🤩We’re excited to announce our winner of Capturing Ecology🤩
🐊Zeke Rowe, @zekerowe.bsky.social, with their photo 'Wouldn't hurt a fly'🪰
Taken in Panama, the image shows an American crocodile fixing the camera with its golden eyes, utterly unmoved as blood-sucking horse flies feed on its snout.
Dear Sir Paul, Re: Royal Society Code of Conduct I am sure that many scientists have written to you about the specific question of Elon Musk’s Fellowship and whether, under the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct, his retaining that Fellowship is appropriate. I will not rehash these issues. Instead, as a female scientist with extensive experience of activities aiming to increase equality, diversity and inclusion in the engineering and physical sciences sector, I am writing to you (in a personal capacity) to ask you to reconsider the statements you have recently made in this context to the UK press about the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct and how it is applied. A 2018 report from the joint National Academies of the United States of America, concluded that “sexual harassment is common in academic science, engineering, and medicine” and that “greater than 50 percent of women faculty and staff and 20–50 percent of women students encounter or experience sexually harassing conduct in academia”. This report described codes of conduct that make clear that sexual harassment is unethical and will not be tolerated as a “powerful incentive for change”. The authors also noted that sexual harassment can have significant and damaging effects on the integrity of research. In my own praxis, I have found that clear and consistently-implemented codes of conduct that address these issues make female scientists and engineers safer, and allow them to focus more effectively on their research. For codes of conduct to have such a positive effect, it is vital that sanctions for actions which transgress the code are meaningful and substantial.
I was hence aghast to realise that in an interview with the Financial Times published on 9/1/26, you appear to have suggested that the Royal Society “should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective””. Moreover, in a further interview with the Guardian on 11/1/26 you suggested that the code “may need to be looked at again”, with the implication that your aim would be to remove the option of sanctions on Fellows for reasons not strictly related to faults or defects in their research. I suggest that changing the Royal Society’s code of conduct so that the likelihood of serious sanctions for sexual harassment is reduced, would directly endanger women who interact with the Royal Society at events or otherwise, and would provide a licence to harass to the already powerful people on whom the Society bestows fellowship. The implications of your words - that under your leadership the only infringements of the code which are likely to receive the sanction of the Fellowship being removed are those related to research misconduct - already risk empowering harassers. You stated, in the Financial Times interview, that “there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances”. Given this awareness of the possibility of bad actors in our scientific community, it is wholly irresponsible to suggest that the Royal Society would not act to sanction these people if they harass more vulnerable scientists. I am hence writing to request that you retract any suggestion that the Society’s Code of Conduct should be changed so that the only reason a Fellow might be sanctioned by the removal of their Fellowship is “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective” research. This action is necessary to safeguard female scientists, a requirement placed on the Society by safeguarding legislation and UK statutory guidance. Yours sincerely, Professor Rachel A. Oliver.
Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.
Such an incredible time at #ASABWinter2025. A huge thank you to everyone involved in the organisation. The small amount of help was entirely worth it for an exclusive camo name tag. More importantly it is an honour to have been amongst those standing that had the chance to work with Innes!
Great first day at #ASABWinter2025, please come say hi tomorrow if you didn't get a chance today!
I've tried a few and zotero is 100% my favourite. Plus loads of plug ins for it so it can do almost anything you want.
Hi
Day 1 @behaviour2025.bsky.social, some great talks and excited to speak tomorrow!
Winter ASAB 2025 - 15th-16th of December in Edinburgh - with a special theme of "How sensory information affects behaviour". Register at https://asabwinter.github.io/2025/ deadline for abstract submission 29th of August.
Winter ASAB @asab.org on *Sensory Ecology* register and submit your abstracts now (abstract deadline just a month away)!
I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/
The Adaptive Significance of Tail‐Flagging: A Test in European Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) Ecol&Evol
Was great to be involved in such an interesting paper, now published in @ecol-evol.bsky.social!
dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
A massive thank you to Innes Cuthill and @andyradford.bsky.social for the opportunity to demonstrate on the long running Lundy field course with @freyau.bsky.social.
An incredible week with some great views, projects, weather, food, and distinctly not-great run.
🚨 New paper alert! 👀 In our new opinion piece in TREE @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social, we propose #cephalopods as model systems to investigate the link between tactical #deception and #cognition in animals 🐙🦑🪄✨🧠
Read the paper here:
🔗 www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
The first script produces squares at even intervals in luminance so they can be manually recorded with a photometer.
The second script allows a manually created gamma ramp to be applied.
Here's two scripts I wrote for PsychoPy to manually calibrate luminance as the built in way to achieve this seems to have a known error that has persisted.
discourse.psychopy.org/t/script-for...
A guide to setting up Psychtoolbox (MATLAB) on Linux for use with two screens I wrote a while ago.
It's what I wished I had while trying to get it working- written for someone without any prior knowledge. Hopefully of use to someone.
psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/setting-up...
Yeah! Saw one in the garden a couple years ago, super cool
Believe it's butterfly conservation 🦋😎
Many thanks to @asab.org for such a great opportunity to attend and present my poster at #ASABSpring2025 and to see so many exciting pieces of research!
