Dr Urska Demsar
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udemsar.bsky.social
Dr Urska Demsar
@udemsar.bsky.social
760 followers 170 following 98 posts
Associate Professor. GIScience, Movement Analytics and hiking/walking photos.
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udemsar.bsky.social
Dr Urska Demsar @udemsar.bsky.social · Mar 12
New paper with @beatezein.bsky.social & @jedalong.bsky.social:

⭐A new data-driven paradigm for the study of avian migratory navigation⭐

We propose how the multi-modal multi-scale nature of navigation could be studied w/ data mining, machine learning & AI.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A new data-driven paradigm for the study of avian migratory navigation - Movement Ecology
Avian navigation has fascinated researchers for many years. Yet, despite a vast amount of literature on the topic it remains a mystery how birds are able to find their way across long distances while ...
link.springer.com
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
vincentledvina.bsky.social
This is wild! Here is a mosaic image combining satellite passes from NOAA 21, Suomi NPP, and NOAA 20 showing the auroral oval very extended during the geomagnetic storm earlier this week. I have annotated where the typical auroral oval rests over the north geomagnetic pole.
November 15, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
vincentledvina.bsky.social
Check out this crazy mosaic image of the auroral oval from space on the night of Nov 11-12!

You an can see just how extended the oval was due to the impressive solar storm that impacted and delivered a G4 (Kp 9-) geomagnetic storm - the third strongest of solar cycle 25!
November 13, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
bgs.ac.uk
We have upgraded our geomagnetic forecast today (12 November 2025) to the highest intensity level amid an ongoing solar storm.

Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
November 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
theguardian.com
Covid vaccines may increase the lifespan of cancer patients – this could be a game changer | Devi Sridhar
Covid vaccines may increase the lifespan of cancer patients – this could be a game changer | Devi Sridhar
A study suggests mRNA vaccines could help the body fight malignant cells, says Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
vincentledvina.bsky.social
The Kp has reached a maximum value of 9- so far during this event. This is the same as the October 2024 storm in terms of Kp, but still shy of a G5 classification which needs a full Kp 9. Still very impressive, though!
November 12, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
efisherwx.bsky.social
Aurora color guide! What creates the different shades?

Different atoms getting "excited" at different altitudes

The bright reds are a sign of a particularly intense event
November 12, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
stephyardley.bsky.social
Here’s our one-two-three punch! 🥊 🥊🥊 According to the latest run of the HUXt model the third CME is expected to impact on 13th November at around 13 UT. This is going to be a tiring couple of days 😅 #SpaceWeather #StephsStormWatch
November 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
vincentledvina.bsky.social
NOAA SWPC has modeled the X5.1 CME, and it's a strong one! Impact is around Nov 12, 14 UT. A G4/Kp 8/SEVERE geomagnetic storm watch has been issued for Nov 12.

#heliophysics #aurora #spaceweather
November 11, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
platialanalysis.bsky.social
The program for the 6th Spatial Data Science Symposium is now online. Registration will open soon. The symposium is Dec 4 & 5. Plan to check out the Thematic Sessions, Paper Sessions, Emerging Researchers Panel, Keynotes, and Interview. sdss2025.spatial-data-science.net/program.html
November 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
robinlovelace.bsky.social
The 10th Mobile Tartu Conference & PhD School will take place June 7-10, 2026, in Tartu, Estonia! Celebrating two decades of human mobility studies with a focus on large origin-destination datasets. Learn more and sign-up here: mobiletartu.ut.ee #MobileTartu #HumanMobility #Transport #DataScience
Mobile Tartu Conference 2026 – Mobile Tartu Conference is organized by The Mobility Lab of the University of Tartu. Mobile Tartu Conference focuses on mobile big data analytics for just and sustainable societies..
The Mobility Lab of the University of Tartu welcomes you to the 10th Mobile Tartu Conference!
mobiletartu.ut.ee
November 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
stephyardley.bsky.social
📊 Latest HUXt forecast shows 2 CMEs from AR4274 arriving on 12 Nov at ~4 & 15UT respectively. AR4274 is delivering a one-two punch!⚡️🥊 G2+ storm conditions increasingly likely. Aurora prospects strong for northern UK despite poor weather forecast.
#SpaceWeather #StephsStormWatch
November 10, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
vincentledvina.bsky.social
Direct hit! A beautiful, full-halo CME is now leaving the Sun following the X1.2 flare, and it's heading right for us. We'll have to see what the models think about this one, but we now have two Earth-directed CMEs coming at us and a good chance for geomagnetic storms Nov 11-12.
November 10, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
mobileharv.bsky.social
Name one thing the Romans have done for us
‘Google Maps’ for Roman roads reveals vast extent of ancient network
A high-resolution digital map nearly doubles the known length of the ancient road network.
www.nature.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
samanthacpatrick.bsky.social
We’re looking for an enthusiastic #PhD candidate to explore the resilience of sea turtle populations in a changing climate, supervised by Leo Clarke and myself. Interested in sea #turtles, #marine #biology, #conservation & #fieldwork in Cape Verde. Funded by ACCE+ NERC DLA tinyurl.com/dm573yrm
November 7, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
cloudymamma.bsky.social
Friday flyover…

daily for weeks we hear the noise of literally thousands of pink footed geese travelling south filling the skies over the Scottish Highlands

This is only a small bunch this morning, you hear them coming long before you see them !

@rspbscotland.bsky.social #Birds #Scotland
November 7, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
migecol.bsky.social
In cooperation with RWE, we proudly announce the installation of the first #MOTUS station in an offshore wind farm (Amrumbank West) in Germany and in Europe. This will help to fill key knowledge gaps in offshore environmental monitoring. We were supported by our colleagues from Wind Energy Systems
October 29, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
sarahoconnorft.ft.com
2nd edition of our The AI Shift newsletter is out. The question today: could AI be making us LESS productive? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com www.ft.com/content/2480... At the individual level, it's clear we're not reliable witnesses on this Q. At an organisational level, it gets even more interesting...
October 30, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
kosmi.bsky.social
The eye of Hurricane Melissa.

Image taken today by Sentinel-2.
October 28, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
erikklemetti.bsky.social
Nobody wanted this kind of sky. At least no one who, you know, likes the world.
astrodave.bsky.social David Dickinson @astrodave.bsky.social · 19d
You might’ve heard the news: SpaceX just passed 10,000 Starlink satellites launched. And that number is already old news, as there’s now a new Starlink batch launched every other day. Here’s what that looks like in a short animation of Comet A6 Lemmon courtesy of Michael Jaeger:
October 28, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
zoom.earth
#Melissa latest satellite view and rain radar.

Winds 180 mph. Pressure 896 mb. 25 miles from landfall over Jamaica 🇯🇲🙏
October 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
drwendyrocks.bsky.social
4 days of seismic records from a seismic station in Jamaica shows Hurricane Melissa roaring towards the island.

Hurricanes increase the amplitude of ocean waves which beat on the coast and sea floor. These produce Rayleigh waves that can be seen as increasingly thick “wiggles” in seismic records 🧪
Seismic recording that shows horizontal lines with a slight wiggle to them. Horizontal lines across the page that get thicker with wiggles near the bottom of the page. The horizontal lines are very thick. The page is almost black because of the thickness of the lines.
October 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
migecol.bsky.social
We’re hiring a doctoral researcher in the area of migration ecology.
The work will focus on the question of how and when migratory songbirds learn where their home is using #Motus.
Part of the Cluster of Excellence NaviSense and linked with @sfb1372.bsky.social

uol.de/job788en

#ornithology
October 20, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
rolandkays.com
1 week left to apply to our Postdoc job with our lab using AI to analyze camera trap images at the NC Museum of Natural sciences and NCSU and in collaboration with Wildlife Insights https:/​/​jobs.ncsu.edu/​postings/​223025
October 21, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Dr Urska Demsar
anavaldi.bsky.social
After submitting a FOIA request UKRI, I obtained success rates by three grant call scheme and I can only say that I am disheartened by the results:

- AHRC Responsive Mode 2025: 2%
- ESRC New Investigator Grant 2025: 1%
- ESRC Research Grant Round 2025: 1%
October 22, 2025 at 7:55 AM