next seminar in March is with @martinfleischmann.net (Urban and Regional Laboratory, Prague).

"Understanding the structure of space: Urban Morphometrics as a Backbone of Urban Taxonomy"

Date: Tues 3rd March 2026 @ 2pm UK time (online + in person)

Register here: tinyurl.com/y4rb4bw4
✨🌍

I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.

This is fascinating to see what communities pop out. Lovely visualisation :

To avoid accusations of AI cheating, college students are turning to AI Students are taking new measures, such as dumbing down their work, spying on themselves and using AI “humanizer” programs, to beat accusations of cheating with artificial intelligence.

We're *so* close to some students spending more time to have AI do their work, then use AI to make it not seem like AI and then have AI check it ... all taking more time and money than, you know, doing that actual work.

www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

University Professorship opening | Z_GIS - Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg 🚨 The Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS at the Faculty of Digital and Analytical Sciences, Universität Salzburg has an opening for a University Professorship - § 99 (1) Universities Act 2002 in „...

And the good news continue: we have an open position for a University Professor (§99(1) Universities Act 2002) - in the field of "Digital Earth - Geovisualization"!

Heh, for a much funnier write up than I’d ever manage, here’s someone who took the hit so that you don’t have to: bsky.app/profile/kole... TL;DR: about what you’d expect given it’s been rushed out and involves the usual batch of consultancies.

Replace "people" with students and that's just about what every academic has been trying to figure out in the last couple of years... Great thread, read from the start.

Endo1000 logo, a scientist looking through a microscope.

We are excited to announce we are recruiting patients for our ENDO1000 project! 🎉

Head over to the ENDO1000 website for more information and to sign up for the study: edin.ac/49UMqad

Your data could make all the difference to improving the lives of people living with endometriosis.

1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded.

Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.

Struve Geodetic Arc The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816...

The 19th century Struve Geodetic Arc is, to me, one of the most extraordinary properties on the World Heritage List. It crosses 10 countries and was used to determine the size and shape of the world. 🧪 🏺 #ContemporaryArchaeology

Latest ChatGPT model uses Elon Musk’s Grokipedia as source, tests reveal Guardian found OpenAI’s platform cited Grokipedia on topics including Iran and Holocaust deniers

So glad this is being used in schools and universities.

Very interesting read from Andrew about his experience in Deepmind in the context of comparing it to academia.

My assumption is the main reason to be in academia is the excitement to read published discoveries and then making those discoveries yourself, rather than what industry needs.

Is AI hurting your ability to think? How to reclaim your brain AI is replacing tasks we have grown reluctant to do ourselves – thinking, writing, creating, analysing.

“If you are not gaining a new capability in exchange for the one you have outsourced, you may be conceding to the algorithms” writes Noel Carroll of the University of Galway
theconversation.com/is-ai-hurtin...

AI-induced cultural stagnation is no longer speculation − it’s already happening AI-mediated culture is already being filtered in ways that favor the familiar, the describable and the conventional.

#BrainRot is what my kids call this: theconversation.com/ai-induced-c...

Comic. My experience seeing the Northern Lights: [Graph: x axis is increasing time, y axis is increasing aurora coolness, going from visible glow on the horizon, color only visible in photos -> sheets and pillars of light, colors faintly visible -> “oh wow, it’s getting really bright now.” -> spectacular ribbons of color spanning the sky and illuminating the landscape. Graph shows dips and peaks over many hours with the topmost peeks for only around 5 or 10 minutes.] [caption] Aurora tip: If you get good views of the aurora, keep watching the sky; you might suddenly get great ones.

Aurora Coolness

xkcd.com/3196/

NEW Postdoc (4 years) in #ornithology at Uni Vienna to study human-driven environmental change reshapes species interactions: buff.ly/L2iWGwZ

Headline: "Scientists discover emperor penguin colony in Antarctica using satellite images"

Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.

NEW PhD opportunity in #ornithology to investigate how much energy migratory birds require throughout the year based on #telemetry data: buff.ly/JXnVciF

Movebank

Help us improve Movebank: During 2026, we will undertake a major renewal of the Movebank system to build scalability and sustainability. What does Movebank mean for you? How could it better support your work? Your feedback will be highly appreciated! Survey: survey.academiccloud.de/f/221856?lan...

🚨 PhD offer (please share)
Fascinated by bird migration and movement ecology? 🦜🌍 Join us at @vogelwarte.bsky.social to study annual cycle energetics with multi-sensor loggers in multiple species

Deadline: 20 Feb 2026
Starting: June 2026
Supervision: Martins Briedis & me

Info: tinyurl.com/2dbv9nzh

Here is a current view of the Matterhorn in Switzerland with bright red aurora and green proton aurora spots.

Solar wind data are turning a bit sour for extreme low-latitude aurora for the U.S., but the system is still pumped up enough for Europe!

go.theauroraguy.com/webcams

Aliens are coming :-O

This aurora looks like a flying saucer :-D

It's amazing, isn't it?
Apparently this is the strongest geomagnetic storm since 2003.

Vogel Ski Resort webcam View from Orlova Glava to Triglav The Vogleski center lies high above the magnificent Lake Bohinj, in the heart of protected territory of the Triglav National Park. The beginnings of skiing date back in 1964. The cable car was renovat...

#aurora over Mt Triglav from Orlove Glave (Vogel ski resort), Slovenia. www.whatsupcams.com/en/webcams/s...

And more green

Beautiful arch and now you can also see the green, meaning that it's moving southwards. It's green below and red on the top, so if you are far away, ypu only see the red because of the curvature of the Earth.