Bella Duncan
@antarcticabella.bsky.social
Climate scientist in Aotearoa NZ. Ancient Antarctica, paleoclimate, biomarkers, geology and the implications of it all for climate change!
And it's a PENGUIN FASCINATOR!! A bloody penguin fascinator, how cool is this!!!! Thank you sooooo much Santa, this is the most perfect, on brand gift for me!! I absolutely LOVE it! Now I need an occasion to wear it to stat, science themed ball anyone?? #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
June 7, 2025 at 3:26 AM
And it's a PENGUIN FASCINATOR!! A bloody penguin fascinator, how cool is this!!!! Thank you sooooo much Santa, this is the most perfect, on brand gift for me!! I absolutely LOVE it! Now I need an occasion to wear it to stat, science themed ball anyone?? #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
Next up, delicious tea and amazing sounding coffee! I'm an English breakfast girl all day so this is the perfect tea for me, can't wait to try it! And the I opened the final box... #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
June 7, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Next up, delicious tea and amazing sounding coffee! I'm an English breakfast girl all day so this is the perfect tea for me, can't wait to try it! And the I opened the final box... #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
My Santa has KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! Got home from a freezing day of soccer, grabbed a cup of tea and my pressie. First up love the penguin wrapping paper and card, and beautifully wrapped pressies!! #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
June 7, 2025 at 3:14 AM
My Santa has KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! Got home from a freezing day of soccer, grabbed a cup of tea and my pressie. First up love the penguin wrapping paper and card, and beautifully wrapped pressies!! #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
Parenting as a polar scientist is having a rant to your 3 year old about how it's unrealistic for their book to show penguins and polar bears living in the same place. And yes I know they're also all wearing clothes but that's less important.
June 4, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Parenting as a polar scientist is having a rant to your 3 year old about how it's unrealistic for their book to show penguins and polar bears living in the same place. And yes I know they're also all wearing clothes but that's less important.
My cool Don McGlashan story is that I saw him play at Scott Base when he visited for the Artists to Antarctica program. We'd just got back to base after a month in the field and rushed (after a quick, much needed shower 😅) to the Tatty Flag to see the show. It was awesome!!
May 31, 2025 at 4:46 AM
My cool Don McGlashan story is that I saw him play at Scott Base when he visited for the Artists to Antarctica program. We'd just got back to base after a month in the field and rushed (after a quick, much needed shower 😅) to the Tatty Flag to see the show. It was awesome!!
The dog got up, enthusiastically ate his breakfast, then decided that was enough up for the morning, and now I'm feeling jealous I can't do the same.
February 2, 2025 at 6:40 PM
The dog got up, enthusiastically ate his breakfast, then decided that was enough up for the morning, and now I'm feeling jealous I can't do the same.
Some days parenting feels like being in a tumble dryer and other days your 10 year old disappears down the hallway and reappears an hour later with a heart shaped pillow he's hand sewn for you ❤
January 26, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Some days parenting feels like being in a tumble dryer and other days your 10 year old disappears down the hallway and reappears an hour later with a heart shaped pillow he's hand sewn for you ❤
I was making my son's birthday cake at 11.30pm last night and got very excited to discover the grey fondant for the skate park looked like folded schist when I cut it in half. Always a geologist 😂
January 18, 2025 at 5:12 AM
I was making my son's birthday cake at 11.30pm last night and got very excited to discover the grey fondant for the skate park looked like folded schist when I cut it in half. Always a geologist 😂
It's only mid December, our Wairarapa lawn already looks like this, and today's forecast rain was just the lightest of light drizzles 😭😭 (also this is our dog Olly, he's very fluffy and spends far less time worrying about keeping the garden alive than I do). #kikorangi
December 12, 2024 at 6:32 AM
It's only mid December, our Wairarapa lawn already looks like this, and today's forecast rain was just the lightest of light drizzles 😭😭 (also this is our dog Olly, he's very fluffy and spends far less time worrying about keeping the garden alive than I do). #kikorangi
Staying on brand for Christmas 🎄 #Antarctica
November 30, 2024 at 8:40 AM
Staying on brand for Christmas 🎄 #Antarctica
And last but not least, a piece of fossil bone! This came from a tributary of Mangahouanga stream, Hawkes Bay. Possibly hard to know much about it from the size but the most common fossils found here are Cretaceous reptiles like Plesiosaurs (see pic from the fossil reserve part of the stream!).
November 16, 2024 at 9:06 PM
And last but not least, a piece of fossil bone! This came from a tributary of Mangahouanga stream, Hawkes Bay. Possibly hard to know much about it from the size but the most common fossils found here are Cretaceous reptiles like Plesiosaurs (see pic from the fossil reserve part of the stream!).
These are some of my favourites! A 15 mill year old fossil seed from Murchison NZ, just like a wrinkled almond! And these two cuties are 5 million year old baby kina (echinoderms) from a limestone quarry near Tākaka, NZ.
November 16, 2024 at 9:04 PM
These are some of my favourites! A 15 mill year old fossil seed from Murchison NZ, just like a wrinkled almond! And these two cuties are 5 million year old baby kina (echinoderms) from a limestone quarry near Tākaka, NZ.
Now to a couple of special ones. This is a ventifact, a rock which has sat exposed for long enough to be polished and shaped by windblown sand and dust. The faces and ridges tell you about the wind direction! This was given to me so a little unsure of origin, possibly Wanganui, NZ.
November 16, 2024 at 9:03 PM
Now to a couple of special ones. This is a ventifact, a rock which has sat exposed for long enough to be polished and shaped by windblown sand and dust. The faces and ridges tell you about the wind direction! This was given to me so a little unsure of origin, possibly Wanganui, NZ.
Metamorphic rocks! 1. Alpine schist with big garnets, collected just up from the Alpine Fault (West coast, NZ). 2. Fuchsite, a sparkly green chrome mica which used to be mined in Onekaka, Golden Bay, NZ. 3. More Alpine schist, collected further from the fault with smaller garnets and sparkly mica.
November 16, 2024 at 9:01 PM
Metamorphic rocks! 1. Alpine schist with big garnets, collected just up from the Alpine Fault (West coast, NZ). 2. Fuchsite, a sparkly green chrome mica which used to be mined in Onekaka, Golden Bay, NZ. 3. More Alpine schist, collected further from the fault with smaller garnets and sparkly mica.
Now for the igneous rocks! 1. Basalt with beautiful green olivines erupted from Mt Discovery, Antarctica. 2. Granite rich in pink potassium feldspar, formed in Antarctica probably ~500 mill years ago. 3. Obsidian, black volcanic glass, Taupō, NZ.
November 16, 2024 at 8:59 PM
Now for the igneous rocks! 1. Basalt with beautiful green olivines erupted from Mt Discovery, Antarctica. 2. Granite rich in pink potassium feldspar, formed in Antarctica probably ~500 mill years ago. 3. Obsidian, black volcanic glass, Taupō, NZ.
Next up, sedimentary rocks! Clockwise: 1. Sandstone with gastropods that were living off the Wairarapa coast ~10 million years ago (Hurupi stream, NZ). 2. ~80 mill year old fossil wood, from one of the only places in NZ where dinosaur fossils have been found (near Mangahouanga stream, Hawkes Bay)..
November 16, 2024 at 8:58 PM
Next up, sedimentary rocks! Clockwise: 1. Sandstone with gastropods that were living off the Wairarapa coast ~10 million years ago (Hurupi stream, NZ). 2. ~80 mill year old fossil wood, from one of the only places in NZ where dinosaur fossils have been found (near Mangahouanga stream, Hawkes Bay)..
First up, some field gear (wish I got to use it more these days..)! Rock hammer, geological compass and hand lens, rite-in-the-rain notebook, guide book (the kiwi fossil hunters handbook, awesome for kids!), and an old geological map from my undergrad days of the Ruakōkoputuna River, Wairarapa, NZ!
November 16, 2024 at 8:55 PM
First up, some field gear (wish I got to use it more these days..)! Rock hammer, geological compass and hand lens, rite-in-the-rain notebook, guide book (the kiwi fossil hunters handbook, awesome for kids!), and an old geological map from my undergrad days of the Ruakōkoputuna River, Wairarapa, NZ!
I've done enough school visits now that I've made myself a 'show and tell' kit of geology gear and rocks I've collected. I've been meaning to document it a bit better (and think about what I could add to it) so on a quiet Sunday morning, here's a tour of what's in it🧵
November 16, 2024 at 8:54 PM
I've done enough school visits now that I've made myself a 'show and tell' kit of geology gear and rocks I've collected. I've been meaning to document it a bit better (and think about what I could add to it) so on a quiet Sunday morning, here's a tour of what's in it🧵
Apropos of nothing and everything, here's a heart shaped rock I found in a glacial moraine in Antarctica.
November 11, 2024 at 10:47 PM
Apropos of nothing and everything, here's a heart shaped rock I found in a glacial moraine in Antarctica.
With maternal sepsis there's additional signs to look out for. But the tricky thing is you usually are bleeding, exhausted and in pain or discomfort already, and it can make it easy to dismiss initially.
October 26, 2024 at 7:06 AM
With maternal sepsis there's additional signs to look out for. But the tricky thing is you usually are bleeding, exhausted and in pain or discomfort already, and it can make it easy to dismiss initially.
Sepsis is an infection that gets worse really fast and elicits an immune response that can affect different organs. It's SO important to get treatment quickly. These are key signs to look out for:
October 26, 2024 at 7:04 AM
Sepsis is an infection that gets worse really fast and elicits an immune response that can affect different organs. It's SO important to get treatment quickly. These are key signs to look out for:
Eocene Antarctica! From when this leaf fossil was a living beech tree, the valleys and peaks of the Gamburtsev mountains weren't covered in kilometres of ice, and lush forests lived under both the midnight summer sun and 6 months of winter darkness 🥰
October 22, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Eocene Antarctica! From when this leaf fossil was a living beech tree, the valleys and peaks of the Gamburtsev mountains weren't covered in kilometres of ice, and lush forests lived under both the midnight summer sun and 6 months of winter darkness 🥰
Important announcement 🚨 It's penguin of the year time! Vote for your fav kororā 😍 This year I'm leaning towards forgetful Draco.. but bad boy Mo is always a charmer. Here's a cutie I saw there a couple of years ago having the time of its life 😂 www.nationalaquarium.co.nz/visit/pengui...
October 21, 2024 at 10:45 PM
Important announcement 🚨 It's penguin of the year time! Vote for your fav kororā 😍 This year I'm leaning towards forgetful Draco.. but bad boy Mo is always a charmer. Here's a cutie I saw there a couple of years ago having the time of its life 😂 www.nationalaquarium.co.nz/visit/pengui...
This week has been readying for submission a paper from my PhD I handed in 7 years ago, and prepping for analysis samples I started processing 5 years ago. Just incase anyone else is worried about projects taking a long time 😅
October 18, 2024 at 2:20 AM
This week has been readying for submission a paper from my PhD I handed in 7 years ago, and prepping for analysis samples I started processing 5 years ago. Just incase anyone else is worried about projects taking a long time 😅
Interrupting science posting to show off my husband's latest guitar build because I'm bloody proud! It's built out of a 1949 BSA Bantam motorcycle fuel tank. He's posts about his builds and woodwork over on Instagram if thats your thing www.instagram.com/maxwattcreat...
September 18, 2024 at 6:27 AM
Interrupting science posting to show off my husband's latest guitar build because I'm bloody proud! It's built out of a 1949 BSA Bantam motorcycle fuel tank. He's posts about his builds and woodwork over on Instagram if thats your thing www.instagram.com/maxwattcreat...