Rob Knell
@robknell.bsky.social
Evolutionary ecologist working on, amongst other things, mating systems and adaptation. Knows enough stats to be dangerous and inflicts R on the innocent. Takes photos of animals. Also running/triathlon/technical diving.
Am beyond pleased that @neelamporwal.bsky.social has been awarded an @eseb.bsky.social under-represented ECR award. Great news. 🧪
Neelam Porwal@neelamporwal.bsky.social · 2d agoThank you, @eseb.bsky.social. Honoured and grateful to my team for supporting me throughout my recovery, especially @jacek-radwan.bsky.social @robknell.bsky.social @ecoevoenviro.bsky.social and to my parents for challenging cultural norms. To a future where every girl has equal access to education.
West and East views of the Olifants river from the high water bridge this morning.
Sunset timelapse over the Drakensberg escarpment as viewed from the Lowveld on our @uniofhull.bsky.social Savannah Ecology field course in South Africa #SouthAfrica #Nkosisikel'iAfrica
As an academic in the UK my job does often suck like an Electrolux, but I spent today tracking spotted hyaenas up a river with our @uniofhull.bsky.social students and now we're sitting around a fire having a few cold ones... not bad
Looks like we have a side-splittingly hilarious creationist in Exclusive Books at JNB. 🧪
Not sure how much traction this paper is getting: Morgan, TJH &PE Smaldino (2025) Author-Paid Publication Fees Corrupt Science and Should Be Abandoned. Science and Public Policy 52(5):805-809. doi.org/10.1093/scip...
Author-paid publication fees corrupt science and should be abandoned
Abstract. Author-paid publication fees, often associated with so-called “gold” open access journals, lead to the corruption of science by incentivizing the
doi.org
📣 📣 📣 UPDATE: The 2026-2027 list of faculty and postdoc positions in ecology and evolutionary biology is out! Be sure to check out this active and helpful community run resource! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
ecoevojobs.net 2026-27
docs.google.com
The fallout from the collapse of this glacier - a torrent of mud surging down the valley - killed hundreds of people. Gone, in a flash. Those people were wiped out by anthropogenic climate change. Our governments are simply not responding quickly enough to this disaster which is already upon us.
Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 4w agoAn incredibly well-timed Landsat 9 pass captured the effects of yesterday’s catastrophic glacier collapse near the Nepal–Tibet border. The event was so massive that it was detected by seismometers around the world.
Our paper is out in @conphysjournal.bsky.social! We tested how the androgenic agricultural pollutant 17β-trenbolone affects immunity and reproductive allocation in eastern mosquitofish. A thread below (1/6): doi.org/10.1093/conp... @ceb-uwa.bsky.social @monashbiol.bsky.social
Androgenic agricultural pollution suppresses immune function and alters reproductive allocation in eastern mosquitofish
Abstract. Anthropogenic pollution poses a serious threat to wildlife. Particularly concerning are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) due to their abilit
doi.org
Conservation Physiology@conphysjournal.bsky.social · last mo.Pollutants from agricultural runoff can disrupt freshwater fish physiology. This study shows some contaminants disrupt hormonal signalling in eastern mosquitofish, diverting energy to reproduction at the expense of immune function. Find out more ⬇️ academic.oup.com/conphys/arti...
As any fool knows, the arithmetic mean is affected disproportionately by extreme outliers. Thus, the mean worth of humanity has just decreased by a small but measurable amount. RIP Dolly www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0...
Dolly Parton, legendary US country singer, dies aged 80
In a statement confirming her death, the singer's team says she will be remembered as an "inspiration" and for her "wit, warmth, and kindness".
bbc.co.uk
567-million-year-old fossils rewrite the dawn of animal life www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202... 🧪🌎🦑
567-million-year-old fossils rewrite the dawn of animal life
A spectacular fossil site in Canada contains 567-million-year-old creatures that may represent some of the earliest animals to move, reproduce sexually, and develop recognizable body plans. The…
sciencedaily.com
University conducts misconduct enquiry and actually finds fault. Astonishing. Presumably she wasn't senior enough for it to warrant a cover-up. 🧪
Star marine ecologist committed misconduct, university says
Finding against Danielle Dixson vindicates whistleblowers who questioned high-profile work on ocean acidification
science.org
New PhD opportunities in behavioural ecology at the University of Tasmania and Macquarie University working with Geoff While and Martin Whiting plus multiple international collaborators on lizard sociality and communication. Please spread the word! #phd
People will you please stop publishing interesting papers that I’m going to have to spend time reading. I’ve got risk assessments to write, damnit.
Will Allen@wlallen.bsky.social · last mo.New Paper: Ornaments evolve faster than weapons Combining a new theoretical model of sexually selected trait evolution with comparative analyses across ten clades, we suggest that drift in female preferences accelerates the rate of ornament evolution. royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Rutland Osprey Project has just announced that *24* chicks have fledged this year from 12 nests. 24! Here is one of the proud Dads (NB I have posted this photo before). #birds #ukbirds #ukwildlife
BBC News - Influencers getting 'too close' to sharks, scientists warn - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...
Influencers getting 'too close' to sharks, scientists warn
Incidents of sharks biting humans are incredibly rare, but at least three influencers have been bitten by the animals in less than a year.
bbc.co.uk
Trump and RFK Jr need to shut up about MMR vaccine. WELL SAID, Christina Pagel! christinapagel.substack.com/p/trump-and-...
Trump and RFK Jr need to shut up about the MMR vaccine
A reminder of how terrible these diseases used to be
christinapagel.substack.com
Talking of Cambridge and EDI, they require further maths a-level for entry to maths, thereby automatically excluding a substantial percentage of kids who go to comprehensive schools, many of which don’t offer further maths. They talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk.
There must be a reckoning for this. The senior staff at Cambridge who exploited this obvious fantasist and who, when alerted to the issue, deflected, denied and threatened instead of dealing with the problem need to answer for their actions. #Arday www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Jason Arday found dead after resigning from Cambridge over plagiarism claims
Academic was pronounced dead at his home in south London after police called to address after 3pm on Friday
theguardian.com
Hmmm. Maybe. I think a lot of us underestimate the proportion of people who simply never read the news and would genuinely be unaware of this. Anyone in doubt is welcome to come and chat to some of my students.
Jacob Aron@jjaron.bsky.social · last mo.Sorry but I don't think that's a proper use of the emergency alert
This is a deep-sea isopod. Dr. Johanna Weston, a deep-ocean biologist and guest investigator at @whoi.edu, is confident this is Bathyopsurus nybelini, one of her favorite animals. Learn why via the YouTube caption: youtube.com/shorts/DenUj...
Dear fellow scientists If you agree to review a paper but then you're unable to, no problem. Please just let the editors know, we understand, we'll find someone else, no problem. *Please* don't just ghost us: if you do then don't complain about how long your next paper takes in review. Thanks! 🧪
All that is now All that is gone All that's to come and everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
1) I'm not going to say anything about the Jason Arday omnishambles except to note the reports that he only ever had one meeting with his PhD supervisor—apparently one supervisor quit, the other just didn't engage, he got some advice via email form the head of PG research but that was it.
Reading Austen and listening to Rage Against The Machine. I see no contradiction here.
🧪 Medical professionals are losing the attention war on YouTube. In a 3,958-video sample, independent creators produced the lowest quality content but captured the highest viewership using exaggeration. #MedSky
The credibility paradox: clickbait, engagement, and information quality in YouTube’s medical ecosystem - npj Digital Medicine
npj Digital Medicine - The credibility paradox: clickbait, engagement, and information quality in YouTube’s medical ecosystem
nature.com
AlphaFold was always bait-and-switch; now Google confirms it. A hyper-narrow bioinformatrics model with actual science bolted on whose guesses can be experimentally checked was never a licence for socially-applied slop at scale, but it's done its job. Effort transferred to LLMs.
