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Zen Faulkes

@doctorzen.net

2.2K followers 310 following 3.1K posts

Home page: http://DoctorZen.net. Biologist. Author of Better Posters book and blog. Collector of academic hoaxes.

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Environmental science 49%

Geography 13%

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 7h

Frog 🐸: Chemical neurotransmission.

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 7h

Squid 🦑: Ionic basis of actions potentials.

Crayfish 🦞: Electrical synapses.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 10h

Wait what?

I mean, it's nice and all. But what makes this such a high value collector's item?

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 10h

Make a movie better by adding John Carpenter's to the title:

John Carpenter's The Karen Carpenter Story

John Carpenter's A Carpenter Christmas Story

John Carpenter's The Carpenter's Son

John Carpenter's The Carpenter

minty tear gas @nihilamacabre.bsky.social · 1d

Make a movie better by adding John Carpenter's to the title:

John Carpenter's The Crying Game

⚧️Marionette: Little Tin Goddess🏳️‍⚧️ @marionette.bzky.team · 1d

Make a movie better by adding John Carpenter's to the title:

John Carpenter‘s Les Miserables

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

mossworm.bsky.social @mossworm.bsky.social · 11h

still amazing to me the number of movies, games, etc. which have Venus Flytrap-based creatures in some form compared to the actual native range of Venus Flytrap, which is like, the great untamed jungles of a few wet pine savannas in North Carolina

map illustrating the native range of Venus Flytrap plants, just a little half circle around coastal North and South Carolina in USA

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 13h

Because he was awesome from every direction, one assumes

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

Riley Black 🦕 🏳️‍⚧️ @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 14h

Word of mouth is so important for books.

If you’ve read something you like, shout it out, leave a review somewhere, ask your library to carry it.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 16h

🟩 Jealous! 🟩

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 18h

The trend line for Sasquatch is far too generous. It’s going down, not flat.

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

Miki Perkins @mikiperkins.bsky.social · 20h

This is desperately sad. Professor John Woinarski breaks the news for @aunz.theconversation.com that Australia's next animal - the tiny Christmas Island Shrew - has officially been declared extinct.

theconversation.com/and-then-the...

And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct

Australia’s only known shrew has been declared extinct. Its loss emphasises the need for national protection of Australia’s rare and unique wildlife.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Zen Faulkes

DORA @dorassessment.bsky.social · 20h

NASEM is doing a Consensus Study on Corrections and Retractions. Join the Europe Regional Learning Session on Tuesday, 14 October, from 2:00–5:00 PM CEST to share your views on improvements to the processes used to correct errors in scientific articles. 👉 www.nationalacademies.org/event/45836_...

www.nationalacademies.org

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Reposted by Matthew Kelly, Zen Faulkes

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 21h

It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.

And there will be others within our lifetime.

That's biodiversity loss.

We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794

XC398794 Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)

Awful wind noise in the original! See sonogram and notes of the recording circumstances on p12 of Gretton A. (1991) The ecology and conservation of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). ...

xeno-canto.org

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Reposted by Jonathan A. Eisen

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

“First time I’ve had a Muppet as a waiter.”

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

Maybe a relevant difference in these scenarios is that calculators did not occasionally insist that 27 divided by 3 was 11.5.

😉

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

minty tear gas @nihilamacabre.bsky.social · 1d

Make a movie better by adding John Carpenter's to the title:

John Carpenter's The Crying Game

⚧️Marionette: Little Tin Goddess🏳️‍⚧️ @marionette.bzky.team · 1d

Make a movie better by adding John Carpenter's to the title:

John Carpenter‘s Les Miserables

Beyond the Machina! @beyondthemachina.bsky.social · 1d

Make a movie better by adding John Carpenter's to the title:

John Carpenter‘s Inception

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Carl T. Bergstrom, Gavin A. Schmidt , and 8 more Peter Thorne, Carl T. Bergstrom, Gavin A. Schmidt, Stacie B. Dusetzina, Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn, Zen Faulkes, David Murakami Wood, Wolfgang Huber, Klaus Oschema, Philip Bell

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 1d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

🦀 feed

Ariel Slamet Ries @arielries.bsky.social · 1d

crabs

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Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Mary L. Dudziak, Zen Faulkes , and 2 more Shannon Vallor, Mary L. Dudziak, Zen Faulkes, Hisham Zerriffi, Finis Dunaway

Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 1d

A striking thing about articles I’ve read claiming to “study the effects” of generative AI on student writing skills and consumption of information is that (1) they nearly always find the effects are negative and (2) most “conclusions” are still written assuming that we must use AI, for some reason.

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Reposted by Zen Faulkes

Ariel Slamet Ries @arielries.bsky.social · 1d

crabs

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

Counterpoint to this anecdote: arxiv.org/abs/2507.09089

“Allowing AI actually increases completion time by 19%--AI tooling slowed developers down.”

Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity

Despite widespread adoption, the impact of AI tools on software development in the wild remains understudied. We conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to understand how AI tools at the February-...

arxiv.org

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Reposted by Zen Faulkes, Lisa A. Kramer

Soren Larsen (SEGL) @sorenlarsen.bsky.social · 1d

Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity

"The new research also “calls into question the idea that younger individuals and those without risk factors don’t need the vaccine,” Viswanathan says."

Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows

A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination

www.scientificamerican.com

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

Not sure of stupid level, but it has squid.

But you've probably already read it.

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

"The girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

"The girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

Donald Duck throwing a tomato at a Nazi in the poster for "Der Fuehrer's Face."

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

"The girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

Agent Peggy Carter from Agent Carter and Captain America.

Captain America about to punch an actor playing Hitler on stage.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

"The girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa"

Indiana Jones punching a Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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Reposted by Zen Faulkes

pjrodriguez.bsky.social @pjrodriguez.bsky.social · 2d

@okbjgm.bsky.social uh wut theankler.com/p/run-it-thr...

‘Run It Through GPT-5’: The Phrase Changing Hollywood Overnight

Showrunners, writers, producers & marketing jumped on OpenAI’s update. Industry jobs will never recover

theankler.com

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

🎶 One of these things is not like the others... 🎶

Just bitterly disappointing to see so few women recognized with scientific Nobels, year after year after year.

The nine 2025 Nobel Prize winners in the science categories, eight of which are men.

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

So what’s the final gender skew on this year’s science Nobels? Seven men, one woman?

Terrible.

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