Just out of press: genetic characterization of rat hepatitis E virus in Helsinki rats in Archives of Virology! link.springer.com/article/10.1... Earlier we reported that we found RHEV in four of our rat carcasses (prevalence of less than 2%) and now we have complete or partial genomes for these.

🚨New paper out today: ‘This place cannot be tidied up!’ Stigmatisation, rats, and place-making in a multispecies city🚨 The paper led by Riikka Hohti out today in Children's Geographies: doi.org/10.1080/1473... A short thread: (1/5)

‘Ik ben ecoloog, dus ik probeer ratten niet te zien als een plaagdier.' Ik weet dat dit provocerend klinkt, want ecologen zijn goed in het beoordelen (en doden) van andere dieren. Mare interviewde mij over ons rattenonderzoek en het samenleven met vervelende dieren: www.mareonline.nl/wetenschap/r...

🚨 Postdoc opportunities! 🚨 We’re looking for postdocs in 🌿 biodiversity science, 🧬 genetic indicator assessment, and 📊 ecological statistics. Join us in unraveling the drivers & consequences of global change on biodiversity — and be part of a supportive & collaborative environment! DL 24 September

Enough is enough. The health of the country is in danger. Read our resignation letters: insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...

Enpäs ole hetkeen hävennyt oman yliopistoni päätöksiä näin paljon.

First paper from Nienke Beets on her thesis on Stoepplantjes, a pavement plant citizen science project out in Biological Conservation! Happy to be a coauthor here. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

"What does a pig say? In English, a pig says “oink, oink”. In Finnish, “röh, röh”. In Danish, “øf, øf”. But in the language of journalism a pig is usually silent." Happy to contribute to Anne Salomäki's project at @reutersinstitute.bsky.social! reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/rethinking-j...

My first Leiden paper out now - first-authored by PhD candidate Anna Heerdink in Journal of Nature Conservation w/ Nel Ruigrok & @ionica.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy We look at how biodiversity research is presented in the Dutch print media. A short thread: (1/5) sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Voimme neuvotella rottien kanssa ja löytää uusia yhdessäelon tapoja - Karolina kirjoitti lyhyen tiivistelmän uudesta tutkimuksesta @helsinkirats.bsky.social-nettisivuille: www.helsinki.fi/fi/projektit...

🚨New paper!🚨 Can we negotiate our cohabitation with rats? Karolina Lukasik spearheaded study, which suggests there might not be alternative! Out now in a special issue on urban multispecies justice of npj Urban Sustainability: doi.org/10.1038/s429... A short thread: (1/9)

🚨New research klaxon! 🚨 Out in now in Mammalian Biology, our ethology paper on social interactions between rats based on trail camera material! doi.org/10.1007/s429... A short thread: (1/6)

Ready to start International Conference on Urban Pests in Lund, Sweden. So, a triptych taken during Markus Krunegård's concert in Stadsparken:

Happy to talk with @politiken.dk about rats, and apparently disagree with the whole of Denmark. politiken.dk/edition/news...

Our Karolina Lukasik will be discussing some fundamental questions today in BBC Radio Scotland Mornings show at around 11.30!

A new review on H5 'bird flu' is just out in @natrevmicro.nature.com: "Evolution, spread & impact of highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza A viruses" by Beatriz Bellido-Martin, Willemijn Rijnink, Matteo Iervolino, Thijs Kuiken, Mathilde Richard & Ron Fouchier, from @erasmusmc.bsky.social. A 🧵 (1/9)

More evidence for rapid evolutionary change induced by human activities. Feeders and exotic Eucalyptus associated with more Anna's hummers, but only feeders appear to have led to a change in beak morphology. These hummers now overwinter in southwestern BC, Canada!

Very much feeling powerless, but at least: I'm among the more than 1 600 Finnish researchers who called for Finnish foreign policy leadership and Parliament to take "immediate and reasonable measures to end the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza". docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Gaza | Yli 1 600 tutkijaa vaatii Suomea tunnustamaan Palestiinan www.hs.fi/politiikka/a...

Happy to participate in RESET Symposium @helsinki.fi last week: A full day about resilient and just systems, and protocols of care, multimodalities, citizens in circular economy, petromasculinities, interdisciplinary roles, etc. As highlighted, it is especially important in the time of banned words.

Kaunis ja osuva muistokirjoitus Sonjalle. Kepeät mullat - ja kiitokset @kokkonut.bsky.social, @jmappes.bsky.social ja Anu-Katriina kirjoituksesta. www.hs.fi/muistot/art-...

One Health in action: advancing cross-sector collaboration webinar organized by #FEAM - I represent SAPEA on One Health on Wed 30.4. at 10 CEST. I'll share snippets of our findings on how One Health collaboration works in Europe and what is still missing. scientificadvice.eu/events/one-h...

Please share with people interested in arbovirology. We are looking for an enthusiastic colleague to strengthen our team please share if you know of scientists interested in arbovirology, ready to make a move to Rotterdam! www.academictransfer.com/en/jobs/3508...

Avian influenza HPAI H5N1 is catastrophic and will likely have negative consequences for Australian wildlife. Great to write this one with Sara, Toby, Marcel. 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This AI study from the researchers at University of Zürich is just so wtf. If you don't like how 'literally' is used nowadays, you might cringe a bit when you see how they use 'proactively', 'personal data', 'nondisclosure', 'transparency', 'bots', 'harm' and 'respectful', for example.

Delighted that the Agriculture and Forestry Committee of the Finnish Parliament organized a hearing about the health and pandemic risks of fur farming in Finland (in relation to the citizens' initiative seeking to ban fur farming) and happy to give evidence in the hearing and answer MPs questions.

Nyt on vahva anti-sokeri- ja paperitoukkakampanja meneillään, ottaen huomioon kuinka vähäinen haitta on. Viimeisimmän jutun sävy on sen verran yliampuva että lipsahtaa melkein campin puolelle.

Nyt vasta tajusin, että, kah, hallinto-oikeushan kumosi tämän Riistakeskuksen käsittämättömän päätöksen. Muistutuksena: Riistakeskus myönsi poikkeusluvan, joka tieteellisen tiedon mukaan todennäköisemmin pahentaa kuin helpottaa lintuinfluenssatilannetta turkistiloilla. yle.fi/a/74-20120180

One year after the first infections were reported, it's still unclear how highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 jumped into U.S. cattle—and why it keeps doing so. Science Insider article by @kakape.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...

A scientific organization asserting that investigating the facts of the matter would “do more harm than good” is… not a good look.

The UK has announced a case of avian flu virus #H5N1 detected in a sheep (on a farm with infected birds). I think some of the significance of this (and the wider picture) is being missed in a lot of the reporting. So a short thread... 🧪 #IDsky www.gov.uk/government/n...

Two of my favorites at the same time: It's the International Day of Happiness and the World Parasite Awareness Day. I do love being happy and I do love parasites.

Now out in npj Biodiversity: Multispecies relations shape bird-feeding practices Link: doi.org/10.1038/s441... From the bird-feeding section of @helsinkirats.bsky.social w/ @informedbirds.bsky.social @aksulehikoinen.bsky.social A short thread: 1/8

It was a pleasure to visit Aberdeen and give a talk about "a historian, an artist and a secondary school student enter a rat project...".

Now out in Eurosurveillance: our parasite and pathogen survey of Helsinki rats where we look for a number of viral, bacterial and helminth taxa. Link: doi.org/10.2807/1560... @helsinkirats.bsky.social A short thread follows

40-vuotias | Tuomas Aiveloa kiehtovat syyhy­punkit ja lutikat – ”Vanhat loiset tulevat takaisin”: www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/ar...

This cool paper (even though I say so myself) is now out: Bird feeding devices exclude unwelcome visitors. More-than-humans shaping the architecture and technology of birdfeeders in twentieth-century Finland. Link to the paper: doi.org/10.1177/2514...

Ylpeä ja iloinen Vuoden tiedekynä -palkintoehdokas tässä! Suomenkielinen tiedejulkaiseminen on tärkeää ja sen arvostuksen eteen on tehtävä työtä. Kiitokset sekä @koneensaatio.bsky.social että Duodecim tästä työstä! koneensaatio.fi/uutiset/vuod...

Olen mukana vetoamassa hallitukseen, jotta se muuttaisi kantansa Euroopan unionin ennallistamisasetuksesta! Ilta-Sanomat: 504 tutkijalta vakava kirje hallitukselle: ”Jättäisitkö uppoavan veneesi paikkaamatta...” www.is.fi/politiikka/a...

We're hiring a PhD candidate to Leiden University! In nutshell: - Interdisciplinary, participatory approach to the biodiversity of Dutch homes - Freedom to shape focus, but both ecology and social studies - Preferably fluent Dutch speaker - DL 16.5.

Osallistuin tiederuno-kilpailuun ja runoni jyrsijämyrkyistä (josta kuvassa puolet) sijoittui 10:n parhaan joukkoon. (Ping @aivelo.bsky.social ja @helsinkirats.bsky.social) 🐀 Runo on julkaistu reilun 40:n muun runon kanssa Tiederunoja-kirjassa, jonka on toimittanut Heli Katajamäki. #tiedetaivas 📚

Happy to see our human genetics paper finally out in Nature Communications: "SCGB1D2 inhibits growth of Borrelia burgdorferi and affects susceptibility to Lyme disease", led by Hanna Ollila and @immunofever.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s414...

"Ajattelemalla jälkilevyä rottien ja ihmisten yhteistyönä, tieteellisen tutkimuksen painopiste siirtyy tiedontuottamisen prosesseihin ---. Tällainen näkökulma antaa tilaa huomata maailma ihmistä ja ihmiskeskeisyyttä laajempana", sanoo @aivelo.bsky.social

New paper alert! Our rat educational science out now in Environmental Education Research: t.co/vKDQrLkG25 #citsci A short thread follows:

Almost a year since I've last been on site for PhD defence! I wonder whether I still remember how to behave on these occasions.

Mainiossa Antroblogissa palautetaan taas hienosti tiedetoimittaja ja HS tieteen perusperiaatteiden äärelle: kontekstittomuus, historiattomuus, stereotypisointi ja oman maailmankuvan luonnollistaminen eivät ole tiedetoimittamisessa ok. antroblogi.fi/2024/03/anni...

Rottien (suunnitelmallinen) lyöminen jääkiekkomailalla kuulostaa eläinsuojelurikokselta. Jätteenkuljettajien työnantaja ilman muuta vastuussa työturvallisuudesta, eikä sekään tässä oikein tunnu toteutuvan. www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/ro...

Hyviä kysymyksiä esittää @tuomaspernu.bsky.social.

Se aika vuodesta kun pääsee opettamaan loisista.

Happy to see our COST collaboration results online! We compared biology curricula across Europe and found differences and similarities: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... My take away from this exercise is that it's very difficult to draw any conclusions on international curricula comparisons.