Trevor A. Branch

Talk: "Leveraging the law to save species, while streamlining development", by Caitlin Imaki (former NOAA fisheries) at 4pm Thursday 12 March at Univ Washington

and the fact that it's shaped like a little squid burrito 🥹

YouTube video by RAKUFUKU channel 大浦湾100番勝負！その1.歩くホネガイ（骨貝）-Venus Comb-

Its quite old but STILL one of the BEST videos of a venus comb Murex alive and moving that I've ever seen! #molluscmonday youtu.be/-RTxnDTcMJ4?...

I should include this in my article, shouldn't I?

...the American Thomas Roys began a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to develop a commercially viable explosive harpoon gun, not at all hampered by blowing off one hand in the process (he was apparently a “just a flesh wound” kind of guy).

A medical journal says the case reports it has published for 25 years are, in fact, fiction A Canadian journal has issued corrections on 138 case reports it published over the last 25 years to add a disclaimer: The cases described are fictional. Paediatrics & Child Health, the journal…

Unfathomable: medical journal requested fictional case studies, published 138 of them, and never mentioned in the publications that the case studies were fictional. Now it has decided not to retract them, just to mention they are fictional.
retractionwatch.com/2026/03/03/c...

Despite ban, Russian seafood is still the main dish on some American plates Since 2022, the U.S. has banned imported seafood from Russia. But Russian fish is still winding up on American plates. The Indicator's Wailin Wong and NHPR's Nate Hegyi explain.

Americans still eating Russian seafood despite bans... laundered through Chinese fish processing companies
www.npr.org/2026/03/06/n...

This is amazing work... and still he persisted.

The Draft is Ready. Now We Need You. Share your perspective on the state of nature in the U.S.

The draft Nature Record National Assessment is now open for comment!

Take a look and tell us what we got right, what we missed, and what changes you’re seeing where you live.

Your perspective will help shape the final record of nature in the U.S.

naturerecord.substack.com/p/the-draft-...

<googles "cupcake">

“My hope derives from that human spirit that resides in all of us,” Mr. Ramaphosa said. “And that human spirit to want to do good, to advance, will forever remain embedded in humanity.”

We need more leaders like this.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/w...

We never had daylight savings in South Africa and survived just fine.

Yikes, so infuriating.

And the agenda item discussing it has been removed, I'm told.

Good grief.

Anyone know the scientific paper where this figure was? Impacts of trawling and dredging by gear, taxa, and bottom substrate

Is that fish on the front cover not real too?

This is not just any random report. This is a review of how the major federal fisheries on the U.S. west coast are assessed, basically how U.S. fisheries management should be altered so that it works better.

And one of the hallucinated papers has "Trust and transparency" in the title!

Ooof. The paid consultants' report reviewing the review process that I participate in contains at least three references to papers that do not exist, and appear to be AI-generated hallucinations. One of the hallucinated papers is attributed to two authors who are on the review body being reviewed.

Ironically when I look to read it... (check top left)

Do NOT eat gar eggs!!! 🤢🤮

Scientists Finally Found Something Tardigrades Can’t Survive Tardigrades are practically invincible on Earth, so scientists looked to outer space in search of their kryptonite.

Important science: tardigrades are actually killed by something

gizmodo.com/scientists-f...

"Is this the road to Oz or Mordor? Future of west coast fisheries given environmental and political change"
Talk on Thursday 4pm at Univ Washington, Seattle
Scott Rumsey (NOAA Fisheries, retired)

Sigh.

This is the directorate that funds all of the earth, ocean & atmosphere research at NSF.

How cockfighting imperils Peru’s critically endangered sawfish MANCORA, Peru — The largetooth sawfish is a critically endangered fish distinguished by its long, blade-like snout edged with tooth-like projections. In the waters off Peru, it’s become an unlikely ca...

In #peru, the teeth of endangered #sawfish are used as cockfighting spurs

share.google/lvfBkT98xWkw...

Yes lots wrong with the current system. I'd say even the tenured full-pay faculty get essentially no reward or pay from reviewing either. But at least we are paid (9 months in the US).

Yeah I've been asked that as Reviewer 3 and responding with a scathing review agreeing with Reviewer 1 100% and questioning why it was sent to me.

Best news today! BHL is an incredible free open treasure trove of nature papers and books from the 1500s to 1900s, and completely invaluable to my research.

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

Yeah, but I average 40+ review requests a year so it gets a bit overwhelming.