Val 🏳️‍⚧️

"Artist’s impression of John Edmonstone teaching Darwin to preserve birds." A Black man appears to work on a piece of cardboard that will become a preserved bird's wing. He wears a workman's apron, and Darwin, young and also wearing an apron, stands nearby with a tool in one hand a dead bird in the other. CREDIT: State Darwin Museum

In 1825, a skilled Black artisan taught a young medical student, Charles Darwin, how to preserve animal specimens via taxidermy, a skill he used in his exploration of the Galapagos.

John Edmonstone was born a slave in Guyana, but freed when the family who owned him moved back to Scotland.

This is … I don’t know the word. Murderous?

This is phantasmagorical. An experience. Watch it.

Pride Flag Removed From Stonewall Monument at Trump’s Directive The move comes a year after the National Park Service scrubbed mentions of queer and trans people from its website, prompting protests at the NYC landmark.

The US government removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument’s official flagpole. Unbelievable 🏳️‍🌈

It's more than 762,000 people from the dismemberment of USAID alone.

There should be Congressional hearings over this

Because people asked, I want to point folks to some archiving resources that were circulated at the start of the admin's takedown of federal data at CDC, AskJAN, NIH, and discuss why keeping our data is so important.

A thread 🧵

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

YouTube video by Julia Serano Should Democrats Moderate on Trans & LGBTQ Issues?

...that's it for this thread! just a reminder, the piece has also been turned into a video essay, so share this link with friends who prefer watching over reading : ) youtu.be/a9VhnoxRj1o
& as always, if you appreciate my work, pls consider supporting me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/juliaserano

Should artists get a basic income like they do in Ireland? Could the government pay salaries to musicians and artists - no strings attached like they do in Ireland?

The correct answer to this is "Yes, and everyone else too."

Please circulate!! This deserves to be a big story.

A tough paper to unpack for non-scientists, but worth it.

We have these amazing new cancer drugs called "checkpoint inhibitors" that block the ability some tumors have to "turn off" immune cells.

The result: a potent cancer-killing immune response.

But they only work in 20-30% of cancer patients.

The Microbiota Shapes Central Nervous System Myelination in Early Life
Really excited to see this paper out-A great cross-species collaboration with David Lyons, Edinburgh & Iiris Hovatta Helsinki.
Huge kudos to former PhD student Caoimhe Lynch et al advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A four-panel comic titled "how to get into nature". In panel 1, a person kneels in the woods, looking down at a red-backed salamander, and the text says "notice a living thing." In panel 2, the text says "notice some other things that live near it," and there's a starflower, springtail, ant, little wood satyr butterfly, and salamander on the leaf litter. In panel 3, covered in creatures, plants, and a colorful starburst, the text says "Notice the connections between them, discover the wider ecosystem, learn about its histories, and find yourself following links from bedrock to stratosphere, between biotic and abiotic, at scales both microbial and massive, until you’re hopelessly overwhelmed by the wonder of it all." In panel 4, the text says "Fall into a daze and let moss engulf you." The person from the first panel is still kneeling in the woods, looking happy as moss slowly engulfs them, and they're saying "This is for the best."

How to get into nature.

Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95 ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away

Thank you for your resilience, your persistent brilliance...it transformed how the world navigates & understands our planet. Your work touches nearly every modern device & journey and more people should know your name.

Goodnight and godspeed, Gladys West.🕯️

thezebra.org/2026/01/18/d... #WomenInSTEM

Black Lives Matter organizers warned everyone about this. Black thinkers like @ruha9.bsky.social also warned everyone about this! Read her book Race After Technology!

An oil painting of Prof T.H. Thung, a middle-aged man from a Chinese background in Dutch academic dress (black gown and white bow tie and bands) against a plain background. He is looking straight at the viewer with a warm and friendly, if thoughtful, expression.

A fascinating (and beautifully illustrated) article on the history of virus research @w-u-r.bsky.social, and in particular of Thung Tjeng Hiang, the world's first professor of virology
exhibitions.wur.nl/fascinating-...

My linocut portrait of geologist Florence Bascom as a young woman from neck up, in blue, looking at the viewer with her curly hair pulled back wearing a blouse with large lace collar on green vinyl. Behind her are two geological cross-sections with layers carved with different patterns to indicate different rock materials in black. Below on either side are two circular diagrams: these are thin sections of rhyolite printed in pale beige, brown, and black.

Day 12 #artAdventCalendar is my #linocut of brilliant trailblazing US #geologist & prof Florence Bascom (1862-1945) 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬⚒️ #histsci who championed women’s education, & used polarizing microscopes for detailed petrographic analysis to show that rocks previously identified as sedimentary were in fact 🧵

get. her. ass.

Journal retracts weed killer study backed by Monsanto, citing ‘serious ethical concerns’ Highly cited paper was used as evidence that the widely used herbicide Roundup is safe

"Journal retracts weed killer study backed by Monsanto, citing ‘serious ethical concerns’
Highly cited paper was used as evidence that the widely used herbicide Roundup is safe."

JFC

www.science.org/content/arti...

This kind of dataset is a clear indicator that propaganda plays a big role in people's political positions and acting like people are unshiftable is just completely detached from reality

National security expert says second Lavender Scare is here as gov't purges LGBTQ+ workers - LGBTQ Nation Is Laura Loomer the new Joseph McCarthy?

5 Dec 2025 @rikiwilchins.bsky.social -- Former Obama natl security assoc. Lucas Schleusener says group called STARRS & Trump advisor Laura Loomer combing thru fed employees' posts for anything showing they're LGBTQ+ & harassing them or getting them fired in a "Lavender Scare" purge like the 1950s.

For World AIDS Day 2025: the stigma of HIV & AIDS was so strong that many avoided talking about their diagnosis until their final days.

In other cases, the families kept the secret for decades after.

Freddie Mercury, Liberace, Rock Hudson, Gia Carangi, Anthony Perkins... and Isaac Asimov.

This is a black and white photograph of strongwoman Katie Sandwina, known as "the Lady Hercules." She stands in the center, confidently supporting three men on her arms while dressed in a fitted leotard and tights. The three men are dressed in formal suits, and their expressions reflect amazement or admiration for her strength.

Katie Sandwina or Brumbach (1884 – 1952) was an Austrian American circus strongwoman.
In 1902 she defeated the famous strongman Eugen Sandow in a weightlifting contest in New York City.

Gongshi (Scholar's rock) in Wenmiao temple, Shanghai. It's a limestone rock on a pedestal with growing grass on it, in front of a temple with ornate roof and some Japanese style columns, shrubs in a line. CREDIT: Christopher, Tania and Isabelle Luna - Flickr

One of the tragedies of growing up is it's apparently no longer "socially acceptable" to carry around a cool rock & show it to people you meet.

So I have to respect the Chinese, Korean & Japanese for having a tradition of finding cool rocks & displaying them.

Let's talk about scholar's stones.

Scientists should graduate ready to share what they know, effectively. Even the top science programs in our country do not require science communication and public engagement for their graduates. This is dangerous. Let's change the future. Sign the petition to make a difference: bit.ly/3LbnfHB

Scientists should be good story-tellers, but we don't include enough training on how to tell stories that people can understand.

What I love to see: 'lightning talks' / '5 minute seminars' for the general public as outreach efforts.

Those skills translate to industry, too.

Don't Buy Starbucks! At any location, today and beyond, while workers are on ULP strike!

As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.

Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX

This makes me so upset, like just the lack of consideration for others wtf and it’s like every day 😭 I will continue to lift these out of the way

#Fungi, #Feathers, and #Insects Spring from Carol Long’s #Art Nouveau Vessels

Link for more: www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/09/caro...