Mary Blanchard
@drmaryblanchard.bsky.social
Associate Professor in Human Sciences at The University of Birmingham. Occasional anatomist & behavioural ecologist. Co-Lead of People and Culture in the School of Biosciences and passionate about equity and inclusion for all. She/her
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
I've been wanting to tell my widowhood story publicly for years, but I know I don't have the kind of grief story people want to hear.
No community rallied, no family healed, no strength discovered.
I wrote about the gap between grief narratives and reality.
www.dataandpolitics.net/why-i-find-i...
No community rallied, no family healed, no strength discovered.
I wrote about the gap between grief narratives and reality.
www.dataandpolitics.net/why-i-find-i...
Why I Find It Hard to Write About Being a Widow
Why is it so hard to write about being a widow? My story has no redemptive arc. No community rallied, no family came together, no strength was discovered. Just sudden loss and ongoing adaptation witho...
www.dataandpolitics.net
June 3, 2025 at 3:58 AM
I've been wanting to tell my widowhood story publicly for years, but I know I don't have the kind of grief story people want to hear.
No community rallied, no family healed, no strength discovered.
I wrote about the gap between grief narratives and reality.
www.dataandpolitics.net/why-i-find-i...
No community rallied, no family healed, no strength discovered.
I wrote about the gap between grief narratives and reality.
www.dataandpolitics.net/why-i-find-i...
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
when racially marginalised and working-class children’s language is framed as symptomatic of ‘misbehaviour’, this contributes to broader ideologies of deficit and low expectations that shape their unjust experiences of school
what does ‘misbehaviour’ sound like? in new open access work i ask this question in the context of school discipline policies, looking at how ideologies of ‘im/proper language’ and ‘im/proper behaviour’ coalesce and get co-constructed with one another. doi.org/10.1080/0962...
June 1, 2025 at 6:36 AM
when racially marginalised and working-class children’s language is framed as symptomatic of ‘misbehaviour’, this contributes to broader ideologies of deficit and low expectations that shape their unjust experiences of school
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Final ms ready for submission:
May 30, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Final ms ready for submission:
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
This morning @surliertexan.bsky.social was telling me about this exploding duck and it was TERRIBLE and I couldn’t stop laughing (because I’m BAD) and they were like yeah that’s the sort of thing that would happen to you
May 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
This morning @surliertexan.bsky.social was telling me about this exploding duck and it was TERRIBLE and I couldn’t stop laughing (because I’m BAD) and they were like yeah that’s the sort of thing that would happen to you
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Each year there are new horrors to be found inside the stomachs of Sable Shearwaters
May 4, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Each year there are new horrors to be found inside the stomachs of Sable Shearwaters
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Just got mine.
Totally expected, but it still sucks.
Probably the most for all the work that so many of us put in on behalf of US taxpayers that is now wasted and will never come to fruition.
Totally expected, but it still sucks.
Probably the most for all the work that so many of us put in on behalf of US taxpayers that is now wasted and will never come to fruition.
April 30, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Just got mine.
Totally expected, but it still sucks.
Probably the most for all the work that so many of us put in on behalf of US taxpayers that is now wasted and will never come to fruition.
Totally expected, but it still sucks.
Probably the most for all the work that so many of us put in on behalf of US taxpayers that is now wasted and will never come to fruition.
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
We are hiring 2 PhD candidates working on resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across landscapes. Daily supervision by myself, @dominic-martin.bsky.social @iris-hordijk.bsky.social @lucianachr.bsky.social and Merel Hofmeijer. Details & application here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...
PhD position - Resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across landscapes
www.wur.nl
April 24, 2025 at 5:25 AM
We are hiring 2 PhD candidates working on resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across landscapes. Daily supervision by myself, @dominic-martin.bsky.social @iris-hordijk.bsky.social @lucianachr.bsky.social and Merel Hofmeijer. Details & application here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Incredible piece in the journal Brain from the awesome @masudhusain.bsky.social academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
On the responsibilities of intellectuals and the rise of bullshit jobs in universities
You may never have considered yourself to be one. Why would you? But if you’re reading this, there is more than a likelihood that you are one. If you’re a
academic.oup.com
March 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Incredible piece in the journal Brain from the awesome @masudhusain.bsky.social academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Ian is one of *the* best writers around. This captures everything I feel about the all-encompassing trauma during covid, no matter the specifics of one's particular experience, and what it's done to us since
March 14, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Ian is one of *the* best writers around. This captures everything I feel about the all-encompassing trauma during covid, no matter the specifics of one's particular experience, and what it's done to us since
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Trump regime bans CDC scientists from publishing work that mentions trans or non-binary people. When fascists can't burn books anymore so easily because everything's electronic and international, they just ban people from writing them.
insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
BREAKING NEWS: CDC orders mass retraction and revision of submitted research across all science and medicine journals. Banned terms must be scrubbed.
Any unpublished manuscript mentioning certain topics, including gender and "LGBT," must be pulled or revised.
insidemedicine.substack.com
February 2, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Trump regime bans CDC scientists from publishing work that mentions trans or non-binary people. When fascists can't burn books anymore so easily because everything's electronic and international, they just ban people from writing them.
insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
insidemedicine.substack.com/p/breaking-n...
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
"CLEANING" THE OCEAN USING NETS IS A DANGEROUS IDEA.
The Ocean Cleanup is using boats & a net to collect ocean plastic (left). I've circles all the animals trapped in their early prototypes (right).
There are better ways to solve the ocean plastic problem... 🧵
#INC5 #PlasticsTreaty #PlasticTreaty
The Ocean Cleanup is using boats & a net to collect ocean plastic (left). I've circles all the animals trapped in their early prototypes (right).
There are better ways to solve the ocean plastic problem... 🧵
#INC5 #PlasticsTreaty #PlasticTreaty
November 28, 2024 at 6:06 AM
"CLEANING" THE OCEAN USING NETS IS A DANGEROUS IDEA.
The Ocean Cleanup is using boats & a net to collect ocean plastic (left). I've circles all the animals trapped in their early prototypes (right).
There are better ways to solve the ocean plastic problem... 🧵
#INC5 #PlasticsTreaty #PlasticTreaty
The Ocean Cleanup is using boats & a net to collect ocean plastic (left). I've circles all the animals trapped in their early prototypes (right).
There are better ways to solve the ocean plastic problem... 🧵
#INC5 #PlasticsTreaty #PlasticTreaty
Reposted by Mary Blanchard
Science takes time - a lot of time. Time that is more and more difficult to make available because of increased workloads. Time that exceeds the temporary contracts of postdocs and PhDs.
I'll illustrate this using our paper published in Nature yesterday. 🧵 (1/x)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I'll illustrate this using our paper published in Nature yesterday. 🧵 (1/x)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Soil microbiomes show consistent and predictable responses to extreme events - Nature
Soils from 30 grasslands across Europe were subjected to 4 contrasting extreme climatic events under drought, flood, freezing and heat conditions, with the results suggesting that soil microbiomes fro...
www.nature.com
November 28, 2024 at 11:32 AM
Science takes time - a lot of time. Time that is more and more difficult to make available because of increased workloads. Time that exceeds the temporary contracts of postdocs and PhDs.
I'll illustrate this using our paper published in Nature yesterday. 🧵 (1/x)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I'll illustrate this using our paper published in Nature yesterday. 🧵 (1/x)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Anyone know how the weight of a bone clones human skull compares to the weight of an actual skull? Question from an undergraduate and I am unsure!
November 25, 2024 at 3:16 PM
Anyone know how the weight of a bone clones human skull compares to the weight of an actual skull? Question from an undergraduate and I am unsure!
Beautiful patterns and depth with the pond iced over
November 21, 2024 at 9:24 AM
Beautiful patterns and depth with the pond iced over
Campus was so pretty today in the autumn sun
November 14, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Campus was so pretty today in the autumn sun
Had a mug of something on my desk for quite a while growing it's own ecosystem. Finally got it under a microscope. I'm a furry animal person, but this was qmazing to see in detail
November 13, 2024 at 5:30 PM
Had a mug of something on my desk for quite a while growing it's own ecosystem. Finally got it under a microscope. I'm a furry animal person, but this was qmazing to see in detail
Was at the local wildlife park with project students and we were right by this gorgeous creature, absolutely love red panda
November 8, 2024 at 11:57 AM
Was at the local wildlife park with project students and we were right by this gorgeous creature, absolutely love red panda
Love my garden critters, the space belongs to them as much as it does to me
August 15, 2024 at 11:02 AM
Love my garden critters, the space belongs to them as much as it does to me
I'm working on a teaching project this summer between colleagues at UoBirmingham, UK, and the Science & Fiction lab at FIU, Florida. This is the result of brainstorming ideas over dinner with my partner - who doesn't love back of the enevlope scrawl! Looking forward to teaching this in autumn.
August 11, 2024 at 9:35 AM
I'm working on a teaching project this summer between colleagues at UoBirmingham, UK, and the Science & Fiction lab at FIU, Florida. This is the result of brainstorming ideas over dinner with my partner - who doesn't love back of the enevlope scrawl! Looking forward to teaching this in autumn.
So lovely to have damselflies by the garden pond this year
June 2, 2024 at 2:21 PM
So lovely to have damselflies by the garden pond this year
Beautiful foxgloves in my garden, I try to keep the garden only slightly tamed wild, it's for wildlife as much as for me
June 1, 2024 at 8:10 PM
Beautiful foxgloves in my garden, I try to keep the garden only slightly tamed wild, it's for wildlife as much as for me
Feels like time just circles round, as I feel the same today, if for different reasons. In 2011, I had just returned from Madagascar; today, I have an underactive thyroid 🤣 No idea about the screaming in 2012, but maybe I just always want to scream into the void 🤷♀️
February 28, 2024 at 8:47 PM
Feels like time just circles round, as I feel the same today, if for different reasons. In 2011, I had just returned from Madagascar; today, I have an underactive thyroid 🤣 No idea about the screaming in 2012, but maybe I just always want to scream into the void 🤷♀️
Finally trying this app out, starting with some pretty flowers from the garden, with hope for warmer weather and calmer times ahead
February 27, 2024 at 9:40 AM
Finally trying this app out, starting with some pretty flowers from the garden, with hope for warmer weather and calmer times ahead