Eva Amsen
@easternblot.bsky.social
Science writer. 🇳🇱🇪🇺in🇬🇧 I write about science in magazines, in a newsletter, in books, on social media and on loose scraps of paper. Also a violinist. 🔬🧬👩💻🎨🎻 🐈 Fun newsletter: https://mixture.substack.com Portfolio: https://evaamsen.com/writing/
Reposted by Eva Amsen
Literally buying one copy of a book at your local indie bookstore can mean the difference in whether they buy future books from that author.
November 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Literally buying one copy of a book at your local indie bookstore can mean the difference in whether they buy future books from that author.
I only had to walk down 10 steps at Waterloo to get on the Bakerloo line platform and everything else was ramps and escalators. Phew!
I am navigating the London tube with a very heavy little suitcase full of sheet music and concert programmes. Trying to find a route with minimal stairs because I can barely lift it (and am also carrying another bag and a violin). I think I’ve cut it down to 1 flight going down…
November 29, 2025 at 1:39 PM
I only had to walk down 10 steps at Waterloo to get on the Bakerloo line platform and everything else was ramps and escalators. Phew!
I am navigating the London tube with a very heavy little suitcase full of sheet music and concert programmes. Trying to find a route with minimal stairs because I can barely lift it (and am also carrying another bag and a violin). I think I’ve cut it down to 1 flight going down…
November 29, 2025 at 11:59 AM
I am navigating the London tube with a very heavy little suitcase full of sheet music and concert programmes. Trying to find a route with minimal stairs because I can barely lift it (and am also carrying another bag and a violin). I think I’ve cut it down to 1 flight going down…
Reposted by Eva Amsen
‘If I was American, I’d be worried about my country’: Margaret Atwood answers questions from Ai Weiwei, Rebecca Solnit and more
‘If I was American, I’d be worried about my country’: Margaret Atwood answers questions from Ai Weiwei, Rebecca Solnit and more
Democracy, birds and hangover cures – famous fans put their questions to the visionary author
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:28 AM
‘If I was American, I’d be worried about my country’: Margaret Atwood answers questions from Ai Weiwei, Rebecca Solnit and more
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Fox
Moose
Platypus
Gecko
Iguana
(Bonus: All of these were on different continents!)
Fox
Moose
Platypus
Gecko
Iguana
(Bonus: All of these were on different continents!)
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
Caribou
Ravens
Seals
Kea
Turkeys
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Moose
Humpback whales
Giraffes
African Elephants
West African or Nile monitor lizard
Moose
Humpback whales
Giraffes
African Elephants
West African or Nile monitor lizard
November 28, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild:
Fox
Moose
Platypus
Gecko
Iguana
(Bonus: All of these were on different continents!)
Fox
Moose
Platypus
Gecko
Iguana
(Bonus: All of these were on different continents!)
Reposted by Eva Amsen
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
Reposted by Eva Amsen
Apparently children are better at replicating Pollock paintings than adults are. The researchers who figured this out (using fractal analysis) think it might be related to biomechanical balance. 🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/evaams...
Jackson Pollock Painted Like Children Do, Fractal Analysis Shows
Researchers studied drip paintings in the style of Jackson Pollock, made by children and adults. They found that children moved more like Pollock did.
www.forbes.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Apparently children are better at replicating Pollock paintings than adults are. The researchers who figured this out (using fractal analysis) think it might be related to biomechanical balance. 🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/evaams...
You could spend your money on a Black Friday sale, or you can buy a science book directly from me. They're not on sale, though, because I'm not a big business. But I will sign them!
#scicomm evaamsen.com/product/sign...
#scicomm evaamsen.com/product/sign...
Signed copy - Hey, There's Science In This - Eva Amsen
Get a signed copy of the essay collection "Hey, There's Science In This", by Eva Amsen. This book ships from the UK.
evaamsen.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
You could spend your money on a Black Friday sale, or you can buy a science book directly from me. They're not on sale, though, because I'm not a big business. But I will sign them!
#scicomm evaamsen.com/product/sign...
#scicomm evaamsen.com/product/sign...
Reposted by Eva Amsen
On the Factor Fexcectorn and autism bicycle AI slop study: I got an answer from Springer Nature this morning that this scientific paper will be retracted! 🧪
Full story: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the...
Full story: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the...
Riding the Autism Bicycle to Retraction Town
Does anyone *really* know their Factor Fexcectorn?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:25 AM
On the Factor Fexcectorn and autism bicycle AI slop study: I got an answer from Springer Nature this morning that this scientific paper will be retracted! 🧪
Full story: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the...
Full story: nobreakthroughs.substack.com/p/riding-the...
Apparently children are better at replicating Pollock paintings than adults are. The researchers who figured this out (using fractal analysis) think it might be related to biomechanical balance. 🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/evaams...
Jackson Pollock Painted Like Children Do, Fractal Analysis Shows
Researchers studied drip paintings in the style of Jackson Pollock, made by children and adults. They found that children moved more like Pollock did.
www.forbes.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Apparently children are better at replicating Pollock paintings than adults are. The researchers who figured this out (using fractal analysis) think it might be related to biomechanical balance. 🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/evaams...
Reposted by Eva Amsen
Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden!
November 26, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden!
Reposted by Eva Amsen
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I haven't mentioned this in ages, so some of you might not know that I host regular online coworking sessions for science writers and science communicators. #scicomm Every Thursday at 2PM UK time you can pop in a video call on Discord where whoever is around will briefly say hi and then work on mute
November 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I haven't mentioned this in ages, so some of you might not know that I host regular online coworking sessions for science writers and science communicators. #scicomm Every Thursday at 2PM UK time you can pop in a video call on Discord where whoever is around will briefly say hi and then work on mute
Reposted by Eva Amsen
‘The narwhals stop calling’: how the noise from ships is silencing wildlife in the Arctic
‘The narwhals stop calling’: how the noise from ships is silencing wildlife in the Arctic
Evidence that the whales and other marine animals are particularly vulnerable to sound is driving calls for quieter vessels
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:40 AM
‘The narwhals stop calling’: how the noise from ships is silencing wildlife in the Arctic
Weird support bot hallucinating a date that didn’t exist
It suddently said "Oh, sorry, I made a mistake. Friday is the 29th of November. I booked your appointment for Friday, 29th of November, 2025."
Friday is NOT the 29th, it's definitely the 28th. Everything was going right and then the AI just hallucinated a date that doesn't exist.
Friday is NOT the 29th, it's definitely the 28th. Everything was going right and then the AI just hallucinated a date that doesn't exist.
a woman is talking to a man and says because i didn 't think march 31st existed .
ALT: a woman is talking to a man and says because i didn 't think march 31st existed .
media.tenor.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Weird support bot hallucinating a date that didn’t exist
Reposted by Eva Amsen
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu
November 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The weirdest AI hallunication happened today: My partner was struggling to interact with a bot over the phone, trying to book in a repair for our fridge. After much back and forth, the bot agreed to book something in on Friday November 28th. But then!
November 24, 2025 at 3:45 PM
The weirdest AI hallunication happened today: My partner was struggling to interact with a bot over the phone, trying to book in a repair for our fridge. After much back and forth, the bot agreed to book something in on Friday November 28th. But then!
Reposted by Eva Amsen
New Mixture, in which I muse about university museums. 🧪 mixture.substack.com/p/whats-in-y...
What's in your local university's museum?
Is it a collection of old science objects, or is it a day trip destination for families? Can it be both?
mixture.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:49 PM
New Mixture, in which I muse about university museums. 🧪 mixture.substack.com/p/whats-in-y...
New Mixture, in which I muse about university museums. 🧪 mixture.substack.com/p/whats-in-y...
What's in your local university's museum?
Is it a collection of old science objects, or is it a day trip destination for families? Can it be both?
mixture.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 3:49 PM
New Mixture, in which I muse about university museums. 🧪 mixture.substack.com/p/whats-in-y...
Reposted by Eva Amsen
Science will often take you to unexpected and delightful places. In this study, researchers hypothesized that riders in a crowded subway car would be more likely to offer their seat to a pregnant person if there were someone in the subway car dressed as Batman 🧪🦇
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
November 21, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Science will often take you to unexpected and delightful places. In this study, researchers hypothesized that riders in a crowded subway car would be more likely to offer their seat to a pregnant person if there were someone in the subway car dressed as Batman 🧪🦇
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Eva Amsen
My shop is once again open for all your #sciart needs! Clickety-click! artologica.etsy.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:46 PM
My shop is once again open for all your #sciart needs! Clickety-click! artologica.etsy.com
It’s so cold today. Not objectively (it will be colder, still) but the temperature dropped by about 15 degrees in just a few days. This morning it was literally freezing and yet somehow there was still a guy wearing shorts. I was giving him confusing stares from behind my own five layers of shirts.
November 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
It’s so cold today. Not objectively (it will be colder, still) but the temperature dropped by about 15 degrees in just a few days. This morning it was literally freezing and yet somehow there was still a guy wearing shorts. I was giving him confusing stares from behind my own five layers of shirts.
A young flamingo flew away from a zoo in Cornwall even though it had its wings clipped. A few days later it was spotted in France. It can't go back to its family because of avian flu concerns, but flamingo experts seem to think it will be fine! 🧳🦩https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rpykye4qxo
Escaped flamingo from Cornwall doing 'extremely well' in France
An escaped flamingo is showing the skills and resilience needed for the wild, keepers say.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 11:58 AM
A young flamingo flew away from a zoo in Cornwall even though it had its wings clipped. A few days later it was spotted in France. It can't go back to its family because of avian flu concerns, but flamingo experts seem to think it will be fine! 🧳🦩https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0rpykye4qxo
London problems: there is a broken Forest bike on my street making loud crunching noises since last night. The only way to report this is through their app, which I don’t have and don’t want. Their instagram messages are closed to strangers as well. I can’t post it publicly because it’s my street.
November 19, 2025 at 11:33 AM
London problems: there is a broken Forest bike on my street making loud crunching noises since last night. The only way to report this is through their app, which I don’t have and don’t want. Their instagram messages are closed to strangers as well. I can’t post it publicly because it’s my street.
I'm affected by the Cloudflare outage in the sense that I wanted to upload a better selfie to a website for a work thing but the upload site is now down so they're going to use my ugly selfie that I took rushedly at 8AM before I washed my hair.
November 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I'm affected by the Cloudflare outage in the sense that I wanted to upload a better selfie to a website for a work thing but the upload site is now down so they're going to use my ugly selfie that I took rushedly at 8AM before I washed my hair.