Chris Friesen
@cpictus.bsky.social
Lecturer in the SSCI at UOW. BEEP Lab (Behaviour, Evolutionary Ecology & Physiology). Student of Philosophy and Zoology. @uowenvirofutures.bsky.social ; opinions my own.
Reposted by Chris Friesen
"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine
The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.
www.wsj.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:33 AM
"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Creating a military conflict with Venezuela gives this administration a legal "hook" to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. In other words, the foreign war is being manufactured in order to facilitate court deference for its domestic mass deportation policy. It's a Stephen Miller Special.
November 29, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Creating a military conflict with Venezuela gives this administration a legal "hook" to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. In other words, the foreign war is being manufactured in order to facilitate court deference for its domestic mass deportation policy. It's a Stephen Miller Special.
Reposted by Chris Friesen
This is not a plan for peace. It is a plan for Russian victory and Ukrainian capitulation, argues Christian Caryl.
Don’t Call This a ‘Peace Plan’
If the U.S.-Russia plan for Ukraine goes forward, Donald Trump will be remembered as the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century.
foreignpolicy.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM
This is not a plan for peace. It is a plan for Russian victory and Ukrainian capitulation, argues Christian Caryl.
Reposted by Chris Friesen
War of aggression, mass killing of civilians, and settler colonialism
Nine out of 10 residential buildings in Mariupol were damaged or destroyed during Russia’s invasion. Now, the apartment blocks are being rebuilt – and offered for sale to Russians with low-interest mortgages. youtube.com/shorts/yxsIV...
From Ruins to Russian Residences
YouTube video by Bellingcat
youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:18 PM
War of aggression, mass killing of civilians, and settler colonialism
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Disturbing. Incidentally @rutgerbregman.com has written some interesting books that you might want to read.
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Reith lecturer accuses BBC of cowardice for censoring his remarks on Trump
Dutch writer Rutger Bregman says claim that Trump was ‘most openly corrupt president in US history’ was removed
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Disturbing. Incidentally @rutgerbregman.com has written some interesting books that you might want to read.
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
We have a US administration trying to bully Ukrainians into accepting Russia’s proposal that their sovereignty be undone. Aside from the naked injustice of this, there are five basic practical reasons why it would make the world far more dangerous.
(video)
snyder.substack.com/p/the-putin-...
(video)
snyder.substack.com/p/the-putin-...
The Putin-Witkoff Plan Worsens the War
Five Reasons the US should not help Russia subjugate Ukraine
snyder.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:02 PM
We have a US administration trying to bully Ukrainians into accepting Russia’s proposal that their sovereignty be undone. Aside from the naked injustice of this, there are five basic practical reasons why it would make the world far more dangerous.
(video)
snyder.substack.com/p/the-putin-...
(video)
snyder.substack.com/p/the-putin-...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
“Despite the Labor government noting last year that research and development has had "a decade of going backwards", successive governments have failed to fix the problem.
The future of Australia's science industry looks grim”
But submarines 🤷🏻♀️
The future of Australia's science industry looks grim”
But submarines 🤷🏻♀️
November 19, 2025 at 5:37 AM
“Despite the Labor government noting last year that research and development has had "a decade of going backwards", successive governments have failed to fix the problem.
The future of Australia's science industry looks grim”
But submarines 🤷🏻♀️
The future of Australia's science industry looks grim”
But submarines 🤷🏻♀️
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.
FL is moving forward w/ plan to end all childhood vaccine mandates. Starting with hepatitis B, chickenpox, and the bacteria causing meningitis and pneumonia. Then next year GOP FL legislature is expected to revisit 1977 law re: whooping cough, measles, polio, rubella, mumps, diphtheria, and tetanus.
October 31, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Can't overstate how fucked up it is that unraveling what is arguably the greatest achievement in the history of humanity is now a motivating issue of one of the two dominant parties in the U.S.
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Thank you for this opportunity and I'm excited to learn and actively contribute to science communication as a writing fellow at @molbioevol.bsky.social and @genomebiolevol.bsky.social
Congrats to the other fellows @haorancai.bsky.social and Shady Kuster, looking forward to working together!
Congrats to the other fellows @haorancai.bsky.social and Shady Kuster, looking forward to working together!
We are excited to welcome our three new SMBE Fellows!
Ioanna Kotari, Shady Kuster, and Haoran Cai will join @molbioevol.bsky.social and @genomebiolevol.bsky.social as writing fellows.
Keep an eye on our next Highlight articles in MBE and GBE!
#society #scicomm #evobio #molbio #genome #evolution
Ioanna Kotari, Shady Kuster, and Haoran Cai will join @molbioevol.bsky.social and @genomebiolevol.bsky.social as writing fellows.
Keep an eye on our next Highlight articles in MBE and GBE!
#society #scicomm #evobio #molbio #genome #evolution
October 30, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Thank you for this opportunity and I'm excited to learn and actively contribute to science communication as a writing fellow at @molbioevol.bsky.social and @genomebiolevol.bsky.social
Congrats to the other fellows @haorancai.bsky.social and Shady Kuster, looking forward to working together!
Congrats to the other fellows @haorancai.bsky.social and Shady Kuster, looking forward to working together!
Reposted by Chris Friesen
SCOOP from me:
I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built.
Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵
I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built.
Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵
Trump claims ‘wind mills’ kill whales but quietly torpedoes the…
The Interior Department defunds two vital research programs that track North Atlantic right whales near active offshore wind construction sites.
www.canarymedia.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:11 PM
SCOOP from me:
I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built.
Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵
I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built.
Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵
Reposted by Chris Friesen
On Trump’s terror memo and regime change. Basic points on the rule of law, phantom conspiracies, big lies, and civic action.
(Audio)
snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-ter...
(Audio)
snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-ter...
Trump’s terror memo (audio)
It is about regime change
snyder.substack.com
September 27, 2025 at 4:25 PM
On Trump’s terror memo and regime change. Basic points on the rule of law, phantom conspiracies, big lies, and civic action.
(Audio)
snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-ter...
(Audio)
snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-ter...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how Putin and Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...
Justice Dept. Official Pushes Prosecutors to Investigate George Soros’s Foundation
www.nytimes.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how Putin and Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Why do headlines say "norms shattered" when what is meant is "laws broken" or "Constitution violated"?
September 26, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Why do headlines say "norms shattered" when what is meant is "laws broken" or "Constitution violated"?
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Kind of feels like a big deal that a Reform/Brexit Party former MEP has been convicted of taking bribes to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, and it feels like a bigger deal that this isn’t being treated as the major scandal that it clearly is.
September 26, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Kind of feels like a big deal that a Reform/Brexit Party former MEP has been convicted of taking bribes to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, and it feels like a bigger deal that this isn’t being treated as the major scandal that it clearly is.
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Applications now open for the SSE GREG Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 to expand your dissertation work. Submit your proposal by September 15!
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
July 29, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Applications now open for the SSE GREG Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 to expand your dissertation work. Submit your proposal by September 15!
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students
Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students
Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000
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Tim Winton knows what it’s like to be the first in a family to go to university – “what a breakthrough that is, the kind of opportunities it provides”.
It was at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, studying arts, that he wrote his first novel, An Open Swimmer, launching a four-decade writing career. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
July 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students
Reposted by Chris Friesen
We need Democratic leaders who are willing to cast America’s billionaires not as success stories of American capitalism, but as parasitic oligarchs robbing the people blind, dismantling the country, undermining western democracy, and burning the whole world just to keep their taxes low.
July 26, 2025 at 10:27 PM
We need Democratic leaders who are willing to cast America’s billionaires not as success stories of American capitalism, but as parasitic oligarchs robbing the people blind, dismantling the country, undermining western democracy, and burning the whole world just to keep their taxes low.
Reposted by Chris Friesen
1. Here's a fish swimming upstream. Nothing unusual about that.
What's unusual is that this particular fish is *dead*. Vortices in the water as it flows past the fish cause the fish's body to flex, maintaining orientation and actually propelling it forward.
(D. N. Beal et al 2006 J. Fluid. Mech.)
What's unusual is that this particular fish is *dead*. Vortices in the water as it flows past the fish cause the fish's body to flex, maintaining orientation and actually propelling it forward.
(D. N. Beal et al 2006 J. Fluid. Mech.)
July 26, 2025 at 7:34 AM
1. Here's a fish swimming upstream. Nothing unusual about that.
What's unusual is that this particular fish is *dead*. Vortices in the water as it flows past the fish cause the fish's body to flex, maintaining orientation and actually propelling it forward.
(D. N. Beal et al 2006 J. Fluid. Mech.)
What's unusual is that this particular fish is *dead*. Vortices in the water as it flows past the fish cause the fish's body to flex, maintaining orientation and actually propelling it forward.
(D. N. Beal et al 2006 J. Fluid. Mech.)
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Former Australian National University chancellor slams 'gobsmacking' proposed university cuts www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...
Former ANU chancellor says proposed uni cuts 'gobsmacking'
Former Australian National University chancellor, Gareth Evans, says proposed cost-saving cuts to the institution have "ignored or gravely under-valued the significance of ANU's very distinctive natio...
www.abc.net.au
July 21, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Former Australian National University chancellor slams 'gobsmacking' proposed university cuts www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
The ability to understand what makes us human - from a science and social sense - is being eroded at the nation’s university. Soon it’ll be too late to reverse the cack-handed cuts. Nobody can say they weren’t warned. We warned you. graemeturner.org/2025/07/20/w...
Why do they hate us? That’s the question academics in the humanities are asking. - Graeme Turner
This is the question I was asked last week. Why are government, the media, even university administrations, so carelessly participating in the gradual demolition of one of the foundation stones of our...
graemeturner.org
July 20, 2025 at 2:33 AM
The ability to understand what makes us human - from a science and social sense - is being eroded at the nation’s university. Soon it’ll be too late to reverse the cack-handed cuts. Nobody can say they weren’t warned. We warned you. graemeturner.org/2025/07/20/w...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Congratulations Prof Phillip Byrne, Dr Aimee Silla, Dr Chris Friesen, and Dr Damien Esquerre. An amazing achievement! We look forward to seeing the outcomes of your important research.
Read more via the below UOW media release. @cpictus.bsky.social
www.uow.edu.au/media/2025/r...
Read more via the below UOW media release. @cpictus.bsky.social
www.uow.edu.au/media/2025/r...
2025: Researchers receive $1 million to protect amphibians and power clean energy - University of Wollongong – UOW
www.uow.edu.au
July 15, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Congratulations Prof Phillip Byrne, Dr Aimee Silla, Dr Chris Friesen, and Dr Damien Esquerre. An amazing achievement! We look forward to seeing the outcomes of your important research.
Read more via the below UOW media release. @cpictus.bsky.social
www.uow.edu.au/media/2025/r...
Read more via the below UOW media release. @cpictus.bsky.social
www.uow.edu.au/media/2025/r...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Dr. Eline Schotsmans recently published groundbreaking work using ancient DNA to reveal the malleable nature of social organisation in Neolithic villages
Read more via the below
@elineschotsmans.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Read more via the below
@elineschotsmans.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük
Combining 131 paleogenomes with bioarchaeological and archaeological data, we studied social organization and gendered practices in Çatalhöyük East Mound (7100 to 5950 BCE), a major Neolithic settleme...
www.science.org
July 11, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Dr. Eline Schotsmans recently published groundbreaking work using ancient DNA to reveal the malleable nature of social organisation in Neolithic villages
Read more via the below
@elineschotsmans.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Read more via the below
@elineschotsmans.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
Ever wondered by dolphins jump out of the water? Dr Katharina Peters explains in her latest article in the Conversation 🐬
kjpeters.bsky.social
theconversation.com/curious-kids...
kjpeters.bsky.social
theconversation.com/curious-kids...
July 8, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Ever wondered by dolphins jump out of the water? Dr Katharina Peters explains in her latest article in the Conversation 🐬
kjpeters.bsky.social
theconversation.com/curious-kids...
kjpeters.bsky.social
theconversation.com/curious-kids...
Reposted by Chris Friesen
The idea that we can "easily" overthrow the regime in Iran is a fantasy of people that have never served. Afghanistan is back in the hands of the Taliban after 20 years of slaughter. Iraq still isn't peaceful. Libya is a war zone that's been in civil war since we dropped bombs. History is screaming!
June 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM
The idea that we can "easily" overthrow the regime in Iran is a fantasy of people that have never served. Afghanistan is back in the hands of the Taliban after 20 years of slaughter. Iraq still isn't peaceful. Libya is a war zone that's been in civil war since we dropped bombs. History is screaming!