My latest for @livescience.com Polar bears in southern Greenland are 'using jumping genes to rapidly rewrite their own DNA' to survive melting sea ice www.livescience.com/animals/pola...

My latest for @livescience.com Death Valley shrub rearranges its insides to thrive in one of the hottest places on Earth www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

Here's my geeky deep-dive into cosmic dawn experiments in @physicsworld.bsky.social . I loved every moment of it. physicsworld.com/a/cosmic-daw...

My latest for @livescience.com

AI models are neglecting African languages — scientists want to change that Scientists record 9,000 hours of languages spoken in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa as free-access training data for AI models. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

“There are no standards for repositories; the journals are not telling you how to correct a data set or how to cite new data, so people are just winging it,” says @cghlewis.bsky.social Lewis, a freelance data-management consultant in St. Louis, Missouri. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The third Q&A in my @nature.com series about how South Africa seeded the discipline of radio astronomy in Africa www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Here's my latest in LiveScience: Why were the Texas flash floods so catastrophic. www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

Great tips from @sarahemilywild.bsky.social 👇 It's all about building relationships, 1st with the comms officers at universities, then with experts. Grab ☕️ with the comms person, even a virtual one; talk to researchers once in a while to see when are they publishing something. #abswss25 1/2

This series in @nature.com is close to my heart: how South Africa seeded the discipline of radio astronomy on the African continent. In 2005, there were five radio astronomers on the continent. Today there are hundreds of talented people listening to the stars. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

You have until next Wednesday to book an 'early bird' ticket and save up to 50%! I'm running a "Journalism From Scientific Papers" session with the amazing @emmastoye.bsky.social @sarahemilywild.bsky.social and @dalmeet.bsky.social, covering the basics and more sophisticated stuff. Sign up now!

I'm just sending out a survey from Nature's news team asking about ethical ways to use generative AI tools to write or review research papers. To reassure anyone who received this email and is finding this post: this is a genuine survey! Please message me if you have questions.

My latest in @physicsworld.bsky.social The SKA Observatory has released the 1st images from its partially built low-frequency telescope in Australia. It contains 85 of the brightest known galaxies in that region. With the full SKA-Low, it will see more than 600 000. physicsworld.com/a/milestone-...

Another one from me this week. This time in The Economist: Satellites are polluting the stratosphere www.economist.com/science-and-...

In Tshilidzi Marwala's lab (@txm23.bsky.social) lab, "there I saw people who looked like me, who had backgrounds similar to mine. That experience changes you. He was also so generous with everyone, asking, 'How do we open opportunities for you?'" – @vukosi.bsky.social

"If you’re just an individual, ‘superstar’ researcher, once you leave the field or retire, in effect, nothing has changed." – @vukosi.bsky.social in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The SKA's development has been shaped by a suite of smaller experiments and telescopes that are already resetting the agenda – and flagging problems that the giant telescope could face. physicsworld.com/a/thirty-yea...

Well. That didn't make me feel better about the world, now did it?

We are covering the recent executive orders in the US and the impact on the scientific community. If you have been affected then feel free to get in touch (anonymous or otherwise) by sending an e-mail to physics.world AT ioppublishing DOT org🧪⚛️

I wrote a piece about why kids need risky play and 'scary joy'. I went into this @nature.com story feeling kind of like I screwed up because our kid is naturally cautious, but actually came out feeling much better. Kids need the *chance* to take risks--they get to decide whether to take them

Starting the new year with a bang: my latest feature for Nature Magazine: ‘One of the last taboos’: breaking the stigma of substance-use disorders in academia www.nature.com/articles/d41...

For Maths fans, 2025 is a square. 45² = 45 x 45 = 2025 Also, 9² x 5² = 2025 40² + 20² + 5² = 2025 My favourite? 1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³ = 2025 #Mathematics #teaching #education

My latest in @physicstoday.bsky.social : Vast amounts of hydrogen are likely hidden under our feet – potentially more than enough to meet the projected H2 needed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions for about 200 years. pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...

My first story in @physicsworld.bsky.social Africa targets 2035 start date for synchrotron construction physicsworld.com/a/africa-tar...

Framing indigenous knowledge in a way that empowers the communities it comes from goes beyond good journalism It’s “fundamentally decolonial” Traditional knowledge & Western science are different ways of knowing. They can inform each other in powerful ways. www.theopennotebook.com/2024/10/29/w...

I lie awake at night thinking about this. In 100 years, the knowledge people can access will mostly be from the Global North. It will be as though scholarship from most of the Global South – unless published in US, UK, or European journals – did not exist. 1/n www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Story hunting: Are you a researcher who is doing some interesting research? I'd love to hear what you're up to. Send me a message. :)

Absolute shots fired. From: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360319924043957 #Science #academia #peerreview #research

My latest, rather baffling story, in Nature. “The decision to amend the South African Ethics in Health Research Guidelines to facilitate research to create genetically modified children is baffling,” says Francoise Baylis, a bioethicist @ Dalhousie University www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is definitely me. Also: "Just one more chapter."

My latest in Nature Careers: How to keep research afloat during an administrative stint Leading a university department can slow research output to a trickle. Scholars who’ve done it offer strategies to keep research creativity flowing. www.nature.com/articles/d41... @natureportfolio.bsky.social

And another new @natureportfolio.bsky.social story: 'World's largest telescope pauses expansion amid funding crunch' The Square Kilometre Array will take longer to expand further into eight African nations than originally planned. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

One of my recent stories for @natureportfolio.bsky.social Satellites are photobombing astronomy data — could AI offer a solution? (Short answer: not really, no.) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Gotta say, being a curator for the Library of Congress sounds like a pretty cool gig. By @sarahemilywild.bsky.social

I have been working on this story since September last year, and thinking about it for many months before that. I am incredibly proud of it: How restorative justice could help to heal science communities torn apart by harassment misconduct (Nature Careers) www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I just love this story. My latest in Nature: ‘Rainbow’, ‘like a cricket’: every bird in South Africa now has an isiZulu name www.nature.com/articles/d41...

(Still) LOOKING FOR SOURCES: Are you an academic who took a break from research for an administration role such as HOD? I'm working on a story for Nature Careers and would love to chat to you about it. Please DM me. (RT please or share with colleagues)

'How NASA astronauts are training to walk on the Moon in 2026' Great story from Alex Witze in Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Tomorrow, South Africa goes to the ballot box. My latest in Nature about what this means for research. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

LOOKING FOR SOURCES: Are you an academic who took a break from research for an administration role such as HOD? I'm working on a story for Nature Careers and would love to chat to you about it. Please DM me. (Please share with colleagues)

My latest in @Nature Violent volcanoes have wracked Jupiter’s moon Io for billions of years www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Months in the making, the 1st part of my investigation into disciplinary processes & the aftermath of misconduct for NatureCareers is live: www.nature.com/articles/d41... It all started with the question: How do you respond if a colleague has been accused of misconduct or has accused someone else?

My latest in The Observer: ‘Working with the landscape is a more sensible way of managing our rivers’: should we dismantle the UK’s dams? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

@hakaimagazine.com is starting a new membership scheme. Interested in coastal and marine issues and great journalism? It might be for you: hakaimagazine.com/support/

My latest for Nature: How to stop 'passing the harasser': universities urged to join information-sharing scheme www.nature.com/articles/d41...

My latest in The Observer: Cosmic cleaners: the scientists scouring English cathedral roofs for space dust www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

My latest in @Nature: Meningitis could be behind ‘mystery illness’ reports in Nigeria The WHO confirms three meningitis deaths, which it says might have triggered rumours of an outbreak of an unknown disease. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How five crucial elections in 2024 could shape climate action for decades In @Nature with some words from me. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

My latest for Nature: Millions of research papers at risk of disappearing from the Internet www.nature.com/articles/d41...

LOOKING FOR SOURCES: Hi lovely people, I'm looking for people in academia who know a colleague who was either accused of or found to have committed misconduct. Or people who know a survivor of harassment &/or bullying. My story's around how people respond to such events. Please share.