sad bug w/ 1 million sads

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

A majority of the world’s insect species have no living expert who can identify them.

Pale lichen with lots of forking spindly lobes and alien-looking apothecia disks.

Wrinkly leaflike lichen thallus with a few apothecia on a stick.

Bright yellow crinkled lichen with scattered dark spots. On branch.

Lichen with long, flat, stringy, bumpy lobes.

Time to post more lichens.

1. Ramalina dilacerata
2. Tuckermanopsis platyphylla
3. Vulpicida canadensis
4. Ramalina farinacea (I believe)

All near Spring Lake Road, 100 Mile House, BC. 🌿

I love that a politician can say something like “I believe mice naturally spawn out of grain” and the news will now just treat that as a legitimate line of thought

I don't know if this needs to be said or not but "elected official assassinated in their home" is simply not a thing that happens in this country. 1825, 1889, 1893, 1973. Those are all the ones I can find, ever, before today.

When Archduke Ferdinand got assassinated, nobody was like “oh shit, it’s WWI now” when the Germans first invaded Poland nobody was like “fuck, WWI sequel already?!” Shit just felt like chaos and the clarity of hindsight let us put more solid dates around the start of things… 1/2

Back in the vert paleo archives today, and uncovered this little gem set to Battle Hymn of the Republic

"Mine eyes have seen the splitting of the genus I adore,
It's been slyly subdivided into families galore
And with every publication comes another genus more!
The names go rolling on!"

Trans Troops Given A Black Mark Discharge Code Under Military Ban “This is the kind of code that they gave to homosexuals and communists in the '50s.”

1. Trans troops are now being separated from their jobs, and we have learned what discharge code they are being given:

"JDK," a code that was used to remove communists and gay people, and can be seen as a "black mark" on their service.

The latest from S. Baum.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

He toad you not to do that, of course he's disappointed

You know things are getting messy when you have to go digging for the alt gov accounts again

New York Post headline says: Trump mulls $5K 'baby bonus' for moms in bid to reverse declining birth rates: report By Isabel Keane Published April 22, 2025, 8:57 a.m. ET

After spending decades *accusing* Black women of having babies to get payments from the government, they want to encourage white women to have babies to get payments from the government.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's site is down at the moment. Every time a gov site goes down now it's like 10 percent chance of planned maintenance, 80 percent chance they canceled the wrong contract or otherwise screwed something up, and 10 percent chance they killed it forever.

"Hegseth’s disastrous run at the Pentagon is entirely predictable, the natural result of elevating a co-host of Fox & Friends’ weekend edition to sixth in the line of succession because the president liked his Fox News hits."

sixth in the line of succession
what
the fuck

Updates on NSF Priorities

NSF says investigators can no longer propose to expand participation in STEM for women and underrepresented groups, and are terminating awards on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation.

Make science all white and male again!

This is the 30th anniversary of the OKC Bombing. Please let me share a perspective on it. It starts with an Oklahoma geography lesson. 1/n

If you're an NSF grantee who receives notice of cancellation per today's announcement, please get in touch here or via Signal mzahneis.09.

NSF starts to kill grants that violate Trump’s war on diversity efforts Attracting women and minorities into science and studying misinformation are no longer priorities, agency says

“The National Science Foundation (NSF) has spent decades—and billions of dollars—trying to attract more women and members of underrepresented groups into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Not anymore.
Today NSF announced such efforts “are no longer aligned with its priorities”

🚨 PhD Opportunity 🚨

Want to pursue a PhD in a science-friendly country?

Univ. of Aukland is seeking a grad student to advance coastal seabed restoration.

Tuition fees, research costs, & a tax-free annual stipend of NZ$34,569. 

Contact & application details in 🧵

🌎🌾🧪🌿🌱🌊🎓
#GenerationRestoration

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.

More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.

I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

Cancelled NIH grant information submission form Please use this form to submit information identifying specific NIH grants that have been cancelled for any reason after January 20, 2025. Data from this form will be used to update the Rescinded NIH...

The crush of new grant cancellations hasn't let up.

If your grant was terminated (or your app was pulled) please use this Google Form👇 to submit details for tracking purposes.

Multiple advocacy efforts are moving forward, but we must must must know more about what grants were cancelled and why.

we are living under fascism right now

A chocolate bunny in a box at the store. It looks out upon us with distress in its eyes.

A closer view of bunny's face, showing the horrors he has seen

B̸̵̘̘̪͉̻̟̹̦͕͍̫͓̌ͭ͗̀͆ͬͩ̂̌ͧͬ̀̆̈́̀͐͊͒͑͐ͣͩ̕͟ͅŲ̸̷̶̡̛͔̲̖̖̩͎͈̓͒ͪ̑̏͂ͦ̀͊ͩ̕_̷͎̞̯͗ͭ̍̎͢͢͡N̴̨̬̣̦̺̗̦̘̹̹̻̞̝̘̞̝ͩͭͦ̔̾́̇ͥ̄ͪ̃̄̿ͫ̏ͫ͒N̷͕̤̹͐̈̔͊̎̚͟͢_͔̮͎̋̍̈́̔Y̮ K̭̻̫̻̦̹̮̼͔̟̤̺͇̠ͧͫ̔̅ͧͧ̍̓́ͦ́̂͗̏ͧ̍̔͑͘͘͢͢Ņ̧̧̛̟͉͓̖͉̻̞͎̱̮̺̝͇̩͗̓̈́͂̌͊͑ͤͤͩ͂ͬ̄͆͐͊ͪͦ͑̿͝͠O̤̝̯̬̾ͧ̒̋̀ͦ̀ͤͦ̋W̨̐̇_̵̸̸̢̦͚͚̼̗̼̪͇̰͖̮̅̈ͣ̀ͨ̇͛̽ͣ́̏ͩ̒̂ͥ̋ͩͭͩ̀͝͠͡ͅͅS̵̵̵̴̴̵̢̛̛͍͓̳̣͉͙͉͉̱ͭ̔̎ͩ̃̅ͤ̿̅ͪ̍ͧ̈͋ͮ̚̕͜͡ͅ_̯ͣ͞ͅ W̶̷̢̢̛̝͈̫̻ͯ̅̓ͭ̏ͩ̚̕͢͟͞H̢̧͍̼̪̝̮̩͖̥ͨ́͐̃́̐͋̏ͭ̚͘Ą̨̳͖̭ͧ̀ͦͨ̐͋ͮ̐̃͟͟͠͠ͅT̵ͬͦ_̷̶̸̸̡͙̝̠̳͉̺͖̬̣̙͚̙̘͙̻͖̱͙̮̆̑ͣͮ̀ͮ̍ͦͣͭ̑͒̏̐̀ͫ̚͠ Y̷͎͍̲͓̘̠̠̬̜͔̗͓͖͗͌ͥͫ̄͋̍̃̆ͣͣ̀̄͛͗͒̀͗͊̆̉̌ͣ̚̕_Ơ̶̶̧̼̫̮̤͚̯̱̼͈͎̮͓̐ͬ͂̏͑͑̔̓̃̽ͩ̓͡͠U̷̡̨̢͙͍̬̥̹̘̦̮̲͉̲̼̲̲̇͆̒̉̀̓͐̍̆̀̒̾̏̎ͬ̇͒̆͘͢͢͞͡͠ D̟̘̤̖̖̻̮̣̪͎̆ͫ̈́̿͆͑̀̓̒ͭ̅ͤ̚̕͘͟͢͠͠I̛̲͋ͤͣ͒͘͡_̸̴̢̜͎̩̥̘̭̲̻͓̺̼͇̘̮̝̏̀̋͂̿͒̋̅̉́̅ͫͫͮͭ̌͜͜͝ͅḐ̷̛̪̠̲̰̳̲̩̺͍̣̩͚̻ͫ̒͐̆ͨ̅̀ͬ͒ͫͭͪͦ̃͂́̈́̚͠͠͞͡͞

Systema Naturae, a double page spread chart, tightly packed with names of animal species. It is split into Quadrapedia, Aves, Amphibia, Pieces, Insecta and Vermes.

It is #TaxonomistAppreciationDay today! A big day for Carl Linnaeus, who we happen to care about (just a little.)
100 years before Darwin's evolutionary theory was published, Linnaeus was classifying animals based on shared traits. He created #SystemaNaturae in 1735, and we still use it to this day!

Ridiculous, disgusting, and dangerous

But it doesn't surprise me. Haircuts matter-- they're as anxiety-inducing to me as dentist visits are to family, because it's so hard to convince hair stylists that I should be allowed to have a gender nonconforming cut ("but it would be prettier if...")

You're absolutely right, I will watch

A front-facing Black-headed Gull perched on a wooden post on the Long Water in Kensington Gardens. The birds white-ringed eyes give them a cartoonish appearance.

look at this guy

Black-headed Gull, Kensington Gardens, London
March 2025 🪶

He thinks no one can recognize him if he wears a ski mask

diagram of a bark beetle gallery

floor plan of my new house

Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate E.P.A.’s Scientific Research Arm (Gift Article) More than 1,000 chemists, biologists and other scientists could be laid off under a plan to dismantle the Office of Research and Development.

Failed my goal to make it through the work week without crying for the 8th time