This story is a little glimmer of hope in a lot of darkness: www.science.org/content/arti...

'He expected little interference from Chinese authorities as long as “we try to keep our event as close as possible to science, not close to politics.”' I'm pretty sure that if the past decade taught us anything, it taught us that science and politics are inextricable...

The person I've travelled with most is my best friend, who is a man, and people constantly assume we are a couple. I can't think of any films or books about a relationship like ours. I wish there was. Instead of yet another one where they get together in the end. www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

I can't believe that all the stuff in the supermarket is paywalled too

Things kākā sound like: “tape being torn off a box” “a door opening for the first time in years” “rapid, soft, fluid warbles” “droplets falling into water, like a child blowing spit bubbles” “a locomotive” A richly rewarding parrot profile by @rebekahwhite.bsky.social www.nzgeo.com/stories/fort...

Really enjoying my week at nerd camp aka the World Conference of Science Journalists. Say hi if you're here! Here are my super panellists who spoke about community-based evidence the other day... @wfsj25.bsky.social

I hope this means people start to re-hire copyeditors and fact-checkers, who do things like "confirm people in stories are real" and "events definitely happened": thelocal.to/investigatin...

Science journo folks: there are travel grants available to the World Conference of Science Journalists, this December in South Africa - deadline is really short, due October 15: www.wcsj2025.org/grants/ I'll be there, come hang out.

By the way, I started a publishing company, along with three of the most eye-wateringly competent people I know. We just opened pre-orders for our first book. It's so good. I've read it twice. I edited it. You can get one here! www.kickstarter.com/projects/hom...

Remember the Magic Eye books of the 90s?? Now, you can have a crack at viewing New Zealand’s native flowers in 3D. Clematis, orchid, ngutukākā, korukoru, oioi… this is a luscious, spectacular feature by @rebekahwhite.bsky.social, based on the new book He Puāwai by @theobrominated.bsky.social

Thank-you, I found it super interesting to write!

This year at the Ig Nobels it's affirming to see empirical confirmation of a personal research project: that alcohol demonstrably improves my ability to speak a foreign language. The sample size is a bit small but I'd volunteer for anyone's replication attempt: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I know that some publications usually send the intern to cover the Ig Nobels, but I think they're important (as well as hilarious) and, omg, editors, it's my dream to write about them! Not just who wins, but what they mean. Send me, I'm funny. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It's my favourite day of the year! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I think there are a number of people on here who would be interested to see these pics of Dodie Smith’s London pad. www.countrylife.co.uk/interiors/co...

My data-journalist friend just researched and wrote this super-fascinating story about what kind of content TikTok sends teenagers, and how young people feel about it www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/i...

if you're in New Zealand: please help a left-handed snail find love!

I just experienced a 40-degree day for the first time and I reckon this level of heat is like pain: impossible to explain to anyone unless they've also experienced it www.independent.co.uk/news/world/e...

Am I laughing or am I crying; it's getting harder to tell www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-...

INDIANA JONES AND THE LOST FUNDING

“If the engine of narrative is conflict, then what happens if a story organizes itself around another center?” Shruti Swamy asks in the introduction the the 2023 Harper Perennial edition of Always Coming Home (right).

total horror is being inflicted on the women of tigray. here we document the attempts by soldiers to destroy their fertility, and their hopes for justice as most of the world looks away www.theguardian.com/global-devel... @ximenaborrazas.bsky.social

@alecluhn.bsky.social Only just clocked that you were also at the Arctic Repair conference last week - I've been following your work for ages, wish I'd said hi! Give me a shout if you're ever in Oxford... it's better than Cambridge.

This might be my favourite advertisement of all time. No beating around the bush. No lies. No exaggeration. (also, it's biscuits in the British sense)

I really wish I was not away in July and could go to this—but you should!

It's my year!!! ...I hope it's not my year.

Māori man with parasol. Northland region, ca. 1910. Photo by Northwood brothers of Kaitaia. Ref 1/1-010679-G, National Library of New Zealand.

Sir David, who will be 99 on Thursday, says: "After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In personal news, yesterday I moved back to Oxford and today I watched Andor, and it's hard to say which of those things I was looking forward to more

Feeling extremely patriotic about New Zealand's attempt at entering Eurovision, or rather Eurovusion—this could not represent us better www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnXp...

Spending the week in Hong Kong en route to the UK learning about research here (and visiting one of my best friends). I love this city - it's so easy to go between super-dense neighbourhoods and national parks. Also, there are a lot of very good dogs.

Sci-fi flowers! I think this project is beautiful and fascinating: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/s...

Outside magazine was always such an example for me of what journalism could be. This story about how it shot itself in both feet and then punched itself in the face is also an example, I guess www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

I have the Swedish national broadcaster's livestream of moose migration spots playing on my other screen and it's so lovely. The sun is just about to come up and the dawn chorus is going for it: www.svtplay.se/video/KMyV5B...

Well, this is an example of bad science: a one-off survey of people's self-reported eating habits going back an unspecified amount of time. No info on how closely people followed each diet. This doesn't show causation in the slightest. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

So cool! 🦑 by @erikstokstad.bsky.social in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

This is a picture of my brain leaking out of my ears after learning too much at #OceaniaSeabirds. But I'm always interested in cool bird stories! And @jmrbrock.bsky.social lurking there wants seabird dandruff samples from all over the Pacific. Or just someone to talk to about ferns.

Some people tell me my accent is incomprehensible! Determine for yourself. I'm on the @science.org podcast talking about geoengineering: www.science.org/content/podc...

Do I know anyone going to World Press Photo in May? Looks like there will be at least one person from NZGeo attending, maybe two! We'd love to meet other cool folks/publishers/people trying to keep photojournalism alive. Pic from Tatsiana's winning portfolio: www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/p...

Smart and important story from @rebekahwhite.bsky.social. Some geoengineering experiments have brought nearby communities on board; others have failed to get support. What should scientists do to genuinely engage with people about their concerns? www.science.org/content/arti...

Some new climate technologies are pretty controversial, but they could also be pretty useful; we should talk about it! To be clear, it's not a matter of convincing people; it's a matter of being in dialogue. Sounds woolly, but a number of fantastic researchers help me unpack what this involves:

Since the USA is thinking about permitting deep-sea mining in international waters, I reckon it's important to remember what's down there—not just mineral wealth but genetic wealth—and that it doesn't belong to anyone: www.biographic.com/the-three-wa...

In light of recent events, I have been sending this website to basically everybody: my family, my editors, my Hinge chats owlsintowels.org

Woke up to the cool news that a New Zealand photographer has won a major World Press Photo award for her longtime documentary work on Tūhoe www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/p...

*repeats to self* Nice things still exist in the world...

Same here. It understands my accent better than Otter did -- though this does result in fewer amusing transcription mistakes

You want to see an octopus riding a shark. 🎥: University of Auckland www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/s...

Well, this year has been a real lesson in how things can always get worse www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/c...

I love the work I do and hope to keep doing it for a long time, but sometimes projects don't line up very well and I end up trying to finish a draft in the middle of the night on a camping trip to a random island. That's my best friend keeping me company. I think he's asleep.

Can anyone verify that this is true? Because I cannot fathom how a magazine could afford this, even in the 1990s