Gavin Foster
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thefosterlab.bsky.social
Gavin Foster
@thefosterlab.bsky.social

Palaeoclimatologist and isotope geochemist at the University of Southampton. Love/hate relationship with mass spectrometers. Researcher of climate science, coral reefs, biomineralisation, laser ablation, isotopes and geology. Views my own .. more

Environmental science 45%
Geology 24%
Pinned
Fully funded PhD projects available in my group (Please share with interested parties, details here: www.thefosterlab.org/blog/2025/11...):
PhD Topics - Entry September 2026 — The Foster Lab
This year we are involved in 3 fully funded PhD projects via IGNITE our NERC DLA. The deadline is Thursday Jan 8th 2026 .  1.      Is the world already 1.5 C warmer?...
www.thefosterlab.org

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

December 25, 1893, birthday of Isabel Clifton Cookson, Australian biologist who specialized in paleobotany and palynology
...

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

#exocean advent calendar day 24!
Today we thought it was a good fit to show an image/talk about “conception”…
One of the thing we (try to) do best at ExoCean is planktonic foraminifera reproduction. Here two immaculate mummies… 😏

We would like to wish you all a beautiful Christmas Eve!

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

Look at it this way

Or this way, or this way. Graphing UK temperature data a bunch of different ways and failing to decide which is best or even what best means.

diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2025/12/24/l...
Look at it this way
I saw an interesting discussion about this graph from the BBC on bluesky. I don’t like the graph for a few reasons. The first is that it uses two different elements to show the same thing: th…
diagrammonkey.wordpress.com

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

#exoCeanadvent Day 23: at exoCean we also look at some old questions: in the late 1800s, during the HMS Challenger expedition, they discovered that you can have a constant rain of shells from above, and still end up with a seafloor that looks like the carbonate budget never existed. Why? Pressure. 🌊
Matthew Bowles works for the IEA.

Funded by the fossil fuel industry, gambling and tobacco.

Times up.

Merry Christmas!

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

Currently, 2nd most viewed Guardian opinion piece!

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

#exoCeanadvent Day 22: Winding down for the holidays often means one thing... more mass spectrometry time is available! With our friends in @cerege.bsky.social's #ENVITOP facility, we're making use! Thanks to their equipment we're working on measuring elemental compositions down to the nano-gramme!

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

December 22, 1872, HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth, traveling nearly 70,00 nautical miles & cataloguing over 4,000 unknown species over 4 years.
This pioneering expedition, organized by the Royal Society, laid the foundations of oceanography by creating the first global map of the seafloor.
You want to know about this site that lets you explore data collected by the HMS Challenger from 1872–1876, an expedition that laid the foundation of oceanography. 🌊

challenger-expedition.sams.ac.uk/explore
Delighted to hear that The Invisible Doctrine, the film by @peterhutchison.bsky.social and @lucas-sabean.bsky.social, is being offered free to view on YouTube for the holiday season. It's all yours! youtu.be/gR4eSEetKP0
The secret history of Neoliberalism | The Invisible Doctrine | Full Film
YouTube video by Journeyman Pictures
youtu.be

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

12 scientific papers 💻, 11 months of good weather 🌞, 10⁴ foram babies 🐚, 9 visiting scientists 👩🏼‍🔬👨🏾‍🔬, 8 successful boat missions 🛥️, 7 website visits 🙏🏼, 6 new hypotheses 💡...*5 gold rings*...4 defended masters 📜, 3 #ForCry mass spec methods 🔍, 2 #Deep-C reactors 🧿...
"Not since the ransacking of the Library of Alexandria have we witnessed such a wanton, intentional assault on scientific knowledge."
The dismantling of NCAR should be the trending story on Bluesky, not the fucking Oscars leaving ABC for YouTube.
Trump moves to shut down Boulder climate research lab NCAR, drawing rebukes from Colorado officials
Federal lawmakers called the planned NCAR closure “deeply dangerous” and “blatantly retaliatory.” Gov. Jared Polis said: “If true, public safety is at risk and science…
www.denverpost.com
If the gas networks still can't contain methane after more than a century of practice, why should we trust them with hydrogen?

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

The man who heroically tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen has been named:

The hero’s name is Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old father of two, who owns a fruit shop.

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

Recommended read: To mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, climate scientist Prof Piers Forster explained in @climatechangenews.com “why it worked” and “what it needs to do to survive”.
buff.ly

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

December 14, 1972, Apollo 17 the last manned mission to the Moon returns to Earth.
After collecting 741 individual rock and regolith core samples - totaling 110.5 kilograms - astronaut-geologist Jack Schmitt leaves his geological hammer on the lunar surface 🌙🔨

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

December 13, 1972, Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist Harrison Schmitt discovers an orange-colored layer beneath the lunar surface.
...

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

I just want to say @robinince.bsky.social is the very best of humans. How the BBC could have a problem with him is beyond me. The IMC will wither on the vine without the rich, nutritious value of Robin's brain. Go see him perform, and buy all his books. Your soul will feel like it has been hugged.

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

15.8 billion miles away from earth. 😳
Next up, a meeting with the Epsilon Eridani aliens in, checks watch, a million years.
Voyager 1 will reach one light-day from Earth in 2026. Here’s what that means | CNN
Voyager 1, NASA’s deep-space probe, could soon become the first spacecraft to reach a historic milestone. In November 2026, the probe will be one light-day from Earth.
www.cnn.com

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

Richest 1/1000th of world’s population controls 3 times more wealth than the poorest 50%. "The global wealth gap has become so staggering, and its impact on economies & democratic institutions so corrosive, that policymakers should treat it as an emergency..." www.commondreams.org/news/world-i...
Richest 0.001% Now Own Three Times More Wealth Than Poorest Half of Humanity Combined | Common Dreams
A landmark report on global inequality shows that the chasm between the richest slice of humanity and everyone else continued to expand this year
www.commondreams.org

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

There's still much more to come from our trip to Bermuda with @juliemeilland.bsky.social, @thefosterlab.bsky.social and @case4climate.bsky.social. Whilst there, we were all tortured with video interviews... Here's a taster!

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

#exoCeanadvent Day 10: As winter creeps into Provence we remember warmer days from our fieldwork in Bermuda. We stayed with the lovely folk at @biosstation.bsky.social, like @blancobercial.bsky.social who helped us to look for different foraminifera to catch, than our usual Mediterranean stuff.
There is one overriding political problem, from which all others follow. Until it is addressed, every policy advanced by governments is window dressing.
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds
Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%
www.theguardian.com
Trump: "Remember -- global warming! And then the temperature started going down like a rock. Remember? Remember?"

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

One of the current flagship activities of PAGES 2k is compilation of the Hydroclimate2k database. This map shows records currently being assessed for inclusion, with more records being added by a global team of project members.

Read more here: agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me...

#21daysof2k

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

New approach narrows uncertainty in future warming and remaining carbon budget for 2°C

phys.org/news/2025-12...
New approach narrows uncertainty in future warming and remaining carbon budget for 2°C
How much the planet warms with each ton of carbon dioxide remains one of the most important questions in climate science, but there is uncertainty in predicting it. This uncertainty hinders government...
phys.org

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster

How plants push roots through hard soil.

Researchers have discovered how plant roots penetrate compacted soil by deploying a well-known engineering principle.
How plants push roots through hard soil
Researchers have discovered how plant roots penetrate compacted soil by deploying a well-known engineering principle.
www.futurity.org