Lars Fischer

Ja, das ist das Problem. Viele Studien prompten anders als Menschen im Alltag.

If this goes on long enough we will eventually evolve not to trust statistical autocomplete software with medical decisions.

Death Metal.

‘I live in constant fear’: surge in giant sinkholes threatens Turkey’s farmers Falling groundwater, extreme heat and water-intensive farming are accelerating land collapse, forcing a rethink in agricultural practices

Welcome to the FAFOcene.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

It's worth remembering that Europe had nearly 8000 cases in 2025. And about 33000 in 2024.

Without proper vaccine coverage numbers can get very large very quickly.

In Korea haben Leute vorgeschlagen, Byssus von Atrina pectinata aus Aquakultur zu nehmen. Allerdings wird die auch erst entwickelt, weil Atrina da auch bedroht ist.

Auch Legendenbildung. 😁 Machen die ganz gezielt. Gibt noch n paar mehr, die das können. Aber das Rohmaterial ist halt futsch.

🤣🤣🤣

But it is next to impossible to find someone who will comment on such a specialised topic.

So I included it in my article, which by this time wasn't a short news piece any more.

All this started with a harmless-looking press release. And this, people, is why I have the best job in the world.

10/

So it's plausible that mussel thread became byssus because Aristoteles presumably said so.
The error was pointed our, but it persisted until today. You can find it in an english translation from 1910.

It would have been nice to ask some independent researcher about it.
9/

But Karin checked and found that the great man liked to write in what he considered a more dignified dialect.
I was able to confirm the rough timeline, with the mistranslation appearing in the 15th century.
That's smack in the middle of the renaissance, when Aristoteles was always right.
8/

I recruited my colleague Karin, who is an archeologist, to help me out checking this
Dr Maeder is not a philologist by trade, so we were wary of taking her word for it.
One early objection was that Aristoteles was from Athens and would have written βυθός instead of βυσσός.
7/

According to her, it all started with a mistranslation of Aristoteles. He noted that the mussel grew "from the depths", which is βυσσός in ancient greek.
In the 15th century this was translated as "from the byssus", i.e. βύσσος.

Sounds good, but is it true?
6/

If you ever looked at mussels, you will know that byssus does not look even remotely like fine linen. Also, the ancient term was long out of use when byssus became associated with mussels.

Then I came across an amazing explanation, put forward by Felicitas Maeder, mussel-silk expert in Basel.
5/

Digging deeper, I discovered an even more amazing story.
In antiquity the greek term βύσσος meant very fine linen. The term byssus for mussel silk came into use much later. After that people started to think of mussel silk when reading old sources.
But how did that misunderstanding happen?
4/

Like, the stuff appeared in the bible, was used in egyptian mummies and was generally the finest textile ever. Also some sources claimed the secret of its production had been lost in antiquity.

The thicket of tall tales made it impossible to know what's true. But that's just part of my job.

3/

People really love surprising stories about strange materialsg. So I can go full clickbait. And you need that these days.

However, when I did my usual background research soon something seemed off. There was an unusual number outrageous stories about the history of this golden textile.
2/

Muschelseide: Die seltsame Geschichte der goldenen Seide aus dem Meer Ein rätselhaftes Tuch aus dem Meer, fein wie Seide und goldglänzend – doch erst ein Übersetzungsfehler machte die Muschelseide zur Legende.

Storytime! Recently at the office:

So I came across this press release. It was about structural color in an unusual golden textile made from mussel byssus. I regularly write science news, and this one has everything: chemistry, gold, history and a physics effect most people never heard of.
1/

This joke is clearly eligible for statuory retirement benefits by now. People should leave it alone to enjoy the fruits of its long career.

I don't think you all realise how amazing south east asian tectonics actually is. 😍
⚒️

(yes, it's about the Borneo quake)

I washed red rice poha and added salt followed by fresh lemon juice. The portion turned blue.

What is happening here? #ChemSky #ChemistsWhoCook

Would anybody like to read one of my long threads about a 2.5bn year old rock, bacteria that could produce oxygen but not consume it, and tank production in wwii

Cruel an unusual punishment!

Guardian headline: Australian government says it would support removing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from royal line of succession

We all know how removing someone from the royal line of succession generally works, historically speaking, right?

So is this about one of the spiders? Or are they planning something creative with Koalas?

*seufz* und ich hatte es extra reingeschrieben...

Ich hab keine Zahlen parat, aber innerhalb der USA ziehen ca 3 mal so viele Menschen beruflich um wie innerhalb einzelner EU-Staaten. (und ca 30× so viel wie zwischen EU-Staaten)
Plus, der Unterschied schrumpfte in den letzten 20 Jahren, als die housing costs in den USA so deutlich gestiegen sind.

Ich weiß, ich wiederhol mich, aber aus meiner Sicht ist das einer der zentralen Gründe, weshalb Europa nicht mal annähernd das wirtschaftliche Potenzial der USA hat.

Hohe Mieten: Jede siebte Kommune in Europa zu teuer für Pflegekräfte Diese Karte von CORRECTIV.Europe zeigt erstmals: Hier reicht ein mittleres Gehalt wie von Pflegern nicht einmal für eine kleine Wohnung.

Dieser Text von Lillith Grull & @fridathurm.bsky.social zeigt das ganze Deaster des europäischen Wohnmarktes:
In 7 von 10 großen Städten in 🇩🇪 können sich Pflegefachkräfte keine Wohnung leisten. Obwohl sie überall gebraucht werden. Unbedingt lesen - es ist ein Politikum
correctiv.org/aktuelles/20...

Hi #chemsky,
I have been asked to come up with chemistry ideas for a new teaching format at german schools that focuses on democracy.
What's lacking are ideas how to use chemistry in this context.

So what could be the chemistry of democracy and how do you present it in a school lesson?

Ich weiß, ich bin ein schlechter Mensch. 🤭