Dave Hemprich-Bennett
@davehb.bsky.social
A bunch of stardust with ADHD. Scientist working on the ecology of bats, mosquitoes and malaria, based at Oxford Uni. Used to be @hammerheadbat on twitter. Runner, photographer, guitarist.
Not to do a Poppy Discourse, but at her nursery my daughter did a ‘paint a poppy’ exercise today and there’s something very sweetly surreally poignant about a German-English toddler ‘painting’ a poppy alongside her Indian carer
November 11, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Not to do a Poppy Discourse, but at her nursery my daughter did a ‘paint a poppy’ exercise today and there’s something very sweetly surreally poignant about a German-English toddler ‘painting’ a poppy alongside her Indian carer
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
LGBTQ+ Journal Club is turning 1! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈To celebrate, here's a bit about what we've been up to over the past year: a thread of interesting papers in queer biology (1/n) ⬇️🧵
November 11, 2025 at 11:54 AM
LGBTQ+ Journal Club is turning 1! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈To celebrate, here's a bit about what we've been up to over the past year: a thread of interesting papers in queer biology (1/n) ⬇️🧵
Excited to announce that we’ve finally hit the time of year where I remember that part of why I feel off is that I need to use a lil SAD light at my desk
November 11, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Excited to announce that we’ve finally hit the time of year where I remember that part of why I feel off is that I need to use a lil SAD light at my desk
Officially certified as a Carpentries instructor! Now qualified to teach people assorted programming and data-management techniques, which is nice
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Officially certified as a Carpentries instructor! Now qualified to teach people assorted programming and data-management techniques, which is nice
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
It's important to keep pointing this out about the many people who have gone the same way. Too often we suggest or imply that the trans moral panic merely allowed these people to be who they always were. Not true. We're seeing a process of *radicalisation*. We can't fix things unless we name them.
Transphobia is a pipeline to the far right. An example:
Suzanne Moore used to be a left wing columnist at the Guardian.
Then came the anti-trans panic. Despite the Guardian also promoting it, it wasn’t enough & she left.
Moore is now complaining about wokeness over the Irish famine & colonialism.
Suzanne Moore used to be a left wing columnist at the Guardian.
Then came the anti-trans panic. Despite the Guardian also promoting it, it wasn’t enough & she left.
Moore is now complaining about wokeness over the Irish famine & colonialism.
Suzanne Moore, who would rather be locked up than pay her BBC licence fee because the BBC is too nice to trans people for her liking.
November 10, 2025 at 7:51 AM
It's important to keep pointing this out about the many people who have gone the same way. Too often we suggest or imply that the trans moral panic merely allowed these people to be who they always were. Not true. We're seeing a process of *radicalisation*. We can't fix things unless we name them.
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Look, at the point when your game of dress-up results in a month-long mystery around a robbery at the Louvre, I think it’s fair to say you’ve made your dream come true
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Look, at the point when your game of dress-up results in a month-long mystery around a robbery at the Louvre, I think it’s fair to say you’ve made your dream come true
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Please go beyond the macabre and read this whole article.
It so elegantly touches on bat conservation, disease ecology, and the concept of One Health.
It so elegantly touches on bat conservation, disease ecology, and the concept of One Health.
Scientists filmed bats to see how they communicate while swarming. They found a surprise: In urban settings, rats attack bats. What are the implications for bats ... and virus spread to humans? n.pr/3WNy2KL
Wait, what? A RAT caught and ate a BAT? And there's video! What does it portend?
Scientists filmed bats to see how they communicate while swarming. They found a surprise: In urban settings, rats attack bats. What are the implications for bats ... and virus spread to humans?
n.pr
November 8, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Please go beyond the macabre and read this whole article.
It so elegantly touches on bat conservation, disease ecology, and the concept of One Health.
It so elegantly touches on bat conservation, disease ecology, and the concept of One Health.
By passing off Rosalind Franklin’s work as his own and taking the credit for the intellectual output of her labour, in many ways Watson was one of the pioneers of AI. In this thread I will… 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 PM
By passing off Rosalind Franklin’s work as his own and taking the credit for the intellectual output of her labour, in many ways Watson was one of the pioneers of AI. In this thread I will… 🧵
Birders: why do you insist on describing any thicc piece of bird anatomy as being like a boat, and how many of you have described yourself as boat-butted? Be honest
November 7, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Birders: why do you insist on describing any thicc piece of bird anatomy as being like a boat, and how many of you have described yourself as boat-butted? Be honest
This looks absolutely fantastic
Yes, the #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge trailer is out today...
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age — Season 3 Official Trailer | Apple TV
YouTube video by Apple TV
www.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This looks absolutely fantastic
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
succubus - female demon that seduces men
incubus - male demon that seduces women
vengabus - non-binary demon that likes to party
incubus - male demon that seduces women
vengabus - non-binary demon that likes to party
November 6, 2025 at 3:38 PM
succubus - female demon that seduces men
incubus - male demon that seduces women
vengabus - non-binary demon that likes to party
incubus - male demon that seduces women
vengabus - non-binary demon that likes to party
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
This is correct, with one important caveat - most decisions on funding, admin, publishing, career, are made (and can be derailed) by people who by definition benefited the most from these metrics and incentives, and stand to lose the most by changing them.
Academics set their metrics and incentives. And that defines everything. Including the future of scientific publishing.
And if at any point, one feels that incentives are being defined from outside, that's what needs to be fought against.
But the power of change lies within.
And if at any point, one feels that incentives are being defined from outside, that's what needs to be fought against.
But the power of change lies within.
November 6, 2025 at 1:25 PM
This is correct, with one important caveat - most decisions on funding, admin, publishing, career, are made (and can be derailed) by people who by definition benefited the most from these metrics and incentives, and stand to lose the most by changing them.
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
The number of people between 16 and 34 who died or were injured in a work-related incident increased by 76% between 1939 and 1946
The number of people aged between 16 and 34 who are out of work due to long-term sickness increased by 76% between 2019 and 2024
UK ‘sliding into avoidable crisis’, major review into workplace sickness warns
The number of people aged between 16 and 34 who are out of work due to long-term sickness increased by 76% between 2019 and 2024
www.independent.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 8:50 AM
The number of people between 16 and 34 who died or were injured in a work-related incident increased by 76% between 1939 and 1946
November 4, 2025 at 1:53 PM
One of my favourite things with my toddler is watching her using trial and error to attempt to understand what sentences really *mean*:
“No, don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“No, PLEASE don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“NO, don’t throw dump trucks at daddy’s crotch either”
“No, don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“No, PLEASE don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“NO, don’t throw dump trucks at daddy’s crotch either”
November 2, 2025 at 8:11 AM
One of my favourite things with my toddler is watching her using trial and error to attempt to understand what sentences really *mean*:
“No, don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“No, PLEASE don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“NO, don’t throw dump trucks at daddy’s crotch either”
“No, don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“No, PLEASE don’t throw wooden blocks at daddy’s crotch.”
“NO, don’t throw dump trucks at daddy’s crotch either”
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
happy #fossilfriday and halloween 🎃 in celebration of spooky season, i give to you the phorusrhacids, more popularly (and aptly) known as the terror birds. they were some of the most formidable land predators of the cenozoic, and in my opinion, are vastly underappreciated
(art by rudolf hima)
(art by rudolf hima)
October 31, 2025 at 2:54 PM
happy #fossilfriday and halloween 🎃 in celebration of spooky season, i give to you the phorusrhacids, more popularly (and aptly) known as the terror birds. they were some of the most formidable land predators of the cenozoic, and in my opinion, are vastly underappreciated
(art by rudolf hima)
(art by rudolf hima)
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Reducing the amount of particle pollution alone may not reduce its toxicity, unless we also focus on traffic and wood burning.
Piece by me on European-wide oxidative potential measurements by
Cécile Tassel, Gaëlle Uzu et al - @igegrenoble.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Piece by me on European-wide oxidative potential measurements by
Cécile Tassel, Gaëlle Uzu et al - @igegrenoble.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Tackle wood burning and road traffic to improve Europe’s air quality, study finds
Researchers measure toxicity of air samples across continent to advise on ‘efficient’ policies to reduce harm
www.theguardian.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reducing the amount of particle pollution alone may not reduce its toxicity, unless we also focus on traffic and wood burning.
Piece by me on European-wide oxidative potential measurements by
Cécile Tassel, Gaëlle Uzu et al - @igegrenoble.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Piece by me on European-wide oxidative potential measurements by
Cécile Tassel, Gaëlle Uzu et al - @igegrenoble.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Photography: playing with light and shadow
October 29, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Photography: playing with light and shadow
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
The Wikipedia article on bat bombs is full of crazy details. My favorite is the section euphemistically labeled “Setbacks” with a photo of a towering inferno caused by an errant bat carrying an incendiary bomb that escaped, parked itself under a fuel tank, and blew everything up.
October 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
The Wikipedia article on bat bombs is full of crazy details. My favorite is the section euphemistically labeled “Setbacks” with a photo of a towering inferno caused by an errant bat carrying an incendiary bomb that escaped, parked itself under a fuel tank, and blew everything up.
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Really cannot wait to talk about #PrehistoricPlanetaIceAge. You're just gonna be blown away, it is spectacular in scope and quality. Yes, some teasers out there already, but there's SO much more that hasn't been outed yet. Coming to AppleTV next month!
October 29, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Really cannot wait to talk about #PrehistoricPlanetaIceAge. You're just gonna be blown away, it is spectacular in scope and quality. Yes, some teasers out there already, but there's SO much more that hasn't been outed yet. Coming to AppleTV next month!
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Elon Musk continues to try to socialise civil war, political & inter-ethnic violence in Britain. He combines an argument that violence is inevitable with his call at the Tommy Robinson rally for pre-emptive violence, on grounds of an existential threat & the inevitability of violence
October 29, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Elon Musk continues to try to socialise civil war, political & inter-ethnic violence in Britain. He combines an argument that violence is inevitable with his call at the Tommy Robinson rally for pre-emptive violence, on grounds of an existential threat & the inevitability of violence
Reposted by Dave Hemprich-Bennett
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.