Rachael Taylor
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rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
Rachael Taylor
@rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
190 followers 620 following 26 posts
Huge fan of Mineral Cup. Also interested in science, art, climate change, environment, disability rights, social justice, and more. Work in research funding for climate change and health.
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Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mineralcup.bsky.social
#OreCup is our first mini-Cup and our first collaboration. Give us feedback?
Ore Cup Players Survey — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup
This is our first Ore Cup, our first week-long mini-cup, and our first collaboration with the International Mineralogical Association. We’d love to get your feedback on what worked, what didn’t, and…
www.mineralcup.org
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mineralcup.bsky.social
Twiddling your thumbs after already voting in #MinCup25?

Why don’t you take our annual Players Survey and help us improve for next year! www.mineralcup.org/2025/players...
Annual Mineral Cup Players Survey — Mineral Cup
www.mineralcup.org
October 1, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mineralcup.bsky.social
Hark! What’s that we see on the horizon?

Is it something new? Something mostly metallic, quite heavy, and essential to society? It’s an all-new collaboration with IMA!

Ore Cup: www.mineralcup.org/about-ore-cup

Voting starts Monday November 3. Winner crowned IMA Ore Mineral of the Year
October 2, 2025 at 1:13 AM
rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
#MinCup25 Please vote only once per match.

Don't ruin the fun for everyone else. If you're cheating the amazing admin team spot the suspicious voting pattern and delete your votes so they don't count anyway.

Have fun, vote once, and campaign for more votes.
September 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mineralcup.bsky.social
FAQ:
What if I hand my phone to my kid? What if I forgot that I voted late at night & voted again in the morning? What if I share my internet connection with a whole dorm? 😭

A:
It’s ok! We love those real-life connections & deliberately don’t lock down so they happen.

Spam-cheating is distinctive.
September 27, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
salvaterra.bsky.social
First round losers in the #MinCup25

(is this rude?)

#sciart #minerals
a poster with illustrations of 16 minerals eliminated in the first round of the 2025 mineral cup: chrysotile, okenite, jeremejevite, calcite, silver, leucite, sanidine, pollucite, azurite, wavellite, thortveitite, zunyite, topaz, ikaite, nontronite, and paddlewheelite. They have a large range of colours and shapes going from blue and green to yellow and red.
September 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mikamckinnon.bsky.social
#MinCup25

#Ikaite
1. is the melting mineral that disappears above the icy seas
2. is the ghosts of drown Viking invaders
3. whispers in the geologic record as oddly-shaped calcite & opal
4. hides on cheese rind & frozen shrimp
5. is a powerhouse of a carbon sink
September 14, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
ckweatherill.bsky.social
New article! I'll do a thread / blog soon, but it's out, and it's Open Access!

'Colonial fantasies of invulnerability to climate change'

doi.org/10.1080/1461...
screenshot of first page, abstract reads: Despite an ever-growing critical literature, vulnerability retains its place as a dominant concept in climate politics. What is less heavily researched is the concept of “invulnerability,” an idea that feminist and decolonial theory has many tools to critique. After unpacking the material and discursive elements of vulnerability politics, this article focuses on invulnerability as a concept that is an influential yet unexplored set of masculine and colonial fantasies. These fantasies – of modernity, mastery, and continentalism – are critiqued through different critical traditions, which are brought into conversation with climate politics literature. I then discuss the counternarratives of Oceanic thought, following Teresia Teaiwa’s prompt to “island the world.” I argue that this can be done through a focus on care, relationality, and a decolonial politics of resistance. I conclude that resisting the politics of vulnerability requires an engagement with critical feminist and decolonial thought to enable an imaginative piercing of the fantasies of invulnerability.
December 6, 2024 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
hetanshah.bsky.social
I'm really excited about this one. We've opened a new @britishacademy.bsky.social call offering up to £150k for researchers to work with peers around the world to strengthen evidence informed policymaking in different contexts. Deadline 19th Feb.
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/evid...
Evidence-informed policymaking grants
This programme gives ODA-eligible early-career to senior researchers the opportunity to work with peers around the world to inform policymaking through quality evidence and research.
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk
November 19, 2024 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
canopyrobin.com
Happy #LgbtqStemDay! I'm very excited to be launching these enamel pins, featuring the progress pride flag on my study organism of choice: Trees! 🏳️‍🌈🌳 www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1...
November 18, 2024 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mineralcup.bsky.social
Now this is worth waiting for. Here in all its glory is Mineral Cup 2024 champion!

⚒️🧪🖖🏼geology
Champion Rhodochrosite — Mineral Cup
www.mineralcup.org
October 3, 2024 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
katharinehayhoe.com
"Stationarity" is the belief that past climate is an accurate predictor of future conditions. Sounds silly, right? But we've baked this false sense of stability into all our human systems. From building codes to water systems to infrastructure, it's all designed for a planet that no longer exists.
a man is standing on the side of the road holding a shovel and a sign that says this would be us .
ALT: a man is standing on the side of the road holding a shovel and a sign that says this would be us .
media.tenor.com
September 29, 2024 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
vickyveritas.bsky.social
Calcite gets the science vote. The U of Arizona used calcite in foraminifera shells in ocean sediment and climate models to find that future extreme El Niño events could become more prevalent as the planet warms.
#MinCup24
Ernst Haeckel Kunstformen der Natur 1904 Thalamphora Foraminifera Illustrated Plate 2. From Wikimedia
September 27, 2024 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
obialik.bsky.social
People, what is wrong with you?
Why choose a mineral that comes in only one color when you can have a mineral that can come in all colors?
#TeamCalcite ⚒️
Calcite in thin section, source: https://www.reddit.com/r/geology/comments/fh269j/calcite_under_the_microscope/
September 23, 2024 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
jraasch.bsky.social
A #MinCup24 vote for Calcite is a vote for Trilobite Eyes!

Voting for calcite. Go vote for calcite. Thanks.

beatymuseum.ubc.ca/2017/10/26/t...
Trilobite Eyes Have Lenses Made Of Calcite
Let's focus on one of the most fascinating things that evolved in trilobites that helped them survive over the course of all those millennia: their eyes.
beatymuseum.ubc.ca
September 15, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
mineralcup.bsky.social
🍎 Teachers, if you are looking for an activity for your students,
you may want to take a peek at the Mineral Cup feed. We are posting
a bracket style competition that pits two minerals against each other
daily during September. There are opportunities to learn (cont.)👇🏼
September 13, 2024 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
ahaikulife.bsky.social
Lizzo's Boys but it's #MinCup24

I like big rocks
Itty bitty rocks
Mississippi rocks
Undercity rocks
I like hard rocks
And the soft guys
You can scratch them
With your nail, try!
September 9, 2024 at 7:43 PM
rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
If you're still reeling from the defeat of #Copper, now is your chance to keep copper in the running in #MinCup24. Vote for #Atacamite, a copper chloride hydroxide which in some locations can be a minor ore for copper.

Vote #Atacamite! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...
Round 1 Match 7 — Mineral Cup
Stibnite vs Atacamite
www.mineralcup.org
September 7, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
minouette.bsky.social
#Atacamite -used as a green pigment since antiquity on ancient Egyptian paintings, illuminated manuscripts, sculptures, oil paintings or here in ancient Buddhist Kizil Caves in China (3rd-8th century) pulls ahead of #Stibnite -used as kohl as cosmetics since ancient Egypt for my #MinCup24 art vote.
As an example of kohl: My linocut of Peseshet, ancient Egyptian woman physician dispensing medicine with hieroglyphs in dark red and blue spelling out her name and profession. Peseshet has dark black kohl around her eyes. Kohl was also viewed as medicinal so apt for this physician. anterior wall of the main chamber of Kizil Cave 38, Xinjiang, China with blue‒green pigment from atacamite (or now lavendulan which was likely generated by the transformation of atacamite under the influence of arsenates. Though damaged, several Buddhist figures seated in lotus positions are visible with white, black, pale blue, dark blue are gold paints used on back wall and barrel ceiling. Image via: Shen, L., Yang, J., Wang, J. et al. Atacamite discolouration under the influence of arsenates in wall paintings in the Kizil Grottoes, Xinjiang, China. Herit Sci 12, 292 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-024-01406-y
September 7, 2024 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
glacierpique.bsky.social
#Atacamite crystallizes around seafloor vents, in arid environments, and even sublimates around subaerial volcanic vents. It is also a biomineral 🤩, a natural composite that forms bloodworm jaws.
🧪⚒️ #MinCup24
Dark green tabular crystals of Atacamite contrast with rounds of white clay. Image from mindat.org.
September 7, 2024 at 4:01 PM
rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
#Stibnite is well known to have been used in cosmetics by the Ancient Egyptians, but so was #Atacamite.

Stibnite has had its chance in past MinCups. It's time to give the green beauty your vote.

Vote Atacamite! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...

#MinCup24
September 7, 2024 at 2:21 PM
rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
Recognise this? Yes, that's #Atacamite! Atacamite can form as a corrosion product of copper alloys so is found coating many bronze statues including the Statue of Liberty.

Vote Atacamite today! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...
#MinCup24 @MineralCup

Image: commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St...
A photo of the head of the Statue of Liberty
September 7, 2024 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Rachael Taylor
khesser.bsky.social
I usually vote late in the day so I can see everyone’s interesting #MinCup24 facts and pretty mineral photos, but as an astronomer I think I’m obliged to vote for the one named after the Atacama dessert: home to ALMA, one of the most important telescopes in the world. #Atacamite
Big white telescopes in a high desert landscape. Dark blue sky with whispy clouds. A pile of rocks (this is MinCup after all) marks the center of the telescope array. Large white dishes scattered over the high desert receded into the horizon. Tall hills on the horizon jut above the already high desert plain.
September 7, 2024 at 7:23 AM
rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
Atacamite has been used as a green-blue pigment in cultural artefacts for millennia and across continents.
#Atacamite wins the art vote for today!

Vote Atacamite today! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...
#MinCup24 @MineralCup
Round 1 Match 7 — Mineral Cup
Stibnite vs Atacamite
www.mineralcup.org
September 7, 2024 at 12:20 PM
rachaeltaylor.bsky.social
What connects the driest place on Earth, the volcano that smothered Pompeii, and our memorials to the great and good? That's right! It's #Atacamite!

Vote Atacamite today! www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1...
#MinCup24 @mineralcup.bsky.social
Round 1 Match 7 — Mineral Cup
Stibnite vs Atacamite
www.mineralcup.org
September 7, 2024 at 11:59 AM