Mike Vardaro

YouTube video by Scientific American Nodules: Deep-Sea Life Giver or Key to Our Energy Future?

It's finally out! 18 months in the making, @fieseler.bsky.social's outstanding documentary on deep-sea mining and an exploration of why some stories capture the public imagination while others don't.

Nodules: Deep-Sea Life Giver or Key to Our Energy Future?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jcm...

The eel facts advent calendar has 5 species of eel on it, ribbon eels which are royal blue and bright yellow, american and european eels hanging out in some eelgrass, a yellow moray, and 2 splendid garden eels which are orange and yellow. The boxes are all numbered in fun boxes with orange and light organ zigzags and a yellow oval in each with the number of the day

Drumroll please…

This year’s advent calendars…

Designed by @ehrenenglish.bsky.social…

Will be…

EEL FACTS!!!!

Get one at squidfacts.bigcartel.com

Advent calendars keep Skype a scientist running (weird funding strategy, but hey! It works!), so share these far and wide ❤️

A large group of protesters marching beneath a huge mural of a Black girl called “No Hunger” in Oakland, CA

No Kings (Oakland, CA)

Volcanic Eruption in Deep Ocean Ridge Is Witnessed by Scientists for First Time Researchers diving in a submersible in the eastern Pacific realized that the landscape they had studied the day before had been glassed over by fresh lava.

The EPR is erupting! www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/s...

I don't know who needs to hear this, but:

1) Megalodon was real, but is definitely super-duper extinct now. (If it wasn't, there'd be evidence, and there isn't any).

2) Mermaids were never real.

3) Narwhal and giant squid are real and you get to live on Earth at the same time as them!

I’m anti death penalty, but I just learned about a person who RIPS OUT THE PAGES OF BOOKS AS HE READS THEM, leaving an empty shell when he’s done. So I’m revising my position.

Hope he heals quickly and that he enjoys his new bionic leg. You went for the full cyborg replacement option, right?

No touchy

Butt Inclusive here. Urchins are not butts. They are also gonads. And riddled with parasites.

This New Video Game Is Actually 50 New Video Games UFO 50 might make you nostalgic for games that never actually existed

UFO 50 is an astonishing accomplishment — a pack of fifty full-fledged games that may make you nostalgic for a 1980s video game console that never actually existed. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #362,935! Apparently. I should maybe check in more…

Design counts! Yours are top tier.

8 shrunken styrofoam cups with various designs including a purple octopus, a red squid, and a pika

We’re posting tiny cups?! Here are the recent ones my spouse @echinocrepis.bsky.social made. The rest are in a box somewhere. I love them

Someone said it was post videos of your pets day?

Here is Zuko cocking his head every time I say “walk”

Zuko refuses to ride in the buggy unless the top is down.

Anonymized skeet: This is the key problem, people frame this argument as though incremental improvements are a thing that are already happening rather than our country being on its fourth decade of the exact opposite of incremental improvement.

10 years ago, gay Americans could not get married and have it count in all 50 states
20 years ago, you could be made uninsurable because you got sick once
30 years ago, HIV was a death sentence
40 years ago, acid rain was still a problem

Dedicated public servants keep pushing good things forward

The Federal Trade Commission, of all entities, is out here writing absolute bangers about AI snake oil. www.ftc.gov/business-gui...

They should have just called it “Fin”

Convicted felon Donald Trump pronounced guilty on all 34 counts in historic NYT headline

An historic day. Vastly improved my mood!

Zuko pup, a small black dog, looking out the back door as rain is pouring down

Zuko pup staring at the camera pleadingly, his adorable tan eyebrows and snoot adding to his expression

Zuko pup thinks that we control the rain. He hates it so much and doesn’t understand why we don’t just make it stop. It hurts my heart

Blue Eyed Samurai on Netflix was really amazing: beautiful animation, great writing, cool action. Wasn’t super expecting all the sex and gore, but if you’re okay with mature subject matter it’s a great show.

I was the entertainment at a 5th birthday party: A new favorite science communication gig I recently got an incredible opportunity to do some public science engagement. My friends’ daughter, who absolutely loves sharks, was turning 5 and having friends over for a shark (and pirate…

I wrote about being the entertainment at a birthday party where 5 year olds asked me questions about sharks.
🧪🦑🌎🦈

New YorkTimes screenshot Headline: Science Teacher Finds Missing Piece of Boeing Jet’s Fuselage in His Yard Subhed: Bob Sauer said that his 50-foot cedar trees had acted on the same scientific principle as an airbag, disrupting the door plug’s fall in an act known in physics as impulse.

immense respect to this science teacher for seeing his opportunity and grabbing onto it with both hands

Drugs and alcohol, unfortunately. Perils of being a child star. Luckily he seems to have gotten sober.

Worst Christmas

Christmas is off to an excellent start due to the inconsistent American Airlines pet policy. Zuko got turned away because he’s “too tall” for his pet carrier. Had no issues with Southwest last year. Snap decision at check in means I’m now flying to Philly solo. 😡

Sad little California dog huddled in a dry patch on the deck, wondering why I’m making it rainy outside.

Went out to the garage during a sun shower and came back out to see Zuko huddled in the dry patch under the roof overhang. He’s a delicate California flower.

Cuter than snoopy in the puffer jacket! 😍

Zuko, a 3 year old chihuahua mix, snuggled under the covers in our bed with just his head sticking out.

Mischievous black puppy in the kitchen, looking at the camera with a towel (that he’s not supposed to have) dangling out of his mouth. He wants to be chased more than he wants the towel itself.

I miss the cutest pup. He’s acting out. Probably because he knows I’m coming home today.