Elizabeth Preston
@inkfish.bsky.social
Science journalist, humor writer and aspiring cephalopod. Author of THE CREATURES' GUIDE TO CARING, coming 5/5/2026.
elizabethgpreston.com
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
elizabethgpreston.com
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
Pinned
Was this a good use of an hour yesterday? I think yes.
Preorder here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741329...
Preorder here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741329...
omg
February 15, 2026 at 3:15 PM
omg
North Macedonia's "Snake Island" is home to vipers, birds, several ancient churches, and some tortoises so horny that they're literally driving themselves to extinction: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/s... by me!🧪
Constant Sexual Aggression Drives Female Tortoises to Walk Off Cliffs
www.nytimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 7:22 PM
North Macedonia's "Snake Island" is home to vipers, birds, several ancient churches, and some tortoises so horny that they're literally driving themselves to extinction: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/s... by me!🧪
I swear it wasn't on purpose that my latest story ran on Valentine's Day: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/s... 🧪
Constant Sexual Aggression Drives Female Tortoises to Walk Off Cliffs
www.nytimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:57 PM
I swear it wasn't on purpose that my latest story ran on Valentine's Day: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/s... 🧪
Guess who got her first trade review?? www.publishersweekly.com/9780593657102 🧪
The Creatures’ Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care by Elizabeth Preston
Science journalist Preston debuts with an engrossing and accessible account of the evolution of caretaking, in which she demonst...
www.publishersweekly.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Guess who got her first trade review?? www.publishersweekly.com/9780593657102 🧪
Reposted by Elizabeth Preston
Your regular reminder that widespread reliance on AI, as currently configured, is fundamentally incompatible with a liberal democracy.
To be constantly urged to outsource our thinking to robots is to give away everything that makes us citizens:
Our morality.
Our cognition.
Our creativity.
To be constantly urged to outsource our thinking to robots is to give away everything that makes us citizens:
Our morality.
Our cognition.
Our creativity.
February 12, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Your regular reminder that widespread reliance on AI, as currently configured, is fundamentally incompatible with a liberal democracy.
To be constantly urged to outsource our thinking to robots is to give away everything that makes us citizens:
Our morality.
Our cognition.
Our creativity.
To be constantly urged to outsource our thinking to robots is to give away everything that makes us citizens:
Our morality.
Our cognition.
Our creativity.
I keep imagining being back in the studio where I recorded my audiobook last week. At first I thought this was Stockholm syndrome, but then I realized it's because I'm a mom and my fantasy is shutting myself into a noiseless box where no one can see or touch me and my work is taken seriously
February 12, 2026 at 2:16 PM
I keep imagining being back in the studio where I recorded my audiobook last week. At first I thought this was Stockholm syndrome, but then I realized it's because I'm a mom and my fantasy is shutting myself into a noiseless box where no one can see or touch me and my work is taken seriously
Reposted by Elizabeth Preston
Share this Aquarium valentine with someone you love to have in your arms 🐙 🧡
February 11, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Share this Aquarium valentine with someone you love to have in your arms 🐙 🧡
The one stupid arm move that ever male figure skater does at the end of his program is a metaphor for how you should delete the kicker to your story and stop talking one paragraph sooner.
February 10, 2026 at 8:47 PM
The one stupid arm move that ever male figure skater does at the end of his program is a metaphor for how you should delete the kicker to your story and stop talking one paragraph sooner.
Your kids say 6-7 like it's a matter of life-and-death importance. But for humpback whales, following trends might actually help their populations survive in a warming world: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-sta... 🧪
How to Stay On Trend and Stay Alive
Some fads are worth it.
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Your kids say 6-7 like it's a matter of life-and-death importance. But for humpback whales, following trends might actually help their populations survive in a warming world: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-sta... 🧪
This week we're talking about recording an audiobook, humpback whale trends, and why you shouldn't judge your kid for the whole 6-7 thing: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-sta... 🧪
How to Stay On Trend and Stay Alive
Some fads are worth it.
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:15 PM
This week we're talking about recording an audiobook, humpback whale trends, and why you shouldn't judge your kid for the whole 6-7 thing: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-sta... 🧪
Recording an audiobook is great if you've ever read Fox in Socks to a child and wished you could recreate that experience for a week straight while two people listen to your digestive noises.
February 4, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Recording an audiobook is great if you've ever read Fox in Socks to a child and wished you could recreate that experience for a week straight while two people listen to your digestive noises.
Reposted by Elizabeth Preston
Click here to add CHILD to your cart.
SHIPPING: Delivery date is unpredictable.
By @inkfish.bsky.social
medium.com/frazzled/you...
SHIPPING: Delivery date is unpredictable.
By @inkfish.bsky.social
medium.com/frazzled/you...
Your Child: Full Product Details
Do not dry clean
medium.com
February 2, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Click here to add CHILD to your cart.
SHIPPING: Delivery date is unpredictable.
By @inkfish.bsky.social
medium.com/frazzled/you...
SHIPPING: Delivery date is unpredictable.
By @inkfish.bsky.social
medium.com/frazzled/you...
My first piece for @frazzledhumor.bsky.social! medium.com/frazzled/you...
Your Child: Full Product Details
Do not dry clean
medium.com
February 2, 2026 at 1:11 PM
My first piece for @frazzledhumor.bsky.social! medium.com/frazzled/you...
Bug people: Can someone please tell me how to pronounce matriphagy?? YouTube is telling me it's completely different from what was in my head! (I'm getting ready to record my audiobook, not eat my mother, don't worry) 🧪🕷️
January 30, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Bug people: Can someone please tell me how to pronounce matriphagy?? YouTube is telling me it's completely different from what was in my head! (I'm getting ready to record my audiobook, not eat my mother, don't worry) 🧪🕷️
Went for a walk through the snow and was accosted by a flock of ducks, then saw a woman carrying a wooden spinning wheel under her arm. Can anyone who's an expert in, like, medieval omens tell me if this is good or bad?
January 29, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Went for a walk through the snow and was accosted by a flock of ducks, then saw a woman carrying a wooden spinning wheel under her arm. Can anyone who's an expert in, like, medieval omens tell me if this is good or bad?
If you've donated to a charity, you have something in common with the Arctic's most fearsome predator: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-pro... 🧪
How to Provide for Your Neighbors
Keep calm and carrion?
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:21 PM
If you've donated to a charity, you have something in common with the Arctic's most fearsome predator: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-pro... 🧪
This has been making me laugh for days.
January 27, 2026 at 5:34 PM
This has been making me laugh for days.
We may be the only animals with WiFi and credit cards, but we're not the only ones whose donations help nourish strangers: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-pro... 🧪
How to Provide for Your Neighbors
Keep calm and carrion?
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:51 PM
We may be the only animals with WiFi and credit cards, but we're not the only ones whose donations help nourish strangers: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-pro... 🧪
Can we just all take a moment for this outrageously beautiful photo? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/s... 🧪
A New Way to Flirt: Dazzle Potential Mates With Patterns Invisible to Humans
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Can we just all take a moment for this outrageously beautiful photo? www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/s... 🧪
Reposted by Elizabeth Preston
Last week's post about the microbes holding up the Great Wall of China is now (by far) my most read ever, which tells me a lot of us are feeling like tiny organisms inhabiting a crumbling edifice. elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-hol... 🧪
How to Hold It Together
Look to the little guys.
elizabethgpreston.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Last week's post about the microbes holding up the Great Wall of China is now (by far) my most read ever, which tells me a lot of us are feeling like tiny organisms inhabiting a crumbling edifice. elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-hol... 🧪
Comparing AI refusal to abstinence-only education is so dumb. AI is not a natural, pleasurable human function that's needed to propagate the species. More like cigarettes: harmful on an individual and societal level, and the people insisting it's cool are making kerjillions of dollars off it
AI sits in billions of phones. Refusing to engage won't stop it, just leaves vulnerable people without knowledge. Demand ownership and control, not abstinence.
Abstinence From AI Is Not the Answer
Opinion | Refusing to use AI won’t protect society. Responsible resistance must include gaining knowledge about it.
f.mtr.cool
January 20, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Comparing AI refusal to abstinence-only education is so dumb. AI is not a natural, pleasurable human function that's needed to propagate the species. More like cigarettes: harmful on an individual and societal level, and the people insisting it's cool are making kerjillions of dollars off it
Reposted by Elizabeth Preston
This kind of messaging is intended to drown moms in research, risk, and responsibility.
The goal is to keep them so anxious and so busy that they can't work for pay--especially not in high-powered "mens" jobs--or get involved in any kind of efforts to push for progressive change.
The goal is to keep them so anxious and so busy that they can't work for pay--especially not in high-powered "mens" jobs--or get involved in any kind of efforts to push for progressive change.
HHS Secretary RFK Jr: "This idea that you should trust the experts, a good mother doesn't do that"
January 16, 2026 at 12:00 AM
This kind of messaging is intended to drown moms in research, risk, and responsibility.
The goal is to keep them so anxious and so busy that they can't work for pay--especially not in high-powered "mens" jobs--or get involved in any kind of efforts to push for progressive change.
The goal is to keep them so anxious and so busy that they can't work for pay--especially not in high-powered "mens" jobs--or get involved in any kind of efforts to push for progressive change.
I have always loved this piece for its deep commitment to a very specific premise (and animal jokes).
"I reached for that old liquid courage—a dented flask full of industrial-strength Jeff Daniels. Then I lined up those deers, took a breath, and pushed the trigger. There was no kickback."
Poorly Researched Men’s Fiction
I had a whole gaggle of 100-point bucks in my sights, sleeping peacefully on their feet, like cows. The way they were lined up, I could take down t...
buff.ly
January 15, 2026 at 7:11 PM
I have always loved this piece for its deep commitment to a very specific premise (and animal jokes).
Amazing visual. I'll only add that this species is holding on by a THREAD. 🧪
The red dot is a baby North Atlantic right whale trying to migrate up the east coast of the United states.
The blue streaks are fast moving shipping vessels entering and leaving New York City harbor.
One collision and the whale is dead.
We need *mandatory* speed limits for these vessels! 🧪🦑🌍
The blue streaks are fast moving shipping vessels entering and leaving New York City harbor.
One collision and the whale is dead.
We need *mandatory* speed limits for these vessels! 🧪🦑🌍
January 14, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Amazing visual. I'll only add that this species is holding on by a THREAD. 🧪