This article is excellent. It speaks volumes about how governments take so many in the environmental and conservation sectors and communities for granted theconversation.com/australia-ha.... As H5N1 begins to spread and devastate Australian wildlife the dire consequences of this are evident.

Australia has long relied on volunteers and wildlife carers. As bird flu spreads, they will need support

Volunteers have been a mainstay of conservation in Australia. As bird flu spreads, they must be supported – and kept safe.

theconversation.com

Did you know the ARC is on Bluesky? If not, I encourage you to follow them: @arc-gov-au.bsky.social There will be a lot of change over the next couple of years. Tuning into them on here will help raise this channel's priority for their communication with actual researchers.

"I've put kids in the hospital" is a WILD thing to admit to a reporter about the work one does.

ProPublica@propublica.org · last wk.

“We have a red-flag system here, where if there’s anything that gets really out of whack, they can immediately tag the milk, and it doesn’t go to anything but cheese. … Because, you know, cheese is resistant to pathogens.” - Mark McAfee, raw-milk dairy owner Research has shown that isn't true:

3 postdoc positions with @bmedlyn.bsky.social in vegetation modelling Biogeochemical Modelling careers.westernsydney.edu.au/job/postdoct... Australian Vegetation Dynamics careers.westernsydney.edu.au/job/postdoct... Vegetation-Fire Interactions careers.westernsydney.edu.au/job/research...

Do you know of studies that actually evaluate use of LLMs in the public sector or other kinds of knowledge work? Teknologirådet in Norway just published a report evaluating their own use of LLMs, based on careful logs from 35 cases. teknologiradet.no/publication/...

Kunstig intelligens i kunnskapsarbeid

Teknologirådet har gjennom 35 case dokumentert og vurdert bruk av KI i vårt eget arbeid med teknologivurdering, blant annet til kartlegging av eksperter og aktører, horisontskanning, utvikling av scen...

teknologiradet.no

Ahead of #WorldTurtleDay tomorrow, It Starts With... podcast host David Boldeman chats with turtle experts Deb Bower, @jamesuvandyke.bsky.social, Michael Thompson & @profturtle.bsky.social about the importance of turtles, their surprising biology & the challenges they face. 🐢 Tune in, link below 🎧

‘Remarkable’ freshwater turtles face quiet decline

It Starts With... podcast host David Boldeman is joined by turtle experts Deb Bower, James Van Dyke, Michael Thompson and Ricky Spencer to explore why turtles are so important, the surprising biology ...

connectsci.au

Hooray! Now, turn the taps on, ASAP, Chris Minns. Well done, Deborah Bower, @greencate.bsky.social, @lisacox.bsky.social, and many others! 🐢 💦 ❤️

Feeling overwhelmed with all of this. LISTEN. Another Louisiana resident (Marshawn is the only name we have) testifies against the state’s racial gerrymander, speaking truth to power up and down the hearing room and predicts how this story will end. Speak your truth, fight and believe.

Every day that Chris Minns delays introducing this bill is another day that turtles and other aquatic wildlife are denied life saving environmental water. Call Minns now 👉 Phone: (02) 7225 6000 www.nswlabor.org.au/chris_minns

Very important article and read academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

Crediting and citing Indigenous Knowledges within research

Abstract. Knowledge exchanges between Indigenous and scientific communities occur regularly, with researchers frequently seeking and benefiting from Indige

academic.oup.com

Say one word about turtle eggs being eaten by foxes and there is tons of support for fixing the problem. But you can lose even a whole year's worth (maybe a decade) of eggs, and not come close to the impact that losing a few females has on a population's stability, let alone a whole wetland.

Professor Euan Ritchie FAMS@euanritchie.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Letting one person's 'concerns' prevent a life-saving release of environmental water for wildlife, including turtles, is truly fucked up, and those responsible should all be ashamed. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - @firstdogonthemoon.bsky.social

The answer is clearly YES. It should have happened years ago. This invasive plant is an environmental and cultural disaster, and we should throw as many resources as possible towards its suppression or, where possible, eradication. theconversation.com/should-this-...

Should this plant be declared one of the worst weeds in Australia?

Without a national policy, the spread of smothering buffel grass will continue unchecked.

theconversation.com

“These deaths are incomprehensible, given there is environmental water sitting in the dam. This could save the turtles, but WaterNSW is just not allowing its release," - Prof Deb Bower www.theguardian.com/environment/... Story by @lisacox.bsky.social

‘Incomprehensible’: birds flee and hundreds of turtles left to die after government cuts water to NSW wetlands

Frogs and sheep in the Gwydir wetlands near Moree have also been bogged after WaterNSW stopped environmental flows, researchers say

theguardian.com

Pretty extraordinary.

John Pollock@karlcotton.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Unbelievable #auspol

So I only just learned today that Artemis II is a moonshot. I'm shocked that a flight to go all the way to the moon, for the first time in ~50 years is so much of a nothing. It says a lot about the world that this first-in-half-a-century event is barely reported and hardly talked about.

Reports of Jonathan's death were greatly exaggerated

Claire Connelly@claireconnelly.bsky.social · 4mo ago

‘News outlets including the BBC, Daily Mail and USA Today falsely reported his death after an X account posing as Jonathan’s vet broke the news.’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

The scale of Australian universities managerial & governance surrender/capture is ASTOUNDING "Twelve of the 14 universities had council members, who had substantive roles as consultants from firms such as Ernst & Young, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, McKinsey, and Boston Consulting Group"

As universities cut courses, spending on consultants and contractors nears $2b

Consultancies have been accused of infiltrating universities and wasting scarce public funds on questionable advice about cutting courses and jobs.

abc.net.au

Do subordinate ant workers really forgo reproduction? Shit et al. showed that in a clonal ant species, isolated subordinates can match dominants in fecundity with no apparent cost to longevity. Read now ahead of print! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Glad 4Corners is onto this. Can't help thinking if a devestating toxic 20,000 armageddon fatal to animals and dangerous to humans was happening on the coast of Melbourne or Sydney AND the govt health advice was way too languid, it would be news all day every day. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

'Let's not scare South Australians': What the public wasn't told about toxic algae

The government knew a harmful toxin had been found in its algal bloom, but took months to update its health advice.

abc.net.au

Just turtles doing turtle things

Caitlin@saxetniniltiac.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I have watched this approximately 47 times and laughed out loud 47 times

The longer I'm in this biz, the bigger fan I become of the lottery concept.

FX Coudert@nanoporous.net · 7mo ago

“The costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth”, wasting public money. Two models minimise the overhead of grant writing and evaluation: – lottery – per capita funding www.nature.com/articles/d41...

"Pete Hegseth might consider adding another task to his many duties, one that would be of immense help to the nation and to the armed forces: He should shut up." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Pete Hegseth Should Sit This One Out

By inserting himself into the situation in Minnesota, the secretary of defense is only making things worse.

theatlantic.com

Even the Conservative subreddit, which is full-on MAGA, has a consensus that this is a bad, idiotic idea

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 7mo ago

Trump: "I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security"

Trump: "I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security"

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

'Extraordinary' nesting season for endangered freshwater turtle

A record number of clutches of white-throated snapping turtles have been found along the Burnett River in Queensland's Bundaberg region.

abc.net.au

First CES panel. Intuit CMO Thomas Ranese is proud of his company's integration with OpenAI, which involves giving AI read/write access to tax data. Since prompt injection attacks are unavoidable, I asked him who will be liable when customer data is exposed: Intuit, OpenAI, etc? He had no idea.

Devastating news that marine biologist, science communicator, and UniMelb VC Professor Emma Johnston has died after a short illness. She really was an extraordinary and visionary leader, and I have no doubt she would have made a fine Chief Scientist one day. theconversation.com/emma-johnsto...

Emma Johnston was a visionary scientist, environmentalist and leader, with an abiding hope for humanity

The University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor, who has died aged 52, was driven by a deep love of science and a desire to safeguard the planet’s future.

theconversation.com

Come and work with us! Please share widely! Applications close 18 January 2026 at 11.55pm. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43... @ecolsocaus.bsky.social @deakinuniversity.bsky.social

We need more whimsy

John Scalzi@scalzi.com · 8mo ago

You know, I'm not sure I ever really read the Pond Rules at our local nature preserve all that closely before