Rage Against the Miocene
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organiccarbon.bsky.social
Rage Against the Miocene
@organiccarbon.bsky.social
Rich Pancost, Earth Scientist at the University of Bristol. Interested in past climates and earth system processes, from peatlands to the deep sea. First gen/ working class. Privileged white cis male. Anti-racist, pro LGBTQ+, unapologetically woke. He/Him
Pinned
Intro time! I am an organic geochemist who explores all aspects of organic carbon in the environment to study past, current, and future changes in the Earth system. I am an advocate of interdisciplinary approaches, especially when applied to achieving social and environmental justice.
Reposted by Rage Against the Miocene
The student paper is often the only coverage of what's happening in Ann Arbor, a town of 125,000.
" The total number of student news programs in the country that distribute work to local outlets is now roughly two hundred and fifty.

"... the addition of a student-run paper is a lifeline for community news."

via @columjournreview.bsky.social
How students are trying to save local news.
Across the country, university programs are filling gaps in the coverage.
www.cjr.org
December 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
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End-of-year preprint dump! A collaboration with @messorensen.bsky.social and German and Korean colleagues: "The phylogenetic context for the origin of a unique purple-green photosymbiosis "
doi.org/10.64898/202...
December 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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Btw this is one of the biggest reasons why it’s not as easy as people think to start up independent newsrooms or just be an indie journalist on substack. If you are actually holding powerful and rich people to account, you WILL need legal representation. Not a matter of whether but when
I say that as someone who has started newsrooms from scratch sometimes with two people - if you’re doing your job correctly you will need a lawyer because the first thing rich people do when you write something they don’t like is threaten you legally. It’s cheap for them and expensive for you
December 23, 2025 at 10:53 PM
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No matter how beautiful a work of art or how compelling a novel or how spine-tingling a song, its value to me is that it was created by another human. A wonderful, flawed, beautiful human who was trying - agonisingly - to connect across the chasm of our individualities.

Fuck AI charlatans.
December 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM
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📣 We seek to appoint a Chair (with rank of professor) within the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences. The successful candidate will be an outstanding scholar of international standing in the field.

🗓 Closing Date: 23 March 2026

Full details: www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672
Chair in Earth Sciences - AC2672, Earth and Environmental Sciences Salary: Grade 9/Negotiable Start Date: September 2026 , <p style="margin-right: 22.7pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: bl...
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk
December 23, 2025 at 12:47 PM
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The regime has announced two proposed rules intended to make it extremely difficult (if not impossible) for trans youth to receive the healthcare they need.

We expect robust legal challenges to these hate-filled proposals and are actively engaged with organizations on the frontlines of this fight.
December 23, 2025 at 5:58 PM
No matter how beautiful a work of art or how compelling a novel or how spine-tingling a song, its value to me is that it was created by another human. A wonderful, flawed, beautiful human who was trying - agonisingly - to connect across the chasm of our individualities.

Fuck AI charlatans.
December 23, 2025 at 6:59 PM
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I'm currently working on a novel and at the end of an average day, I'm wiped out. The sheer amount of analysis, synthesis, making of connections, layering of prose, deepening of characterization, supplemental research... all the mental work is intense and exhilarating. Which is just to say, fuck AI.
December 23, 2025 at 1:40 PM
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Another day, another news story on the catastrophic choices behind Future Nottingham.

How many signs do we need that we're careening in the wrong direction?

#StopTheCuts #SaveHE

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/staff-f...
Staff fear ‘catastrophic’ impact of Nottingham ‘consolidation’
Increases to staff-student ratios could send university into a ‘death spiral’, says union leader as vice-chancellor insists institution must act now
www.timeshighereducation.com
December 23, 2025 at 3:34 PM
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Here's a fun literary experiment idea for any paleontology writer who'd like to pick it up: come up with a couple of alternate filing systems for the various periods of life on Earth, and see how using them changes our understanding of the story
I do genuinely think that a lot of us often forget that the distinctions between the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic -- while sort of real -- are, in fact, more of an 18th century filing system we've largely decided to stick with
I'm deep in drafting today and wrote "most popular interpretations of the Triassic are artifacts of hindsight," when it suddenly occurred to me that, necessarily, *all* paleontology is an artifact of hindsight
December 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM
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I went to the American embassy today to get a passport card that I could carry in my wallet to show my citizenship in case masked men try to kidnap me when I’m in the US. Seriously.
September 9, 2025 at 8:17 PM
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Greta Thunberg arrested for holding a sign opposing genocide.

When peaceful protest is a crime, democracy is in deep trouble.

Happening under a Labour Government.
🚨BREAKING: GRETA THUNBERG ARRESTED UNDER TERRORISM ACT FOR SUPPORTING 'PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS'
December 23, 2025 at 11:20 AM
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I keep hearing that folk who don't use AI will be at a competitive disadvantage compared to those who do

I wonder how long before that flips completely, and there's a big market for people who still have basic creative and research skills
December 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
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Being from the UK and a member of the late part of Generation X means having to live with the fact that every photo from your childhood resembles a still from a cultishly acclaimed but commercially disappointing folk horror film.

ESPECIALLY IF THEY ACTUALLY ARE...
www.tom-cox.com/some-photos-...
Some Photos From My Family's Archive And The Cult Low Budget Horror Films They Became
This is a free post, but taking out a paid subscription here helps me write more of the stuff I love to write, and will give you access to lots of exclusive writing in the near future.
www.tom-cox.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:04 AM
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It brings me no pleasure to report that my beat — offshore wind power — skyrocketed to the top of new sites today.

I just published a scoop about Trump's halt on 5 in-progress wind farms capable of powering 2.7 million homes.

Here's a mega🧵

🔗 2nd post is a link to my scoop
🎁 last post is a gift
December 23, 2025 at 6:07 AM
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ESA/Webb's final Picture of the Month for 2025 features Westerlund 2 containing many of the Milky Way’s hottest, brightest & most massive stars. Located 20,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Carina

Link for more info: esawebb.org/images/potm2...

Photo credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA
December 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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I don’t mean to sound extreme, but I don’t think we should have torture camps for people with criminal records either.
December 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
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White men are 30% of the population.

They are also:

- 98% of presidents
- 90% of CEOs
- 90% of billionaires
- 80% of Congress

Forever oppressed.
December 23, 2025 at 6:46 AM
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“Australia is being played, being used as a wedge and a shield. Its political class is being manipulated into prioritising a foreign nation’s narrative over its own.”

theaimn.net/the-sovereig...
The Sovereign Hook – How Australia and its Jewish Community are Played in a Foreign Game
Dedication: For our Mother, who regards truth as more important than myth. In truth, there is no judgment, only justice. To the world, she is many things, but to us, she will always be Mum. [...]
theaimn.net
December 23, 2025 at 5:38 AM
"He disliked the idea that loving nature required loving trees everywhere. Some of the world’s most diverse places, he noted, are open, windy, dry, and flammable. They do not look lush from the air. They reward attention on the ground."

www.butlernature.com/2025/12/21/w...
William Bond, defender of grasslands
In recent years, one of the loudest ideas in environmental policy has been that trees are the planet’s universal remedy. Plant enough of them, in enough places, and carbon will be soaked up, water wil...
www.butlernature.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:45 AM
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"Bond’s work leaves behind an inconvenient lesson for an era of climate urgency: that speed is not a substitute for understanding, and that good intentions, applied without care, can erase ancient worlds as efficiently as neglect." A beautiful tribute to William Bond. Forever missed by many.
William Bond, defender of grasslands
In recent years, one of the loudest ideas in environmental policy has been that trees are the planet’s universal remedy. Plant enough of them, in enough places, and carbon will be soaked up, water wil...
www.butlernature.com
December 23, 2025 at 7:31 AM
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As someone who lives next to a canal and because of this, is now a huge canal nerd, this story is 🤯

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Major incident declared over giant hole at Shropshire canal
Two boats have been left at the bottom of the cavity, where water has drained away.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 10:20 PM
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Doctors Without Borders urges Israel to let critical aid into Gaza as children freeze to death. "At least 13 people, including two-week-old and one-month-old babies, have died from winter weather and a lack of adequate shelter and aid – blocked by Israel"
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12...
MSF urges Israel to let critical aid into Gaza as children freeze to death
At least 13 people in Gaza, including two-week-old and one-month-old babies, have died from winter weather.
www.aljazeera.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM
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356 of #365Minerals 🧪⚒️

Mesolite:
- A zeolite group mineral
- Forms in volcanic rock cavities
- Its name comes from the Greek word "μέσος/mesos" (middle) because its composition is between natrolite and scolecite #minerals #MineralMonday
December 22, 2025 at 11:15 AM