Fintan Burke
@fintanburke.com
Irish science journalist in Hamburg | Outreach for @esci.eu | Board member @eusja.org
Sé/é. Big fan of the en-dash.
Signal: fintanburke.01
Sé/é. Big fan of the en-dash.
Signal: fintanburke.01
Time is a flat circle
February 14, 2026 at 10:53 AM
Time is a flat circle
Big shock - top universities in Europe's big cities & regions have no problem attracting students. But what about the universities in fringe areas with dwindling populations?
I spoke with the researchers in some of those regions to see how they adapt. 🧪 #AcademicSky
I spoke with the researchers in some of those regions to see how they adapt. 🧪 #AcademicSky
Regional universities seek new ways to attract researchers
Universities and research programmes in many rural regions in Europe are being adversely affected by declining population numbers and brain drain. The...
www.universityworldnews.com
February 9, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Big shock - top universities in Europe's big cities & regions have no problem attracting students. But what about the universities in fringe areas with dwindling populations?
I spoke with the researchers in some of those regions to see how they adapt. 🧪 #AcademicSky
I spoke with the researchers in some of those regions to see how they adapt. 🧪 #AcademicSky
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Google must have finally incorporated AI into Google Maps. How do I know?
It just told me I needed to leave now to be at Dublin Airport by 13:30 now to catch 9am Citylink that arrives in Dublin Airport at 11am. Then I should take the 11:45 Kells bus to Ballymun and walk back one hour to the airport
It just told me I needed to leave now to be at Dublin Airport by 13:30 now to catch 9am Citylink that arrives in Dublin Airport at 11am. Then I should take the 11:45 Kells bus to Ballymun and walk back one hour to the airport
February 9, 2026 at 8:23 AM
Google must have finally incorporated AI into Google Maps. How do I know?
It just told me I needed to leave now to be at Dublin Airport by 13:30 now to catch 9am Citylink that arrives in Dublin Airport at 11am. Then I should take the 11:45 Kells bus to Ballymun and walk back one hour to the airport
It just told me I needed to leave now to be at Dublin Airport by 13:30 now to catch 9am Citylink that arrives in Dublin Airport at 11am. Then I should take the 11:45 Kells bus to Ballymun and walk back one hour to the airport
As a science journalist looking through papers and being asked to 'Sign in through your institution" for two hours 🧪
February 4, 2026 at 4:16 PM
As a science journalist looking through papers and being asked to 'Sign in through your institution" for two hours 🧪
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Science-heads who are journalism-curious! This is one of the best internships imaginable. Many of its holders have gone on to great careers at The Economist.
Please help spread the word.
www.economist.com/science-and-...
Please help spread the word.
www.economist.com/science-and-...
The Economist’s science and technology internship
We invite applications for the 2026 Richard Casement internship
www.economist.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Science-heads who are journalism-curious! This is one of the best internships imaginable. Many of its holders have gone on to great careers at The Economist.
Please help spread the word.
www.economist.com/science-and-...
Please help spread the word.
www.economist.com/science-and-...
A bit chilly in the Hansestadt
February 2, 2026 at 8:19 AM
A bit chilly in the Hansestadt
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Genuinely, the high cost of a subscription. You are paying for a quality product with high standards
i’m slightly curious as to why FT has stayed normal unlike much of the staff at their peer publications (not just in the UK but also specifically the UK)
January 31, 2026 at 9:16 AM
Genuinely, the high cost of a subscription. You are paying for a quality product with high standards
So the opposite of journalists then.
January 29, 2026 at 11:26 AM
So the opposite of journalists then.
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Looking for sources for a @nature.com story about how researchers are coping in the midst of current events: If you're a PhD or other academic who's struggling to focus with everything that's happening in the world and would like to be interviewed for this story, please get in touch ASAP!
January 26, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Looking for sources for a @nature.com story about how researchers are coping in the midst of current events: If you're a PhD or other academic who's struggling to focus with everything that's happening in the world and would like to be interviewed for this story, please get in touch ASAP!
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Reposted by Fintan Burke
unbelievably, incredibly pleased to share with you that one of my oldest friends managed, with a straight face, to convince her partner that Jon Hamm was married to an Italian woman called Ana Mortadella
January 23, 2026 at 8:52 PM
unbelievably, incredibly pleased to share with you that one of my oldest friends managed, with a straight face, to convince her partner that Jon Hamm was married to an Italian woman called Ana Mortadella
My hot take on Sinners: getting those 16 nominations is deserved because of the excellent work in each of those categories.
Even if the film does not equal the whole sum of that work, it remains one of the year’s best. It deserved to break the nomination record.
Even if the film does not equal the whole sum of that work, it remains one of the year’s best. It deserved to break the nomination record.
January 23, 2026 at 12:50 PM
My hot take on Sinners: getting those 16 nominations is deserved because of the excellent work in each of those categories.
Even if the film does not equal the whole sum of that work, it remains one of the year’s best. It deserved to break the nomination record.
Even if the film does not equal the whole sum of that work, it remains one of the year’s best. It deserved to break the nomination record.
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Hello! I am sharing information about my @researchireland.ie project Locating Loss: histories of infertility in landscapes and spaces. I would love to connect with researchers/ practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, so please share widely! Sharing again for morning Bluesky!
January 15, 2026 at 7:48 AM
Hello! I am sharing information about my @researchireland.ie project Locating Loss: histories of infertility in landscapes and spaces. I would love to connect with researchers/ practitioners from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, so please share widely! Sharing again for morning Bluesky!
Looks like the LLMs powering AI chatbots have a bias against users who have a dialect. A study of German dialect speakers judged them as uneducated, angry farm workers.
Similar studies exist for English dialects from places India, Ireland (😐) and Nigeria.
My piece for Deutsche Welle 🧪
Similar studies exist for English dialects from places India, Ireland (😐) and Nigeria.
My piece for Deutsche Welle 🧪
AI chatbots are 'alarmingly' biased against dialect speakers – DW – 12/29/2025
Don't speak perfect Oxford English? You may face "shocking" levels of discrimination when using large language models, researchers have found. New customized AI models could be the answer.
www.dw.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Looks like the LLMs powering AI chatbots have a bias against users who have a dialect. A study of German dialect speakers judged them as uneducated, angry farm workers.
Similar studies exist for English dialects from places India, Ireland (😐) and Nigeria.
My piece for Deutsche Welle 🧪
Similar studies exist for English dialects from places India, Ireland (😐) and Nigeria.
My piece for Deutsche Welle 🧪
Reposted by Fintan Burke
if we all agree not not email each other tomorrow it'll be okay
Tomorrow is the Uber Monday, Monday Prime. From whence all other Mondays are spawned.
January 4, 2026 at 2:41 PM
if we all agree not not email each other tomorrow it'll be okay
Reposted by Fintan Burke
Hi there Blue Sky folks! I'm new here, Here's some Bach Cello Suits in the west of Ireland winter sun. Is what you're into? Would you like to hear more? I'm finding it too upsetting to open up Twitter these days...
January 28, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Hi there Blue Sky folks! I'm new here, Here's some Bach Cello Suits in the west of Ireland winter sun. Is what you're into? Would you like to hear more? I'm finding it too upsetting to open up Twitter these days...
Reposted by Fintan Burke
I've finally discovered how to bond hydrogen and oxygen in a chain: HO-HO-HO.
It's a Christmas molecule.
It's a Christmas molecule.
December 19, 2025 at 9:53 AM
I've finally discovered how to bond hydrogen and oxygen in a chain: HO-HO-HO.
It's a Christmas molecule.
It's a Christmas molecule.
First fogged-up glasses of the season.
December 5, 2025 at 8:02 AM
First fogged-up glasses of the season.
Reposted by Fintan Burke
right I'm calling it, the old age thing on Spotify Wrapped was bait, tons of people got 70+ even though none of their top 5 featured songs/albums from before even the 2010's, we got played
December 3, 2025 at 8:56 PM
right I'm calling it, the old age thing on Spotify Wrapped was bait, tons of people got 70+ even though none of their top 5 featured songs/albums from before even the 2010's, we got played
Those Martello towers had one job...
A French naval vessel in Cork Harbour this morning (if you leave the sound on you can hear the bells of St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh).
December 1, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Those Martello towers had one job...
"Otter is down, but will be back online shortly"
Every journalist:
Every journalist:
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM
"Otter is down, but will be back online shortly"
Every journalist:
Every journalist:
I'll take some good news about #IrishResearch any time I can get it 🧪
Ireland officially joins CERN as associate member state
Ireland has officially joined the European Organisation for Nuclear Research as an associate member state.
www.rte.ie
October 22, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I'll take some good news about #IrishResearch any time I can get it 🧪