Dr. Caleb C. Butler 🦠🪸

Pete, my long hair domestic cat thats mostly white white some grey splotches looking very concerned inside a pet crate inside a car. There is a blue blanket underneath him. Behind him, with a separator in the crate, is my partner's cat, Wednesday, a black short hair domestic cat. She's just looking to the side, much less concerned than Pete.

Now Wednesday has stolen Pete's blanket and sits on it while Pete is mostly now on the plastic crate bottom. Both have annoyed looks on their faces from the hours of car time.

🚨 Wednesday has successfully yoinked Pete's blanket 🚨

NSF plans abrupt end to lone U.S. Antarctic research icebreaker Imminent termination of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer shocks polar scientists

My latest: Polar scientists warn that the White House and NSF are planning to terminate the Nathaniel Palmer, the only US research icebreaker capable of handling Antarctic extremes, this October.

So far the plan has seen minimal pushback from Congress.

Biologist folk (especially in evolutionary biology and/or ecology, but it don’t matter):

Can you give me your favorite examples of trade offs in biology? Organism or system don’t matter. Primary literature or reviews preferred.

He's doing surprisingly well! I think it's just us humans he's scared of!

a man is standing on a rug in a living room with stairs . Alt: Will Smith at the end of Fresh Prince looking around the empty house for the last time. Happy memories and vibes to say goodbye to but exciting new opportunities (and new place) soon.

Packing up the grad school apartment sure is bittersweet

4-panel comic. (1) [Person 1 with ponytail flanked by person with short hair and another person speaking into microphone at podium] PERSON 1: In the early 2010s, researchers found that many major scientific results couldn’t be reproduced. (2) PERSON 1: Over a decade into the replication crisis, we wanted to see if today’s studies have become more robust. (3) PERSON 1: Unfortunately, our replication analysis has found exactly the same problems that those 2010s researchers did. (4) [newspaper with image of speakers from previous panels] Headline: Replication Crisis Solved

Replication Crisis

xkcd.com/3117/

Pete, my long hair domestic cat with white and grey splotches facing forward, sitting up, clueless and just casually staring at me taking the picture. Behind him is Wednesday, my partner's short hair domestic also in the same position staring forward.

The two cats in the precious spots in the same positions but now Pete's ears have flaired like he senses something is amiss (Wednesday being behind him).

"She's behind me isn't she" 🐱

Pete, my long hair domestic cat with zigzagging white and grey hair, sits on the wooden floor with a carpet stretched out. Pete is watching Wednesday, my partner's short hair domestic cat that is all black. Wednesday is up close sniffing Pete's (historically) bad back foot he is very sensitive about.

Pete and Wednesday are batting at each other after Pete wasn't happy with Wednesday sniffing Pete's bad foot.

Pete is sitting up while Wednesday is a little lower, both cats have their ears up in attention. They are staring at each other.

Wednesday is now loafing and Pete has turned back and is now facing towards me with his ears in full airplane position. No cats were harmed in these images, they were only just a little grumpy.

They're basically besties

Tiny, colorful baby scallops — a total cuteness overload in one dish!

You might think, “This person posts the same creature every year!” But honestly, seeing the same life return year after year is something truly wonderful𓂃🫧‪

I am making a Starter Pack for people who are looking for PHD STUDENT POSITIONS in the biological sciences! If you wish to be added, please respond directly to this post saying you want to be added. I need at least 5 people to create the pack. Please share widely!

I am making a Starter Pack for people who are looking for POSTDOC POSITIONS in the biological sciences! If you wish to be added, please respond directly to this post saying you want to be added. I need at least 5 people to create the pack. Please share widely!

Anthropogenic climate change will likely outpace coral range expansion #corals www.science.org/doi/full/10....

In one boxer crab 🦀 species, the anemones ONLY live on the crabs.

The anemones on each claw are clones. If a crab loses one, they rip the anemone in two, and the anemones grow back.

If a crab has none, they will fight another crab to steal one.

doi.org/10.7717/peer...

underwater cartoon scene, with pink algae on the bottom and the text: join us! postdoctoral research in algal (photo)physiology. Deadline 18 September 2025

**Join us!**

2 year #postdoc in algal (photo)physiology

Multidisciplinary project as part of the @icelabumu.bsky.social Postdoc Programme

🔗 heidiburdett.wordpress.com/2025/06/27/p...
📆 18 September 2025
📍 @umeauniversitet.bsky.social, Sweden

@umeaunimarine.bsky.social
🦑🧪🌎

a close up of a man 's face with a sad look on his face . Alt: Gif: Close up of Kenan Thompson's face with a normal expression suddently scrunching up in a confusion/annoyed manner.

Always very heartwarming when I get an email from a physics or chemistry journal encouraging me to submit to their journals after the were impressed by my work in *checks notes* phylogenetics.

And yes, many corals are growable in tanks if you can get the conditions right. The aquaria trade has made great advances there.

I'd argue Stylophora pistillata or Acropora spp. are the most developed Scleractinian ones now, but I am aware of another group working to get Galaxea fascicularis started.

The Cleves lab has accomplished transgenics with CRISPR iirc. Mutants have been done too, but don’t recall who rn

Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science These graphics will guide you through science-based vaccine guidelines for children and adults

Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪

That said, I'm not sure how worthwhile it is trying to argue with a pro-ICE pro-child death troll arguing completely out of good faith and who's first thought is defunding important resources targeted towards a very specific group of children. I think an ad to the block lists is warranted here.

What's the point, just that more people are seeking gender affirming care nowadays? I'm not certain about those numbers and cis people also get GAC, but it's not surprising it's higher due to better availability and knowledge of gender ideology.

Additionally, I am creating a Starter Pack for early career scientists who are looking for postdoc positions! Let me know if you want to be included 🥰

A new paper in Nature Ecol & Evol by
@rosafernandez.bsky.social et al. shows a #punctuated burst of genome evolution in #annelids as they transitioned from marine to land and freshwater habitats.

Dorsal view of a specimen of Babakina anadon. The body and foor are bright pink, while the structures covering the surface of the body (cerata) shows deep blue and yellow hues, with pink tips. © Laurent MARY

A specimen of Babakina anadon, crawling on the sea floor. The body is bright pink, while the structures covering the surface of the body (cerata) shows deep blue and yellow hues, with pink/red tips. Credit : Corine Picard

Front view of a specimen of Babakina anadon on the sea floor. The body is bright pink, while the structures covering the surface of the body (cerata) shows deep blue and yellow hues, with pink/red tips. Credit : David Blin

Considering the absurd week-end we just had, let me present you an absurd creature with a no less absurd name for #MolluscMonday 🦑

The Anadon's babakine (Babakina anadoni), a sea slug living in the Atlantic. Quite uncommon but a really cool guy, simply grazing on hydrozoans, as we should all do 🌊 🌿

What is this - iNaturalist and generative AI? Hey everyone, I have some very very good news! @procyonloiter and I just had a 3-hour in-person talk with @loarie and I am delighted to say that it has completely alleviated my concerns around this ...

New iNat update just dropped:

forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-is-th...

TL;DR yeah they fucking bungled their PR here, and maybe they're backpedaling without admitting it. things are not as dire as they once seemed.

#inaturalist #inat

Happy to have contributed to this great article: #Protist genomics: key to understanding eukaryotic evolution. Congrats Alexandra Schoenle et al. #ProtistsOnSky
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Stoke to announce that I will be joining the Department of Biology @txst.edu this coming Fall semester as an Assistant Professor!

Looking for grad students with interests in #Symbiodiniaceae, #corals 🪸, microbial #symbiosis 🦠, comparative #genomics 🧬 and #phylogenomics soon. Feel free to reach out!

Imagine if @inaturalist.bsky.social, instead of using a $1.5 million grant on generative AI figures (with repurposed images from its users without their consent), instead used the grant to commission projects with biologists and artists instead? Just a thought.

Monotremes use a unique sex gene unlike those in other mammals Researchers from the University of Adelaide, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and Monash University, have discovered that the genetic mechanism that determin...

👀

I've never seen an app so out of touch with its user base. This will kill the app. Please listen to your community.

Looks like it's slurping the arms up