Mike Lush 🐜🪲🪰🐝

Interesting review of repletism in #ants #Formicidae myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/index.ph...

The most disgusting thing I've ever tasted was a Leptomyrmex replete. The composition is apparently unknown, but I'd describe it as rancid fat - not sugary at all.

The things we do for science...

It's a #hoverfly, not a bee.

I think this is probably the best take on this that I've seen.

Posting about the important stuff today...

The hill I will die on: Decorative cushions and throws on hotel beds should be banned, immediately | Annabel Lee Why spoil perfectly crisp, clean bedding with dusty old accessories that have been used by hundreds of strangers? Yuck, says writer Annabel Lee

Yes! 💯

Scatter cushions are also pointless, as surely no one can sleep with them on the bed and they mostly just get chucked on the floor. Please hotels, B&Bs, etc. stop wasting resources and money on this.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read - London Daily “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:

This is truly brilliant!👏👏✨
I wondered why I disliked Trump so much……🤭

londondaily.com/british-writ...

Image Westhay Moor Somerset Levels, CopyrightDr Mike Ashworth.

Join us for our dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte... Love to see lots of beginner dipterists, so much to learn! Bursary available to help fund email enquiries@dipterists.org.uk deadline extended to 31-3-26. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @britentsoc.bsky.social
@royentsoc.bsky.social
#entomology #flies

Let’s be clear: if the Palestine Action hunger strikers die, the government will bear moral responsibility | George Monbiot The three remaining hunger strikers have been convicted of nothing. Yet with astonishing cruelty, ministers refuse to listen to their reasonable demands, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sign the petition to end peat sales! No more delays: Let's get peat out of gardens once and for all. The time for uncertainty has ended.

actnow.peatfreepartnership.org.uk/end-peat-sal...

Petition: Fund a National Climate Resilience Plan: protect communities from climate impact From floods to extreme temperatures, climate impacts risk damaging homes, health, businesses, services, and the economy. We want Government to prioritise adaptation; fund a new Resilience Plan that wo...

If we are to survive what is coming, let alone to flourish, then we desperately need the kind of strategic adaptation that false optimism leaves unfunded or even sneered at.
As a small gesture towards such adaptation, please sign and share: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...
Thank You…

This is absolutely vital

We are completely unprepared for the climate chaos that is coming

Please sign now and share

Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick | George Monbiot The government’s new planning bill is tearing down environmental protections to benefit developers. This nation of nature lovers won’t stand for it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Today's column is about the government's huge, unprecedented assault on nature ... and about the eerie, astonishing silence of the big nature groups. The RSPB, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts have 7.5m members between them. A vast force, completely unmobilised. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

When aliens land, expect them to call us "microscopic snails", before stamping us out as they make way for their new housing.

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer www.theguardian.com/environment/...

One Bladder After Another: why bros are finally having to queue for the loo | Emma Beddington There are few things more irritating than waiting outside the Ladies while men sail in and out of their own facilities. A new, very long film has changed all that, writes Guardian columnist Emma Beddi...

There's another reason to be pro gender neutral toilets: men might actually wash their hands, properly, if women are watching...

One Bladder After Another: why bros are finally having to queue for the loo | Emma Beddington www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why solar power is the only viable power source in the long run Not only is solar more than capable of supplying all the world’s energy, in the long term it is the only power source that won’t fry the planet

"0.3 per cent of the world’s land area – yes, just the land – would be needed to meet the current energy demand from solar alone, which is LESS THAN THE CURRENT LAND FOOTPRINT OF FOSSIL FUEL INFRASTRUCTURE."

Idiocracy (2006) ⭐ 6.5 | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi 1h 24m | R

Anyone else remember the film Idiocracy?

m.imdb.com/title/tt0387...

Not a great film, but with more and more people falling for right wing populists and conspiracy fantasists, I'm wondering if it'll turn out to be more prophetic than, say, 1984.

Fiji ant study provides new evidence of insects’ decline on remote islands DNA analysis of endemic specimens in museums finds 79% of ant populations in Pacific archipelago are shrinking

Fiji ant study provides new evidence of insects’ decline on remote islands www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A few days ago I posted a dead yellow jacket which had become a community meal for Paratemnoides social pseudoscorpions, but I hadn't really considered that they are apparently capable of teaming up and catching a live one?? Checked on them later and the unfortunate wasp was deceased. Damn. 🧪

🤷

Nadine Dorries defects to Reform, saying Conservative party ‘is dead’ Former cabinet minister’s move on eve of Reform conference is further boost for party that took almost £1m in donations from ex-Tory donors

Reform really is attracting the best of the best...

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Probably the most bizarre thing I've read about this year. #ants #genetics

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

No, it tastes much better.

The oval office now reflects the man himself: gaudy and grotesque.

Before and after: Trump’s extreme goldening of the Oval Office An extravagant – and ongoing – makeover of the White House’s decor has taken place during the president’s second term. One colour theme stands out

"A White House spokesperson told Fox News that the gold – “of the highest quality” – was all paid for by Trump personally."

The actions of someone who intends to never leave.

share.google/eWvYykcTf1JS...

We’re going up at a rate of 700 signatures an hour currently. In the time it took me to boil the kettle it went up by 50. Keep the message in minds folks. Fair coverage is what we want so we hear from ALL parties not just the narrative of one. Sign and pass on petition.parliament.uk/petitions/71...

Welcome to the dis-Enlightenment A new dis-Enlightenment looms: in the US and beyond, facts are denied, science silenced, and the wealthy spread lies over truth

"Unfortunately, we are now living through a dis-Enlightenment.

In the US in particular, and increasingly elsewhere, facts don’t matter and can be casually denied. Universities have become subject to bullying as compliance with the requirements of one political faction..."

Has Trump succeeded in normalising American autocracy? People who have experienced the kind of authoritarianism the US used to condemn abroad highlight worrying signs

Has Trump succeeded in normalising American autocracy?

🧵Here's a thought I've been having about the cost of transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy:

It does decarb fans no favors to pretend that there's no cost, or that just because "solar is cheap," that makes depreciating one entire system in favor of another cheap or easy.

However!

Chalcidoidea, but beyond that I've no clue.