I’m so taking this Walter Lippmann quote (from Andrew O’Hagan’s @lrb.co.uk article) to teach science writing: “What kills political [science!] writing…is the absurd pretence that you are delivering a great utterance. You never do. You are just a puzzled man [person!] making notes on what you think.”

A kauri tree looking towards the canopy.

PhD opportunity- fully funded with stipend, fees and project costs covered. Explore the role of phosphite in treating kauri dieback disease. Applications due 8th May. Please spread the word!
newzealandecology.org/phd-explorin...

What's your favorite book on earth's climate?

Im likely to assign a pop sci book for my Earth System Science class in the fall, but most of the ones that come to mind are either a) more geology/deep time focused b) 5+ years old or c) too dense for a sophomore/nonmajors class

Woman in a pink cap standing at the edge of a mossy kanuka forest crouching down to line up a photo of a large red toadstool type mushroom. A niwashi is placed next to the mushroom to show that they're just about the same size.

A day up in the mountains scouting new locations to bring our environmental science undergrads for their soil carbon projects...but ended up a wee bit distracted by all the massive autumnal fungi 🍄😍

Holacanthella paucispinosa on the cover of this month's issue of Nature Ecology and Evolution. Photo by Frank Ashwood

Breaking news: giant springtail from Aotearoa NZ made the cover of @natecoevo.nature.com!

This amazing pic of H. paucispinosa by @frankashwood.bsky.social should lure readers to the global study by @zheng-zhou.bsky.social et al on soil animal trophic diversity 🌍🌿🕷️🪱🪳🧪
www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

Image description: A mountain landscape, a historical cityscape with a tree, and a vibrant abstract pattern. A camera icon and EGU logo. Text reads: '' EGU Photo Competition 2026 , Apply by 8 April 2026!".

#EGU Photo Competition 2026: only ONE WEEK left to submit!🫣

If you are registered for #EGU26, you can submit images related to #geology or #geoscience and receive a 🎫 free registration to the EGU 2027!

👉 Submit by 8 April 2026. : egu.eu/1CJPHE

Two people with rucksacks walking along a red rocky ridge under a cloudy sky

Long weekend recharge out exploring Aotearoa’s Mars, ie, the ultramafic Red Hills.

(Too bad the world / country / city / employer don’t appear to have sorted themselves out over the few days I was away)

The 'enshitification' of the system has left Australia's unis at a crossroad A generation ago, studying in Australia opened doors. Today rising costs and falling satisfaction are making international students think twice, and locals feel sidelined.

“Universities define nations...In a world where artificial intelligence and zero-sum transactional thinking are shoving us all toward cruelty, isolation or division, what we all need more than ever is a collective embrace of collaboration and higher learning.”

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

Lighting small fires to prevent big ones: Georgia's high country forest research

Great little piece on what Georgia has been up to for one of her PhD chapters.

www.lincoln.ac.nz/news-and-eve...

Really heartening to see journals taking a stand for integrity by refusing submissions that declare no ‘competing interests’ - clearly leaving the door wide open to untold ‘conflicts of interests’ that would completely undermine the scientific endeavour if the editor even caught a glimpse of them

Water returns to Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre after summer evaporation almost dried it out. link.dataspace.copernicus.eu/jeac

Depressing

Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review The process of peer review is vital to contemporary science, but is also under enormous strain. This study uses mathematical models to dissect the threats to the long-term viability of peer review, su...

1. Kevin Gross and I have a new paper out today PLOS Biology.

We used economic models based around screening games and the market for unpaid labor to highlight a meltdown cycle threatening peer review.

👏👏👏

🚨Funded #PhD opp🚨 in my lab, co supervised by Vincent Maire at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Linking above-and belowground plant #phenology to carbon cycling in #peatlands

You can see full advert (in english/french) here: wetlandresilienceresearchgroup.com/Opportunitie...

Please share!

What happened to all the fish? For the first time in more than 40 years, this year’s Rakaia fishing competition will not involve fishing. What has gone wrong?

A once abundant native fish is on the verge of extinction. It is seemingly linked to the rapid collapse of the Rakaia river ecosystem www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

Postdoctoral Researcher - Stream and Watershed Biogeochemistry at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies This is a full time, exempt, fully benefitted position. The starting salary is $74,263 and will be commensurate on experience. Position summary Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies invites applications...

Freshwater Biogeochemistry Post-Doc at @caryinstitute.bsky.social cary-institute-of-ecosystem-studies.breezy.hr/p/5fe3b94bfe...

No this was just a ‘normal’ summer rain. Hope your family were ok up north! Scary stuff

Adventures in braided river science: anchoring loggers w FOUR waratahs (‘star pickets’) was apparently not excessive but actually just right for the summer storms this year.

Arrows to cap just barely visible above the new gravel bar. Appears still attached to ‘main’ (buried) waratah. Loggers??? 🤞🤞🤞

Exciting! Looking forward to your talk at UC

We're bringing @carlbergstrom.com to Aotearoa, and he wants to meet you 🇳🇿

🚨 New postdoc opportunity in Aotearoa 🇳🇿 with @drhhnz.bsky.social

RA / Postdoctoral Fellow in honeybee bacteriophages, microbial genetics & molecular evolution at the University of Canterbury (Christchurch).

3-year position, starts March 2026.
🔗 jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

The average salary among Russell Group leaders increased above £350,000 last year, despite these universities losing almost 7,000 staff members due to cost-cutting. Patrick Jack crunches the numbers #highered #academicsky
https://ow.ly/gJK850XU77K

Here goes 2026!

Got to spend some quality time this summer with family, mountains, rivers, lakes and sea (including exploring some of Aotearoa’s Very Mossy Places) - now to keep this energy going through the backlog of emails 🫠

Apply to be a BES Associate Editor - British Ecological Society Help advance outstanding ecological research by joining our Editorial Boards! Applications are now open across all seven BES journals.

Reminder: open call for Associate Editors for @britishecologicalsociety.org journals closes 23 Feb. Come join us at @jappliedecology.bsky.social or choose your favourite BES journal to apply for. Please share!
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/appl...

Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

Congrats Jackie! So well deserved. I can’t wait to see what you do over the next few years!

What consulting companies is Auckland Uni working with and how much are the companies being paid? - a Official Information Act request to University of Auckland Could you please provide a list of contracts the University entered into, in 2024 and 2025, with external consulting firms; the topic of the work undertaken (e.g., strategic planning); and the total c...

Auckland Uni has responded to my OIA request re consultancy spending in 2024-2025

$600k to PWC and $500k to Nous Group for "strategic design, organisational change, transformation
services" etc

This is roughly what our whole faculty of science spent on internally funded postdocs in the same years

But did NZ consider the cost of transporting all those pixels all the way there?

Still time to apply to work on #symbioses #mosses #cyanobacteria! Join us in #Copenhagen! @voltcenter.bsky.social