Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

RFK Jr. pulls funding for vaccines being developed to fight respiratory viruses The projects — 22 of them — are being led by some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to prevent flu, COVID-19 and H5N1 infections.

Those mRNA vaccine programs that RFK Jr. is killing because he claims they don't work?
The people who invented them got the f***ing Nobel Prize.
And they've saved literally millions of lives already.

www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

I am going to be a massive humorless asshole about woo-woo shit, no matter how seemingly harmless, for the rest of my life due to this. astrology, homeopathic medicine, etc etc it's all bullshit and it's not fucking harmless. there are people who will die due to this who would have otherwise lived.

Warren should have pointed out that her state, Massachusetts, raised taxes on millionaires not by 2% like Mamdani wants, but by 4%. The result? Massachusetts saw a 39% INCREASE in millionaires, a drop in poverty, & a growing economy.

Stop trusting billionaires. Start taxing them outta existence.

If you need a scientific consultant for anything, hit me up! Centipedes are my jam.

I'm working on the Steam capsule for my #Centipede game, hopefully it will have its own page soon!
#GameArt #Gamedev #3D #B3D #MadeWithUnity #Unity #indiedev #indiegame #Lowpoly #bugSky #insects
bsky.app/profile/artb...

Rectangular rodent trap made out of hardware cloth filled with brown wet grass sitting on a pillowcase.

Digging up a buried hay bait trap after 11 weeks underground...cross your fingers that there are some intriguing soil-dwellers within!

World Athletics’ mandatory genetic test for women athletes is misguided. I should know – I discovered the relevant gene in 1990 World Athletics says its genetic test for women ensures ‘the integrity of women’s sport’ – but science does not support this overly simplistic idea.

World Athletics says that "The SRY gene is a reliable proxy for determining biological sex." The guy who literally discovered the gene and has spent the last 35 years researching it says they're wrong. theconversation.com/world-athlet...

I love this figure in our review of sawflies of eastern North America. Shout out to @flydrocarbon.bsky.social for leading the charge and the @catherinelinnen.bsky.social lab! Check out the paper in the @entsocamerica.bsky.social Journal of Integrated Pest Management: academic.oup.com/jipm/article...

Older Millennial Here: we absolutely had typing class. It was called Keyboarding I and II and we learned all kinds of shit

BHL Transition Update #2 Help us shape the future of the Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is at a turning point. After nearly two decades of calling the Smithsonian Institution home, BH…

⏳ Just under a month to go! 🌱

BHL’s Call for Support soft closes 31 Aug. That’s when we begin reviewing offers. Hosting, funding, services – every contribution counts. Help shape BHL’s future: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2025/06/tran...

#BHLTransition #OpenScience 🧪

Summer is a cruel time for our moist-dependent friends

Safe travels!

I asked ChatGPT and it said that I was a credulous rube who would believe anything if the message was delivered with a sufficient degree of fawning subservience

Americans Love Avocados. It’s Killing Mexico’s Forests. (Published 2023)

This story is not new but a presentation at #Botany2025 raised awareness on the impact of avocado production on biodiversity. U.S. demand is driving deforestation in rich Mexican cloud forests which also support monarch butterflies. www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/u...

The Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) is seeking ten taxonomic specialists in Collembola or any of the following insect orders - Blattodea, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Trichoptera!

graduatestudies.uoguelph.ca/postdoctoral...

"80 million jobs were added in june, very nice very nice. 300 million jobs added in july, even better. but this month mr president, 2 billion jobs were added," I confidently declare, doing the easiest job in the world so i can own a home in a walkable neighborhood

Thanks Matt! I guess I don't recognize them when they're not in a writhing mass of 200 :)

University sidelines scientist who exposed toxic metals in Lake Maurepas The SELU scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in Lake Maurepas was abruptly removed from her research position without explanation.

A university scientist who discovered alarming levels of toxic chemicals in a lake in southeastern Louisiana was abruptly removed from her research position this week without explanation

I spent this spring looking for Stygobromus! Silly little guys.

Economy Updates: After a Weak Jobs Report, Trump Fires That Agency’s Commissioner Hours after data showed cracks in the U.S. economy, President Trump said without evidence that Erika McEntarfer “rigged” the data “to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”

Firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over a bad jobs report undermines government integrity and sends a chilling message to federal employees: tell POTUS what he wants to hear or else.
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Side view of grey larva with dark head capsule and many long fleshy lobes around its body.

Bottom view of grey larva with dark head capsule and many long fleshy lobes around its body.

Side view of grey larva showing the last few segments with large fleshy lobes.

Running Berlese funnels means continuously finding insect larvae you've never seen before. Look at all the fleshy lobes on this one!

So he has the Smithsonian straight up lying about the history of impeachments in the US. Now he's going to be giving us false numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And is doing Lysenkoism with our health and food production.

This is a full on Soviet-esque alternative reality he's building.

the republican party hates public goods and wants to force feed you and your family slop produced by its billionaire allies

This is an astounding act of pillage. Imagine this being your legacy: salting the earth that sprouted Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Car Talk, Sesame Street, This Old House, and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me.

u.s. department of energy post on x praising coal: "She's an icon She's a legend And she is the moment [sparkly picture of coal]

If a scholar of petro-masculinity said that men lust for coal, it would be seen as an exaggeration. But here we are...

More than a dozen states sue to protect gender-affirming care from federal investigations A new lawsuit argues that the Trump administration is pursuing a backdoor strategy to restrict gender-affirming care nationally, while skirting state laws.

🚨 Breaking: A group of state attorneys general, led by New York, has filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of mounting an unconstitutional pressure campaign against gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The cultural and political influence of fossil gas development in PA and WV greatly exceeds its actual impact on jobs, wages, and community growth. In fact, it's associated with stagnation. You can see it with your own eyes if you travel through these communities.

How it started. How it's going.

Wall Street Journal headline and deck: "New York Shooting Puts Mamdani on the Spot Over Policing Views: The killing of four people in a Midtown office building rattled a city where mass attacks are rare and violent crime has declined."

It's really weird to demand accountability from a NYC mayoral candidate for a deadly NYC shooting rather than the current NYC mayor, an ex-cop who campaigned on a "tough on crime" platform and promptly got indicted for crimes

“Some of us aren’t creative enough to brainstorm without ChatGPT!” Well then maybe you should sit this one out.