Zen Faulkes
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doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes
@doctorzen.net
2.5K followers 320 following 3.5K posts

Home page: http://DoctorZen.net. Biologist. Author of Better Posters book and blog. Collector of academic hoaxes and academic slop graphics.

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Environmental science 49%
Geography 13%
Posts Replies Media Videos

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1h
Happy Boxing Day!

🇨🇦

(Note for confused Americans: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_...)
Boxing Day - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
Peace ☮️ on Earth 🌍

Good will to all

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
Peace on Earth ☮️🌍
God will to all

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, studied the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools he employed, and he knew many things.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
How I'm turning up to the Bluesky Christmas party

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
Easy. @cdelawalla.bsky.social.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
When your mutuals discover a new favourite TV show:
a penguin wearing a black hat and holding a cup of coffee
Alt: A penguin dipping a cup of coffee while an avalanche starts behind him.
media.tenor.com

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
I can’t be the only one who is reminded of this…

🎵 Da-da-da-DUM 🎵

🎵 Da-da-da-DUM 🎵

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
Hard to choose from their specials!

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d
Doctor Who has done many excellent Christmas specials, but I’m very fond of “A Christmas Carol”.
a man wearing a santa hat is standing next to a boy and says merry christmas
Alt: Eleventh Doctor saying Merry Christmas.
media.tenor.com

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

awisnational.bsky.social
Association for Women in Science @awisnational.bsky.social · 1d
Name a woman in STEM who inspired you in 2025.

We’ll go first: Mary E. Brunkow, PhD, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2025: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/she-didnt-believe-she-won-the-nobel-until-a-photographer-showed-up-at-her-seattle-door/ #WomenInSTEM
She didn’t believe she won the Nobel — until a photographer showed up at her Seattle door
That random number ringing your phone is probably junk — but not always.
www.seattletimes.com

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d
The one, true #Crustmas:

Marmorkrebs, the marbled #Crayfish, which is an obligate parthenogen - literal virgin birth!

This is reflected in the scientific name, Procambarus virginalis!

marmorkrebs.org
A marbled crayfish.

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

drandrewthaler.bsky.social
Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 2d
Whatever value you think Twitter had or has in sharing your work across the internet, Bluesky is currently better than Twitter was at its peak.

At least for me, with 15 years of data and roughly the same number of followers on both platforms.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d
Steed and Mrs. Peel. Unequalled chemistry.
a black and white photo of a house with the letter a on the side
Alt: John Steed and Mrs. Peel getting out of a car.
media.tenor.com

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

brenttoderian.bsky.social
Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 2d
READ THIS: Still probably the best #ChristmasEve tradition I’ve heard. Iceland definitely does Christmas well — my Reykjavik clients had funny comments about this! Are you planning to curl up with a great new book on cities this #Christmas? Share your pick with us using hashtag #UrbanismBookClub!
Write-up explaining that in Iceland, books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and you spend the rest of the night reading. Also, Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country, with most published during the Christmas season.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d
You can say a lot about Texas, but I won't hear a single word against H-E-B. Not one.

H 👏 E 👏 B 👏 !
H 👏 E 👏 B 👏 !

www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/v...
Video shows North Texas H-E-B giving away free groceries after system outage: "Have a very merry Christmas"
A Burleson H-E-B surprised shoppers by giving away free groceries days before Christmas after a system outage forced the store to halt transactions.
www.cbsnews.com

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

octoscience.bsky.social
Horst Obenhaus @octoscience.bsky.social · 2d
Do you love quantifying animal behavior as much as we do? We have just the tool for you! Presenting #OCTRON - a pipeline that helps you create rich annotation data and enables training of custom segmentation models. Have a look, particularly if you work with non-model / invertebrate organisms!

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d
If I remember correctly, the mother of the student involved named the TA on Twitter. Not stated in linked post, but closest to what I remember reading.

bsky.app/profile/shad...
shadell.itch.io Erin Elkin @shadell.itch.io · 25d
So, an OU student a shitty reaction paper in a psych course, got failed by a grad student TA for not following directions and threatened legal action, while also getting her uni TPUSA chapter to post the essay. Her mother is on X saying trans people must not be allowed to be professors.

This is…
OU puts graduate instructor on leave after student claims discrimination on Bible-based essay grade
OU placed a graduate student instructor on leave after a student publicly contested a grade and filed an illegal discrimination claim after she received a failing grade on an essay
www.oudaily.com

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d
Remember this holiday season to wear at least one piece of new clothing so you don’t get eaten by the Yule Cat.

www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yul...
Beware the Yule Cat, Iceland’s Child-Eating Christmas Monster
But if you’re wearing new clothes, you have nothing to fear from Jólakötturinn.
www.atlasobscura.com

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

sophiecarr.bsky.social
Sophie Carr @sophiecarr.bsky.social · 3d
More sand patterns seen from the drone above the Kyle of Durness.

#Scotland #DronePhotography #DJIMavic3Pro
Golden pink sandbanks and shallow water (pale turquoise and green/yellow) with ripples, seen from a drone. Vertical shot. Sunlight on the sandbanks.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 3d
No. No thank you. I neither need not want this type of gloss.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 3d
🆓 Graphic novel about animal behaviour! Just the thing for teaching ethology!

www.ordlab.unsw.edu.au/understandin...
Understanding Animal Behaviour | Ord Research Group
www.ordlab.unsw.edu.au

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

lordravenscraft.bsky.social
Eric Ravenscraft @lordravenscraft.bsky.social · 3d
Google's news feed is so utterly broken it is functionally unusable.

Here, it confuses the plot of a TV show with an actual story and replaces a Hollywood Reporter headline about the racial disparity in available leading roles with the absolutely insane hed "Simu Liu's brain hacked"
Google AI "summary" of a story that says "Simu Liu's brain hacked" Actual Hollywood Reporter headline: Simu Liu Knows Hollywood Won't Cast Him as Bourne or Bond, So He's Working on Plan B The actor, who stars in Peacock thriller 'The Copenhagen Test,' discusses the lack of lead roles that followed 'Shang-Chi' and why he thinks that'd be very, very different if he were white: "A lot of these directors will never hire me."

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 3d
We were overdue for a "Do crustaceans feel pain?" article in the media. The Guardian delivers it for #Crustmas!

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

BUT the science of crustacean "pain" is FAR more complicated than the article lets on. From the blog vault:

neurodojo.blogspot.com/2013/01/what...

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 3d
Selection.

Reposted by Richard Waite, Zen Faulkes

mobydickatsea.bsky.social
Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 3d
Science! Curse thee, thou vain toy; and cursed be all the things that cast man’s eyes aloft to that heaven

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

girlscientist.bsky.social
Chris Gunter 🧬 @girlscientist.bsky.social · 3d
🍾 New lab paper alert! We have used our large survey in the US population to study the “Interaction of identity and beliefs with genetic literacy.” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... What factors affect someone’s genetic literacy, and what can we do about that? 🧵
Interaction of identity and beliefs with genetic literacy
Genetic literacy goes beyond knowledge of genetic terms, as it requires sufficient skills and understanding to effectively facilitate health-related d…
www.sciencedirect.com

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 3d
Hi! Evolutionary biologist here. “Social contagion” is not something that evolutionary biology tries to explain, so any of my colleagues speaking about “social contagion” are not doing so based on their professional scholarship.

Happy to answer any biology questions if I can.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 4d
Some countries have Santa.

Iceland has the 13 Yule Lads and their terrifying mother. Tag yourself, I'm Door-Slammer.

Also, Iceland lore has a gigantic Yule Cat that eats people who do not have a piece of new clothing at Christmas.
The thirteen Yule Lads and their troll parents. Stekkjarstaur – “Sheep-Cote Clod” – harasses sheep, but is impaired by stiff peg-legs. Giljaguar – “Gully-Gawk” – hides in gullies, waiting for a chance to sneak into cowsheds and steal milk. Stúfur – “Stubby” – unusually short, steals pans to eat the crust left on them. Þvörusleikir – “Spoon-Licker” – steals Þvörur (a type of a wooden spoon with a long handle) to lick and is extremely thin due to malnutrition. Askasleikir – “Bowl-Licker” – Hides under beds waiting for someone to put down their “askur” (a bowl with a lid used instead of dishes) which he steals. Hurðaskellir – “Door-Slammer” – likes to slam doors, especially at night. Skyrgámur – “Skyr-Gobbler” – has an affinity for ‘skyr,’ an Icelandic dairy product similar to yogurt. Bjúgnakrækir – “Sausage-Swiper” – hides in the rafters and snatches sausages being smoked. Gluggagægir – “Window-Peeper” – peeks into windows in search of things to steal. Gáttaþefur – “Doorway-Sniffer” – has an abnormally large nose and an acute sense of smell he uses to locate laufabrauð, a traditional Icelandic bread eaten at Christmas. Ketkrókur – “Meat-Hook” – uses a hook to steal meat. Kertasníkir – “Candle-Stealer” –steals candles from children which were once made with tallow and were edible. Grýla - mother of the Yule Lads who comes down from the mountains to boil naughty children. Leppalúði - Father of the Yule lads.

doctorzen.net
Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 4d
Fascinating look at what makes aTV series work!

It hints at something I’ve thought about streaming TV series: that too many try to do plot driven story arcs, but TV thrives on character driven repetition on a theme.