Joe Nash

Zenodo.org, one of the key open data repositories used by researchers world wide, is getting slammed by AI bot traffic. I also just got a notification that the Open Science Framework, which supports transparency and reproducibility for thousands of scientific studies, is now under "Emergency Maintenance" because of AI bots (see: https://lnkd.in/gVRmuEwE). Large Language Model "AIs" and their builders have a huge intelligence deficit. These systems are built upon the free-exchange of scholarship. Now they are nothing more than a parasitic waste, engaged in a perpetual distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyber-attack on academic libraries, archives, repositories, and other information infrastructure. "AIs" are dangerous, not because they're angry gods or Terminators, but because they are destroying the systems that create and conserve human knowledge.

Things more likely to kill a large chunk of humanity that will receive a tiny amount of funding compared to a new AI safety industry: - Climate change and collapse of ecosystems (made worse by AI) - Wiping out of essential resources (made worse by AI) - Viruses caused by illegal wildlife trade fed by misinformation (made worse by AI) - Giant inequality and most wealth being held by a small minority (made worse by AI) - Racism fed by misinformation (made worse by AI) - Wars caused by all of the above (oh, that's where the killer AI robots come in) There is an AI threat but it probably won’t take the Terminator / Horizon Zero Dawn pattern. The statements warning against humanity’s downfall by Anthropic this week are another hidden marketing ploy to make us think this is the only stuff that matters by a privileged elite who don’t know much about humanity in the first place. Step outside, look into the world, look at communities outside of the tech bubble and start looking at the secondary damages caused by these companies, not the so far fictitious blockbuster film style ones that are secretly a marketing and funding tactic.

🚨 We’re recruiting a Research Fellow in Evidence‑based Conservation for a major Defra‑funded initiative. This two‑year postdoctoral role will coordinate the development of a practitioner‑led 'National Review of Conservation Evidence Needs' in the UK. You’ll lead the co‑design of a dynamic online tool that helps conservation organisations identify, collate, and share their evidence needs in alignment with national nature recovery goals. 🌿 This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a nationally significant, practitioner‑led initiative strengthening the link between research and conservation practice. You’ll work closely with project leads Dr Rachel White (University of Brighton) and Dr Mark O'Connell (University of Gloucestershire), alongside a wide network of practitioners and an expert Advisory Group. 📍 Flexible UK work location (with periodic travel) 🕒 24‑month fixed term ⏳ Closing date: 6th October 2026 👉 Full details and application link: https://lnkd.in/ejkC46TR Informal enquiries: r.white2@brighton.ac.uk and moconnell@glos.ac.uk #ConservationJobs #EvidenceBasedConservation #NatureRecovery #EcologyJobs #PostdocJobs #ResearchFellow #UKConservation #Defra #ConservationEvidence #AppliedEcology #Biodiversity #ConservationScience

🎙️ Interested in bioacoustics, biodiversity monitoring, or conservation technology? Join us for the Bioacoustics Networking Event on Tuesday 29 September 2026 at the University of Edinburgh. Organised by the Acoustic Network, this evening will bring together students, researchers, conservation practitioners and environmental professionals interested in how sound can help us better understand and protect biodiversity. We’re excited to welcome a fantastic line-up of speakers working across bioacoustics, ecology, conservation and acoustic monitoring 🌍: 🔊 Amandine Serrurier 🔊 Francesca Fehlberg 🔊 Hadrien Helfgott 🔊 Shea Boylan Alongside the talks, there will be plenty of time for discussion, networking and connecting with others working with, or simply curious about, bioacoustics. The event is supported by the Student Experience Grant, Edinburgh University Acoustics Network and the Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes (CSFL). Whether you already work with passive acoustic monitoring or are completely new to the field, we’d love to welcome you. 📅 Tuesday 29 September 2026 📍 University of Edinburgh, ECCI Building 🌍 Open to all - Register here (https://lnkd.in/eSGgSEvu). #Bioacoustics #BiodiversityMonitoring #ConservationScience #PassiveAcousticMonitoring #Ecology #AcousticMonitoring #ConservationTechnology #UniversityOfEdinburgh

🧑‍💻 Software Engineer position at the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute Are you passionate about Open Science, biodiversity, and cutting-edge data infrastructure? We are looking for a motivated Software Engineer to join our team in Utrecht! Your Impact You will play a central role in developing an innovative open science platform at the Westerdijk Institute serving as a global hub for mycology. This platform will integrate diverse data (morphology, physiology, DNA barcodes, etc.) to enable accurate fungal identification, advance AI-based technology, and support applications in food safety, public health, biotechnology, and sustainable agriculture. This project is part of MycoBase, an Open Science NL – funded project. At the Westerdijk Institute you will also be in close contact with the FUNGI-NL network. FUNGI-NL focusses on creating a national digital ecosystem for FAIR-compliant genomic data, tools, and training in fungal research, positioning the Netherlands as a leader in data-driven mycology. Apply Now! Learn more about the vacancy via the link: https://lnkd.in/dektFFTq. For additional questions feel free to reach out to Duong Vu. 📅 Vacancy closes: 15-8-2026 #SoftwareEngineering #Mycology #OpenScience #FAIRdata #KNAW #Bioinformatics https://lnkd.in/dektFFTq

A New Challenge for Biodiversity Research—AI's Unintended Consequences A fascinating new study in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution highlights an emerging threat to citizen science platforms that collect millions of wildlife observations annually such as eBird, the Macaulay Library, and iNaturalist. Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University and Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that biodiversity databases are being negatively impacted by AI-generated and manipulated wildlife imagery. Manipulated images in these databases are bad news for ecological research and conservation efforts. Key Findings: • Fraudulent AI-generated wildlife images are being submitted as genuine observations • "Enhanced" photos using AI tools can alter species characteristics or lead to misidentifications The solution: Community education to reduce the use of AI on wildlife media and improved authentication systems. Learn more about how you can help be a part of the solution. https://lnkd.in/g97ZEqPd

It’s always so hard to sum up a weekend at Electromagnetic Field - the festival John Robertson called “a field filled with beautiful queer technohippies” - my role as lead on content was filling some very large shoes and managing the arcade, workshops, art and installations, music, family, green room and film teams (along with the talks which are sort of managed by a bunch of the leads of those teams). I described myself as a “middle manager” this festival which was pretty true! But it was amazing as I really had a fairly good idea as to the spread of what we were expecting to show up throughout the festival and could solve most people’s problems. We did a couple of very last minute things - a pop up Planetarium and the Trash Compactor - a music venue inside a music venue (Null Sector) for experimental electronic music and algorave. These sprung up about a week before the event and people filled them with incredible stuff. Other new things thjs year were evening performances (including John Robertson’s incredible The Dark Room) and a new outdoor music stage. The teams were brilliant, they really just got on with things and they pushed as much as they could into their spaces. We had around 650 things scheduled or placed (eg installations) over 3.5 days in our schedule. There was never nothing on. It’s an emotional experience, giving something all your spare time energy and then having it just all go in a weekend. But the incredible responses from the attendees and the enthusiasm of all the artists and volunteers just makes it all so worthwhile. Just search #emfcamp on your social media app of choice (the best for this being mastodon) and you’ll see the response I see. Special shouts out to my team leads, most of whom I’m not connected to on LinkedIn because this is sort of the antithesis of EMF, Katie, Scroggs, Barney, Jonathan, Rebecca, Joe, Sophie, PJ, Trish, Kate, and Will. We were supported by the incredible stage and video teams, fed by the volunteer kitchen, kept cheery by welfare, and bruises and scrapes patched up by medical. Coordination and assistance from info/help, site/event ops and integration with the nullsec teams just made it all work. And on the backend side - the web team did an incredible overhaul of our backend allowing for more types of content, more venues, and more complex scheduling. It was a little rough around the edges but it worked. And, just like everything with EMF, will get better (and probably more complicated) next time. Many thanks to Cass and Mark for that. Katie, my second - thanks so much for all the support and solidarity especially throughout some of the more frustrating times. We did it! And finally thanks to Jonty, who gave up his baby to me to look after. It’s always hard to send them off to childcare but I promise we’ll take good care of it. Oof that got longer than expected. Next time - not more, just better. We have packed as much as we physically can in. Now we want to make it even better.