Sarah DeWeerdt
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
Freelance science journalist covering biology, medicine, environment. Always gets the name of the dog, but may be too besotted with the dog to remember the name. Working on a family history of my local whales.
I've been thinking about this piece from a few years ago quite a bit the last couple of weeks.
Please don't blame the rivers.
www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/noo...
Please don't blame the rivers.
www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/noo...
Rethinking flood control for the Nooksack River | Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Can restoring the natural balance of the Nooksack River also reduce flood risks? Officials on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border are taking note as climate change raises the stakes.
www.eopugetsound.org
December 19, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I've been thinking about this piece from a few years ago quite a bit the last couple of weeks.
Please don't blame the rivers.
www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/noo...
Please don't blame the rivers.
www.eopugetsound.org/magazine/noo...
Reposted by Sarah DeWeerdt
"The reality is, now more than ever, what we see online shapes what we believe about the natural world. If AI-generated wildlife keeps filling our feeds, it becomes harder to remember how extraordinary real animals are & how vulnerable many of them have become."
#AILiteracy
#AILiteracy
In recent months, AI-generated wildlife clips have flooded social media, merging real animal behavior with playful fabrications.
Bunnies on a trampoline? How this 'harmless fun' is creating a huge issue
In recent months, AI-generated wildlife clips have flooded social media, merging real animal behavior with playful fabrications. From leopards in backyards and raccoons riding crocodiles, to bunnies on...
newatlas.com
December 16, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"The reality is, now more than ever, what we see online shapes what we believe about the natural world. If AI-generated wildlife keeps filling our feeds, it becomes harder to remember how extraordinary real animals are & how vulnerable many of them have become."
#AILiteracy
#AILiteracy
Reposted by Sarah DeWeerdt
Wisdom’s legacy continues: Her 2011 chick N333 observed incubating own egg on Dec 6. #Birds
USFWS/FOMA ace Dan Rapp shows N333 nesting—possible through decades of banding & monitoring;
full history in comments.
Help sustain conservation & research.
friendsofmidway.org/double-your-...
USFWS/FOMA ace Dan Rapp shows N333 nesting—possible through decades of banding & monitoring;
full history in comments.
Help sustain conservation & research.
friendsofmidway.org/double-your-...
December 15, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Wisdom’s legacy continues: Her 2011 chick N333 observed incubating own egg on Dec 6. #Birds
USFWS/FOMA ace Dan Rapp shows N333 nesting—possible through decades of banding & monitoring;
full history in comments.
Help sustain conservation & research.
friendsofmidway.org/double-your-...
USFWS/FOMA ace Dan Rapp shows N333 nesting—possible through decades of banding & monitoring;
full history in comments.
Help sustain conservation & research.
friendsofmidway.org/double-your-...
Totally fascinating story about possible cooperative hunting between northern resident killer whales and dolphins.
Orcas team up with dolphins to hunt salmon, study finds
Northern resident killer whales appear to use dolphins as ‘scouts’, in a surprising cooperative hunting strategy
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Totally fascinating story about possible cooperative hunting between northern resident killer whales and dolphins.
I can't wait to read this. It's giving "2025 update of Encounters with the Archdruid" vibes.
ICYMI Here’s your Friday long read:
My in-depth profile story of David Stevenson, the man who crushed America’s offshore wind industry.
Thanks to @motherjones.com for republishing. 🙏
My in-depth profile story of David Stevenson, the man who crushed America’s offshore wind industry.
Thanks to @motherjones.com for republishing. 🙏
December 12, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I can't wait to read this. It's giving "2025 update of Encounters with the Archdruid" vibes.
🚨🚨 New Southern Resident Killer Whale just dropped🚨🚨
I love all that there have been so many Yuletide babies born over the past few years. I hope this cute little pumpkin (so orange and so new!!) makes it!
I love all that there have been so many Yuletide babies born over the past few years. I hope this cute little pumpkin (so orange and so new!!) makes it!
We have a new baby in K-Pod!😊🥰
This one is so new, the umbilical is still attached.
Puget Sound, Washington 12/9/25
📸April Basham
This one is so new, the umbilical is still attached.
Puget Sound, Washington 12/9/25
📸April Basham
December 10, 2025 at 9:07 PM
🚨🚨 New Southern Resident Killer Whale just dropped🚨🚨
I love all that there have been so many Yuletide babies born over the past few years. I hope this cute little pumpkin (so orange and so new!!) makes it!
I love all that there have been so many Yuletide babies born over the past few years. I hope this cute little pumpkin (so orange and so new!!) makes it!
The boy is back in town! ❤️ ❤️😍
December 1, 2025 at 7:53 PM
The boy is back in town! ❤️ ❤️😍
Honestly if RFK Jr could get the Snake River dams torn down and make the southern resident killer whales healthy again (MSRKWHA) I wouldn't be mad about it.
Okay, this causes me physical pain to say, but RFK is (for once) not actually being a total weirdo here. He’s a guest of the Nez Perce at a fish hatchery. The Pacific lamprey and the salmon are culturally important to the Nez Perce people, and they are lobbying to remove dams from the Snake River.
The head of health services in the United States, letting parasitic lampreys bite his arms for some godforsaken reason.
November 21, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Honestly if RFK Jr could get the Snake River dams torn down and make the southern resident killer whales healthy again (MSRKWHA) I wouldn't be mad about it.
The way I yelped with joy and let out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding!
November 21, 2025 at 6:37 PM
The way I yelped with joy and let out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding!
I wish this came in adult sizes!
Are your kids glued to their screens? For just under $8,000, your teenager can live in a college dorm for four weeks with no tech access.
The first week is rough, but eventually the kids relearn how to spend time offline, said the camp’s executive director.
The first week is rough, but eventually the kids relearn how to spend time offline, said the camp’s executive director.
Frazzled parents turn to screen-time coaches, $8,000 detox camps to rein in kids’ tech
Parents trying to raise their kids in a tech-saturated world are getting overwhelmed with the amount of work and fighting it takes to protect kids, which can be a full-time job.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:50 PM
I wish this came in adult sizes!
Oh I'm so excited to see this!!
Love reprints, love syndication, love more eyeballs seeing the work we spend so much energy and effort producing.
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social's piece on phytomining was picked up by @motherjones.com:
www.motherjones.com/environment/...
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social's piece on phytomining was picked up by @motherjones.com:
www.motherjones.com/environment/...
These special plants accumulate critical metals without destructive mining
"Phytomining" is no panacea, but it could make the transition to clean energy a bit more sustainable.
www.motherjones.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Oh I'm so excited to see this!!
I love it because it's trash. Progress on waste-based jet fuel in my latest for @anthropocenemag.bsky.social:
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/your...
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/your...
Your future airplane flight could be powered by everything you throw away
Fuel made from trash and food waste can't entirely replace conventional jet fuel—but it could take a big bite out of airlines’ carbon emissions
www.anthropocenemagazine.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I love it because it's trash. Progress on waste-based jet fuel in my latest for @anthropocenemag.bsky.social:
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/your...
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/your...
Thrilled to share my first piece for @biographic.bsky.social about the plants -- from adorable to punk-rock -- that might help us ever so gently source the minerals we need for a low-carbon economy: www.biographic.com/critical-min...
November 8, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Thrilled to share my first piece for @biographic.bsky.social about the plants -- from adorable to punk-rock -- that might help us ever so gently source the minerals we need for a low-carbon economy: www.biographic.com/critical-min...
A sneaky, snarky new wave of climate disinformation is being propagated across social media, I report in my latest for @anthropocenemag.bsky.social :
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/look...
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/look...
Looks like science, lies like propaganda. Inside a new wave of climate misinformation
An AI analysis shows that climate deniers increasingly use charts, data visuals, and academic design to appear trustworthy. Researchers warn that fact-checking alone can’t counter the power of these d...
www.anthropocenemagazine.org
November 8, 2025 at 11:25 AM
A sneaky, snarky new wave of climate disinformation is being propagated across social media, I report in my latest for @anthropocenemag.bsky.social :
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/look...
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2025/11/look...
Reposted by Sarah DeWeerdt
Over-active excitatory neurons in the cortex in infant mice lead to social deficits, according to a new preprint that study researchers claim can sway the debate over how signaling imbalances contribute to autism.
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ram...
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ram...
Ramping up cortical activity in early life sparks autism-like behaviors in mice
The findings add fuel to the long-running debate over how an imbalance in excitatory and inhibitory signaling contributes to the autism.
www.thetransmitter.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Over-active excitatory neurons in the cortex in infant mice lead to social deficits, according to a new preprint that study researchers claim can sway the debate over how signaling imbalances contribute to autism.
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ram...
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ram...
Reposted by Sarah DeWeerdt
Neurons in the brain form functional connections with small-cell lung cancer cells that have spread there, fueling the growth of these brain metastases, two independent studies show.
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neurobiology...
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neurobiology...
Neurons fuel lung tumors that have spread to brain
Functional synapses between brain cells and cancer cells are key to the metastatic growth, according to new findings from two independent teams.
www.thetransmitter.org
October 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Neurons in the brain form functional connections with small-cell lung cancer cells that have spread there, fueling the growth of these brain metastases, two independent studies show.
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neurobiology...
By @sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/neurobiology...
Reposted by Sarah DeWeerdt
Whale spa! Orcas in Washington are creating grooming tools out of kelp stalks, using them as a kind of tool for massage.
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social reports.
nautil.us/scratch-my-b...
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social reports.
nautil.us/scratch-my-b...
Scratch My Back and I’ll Scratch Yours
Orcas in Washington are creating grooming tools out of kelp stalks
nautil.us
July 3, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Whale spa! Orcas in Washington are creating grooming tools out of kelp stalks, using them as a kind of tool for massage.
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social reports.
nautil.us/scratch-my-b...
@sarahdeweerdt.bsky.social reports.
nautil.us/scratch-my-b...