David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈

@whysharksmatter.bsky.social

This is a prolific poster! Showing posts since November 1, 2023.

1. 1

   Just making sure that everyone is aware of this crab that NOAA scientists found

   

   61,637 8,908

   Jan 19, 2025
2. 2

   Annual reminder:
   
   Die Hard is about using impossibly limited resources to defend a tower from foreign invaders.
   
   Die Hard is a Hanukkah movie.

   18,564 2,144

   Dec 14, 2024
3. 3

   If we’re renaming bodies of water based on petty grievances, I propose that this be renamed the Kendrick Lamar passage.

   

   15,034 2,461

   Feb 12, 2025
4. 4

   Marco Rubio was my senator. He and his staff politely listened to me, and their support was vital in getting hammerhead sharks protected in Florida waters.
   
   I was cautiously optimistic that he might maybe be a voice of reason.
   
   Yesterday shattered that.

   12,403 1,349

   Mar 1, 2025
5. 5

   This seems like a great day to remind Bluesky that Stephen Miller lived four doors down from me freshman year
   
   And our student council person asked him (and everyone) to sign a birthday card for our dorm’s janitor
   
   And he threw a tantrum and wrote an op-ed about not socializing with “the help.”

   10,241 2,708

   Jun 5, 2025
6. 6

   BlueSky shoutout on Abbot Elementary!

   ▶

   7,890 983

   Nov 6, 2025
7. 7

   Bright passionate people who wanted to dedicate their lives to public service were fired in a mass email over the holiday weekend.
   
   This has absolutely nothing to do with efficiency, fraud, waste, or abuse. And your life will be worse because of it.

   CNN @cnn.com

   Brian Gibbs had no clue Friday would be his last day at his dream job. The education technician park ranger at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa reported to work, only to be terminated on despite receiving an exceptional performance evaluation in the fall.

   

   After landing his dream job as a park ranger, he’s ‘heartbroken’ to be let go in federal cuts | CNN

   Brian Gibbs had no clue Friday would be his last day at his dream job. The education technician park ranger at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa reported to work, only to be terminated on despit...

   6,476 2,069

   Feb 18, 2025
8. 8

   “Without widespread theft, my industry can’t survive” is an argument against your industry surviving, and is not an argument for allowing widespread theft

   The Verge @theverge.com

   Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

   

   Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

   Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

   6,374 2,039

   May 26, 2025
9. 9

   I don’t use social media to argue about politics with strangers.
   
   I use social media to talk to people about fish.
   
   When I talk about fish on Bluesky, people ask me questions about fish.
   
   When I talk about fish on Twitter, people threaten to murder my family because we’re Jewish.

   Paul Cornish @paulgcornish.bsky.social

   "Bluesky is an echo chamber." "Bluesky doesn't have enough reach" "Liberals must return to X to challenge the far right" I'm not a tech bro or a journalist. Your priorities are not my priorities. Stop telling me I need to do anything other than chat about comics & telly with people who seem nice.

   4,527 708

   Dec 15, 2025
10. 10

    Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper!
    
    We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.
    
    Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑
    
    doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

    

    Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky

    Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

    3,787 1,176

    Aug 19, 2025
11. 11

    One of my dissertation chapters had a tentative working title of “did the internet create annoying people, or just make it easier for existing annoying people to find and annoy me?”
    
    The answer is yes.

    3,759 221

    Jan 14, 2025
12. 12

    Today, a broad coalition of scientific professional societies who represent over 92,000 scientists are speaking out against the politicization and demonization of Federally funded science and government scientist jobs.
    
    It was an honor to help the Union of Concerned Scientists with this! 🧪🌎

    

    48 Scientific Societies Representing Almost 100,000 Scientists Ask Congress to Protect the Future of Science

    48 scientific societies representing almost 100,000 scientists signed on to a letter asking Congress to protect the future of science

    3,307 1,424

    Mar 3, 2025
13. 13

    In honor of Mr. Rogers’ birthday, here’s your regularly scheduled reminder that the quote of his you keep sharing, that in times of crisis we should look for the helpers, was for his audience of children.
    
    We’re adults now. We’re supposed to *be* the helpers.

    3,224 1,124

    Mar 20, 2026
14. 14

    Think carefully before buying a Greenland shark for the holidays. They are, after all, the world’s longest-living vertebrate.

    

    3,191 724

    Dec 14, 2024
15. 15

    The new White House has already deleted dozens of environmental justice websites and reports. Worry not, they’re all backed up on various independent university websites. eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker-type...
    
    🧪🌎

    Federal Environmental Justice Tracker – Environmental and Energy Law Program

    2,797 815

    Jan 21, 2025
16. 16

    I saw someone post, apparently seriously, “we don’t need NOAA, we can just ask ChatGPT to predict where and when hurricanes will hit.”
    
    I don’t think we should sentence thousands of people to death because some overconfident buffoons don’t understand how science works.
    
    🤷

    2,427 464

    May 5, 2025
17. 17

    To probationary federal employees who have been terminated:
    
    Democracy Forward has filed a first-of-its-kind class-wide complaint with the Office of Special Counsel. If civil servants want to join in the complaint, you can email [email protected]

    

    Civil Service Strong: Resources for Civil Servants

    Effective. Impartial. Resilient. The civil service comprises dedicated, nonpartisan federal employees who work tirelessly across the country and around the world to ensure the effective delivery of go...

    2,392 1,271

    Feb 16, 2025
18. 18

    Twitter was always a huge part of the international marine conservation congress, and it sucks now.
    
    Good news nerds, now I’m the IMCC co-chair and this week 800 ocean scientists are gonna hear all about Bluesky.

    2,184 247

    Oct 14, 2024
19. 19

    Since we’re in a golden age of new Star Wars tv shows, I’ll again pitch “David Attenborough style nature documentaries but of fictional Star Wars creatures.”
    
    No empire. No Jedi. Like, what the Jedi would watch on tv to relax after a stressful mission.

    

    a black and white bird is standing in the grass

    ALT: a black and white bird is standing in the grass

    2,104 374

    Apr 24, 2025
20. 20

    If you find that your uninformed personal opinion disagrees with expert consensus on a technical topic, please consider that “all the experts know something I don’t” is a much more likely explanation than “I alone solved a complex problem that all the world’s experts have long been studying.”

    1,889 331

    Jan 20, 2025
21. 21

    Bottom trawling, dragging a heavy net across the seafloor, has been compared to burning down a forest to catch rabbits.
    
    Sweden starting to ban this in sensitive habitats is my #EarthOptimism #OceanOptimism for today.
    
    🦑🧪🌎🐠
    
    (I’m not anti-trawl but there are some places we shouldn’t do it)

    

    Sweden sets an example for EU countries with first steps to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas

    Swedish government proposal to amend legislation, paving the way for a future ban on bottom trawling in Swedish marine protected areas.

    1,877 201

    Jan 23, 2025
22. 22

    Great white sharks can jump higher than the average house. This is because of powerful muscles, a sleek fusiform shape, and the fact that most houses cannot jump.
    
    📷 Shutterstock.com Sergey Uryadniko

    

    1,770 398

    Mar 21, 2024
23. 23

    As a Star Trek fan and a scientist, I love this image, because Dr. Jemison is both a hero *AND* one of the few people for whom we can say "here she is doing her space job" in two totally different contexts. 🧪

    

    1,703 389

    Feb 5, 2025
24. 24

    One way that you can tell a shark scientist from a non-expert enthusiast in online discussions is that the non-expert enthusiasts will say things like "Look at that Galeocerdo cuvier! " and professional shark scientists will say "that stripey boi is chonky!"

    

    1,599 85

    Jan 22, 2025
25. 25

    Eileen and I do pub trivia each week with friends.
    
    Last night I arranged for the last round to be “wedding and proposal traditions from around the world.”
    
    On the last question, the hosts said “I need help with this one, David can you come up here and ask it?”
    
    She said yes! We’re engaged!
    
    🥰

    1,596 49

    May 21, 2025