Andy Dobson
@andy2dobson.bsky.social
Wildlife Disease Ecology and Conservation, Author, Dad, Princeton Professor, External Faculty Santa Fe Institute and STRI. Photographer, cook, & nerd who works in Serengeti, Yellowstone, California, NJ, and collects guitars and books. Rewilding his yard!
El Niño is here, and forecasters warn that it’s likely to be bigger and stronger in 2026-27 than any #ElNino event recorded in at least 150 years. What that means:
2026’s El Niño is shaping up to be a doozy – it’s already affecting global shipping, fish behavior and heat
El Niño can affect agriculture, marine life and economies in profound ways, including slowing commerce at the Panama Canal. This El Niño is likely to be the strongest in over a century.
theconversation.com
In 1992 I introduced Tom Stoppard to Bob May, who'd put chaos into biology. A year later I was reviewing Arcadia. It closes Saturday, at the theatre that now carries Stoppard's name. My story, plus my lost 1993 review rogerhighfield.substack.com/p/on-the-ori...
On the Origins of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
In 1992, I introduced Stoppard to the professor who put chaos into biology. A year later I reviewed the play that came out of it. As Arcadia is about to leave the West End, here's what happened.
rogerhighfield.substack.com
The latest shingles-vaccine research points to possible cardiovascular benefits—while a growing body of evidence suggests it may also reduce or delay dementia diagnoses. Read about it here. overmatter.substack.com/p/your-anti-...
Your anti-ageing stack should include this injectable
The shingles vaccine seems to reduce the risk of dementia. There is speculation that it might slow down ageing
overmatter.substack.com
I wrote about the Nepal flooding disaster and how climate change likely contributed to it for @rollingstone.com
Did Climate Change Cause the Flooding in Nepal?
We spoke with scientists about how "a landslide with a piece of glacier on top" caused devastation in the Himalayas.
rollingstone.com
Ostfeld: no evidence of links between abundance of WT deer or hot weather with BL tick nymphs. "abundance of nymphal ticks was correlated with prior abundance of white-footed mice, which in turn was driven by production of acorns by red oak trees." #LongTerm 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
The ecology of Lyme disease: Long-term data, surprises, and a synthesis | PNAS
Risk of human exposure to Lyme disease and other tick-borne zoonoses is affected by interactions between ticks, pathogens, vertebrate hosts for tic...
pnas.org
The NYT's despicable story on the rise of tick-borne illnesses--which recommends that we kill all the deer, all the mice, & all the ticks and insects, who are “disgusting” and “diabolical”—is a little window into how the crypto and AI kings that the author usually writes about think about nature.
Sonia Shah@soniashah.bsky.social · last mo.This @nytimes.com story on ticks and alpha-gal is quite possibly the worst article on zoonotic disease I've ever read www.nytimes.com/2026/08/20/m...
This cartoon captures it perfectly. The GOP's decline from Lincoln's vision of unity to today's chaos reflects a reversal of evolution. What was once about principle and leadership has devolved into a race for outrage and spectacle. History will remember how far the party strayed from its own ideals
Our paper is out! 📣 we find that molecular measures of genetic variation do not predict heritable genetic variation across species - important implications for the application of genomic data for conservation! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Nucleotide diversity is a poor predictor of short-term adaptive potential | PNAS
The capacity to adapt is essential for a population to avoid extinction in a changing world and is recognized as a global conservation priority. Ad...
pnas.org
The Norwegian Football Association donated all proceeds and ticket revenues (totaling over $350,000) from their World Cup qualifying match against Israel to Doctors Without Borders for humanitarian aid in Gaza. Guess which team I’m rooting for . . .
It has been criminally underreported but Kelsey Pfendler has just rowed solo across the Pacific Ocean from the US coast to Hawaii in record time. A 2,400-mile unsupported journey in 43 days, 17 hours, and 55 minutes. Notably beating the Men’s record by 9 whole days.
Yesterday, we heard about role of FridaysForFuture in EU Nature Restoration Law. Today, about Europe as most fragmented continent & implementation gaps. What if we instituted 4 day work weeks across Europe with Fridays for climate & biodiversity actions, also reparations? @eccb26leiden.bsky.social
🌎 𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 Lamine, Pedri, Cubarsí, Olmo y Ferran contribuyeron a la victoria de España ante Portugal para sellar el pase a los cuartos de final del Mundial. Ferran dio la asistencia del gol decisivo.
How Seeds Travelled Through Plant History www.botany.one/how-seeds-tr... From fruit-eating animals to wind and self-launching seeds, flowering plants have changed their travel strategies as climates shifted over millions of years. #Botany #PlantScience
How Seeds Travelled Through Plant History
From fruit-eating animals to wind and self-launching seeds, flowering plants have changed their travel strategies as climates shifted over millions of years.
botany.one
How did Fox end up with monopoly of English lanuage broadcast of World Cup in US ? Duh!!! Obvious answer!!! Infanticide sink strikes again. My Spanish will improve as I watch Cops Monica on Peacock with commentators who actually understand and focus on the game.
FIFA Club World Cup@fifaclubworldcup.bsky.social · 2y agoMark. Your. Calendars. ✍️🗓️ The #FIFACWC 2025 match schedule is here.
Fantastic new book from Andrea Wulf: insightful, eloquent, and deeply thought provoking.
Andrea Wulf@andreawulf.bsky.social · 3mo ago“Andrea Wulf’s magnificent book … George’s efforts to adapt to life and work at sea, as laid out in “The Traveler,” are as exciting as anything in the pages of Robert Louis Stevenson” – John Banville in the Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
It's always a treat to read Ted Chiang's thoughts on AI. www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2...
No, Artificial Intelligence Is Not Conscious
Taken to its logical conclusion, this line of thinking is absurd—and damning.
theatlantic.com
WOW - Trump crashes out & cuts his interview w/ Welker short as she presses him on his lack of evidence for claiming elections are rigged "You're either crooked or you're stupid. I've had enough. Thank you darling," he tells her" "I traveled all the way to Wisconsin for this interview," she pleads
Many congrats to an amazing ecologist and evolutionary biologist.
Santa Fe Institute @sfiscience.bsky.social · 4mo agoSFI's Brian Enquist has received the Ecological Society of America’s Robert H. MacArthur Award, one of the field’s highest honors for mid-career ecologists. The award recognizes Enquist’s work linking functional traits in organisms to the structure and functioning of communities and ecosystems.
Has anyone suggested that there is a hantavirus lab in Patagonia where it all started?
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
Why do we live in such a childish, stupid country? A country that wastes its money on useless billion dollar aircraft carriers, when it could be spending those tax dollars to actually help its citizens like sane countries.
