Steven Benjamins

Based on interviews and archive work (Bergen/Oslo, April 2024), Peter Wilson, @sbenjamins.bsky.social and I reviewed minke #whaling around Ireland in @injournal.bsky.social Vol 41.

Funded by Percey Sladen Memorial Fund & Society for Nautical Research

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky

I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped

Shark Conservation Fund invites proposals for its small grant funding window. Up to $25,000 to support ocean policy projects aligned with:
🦈 Fisheries Management Reform
🌍 Preventing Extinctions
🌊 Identifying & Protecting Critical Habitats
Deadline 📆 #March31 ogy.de/widx

Shark removal a thorny issue for coral reefs A new study suggests that the removal of predatory fish such as sharks from coral reefs may be a key factor driving outbreaks of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.

Healthy Reefs Need Sharks

phys.org/news/2025-02...

Repeating this. It's not getting better.

Holds for many non-gov US scientists too these days.

We're hiring a Research Fellow at Edinburgh Napier University to join the SharkScape project, a three–year, multi-institute project involving field-based research and data analysis.

Apply now: 🔗 jobs.ac.uk/job/DLV215/r...

#MarineScience #SharkConservation #ResearchJobs

REPOST if you support our federal workforce and know how dedicated they are to their jobs. Show them you appreciate them!

Liz Truss called solar farms a “blight on the landscape”, but researchers have found they are actually better for birds than farmland

Solar farms in East Anglia had greater bird diversity & bird abundance than nearby arable land, a study finds

Paper here later www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Could the very serious work plans for the current house not include 1+ turrets?

I was just told that I have to remove “climate” from the title of an ongoing grant if I want to keep it. And publications from that grant cannot include “climate” and other forbidden words. I can’t believe I’m writing this from the United States of America. #AcademicSky

Here’s a thread of words that result in the National Science Foundation rejecting grants under the Trump administration’s bigoted and anti-intellectual executive order.

Among other things, about every shark paper I’ve ever written has included the word “female” referring to *FEMALE SHARKS*

Bedrijven die als je niet oplet je lokatiegegevens verzamelen en daar commerciële dingen mee doen, vinden dat een overheidsorganisatie haar burgers niet rechtstreeks mag informeren en waarschuwen zonder dat te doen. Goh.
*knmi app installeert en op hoofdscherm zet*

A Robin is perched on a weathered wooden surface, its bright orange-red breast puffed up and beak wide open in full song. The blurred background creates a soft gradient of earthy tones, making the Robin stand out. With its legs firmly planted and feathers fluffed, it looks as if it’s passionately delivering an important message to the world.

"Everybody - wake up! It's the #BigGardenBirdwatch!"

Will you be taking part today? 👀🌳

Scientists can and should lead the charge in equity by committing to DEI work despite federal rollbacks by the Trump admin. These actions are vital for the integrity and equity of our research, sci comm, and impact on society #DEI #STEM

Trans rights are human rights!

Pass it on

Graphical abstract showing functional optimality of puncture & stress resistance performance across the canines of mammalian carnivores. Extreme sabretooth forms cluster on the left of the morphospace in an high optimality hotspot.

Cool functional morphology paper by Pollock et al. from @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social finds
functional optimality of puncture & stress resistance performance drove convergent #evolution of sabre-teeth in mammalian carnivores.

#Science #Paleontology #EvolutionaryBiology

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Keir Starmer says the UK can decarbonise without disruption – that’s neither true nor helpful It’s the government’s job to make it easier and cheaper for people to change their lives.

"Tackling climate change effectively requires a shift to a more equal society, where happiness is prioritised over consumption. It necessitates radical behavioural changes, particularly from the wealthiest, and policies that enable these changes."

theconversation.com/keir-starmer...

PLEASE REPOST: The fantastic conservation journal Endangered Species Research with all articles fully
#openaccess has just arrived @esr-ir.bsky.social
Please give it a follow. You wont regret it!
www.int-res.com/journals/esr...
#conservation #academicsky
🐢🌍🧪🦑 🌐🦤 🦈🐟🐠🐡

What is Venus' quasi-moon Zoozve? The story behind the newly-named quasi-satellite of Venus.

For a summary of how a quasi-moon of Venus received its official name earlier this year, by a similar process, go to www.planetary.org/articles/ven...

Name a Quasi-moon Contest | Radiolab | WNYC Studios Welcome to Name a Quasi Moon - a global naming contest from Radiolab and the International Astronomical Union. Vote now and make your mark on the heavens!

If you ever wanted to name an astronomical object in Earth's backyard, now's your chance: go over to the RadioLab podcast to vote for the 7 finalists to name one of Earth's quasi-moons!

www.radiolab.org/quasi-moon

For any PhDs thinking of transitioning out of traditional academia where the beans that get counted are high-impact, numerous pubs... just know that you have so many other skills that are highly valuable in other spaces! 🧪

Leatherback sea turtle in Japan found to have ingested plastic sheet 106 x 108 cm. Paper by Shota Deguchi et al. Copy available from shinta.ueno@gmail.com 🐢🌍🧪🦑 🦤
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#seaturtle #marineturtle #oceanplastic #marineplastic #plasticpollution

“Scientists don’t know everything and have sometimes been wrong before”

Does not mean

“random nonsense you just thought of is as likely to be correct as something overwhelmingly endorsed by experts and supported by evidence and should be treated with as much respect.”

Circular timetree of crabs with pie slices colored by superfamily (Figure 2 in the paper). Simplified version with no text/labels. Line drawings of crabs arranged around the perimeter like a zodiac, with colors matching the superfamily pie slice. Figure by me, drawings by Harrison Mancke and Javi Luque

True crabs keep leaving the ocean to live intertidal, freshwater, and terrestrial lifestyles. It happened up to 17 times in the last 100 million years and may still be happening 🦀🧪

academic.oup.com/sysbio/artic...

Top predator status and trends: ecological implications, monitoring and mitigation strategies to promote ecosystem-based management.

doi.org/10.3389/fmar...

#MarineBiology #MarineEcology #TopPredators #MarineConservation #ocean #MarineScience

A screenshot of a social media post from USFWSPacific that reads: "SHE DID IT AGAIN! Wisdom, the world’s oldest known wild bird, is back with a new partner and just laid yet another egg. At an approximate age of 74, the queen of seabirds returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge last week and began interacting with a male." This tweet is paired with an image of two Laysan Albatrosses at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird, is shown alongside her new partner, demonstrating her enduring legacy as a remarkable seabird.

We humbly interrupt your scroll to bring you the news that Wisdom—the world's oldest known wild bird—is breeding again, age 74.

Go on girl. 😍

🌊 Nanoplastics disrupt krill’s #BlueCarbon role 🌊
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) aid CO2 sequestration via faecal pellets (FPs). New research finds nanoplastics accelerate FP degradation, reducing carbon storage by up to 27%—a loss of ~5.5 metric tonnes per season.
👉 https://buff.ly/4eSLCmR

The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear? The long read: Across the globe, vast swathes of land are being left to be reclaimed by nature. To see what could be coming, look to Bulgaria

Excellent long read on the counter-intuitive ecology of land abandonment.

"the old idea of humans as antithetical to nature is also wrong-headed, and that rosy visions of thriving, human-free environments are more imaginary than real."

Humans are not the virus.

www.theguardian.com/news/2024/no...

My colleagues at NOAA fear for their jobs and are rushing to publish their data on climate change before Trump silences them.

NOAA collaborates with researchers around the world to understand coral bleaching, including on the Great Barrier Reef.

cell.com/current-biol...

Are you interested in the #restoration of marine ecosystems?

I'm co-chairing a @icesmarine.bsky.social Workshop on Nature Restoration (WKREST) in March, join if you're interested!

www.ices.dk/community/gr...