Courtney Applewhite
@c-applewhite.bsky.social
Death researcher 💀 | Currently in EPFL's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience 🧠 | PhD Religious Studies | Here for death, bereavement, presences, & interdisciplinary work | Plus rugby 🏉 and cats 🐈⬛
Fellow authors: Without any context, what's the first line of your current WIP? // They arrived from across the hills the first time we saw them.
K Lykkebo 🖤 Fantasy author@karenlykkebo.com · 3mo agoFellow authors: Without any context, what's the first line of your current WIP? “I’ll admit, I wasn’t terribly surprised the morning I woke up as a rat.”
Wrapped up the @iacesr.bsky.social conference. Really interesting talks and presentations, but it's always tough to network from the outside (no PI in the field, no lab group attending). Would love your tips and tricks for how to make the most of conferencing! Now just two days exploring Czechia.
It's 37 degrees C outside (and only a few degrees cooler inside), so I had to write about the #heatwave hitting Europe this week. How #grief changes in a hotter world.
How Grief Changes in a Hotter World
Notes from the European Heat Wave
open.substack.com
I'm not an expert, but to me every aspect of the film gives way to the conclusion that only a woman could survive. The fact that the computer is called "Mother," the violent childbirth-like imagery of the alien emerging from bodies. This is a *female* sci-fi in a sea of male-dominated sci-fi.
Spooki Yammi 🎃@yammibammi.bsky.social · 4mo agoTHEY SPITTIN' FACTS
My latest substack post is up. This one is a super general overview of my current area of research: bereavement hallucinations. courtneyapplewhite.substack.com/p/presence-e...
Presence Experiences of the Deceased
Introduction and Prevalence
courtneyapplewhite.substack.com
I feel extremely lucky to have been among the first cohort of girls to be given this vaccine by a very forward-thinking rural medicine physician. What a win for science! 🔬🔎🧪
Otto English@ottoenglish.bsky.social · 4mo agoSuch good news. Human beings are capable of magical and wonderful things. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
After about two years in the review cycle, my paper about after death experiences (i.e., #bereavementhallucinations) in Parkinson's Disease is out in the journal Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. If you don't have access, send me a DM and I'll share the PDF! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
After death experiences in patients with Parkinson’s disease - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Hallucinations are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with presence hallucinations (PH), reported as the sensation that someone is close to you, being the most frequent. Some PD patients report PH in...
link.springer.com
Returning to some of my PhD research for this week's Substack post. Would you want to become a tree when you die?
Everyone Wants to Become a Tree
Choosing environmental options for when we die
courtneyapplewhite.substack.com
Friday is here, which means a new substack post. How do death rituals affect our bereavement? I look at cross-cultural rates of Prolonged Grief Disorder, and what rituals share across cultural difference. open.substack.com/pub/courtney...
How many people are grieving? There's not an immediately clear answer. So, I tackled it in my first-ever blog post over on Substack! Give it a read and subscribe if you want more on death, bereavement, or other things that pop into my head. #altac
How many people are grieving?
Putting grief and bereavement in perspective
open.substack.com
If you grew up in the U.S. in the 1980s/1990s, you know the Paul Hogan ad to promote travel to Australia. His famous line, "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya" was basically the only "Australian" thing I knew.
Tried watching the first episode of the #3BodyProblem last night, but my husband (physicist by training) couldn't suspend his disbelief. (Mostly premise below) "WHAT SCIENTIST WOULD NOT BE THRILLED BY DISCOVERING A NEW WAY THE UNIVERSE WORKS? Why are they depressed? What a time to be alive!"
Discworld QOTD, from The Shepherd’s Crown
Micah@rincewind.run · 6mo agoDiscworld QOTD, from Maskerade
A few days ago, they announced the World Photo of the Year. It's called "Separated by ICE" by @carolguzy.bsky.social, ZUMA Press, iWitness, for Miami Herald. This will be the legacy of this administration. Inconsolable grief, in a place for meant for justice.
Yes, Swiss scientist Fritz Zwicky coined the term “dark matter” which is impressive, but he also coined the term “spherical bastard” to describe people who are bastards no matter which way you look at them, and I think that should be celebrated more.
Beautiful article. I've honestly never felt so invested in benches. From my area of study, author Gabrielle Bruney highlights the use of commemorative benches: For local Brooklyn artist Traore Leigh, "Instead of a tombstone — “that wasn’t his vibe” — the family sought a different kind of memorial."
Places Journal@placesjournal.bsky.social · 6mo ago"Benches are where optimistic visions of civic life meet reality. To remove them, or to curate who gets to sit, is to abandon the work of defining a civic ideal and determining, together, how to live up to it." NEW: Why benches are slowly disappearing from public spaces — and why we need them back:
Eric Swalwell is the perfect example of double standards for Democrats and Republicans in U.S. government. Of COURSE a serial abuser should step down from his elected seat, but do you see that happening with ANY Republicans representatives (or dare I say, sitting presidents)?
Eric Swalwell will resign from Congress. And, Trump feuds with Pope Leo over Iran War
Eric Swalwell is resigning from Congress after multiple women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct. And, Trump is feuding with Pope Leo, calling him weak on crime for opposing the war.
npr.org
Ann Taves (my PhD advisor) visited our lab in October to work on refining her "presence typology." I'm still considering if I think these typologies are useful, as we continue to struggle to find appropriate cross-disciplinary language to talk about "presences."
