Seeking scientist volunteers for this fall! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? I need collaborators for the next cohort of SciComm & Comics art and design students. All countries and scientific fields eligible.

Last week HRH King Charles III learned about all the amazing research happening at #AdriftLab & the remarkable #birds we’re so lucky to work with. King Charles shares our teams’ passion for environmental #conservation. We’re hoping for a dinner invite soon 😉 #WPY60 @nhm-london.bsky.social

Last week @alixdejersey.bsky.social attended the #AUSoMicS Conference & presented her STUNNING poster on #plastics & #proteomics: it got heaps of great feedback-check it out!👇
#SublethalEffects #seabirds #phdlife
@jackauty.bsky.social
@seabirdsentinel.bsky.social
@thelabandfield.bsky.social

While undertaking fieldwork on #LordHoweIsland this month, the #AdriftLab team completed 21 #cleanups of four beaches. In total, we removed 2943 #plastics weighing 33kg (carried on our bicycles). All debris was sorted & uploaded to Australia’s national database #AMDI
@jackauty.bsky.social

All this plastic is making my head spin. I don’t think one can grasp the amount of our own produced junk you can find in sable shearwaters. All the pieces here (60g - 778 pieces) were in one (1!!!) chick. That’s roughly 20% of its body weight. @adriftlab.bsky.social @thelabandfield.bsky.social

Because of the massive increase in #IngestedPlastic this year (number, mass and size of particles) were finding intact items inside our baby #seabirds. This means we’re able to get information on brands…including THIS! ⬇️ #SoyFish #PollutionIsADesignChoice #shearwaters
@seabirdsentinel.bsky.social

New paper in @science.org -- neurodegeneration similar to Alzheimer’s in seabird chicks following plastic ingestion

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Seabirds in crisis: plastic ingestion produces dementia-like symptoms and signals of multiorgan failure: from @alixdejersey.bsky.social @seabirdsentinel.bsky.social @thelabandfield.bsky.social @adriftlab.bsky.social

👉news www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

👉paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our new @adriftlab.bsky.social paper is out, lead by @alixdejersey.bsky.social showing the insidious impacts of plastics on seemingly health birds (1/5)

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

World-first analysis of seabirds who’ve eaten plastic reveals slow, insidious health impacts
theconversation.com/world-first-...

Neal came into the field with us and witnessed the sampling process for our latest paper. His feature does an incredible job at bringing the human to our work. Encapsulating ecogrief and implications beyond.

and lastly, a big thank you to my team at @adriftlab.bsky.social. As #GoodScienceGoodPeople! Without you there would be no paper.

@seabirdsentinel.bsky.social @thelabandfield.bsky.social Richard Wilson, Graeme Zosky and Jack Auty.

A huge thank you to @pure-ocean.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social @charlessturtuni.bsky.social @utas.edu.au @science.org Detached Hobart and Living Ocean for making this possible 🙏

Notably, the metrics commonly used to assess condition in wildlife (for example body mass) do not provide an accurate description of health or the impacts of plastic ingestion.

📸 Justin Gilligan

Most research on plastic ingestion focuses on emaciated individuals. We took a different approach, studying healthy chicks ready for migration to understand how plastic affects them without malnutrition side effects. These hidden impacts are far-reaching and could affect their survival.

The key findings reveal that plastic ingestion isn’t just a digestive issue

📸 @nealhaddaway.bsky.social

Key findings:
🧬 Cell damage
🩸 Organ dysfunction: the stomach, liver and kidneys showed signs of injury
🧠 Brain injury: early signs of neurodegeneration, similar to diseases like Alzheimer’s in humans, which would impair the cognitive functions necessary for these birds survival and breeding success

Proud to share our new @adriftlab.bsky.social paper published in Science Advances! We explored the sub-lethal impacts of plastic ingestion on birds using tools from medical research rarely applied in wildlife conservation.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#NewPaper alert - congrats to @alixdejersey.bsky.social for publishing the second paper from her #PhD (this one is actually a bonus) doi.org/10.1016/j.ma...
@seabirdsentinel.bsky.social
@thelabandfield.bsky.social