Laura Weyrich delivering a seminar at Adelaide University

Thank you @lauraweyrich.bsky.social for talking about your standout research and entrepreneurship, and how it could transform oral health outcomes for people worldwide. #oralmicrobiomes #paleomicrobiology #seminarseries

Nacre (mother of pearl) of an abalone shell

Proud to see our study come out into the world, which was a beautiful collaborative effort with @mtchung.bsky.social and many others. The goal: putting an obscure isotope system into the limelight for marine biologists @royalsocietypublishing.org
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Hey I haven’t checked into Bluesky for a while, thanks for the shoutout! I wasn’t in CIAC in person unfortunately, but always love to connect to new folk.

Day 1 of my first ESA conference. I’ll be chairing and speaking in the aquatic science session this arvo. #ESA25 @ecolsocaus.bsky.social

Great talk by @arielitristao.bsky.social using Nd isotope in cephalopod studies at CIAC2025. with @zoedoubleday.bsky.social

The giant cuttlefish’s technicolour mating display is globally unique. The SA algal bloom could kill them all The SA government has convened an emergency meeting today to discuss taking cuttlefish eggs from the wild, due to the impending threat of the algal bloom which could wipe them out forever.

Thank you, @zoedoubleday.bsky.social. May we save this wonderful animal and nature spectacle. All power to all involved! theconversation.com/the-giant-cu...

As the SA Government convenes an emergency meeting to discuss the threat of the toxic algal bloom to the Giant Australian Cuttlefish in the Spencer Gulf today, we asked cuttlefish expert @zoedoubleday.bsky.social about the population and why it is so special.

#oceans #nature #cuttlefish #marine

Thank @euanritchie.bsky.social!

The giant cuttlefish’s technicolour mating display is globally unique. The SA algal bloom could kill them all The SA government has convened an emergency meeting today to discuss taking cuttlefish eggs from the wild, due to the impending threat of the algal bloom which could wipe them out forever.

In case you missed it, here’s what to know about the giant cuttlefish mating migration, the risk SA’s algal bloom poses to the population, and what the SA government must consider when investigating safeguards for the species.

@zoedoubleday.bsky.social @aunz.theconversation.com

Let me introduce you to @louisehosking.bsky.social, a new PhD student in my lab and an ATSE Elevate Scholar. Here she is undergoing shark dissection training with her wonderful co-supervisor Bonnie Holmes. Lou will be developing geochemical methods to better understand #sharks.

Harmful algal blooms linked to die-off of fur seals in the Bering Sea Ten fur seals and hundreds of fish washed up dead on a Pribilof beach last year. New research links the die-off to warming oceans.

@alaskapublic.org with #KUCB reports on the "the first documented case of harmful algal blooms #HABs leading to a marine mammal die-off in Alaska". #AlaskaSky 🧪🌊🦑

Mystery solved: our tests reveal the tiny algae killing fish and harming surfers on SA beaches

A harmful algal bloom of Karenia mikimotoi made dozens of surfers sick and killed seadragons, fish and octopuses on two South Australian beaches.

Dozens of surfers fell ill after swimming in seas that turned into a ‘bacterial smoothie’ of sea foam. What was in it?

Sea foam is a health hazard. These bacterial smoothies can contain more harmful pathogens than a sewage treatment plant – and you wouldn’t go swimming in sewage.

Taking the recycling ethos into the lab to collect much needed data on our aquatic environments Zoë Doubleday – Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer, University of South Australia As an environmental scientist, I’m an avid recycler at home. But I also apply the “reduce, reuse, and recycle” etho...

It’s my love of recycling that drew me into the world of sclerochronology…

Excerpt from my blog curated by South Australian Science Teachers Association.

If Females Could Get Pregnant, There’d Be An Abortion Clinic On Every Coral Despite the tide of aquatic opinion flowing in favor of reproductive rights for all, marine society still gives male seahorses very little say over what happens to their own bodies. Instead, we are treated as passive baby-making machines. Meanwhile, if it were the female seahorses who could get pregnant, there’d probably be an abortion clinic […]

"Abortion was made legal underwater nearly 50 years ago in Salmon Roe v. Wave, yet there is still a stigma attached to what is no more serious a procedure than allowing a goby fish to clean the parasites from my gills."
theonion.com/if-fema...

Zoe (author of post) is holding a beak of a giant octopus squid, a mysterious species we know little about.

Congrats Erica Durante for publishing amazing research (+ your 4th PhD paper!). Erica developed methods to extract estrogen & progesterone from cephalopod beaks. Now we can get lifetime reproductive data from species we know little about! @aslo.org
aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

array of crinoid legs, the feet are black with yellow tips

array of crinoid legs, the feet are red with tiny blue tips

array of crinoid legs, the entire thing is a pale yellow. In the middle of the shot there is a shirmp that has the exact same color of yellow.

🦑 It's #Crinoids Day! (plus a sneak little shrimp.) Crinoids should be much more popular what the variety of colors and entirely extraneous number of legs. #Bohol #Philippines

On the cover: Cell Reports Sustainability is celebrating its one-year anniversary. Sustainability covers a wide array of disciplines that are collectively needed to tackle the grand challenges we face today. Cover art by Julie Sung.

Our one-year anniversary issue is here!

As we celebrate our first year as a journal, we reflect on the incredible multidisciplinary research we've had the privilege to publish, all striving to tackle today's grand challenges #sustainability

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Black swans looking at themselves in a mirror in an urban landscape

Swanning around on a sticky-hot long weekend. #birdlife #wildoz

Welcome immigrants from X interested in science to the friendlier skies of @bsky.app, as documented by a new @nature.com survey (but you already knew that 😉)
"Bluesky is much better for science. There is much less toxicity, misinformation, and distractions."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I’m so grateful for my achievements of 2024, but this one holds a special place in my heart. Being part of FIISA while doing a PhD is challenging at times but I had a great team with me helping all time, including for PhD work + FIISA committee. Thanks to everyone involved behind the scenes 🙌💜

Congratulations @arielitristao.bsky.social for winning our Institute’s student award for your leadership as President of the PhD student association and stellar research on radiogenic isotopes (for biological applications)!

MARIS Lab

You can find out more by visiting www.marislab.org. Drop us a line if you would like to know more about what we do, or explore new and creative ideas with us. Happy 2025!

Meta-Research: The growth of acronyms in the scientific literature A study of 24 million articles has revealed that scientists have created more than 1 million acronyms since 1950, most of which have been used fewer than 10 times.

4. Our mission at MARIS is to ensure science is not hidden behind closed doors but rather communicated to the media and public. We not only undertake research on how to boost the readability and readership of what scientists write, we also do alot of sci comm! elifesciences.org/articles/60080

The universal imprint of oxygen isotopes can track the origins of seafood Identifying the source of seafood is critical for combatting seafood fraud, but current tools are predominantly developed and applied on a species-specific basis. This study investigates how multiple....

Research that supports the sustainable development and production of health blue(sea)foods. Here's an example of how geochemical tools can be used to universally trace seafood: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Capitalizing on the wealth of chemical data in the accretionary structures of aquatic taxa: Opportunities from across the tree of life Aquatic organisms are natural data loggers and record chemical variations within hardened accretionary structures like shells and teeth. Chemical sclerochronology is the study of these chemical varia...

2. Using geochemistry and sclerochronology methods as a smart, cost-effective way to collect data on environment and aquatic species. Here's our latest review on the topic: aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

A step-by-step guide to ageing octopus Global octopus catch has doubled over the past four decades and is likely to grow in importance as many key fisheries continue to decline. Lack of age data is a critical limitation in assessing the re...

1. Everything cephalopod ecology, we love these smart, short-lived animals that bend all the rules. Here's our new octopus ageing guide to give you a taster: www.publish.csiro.au/mf/mf23159

A tote bag sitting on the beach with the inscription "University of South Australia"

I'm loving my new @bsky.app community, so here's a little about me: science, history, culture, and travel feed my curiosity; nature and gardening give me peace; and effective writing and communication always keeps me thinking.

I run a marine science lab in Australia and this is what we do:

I concur!

Mind-bending, body-snatching, blood-sucking: parasites are bizarre yet vital for life on Earth An ecologist shares his passion for parasites. From their vital roles in nature, to strange super powers and extraordinarily complex life cycles, parasites are natural wonders worthy of protection.

The more we learn about parasites the more we’re amazed. I wrote about them. theconversation.com/mind-bending...