Natalie van Hoose

That's what I want to know! I think we are reasonably annoyed.

Anyone have a good-news environmental story from the past week we can share in the @therevelator.org newsletter? I have a lot of NEGATIVE news in this issue and could use something to balance it all out. 💀

I'll settle for semi-good news!

Ideas welcome up until 9am PT Wednesday!

Eavesdropping used to be my favorite hobby until I realized most people on the phone were just describing previous conversations.
The last time I was this disappointed was when I learned enough Czech to find out all the hushed conversations on the evening tram in Prague were about potatoes.

A protestor at a No Kings rally in Gainesville, costumed as Trump with crown and royal robe, holds a sign that says "I'm the King of Liars." Another protestor holds a sign that says "No Kings in America."

Protestors with signs line a street in Gainesville at a No Kings rally. One sign says "Not normally a sign-carrying guy, but jeez!"

Protestors wear inflatable costumes, including a chicken in sunglasses, frogs with crowns, and a skeleton T-Rex.

No Kings in Gainesville, Fla.

No Kings - Gainesville, Fla.

Anchovy

Has Your Scientific Work Been Cut? We Want to Hear.

We will be writing more of these. If you’re a scientist and your science has been disrupted, we want to hear from you: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

My friend, a Texas alum, flew into Gainesville to go to the game and preach at church tomorrow, and I am glad he knows the mercy of the Lord because he will not get any from the rest of us. #GoGators 🐊

Reef Keepers - Film and Storytelling | Seed&Spark Florida’s Coral Reef has guarded our coastline for thousands of years. Now, this natural treasure is struggling to survive. REEF KEEPERS follows the journey of a tight-knit band of defiant scientists ...

LAST CALL for pledges to the Reef Keepers crowdfunding campaign! These funds support our next shoots as we capture Florida's coral story. Two Frost Science Museum tix and other donor perks are still up for grabs! Heartfelt thanks to all our contributors. 🙏 seedandspark.com/fund/reef-ke...

Gainesville friends! Stop by Cypress & Grove tonight from 5-7 p.m. for a Reef Keepers pop-up event. Trailer showing at 5:30. Fab raffle prizes from Life Unplastic, The Lynx, Opus coffee at 6:00. Hang out w/ film producer Alyson Larson & me to talk all things coral!
www.instagram.com/p/DPL8z-sje1...

Reef Keepers - Film and Storytelling | Seed&Spark Florida’s Coral Reef has guarded our coastline for thousands of years. Now, this natural treasure is struggling to survive. REEF KEEPERS follows the journey of a tight-knit band of defiant scientists ...

Want to support our storytelling? We're halfway through a crowdfunding campaign for our next shoots and are looking for 240 people to pledge $25. Your help gets our crew on boats and to labs and backyards to tell Florida's coral story. Thank you. 🙏 seedandspark.com/fund/reef-ke...

YouTube video by Scrub Jay Productions REEF KEEPERS | Trailer

Our trailer is out! "Reef Keepers" is about the fight to keep Florida's Coral Reef alive against the odds. Filmmaker Alyson Larson and I are capturing the personal stories behind one of the nation's greatest environmental crises in a tale of hope and Florida defiance.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCb5...

This sounds like one of my favorite book dedications, penned by Camilo Jose Cela: "I dedicate this 13th and definitive edition of my 'Pascual Duarte' to my enemies, who have been of such help to me in my career."

A short story called "Diamonds in the Rough," courtesy of San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park. See it? 🐍

One stout rainstorm, and you can shoot the rapids in the middle of Gainesville.

Yes. "Midwestern apes" stopped me in my tracks as cold as an Indiana snowstorm. In an argument about choosing words, that was a very revealing choice on her part.

Please tell me the subject line of your email was "Rheality check"

May all the scotch be peaty and the paprika smoked

Rabbits With Hornlike Growths Are Hopping Around Colorado. Are They OK?

"Nature is metal," says my little sister Kara Van Hoose in this article for the NYT on weird hornlike growths on Colorado bunnies. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/s...

Antlions: extravagant wings, complete weirdos.
Tiger beetles: Speedy, scurrying jewels with bulbous eyes, impossibly delicate legs, and intermittent flight.

My coonhound died in December. I'm still going for our morning walks. He trained me well. All the hugs. 🐾

This is, unfortunately, so very true.

The show here in North Florida is certainly more subtle than Indiana, where I was surprised to find upon my arrival one summer that we had to shout to be heard at a porch party. But we do have a couple of trees in my neighborhood that are holding an absolute riot.

A 3d rendering of a CT scan of a Rio Cauca caecilian with transparent body and bone colored skeleton, showing 7 baby caecilians inside, each rendered in a different color - counter-clockwise from tail to head - red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple.

Say hello to Florida's newest established species, Typhlonectes natans - the Rio Cauca Caecilian! You can read about their relative abundance, distribution, & natural history, in our brand new paper:

journals.ku.edu/reptilesanda...

Here is one individual I CT scanned that had 7 babies inside!

A macro photo looking into the face of a spider hunkered down flat on a rock face. The spider - appropriately known as a flattie - is tan and orange-brown with darker brown bands on the legs, and orange chelicerae (the mouthparts that end in the fangs). It blends in quite well with the yellowish/tan rock.

🐙🌿 Here is your Friday Flattie. (Yes, that's its real name.) Flatties are in the family Selenopidae. This one (Selenops sp.) was in Arizona on a cliff face; I framed the photo to fully flaunt the flattie's flattitude. Selenopidae is named for Selene, Greek goddess of the moon, for the way these--

Green with envy!

Working against warming to save coral reefs Upcoming documentary “Reef Keepers” documentary explores the grief and determination of scientists trying to save Florida's vanishing reefs.

Journalist Noah Bookstein captured Reef Keepers' mission to create a distinctive film that benefits Florida's Coral Reef. The grit and never-give-up attitude of people on the frontlines of coral restoration gives this Floridian hope for our future.
www.studentnewswatch.org/post/working...

A wildlife scavenger hunt: Scientists conduct 'bioblitz' to gauge health of Indian River Lagoon  | The Invading Sea DNA from more than 2,700 shrimp, snails and other invertebrates will build global model for detecting biodiversity changes.

Some of the Indian River Lagoon's smallest animals - snails, worms, crustaceans - serve as sentinels of ecological change. They got their time to shine in a bioblitz that's helping make the IRL a global model in the use of eDNA for conservation. www.theinvadingsea.com/2025/06/27/i...

"Have you seen any snakes?" the passersby asked. And they say small talk is dead.

I'm looking for a physician in Florida with experience treating vibriosis and/or a Floridian who has experienced a Vibrio infection (aka flesh-eating bacteria) who would be willing to share their story. If this is you, please reach out!