Rebecca Gelernter

Post from "The Rundown" July 18 at 5:30 PM · DuckDuckGo has introduced a new feature allowing users to filter out AI-generated images from search results, addressing growing concerns over synthetic content overwhelming authentic visuals online. The filter can be activated through a dropdown in the Images tab, search settings, or by using a dedicated AI-free domain: noai.duckduckgo.com. The system relies on curated blocklists, including uBlockOrigin’s Huge AI Blocklist, to detect and suppress AI-generated imagery. While not perfect, it significantly reduces synthetic content visibility. This move sets DuckDuckGo apart from competitors like Google and Bing by giving users direct control over their exposure to AI-generated material. Source: TechCrunch

DuckDuckGo has added a feature to filter out AI images from search results.

Photo of a sketch of a Neanderthal. The headline reads: Scientists Growing Neanderthal 'Minibrains', Will Connect Them to Crab Robots

Go for it. I don't even care any more.

Researchers Determine Coelacanth Faked Own Extinction To Escape Massive Gambling Debt

Researchers Determine Coelacanth Faked Own Extinction To Escape Massive Gambling Debt theonion.com/researc...

Just super cool work 😁

YouTube video by Arctic Monkeys - Topic Library Pictures

My brain likes to fit taxon names to songs when I'm working. Today's is Archaeorhynchus to Library Pictures

Maybe a 2.5 gal aquarium propped up on the side furthest from the wall so it leans in closer.

That would be my preference, but they're like five feet up a wall, and the container would need to be flush with it to catch the larvae. The farther they need to fall, the more likely they are to miss the container. It's sort of an engineering issue.

You'll lose more small, important objects in a ball pit

He did, he was fine (relatively speaking) 😁

Big fan of the wrinkles just behind the wing elbow!

Portrait illustration of a White-crested Hornbill on dark brown paper, mostly in white pencil and water-soluble pen. The bird has a flaking beak with a small casque and a floofy white crest.

Another for #LoveHornbillsDay! The beak looks a little funny on this guy, but honestly that's just what this individual looks like 🐡🪶

New Comparative Anatomy Textbook! Completely free to read and open access!

doi.org/10.59319/YHF...

They should take a closer look at those line breaks, too 🧐

Glad this was more or less resolved.

I see it 😆

Their wings are amazing!

They're impressive guys!

A Summwr Fishfly, Chauliodes pectinicornis, on a white wall, facing right. It's probably about 2.5 inches long, with huge oval wings that lie over its back. It has feathered antennae and eyes that stick out from its head. It's grey-brown and weakly patterned.

These chokers! Megaloptera. I've had a bunch visiting my light lately!

Hundreds of small, light green insect eggs on a white wall, clustered in an irregular mass. The eggs are about twice as long as they are wide.

I think these are Summer Fishfly eggs. My wall is not the right place for them (they need to drop into water when they hatch), so I'll try to detach them. Not sure what to do with them if I succeed, though 🌿

Beetle and friends again, this time climbing on a wall. The mites are gathered on the frontmost two of the beetle's orange spots.

Interestingly, the mites seem to be clustering on the beetle's spots here, presumably for camouflage.

Roundneck Sexton Beetle with mite hitchhikers, probably Poecilochirus sp. The beetle is large and black with four orange spots on its elytra. The mites are each smaller than the beetle's eye, and are a warm brown with a lighter crescent at the back of their abdomens. There are ten of them on the beetle's thorax and abdomen. The beetle is on a wooden deck.

Beetle with mite friends! The mites aren't feeding on the beetlw, they're just going to the same place (a corpse). In fact, they likely benefit the beetle: when they arrive at some carrion, both feed and lay eggs. The mites also eat fly larvae, which would compete with the beetle's larvae! 🌿

Case in point: I just uploaded 92 observations from last night's bug lights, all insects except one collection of mites.

iNat could really use a template feature. It would save me so much time when I have 50 bugs to upload from one place that all need to go in a bug project.

Tiny!

I bet 😁 How big are these guys?

Oops! All Wasps

Love it!

Lift off and separate

Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

🧡

Love the textures!