Linette Umbrello

Bar graph comparing emissions from Grok's fossil-fuelled data centres to avoided emissions from Tesla's products for the years 2023 and 2024.

Comparison of emissions from manufacturing xAI's chatbot responses (5,127,553 tonnes CO2e) versus all Tesla products (1,056,000 tonnes CO2e) with respective analyses.

*New short blog* - finally (with help) got around to getting a total estimate of Grok's climate pollution 🫠

- Once all fossil gas online, = to between half and all of Tesla's ANNUAL GLOBAL avoided emissions

- Currently, 5x the emissions of Tesla's total manufacturing

ketanjoshi.co/2026/03/02/m...

I have heard comments from other scientists calling taxonomy 'stamp collecting' more times than I would like to count. In Australia, the budget for taxonomy of all species in Australia is $2m per year. For everything.

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

$300 tests spark call for ban of controversial product sold at Bunnings, Coles, Woolworths and Mitre 10 With the government unlikely to outlaw the dangerous product, the retailers have been urged to act.

Initially, many of the owl deaths had appeared accidental, as they had been struck by cars.

But after conducting a series of $300 tests, it became clear a common product sold in supermarkets was to blame.
au.news.yahoo.com/300-tests-sp...

In Current Biology!
*Uncovering genetic hotspots in the Southern Ocean informs conservation action
*Only 28% of genetic hotspots are protected
*Keeping current & adopting proposed MPAs boosts hotspot protection @lausally.bsky.social @marine-omics.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

SAEF scientists identify priority Southern Ocean genetic hotspots for conservation | Securing Antarctica's Environment Future New research shows that maintaining and adopting proposed marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean could almost double the protection of genetic hotspots from 28% to ~54%.  For the first ti...

Out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we used genetic data from a suite of Antarctic marine invertebrates to map locations of genetic diversity hotspots, divergence and connectivity 🐙🦐🪱🧬 @lausally.bsky.social @janstrugnell.bsky.social
arcsaef.com/story/scient...

To a first approximation, all Australian vertebrates are lizards. 🦎
But not just any lizards, Sphenomorphine skinks!

With more than 280 species they are hyper variable. Now, Janne Torkkola has pulled together the biggest phylogeny of the group to date. Read for free:
doi.org/10.1016/j.ym...

1/4

Curator Marine Invertebrate Zoology position advertised at the WA Museum, Perth. 🪸🪼🫙🔬
search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...

Supervising postgraduates is the best part of my job and when they are as talented as @shelbymiddleton.bsky.social and the team includes @kennytravouillon.bsky.social @planigale.bsky.social @annajmhopkins.bsky.social and Harriet Mills, it’s as good as it gets! Go well Shelby.

Random Delightful Fact of the Day -

Eastern quolls go grey as they get older!

A juvenile (~6 mths old) on the L, & a 4 yr old on the R

(Worth noting that 4 yrs old is oooooold for an eastern quoll)

Join the fun at this link - australianmammals.org.au/membership

JOB ALERT! Collection Manager job going in Palaeontology at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia iworkfor.nsw.gov.au/job/collecti...

Complete Rainforest Elevational Gradient Reveals Unusual Diversity Patterns of Non‐Volant Mammals in New Guinea Aim We address a critical gap in the elevational community ecology of tropical non-volant mammals in the Australian and Oceanian zoogeographic realms. Specifically, we document alpha and beta divers...

Complete Rainforest Elevational Gradient Reveals Unusual Diversity Patterns of Non‐Volant Mammals in New Guinea - Vejmělka - 2025 - Diversity and Distributions - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

UPCOMING WORKSHOP🚨
dartRverse: Harnessing the Force of R for Conservation Genomics

Hands-on training in population genetics and conservation genomics using R and dartR 🧬🌿🦘🐟🐜

📆8–14 March 2026 @ ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus + online participation options

Details here:
cba.anu.edu.au/news-events/...

The Draft National Recovery Plan for the Ghost Bat is open for public consultation until the 10th March 2026. Head to to the DCCEEW website below to find out more
consult.dcceew.gov.au/draft-nation...

Black text on white background underneath the Australian coat of arms at the top. Larger text near the top says "SENATOR DAVID POCOCK", "MEDIA RELEASE" and the headline in the largest print says "ARC RESTRUCTURE RISKS JOBS"?.

“This feels like yet another attack on our research community that is already under siege”

Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social has issued a media release about the ARC's proposed restructure and job cuts 👇

Was hearing a lot of these last evening

Perth Reached 39.0 Degrees At 1:32pm 🌡️ 40.0 At Gooseberry Hill, 39.8 At Pearce, 39.7 At Perth Airport, 39.5 At Millendon (Swan Valley) 39.2 At Jandakot, 38.4 At Swanbourne, 36.8 On Garden Island, 36.4 At Hillarys, 36.2 On Rottnest, 36.1 At Bickley & 35.2 At Mandurah 🥵 #PerthWeather #WesternAustralia

Very proud of our PhD student @nirjana-dewan.bsky.social for delivering an excellent talk at #AOC2025 on her white-tailed black cockatoo genomics work this morning! Looking forward to being able to share some nicely assembled genomes in the near future...stay tuned!

Premier's Science Awards 2025: Government Science Project of the Year Finalists Meet the 2025 finalists of the Premier's Science Awards: Government Science Project of the Year category.

So exciting our lab won the Government Science project of the year for 2025!
#WASciAwards
#2025PremiersScienceAwards
www.wa.gov.au/organisation...

I work on bats AND dasyurids, which symposium will I go to 🤔

Camera captures rare Aussie predator believed extinct across 70km landscape A $5 million project has helped change the region, allowing for the animal's return.

Over five years after cameras were set up within a sprawling Western Australian landscape, an elusive “chuditch” has been filmed for the first time.
au.news.yahoo.com/camera-captu...

🐘 There is more funding for elephant conservation than there is for all reptiles combined 🦎 (and the majority of reptile funding is for marine turtles). @achughes.bsky.social #LivingData2025 #DatosVivos2025

I'm increasingly tired of seeing ChatGPT writing style everywhere. It sticks out, especially high en-dash usage, poor similes, and supposed-to-be-clever "that's not just A, it's B" statements. Wikipedia has a nice list of AI "tells": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...

www.vice.com Tiny New Marsupial With a Tail Longer Than Its Body Discovered in Peru

Tiny New Marsupial With a Tail Longer Than Its Body Discovered in Peru

Sign the Petition Stop Forced Redundancies at QUT's Faculty of Science

As a previous staff member of this faculty I'm alarmed at the proposed forced redundancies!
c.org/vWNX7G4Qkf

Sign the Petition Stop Forced Redundancies at QUT's Faculty of Science

The latest Australian University wanting to diminish science capacity and training. At least 18 academic staff in the science faculty threatened with job loss. A petition to save science at #QUT Queensland University of Technology here www.change.org/p/stop-force...

Flat, graphic illustrated poster entitled "Red-Eyed Birds of North America" featuring shadowy gray-blue silhouetted birds punctuated by bright red eyes. 23 birds are depicted in total, some highlights being the Snail Kite, Roseate Spoonbill, Common Loon, and Wood Duck.

2. A 4-year palaeontology project officer search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...

@wamuseum.bsky.social advertising TWO science jobs. 1. A 5-year(!) Project coordinator in marine biodiversity search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...