Honored to have a photo on the cover of Current Biology!
I have mixed feelings about countries as a concept, as once we set them up we have an exclusion machine that hurts those who fall between, through no fault of their own. Too many people don't have a country at all, in any meaningful sense.
But my family somehow has two. Considerable priviledge.
A nest of Syneoca cyanea warrior wasps in Paraná, Brazil. Two things I love. Wasps. And Brazil.
#Wasps #Synoeca #WaspLove #Hymenotera #Insects
Kind of amazing that the people who finally ruined the internet was the tech sector itself.
I love how this queen Lasius arizonicus ant is smooth like glass. She’s a social parasite who , after dropping her wings, sneaks into existing ant colonies, kills the resident queen, and takes over.
So much drama. #Lasius #Ants #Insects
If you're willing to poke around underground, you might find some truly weird ants. Like these Syscia madrensis, whose blind, wormlike bodies are ideal for hunting in tight spaces. Arizona.
#Ants #Insects #Dorylinae #Syscia
Winged fire ant queens scale vegetation prior to launching themselves on a late spring mating flight. Brackenridge Field Laboratory, Texas. #Ants #Solenopsis #insects
When I have my military parade, it’s gonna be lit. It’s gonna be army ants for days. The biggest soldier ants you’ve ever seen.
#ants #insects #Eciton #armyants
A Lasius americanus worker ant carrying the silken cocoon of one of her many younger sisters in the brood nest. Indiana Dunes National Park. #Insects #ants #Lasius
A Sceliphron mud dauber wasp carries a glob of mud back to her mud nest, the weight of her load counterbalanced by her unusual petiolate abdomen. Texas. #sceliphron #sphecidae #wasp #insects #flight
Really wish people would stop talking about the problem with Science under Trump as “budget cuts”.
No. Budgets are set deliberatively by elected members of congress. Budgets haven’t been cut.
What’s happening are *purges* and *censorship*.
Death by Fungus: a photo gallery. #Cordyceps #fungi #insects
A soldier ant and several regular worker ants in a Pheidole hyatti late winter brood nest. Brackenridge Field Lab, Texas. #ants #Insects #Pheidole
Had a few minutes to do some photography today. Pleased with this shot of a Texas leafcutter ant in our lab colony, standing in the fungus garden. #ants #atta #insects
When I think of great things coming historically from the United States- the music, the novels, the art, the science, the universities, the food- almost none of it comes from the strains of oppressive white Christianity that now temporarily hold power. They’ve been opposed to all of it, all along.
Yes, I am aware that the Fediverse has a superior product in many ways, and is likely to outlive Bluesky, as well as other platforms. I do nudge people over here from BS when I can.
But the problem with Mastodon isn't the tech. It's the purist condescension, the constant sense of bitterness and sour grapes. This is a social network, supposedly. Ditch the antisocial behavior if you want people to feel welcome.
2006 paper predicted that human-caused climate change would alter the Santa Ana winds and make California more vulnerable to wildfires.
#climate #california
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2006GL025808
One small pro-democracy act you can do is delete your Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp accounts.
Meta is aligned with the incoming regime, and your presence there helps them.
Just have this feeling of intense dread about January 20th.
A cottonwood borer beetle, one of Austin’s most recognizable insects, and a true Longhorn.
#Cerambycidae #Insects #Beetle
The eight year old found the world’s ugliest pumpkin at the store and made us buy it.
We call it “the Lumpkin”
