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Elizabeth Preston

@inkfish.bsky.social

5.2K followers 480 following 510 posts

Science journalist, humor writer and aspiring cephalopod. Author of THE CREATURES' GUIDE TO CARING, coming in 2026. elizabethgpreston.com elizabethgpreston.substack.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · Sep 2

(ahem) Friends, my book has a cover! And a pub date (5/5/26)! And a preorder button! I can't wait to share it with you: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741329... 🧪

The Creatures' Guide to Caring by Elizabeth Preston: 9780593657102 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

A lively and revelatory journey through the evolution of caretaking on Earth, from animal parents to modern-day humans, making the case that caring for children and each other made us who we are Pois...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 11h

This prize-winning cheese, aged in caves, lost its signature green rind for the same reason that cave fishes and other animals have evolved to be albino: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/s... 🧪

Why the Green Cheese Turned White

www.nytimes.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 14h

Oh I'll have to check at Pemberton!

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 14h

Me: "The STAPLER is IN the DRAWER!"
Eight Zoom squares: (leaning closer, panicked)

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 14h

Also absolutely no one can say "desk." The lessons on classroom objects feel like I'm torturing them.

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 14h

I'm teaching an online ESOL class and it's been fascinating to learn what sounds in American English are hardest to make. (Students are mostly speakers of Haitian Creole, and a few of Portuguese or Spanish.) Last night I introduced "stapler" and they thought it was LUDICROUS.

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 17h

Don't forget albino cave fishes!

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 17h

Oh how fun! This story made me want to go to Jasper Hill and try their cheeses...though I'm not a blue cheese fan, personally.

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 17h

Cheesemakers in Vermont watched their prize-winning cheese rapidly change color as its mold evolved. Scientists solved the mystery thanks to a surprise marriage proposal: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/s... By me! 🧪

Why the Green Cheese Turned White

www.nytimes.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 3d

Strongly recommend stepping away from your news feed, going for a walk, and listening to @samsanders.bsky.social interview @bencollins.bsky.social about the state of media and the world: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Can Satire Save Democracy? w/ The Onion CEO Ben Collins

Podcast Episode · The Sam Sanders Show · 10/03/2025 · 52m

podcasts.apple.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for sharing, Jason! This was such a fun one. Giant bone-munching birds, scientists rappelling down cliffs, mysterious painted textiles from the Middle Ages...

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Reposted by Elizabeth Preston

Jami Attenberg @jamiattenberg.bsky.social · 7d

sometimes I just look at instagram and think
"why is everyone so mad at crow's feet"

they are delicate little lines
around
the eyes

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Reposted by Elizabeth Preston

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 8d

MW correctly reading the room

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 8d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 8d

The nests in the study were from a part of Spain where the vultures are extinct now, so the nests weren't in use anymore!

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 8d

It's an estimate--the actual date on the shoe, for example, was 674 years plus or minus 22.

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 8d

Scientists rappelled down cliffs to reach the nests of bearded vultures, which have a diet of bones and paint their feathers red with mud. Inside the nests were perfectly preserved human artifacts from the Middle Ages. By me, for Nat Geo: www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti... 🧪

Found: 650-year-old shoe, in vulture nest

Many unexpected human artifacts have been preserved, for centuries, in vulture nests.

www.nationalgeographic.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 9d

This week I'm taking friendship advice from some very adorable marsupials that poop cubes: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-be-... 🧪

How to Be a Crappy Correspondent

It's the thought behind the message that counts (I hope)

elizabethgpreston.substack.com

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 10d

Oh how I yearn to go back in time, put on my Old Noby t-shirt, roll into a Willmart and stare near a lobster tank before going out the exik WHO IS WATCHING THIS MY GOD

grimm ☀️ @mugrimm.bsky.social · 10d

This is doing numbers on social media right now and it's so depressing how people truly yearn for this shit and want to preserve that feeling indefinitely like a mausoleum of false memories.

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 10d

Not mimicry per se, but if you're looking for general body horror, there are a lot of disturbing soldier termites out there (face is a glue nozzle, etc)

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 10d

I think there's a whole category of caterpillars that mimic bird poop. And the classic caterpillar with the stack of heads on its head: edition.cnn.com/2020/08/09/w...

Meet ‘Mad Hatterpillar,’ the caterpillar that uses its old heads for defense | CNN

Some caterpillars fend off attackers by emitting toxic chemicals or smells. One species stacks its molted heads atop each other to act as false targets for predators.

edition.cnn.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 10d

Advice for lonely humans from cube-pooping marsupials: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-be-... 🧪

How to Be a Crappy Correspondent

It's the thought behind the message that counts (I hope)

elizabethgpreston.substack.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 10d

GULP! I hope I am not so STIFF and SPOOKed that I can only speak in GRUNTs and BONK into things when I interview the legendary Mary Roach onstage about her new book REPLACEABLE YOU! See you there?? www.harvard.com/event/mary-r... @harvardbookstore.bsky.social 🧪

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Reposted by Elizabeth Preston

Jon Mooallem @jmooallem.bsky.social · 13d

classic ’Missed Connection’

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 13d

I also personally adore Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back (and sequels), not included here. And any Elephant and Piggie book, although maybe they had to limit how many times Mo Willems appeared on the list.

Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 13d

Just interrupted my own doomscrolling to read Slate's list of the top 25 picture books from this century, and I recommend you do the same! slate.com/culture/2025... In my household, The Book with No Pictures and (the brilliant) Du Iz Tak? are both all-timers. Also Press Here (for littles).

The 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Century

There’s been a revolution in children’s storytelling—and it’s not just that the stories are more diverse.

slate.com

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Elizabeth Preston @inkfish.bsky.social · 15d

Oh I love this:

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 15d

Ever since I learned about this study enrolling I have been eagerly awaiting the results. Researchers in Uganda took a centuries-old cultural practice mothers carrying babies on their backs in cloth wraps and turned it into a public health tool. You got to love it!
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Permethrin-Treated Baby Wraps for the Prevention of Malaria | NEJM

Malaria remains a major cause of childhood death in sub-Saharan Africa. We leveraged the traditional practice of mothers carrying children on their backs in cloth wraps to assess whether treating t...

www.nejm.org

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