🍁 Alex Smith 🍁

Every second of free time you have ever had in your life was subsidized by the existence of the combine harvester.

My PhD student Zita wrote this beautiful piece of natural history on the threatened Rangatira spider found only on some offshore islands of the Chathams. This is the result of many many hours of patiently observing them at night.

Dr. Vinay Prasad.

FDA vaccine chief to leave the agency for a second time https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-vaccine-chief-leave-second-time-rcna262170
↷ canadahealthwatch.ca/featured 🍁

Creative inclusion or regressive exclusion? AI and the arms race in teaching and learning - CAUT As the workshop facilitator demonstrated the latest update in AI technology, we realized that we had lost the arms race of teaching and learning.

AI may have already won the “arms race” in #HigherEd teaching and learning

But the real question is what we do next:

Will we respond with creativity and inclusion, or retreat into policies that quietly exclude the students who need access the most?
Our commentary

www.caut.ca/bulletin/cre...

Thank you David - it was always much appreciated!

SimpleMappr to be Decommissioned SimpleMappr to be Decommissioned https://bit.ly/simplemappr On September 1, 2026 SimpleMappr, https://www.simplemappr will be decommissioned. This was not an easy decision, but it is the only feas...

Hmm. Try this one docs.google.com/document/d/1...

SimpleMappr Create free point maps for publications and presentations

Regrettably, I have decided to decommission SimpleMappr, www.simplemappr.net on September 1, 2026. You may read about its origins, what others have accomplished in its 18 year run, and the reasons why I must turn it off in a document I wrote last night bit.ly/simplemappr.

READ THIS!!!

Thank you all so so much for writing this.

These fine folks put to words what so many caring instructors are up against with autonomous AI "education" tools.

Read this, and bookmark it.

"Losing the arms race will be about the inequitable exclusion of students who rely on technology to access their courses, and about teachers who have been encouraged to upload/adapt and re-think placing their resources onto platforms that are now becoming increasingly useless."

Creative inclusion or regressive exclusion? AI and the arms race in teaching and learning - CAUT As the workshop facilitator demonstrated the latest update in AI technology, we realized that we had lost the arms race of teaching and learning.

We had some thoughts about Generative AI, and @caut.bsky.social was kind enough to help us express them.
#HigherEd

Creative inclusion or regressive exclusion? AI and the arms race in teaching and learning - www.caut.ca/bulletin/cre...

@alexsmithants.bsky.social @danielgillis.ca

This is the wrong take

It’s not about weapons

They killed children

They killed girls

Please, change our stance

C'est une mauvaise position.

Il ne s'agit pas d'armes.

Ils ont tué des enfants.

Ils ont tué des filles.

S'il vous plaît, changez notre position.

C'est une mauvaise position.

Il ne s'agit pas d'armes.

Ils ont tué des enfants.

Ils ont tué des filles.

S'il vous plaît, changez notre position.

The moment we accept the idea that peace must be purchased with the blood of women and girls, we are no longer speaking of peace.

If safety demands their suffering
then what we are building is not a better world but a quieter graveyard.

Today I learned that I can film darter gill parasites live!! Here's a fantail darter parasite throwing the teeniest tiniest tantrum I have ever witnessed (40x magnification).This might be the first time this species has ever been filmed. Look how cute it is!!

University of Waterloo @UWaterloo x.com This account is no longer active. Looking to stay connected with the University of Waterloo? • News: uwaterloo.ca/news/ • Bluesky: uwaterloo • IG: uofwaterloo • FB: university.waterloo • LI: uwaterloo Thank you 9:41 AM • 2026-02-27 • 1.5M Views

Congrats University of Waterloo for leaving X!

Make sure to follow them here @uwaterloo.ca

Photo of cam water in a Marina

Photo of a white and red see slug in a collection jar

Photo of the foot of a sea slug in a collection jar

Went for a nice calm dive in an Abu Dhabi marina this morning to collect some undescribed sea slugs under a permit for study. When we surfaced we discovered that war had started and missiles were flying over our heads. It’s been an interesting day so far

All ink, no stink!

Squid ink is a natural, dark-viscous fluid primarily composed of melanin pigment, mucus & water — like a deep-sea smoke screen for a hasty getaway. These ink-blob shapes are called pseudomorphs. Filmed during #OBVI #LivingBioreactors expedition w/@schmidtsciences.bsky.social.

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

Comic: Reasons to wear a mask in 2026 - The Sick Times Artist Gillian Levine recently wrote and illustrated a comic sharing reasons to continue masking in 2026.

"Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away...if you truly care about other people, you'll put [a mask] on."

We republished illustrator Gillian Levine's comic, "Reasons to mask in 2026" in @thesicktimes.org. Check it out 👀😷

thesicktimes.org/2026/02/27/c...

I, for one, am relieved that the office towers are continuing to recover. Thank you, human beings, for the sacrifice you and your families are making.

Laurentian University unions question 11% pay hikes for the president and provost | CBC News Laurentian University’s staff and faculty unions are asking why pay increases for the president and provost, approved in October, are only being made public now.

Laurentian University unions question 11% pay hikes for the president and provost

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer in A Mighty Wind (2003)

Tonight’s movie selection is “A Mighty Wind” (2003). A reminder that this, too, is Spinal Tap

Nostalgia Generation Sequencing

NEW SPECIES OF MESOPHOTIC STARS! ALERT! #echinoday

New taxa of Mesophotic Asteroidea from Ashmore Reef, Western Australia | Megataxa We report on 27 asteroid specimens collected by the RV

New paper alert!

During the 2021 Australian Mesophotic Coral Examination expedition to the Ashmore Reef Marine Park, researchers collected 10 new species of sea stars, 9 of which are described in the paper by @echinoblog.bsky.social et al., published in Megataxa in early January.