Melanie Newfield
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melanienewfield.bsky.social
Melanie Newfield
@melanienewfield.bsky.social
Science and environment writer and communicator. Loves to talk about risk. Obsessed with plants and hopes to one day see every species of eucalypt.

I make the science behind important issues accessible here: https://theturnstone.substack.com
America's Finest News Source. Let's be honest, it's pretty hard to tell The Onion @theonion.com from the New York Times these days. www.thewrap.com/new-york-tim...
The New York Times Ridiculed for 'Did Women Ruin the Workplace?' Op-Ed: 'Are You Kidding Me?'
"Tell me your column hasn’t been getting any clicks without telling me your column hasn’t been getting any clicks," senior staff writer for Vanity Fair Elise Taylor writes
www.thewrap.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:24 AM
But once rats were eradicated from Campbell Island in 2001, the snipe flew home. They were later confirmed to be a unique subspecies unknown to science.
Here's my full article on austral snipe
theturnstone.substack.com/p/a-snippet-...
A snippet of hope
Tragedy and triumph for some of our most obscure birds (7 minute read)
theturnstone.substack.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Subantarctic snipe had never been seen on Campbell Island in the Southern Ocean, which was overrun by rats before 1820. But in 1997, birds were seen on a tiny islet nearby. They'd survived more than 180 years on 19 hectares of rock and scrub.
November 7, 2025 at 7:07 AM
I'm in New Zealand, so I'm one of those who had it foisted on them months before the rest of the world. It was so intrusive I couldn't work with it. I had to revert to a previous version of office and block updates for the next six months until I could opt out.
November 6, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Lucky indeed! I do hope that I might see one of these one day.
November 6, 2025 at 12:58 AM
I saw a few when I was counting cockles on Sunday. Stunning birds!
November 5, 2025 at 9:40 AM
I feel so bad for all that you are going through in the US, and also all the other countries severely affected by the regime's awfulness. It's heartbreaking to see the damage they are doing on so many levels and in so many areas. Kia kaha (means "be strong", said as a statement of support)
October 27, 2025 at 7:03 AM
To some extent, yes, and this certainly has to top the list. If we can't get that right, the rest is moot. In New Zealand, the big stuff is also controlling the worst of our invasive species. Without that, we will have dozens more extinctions in the next couple of decades.
October 26, 2025 at 7:14 AM
We've been an incredibly resilient species, not in terms of surviving over a long time but surviving in diverse environments and being adaptable. But in the last 10,000 years we've been becoming much less so.
October 26, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Australia has such heartbreaking extinction statistics. So many unique species have disappeared and are disappearing.
October 26, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Thanks. Yes, so much destruction caused by the arrogance and ignorance.
October 26, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Forgot to add link and #sciart theturnstone.substack.com/p/silent-end...
At least the wētāpunga, illustrated in the article, is making a small comeback.
Silent ending
The unnoticed disappearance of our smaller species (11 minute read)
theturnstone.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Wellington details
October 12, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Apologies, forgot alt-text again, it says SCANZ networking night, 15 Oct, 5.30 pm, lists the cities and says everyone welcome and nibbles provided.
October 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Or don't use Google? I still need Google Scholar but other search engines like DuckDuckGo are good enough for other searches, and I do a lot of work-related searches.
October 12, 2025 at 7:09 AM
I'll check it out. I tried out a few alternatives and started using DuckDuckGo the very day Google introduced their AI summaries, but haven't tried this one.
October 12, 2025 at 7:04 AM
I haven’t watched it yet as I’m on the bus, but know it will be brutally accurate
October 10, 2025 at 6:34 AM