Joachim Mergeay
@jmergeay.bsky.social
EU - Scientist INBO Belgium- Assoc prof @KU_Leuven - conservation genetics of any species - climbing arborist - wolves - LCIE - he/him 💙🇺🇦💛
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-650
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-650
Pinned
Joachim Mergeay
@jmergeay.bsky.social
· Jan 29
Out now in @nature.com! Our comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation interventions that could mitigate this process
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪🌍🦤🧬
#consgen #PopGen
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪🌍🦤🧬
#consgen #PopGen
Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss - Nature
A comprehensive meta-analysis of global terrestrial and marine genetic diversity covering more than three decades of research demonstrates rapid loss of genetic diversity and identifies conservation i...
www.nature.com
Our global meta-analysis of changes in genetic diversity across the entire tree of life indicates pervasive loss of intraspecific diversity, but there is a glimmer of hope: conservation actions and management interventions can indeed make a difference. 👇
If you care about freedom, this long-read might interest you. Especially if you live in the US, you are likely much less free than a year ago. But also in the safe haven of the EU, we are less free now, because US policy is spilling over. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
The Situation: How Much Less Free Are We?
I gave a speech.
www.lawfaremedia.org
November 11, 2025 at 2:06 PM
If you care about freedom, this long-read might interest you. Especially if you live in the US, you are likely much less free than a year ago. But also in the safe haven of the EU, we are less free now, because US policy is spilling over. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Scientists warn deep-sea mining plumes could starve tiny marine life, disrupting food webs and threatening fisheries
Ocean mining may harm tiny species at heart of marine food webs
Scientists warn deep-sea mining plumes could starve tiny marine life, disrupting food webs and threatening fisheries
l.euronews.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Scientists warn deep-sea mining plumes could starve tiny marine life, disrupting food webs and threatening fisheries
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
The development of the Pizol Glacier within a few decades – and there are still retards who claim that man-made #climate change does not exist.
November 8, 2025 at 10:37 AM
The development of the Pizol Glacier within a few decades – and there are still retards who claim that man-made #climate change does not exist.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Large-scale citizen science study identifies imidacloprid as primary chemical risk in UK freshwaters
imidacloprid was detected in 24% of samples. In every sample where it was present, concentrations exceeded risk thresholds for aquatic invertebrates.
www.watermagazine.co.uk/2025/11/05/l...
imidacloprid was detected in 24% of samples. In every sample where it was present, concentrations exceeded risk thresholds for aquatic invertebrates.
www.watermagazine.co.uk/2025/11/05/l...
Large-scale citizen science study identifies imidacloprid as primary chemical risk in UK freshwaters - Water Magazine
60% of freshwater sites show elevated nutrient pollution -- comprehensive chemical analysis reveals contamination in all samples.
www.watermagazine.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Large-scale citizen science study identifies imidacloprid as primary chemical risk in UK freshwaters
imidacloprid was detected in 24% of samples. In every sample where it was present, concentrations exceeded risk thresholds for aquatic invertebrates.
www.watermagazine.co.uk/2025/11/05/l...
imidacloprid was detected in 24% of samples. In every sample where it was present, concentrations exceeded risk thresholds for aquatic invertebrates.
www.watermagazine.co.uk/2025/11/05/l...
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
"it was not a case of them stealing the King’s group’s data and then, voila, those data gave them the structure of DNA. Instead, they solved the structure through their own iterative approach and then used the King’s data — without permission — to confirm it."
On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:44 AM
"it was not a case of them stealing the King’s group’s data and then, voila, those data gave them the structure of DNA. Instead, they solved the structure through their own iterative approach and then used the King’s data — without permission — to confirm it."
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
So the EP Agri committee, so adamant that consumers would be confused by labels saying VeggyBurger or Vegeterian sausage, have voted to allow booze producers to replace health indications with a QR code
Transparency seems is a one way street. Leading away from healthier and more sustainable diets.
Transparency seems is a one way street. Leading away from healthier and more sustainable diets.
November 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM
So the EP Agri committee, so adamant that consumers would be confused by labels saying VeggyBurger or Vegeterian sausage, have voted to allow booze producers to replace health indications with a QR code
Transparency seems is a one way street. Leading away from healthier and more sustainable diets.
Transparency seems is a one way street. Leading away from healthier and more sustainable diets.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
IT'S HAPPENING! 💥 I'm psyched to launch the collaboration between @qedscience.bsky.social & @openrxiv.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Preprint + q.e.d = your science is out there, and anyone can appreciate it. Let's care about making discoveries, and not on “getting published” (1/3) 👇
November 6, 2025 at 2:49 PM
IT'S HAPPENING! 💥 I'm psyched to launch the collaboration between @qedscience.bsky.social & @openrxiv.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Preprint + q.e.d = your science is out there, and anyone can appreciate it. Let's care about making discoveries, and not on “getting published” (1/3) 👇
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Dit moet het grappigste zijn dat ik in tijden gelezen heb.
Papa Mamdani werd geïntroduceerd tot het Marxisme door …
De FBI.
Papa Mamdani werd geïntroduceerd tot het Marxisme door …
De FBI.
November 5, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Dit moet het grappigste zijn dat ik in tijden gelezen heb.
Papa Mamdani werd geïntroduceerd tot het Marxisme door …
De FBI.
Papa Mamdani werd geïntroduceerd tot het Marxisme door …
De FBI.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
We've been down on the beach today picking up firework debris. It's odd, isn't it, that you can be fined £250 for dropping litter but somehow it's OK to launch rockets containing plastic casings into the sky.
November 5, 2025 at 6:23 PM
We've been down on the beach today picking up firework debris. It's odd, isn't it, that you can be fined £250 for dropping litter but somehow it's OK to launch rockets containing plastic casings into the sky.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Ik vind dat ontkenners van de opwarming en politici en bedrijven die niet genoeg doen om die opwarming tegen te gaan, moeten worden geschaard onder de noemer ‘georganiseerde criminaliteit’. Ze richten veel meer schade en leed aan dan de doorsnee drugsbende.
Afstervend koraal. Snel smeltende gletsjers. Een orkaan die door warmere oceanen in moordend tempo een moordende intensiteit opbouwde. En tegelijkertijd lezen dat lidstaten willen dat de Europese Commissie haar klimaatdoelen afschaalt. Wat een wereld.
www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/i...
www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/i...
In twee maanden gehalveerd: gletsjer Hektoria smelt met recordsnelheid op Antarctica
Het rappe afkalven van de Hektoria-gletsjer in Antarctica kan betekenen dat de veel grotere gletsjers aan de westkant van het continent in de toekomst in luttele weken kunnen verdwijnen. ‘Dit is een t...
www.volkskrant.nl
November 4, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Ik vind dat ontkenners van de opwarming en politici en bedrijven die niet genoeg doen om die opwarming tegen te gaan, moeten worden geschaard onder de noemer ‘georganiseerde criminaliteit’. Ze richten veel meer schade en leed aan dan de doorsnee drugsbende.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
“In Israel, Leaking Evidence of Rape Is a Bigger Scandal Than Raping a Palestinian”
According to Israel and its supporters, the scandal is not the vile sexual assault depicted in a leaked video last year – it’s that someone released the tape, writes Minnah Arshad for Zeteo:
According to Israel and its supporters, the scandal is not the vile sexual assault depicted in a leaked video last year – it’s that someone released the tape, writes Minnah Arshad for Zeteo:
In Israel, Leaking Evidence of Rape Is a Bigger Scandal Than Raping a Palestinian
According to Israel and its supporters, the scandal is not the vile assault depicted in a leaked video last year – it’s that someone released the tape.
zeteo.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:35 AM
“In Israel, Leaking Evidence of Rape Is a Bigger Scandal Than Raping a Palestinian”
According to Israel and its supporters, the scandal is not the vile sexual assault depicted in a leaked video last year – it’s that someone released the tape, writes Minnah Arshad for Zeteo:
According to Israel and its supporters, the scandal is not the vile sexual assault depicted in a leaked video last year – it’s that someone released the tape, writes Minnah Arshad for Zeteo:
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
"But perhaps the most consequential long-term loss for federal science is that of institutional knowledge and expertise — and the downstream effects on the training of early-career researchers."
"We lost people with decades of experience and everyone who was very early career, ...”
"We lost people with decades of experience and everyone who was very early career, ...”
Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’
From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:59 PM
"But perhaps the most consequential long-term loss for federal science is that of institutional knowledge and expertise — and the downstream effects on the training of early-career researchers."
"We lost people with decades of experience and everyone who was very early career, ...”
"We lost people with decades of experience and everyone who was very early career, ...”
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
4/ One example of the risks of assisted colonization: To save Tasmanian devils threatened by a transmissible cancer, a population was established on an island where the species never previously occurred. That introduced population destoyed thousands of penguins. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Tasmanian devils wipe out thousands of penguins on tiny Australian island
Marsupials introduced to Maria Island, east of Tasmania, to safeguard their numbers but have decimated birdlife
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 5:40 AM
4/ One example of the risks of assisted colonization: To save Tasmanian devils threatened by a transmissible cancer, a population was established on an island where the species never previously occurred. That introduced population destoyed thousands of penguins. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
'De commissie stelt vast dat Israëls acties in Gaza en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever geen gevechten tegen een vijandig leger zijn, maar daden van kolonisatie en berekende en vernietiging van een bevolking, vermomd als oorlog.'
@mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social www.mo.be/analyse/na-h...
@mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social www.mo.be/analyse/na-h...
Net zoals het Genociderapport leest ook het Landrapport als een ware nachtmerrie – MO*
VN-onderzoekscommissie documenteert ‘kolonisatie op speed’.
www.mo.be
October 31, 2025 at 8:25 PM
'De commissie stelt vast dat Israëls acties in Gaza en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever geen gevechten tegen een vijandig leger zijn, maar daden van kolonisatie en berekende en vernietiging van een bevolking, vermomd als oorlog.'
@mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social www.mo.be/analyse/na-h...
@mondiaalnieuws.bsky.social www.mo.be/analyse/na-h...
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
ladies and gentlemen...we got him
October 30, 2025 at 7:10 PM
ladies and gentlemen...we got him
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Conversations around misinformation that assume everyone cares about literal truth may be missing the point.
When meaning is symbolic, not factual👇
When meaning is symbolic, not factual👇
Key!👇
Winning with #misinformation: people endorse easily disproven claims to prioritize symbolic strength theconversation.com/winning-with...
"...some people consider it a 'win' to lean in to known falsehoods."
"...mindset was also strongly associated with authoritarian attitudes."
Winning with #misinformation: people endorse easily disproven claims to prioritize symbolic strength theconversation.com/winning-with...
"...some people consider it a 'win' to lean in to known falsehoods."
"...mindset was also strongly associated with authoritarian attitudes."
Winning with misinformation: New research identifies link between endorsing easily disproven claims and prioritizing symbolic strength
Conversations around misinformation that assume everyone cares about literal truth may be missing the point.
theconversation.com
October 18, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Conversations around misinformation that assume everyone cares about literal truth may be missing the point.
When meaning is symbolic, not factual👇
When meaning is symbolic, not factual👇
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Background global heat ~1.5ºC
425 ppm CO2 (year-to-date)
What happens when we cross 2ºC which we are 97% certain will happen?
We are completely unprepared.
425 ppm CO2 (year-to-date)
What happens when we cross 2ºC which we are 97% certain will happen?
We are completely unprepared.
October 31, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Background global heat ~1.5ºC
425 ppm CO2 (year-to-date)
What happens when we cross 2ºC which we are 97% certain will happen?
We are completely unprepared.
425 ppm CO2 (year-to-date)
What happens when we cross 2ºC which we are 97% certain will happen?
We are completely unprepared.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
De documentaire ‘Facing War’ volgt Jens Stoltenberg, NAVO-chef van 2014 tot 2024, van dichtbij tijdens zijn laatste jaar als leider. Je ziet hoe hij alles op alles zet om de steun voor Oekraïne te organiseren die hij heeft beloofd. Kijk 22.20 uur op NPO 2 of via npodoc.nl/facingwar
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
De documentaire ‘Facing War’ volgt Jens Stoltenberg, NAVO-chef van 2014 tot 2024, van dichtbij tijdens zijn laatste jaar als leider. Je ziet hoe hij alles op alles zet om de steun voor Oekraïne te organiseren die hij heeft beloofd. Kijk 22.20 uur op NPO 2 of via npodoc.nl/facingwar
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Hoe was het om dit van zo dichtbij te volgen? NPO Doc sprak erover met regisseur Tommy Gulliksen, die zegt: ‘Alles staat op het spel: onze wereldvrede, democratie en vrijheid’.
Lees het interview met regisseur Tommy Gulliksen over 'Facing War' op npodoc.nl
In de documentaire ‘Facing War’ (VPRO) wordt Jens Stoltenberg, de Noorse secretaris-generaal van de NAVO van 2014 tot 2024, van dichtbij gevolgd tijdens zijn laatste jaar als leider. Hoe was het om di...
www.npodoc.nl
October 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Hoe was het om dit van zo dichtbij te volgen? NPO Doc sprak erover met regisseur Tommy Gulliksen, die zegt: ‘Alles staat op het spel: onze wereldvrede, democratie en vrijheid’.
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Het genetisch laboratorium van het INBO heeft de analyses voltooid van de stalen die zijn binnengebracht in de zomer en vroege herfst van 2025: uitstrijkjes genomen bij schadegevallen en op verse uitwerpselen in het leefgebied van de Limburgse roedel.
bit.ly/47JcSUd
bit.ly/47JcSUd
October 28, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Het genetisch laboratorium van het INBO heeft de analyses voltooid van de stalen die zijn binnengebracht in de zomer en vroege herfst van 2025: uitstrijkjes genomen bij schadegevallen en op verse uitwerpselen in het leefgebied van de Limburgse roedel.
bit.ly/47JcSUd
bit.ly/47JcSUd
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
"People in Gaza have been burying the bodies of dozens of Palestinians released by Israel.. many.. show signs of torture & mutilation"
If these were Israeli bodies the story would have dominated the headlines for days & Starmer would have condemned Hamas's murderous brutality
If these were Israeli bodies the story would have dominated the headlines for days & Starmer would have condemned Hamas's murderous brutality
October 28, 2025 at 5:19 AM
"People in Gaza have been burying the bodies of dozens of Palestinians released by Israel.. many.. show signs of torture & mutilation"
If these were Israeli bodies the story would have dominated the headlines for days & Starmer would have condemned Hamas's murderous brutality
If these were Israeli bodies the story would have dominated the headlines for days & Starmer would have condemned Hamas's murderous brutality
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
I’ll say this again: so many mRNA-based phase II trials could be funded with a fraction of the money spent on spicy machine learning (not to mention things like adjuvants etc).
October 26, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I’ll say this again: so many mRNA-based phase II trials could be funded with a fraction of the money spent on spicy machine learning (not to mention things like adjuvants etc).
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
Brown rats are preying on bats at urban hibernation sites – even snatching them mid-air. Conservation efforts must include non-native rodent control at key bat roosts.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Brown rats are preying on bats at urban hibernation sites – even snatching them mid-air. Conservation efforts must include non-native rodent control at key bat roosts.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Joachim Mergeay
There is no moral gray area in the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine fights for survival. Russia fights to force Ukrainians who survive to become Russians.
Ukraine kills far more Russian soldiers, while Russia kills far more Ukrainian civilians
Ukraine fights for survival. Russia fights to force Ukrainians who survive to become Russians.
Ukraine kills far more Russian soldiers, while Russia kills far more Ukrainian civilians
October 26, 2025 at 7:05 AM
There is no moral gray area in the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine fights for survival. Russia fights to force Ukrainians who survive to become Russians.
Ukraine kills far more Russian soldiers, while Russia kills far more Ukrainian civilians
Ukraine fights for survival. Russia fights to force Ukrainians who survive to become Russians.
Ukraine kills far more Russian soldiers, while Russia kills far more Ukrainian civilians