Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Joanna Bagniewska

Eva Amsen @easternblot.bsky.social · 10h

Did you know that recent model iPhone Pros have a LiDAR sensor? You can use it to measure distances, and scientists in Spain used it to recreate a digital version of a cave filled with ancient cave art. 🧪 #scicomm www.forbes.com/sites/evaams...

Mapping Cave Art With A Cellphone

Researchers in Spain used Apple iPhone’s built-in LiDAR sensor to create a 3D map of a cave with hundreds of prehistoric cave paintings.

www.forbes.com

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 6d

That's beautiful! I have slight stick insect envy.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 6d

Ha, my bad!
But yes, generous friends do help on the unusual pet front.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 6d

You need to make some entomologist friends!

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 6d

What do friends do?
Friends get you the ultimate nerd status symbol: a giant prickly stick insect, Extatosoma tiaratum.

Welcome, Michalina (aka Misia-Patysia)!

🧪 🦂 🌍

A giant prickly stick insect on an arm, in front of my book chapter on giant prickly stick insects.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 7d

I met Jane Goodall in 2005, when she was visiting the @houstonzoo.bsky.social; I was doing my undergrad project there, and she came over to chat about meerkats and mongooses.
You can see a glimpse of her in the snapshot a friend took on that day.

RIP, Jane.
🌏🧪🐵

Very pleased Joanna in an orange top; Jane Goodall on the right in the blue shirt.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 7d

Jane Goodall dies age 91.

A conservation icon gone.

🧪 🐒 🌍

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9...

Jane Goodall, chimpanzee expert and animal rights campaigner, dies age 91 - follow live

The campaigner, a

www.bbc.co.uk

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 8d

In October, the British Council will be launching the Climate Skills Global Collaboration Grants 2025, offering grants up to £85,000 for partnerships between the UK and Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Viet Nam.

opportunities-insight.britishcouncil.org/short-articl...

#AcademicSky #climate 🧪

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 9d

Anyone in need of excellent #teaching resources (UG and postgrad) for #ecology and #conservation? Bill has created some amazing explainer videos, and they're all free and ready for you to use.
Enjoy.

#AcademicSky 🧪🌍

William (Bill) Sutherland @billsutherland.bsky.social · 9d

Are you a student studying ecology or conservation? Do you lecture ecology or conservation? I created this playlist for you and hope it is useful. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Conservation concepts for undergraduates and postgraduates - YouTube

Key concepts underpinning undergraduate ecology and conservation courses

youtube.com

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 9d

🐻Why does #FatBearWeek matter, for bears and people?🐻

@antoniouzal.bsky.social writes for @theconversation.com:

theconversation.com/alaskas-fat-...

Meanwhile, vote in the semi-finals for your favourite chonky bear here: explore.org/fat-bear-week
🧪🌍🦊

Alaska’s Fat Bear Week is more than a bit of fun – for the animals, size is a matter of survival

Bears need to put on fat in order to survive the harsh Alaskan winters.

theconversation.com

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 15d

🐻🐻🐻🐻
It is finally here.
Fat Bear Week 2025.
🐻🐻🐻🐻

Vote for the fattest, portliest, chubbiest bear of Katmai NP (@fatbearweek.bsky.social). Some of these chonks weigh more than half a ton, and have gained over 100kg since July.

Who will win this year?

Voting is open: explore.org/fat-bear-week
🧪🌍🦊

Chunk the Bear gaining weight between July and September.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 16d

Calling all chimp enthusiasts!
Oxon Mammal Group winter seminar season kicks off with a talk by @pintsizedprimate.bsky.social from @oxford-anthro.bsky.social on chimpanzee cultures, archaeology and conservation.
13 Oct, 7pm, at @morethanadodo.bsky.social.
Free for members, 3GBP for non-members.
🧪🐵

oxon-mammal-group.bsky.social @oxon-mammal-group.bsky.social · 16d

Our Winter Lecture series is back for 2025/26! Our first talk is Monday 13th October, 7pm at Oxford's Natural History Museum. Dr Kat Almeida-Warren is going to be talking about chimpanzee cultures, archaeology, and conservation. It's going to be fascinating, hope to see you all there!

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 16d

The tagline of IgNobel Prizes is: "Research that makes people laugh... then think" - so this study fits the bill brilliantly.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 16d

Why not? Loads of flies in OZ...

Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 16d

Not in Japan!

Actually, wildlife attacks on livestock are a huge conservation problem, stripes or no stripes.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 16d

#IgNoble prize winner:
Painting cows with zebra-like striping reduces biting fly attacks.

💡Painting black-and-white stripes can increase cattle welfare without the use of pesticides, proposing a solution for the problem of pesticide resistance in the environment.

🧪🌍🪰🦓🐮
doi.org/10.1371/jour...

A cow painted in zebra stripes; diagram shows the area of legs and body used to count biting flies on cows in the study. Source: Kojima et al., 2019

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 19d

I don't know - I find Bluesky and LinkedIn much more useful. Twitter became absolutely useless for me after changing into X (pushing AI nonsense and ads, hiding interesting content).
Having said that, I still use your Zotero tutorial threads there 😍
#academicsky

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 26d

🐀 Personality tests for wild mice! 🐀

Small mammals come with different personalities, and these personalities can impact ecological outcomes.

How can we standardise measuring personality traits in wild small mammals? @alessiomortelliti.bsky.social and colleagues provide five key tips.

🧪🦊🌍

Mammal Society @mammalsociety.bsky.social · 26d

A new review highlights the importance of measuring personality in wild small mammals—and proposes a much-needed standardised approach 🐭🔬

📖 Read the full review here: doi.org/10.1111/mam....

Measuring Personality in Wild Small Mammals: A Review of Methods and Proposal for a Standardised Approach

We provide a systematic review of methodologies used to study personality in small mammals. We propose adopting ‘Standardised Experimental Design’ and ‘Behavioural Measurements’ to effectively…

doi.org

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 26d

Daubenton's bats' poo is more like chocolate Rice Krispies. Make of that what you will.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 26d

Wildlife advice and wild life advice:

🦇 Pipistrelle poo looks like chocolate hundreds and thousands; don't confuse the two.

🥰 Find someone who looks at you the way ecologists look at bat poo.

🧪🌍 @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social

Two ecologists looking wistfully at a bat box.

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Reposted by Joanna Bagniewska

Prof Sam Illingworth @samillingworth.com · 27d

🔎 Stereotypes and perception

Brain scans show racial stereotypes can shift how we see objects. Tools shown after Black face primes were more likely to resemble weapons in neural patterns, linking stereotypes to biased perception.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#SciComm #Neuroscience #Bias 🧪

Racial stereotypes bias the neural representation of objects towards perceived weapons - Nature Communications

Due to racial stereotypes, innocuous objects (e.g. a tool) can be misperceived as a gun when presented immediately after a Black individual’s face. Here, the authors examine the neural basis of this e...

www.nature.com

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 27d

Finishing the day of fieldwork on Port Meadow with a vegetation survey.
🧪 🌱 ☔ 🌈

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 27d

Also, fieldwork in the UK...
🧪 🌲 ☂️
@oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 27d

Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head...

Giant puffball!
🧪 🌍 🍄

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 27d

Hello, smooth newt! Hello, baby slow worm!
Can you tell I'm welcoming a new cohort of ecology students at @oxlifelonglearning.bsky.social this week?
🧪 🌍 🦎

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