YouTube video by Natural History Museum
Josh quizzes us on the colours of nature | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep21
New episode today is COLOURFUL! With apologies from @nhcooper123.bsky.social that since recording this one of the papers she talked about has been retracted! Sponge wars continues m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_DN... π§½ π πΈ πͺΈ
01.03.2026 08:41 β
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I also remember this talk and it was indeed excellent!
28.02.2026 19:21 β
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Doctor Strangelove now reads like a subdued masterpiece of the subtle mimetic.
28.02.2026 14:57 β
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Thanks Mike! Itβs all thanks to the very talented ECRs who wrote the sections :)
26.02.2026 08:01 β
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#notallseaotters
21.02.2026 14:18 β
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lol yeah. Though all the galleries are getting a refresh over the next 10 years so enjoy it while you can!
21.02.2026 13:36 β
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Haha sorry about that!
21.02.2026 11:51 β
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I believe papers about extinct charismatic vertebrates should be held to the same publishing standards and norms as other taxonomic groups. It's objectively bizarre that papers describing a single species gets published in Science/Nature as if that's considered of broad paleobiological significance
20.02.2026 15:48 β
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I have since learned it should be hackathon as all one word. Tune in for more pearls of wisdom like this π€£
20.02.2026 21:07 β
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If you're in Oxford, come along!
If you're not, tune in!
20.02.2026 08:09 β
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In defence of this, we donβt usually use common names in species rich stuff like bats so Iβve never called it this (they were part of my PhD thesis). But, the genus it belongs to is commonly called tailless bats, but this species has a tail. Hence the name. Itβs not trying to be annoying. Poor π¦π
19.02.2026 17:04 β
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I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point.
I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users Iβm a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion
People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. Iβll explain how I did it
18.02.2026 16:37 β
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This was so much fun, thanks again for doing it!
18.02.2026 22:30 β
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Timeline cleanse: Scruffers is off meth, out of rehab, and ready to start a new life!
18.02.2026 21:47 β
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Henbane. A dried plant specimen with pale whitish flowers and green spiky leaves, flattened and stuck to card
Small firefly beetle pinned in a box with a label underneath it with information about the species and location it was found. Beetle has a brown body, yellow head and long antennae.
A shiny bee. Bee is iridescent blue and pinned in a drawer. Wings are sticking out and are brown.
Close up of two very flat flatworms in a jar. They are dark on top and light brown underneath and about 3mm thick.
Specimens for this week!
17.02.2026 21:40 β
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Should have said the word was SEDUCTIVE! π₯°
17.02.2026 18:52 β
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YouTube video by Natural History Museum
Did witches ride broomsticks? Our guest explains why we might think so | The 'Perfect' Specimen Ep20
A belated Valentines themed podcast which was so much fun with the inimitable @nhcooper123.bsky.social and @joshlukedavis.com m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNL... π§ββοΈ π§Ή Caution: do not take lessons in seduction from a scientist π€
17.02.2026 16:14 β
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Wishing everyone a propitious start into a prosperous, successful and happy year of the horse!
17.02.2026 05:41 β
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A picture of Worf from TNG with a canaryβs head. Thereβs a space background.
Canary Worf.
15.02.2026 16:50 β
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Coral background with faint heart illustrations. A glossy male Blackbird with a bright yellow bill faces left. Large title reads: βBirds as bad exes*β Smaller text reads: β*Yes, you read that right.β
Happy Valentineβs Day, from us to you. Tag your exes. Xoxox
14.02.2026 14:20 β
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Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.
12.02.2026 18:58 β
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π€Looking to make your #code more #reproducible? Check out our new and improved guide to Reproducible Code! π§ͺποΈ
Find it hereποΈ
buff.ly/10TeNok
@nhcooper123.bsky.social
@britishecologicalsociety.org
11.02.2026 13:00 β
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I am however brutally honest about the success rates and time required to put one together. Moving forwards I might have to be more selective (likely based on research fit rather than a guess about success likelihood) as helping with 4 really killed my ability to do anything much else last August.
11.02.2026 12:42 β
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Good Qs. Honestly no filtering. Iβve been really lucky to be approached by people with great research ideas. Massively variable CVs. Iβd be wary if people contacted me less than 2 months to the deadline as itβs a long, involved application. But if they have time and a good idea Iβm happy to try.
11.02.2026 12:36 β
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Haha no itβs NHM for sure, our success rate is generally higher than average. Itβs easy to justify why people need to be here if they want to use collections. Also helps that I can train taxon experts in quantitative skills and they can provide taxon specific expertise so skill exchange is clear.
11.02.2026 12:17 β
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But I take your point that itβs a LOT of work for all involved with very low chance of funding. Hopefully people can reuse the project some other way? And you definitely donβt get funding if you donβt try. Situation totally sucks for ECRs though. :(
11.02.2026 10:38 β
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