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tessalsantos.bsky.social
🐘 conservation & evolutionary genetics PhD candidate. Sci-Fi & Fantasy Enthusiast. Activist. She/her 🏳️‍🌈 Born @ 356.25ppm.
37 posts 290 followers 368 following
Prolific Poster

I think about this map a lot. www.bloomberg.com/graphics/201...

This is very concerning. "Earth’s plants and soils reached peak carbon dioxide sequestration in 2008 but proportion absorbed has been declining since, study finds"

This announcement changes BP's actual extraction plans not one whit. It simply demonstrates that again it's become socially and politically ok to promote fossil fuels. But it's never ok. Fossil fuels are enabling authoritarianism and quickly making Earth uninhabitable. www.ft.com/content/8bcf...

I can't speak for anyone else, But a thing that I am finding is really helping me to get through all this nonsense is helping others. It can be something small- sharing a job ad with a fired colleague, looking over a resume- or something larger. But helping others helps me.

As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity. TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄

🎯

Although the majority of people around the world are worried about climate change, most still feel it is a future issue or one that only affects the natural environment. They couldn’t be more wrong: climate change is already affecting what’s on our kitchen counter!

"But what can I do, I'm just a person" I'd rather see small acts of community help rather than passive defeatism. Even if you manage to help just one person, that's better than none. Now imagine if everyone dropped the defeatist attitude and helped.

Genuinely couldn't believe this figure until I saw the Financial Times confirm it using Meta's own financial reporting data For THIS $100 billion is genuinely the kind of money you could "do the impossible" with. Crack nuclear fusion. HIV vaccine. Universal flu vaccine And they spent it on this

Protest: *held on a weekday midday outside where politicians are working* GenPub: Oh my GOD get a JOB Protest: *held on a weekend evening* GenPub: SOME of us have CHILDREN to feed DINNER to GET A FAMILY Protest: *held on a weekend* GenPub: Look at these loser freaks GO PLAY PICKLEBALL

LOUDER FOR THOSE AT THE BACK

Whenever anyone laments the state we’re in, they’re met with a chorus of “but what do we do?” As plenty of good options are available, this response might often be wilful impotence*. I invite you all to nominate in this thread the best proposals and practices, around which we should gather. Thanks

Once again I'm begging journalists — and climate people! — to stop using the phrase "climate goals" and start saying "climate safety" or "climate stability." A "goal" sounds like an optional nice-to-achieve, but a relatively safe, stable climate is actually essential for human functioning.

🦠 Research preprint: Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years

Did you know the most powerful force for climate action is LOVE—for our children, their future, and the world they’ll inherit? That's right! Research shows this message moves hearts 12x more than jobs and 2x more than extreme weather. Source: potentialenergycoalition.org/guides-and-r...

Scientists today protesting at Inverness airport where Anders Povlsen, a Danish billionaire, runs Blackbird Air private jets. He is also the largest landowner in Scotland. Povlsen also runs Wildland, a conservation organisation. In Denmark @scientistrebellion.bsky.social protested at Blackbird HQ.

A new study published in the Lancet finds that life expectancy in Gaza dropped by nearly half, from 75.5 years to 40.6 years, during the first twelve months of the genocide. Apocalyptic.

PhD position in bean palaeogenomics!🌱 Join our group at @hologenomics.bsky.social , U. of Copenhagen. The PhD, funded by Novo Nordisk Foundation, will study bean domestication and its coevolution with rhizobia using ancient and modern genomes. Apply by March 16: tinyurl.com/24uzrj2f Please share!

The backtracking of world leaders on this vital issue is pathetic. They are literally killing the world for profit.

The American Museum of Natural History has a greenwashing problem.

Two studies published yesterday in Nature Climate Change find that Earth has effectively already warmed 1.5°C. Yes, this seems to be happening silently, but to be clear: over 1.5C of heating some places become uninhabitable and the risk of tipping points rises enormously. 1/n

BBC tested a bunch of chatbots used as news source: - 51% have issues with answers - 19% fabricate fake statistics / info - 13% fabricate fake quotes or alter them This is exactly what you expect from a random word blender being used as a source of information. www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/...

THIS IS HUGE! Researchers have developed a nasal COVID-19 vaccine that BLOCKS transmission of the virus. This suggests vaccines delivered directly to the nose or mouth could play a CRITICAL role in containing the spread of respiratory infections. Phase I clinical trials HAVE BEEN APPROVED! 🧪🧵⬇️

On #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience let me remind you that we are NOWHERE NEAR parity. A few examples. 1. Women are credited less in science than men. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In many STEM fields, women are disproportionally less likely to be cited or credited, are underrepresented in top research jobs, and are often harassed and discriminated against.

🚨Earlier than expected breach of Paris Agreement threshold: Unlike some media articles about this yesterday, the two Nature reports on which those headlines are based are *free to access*. Here's one (Cannon):

One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction | Nature

Recommended thread for all Europeans who insist on thinking their countries are safe against the disaster going on in the US.

France allowed Israeli PM Netanyahu's plane to fly through its airspace twice, despite an ICC arrest warrant and France being legally obliged to abide by the court's decision, according to an investigation by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad. 🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/5efttr

The eternal question: How do you convince people in rich countries to downscale their consumption, voluntarily? Pause, then reframe the question: How does any moral progress happen in history?

🚨UNRELEASED BABY SNOWY PLOVER VIDEO!! I didn't even know I had this! Don't scroll away, Plover A runs into Plover B. DOUBLE THE PLOVER!!! 🪶

+1.75°C above pre-industrial! 🥵 January 2025 for Europe was 2.51°C above 1991-2020!

NEW RESEARCH: The amount of tiny, shard-like particles of plastic, especially polyethylene, is rising in human brain tissue in tandem with their rising concentration in the environment and is higher in the brains of people with dementia. Maybe…let’s fund science? 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Well, this was the most harrowing fucking thing I've ever had to work on, and I'm just the damn lawyer. Can't imagine the client living it, and it's a goddamn privilege to represent her. DO NOT READ THIS unless you can handle details of some truly vile sexual abuse by Neil Gaiman.

How do you navigate academic development at a time of unprecedented crisis? 🔥🌱 Join us for the online seminar 'Doing a PhD when the house is on Fire' ⏰ Tuesday 25 February 13-16 (CET) to discuss questions, concerns, experiences and pathways for agency. Everybody welcome! Details and registration 🔽

“Your power is relative, but it is real. And if you do not learn to use it, it will be used, against you, and me, and our children. Change did not begin with you, and it will not end with you, but what you do with your life is an absolutely vital piece of that chain.” - Audre Lorde

Today, I highly recommend giving Pope Francis' 2023 encyclical, Laudato Deum, a read. He minces absolutely no words about the injustice of climate change and how it disproportionately impacts those who've done the least to cause it. I felt like my screen would burst into flames while reading it.

Science is political. It wouldn't necessarily have to be partisan. But when one party is opposed to science-based policy, scientists have a choice between saying "you're right, thoughts and prayers are probably as effective as reducing carbon emissions" or saying "fuck that."

Shout out to all the fuckwits who told me, two months ago, that scientists must strive to remain apolitical.

Out now in @nature.com! Our comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation interventions that could mitigate this process www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪🌍🦤🧬 #consgen #PopGen

My hope is for us to all live long enough to be around to see a generation of trans youth who won't believe our stories about how bad things were back in the day.

Massive news - another precedent for including the damage caused by the end-use of the products supplied by these projects. Aggressive expansionism in fossil fuel supply = new demand, more emissions and anti-climate lobbying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Portuguese climate justice movement made a call for peaceful disruption of the most carbon intensive infrastructure in Portugal. It's not only about climate, but for justice. Housing rights in Lisbon are on the line due to mass touristification www.portugalresident.com/peaceful-air...

Peço gentilmente ao IPMA que actualize a informação meteorológica no site e app 🙏 É que isto de avisarem na rádio que vai haver uma tempestade e no site estar apenas "Chuva/Aguaceiros fracos" é algo confuso. (Tendo em conta os relâmpagos, chuva forte e granizo, acho que a rádio é que estava certa.)