Penelope Lind
LightNews LightNews
banner
penelopelind.bsky.social
Penelope Lind
@penelopelind.bsky.social
180 followers 210 following 87 posts
Associate Professor in Psychiatric Genetics at QIMR Berghofer | Statistical Geneticist | Mum | Birding, Bird Art & Bird Photography | Odonata | All opinions are my own | She/Her/Hers
Posts Replies Media Videos
penelopelind.bsky.social
Our Living with Anxiety Study is hosting an art competition to showcase artistic representations of what it means to live with anxiety. If you are aged 18+ and reside in Australia and want to participate, please visit
livingwithanxiety.org.au/artprize/
#anxiety #art #artprize #artcompetition
The art competition flyer explaining that we welcome art submissions that reflect all types of anxiety experiences. Submissions close on December 9th and the submitter can win one of four $500 gift cards.
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
It's seems crazy that a super secretive skittish Lewin's Rail was spotted on Wednesday in Brisbane's South Bank (an inner city greenscape). My son and I bussed in this morning and found it foraging close to a busy footpath! An unexpected lifer!
#birds #birding #Australia #lewinsrail #lifer
A Lewin's Rail in shadow water in the pond of South Bank. It is 21-25 cm tall and has black and white barring along its sides, rufous back with streaking and a grey breast. It was out in the open for a couple minutes foraging which is amazing because the pond is next to a busy footpath which is a popular tourist destination. This bird is super difficult to see because it is so secretive and hides when disturbed. A Lewin's Rail in shadow water in the pond of South Bank. It is 21-25 cm tall and has black and white barring along its sides, rufous back with streaking and a grey breast. It was out in the open for a couple minutes foraging which is amazing because the pond is next to a busy footpath which is a popular tourist destination. This bird is super difficult to see because it is so secretive and hides when disturbed.
June 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
That was soooo stressful to watch. Go the Mighty Maroons! #QLDer #StateofOrigin
A photo of the Queensland Maroons captain being congratulated by 3 team players with the full time score showing the Queensland Maroons won the second State of Origin game against the New South Wales Blues 26 to 24.
June 18, 2025 at 12:31 PM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Let's all celebrate bees because today is #WorldBeeDay! There are over 20,000 bee species globally and ~2,000 species of Australian native bees but their survival is threatened by habitat loss, intensive farming processes, diseases and pests. Here's a selection of bees I've photographed.
Buff-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus terrestris) in New Zealand however it isn't native there. It has a yellow stripe on it thorax and abdomen and also a buff-white abdomen tip ("tail"). Blue-spotted Cloak-and-dagger Bee (Thyreus caeruleopunctatus) in Australia. It never stopped flying so I got a terrible photo. But the look amazing with their vibrant black body and blue spots. Broad-handed Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa latipes) seen in Singapore. These bees and solitary, large, and mostly black but does have some markings that aren't seen in this photo. While their wings are also black they have a metallic blue-green or purple colour in sunlight. Fire-tailed Resin Bee (Megachile mystaceana) in Australia. It has a black head and thorax and a distinctively bright orange-brown abdomen.
May 20, 2025 at 1:27 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Being celebrated on Mother's Day by my kids is a wonderful distraction from all the doom and gloom that's going on in the world right now. I always love getting their hand made cards. #mothersday #handmade
Two handmade cards from my kids wishing me Happy Mother's Day. One is decorated with pink, blue and red flowers and the other card is decorated in colourful hearts.
May 10, 2025 at 11:55 PM
penelopelind.bsky.social
#predatoryjournal follow-up emails both amuse and annoy me.
Today's email: You failed to receive this [2 month old] message, or intentionally you are not responding...
2 months ago: We genuinely emailed you quite a lot of times but received no response, so we'd like to try once more....
May 8, 2025 at 6:18 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
I was so excited to vote in my first Australian Federal Election since becoming a citizen. The election is tomorrow but I early voted today. After 20 years living here I finally got to have my say as to who I want governing Oz. Check out the long Senate ballot paper!
#Australia #FederalElection
The tents for the two main parties: Labour (red tent) is similar to the Democrats while the Liberal National Party (LNP) party (blue tent) are the Republican style party of Australia. However there are about 18 parties you can vote for in this election for Senate. The upper house of parliament Senate ballot paper has at least 18 parties (plus independents) you can vote for. To make an eligible vote you either number 1 through 6 above the line (the order of your preferred parties) or 1 through 12 below the line (preferred party candidates). The green ballot paper is for the lower house of parliament called the House of Representatives. They represent your local electorate in parliament.
May 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
penelopelind.bsky.social
It's great that we contributed data from four Australian cohorts to the largest genetic study of #osteoarthritis published to date. The study identified hundreds of genetic risk loci and drug targets that could accelerate the development of more effective treatments.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Translational genomics of osteoarthritis in 1,962,069 individuals - Nature
A genome-wide association study meta-analysis combined with multiomics data of osteoarthritis identifies 700 effector genes as well as biological processes with a convergent involvement of multiple ef...
www.nature.com
April 20, 2025 at 12:26 PM
penelopelind.bsky.social
After becoming an Australian citizen in 2023 I'm looking forward to voting in my first federal election on May 3. Three useful websites to figure out who to vote for are 'Vote Compass 2025', 'They Vote for You', and '2025 Federal Election Preview'. #AustralianElection #federalelection #Australia
April 5, 2025 at 1:32 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Spotted Pardalotes are native to Australia and one of our smallest birds at 8-10 cm in length! They are also one of my favourite Australian birds. I saw this one entering and exiting its small nest burrow in a soil bank along a walking track.
#spottedpardalote #pardalote #birdsofaustralia #birds
A Spotted Pardalote perched on a small twig. It is looking at the camera side on. It has a golden yellow chin, throat and rump. It has a pale belly and a white-spotted black crown and white eyebrows. White spots travel down its back.
March 28, 2025 at 10:26 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
PubMed searches weren't working an hour ago and it made me think again about whether PubMed will get targeted for a DEI purge along with all the other US government websites. I may be overly paranoid but what can we do to prepare if this happens?
#PubMed #systematicreview #publications #research
Screen shot of a PubMed search that failed. The errors were "Search is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later" and "Timeout waiting for worker".
March 18, 2025 at 4:29 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Check out our new study that will improve our understanding of Anxiety disorders - in particular the identification of genetic or environmental factors that predict individual responses to common interventions, with the aim of increasing personalized care. #livingwithanxiety
livingwithanxiety.org.au
March 18, 2025 at 12:49 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Take shelter and stay safe everyone in South East Queensland and northern New South Wales! Fingers crossed we all make it through without loss of life. #tropicalcycloneAlfred #cycloneAlfred
Brisbane City Council just sent out a "Take Shelter Now" alert as Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall in next few hours.
March 7, 2025 at 12:45 PM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Bar-shouldered Doves are native to #Australia and Southern New Guinea. It has a distinctive call that sounds like 'Bob Hawke' who is Australia's 23rd Prime Minister!
#birds #birdsofAustralia #Dove #birdphotography
A Bar-shouldered Dove perched on a branch. It has a scaled metallic copper patch on the back of its neck.
March 4, 2025 at 11:07 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Tropical #Cyclone Alfred will be the first cyclone to make landfall near Brisbane since 1974 (that one caused the historic 1974 Brisbane floods). I'll be working from home and we're preparing for the rain and wind. I hope it doesn't cause too much destruction. #TropicalCycloneAlfred #Brisbane
The weather forecast as Tropical Cyclone Alfred makes landfall in Brisbane this Thursday. We shouldn't be affected by flooding where we live but I worry about the rest of Brisbane as it could bring 300 to 600mm of rain over multiple days.
March 3, 2025 at 1:51 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
This was the last straw and I've cancelled my Washington Post subscription. Bezos is now suppressing opinions that don't align with his own in the name of "freedom".
#cancelwashingtonpost
Announcement by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos that he is going to suppress opinions that don't align with his own. All in the name of "freedom". This has resulted in David Shipley, the Opinion Editor, to quit.
February 26, 2025 at 10:52 PM
penelopelind.bsky.social
I bet you didn't know I'm the second best #Questagame player in the world?! Think of it as a gamified iNaturalist where your aim is to photograph and identify all things wild to species level. I've photographed 821 unique species and IDed 6951 species photographed by other players.
The QuestaGame leader board. I'm currently ranked second with a total of 7894 unique species identified. As a birder I started out focusing on birds but soon venture out in to butterflies and mammals and more recently fish and flowering plants like orchids (I've never appreciated the beauty of fish till playing QuestaGame). Sadly I'm doomed to never ready number 1 because Octonaughts blows us all out of the water in how much time he puts in to identifying all the creatures of the world and has a total of 14435 unique species!
February 20, 2025 at 9:02 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
As one of ~90,000 Australian #FluTracking participants, I fill in a short survey each week about whether I had any COVID and flu-like symptoms and my vaccination status. It's always interesting to see the latest respiratory illness trends. #citizenscience #respiratoryillness #covid #influenza #flu
A graph showing weekly rates of respiratory illness in Australia from 2023 to 2025. Rates are highest in winter (June to August).
February 18, 2025 at 8:43 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Great Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhyncus nuchalis) are native to northern Australia and have a gorgeous bright pink crest that can be raised and lowered. This one lives in the backyard of my mother-in-law in Mareeba, QLD #bird #birds #birdsofaustralia #bowerbird #greatbowerbird #birdphotography
A Great Bowerbird perched on a fence facing forward but looking behind itself. Part of its bright pink crest can be seen on the back of its nape.
February 12, 2025 at 11:36 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Today I'm very happy that I saw my first (actually my first 5!) Australian Painted-Snipes west of Brisbane. They are elusive and endangered birds. Sadly it's estimated only ~1000 are left in the wild. #wishIhadabettercamera #birds #AustralianPaintedSnipe #lifer #birdwatching #Australia
A terrible cropped photo of a female Australian Painted-Snipe walking to the water to feed. Females have a dark brown head. Another terrible cropped photo of one of four males in the group feeding in the water.
February 2, 2025 at 8:33 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
I've been making an effort to provide alt text on my photos so I'm happy to have a 100% rating! You can check your own alt text rating here:
dame.is/ratingalttext
#alttext #alttextrating
The graphic output of an analysis of my image alt text use in my BlueSky posts. I'm happy I've achieved a score of 100%! I'm total 19 of my 51 posts have images they all have alt text.
January 26, 2025 at 11:36 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Variegated Fairywrens (13-14 cm big) are native to Australia and are always a delight to see. Watching one of them forcing her way in between the three on the branch in the other photos reminded me of when I was a kid with my three siblings on the couch! #birdsofaustralia #birding #birds
Four Variegated Fairy-wrens, including three breeding males and a female. One male is by itself to the right on a smaller twig while the other three are side by side on a bigger branch. The brightly coloured breeding male has chestnut shoulders and azure crown and ear coverts. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; all males have a black bill and lores, while females have a red-brown bill and bright rufous lores. Four Variegated Fairy-wrens close side by side on a branch, including two breeding males and two females. One of the females is forcing her way in between the female and closest male! The female Variegated Fairy-wren has successfully forced her way in between the male and female. The fourth male seems to be looking at her.
January 25, 2025 at 9:06 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
We're delighted to have contributed results from our Australian Genetics of Bipolar Disorder Study to the largest multi-ancestry GWAS of #Bipolar disorder to date (158K cases & 2.8M controls!). This international study was led by the #PGC & identified 298 genomic loci of which 267 were novel.
Genomics yields biological and phenotypic insights into bipolar disorder - Nature
Using multi-ancestry genome-wide association study and fine-mapping, 298 loci and 36 credible genes are identified in the aetiology of bipolar disorder.
www.nature.com
January 23, 2025 at 10:30 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
There's a lot going on in the world, and if you need a break you should join me watching the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney's Amorphophallus titanum flower blooming today! Here's the livestream. #corpseflower #Amorphophallustitanum #Amorphophallus #Sydney
Corpse Flower livestream: A plant to die for
YouTube video by Botanic Gardens of Sydney
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2025 at 3:33 AM
penelopelind.bsky.social
Instead of doom scrolling about the state of affairs in the world, I'm going to refocus on the fact it's my 11th wedding anniversary to my best friend today! It's also the 19th anniversary of our first date. I super love this photo of our ceremony where our oldest son was our ring bearer.
Our wedding ceremony where we are looking at our oldest son who is holding our rings while our youngest son is lying on the floor with his feet on his Dad's legs.
January 21, 2025 at 1:15 AM