Loretta B

Met Museum photo of an Ancient Egyptian artist’s painting of a swallow on a flake of limestone, dated to the New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, c. 1479-1458 BC. The sparrow stands in profile with head to the right. It is delicately painted with a pinkish body. The outline and details are highlighted in a reddish/brown pigment. It’s legs, eye, and beak are painted black. Limestone flake dimensions H. 6.6 cm x W. 10.6 cm. This may have been a practice drawing of the sparrow hieroglyph which was used for words meaning ‘small’, ‘poor’, or ‘bad’. Egyptian artisans who decorated tombs and temples made practice sketches on flakes of limestone which are known by egyptologists as ostraca (singular: ostracon). Sometimes the drawings were used as a template when transferring an image to the wall of a tomb or a temple. Limestone flakes were readily available for this purpose as by-products of the construction of temples and rock-cut tombs. A number of ostraca were recovered at Deir el-Bahri during the 1922-23 MMA excavations.

Artists have always loved to sketch!

Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC.

Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used small flakes of limestone as sketchpads!

MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

#FindsFriday
#Archaeology

Oh, be careful, Merriam-Webster, lest we suffer vertigo from the dizzying heights of our lexical ground.

So relatable, in a nutshell how I left indoor jobs for several years 😅

A rainbow made up of different Manitoba wildflowers. The red on the left end is a three-flowered avens (lantern-shaped flowers), orange - wood lily, yellow - goldenrod, green - green bog orchid, blue - lungwort (little blue bells), purple - iris.

Happy #Pride everyone. Nature is infinitely diverse.

Unsplash image of the Earth, mostly the nightside with a tracery of city lights on every continent.

OK, this is wild.

In September 2023, geophysicists across the world started monitoring a very odd signal coming from the ground under them.

It was picked up in the Arctic. And Antarctica. It was detected everywhere, every 90 seconds, as regular as a metronome, for *nine days*.

What the HELL?

1/

A graphic with an icon of the sun, a wiggly line denoting natural cycles, and a volcano, with a title reading "WHY is climate changing?" created by me. Not fancy, as my graphic design skills lean to function over art!

Scientists who study climate don't automatically attribute all changes to human activity. Rather, we carefully investigate every possible natural factor that could explain the planet's warming.

Could these be the real culprits?

The evidence is in--and the answer is NO.

This thread explains! 🧵

A tiny Victorian ceramic marmalade jar containing forget me nots from my garden

For an extra burst dopamine from my photo below look for the 6-petalled forget me not. If you have f-m-n in your garden look closely at the centres of the flowers. If they’re yellow they contain nectar,but when they’ve been pollinated they fade to white-tiny bees know which flowers have a snack in 🐝

The wisdom of the elders: Why the oldest animals matter Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. In the twilight of their lives, the world’s oldest creatures carry…

[FOUNDER'S BRIEF - Rhett A. Butler]

"The world’s oldest creatures carry the weight of wisdom, experience, and resilience.

Yet, these elders are vanishing."

Rescinding the Definition of “Harm” Under the Endangered Species Act The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively referred to as the Services or we) are proposing to rescind the regulatory definition of "harm" ...

A good politician would make policies that reduce harm.

The Trump administration wants to change what legally counts as harm so they can, through creative accounting, say that less harm is happening.

This is Orwellian pseudoscientific bullshit and we should oppose it.

Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing - Nature Communications Virtual nature exposure reduces self-reported pain and is associated with decreased brain responses linked to somatosensory and nociceptive processing, providing new insights into the underlying mecha...

Even just looking at images of nature changes our brain and can reduce physical pain, a new study by @maxsteininger.bsky.social and colleagues finds!

And the work is absolutely BRUTAL, mentally. That part isn't really recognized (or supported) beyond the superficial. We're all expected to carry on as normal.

And it seems like nothing changes. Every year it's the same - more plastic, more necropsies, more tears.

bsky.app/profile/thel...

In the early hours of March 14th, 2025, a total lunar eclipse will be visible across the entire continent.

Ever wonder what the sweet call of the red-winged blackbird sounds like when there are hundreds of them singing all at once? Cacophony! You're welcome 🐦
#redwingedblackbirds #birdmigrations #birding #birds #birdsong #nature #ornithology

Floofy black jumping spider with white stripes on his legs, legs bunched around him, peering at you with big black eyes from a palmetto frond

Classic "I will absolutely disappear instantly if you come closer, but also, I'm a wee bit curious??" salticid posture 🖤
#EmotionalSupportSpood

Very much this.

Bad DOGE: Idaho Universities In this episode of "Bad DOGE" we look at the impact of funding cuts to Idaho's 3 universities: UofI, ISU and Boise State Univ. They rely on $250M…

In my latest “Bad DOGE” episode, we look at Idaho’s universities. Our Big 3 have $250M in federal research grants at risk. These grants fund profs, researchers and students, and meet critical needs from dairies, to forests, to semiconductors. Cuts would be devastating

vimeo.com/1063864389/c...

Read the Full Text of Obama's Speech in Selma The President spoke on Saturday in Selma, Ala.

It’s the 60th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” at Selma, and thus the 10th anniversary of President Obama’s speech there, my favorite of all his public oratory, although it reads differently now. 🧵

time.com/3736357/bara...

Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries Transgression of planetary boundaries by human activities have now brought humanity well beyond a “safe operating space.”

Seems like this should be posted, periodically, just until everyone has seen it.
Leaders who are blocking policy and actions to address these issues? They are not serving us.
#globalclimatechange #earth #ecology #climate

Your illustrations and slide design are gorgeous! It absolutely enhances science communication. Visual learners unite!

See How Butterfly Numbers Are Dropping Near You Populations are falling in the United States, a new study has found. Look up what’s happening in your area.

I've been following the insect decline. I've written about it. And still. This line made me sick to my stomach:
In 20 years, the fleeting time it takes for a human baby to grow into a young adult, the country has lost 22 percent of its butterflies, researchers found
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Unbelievably cute!

A dorsal view of a small brown bat clinging to the bark of a tree trunk. It has a wavy light pattern on its back, a longish nose, and a tiny tail.

A side view of a small brown bat clinging to the bark of a tree. It has a pointy nose and looks a bit like a tiny flying fox.

A small Proboscis Bat hanging out along a waterway in the Amazon river basin. These bats can be found in small groups along rivers and streams and range throughout much of South America east of the Andes Mountains. Check out the tiny tail! 🦊
#ThowbackThursday

Butterflies are ambassadors to the insect world. Let's support research and policy to protect them.
This checkerspot was in the mountains of Western Idaho, where tall conifer forests are interspersed by wildflower meadows and talus slopes.
#butterfly #InsectThursday #nature #ecology #conservation

Stunning new visualization of global temperatures since 1940, from @hausfath.bsky.social

www.theclimatebrink.com/p/visualizin...

New paper in @nature.com led by @patricepottier.bsky.social! We demonstrated global vulnerability of amphibians to warming, threatening 10% of >5,000 species examined. How did we do it? See thread🧵

Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

As DOGE pushes to fire more federal employees, this map might be helpful as a way to see how many jobs we're talking about in each Congressional district (I'll share the percentage of all jobs in the district below). 🧵

A brown and white prairie falcon perches on a rock and dirt fill pile. A snowy, pine forest mountainside is in the background.

A terribly blurry photo of a goshawk, perched on a tree branch.

What a day to leave my camera at home! Spotted a prairie falcon and later, an American goshawk, yesterday on our winter raptor survey routes.
I haven't seen a goshawk in years. This one was sitting on a bare branch, preening and being extremely cute (as opposed to murderous) #birds #birding

Picture of the talons of a Golden Eagle with a band on his tarsus

Close up picture of the left side of the male Golden Eagle’s face showing his beautiful eye

Picture from above showing the hooded head of the Golden Eagle, the beautiful golden nape, really light colored shoulders, and the GPS backpack he was fitted with

Picture of the male Golden Eagle’s left wing extended

We trapped this 32 yo male Golden Eagle banded back in Oct 1992 in Ashfield, PA. He is a force of nature coming at a live turkey in our bow nets. Now he has a GPS transmitter that is going to show us his migration and hopefully how much longer he lives!
#womeninraptorresearch #birds #womeninSTEM 🪶🧪

Newborn elephant calf by mom’s foot

Newborn elephant calf by mom indoors

Hi baby! Our elephant family welcomed its tiniest member on Saturday night when Rose-Tu gave birth to a new calf 💕🐘