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biancanogrady.bsky.social
Bianca Nogrady
@biancanogrady.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.5K following 550 posts
Freelance science journalist (Nature, the Guardian, The Saturday Paper, BMJ etc) & author. She/her. Writings at biancanogrady.com and biancanogrady.substack.com. Chair at Varuna. Views my own. Dharug/Gundungurra land, Australia. Signal @BiancaNogrady.36
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biancanogrady.bsky.social
The climate-denying binferno that is Australian politics and media right now:
Screencap of the Guardian website featuring three headlines: Sussan Ley says net zero 'would be welcome', but Liberals won't pursue it. News Corp Australia chair says outlets not part of climate crisis 'denial machine'. World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature risk as fossil fuel emissions hit record high.
November 13, 2025 at 4:16 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Wonderful to see so many science journalism comrades at the launch of the 15th (15th!!) Best Australian Science Writing anthology, edited by @zoekeansci.bsky.social and Tegan Taylor. Congrats to @tabithacarvan.bsky.social , @angusdalton.bsky.social & James Purtill for Bragg UNSW Press Prize wins.
Five people sit on a stage. Behind them a screen has a yellow background with a photo of a pink book titled 'The Best Australian Science Writing 2025'. The screen text reads "Meet the Panel: Tabitha Carvan, Angus Dalton, James Purtill, Zoe Kean, Tegan Taylor"
November 5, 2025 at 9:22 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
What happens in the Green Room at the Blue Mountains Writers Festival, stays in the Green Room ... except if it's Osher Günsberg making a very risky move in Jenga, watched by one of our fabulous volunteers. www.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au
A man in a blue t-shirt looking shocked as he removes a wooden block from a Jenga tower placed on a white marble table. In the background, a woman wearing a Blue Mountains Writers Festival t-shirt claps her hands to her mouth.
November 2, 2025 at 9:22 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Glorious morning on the rainforest floor at Scenic World, with writers Jane Rawson, Inga Simpson, Jessica White and Sarah Allely taking a quiet minute to soak in the surroundings before discussing how they connect with environment, for the Blue Mountains Writers Festival.
Four people stand with their back to the camera, in a covered outdoor space, looking out towards dense trees. The audience in the foreground watch them.
November 2, 2025 at 12:13 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Jam-packed session at the Blue Mountains Writers Festival listening to Bryan Brown talk about his life, career and novels with actor and author Toby Schmidt.
www.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au
A venue packed with people sitting listening to two speakers at the far end of a room. The ceiling is hung with coloured flags.
November 1, 2025 at 10:27 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Kicking off the Blue Mountains Writers' Festival in grand mountains style, with glorious weather and ABC's The Bookshelf live with Debra Oswald, Steve MinOn, Garry Disher and Kate Evens.
www.bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au
A corrugated steel shed set among gum trees with the Blue Mountains escarpment in the background.
October 31, 2025 at 12:05 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 12:36 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 12:36 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
First honeybee swarm of the season. Managed to rehouse it in one of my empty hives, without a single sting #beekeepergoals.
October 6, 2025 at 12:36 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
This is good work from @michaelkoziol.bsky.social and headline writers at the Sydney Morning Herald:
Screenshot of story from Sydney Morning Herald website. Headline reads, "Trump asserts unproven link between autism and paracetamol, urges parents to delay vaccines". Standfirst reads, "In an extraordinary, rambling press conference, the US president - based on his opinion, not science - instructed pregnant women not to take popular painkiller Tylenol". I have underlined in red the words 'unproven' and 'based on his opinion, not science'.
September 23, 2025 at 12:42 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Just another day in Down Under.
#WildOz
September 15, 2025 at 8:35 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Black square containing words in white: "At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed. #ProtectJournalistsInGaza #LetReportersIntoGaza"
September 1, 2025 at 7:34 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
There were babies in prams, elderly people in wheelchairs, families, friends, organisations, unions, and a sea of Palestinian flags and keffiyehs. It was the largest and most moving protest I have ever seen. #MarchForHumanity
A dense crowd of protestors walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, waving Palestinian flags.
August 3, 2025 at 11:06 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
#Starlink down globally, not just 'your area'.
Screenshot of Starlink app reads 'Disconnected. Service outage. Your area is currently experiencing a service outage. Our team is investigating and will resolve the issue as soon as possible'.
July 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Thanks to the glorious generosity of my friends and their fertile fig tree, my weekend has been filled with ripe figs! Am enjoying them with Greek yoghurt and honey.
A white plate on a white surface. The plate contains eight fat green and purple figs. A white bowl contains chopped fresh figs. There is a metal spoon sticking out of the bowl.
April 19, 2025 at 3:25 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
OK #science folk, what's going on here? Pic taken from airplane window showing circular double-rainbow halo around my plane's shadow on the clouds.
I get the #physics of rainbows, but why the halo effect around the plane's shadow? And why double?
A photo of a circular rainbow halo around the shadow of an airplane on the surface of clouds. A photo of a circular rainbow halo around the shadow of an airplane on the surface of clouds. The airplane's wing is in the photo.
April 16, 2025 at 9:08 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Nine newspapers' business model is built on the idea they can pay their freelance journalists, photographers and cartoonists a pittance. We are subsidising their million-dollar executive salaries.
Please sign our petition calling for fair #freelance rates: www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/fr...
Poster reads: Did you know that The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald pay their freelance journalists peanuts? "If your business model is built on the idea that you can keep freelance contributor rates low, your business model is broken because it relies on us subsidising your executive salaries" - Nine Freelancer.
April 2, 2025 at 7:33 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Nine newspapers have slashed in-house staff, refused to pay decent rates to freelancers, yet executives are earning millions.
Freelancers are asking for a fair minimum rate and regular rate increases. Please support us, sign our petition: www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/fr...
@withmeaa.bsky.social
Poster reads: The CEO of the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WA Today and the Brisbane Times took home $2.1 million last year, while most freelancers made less than $59k. Sign the petition now!
April 2, 2025 at 12:04 AM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
A fantastic panel of experts on frogs, snails, climate change and wildlife ecology debated Australia's invasive species problem at the Australian Museum last week, inspired by the ABC's Eat The Invaders TV series (see alt text for names).
And no, we can't eat our way out of this one, sorry.
A group of five people are seated smiling at the camera - three in front and two standing at the back. The screen behind them has images of cane toads. The people are (front L to R: Dr Isabel Hyman, Dr Jenny Newell, Professor Euan Ritchie. Back L to R: Bianca Nogrady, Dr Jodie Rowley.
March 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
And I came across this handsome fellow crawling across the path. Any entomologists here that can put a name to the face?
This is the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.
#caterpillar #entomology
A large, fat, bright green caterpillar crawls among dried eucalyptus leaves on a tarmac path. Its skin is covered with small bumps, and a black dot on each segment. There is an orange pattern on its bum ... or maybe its head.
January 13, 2025 at 11:40 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
View from Govett's Leap lookout this morning, over the Grose Valley, Blue Mountains.
A thickly-forested canyon with worn dark sandstone cliffs extends right to the horizon. There is a lighter coloured bush in the foreground. The sky is cloudy with distant patches of blue and the far clouds are tinged with orange sunrise.
January 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Every person working for the public service or government at any level should read @squigglyrick.bsky.social Rick Morton's sucker-punch of a book 'Mean Streak', about #Robodebt.
That no one has yet gone to prison for that brutal, lie-infused, deadly horror of a scheme is a crime in itself. #AusPol
Book cover for 'Mean Streak' by Rick Morton, featuring a stack of square windowless white/grey structures being scaled by people with red ladders. The books sub-title reads: "A moral vacuum & a multi-billion dollar government shake down."
January 12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Behold my mad lighting-of-the-Christmas-pudding-brandy trick.
Merry festivities to you all.
December 25, 2024 at 7:46 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
Time to dust off the festive SARS-CoV-2 Christmas decorations and remember when we were all (rightly) terrified of this spiky bastard.
(and yes, many still – rightly – are terrified of this spiky bastard).
A red spiky ball – representing the SARS-CoV-2 virus - hangs as a Christmas decoration in the branches of a pine tree, surrounded by silver tinsel and other Christmas decorations. A Christmas decoration hangs in the branches of a green Christmas tree. It is the numbers 2020, with the '0's both being in the shape of blue spiky round shapes representing the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
December 18, 2024 at 10:01 PM
biancanogrady.bsky.social
This pic (photographer unknown) just floated past me on the internet. #polio #PolioVaccine #Vaccines
A man lies in a hospital bed with a metal tunnel-shaped device covering his upper body and a large air tube coming out of the device (an iron lung). He is looking at the nurse standing next to his bed holding up a newspaper with the front page headline of 'Vaccine triumph ends polio threat'.
December 18, 2024 at 7:13 PM