Melvin Williams

California scientists, researchers, clinicians — sign the open letter supporting the CA Science & Health Research Bond Act (SB 895). $23B bond on the 2026 ballot to fund research across the state. Takes <1 min.

fundcascience.org

#FundCAScience #SB895

I met this Anochetus rugosus trap-jaw ant on the forest floor in Danum Valley, Sabah. If you look closely, you’ll notice the trigger hairs between the mandibles. When these hairs touch a prey insect, the mandibles snap shut at an incredible speed, generating enough force to propel the ant backwards.

Yellow and black bumblebee gathering pollen on the yellow and carmine spiky center of an orange and yellow blanket flower.

Something beautiful for this day: Bumblebee on a blanket flower, Yakima, Washington (August 2024). #bees #flowers

compassionate societies invest in development instead of punishment, investing in programs that help people become responsible productive citizens;
cruel societies invest in punishment instead of development, investing in detention centres, prisons and concentration camps to punish 'bad' people;

This is a prime example of advancing dementia. His filters are gone. He no longer has control of his bowels or environment.

Next thing you know he'll be pushing the 'Button' thinking it's a light switch.

25th ADMENDMENT

Powerful white men once equated Black people with monkeys to justify their abduction, deportation, enslavement, lynching and segregation.

The heinous image that Trump shared is explicit racism.

There is no nowhere for his supporters to hide. Supporting him is incompatible with basic human decency.

a mantis who looks like a chasmanthe plant

i love finding out about a new bug we have to get his name out there (toxodera integrifolia)

Here is a myxomycete plasmodium that I isolated off a wet leaf onto the bottom of a vented flask. Realtime phase microscopy.
#ProtistsOnSky

The most beautiful #snail ever to exist!
Many #marine snails go through an early life stage called #veliger, wherein they drift along with the #plankton before settling onto the sea floor as an adult. We call this, #sparkles

#blackwater #blackwaterdiving #mollusk #gug

Another one with our next door colleagues! @marianneroca.bsky.social in @jameslightfoot.bsky.social's group found the IL2 neurons detecting prey (this study) are also sensing octopamine, which we recently found plays an important role in predatory aggression! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bridging behaviour and genomics for tsetse fly control Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 29 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00932-8In this Journal Club, Daniel Masiga recalls a 1986 publication by C. H. Green, which revealed how colour and odour cues influence tsetse fly (Glossina spp.) attraction, and a 2019 study by Attardo et al. on genomic insights across six Glossina species, advancing understanding of vector behaviour and control.

New online! Bridging behaviour and genomics for tsetse fly control

Man shot dead by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis The incident, which was caught on video, marks the second deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis in less than a month.

The incident, which was caught on video, marks the second deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis in less than a month. n.pr/3YXDGLu

I wish Democrats would start just speaking the truth:

“ICE is killing American citizens in public for exercising their freedom of speech because Donald Trump wants to be a king.

This isn’t about immigration—Trump wants to make it illegal to oppose him, and to stay in power until he dies.”

Thousands of protesters shut down parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Friday as hundreds of businesses closed their doors. David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

genuinely stunning image

Look closely at the surface of the sea cucumber…

There’s a strange little creature hiding there!
This scale worm changes its coloring to match its sea cucumber host.

You’d never notice it unless it moves. Such amazing camouflage! ✨️

Making the Invisible Visible: Photographing Native Bees with Krystle Hickman - Bioneers Through photography, observation, and community science, Krystle Hickman is documenting the lives of native bees that most people never notice. In this conversation, she shares her observations and in...

Great interview with Krystle Hickman, a wonderful photographer & community scientist who I'm lucky to know. She first learned about native bees as an adult and is not a trained scientist, and has since made important scientific contributions and inspired countless people (including me). 🌿🐙📷 #BugSky

Bee-hunting beetles are the first animals known to fake the smell of flowers Study of parasitic blister beetles reveals a new form of chemical deception

Exclusive: These bee-hunting beetles are the first animals known to fake the smell of flowers, according to a new study. https://scim.ag/49Bf8ho

Whether by design or not, Trump’s post follows a recognizable authoritarian sequence—deny shared truth, delegitimize institutions, frame crisis, assign blame, demand extraordinary power, attack critics as insane, rewrite the record, and imply punishment for dissent.

It reads crazy. It isn’t.

There is no other choice at this point but to abolish ICE, there is no reason such an evil disgusting organization should be left to exist

Call your reps, protest, boycott do everything you can to show that we will no long stand for this anymore

Face it.

ICE HAS ALIENATED AMERICANS by slamming their victims faces into the ground, killing people, wearing masks, not identifying themselves and using “Gestapo” tactics on immigrants & citizens. Americans are resisting, as they should.

It is time to defund ICE!

Repost if you agree #BlueCrew

Utah reviewed its voter rolls for noncitizens. It found one. Who never voted The results sharply undercut the narrative of widespread noncitizen voting Republicans are using to promote new nationwide restrictions on voting.

A must read👇

After a sweeping, Republican-led review of more than 2 million voter registrations, Utah election officials identified just one apparent noncitizen in their voter rolls — who never voted. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

COALITION OF MAYORS ACROSS U.S. FILE AMICUS BRIEF CHALLENGING ICE SURGE IN TWIN CITIES Led by the City of Boston and the Public Rights Project, 44 mayors, cities, and counties argue that the deadly surge of federal agents into Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota is an unlawful and unconstitutional effort to punish these communities, endangering Americans BOSTON - Friday, January 23, 2026 - Mayor Michelle Wu co-led a coalition of mayors from across the United States to file an amicus brief in federal district court in Minneapolis to stop the Trump Administration's unconstitutional and illegal surge of federal agents into Minneapolis and St. Paul (the Twin Cities). The brief, which supports a lawsuit filed by the State of Minnesota and the Twin Cities, seeks a temporary restraining order to end the occupation by more than two thousand federal agents. ICE’s aggressive enforcement tactics have created mass unrest in the community, undermined public safety, injured several Minnesotans, including children, and led to the death of civilian Renee Nicole Good.

The Trump Administration’s ongoing occupations of peaceful American cities are unconstitutional and illegal.

Boston is leading a coalition of cities supporting the lawsuit by the State of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul to end their occupation by more than two thousand federal agents.

Blind, slow and 500 years old – or are they? How scientists are unravelling the secrets of Greenland sharks Described by one researcher as looking ‘already dead’, the enigmatic creatures are one of the least understood species on the planet

Blind, slow, ancient and looking already dead...
But enough about me, I'll be fine after a few coffees...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Of course these are lies. My brother and his family live there in my family home and my niece is out in the streets, trying to save her neighbors. One of her friends was assaulted, hand broken by being stomped on and incarcerated for days without charges

“I don’t care.”

That’s what an ICE agent said to a physician who wanted to check Renee Good’s pulse after she’d been shot. The doctor had his hands in the air. He identified himself. He begged to help.

“I don’t care.”

Selective prosecution is as hallmark of authoritarian regimes

Why are we letting them do this to us?? Why are we letting them drag us out of our homes into the streets? When will we finally say enough???

Our new paper (with @biotay.bsky.social) is out and on the cover story of @currentbiology.bsky.social !!!! Veronika, a Carinthian mountain cow flexibly uses a “multi-purpose tool” to scratch herself. A video and more information will follow in the comments.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

I have no words- what an unwell disgusting evil being, Trump may be the greatest threat modern history has seen yet, we must mobilize and stop this wannabe dictator

Impeach this f***ing lunatic.