Small branded swift butterfly (Pelopidas mathias) - on kitchen bench, deceased.

Small branded swift butterfly (Pelopidas mathias) - 🪦😔

Underside of Australian privet hawk moth 1/2

Underside of Australian privet hawk moth 2/2

Australian privet hawk moth (Psilogramma casuarinae) on my shower screen.

AMOC Collapse Consequence: Atmospheric CO2 Rise by 83ppm & 7C Arctic Cooling & 6C Antarctic Warming YouTube video by Paul Beckwith

AMOC Collapse Consequences: Atmospheric CO2 Rise by 83ppm & 7C Arctic Cooling & 6C Antarctic Warming

In 2012 we had new record minimum in Arctic Sea Ice extent, and after 2015 we had a collapse of Antarctic sea ice. Are these signs??

youtu.be/T_hiFoQSmuU?...

Will revival of Crystal Palace’s ‘hallowed turf’ create more athletics history? The redevelopment of the National Sports Centre would be a welcome boost to locals and those who have fought for its return

www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/a...

Appeal for AU Action in Zambia Lead Poisoning Case Zambia should provide accountability for its failure to clean up a contaminated mine site that is responsible for the ongoing lead poisoning of children.

The mass lead poisoning of children in Kabwe, Zambia, over decades is a catastrophe I saw with my own eyes

- Families and NGOs are now asking the African Union to demand a clean-up

@hrw.org
1/2
www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...

🐦‍⬛ 🐕‍🦺🐄🐴
Our Multispecies Mutualisms post doc roles are now also on jobs.ac.uk
🐦‍⬛ 🐕‍🦺🐄🐴
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQS438/4...

Description of call for papers at PanAfrican Archaeological Association Conference. Follow link in post for text version.

Looking forward to seeing all Africanists 🌍 exploring human-insect worlds 🪲 in Maputo 🇲🇿! Abstract by 30 March t.co/APhZy4lOGZ

#archaeology #entomology #africanhistory 🏺

UK government axes flagship global health project Programme which supports schemes in six African countries was previously hailed as vital protection for Britain against future pandemics

Shameful. A cut from 0.5% GDP for international aid to 0.3% to make room for military spending. Besides the absolute moral degeneracy of the UK government is the callous ignorance.

He was burned by taking that stance at the Mirror. In that echelon of the media there's nothing to lose by being a hawk and a lot of jeapardy for asking questions.

Global Environmental Politics amid Geopolitical Turbulence Abstract. Over the past decade, three overlapping trends have fundamentally reshaped and now characterize the global geopolitical order: the rise of emerging powers, increasing military conflicts, and...

Excited this piece with excellent colleagues is now out! We examine implications of geopolitical turbulence in the world for the GEP research agenda @yixiansun.bsky.social @matpaterson.bsky.social
direct.mit.edu/glep/article...

Frontiers | Human-Insect Worlds in Archaeology For human societies, insects are part of a shared ecology involving the gamut of symbiotic relations. Insects (and arthropods more widely) have been receivin...

📣 call for papers for a special issue for Frontiers for Environmental Archaeology 🏺🦟 🐜 💀 🌍.

Topic summaries/abstracts due May 20th.

The topic is nice and broad so if you have an idea, please reach out.

#archaeology #insects #entomology #multispecies

www.frontiersin.org/research-top...

Forest soils are running short of nutrients as CO2 emissions rise Analyses of a Swedish tree-ring archive suggest that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide has lowered soil-nitrogen supply, which could cap carbon storage by land ecosystems.

In "a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing" news, we are all hostages in the world of CO2 fans' disingenuous motivated reasoning 👍

The True Function of Racism Is Distraction On social media this morning, I ran across this evergreen quote from Toni Morrison about the true function of racism: It’s important, therefore, to know who

Might be different to the one you had in mind but this made me think of Toni Morrison on the function of racism as a distraction - the longer speech is also worth a listen (original audio in link)

kottke.org/24/08/the-tr...

Frontiers | Human-Insect Worlds in Archaeology For human societies, insects are part of a shared ecology involving the gamut of symbiotic relations. Insects (and arthropods more widely) have been receivin...

📣 call for papers for a special issue for Frontiers for Environmental Archaeology 🏺🦟 🐜 💀 🌍.

Topic summaries/abstracts due May 20th.

The topic is nice and broad so if you have an idea, please reach out.

#archaeology #insects #entomology #multispecies

www.frontiersin.org/research-top...

They just can't help themselves from helping themselves

Thank you! And totally agree - kefir for the win 🥛

Following ban of 'milk' as a term I fell into a small rabbit whole of the concept of milk as we understand it in Europe. 🧵

So when lobbying efforts lead to banning of very common terms, it feels more cynical than a genuine correction to avoid misleading.

Now if things claim to be 'natural' but are ultra processed, that's a different story. Similar with the term 'healthy' - these can be very misleading. 7/7

So milk in the European context at least is a categorisation/ontological term attached to a range of processes, functions, and qualities. 6/7

Soya milk from China was described as milk by a Spanish missionary because that's how he understood it's form and function. Interestingly, in Chinese the word for soy milk "Doufujiang" (豆腐漿) refers to broth, and was often consumed in ways similar to other soups. 5/7

When we think of food substitution, these alternatives are being used in place of other milks, so we're referring to their function as foods. 4/7

We still use milk as a term for extraction (you can milk attention from people, venom from a snake), and as a connotation for something soothing (milk of magnesia, milk of human kindness). 3/7

Research the genealogy of milk or lac/leche/lait you will find the terms come from extraction process (milk=to rub) or qualities (lac/lait/leche=refresh/soothe). 2/7

I hear what you're saying, however imo the problem would be if the term genuinely misleads. Milk is used as a term because it describes a form and function so it's quite useful.

As I fell down a rabbit hole, a short🧵 - feel free to ignore but might be interesting 1/7

A discreet intellectual network has been reshaping the world for 70 years. Here's how A constant battle of ideas reshapes the world we live in, and few groups have been more successful in winning the war than the little-known Atlas Network.

Excellent explainer of Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) & Atlas Network by Gareth Hutchens, ABC.
#Auspol

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

Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK Swedish company claims ruling is anti-competitive and ‘solely benefits Big Dairy’

Very happy to see that the UK can produce its own boneheaded agricultural nomenclatural protectionism after leaving the EU. Makes you proud.

Some people have intolerance to dairy milk or prefer the taste of alternatives.

Small farms contribute a third of the food consumed in high-income nations - Nature Food The contribution of farmers to domestic food production is a poor proxy for their role in national food consumption. This study reveals that the importance of small farms in meeting the food needs of ...

A nice riposte to the cult of scaling

Book cover - Archaeology for Today and Tomorrow

Now open access: Archaeology for Today and Tomorrow.

www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mon...

#archaeology
#openaccess