Andrew Christopher Knapp

Leaded petrol and CFCs are no more

During a bracing an soggy walk around the sea wall at RSPB Old Hall Marshes in Essex yesterday I found this lesser spotted dogfish. Looks like someone had their picnic interrupted!

My personal position? I don't ever use generative AI. It offers me nothing useful creatively and nothing trustworthy as research. The environmental impact is appalling and the companies who developed it stole copyright intellectual property knowing that is illegal. GenAI is dishonest at every level.

🎟️ Tickets go on sale TODAY 9 October for our Amazing Anatomy event at the Grant Museum! 🧠✨ Book your tickets today: 👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/family-eve...

...he's a tortoise.

The News

Albanian cats 10/10

When in primary school, a kid from secondary school came along with his electric guitar to play us the Godfather theme. He made quite a few mistakes and swore a lot, and we were told at the end that that kind of language was not appropriate at all.

Really excited to share our latest paper with you! We examine patterns of skull shape evolution in an awesome group of fishes and show that they rapidly innovated following the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

The Tree of Life Web Project is back online! tolweb.org Thanks to Travis Wheeler (@wheelerlab.org), Danny Mandel, and Andrew Lenards, the original programmers for ToLWeb, for retooling the code to work on a modern OS! It is hard for me to believe it lives again.

"Working in groups..."

World-renowned artist Ai Weiwei hadn’t created a drawing in over 50 years. Moved by the death of Sherwood Forest’s ancient, 1,200-year-old Major Oak, he travelled to see it for himself. And there, he picked up his pencil again. Discover the story behind A Tree: www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

This is an absolutely astonishing achievement!

Here's my prediction - next year, or 2028, or whenever the next hottest summer on record is, the media will forget this summer and bang on about 1976 again, just like they forgot about last year's hottest ever summer.

Have you ever wanted to visually compare the size of your favorite extinct animals? Now you can, as I'm launching an interactive size comparison tool on my website. Give it a try and let me know what you think: www.skeletaldrawing.com/compare/

Very well deserved indeed! Congratulations, @evoswami.bsky.social!

FINALLY! #rain

The five Simpsons lines I've uttered most: 1. Remember, now, YOU are Homer Thompson 2. Hello, children, I am Mr Black 3. I don't recall saying good luck! 4. Mmm, steamed hams! 5. I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!

Good morning Bluesky ☀️ This is one of the last coal powered sheep. The vast majority of UK sheep are now all electric ⚡️

This is a fascinating thread! Can confirm that Wormingford has no crocodiles today, though.

Lovely walk along the coast of Mersea Island at dusk yesterday, even spotted a little owl! (Photo courtesy of @samuraipizzakat.bsky.social)

Remember, there's always an eclipse somewhere (in space).

If you missed the solar eclipse, this is what it looked like:

Chat shit, get commissioned 💪🏻😅 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

But can AI succinctly summarise an AI summary? I can't be bothered with reading all that!

"I want you to panic." But not from @thunberggreta.bsky.social —this time from a firefighter whose face betrays his despair—he understands all too well how deeply political denial still hinders action. He was @zackpolanski.bsky.social s press conference. We need more of this involved people at mics.

This really is an excellent place. Bravo, Binface!

Happy #internationalcatday to all who observe!

Turtle doves at Wrabness, North #Essex, last weekend. #BirdsOfBluesky

There now follows a party election broadcast by the Count Binface Party, And if I do say so myself, it's a banger. #VoteBinface #Clacton

Are wasps feeling the heat this summer? Be kind to wasps at your picnic this summer: share your meal & tell us what they're after. Is it Ham (protein-rich)? or Jam (sugary) @uclnews.bsky.social @theconversation.com @femi-benny.bsky.social @cintiaoi.bsky.social theconversation.com/where-have-a...

In 1999 my girlfriend gave me a self-help book called Stop Procrastinating. In 2024 I finally got around to reading it. The book didn't work - I've even procrastinated for 2 years posting this fess.

Shocking to discover designating AI data centres as “National Critical Infrastructure” means water companies are prohibited from restricting water to them even in times of drought. Households will lose water first. Thanks to @olliehayes.bsky.social at @globalactionplan.bsky.social for joining me

I don’t want to be too sensationalist about this but also I’m the least violent person in the world and I think if someone said this to my face I’d hit them

I completely re-wrote the AI section of my guide to academic reading/writing to be much stricter and more negative (now titled "AI-generated fabrications as academic misconduct"). Please use/share with your students, and let me know if you have any more changes to suggest! doi.org/10.31234/osf...

THREAD. In today's exclusive newspaper interview the actor, influencer and designer Philippa Islington-Smythe (pictured) discusses the price of fame, her controversial new perfume, working with Margot Robbie and how becoming a parent changed her perspective on the world... (more in alt text)

I'm pretty sure that this is footage of me every time I make lasagne

Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface

Want to know more about the evolution of amphibious hearing in seals? Check out our article in The Conversation! 🦭 🔊 🧪 doi.org/10.64628/AA....

Quick Tip: "Don't speak ill of the dead" means dont demean, or spread lies, or speak malicious untruth about dead people, who cant defend themselves Accurately describing someone's life and legacy is not "speaking ill" It's the truth - which is self justifying in that it is the truth!