Daniel Hering

We once had chosen the proposal acroym RAINBOW - the rejection was quite a disaster for the group, but if funded we would never had found an available domain name - everything related to RAINBOW is already used by the gay community.

We've got some news! At the 𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆, we have been working on translations of our Learning Modules to expand their accessibility.

🔗 Module 2 is now available with German 🇩🇪, French 🇫🇷, and Spanish 🇪🇸 subtitles: merlinacademy.thinkific.com

Other modules will follow soon.

Yes! Typewriters with male and female symbols. Only available in natural history museums.

Rossella Alba, our new colleague at @hifmb.de leading the Marine Policy and Management working group, offers two fully funded PhD positions here: jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/21... apply until March 18, and feel free to make potential applicants aware. 🧪 @icbm-uol.bsky.social

Danke!

Calendar: still on google, project for this year to switch to Thunderbird.
I really would like to abandon AirBnB, but that’s a difficult one.

Office software: yes, I am addicted (using Microsoft since 35 years). Project for this year to make steps into LibreOffice.
What I still need to look in:
Alternatives for googledocs and google spreadsheets (still need to try alternatives like Nuclino).

These were the simple ones. The challenges:
AI: I use transkribus for special purposes. Image generation: Black Forest Labs. Translation: only deepl. Problem is LLM. Professionally, I use a lot of ChatGPT Plus. Privately, I try to switch to deepseek and mistral, whenever possible.

Not using paypal any more privately. Klarna instead. A bit more effort, but doable.
Storage: mainly Nextcloud, some private projects I am involved in still use dropbox (I am working on this).
Still a bit on whatsapp – hard to convince all groups to switch to Signal, but step by step…

Search engine: Ecosia (that’s an easy one).
Music: only Spotify. I did not need to change.
Browser: Always Firefox. I did not need to change. Same with emails (Thunderbird).
Abandoned Amazon completely. Most simple, there are plenty of alternatives.

Privately, I am trying to get rid of as many of US-tech-oligarch-products as possible. Much more difficult in the professional environment, where I have limited influence. But that’s the progress in my private life (from simple to difficult):

The procedure is that national committees nominate three candidates for an international competition that selects national and international “champions”.
The nominated study analyses +/- of European legislation in halting biodiversity loss (annexes are worth reading). @merlin-project.bsky.social

Pleased that our Policy Forum in Science (www.science.org/stoken/autho...) has been nominated for the Frontiers Planet Prize. As the national nomination is mainly a national issue, there is only a press release in German: www.bbaw.de/presse/press....

The Dec. 2025 issue of the Mayfly Newsletter is now on-line on the Digital Commons site
dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcont....
If you have articles, photos, announcements or anything else relating to mayflies that you would like to see in the Mayfly Newsletter, our next deadline for submissions is May 15.

Have used the holidays wisely (but enough dead wood remained in the forest).

A bit less wind, a bit more solar than in 2024, but also in 2025 61% of the electricity generated in Germany stems from renewable sources. Strong increase over the next years to be expected, given that alone 30GW of windpower have been permitted and granted financing in recent auctions.

Spenden an HateAid Unterstütze Betroffene und stärke Meinungsvielfalt!

Wer Weihnachten unbedingt noch eine gute Tat vollbringen möchte, dem empfehle ich aus aktuellem Anlass eine Spende für hateaid.org/spenden/

Freshwater, Wetlands and Sponge Landscapes for Resilient Europe The landmark Nature Restoration Regulation was adopted by the European Union in August 2024 following a lengthy negotiation process. The Regulation – which compels EU member states to restore their…

🌊 A major event will be held in Brussels next March to explore key insights across freshwater and wetland restoration science, practice and policy.

🔗 Find out more and sign up!

freshwaterblog.net/2025/12/15/f...

@merlin-project.bsky.social

Merry X-mas from the Aquatic Ecology group!

I assume EU politicians have better to do. X is one of the most overrated thingis and Musk definitely the most overrated person. Every word on them is waste of time (I have just wasted a minute of my time).

The 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 will be dedicated to identifying solutions for the conservation and restoration of rivers in the context of climatic, social, and environmental change, focusing also on Nature-based Solutions. Registration is open and free: life2rivers.si/en/internati...

I must say that I am getting tired of BlueSky. I have 2600 followers, but noone is reading the posts, there is no interaction, no discussion...
I'll stay for a while, but will shift my activities to LinkedIn. (Though I profoundly dislike the showing off behaviour on that platform.)

Schon erstaunlich, wie präzise hier Triggerpunkte, vermutlich unbeabsichtigt, getroffen werden. Welche*r Wissenschaftler*in bezieht denn eine Plakatwerbung im Bahnhof auf sich? Sie richtet sich offenkundig an Fachinformatiker und Buchhalterinnen. Anyhow, gute Kolumne, as usual.

Auf den Friedhöfen im Westlichen Ruhrgebiet leben fast 1000 Wildpflanzenarten, mehr als 100 davon stehen auf der Roten Liste. Die Veröffentlichung von Corinne Buch et al. in Natur und Landschaft ist nun open access verfügbar. bfn.bsz-bw.de/frontdoor/de...

Sorry, das ist Nius Niveau. Stellt Politiker inhaltlich, das ist in diesem Fall doch wirklich möglich. Aber beschwert Euch nicht über Privilegien für Frau Reiche, die genauso für die von Euch präferierten Politker(innen) gelten. Und sowas wie GasKaethe ist nicht besser als CrookedHillary.

It is not a representative sample, but I have been part of many appointment committees for professorial positions in Germany and neighbouring countries in the last years (more than 20, if I count correctly). The 2 procedures this year were the first with several strong applicants from the US.

The situation of postdocs in Germany has made it to Nature: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New study on the spatial dimension of multiple stressors. Gemma Burgazzi (iDiv) did a great job in running this mesocosm experiment. Effects of single stressors cascaded along the network, with stronger downstream effects. Thanks to all contributors! @leeselab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1002/ecog...

papers one published in the previous year * 2 - that should be the number or reviews one is doing, at least for those with stable positions. But consider that many who decline receive 50-100 invitations per year.