Ramsey Affifi
@affifi.bsky.social
Ecologising thinking, feeling, interacting, and teaching
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
December 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell
<i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - <i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited
www.cambridge.org
October 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
Did you know that chemosensitive motile E. coli can efficiently explore nontrivial mazes in times much shorter than a no-memory (Markovian) walk would predict, and can collectively escape from a fractal topology?
Now you do. Amazing!
#ComplexSystems 🦠🧪🌐💡
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
Now you do. Amazing!
#ComplexSystems 🦠🧪🌐💡
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
Bacterial Route Finding and Collective Escape in Mazes and Fractals
Experiments show that E. coli bacteria employ a number of strategies to explore complex environments, navigating mazes and fractals much more efficiently than would be expected for a random walk.
journals.aps.org
August 18, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Did you know that chemosensitive motile E. coli can efficiently explore nontrivial mazes in times much shorter than a no-memory (Markovian) walk would predict, and can collectively escape from a fractal topology?
Now you do. Amazing!
#ComplexSystems 🦠🧪🌐💡
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
Now you do. Amazing!
#ComplexSystems 🦠🧪🌐💡
journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
My new article www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
‘The bud disappears when the blossom breaks through’: composing dialectical lectures as environmental education
This article illustrates and discusses ‘dialectical pedagogy’ through reflections on five lectures on plants composed for Environmental Education postgraduates and Initial Teacher science educators...
www.tandfonline.com
April 25, 2025 at 1:46 PM
My new article www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
@dalianassar.bsky.social hi, I am interested in the idea of educating perception that came out in your book. Do you have a shorter piece that would be appropriate for students on this?
January 24, 2025 at 9:17 AM
@dalianassar.bsky.social hi, I am interested in the idea of educating perception that came out in your book. Do you have a shorter piece that would be appropriate for students on this?
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
Superb. (And full marks to @nature.com for publishing a commentary critical of a paper it is also publishing - though of course that raises questions in itself...)
Human embryo editing against disease is unsafe and unproven — despite rosy predictions rdcu.be/d5Cqr- critical commentary by @shaicarmi.bsky.social, @hankgreely.bsky.social and myself
Human embryo editing against disease is unsafe and unproven — despite rosy predictions | Nature
Mathematical modelling suggests that it is theoretically possible to reduce risk of common diseases using heritable genome editing. Scientists argue that the technology involves considerable risk and uncertain benefits. Pitfalls of heritable genome editing undermine theoretical benefits.
rdcu.be
January 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Superb. (And full marks to @nature.com for publishing a commentary critical of a paper it is also publishing - though of course that raises questions in itself...)
The ecology of sublimity, new article (nice xmas gift): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The ecology of sublimity: educational tensions between existence and the ungraspable
Sublime experiences are complex, poorly understood and articulated, but central to environmental education. They are also enabled, modified and threatened by scientific knowledge, ideas and practic...
www.tandfonline.com
December 25, 2024 at 11:02 AM
The ecology of sublimity, new article (nice xmas gift): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
My new book, Slime Mould and Philosophy, is now available — and for the next month, you can download it for FREE here: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
Thanks to everyone who made this book come to life and shared the rather intense journey with me. Enjoy!
Thanks to everyone who made this book come to life and shared the rather intense journey with me. Enjoy!
Slime Mould and Philosophy
Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - Slime Mould and Philosophy
doi.org
December 12, 2024 at 3:47 PM
My new book, Slime Mould and Philosophy, is now available — and for the next month, you can download it for FREE here: doi.org/10.1017/9781...
Thanks to everyone who made this book come to life and shared the rather intense journey with me. Enjoy!
Thanks to everyone who made this book come to life and shared the rather intense journey with me. Enjoy!
Thoughts? www.theguardian.com/science/2024...
‘Unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth: Scientists call for halt on ‘mirror life’ microbe research
Experts warn that mirror bacteria, constructed from mirror images of molecules found in nature, could put humans, animals and plants at risk of lethal infections
www.theguardian.com
December 12, 2024 at 10:02 PM
Thoughts? www.theguardian.com/science/2024...
Temperature change perception (even without actual temp change) leads to inherited epigenetic modifications:
Whaaaa!??? Epigenetics keeps surprising!
Scared to share this after 10 freaking years of waiting, but here we go: We found that temperature *perception* can change the biology of the next generations, even when “it’s just in the parents' head”. Read how C. elegans neurons control epigenetic inheritance!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 6, 2024 at 7:48 AM
Temperature change perception (even without actual temp change) leads to inherited epigenetic modifications:
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
The meanings of the word for a wren, from eight different languages...
8. Little walnut (Bulgarian)
7. Little bird in the ditch (Japanese)
6. Thumbling (Finnish)
5. Fence-skedaddler (Danish)
4. Fence-master (Hebrew)
3. Druid bird (Irish)
2. Mouse-brother (Faroese)
1. Little king of winter (Dutch)
8. Little walnut (Bulgarian)
7. Little bird in the ditch (Japanese)
6. Thumbling (Finnish)
5. Fence-skedaddler (Danish)
4. Fence-master (Hebrew)
3. Druid bird (Irish)
2. Mouse-brother (Faroese)
1. Little king of winter (Dutch)
December 5, 2024 at 5:58 PM
New article on some of my antics when teaching: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Trickster teaching and the anthropocene: disrupting the explicitification of pedagogy, people and planet
In cultures committed to making everything explicit, calling for trickery in education seems suspicious. However, for better or worse, trickery is already prevalent in education. In particular, it ...
www.tandfonline.com
December 2, 2024 at 8:30 PM
New article on some of my antics when teaching: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Ramsey Affifi
Just one week until our workshop on plants in history, philosophy and society!🌷 You can still register to participate - it is completely free and open to everyone interested! Just send a message through our contact form: rotoworkshop2024.wixsite.com/flora/contac....
#PhilSci #HistSci #HPBio
#PhilSci #HistSci #HPBio
November 21, 2024 at 3:10 PM
Just one week until our workshop on plants in history, philosophy and society!🌷 You can still register to participate - it is completely free and open to everyone interested! Just send a message through our contact form: rotoworkshop2024.wixsite.com/flora/contac....
#PhilSci #HistSci #HPBio
#PhilSci #HistSci #HPBio
Hi! I am a philosopher working in education interested in environmental, ecological and biology education, and aesthetic and alternative pedagogies. Based at university of Edinburgh
November 17, 2024 at 2:38 PM
Hi! I am a philosopher working in education interested in environmental, ecological and biology education, and aesthetic and alternative pedagogies. Based at university of Edinburgh