Perdita Phillips
@perdy.bsky.social
walking, listening, mapping, animals, minerals, plants, ecologies, installations, exchange, photography, drawing, collage, videos, eclogues www.linktr.ee/perditaphillips
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
May as well dive right in.
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
November 13, 2024 at 11:20 AM
May as well dive right in.
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?
According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”
Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
Interesting study, but coverage is undermined by using fake AI-generated fossils ("Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com") rather than authentic specimens. I am not aware of any actual Ediacaran fossils that look like this. To be clear, this is a criticism of Science Daily, not the authors of the study.
Silica-rich and iron-rich seawater in Ediacaran oceans enabled clay minerals to grow around the buried organisms, cementing sand into the shapes of the soft creatures, preserving impressions for all time ⚒️🧪🌊
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Scientists finally explain Earth’s strangest fossils
The Ediacara Biota are some of the strangest fossils ever found—soft-bodied organisms preserved in remarkable detail where preservation shouldn’t be possible. Scientists now think their survival in sa...
www.sciencedaily.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Interesting study, but coverage is undermined by using fake AI-generated fossils ("Credit: AI/ScienceDaily.com") rather than authentic specimens. I am not aware of any actual Ediacaran fossils that look like this. To be clear, this is a criticism of Science Daily, not the authors of the study.
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
two beaches
one stranded starfish
can be carried
back to the sea
a hundred dead
starfish requires
honesty
25.I.26
one stranded starfish
can be carried
back to the sea
a hundred dead
starfish requires
honesty
25.I.26
January 25, 2026 at 7:36 AM
two beaches
one stranded starfish
can be carried
back to the sea
a hundred dead
starfish requires
honesty
25.I.26
one stranded starfish
can be carried
back to the sea
a hundred dead
starfish requires
honesty
25.I.26
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
"Terrible things are happening outside ... poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared." — Anne Frank (Jan 13, 1943)
January 13, 2026 at 6:33 PM
"Terrible things are happening outside ... poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared." — Anne Frank (Jan 13, 1943)
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
Tour website's AI sends visitors to Tasmanian sites that do not exist. It's only when the cost of getting sued is too high will this kind of bullshit stop happening. #AIisnotworthit www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
'Our AI has messed up': Tourists sent to destinations that don't exist
Weldborough in remote north-east Tasmania has lots of natural beauty. But it does not have hot springs — and it is causing headaches for locals.
www.abc.net.au
January 21, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Tour website's AI sends visitors to Tasmanian sites that do not exist. It's only when the cost of getting sued is too high will this kind of bullshit stop happening. #AIisnotworthit www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
Cow Tools!
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
January 19, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Cow Tools!
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
Would someone please buy this?????* | can't bear to destroy it but have no room to store it. Found hat, cloth and red mud (brighter than the photo) on paper approx 151 x 139 cm.
January 19, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Would someone please buy this?????* | can't bear to destroy it but have no room to store it. Found hat, cloth and red mud (brighter than the photo) on paper approx 151 x 139 cm.
Penny Coss will be performing as part of our shear zone residency at Walyalup Fremantle Art Centre. I did the sound (and the scratchy drawing) and Sarah Tomasetti made the fresco banners
January 14, 2026 at 11:26 AM
Penny Coss will be performing as part of our shear zone residency at Walyalup Fremantle Art Centre. I did the sound (and the scratchy drawing) and Sarah Tomasetti made the fresco banners
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
Imagine you were about to appear at a writers' festival to talk about your first book... then the whole thing fell apart.
I wanted to find debut authors who almost talked at Adelaide Writers' Week. These are 21 folks I've identified so far but *please* let me know who I've missed or mixed up.
I wanted to find debut authors who almost talked at Adelaide Writers' Week. These are 21 folks I've identified so far but *please* let me know who I've missed or mixed up.
January 14, 2026 at 8:09 AM
Imagine you were about to appear at a writers' festival to talk about your first book... then the whole thing fell apart.
I wanted to find debut authors who almost talked at Adelaide Writers' Week. These are 21 folks I've identified so far but *please* let me know who I've missed or mixed up.
I wanted to find debut authors who almost talked at Adelaide Writers' Week. These are 21 folks I've identified so far but *please* let me know who I've missed or mixed up.
Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation buried for 5 months and then plunged into black-stained, stagnant water: more-than-human knowledge
January 9, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation buried for 5 months and then plunged into black-stained, stagnant water: more-than-human knowledge
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
New technologies are revolutionising ecology, with more data than ever available at our fingertips. But what are the costs and perils of ecologists doing less field work?
Interviews with several BES members in this fascinating @nature.com article
Interviews with several BES members in this fascinating @nature.com article
‘I rarely get outside’: scientists ditch fieldwork in the age of AI
In the race to embrace new technologies, some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature.
f.mtr.cool
January 8, 2026 at 10:16 AM
New technologies are revolutionising ecology, with more data than ever available at our fingertips. But what are the costs and perils of ecologists doing less field work?
Interviews with several BES members in this fascinating @nature.com article
Interviews with several BES members in this fascinating @nature.com article
High tide (folly) being installed at southern forest arts in Northcliffe
December 1, 2025 at 11:06 AM
High tide (folly) being installed at southern forest arts in Northcliffe
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This mural has gone up in Kingston, ostensibly for Christmas but AI has ensured it's actually to celebrate the return of our dark lord Cthulhu
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.
November 16, 2025 at 7:04 AM
The golden age of diversity and democracy in Oz.
I can understand developers, mining, the fossil fuel and gambling lobbies capturing the Labour Party, but the meth lobby?????
November 9, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I can understand developers, mining, the fossil fuel and gambling lobbies capturing the Labour Party, but the meth lobby?????
Red water flowing through Mammoth Cave on Wardandi Boodja
November 6, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Red water flowing through Mammoth Cave on Wardandi Boodja
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
For the record, Melissa's main targets of Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas account for, respectively, 0.016%, 0.0089%, 0.064%, and 0.0038% of the global annual total of CO2 emissions.
October 28, 2025 at 8:31 PM
For the record, Melissa's main targets of Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas account for, respectively, 0.016%, 0.0089%, 0.064%, and 0.0038% of the global annual total of CO2 emissions.
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
Read more:
theshovel.com.au/2025/10/28/t...
theshovel.com.au/2025/10/28/t...
October 27, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Read more:
theshovel.com.au/2025/10/28/t...
theshovel.com.au/2025/10/28/t...
Terra fires
I have been developing techniques for the automated assessment of fire events across Australia using NAFI (firenorth.org.au) data. These are the top 10 largest across Australia so far this year. 3 of them are > 1 million hectares (Terra-Fires, 100x mega fire). The year is not over.
October 27, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Terra fires
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
And today I learned that in 1962 the BBC let Jaquetta Hawkes imagine the archaeology of apocalyptic Britain. As a short film 👀10/10 Will weird your day youtu.be/c8yEIe69M4k?...
1962: What Was Britain Like Before the Apocalypse? | Monitor: The Lonely Shore | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
youtu.be
October 26, 2025 at 8:34 AM
And today I learned that in 1962 the BBC let Jaquetta Hawkes imagine the archaeology of apocalyptic Britain. As a short film 👀10/10 Will weird your day youtu.be/c8yEIe69M4k?...
New edit of die back (a collaboration with Annette Nykiel) features phytophthora bodies)
October 26, 2025 at 9:51 AM
New edit of die back (a collaboration with Annette Nykiel) features phytophthora bodies)
Transversal — a show of expanded, experimental video and projection opening Thursday night
October 26, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Transversal — a show of expanded, experimental video and projection opening Thursday night
Reposted by Perdita Phillips
People kvetch about the chaos-inducing serial comma, but you can also do a lot with a colon! Beware, biographers!!
October 24, 2025 at 4:47 PM
People kvetch about the chaos-inducing serial comma, but you can also do a lot with a colon! Beware, biographers!!
Three police officers struggle to handcuff inflatable penis
October 19, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Three police officers struggle to handcuff inflatable penis