things could barely be more hopeless

Anglo-linguists really need to be slapped.

Geweldige column van Hieke Huistra. www.trouw.nl/wetenschap/u...

Israel has murdered more than 500 Palestinians in Gaza since it signed the so called ceasefire. One of the latest is a 3 year old child.

"Those who failed to correctly pronounce the trilled –r, as in the shibboleth perejil ‘parsley’, were deemed to be Haitian and, as a consequence, were murdered.” Bullock & Toribio. 2014. "From Trujillo to the terremoto." Int'l Jrl of the soc. of lng, 227: 83-100. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley...

Good news everyone, _Nature_ has published 66 Open Access articles to date in 2026! This means Springer-Nature has gobbled up USD$837,540 of science funding this year. I'm sure we couldn't think of anything better to do with that money. #OpenScience

on the road to nowhere

Some tools for thinking about AI in a time when the companies making them are trying to destroy teaching and learning itself... 1/n 🧵

If you feel bad for not having published all the papers from your PhD yet... This paper is the discussion of my thesis, and it took me about 6 years to publish it! Thank you to my lovely collaborators @geoffreymesbahi.bsky.social and @maelmleroux.bsky.social for the (much-needed) final push!

Nederland kan in de komende jaren een taalpolitiek voorbeeldland worden. neerlandistiek.nl/2026/01/mijn...

Instead of withdrawing from Gaza, Israel has imposed a so-called "Yellow-Line," leaving its military occupying 58% of Gaza and forcibly confining Palestinians to the remaining 42 percent. This largely unmarked and lethal boundary functions as de facto annexation... 1/3

such an exciting topic!!

Wrote about sweet Tsova-Tush children's book project, trying to revive a dying language, for @ocmedia.bsky.social oc-media.org/the-tsova-tu...

"Free societies are under assault from a resurgent fascism. Across the world, fears about immigration have been one of the main—arguably the main—weapon used. And across the world, there has been a timidity on the part of progressives about countering these arguments."

Arabische cartoonisten hebben een field day.

In 2025 I spent 19 full nights or large parts of the day on a train travelling through Europe. There’s so much to improve still (looking at you, Germany) but it’s exciting to see the growing number of possibilities the European rail network offers!

Waar is het protest van de NRC-redactie tegen alle bizarre beslissingen vd leiding?

Francesca Albanese: "This is the genocide that continues through other means. Israel has zero intention to relinquish control of the Gaza strip.. what has been sold to the world as the peace plan.. is a way to push the intl community to have an alibi not to continue to engage with Gaza"

Israel hunted a 70 year old lady down with a gun drone and then hoovered above to make sure she bled out next to her dying son. They both join almost 1,000 Palestinians Israel has massacred or maimed in its genocide during the "ceasefire". www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12...

#WestBank: new @hrw.org report finds #Israel 's mass displacement of Palestinians amounts to ethnic cleansing: hrw.org/news/2025/11... Countless EU statements on "two state solution" have done nothing to stop this. Sanctions, settlement trade ban urgently needed: hrw.org/news/2025/10...

I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.

Being available; sharing network and resources; giving timely feedback; offering opportunities and learning moments (e.g. co-reviewing a paper, organising a conference, co-presenting - these are things you have to learn somehow). Oh and be kind - there is enough harshness in academia.

being available when needed, offering constructive criticism as well as motivation and recognition, being humane (do not request unreasonable achievements, or expect huge personal sacrifices, respect holidays, time to rest etc.), there's probably more but this are top three to me

things look so bleak.. and Europe seems to have stopped caring since the start of the ceasefire which is not a ceasefire

genuinely curious: what, according to my academic followers, are characteristics of good doctoral supervision?

genuinely curious: what, according to my academic followers, are characteristics of good doctoral supervision?

#Vacancies: we are looking for not just one but three #postdoctoral researchers interested in bridging #genetics, #archaeology and #linguistics in exploring the #humanpast. shorturl.at/B3Qdd @haam-community.bsky.social @cschlebu.bsky.social

Today, 250.000 people took to the streets of Amsterdam to protest Israel's genocidal violence in Gaza and the cowardly response by the Dutch government. It followed on two earlier protests, one with 150.000 protesters, and the first one with about 100.000. By Dutch standards, these are huge numbers.

RIP Jane Goodall, who has died at 91. She was a gentle disrupter who reshaped how we understand our place in nature. Her research with chimpanzees revolutionized science, and her boundless optimism touched the world. buff.ly/5Hwx3Z7 🌎🩺

Together with 1000 Madleens to #Gaza @1kmadleenfr.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy we are sending a boat with international journalists & health workers in solidarity with Palestinian journalists & medics who continue to report & provide care through #genocide #BreakTheSiege #FreePalestine #AllEyesOnGaza

When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland. My column today. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"The big perspective change from ancient DNA study is that people living today are almost never the descendants of the people in the same place thousands of years before." "People’s stories about their history are almost always wrong."

From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue. www.cell.com/current-biol...

hemeltergend

in the context of sharing something uplifting every once in a while: this documentary about two brothers dipping their toes in the world of "extreme birdwatching" is so joyful, genuine and funny, and it has stunning bird footage! youtu.be/zl-wAqplQAo?...

“Wie om veiligheid vraagt zonder macht, vraagt om bescherming in plaats van zeggenschap.”

Today, Global Voices joins with @rsf.org Avaaz and other media outlets to condemn the killing of journalists in #Gaza. Together, we call on the Israeli authorities to allow independent access for international press into Gaza immediately. #ProtectJournalistsInGaza #LetReportersIntoGaza

Our paper is out! We linked genetic and linguistic data to study how contact changes language and found consistent patterns of borrowing across contact situations @balthasarbickel.bsky.social @chiarabarbieri.bsky.social @nccrlanguage.bsky.social @isle-uzh.bsky.social doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv7521

Crucial research by courageous Israeli journalists www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip, systematically destroying the health, well-being and social fabric of Palestinian life. Read more:

A new study finds that chimpanzee babies learn vocal and visual communication patterns from their mothers. The findings may shed light on the way human babies learn from those close to them.

“The law means nothing if the world looks away.”

It comes with a nicely condensed press release: www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

So happy that this paper lead by Joseph Mine is finally out! Was cool to be part of this project on the social learning of multi-modal communication in chimpanzees, which is slightly outside of my usual scope (and it’s my first co-authored paper too, yay!) :) journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen. By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

What is holding us from imposing complete sanctions on Israel immediately? Possible answers are racism, islamophobia, and giving in to illegitimate pressure from zionists. I don’t see any good reason at all. Also, use military force to let the food in (since diplomacy failed). Now!

Such a fascinating topic! I’d totally recommend his brilliant book “Bye Bye I Love You” as well, which features reflections on ritual last words and much more relating to the opening and closing of the “interaction window” at the beginning and end of the lifespan.

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. "Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die" Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

and European governments continue to stand by and watch

Historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, following a month-long stay in Gaza, says Israel’s restrictions on journalists conceal devastation so severe it has profoundly fractured Gazan society and could impact the world www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...