Hannah Thomasy

RFK Jr.-appointed panel removes universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for U.S. infants | CBC News A panel of advisers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has voted to remove the long-standing recommendation to universally vaccinate American infants against hepatitis B.

Ah yes the classic strategy to make America healthy again by failing to protect babies from infectious disease. 🦠🧪

I’m not surprised that these folks don’t care about science or children’s health but like… to what end?? Surely the vaccine costs less than hep b treatment?? What is the point of this?

Ancient DNA of the Toronto Subway Deer adds to the extinction list of ice age megafauna Abstract. The Late Pleistocene was a time of global megafaunal extinctions that were particularly severe in North America. The continent lost many mammal t

(Torontoceros lived 11-12 thousand years ago, making it just slightly older than the Eglinton LRT construction project.)

doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Part of a large cervid skull with thick antlers on a white background

Big news about the Toronto Subway Deer! Dug up in 1976 Torontoceros hypogaeus is a prehistoric cervid known only from 1 incomplete specimen. Originally classified as a caribou relative, ancient DNA analysis now suggests it belongs to the genus Odocoileus which includes mule deer & white-tailed deer🧪

I think @gelatinoussting.bsky.social is doing some cool research on nematocysts?

Dietary melatonin supplementation mitigates the negative effects of artificial light at night in the Pacific field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus Abstract. Artificial light at night (ALAN) is linked to negative behavioural and physiological consequences in animals. A potential mechanism for these adv

Melatonin synchronizes internal processes & is an antioxidant. Scientists found that melatonin supplementation improved egg & sperm production in ALAN-exposed crickets. I don't think the upshot is supplements for bugs but it does show that similar mechanisms are involved in invert responses to ALAN

Artificial light at night (ALAN) can be bad for bugs - Pacific field crickets exposed to ALAN during development laid fewer eggs & produced fewer viable sperm as adults. But why? Like us, insects have natural rhythms of melatonin production, which can be disrupted by light. 🧪🪲

This is cool as hell 🤩

The adaptive function of waste management in a social spider mite | Biology Letters Effective waste management is fundamental to the success of social living, playing a key role in disease prevention and maintaining a habitable environment. However, experimental evidence for its adaptive significance remains limited, primarily due to the ...

The mites expanded their nests, presumably trying to get away from the poop & in high-density nests, it resulted in reduced egg survival.

In conclusion, this study provides concrete evidence that for optimal group living, you gotta get your sh*t together. 🧪💩

Read the paper (not bird-related!):

Social spider mites use chemical cues to mark acceptable places to poop, generally near nest entrances/exits. By changing where the chemical markers were, researchers could manipulate where the mites pooped. When they increased the number of bathrooms or moved them towards the middle of the nest...

Microscope image of spider mite, approx 600 micrometers in length

Researchers change the locations of spider mite "bathrooms," shedding light on important aspects of social evolution.🧪🪲

It seems logical that having a designated place to poop is a key part of group living, from invertebrates to humans. But it can be tricky to demonstrate this empirically.

*Except in North America, where the crayfish co-evolved with the pathogen & have some resistance.
The causative agent is Aphanomyces astaci, a fungus-like organism that grows its hyphae into the crayfish & has a 100% mortality rate in many populations. Always more weird & horrifying stuff to learn!

Browsing through some aquatic ecology papers (as one does) & the authors casually toss in the term "crayfish plague." As someone with a strong (unhealthy?) interest in weird diseases I had to learn more.
Apparently, crayfish around the world* are getting absolutely obliterated by this pathogen🧪🦠

A good question. I'm saying "nematodes" here like they're one thing, but there's 25,000 (or more) species. So it depends on if the fungus is a generalist or targets certain species? Also the fungi aren't always hunting, they mostly eat nematodes when they can't get enough nitrogen from the soil

Key processes required for the different stages of fungal carnivory by a nematode-trapping fungus Nutritional deprivation triggers a switch from saprotrophic to predatory lifestyle in soil-dwelling nematode-trapping fungi. This transcriptomic study reveals increased DNA replication, translation, a...

I swear I am not making this up.
The relationships between fungi and bugs are so weird and macabre.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

The fungus releases a pheromone that smells like a sexy male nematode, attracting other nematodes looking for a good time. The fungus builds a sticky net to catch the unsuspecting worms, then uses special enzymes to help its hyphae penetrate the exoskeleton and DIGESTS the nematode's insides

YouTube video by Fungal-Worm Lab IMB Academia Sinica The predation process of the nematode trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora.

Did you know that some fungi are CARNIVOROUS? There are lots of species that do this, but I think Arthrobotrys oligospora is especially bonkers. These fungi sense when their prey (nematodes) are nearby by eavesdropping on the chemical signals that the nematodes use to communicate with each other 🧪🪲🍄

a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a crowd of people . Alt: An Arrested Development scene where Tobias shouts "There are dozens of us! Dozens!"

Are you a science communicator in British Columbia who wants to connect with other scicommers?? Shoot me a message, we're trying to start a group. 🧪🇨🇦
@uvicscience.bsky.social @science.ubc.ca @sfu.ca @rascvancouver.bsky.social @viuniversity.bsky.social @thetyee.ca @pme.ubc.ca @wildernews.bsky.social

Quote Origin: Comedy Is Tragedy Plus Time – Quote Investigator® Carol Burnett? Woody Allen? Tig Notaro? Steve Allen? Lenny Bruce? Bob Newhart? Thomas Hardy? Anonymous?

Is it is kinda gruesome to joke about an event like this? Absolutely. But as Mark Twain (or Steve Allen in a 1957 article in Cosmo??) may have said: Comedy is tragedy plus time.
quoteinvestigator.com/2013/06/25/c...

I love unserious Google Reviews of places especially if they involve weird/niche history. Wager Island, in southern Argentina, has 3.4 stars - almost all the reviews are cheeky references to the 1741 wreck of the HMS Wager, e.g.
"Crashed my ship here. Had to eat my fellow sailors. 2/5"

Truly there was never a point in this sentence where I could have guessed what the next word would be🧪

Hello internets, there's a paleontological museum in danger of being closed. Please help.

I might be interested in this! I have a PhD in neuroscience, have worked as an assistant editor for The Scientist, and am currently a freelance science writer & editor. I'd love to learn more about this position.

The plant is from South Africa, so I suspect it wouldn't do well outside in England? It might only be able to survive inside the greenhouse.

*It seems like there are probably bonsai trees that are older than this, so I'm not sure why those don't count? Possibly it's difficult to prove the exact age of a plant, or maybe Kew Gardens has more PR funding, or it's just a general reflection of Eurocentrism?

This is an Eastern Cape giant cycad. This specimen at Kew Gardens is the world's oldest potted plant* & it is older than the United States.
I found this oddly comforting? Certain systems seem deeply entrenched & unchangeable but in reality there are houseplants that have been around longer.🧪🌿

Females give birth to one offspring per pregnancy, after a gestation... Females give birth to one offspring per pregnancy, after a gestation period of about seven months.

Like you have got to be kidding me

www.istockphoto.com/photo/common...

Sometimes I think about how difficult human pregnancy is compared to a panda or kangaroo & shake my fist at evolution. But you know what AT LEAST WE AREN'T BATS Imagine having to literally fly while preggers with a baby that is (on average) 23% of your weight. Which would be like a 35lb baby for us🧪

Who is this??
Weird lil bug that almost looks like it’s just poking its head out of its shell to scootch up the wall?? 🧪

Is It Time for a New Era in Invasive Species Control? Regulations make it hard to introduce organisms that quash invasive species. Some experts see missed opportunities.

My latest for Undark:
Biological control - introducing one non-native species to control another - has gotten a bad rap. Does it deserve it? I spoke with experts in biocontrol, botany, and entomology to find out.
🧪
undark.org/2025/11/10/i...

More questions for the 🧪 hivemind:

For people that have school-age kids - are they still taught the warm blooded/ cold blooded thing? 🦊🦎