Kevin Keegan

From doing science to saving science Science and scientists are under assault. From denial of vaccines to climate change, political leaders are increasingly sacrificing democracy as well as science on the altar of populism and authoritar...

Scientists must learn to join larger pro-democracy and people's movements, coalitions. Our science training may not have prepared us for such work, but we can no longer sit in the safety of our labs and expect the world to get better

My book review @thelancet.com

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Project Psyche: reference genomes for all Lepidoptera in Europe Project Psyche is a transnational initiative to generate and study chromosome-level reference genomes of all ~11 000 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) found in Europe. Here, we describe t...

One of the most exciting projects I have ever been involved in: Project Psyche! Read all about our ambitions and aims. It's ground breaking stuff, just mind blowing and even surreal (27 years ago we did single genes for lep phylogenetics)! @projectpsyche.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Global sampling decline erodes science potential of natural history collections - Nature Communications Natural history collections hold over two billion specimens representing Earth’s biodiversity, but their scientific value depends on continued specimen collection and digitisation. This study demonstr...

“Overall, these findings suggest that the value of natural history collections as global research infrastructure is eroding due to decreased collecting of specimen data across species, locations, and time.“ doi.org/10.1038/s414... Interesting analysis based on @gbif.org data.

Global sampling decline erodes science potential of natural history collections - Nature Communications Natural history collections hold over two billion specimens representing Earth’s biodiversity, but their scientific value depends on continued specimen collection and digitisation. This study demonstr...

In an era marked by rapid climate change and biodiversity loss, it is imperative that we continue to invest in the unique value of natural history collections data

"Global sampling decline erodes science potential of natural history collections" 🧪

Brand-new activists are discovering political movements – and each other: ‘You feel the camaraderie’ Organizers are breaking down barriers and creating clever campaigns to welcome people new to protesting

More of this kind of reporting. Thank you.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Words and images from Vincent Ciaramella. The Josh Gibson Foundation does it again. Born in Barbados, Alexander McDonald “AM” Williams opened the first Black owned and operated baseball stadium in the United States, predating Greenly Field by a decade and some change. He was in an unmarked grave until this week but no more, thanks to the generous donations to the Josh Gibson Memorial Markers Project.

Words and images from Vincent Ciaramella. The Josh Gibson Foundation does it again. Born in Barbados, Alexander McDonald “AM” Williams opened the first Black owned and operated baseball stadium in the United States, predating Greenly Field by a decade and some change. He was in an unmarked grave until this week but no more, thanks to the generous donations to the Josh Gibson Memorial Markers Project.

Alexander Williams, the person behind the first Black owned and operated ballpark, was in an unmarked grave for decades in Highwood Cemetery. No more. Thanks to the Josh Gibson Fndtn and donors, he now has a headstone.

beaut of a Dutchman on the return stop of a bellcast wash

look at how well the tooling carries from the old piece to the new just fucking beautiful

Oh for sure

Lolol we used to give our entomology students 20 bucks if they could pin a phantom crane fly–not spread, just pin–and not lose a leg. One student out of about 40 succeeded.

Done for the day.

A variety of items spread on a table. Boxes with pinned moths, spreading blocks, and a digital microscope with screen so the people can see how I'm spreading specimens.

Spreading moths for the people✊ in the museum's Visible Lab in the new Bringing the World to Pittsburgh exhibit

Oh don't worry, we have boatloads of incomprehensible stuff from other people in the ✨World of Entomology✨. Gets particularly hairy with labels on specimen pins as people abbreviate and squish to fit everything in on the small label.

Absolutely exquisite handwriting in this hundred year old letter in our Hugo Kahl archive. He worked at our museum roughly from 1920–1940. Always love to see his handwriting here and there around the collection.

Acarology Summer Program | Professional and Workforce Development | University of Arkansas For 70 years, the Acarology Summer Program has trained researchers in mite identification, biology, and collection. Join this intensive, hands-on course to build your expertise in acarology.

The Acarology Summer Program (71 years strong!) returns to Univ of Arkansas summer 2026:
Soil Acarology: May 25-June 12
Medical & Veterinary Acarology: June 15-20
Limited to ~15 students for personalized instruction.
Registration: training.uark.edu/portal/train...
#Entomology #bugsky #invert 🧪

Credit card fraud Black neon tetras committed credit card fraud during a 2023 livestream by "Mutekimaru Channel" on YouTube. The owner was using motion-tracking software to turn the fish's movements into Nintendo Switch inputs, letting them "play" video games. 8 In 2020, the fish beat Pokemon Sapphire after 3,195 hours, a feat that takes about 30 hours for a typical human. 9/ 181 On January 14, 2023, Pokémon Violet crashed at 1,144 hours, giving the fish free access to the main menu. They entered inputs that opened Nintendo eShop, added 500 yen ($3.85 USD) to their owner's account, and exposed his credit card details on the livestream. 10) 11) Mutekimaru later requested a refund of the 500 yen from Nintendo. l12) "Fish eagerly read the terms and conditions. Many of us humans don't read the terms of service, but fish are smarter than we are" - caption from Mutekimaru in a video about the incident 12) The fish also downloaded an N64 emulator, set up PayPal, used reward points to buy an avatar, and changed Mutekimaru's Nintendo account name to "ROWAWAWA*". 13, After about seven hours, their movements shut down the Switch. 14)

Fish have committed credit card fraud

The Roberto Clemente Bridge should become a linear park The Pittsburgh bridge’s real power comes out when it’s closed to automotive traffic. So why not make that permanent and create a new attraction, like Dallas and New York have done?

The Roberto Clemente Bridge: A great walk, or an essential drive? Architect Nathan St. Germain knows which side he's on. www.publicsource.org/roberto-clem...

PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.

I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/

Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.

🆕 Fresh off the Press: the 2nd fascicle treating New World apameine #fauna!

🔓 Published as an Advanced Book on our #openaccess platform: doi.org/10.3897/ab.e..., the monograph presents complete revisions of genera, 77 #species treatments, 11 #newspecies, numerous new life histories & more!

134 days until Opening Day

“You can sit in a basement with weird people and say weird things. It’s a free country.”

very lovely day in alexandria, va. this morning

I will have an opening for a Ph.D. student (M.S. required) to begin Summer 2026, studying impacts to high Appalachian arthropod communities following Hurricane Helene.

I'll be at Ent. Soc. America meetings next week. Please point interested students my way.

More: sites.google.com/site/caterin...

If I can get a little too sincere: Tonight is the first time where I can believe with my whole heart that I can live in the place I love for the rest of my life, and live in the way I want to, and I am jubilant at the possibility. This is what politics is supposed to feel like.

Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race, in a historic victory for progressives Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblymember, will make history as the first Muslim and South Asian person — as well as the youngest in over a century — to serve as New York City mayor.

JUST IN: Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblymember, will make history as the first Muslim and South Asian person — as well as the youngest in over a century — to serve as New York City mayor.

An “all you fascists bound to lose” sort of night

FUCK YES:

Democrats have retained a 5-2 seat majority in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

This is what democracy looks like.

maybe the most brutal strikeout in baseball history

What do we do now, without baseball?