Heather Richardson
@hg-richardson.bsky.social
📝 Freelance journalist covering conservation, environmental science, travel + more for Nat Geo, Nature, BBC, etc. ✍️ Writing a book about human-wildlife conflict 📍🇬🇧🇿🇦🇪🇺 🔗 https://linktr.ee/hg_richardson
#AI offers a powerful technology for managing zoonotic diseases and reducing the risk of spillover, possibly even preventing outbreaks in the first place. At least, that’s the theory. @hg-richardson.bsky.social reports @nature.com 🧪https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02684-1
AI models are being used to track zoonotic diseases. Will they prevent the next pandemic?
Spread of diseases between humans and animals is an issue around the world. But AI models can be used to monitor their progress.
nature.com
Can sharks help us predict hurricanes? 🦈 www.reuters.com/business/env...
Scientists turn to sharks to improve hurricane predictions
From the killer shark of Jaws to the tornado-tossed predators of the Sharknado movies, films long have portrayed sharks as objects of summer fear. But when a shark cuts through the waters off the U.S...
reuters.com
Love this 🥰 Retired shepherd Joaquin Tapioles built his own observatory, from where he’ll watch next week’s total solar eclipse: www.reuters.com/science/spai...
Spain's 'Galactic Shepherd' to watch total eclipse from DIY observatory
In a tiny Spanish farming village, retired shepherd Joaquin Tapioles is preparing to watch next week's first-in-a-century total solar eclipse from the observatory he built after being inspired by th...
reuters.com
- Funding for 1,000 PhDs on the Congo Basin ✅ - Do non-human primates form social bonds with other animals? 🐒 - Why a “No Influencers” sign in Nantucket went viral 🤳 ⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/heatherg...
📖 Reads of the week: Congo research drive + primates that keep pets
Plus: Why a "No Influencers" sign in Nantucket went viral.
open.substack.com
This week: 🏡 How the city of Guimarães tries to exist within planetary boundaries. 🐅 Forget zebra crossings, India’s all about tiger overpasses (but core habitats need attention too). 🦒 And do safari tourists stress out wildlife? open.substack.com/pub/heatherg...
📖 Reads of the week: Greening Guimarães + creating pathways for tigers
Plus: Do safari tourists stress out wildlife? A team of researchers decided to find out.
open.substack.com
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation
PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...
theonion.com
"Tough questions need to be asked of Africa’s leaders about why millions of their citizens gamble with death to reach Europe or to wade through the crocodile-infested Limpopo River to escape Zimbabwe." Justice Malala on SA's xenophobic violence: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
bloomberg.com
An iceberg obit, how Nigerian women’s groups are leading conservation efforts, and China’s attempt to rebrand Xinjiang: open.substack.com/pub/heatherg...
An iceberg obit, how Nigerian women’s groups are leading conservation efforts, and China’s attempt to rebrand Xinjiang: open.substack.com/pub/heatherg...
This week I’ve been reading about how scientists are safeguarding our coffee habits, the Soviet history of cactus collecting, and the trial of a man charged over his girlfriend’s death during their ascent of Austria’s highest mountain. #science #nature open.substack.com/pub/heatherg...
📖 Reads of the week: Coffee conservation + cacti smuggling
Plus: Inside the trial of the mountaineer whose girlfriend died on Grossglockner.
open.substack.com
For anyone wondering why the UK struggles so much with the heat 🔥 —> theconversation.com/heat-humidit...
Heat, humidity and housing: why British heatwaves hit differently
A 35°C heatwave really does “feel worse” in the UK than in many other countries.
theconversation.com
Can an ecosystem “malfunction”? How one village coexists with baboons. And the places that want off the UNESCO World Heritage List: open.substack.com/pub/heatherg... #nature #science #ecology #tourism
📖 Reads of the week: Ecosystem views + human-baboon coexistence
Plus: The sites fighting for UNESCO World Heritage de-listing.
open.substack.com
One of Britain’s biggest oaks has died after passing spring with no new leaves. It’s thought to be up to 1,200 years old. A major contributing factor to its death is likely to be years of heavy human traffic around the oak – maybe that’s something areas with “famous” trees can learn from.
Isreal to stay ‘indefinitely’ in lands seized in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, says defence minister
Isreal to stay ‘indefinitely’ in lands seized in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, says defence minister
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that Israeli ground forces would remain in land they hold in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, potentially challenging a memorandum of understanding announced a day earlier between the US and Iran to end the war in the Middle East.
f24.my
👏👏👏 Next on my to-buy list... www.thebookseller.com/news/wynn-wi...
Wynn-Williams’ Careless People sales soar by 305% after author ‘silenced’ at Hay
Sales of Sarah Wynn-Williams’ book Careless People have shot up the by 304.5% week-on-week, according to the latest charts data from NielsenIQ BookData.
thebookseller.com
When I catch myself muttering at the end of an interview.
Reuters journalists Nafisa Eltahir, Suzanne Vanhooymissen and Reade Levinson on their documentary "Death in Darfur: 3 days of horror caught on camera": www.reuters.com/podcasts/exp... #Sudan @reuters.com
Exposing a massacre
Reuters journalists use online videos to reconstruct the details of a massacre.
reuters.com
Noisy spawning, Albanian protests, and a miraculous survival story from Nepal: open.substack.com/pub/heatherg... #nature #conservation
📖 Reads of the week: Thunderous mating + Albanian rage
Plus: A story of survival against the odds from Mount Everest.
open.substack.com
"The micropayment, on this reading, is not the destination. It is the door." On the big question of how to fund newsrooms @reutersinstitute.bsky.social reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/micropa...
Micropayments for news have failed everywhere. Can they succeed in Kenya?
Two legacy newspapers are leveraging mobile payments to offer day passes and access to articles for small prices. Maurice Oniang’o examines whether it’s working.
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
On sacred baobabs and the shared joy of having a favourite tree: heathergracerichardson.substack.com/p/reads-of-t... #nature
📖 Reads of the week: Connecting with trees
Plus: A pan-Africanist road trip through West Africa.
heathergracerichardson.substack.com
Beyond Plastics attached location trackers to 36 single-use polypropylene cups and placed them in recycling bins inside Starbucks stores across the US. None were tracked to a recycling facility, but 33 ended up in landfills, incinerators, or on their way to either. www.reuters.com/business/env...
US group says Starbucks plastic cups marked recyclable end up in trash
Starbucks' plastic single-use cups it often serves in U.S. cafes are not as recyclable as the company claims, an environmental nonprofit group said on Wednesday.
reuters.com
Figured out the secret to a great running shot is simply running 3mins/km, so going to give that a go next time #CapeTownMarathon
