love love love this artwork.

All resorts should have book depositories where guests can leave the books they've finished reading and others can take them.

The precise moment you become old is when you stop texting all your friends at midnight on new years because you or they are almost certainly home asleep

Having killed hundreds of aid workers, Israel is now completely banning 37 aid orgs from entering Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Oxfam, Caritas, and World Vision. This is an obvious war crime and thousands will die. Any comment from our government?

Fewer than 3% of journalists are trained to cover science, health or the environment. And access to that training is scarce and inequitable. It's why @theopennotebook.bsky.social works so hard to create free resources anyone can use. Please donate if you can: www.theopennotebook.com/15thannivers...

BREAKING: The National Institutes of Health has agreed to evaluate grant applications that were wrongfully frozen due to the Trump administration’s ideological purge of biomedical research.

It's almost the end of the year and it looks like I won't hit my subscriber goal for the year, but from now until the ball drop, you can get 40% off your first month/year off a monthly or annual membership to my Patreon by using code WB2026 at checkout. patreon.com/katelynburns

Devastating news that marine biologist, science communicator, and UniMelb VC Professor Emma Johnston has died after a short illness. She really was an extraordinary and visionary leader, and I have no doubt she would have made a fine Chief Scientist one day. theconversation.com/emma-johnsto...

Apparently I'm doing this -- my open letter to that open latter about AI in writing and publishing. I emerged from Hibernation Week to write it, so god only knows how much sense it makes. But at least a human wrote it, so that's nice. Bonus: picture of my "cat," sweet baby Boomba.

The world needs more science journalists, especially those with mad skills and ethics training. All that is provided for free by @theopennotebook.bsky.social, but we need your help. Join me in donating to support these amazing resources: www.theopennotebook.com/15thannivers...

We want to highlight the incredible science reporting being done at the local and regional level. Please submit your work for the Victor McElheny Award, which comes with a $10,000 prize. ksj.mit.edu/mcelheny-awa...

I am not exaggerating when I say that every week @zackwhittaker.com highlights a story I missed. Highly recommend a signing up for his newsletter.

Are you a bachelor or master student anywhere in the world, and would like to come to us to work full-time on a supervised research project? Applications for the 2026 MPIA Summer Internship are open now!

Media release: Unity must guide the Government's response to Bondi attack, not divisive pro-Israel wishlist Full release available at the link in our bio.

I protested against genocide then, and I will protest against genocide again. This blaming of the march against genocide, with the anti-semitic terrorist attack in Bondi is appalling, and does a huge disservice to democracy and freedom of speech. It does not make any of us safer.

Here's @ronnisalt. "Don't look back in anger" theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

Lord, please never let me be hated by someone as skilled as that Vanity Fair photographer. Let all my haters be incompetent.

Congratulations to the brilliant and lyrical science writer @fmcmillanwebster.bsky.social for her appointment as the editor of the 2026 Best Australian Science Writing anthology. Get your entries ready: unsw.press/news/call-fo...

In dark times, look for the helpers and the heroes. Ahmed al-Ahmed ❤️ www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

For #journalists reporting the terror attack on Bondi beach, here's an important and good resource from the Global Centre for Trauma and Journalism on how to report ethically and safely: gcjt.org/resources/re...

The NTEU stands with Jewish Australians as they grieve this devastating and targeted act of violence. Violence, hatred and antisemitism have no place in our society. We stand in solidarity, care, and shared humanity.

My heart aches for the Sydney Jewish community, and for Sydney.

Right up there with one of the best things @nickfeik.bsky.social has ever written. A must read. 👉 nickfeik.substack.com/p/a-rare-win *cough-former730host-cough*

Something massive brewing right above us in Blackheath.

DNA? Fingerprints? Family telephone numbers? IP addresses? Hell no.

In the world we live in today, that is 1.3C warmer due to our continued burning of fossil fuels, the extreme rainfall leading to disastrous flooding in many parts of Asia is up to 50 to 160% more intense - new @wwattribution.bsky.social study www.worldweatherattribution.org/increasing-h...

The US social media vetting for visas will be devastating for scientific and journalistic conferences, fellowships etc. No global organisation can seriously consider holding an international conference in the US while this policy exists.

OMG there's a new season of Shoresy coming and that is the best Christmas present ever. Une fois!

Every part of this is bonkers. The intro is bonkers. The transition to his health is bonkers. The mention that other presidents didn't need cognitive exams is bonkers. The claim that this screening test is somehow hard is bonkers. The idea that criticism of him is treason is bonkers. All of it.

a momentary interlude from the news cycle to share that my book with @arielbogle.bsky.social CONSPIRACY NATION has been shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards non-fiction prize

Australia has recorded a full year with no new cases of cervical cancer in under-25s, the group most at risk of aggressive types of the cancer-causing human papillomavirus infection. And the reason is ... [drum roll] ... HPV #vaccination! #vaccineswork www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Fantastic news from ABC Science today: a wonderful donor - former librarian Ms Margaret Bales - has given $1 million to establish a Science Journalist Fellowship Program. www.abc.net.au/about/the-ab...

@withmeaa.bsky.social is raising funds for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, and the Media, Safety & Solidarity Fund with this fantastic t-shirt (front and back shown). Pre-order now from www.meaa.org/shop/#!/MEAA...

Hey all, The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships. Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits. You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.

Student journalists around the world are increasingly facing the same censorship, threats and suppression of press freedom issues as the rest of the journalism world, but doing so with even less support, experience and resources.

“People across South and Southeast Asia are living the data,” @harjeet11.bsky.social says it’s time to talk about the legal and moral obligations of polluting countries to act on climate change. My latest for Al Jazeera on the deadly floods across Asia www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12...

#Europe 🌐 Online harassment of journalists is endemic, with women and minority groups bearing the brunt of it. @europeanjournalists.org's in-depth report provides a detailed guide for journalists’ groups to better protect journalists online. buff.ly/Nj0hGVC

Does anyone want a survivorship bias shortbread

What Australian outlets edited out of the opening of Kerry O'Brien's Walkley Awards speech on press freedom: (The full speech is here: www.walkleys.com/dont-kid-you...)

And here it is: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Outstanding speech by Kerry O'Brien at the Walkley Awards last night about the myriad of threats to press freedom globally - the murder of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the Trump admin, prosecution of whistleblowers in Australia - and warning that we cannot take media freedom for granted.

Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.) RTs appreciated.

Damn straight, @starrevartan.bsky.social! This is top of my holiday reading pile - can't wait to get into it.

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

This is the most Australian thing I have seen all week and it's a mood

Unlike most apps these days, Scrivener does not use AI in any way. However, if you’re on a Mac, you may see an AI prompt. . Here’s why, and what you can do if you want to remove this: buff.ly/MlAq0rL