engraving of a louse from Hooke's MICROGRAPHIA (1665)

The cleaning of the world’s largest #Roman floor mosaic, covering around 1050 sqm. It was discovered during the construction of a hotel in Antakya/Turkey. The shifting of the ground during an earthquake has caused a a ripple effect. Dating 4th c. AD. 🏺#mosaicmonday 📷 www.ntv.com.tr/galeri/sanat...

Here, have some birds perched on appropriate/delightful signage. You're welcome. 🧵 ⤵️ 1. Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) by tysmith on iNaturalist

Spent hours being spellbound by Convolvulus Hawk Moths last night as they nectared on Nicotiana plants in my highland garden!. Up to 3 feeding at a time, their entire abdomens glowing red hot in the thermal from flight muscle use!! #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Video of the DB Class 23 steam locomotive pulling a heritage train (upload limit here appears to be a bit below the advertised 100mb still?)

German Class 23 on the Three Lakes line at Schluchsee earlier today

The creation of Earth itself. #photography

#BraggYourPattern Fiona Tan's "Het Grote Raam" in the (secularized) Grote Kerk of Alkmaar🇳🇱

And for #InverteFest false crab of the day, Paguropsis! 😍 A hermit crab genus that wears an anemone but stretched out with no shell ever! Also called the "blanket hermit crabs" they live in the deep sea, 150-360 m below 🦀🦑🧪 zookeys.pensoft.net/article/23712/

If this was the late 18th century I’d be setting up my easel right now. #Vesuvius

Another day, another botnet, from the "rate my pfp" girlies to the "senior economist with 20+ years of experience", no posts and identical bios. If the AT protocol does not support private accounts and dumping unwanted followers, perhaps it is simply unsuitable for basing real-world social media on?

🧪⚒️ You probably know that arthropods, such as insects and crustaceans, need to molt (shed) their exoskeleton in order to grow. But you might not have known that female lobsters mate right after molting. Why? Because they carry and brood their eggs on the undersides of their tails, and if they molt,

The giant ciliate Stentor, a single cell 1mm long with a complex surface pattern, is an excellent model system for studying pattern formation at the whole-cell level, owing to its ability to heal wounds and regenerate morphology pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34660609/

Does this count for #BraggYourPattern ?

Unbelievable footage from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters inside the eye of Hurricane Erin. Simply incredible.

Details on a fly‘s head, incredible details revealed at high magnification. Usually unexpected… that‘s what i love about macrophotography.

Liminal spaces - inside an Art Nouveau water tower

A lot of small birds take a bit of time splashing in shallow water when they bath. Not swallows. This barn swallow flew directly into the marsh at Mach 5, completely submerged for a second, and then exploded out in a shower of water drops to continue on its way! #Birds #photography #wildlife 🪶

Beautiful Iran

getting stalked by a stork

The Kristineberg Underwater Observatory is now live!! 🐟🧪🦑 Similar to the @coralcitycamera.bsky.social. Watch the eel grass meadow full of life live from your desk! Gobies, crabs, pipefish, several species of wrasses including some massive Ballan wrasse. Enjoy! www.youtube.com/live/goB60IJ...

not entirely sure how to dress for this weather, any suggestions ?

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...

I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better

Freude schöne Gelbbauchunke 🎶 Tochter aus Elysion🎶🎶 (young yellow-bellied toad in a shallow forest pond purpose-built to support their reproduction)

BEHOLD! One of Earth's greatest lineages of life: the lil wiggle arm guys, Meteora. These single-celled critters, originally found in deep-sea sediments, are SO DIFFERENT from other lifeforms on Earth that they're likely in their own kingdom (as in, the Animal Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom etc). 🧪🌿

Last night at Moth Night, we saw a lot more than moths. The highlight was happening upon this beaver absolutely chowing down on some wood, corn on the cob style. You’re gonna want to put your sound on for this one.

A puddle full with yellow-bellied toads (Bombina variegata) in North Macedonia.

Allchar is the most toxic (natural) site in the World with extraordinary high arsenic and thallium concentrations in soils.

The floating leaves of the mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides) form self-assembling rafts of diamonds that slowly conquer the water.

Midsummer scenes

mood

I worked a bit longer on my pink nudibranch video collection resulting from my Okinawa trip (visiting colleagues at OIST). Now the full video is on youtube: youtu.be/-YF9AQxVYS0?...

6 month, long exposure pinhole camera Solargram. Paper wet - part was beginning to disintegrate from water intrusion. Had snow & wind storms & lots of rain May/June 2025. Pinhole is tiny - I was surprised paper was so wet. Very pleased with result - even more pleased I got the angle right.

The morning squirrel racing has begun on the Raccoonobahn. Not often we see 4 racers at one time. 🐿️🐿️🐿️🐿️🏆

These tiny creature are called the "carriers of stone seeds" in Ancient Greek. Known as coccolithophores, these algae shield their bodies in stunning calcium plates. In ancient times they were so numerous their bodies—piled in the trillions—formed the rock of the White Cliffs of Dover, in England

stag [beetle] night near Freiburg

Some tarantulas keep frogs as 'pets'. The frogs eat ants & other small bugs that might attack the eggs or young spiderlings of the tarantula & the tarantula provides shelter in their burrows. What's more: the tarantula will attack predators that might threaten the frog. (📷: Emanuele Biggi)

Is there anything more unsettling and beautiful than the eyelids of a red eyed tree frog? They're so ornate and bizarre. I can't think of anything else like them.

Good background on the Mars mission Starship is ostensibly designed for, both hilariously and soberly written by Maciej Cegłowski idlewords.com/2025/02/the_...

How brilliant is this! All those asymmetric ones... mesmerising. #iteachphysics www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB7K...

This tropical frog loves nectar. But is he pollinating the plants he visits? 🧪🌍🌱 www.science.org/content/arti...

New research reveals that human teeth evolved from the sensory armor of ancient fish over 460 million years ago. This discovery links our dental origins to early vertebrate exoskeletons. 🧪⚒️ #Evolution #Paleontology #ToothOrigins #Fossils #EvolutionaryBiology Paper www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"We have to let the frogs stick around": on the importance (and joy!) of describing poison dart frog species from the Amazon, a beautiful article by @laurenleffer.bsky.social of @popsci.com inspired by a study we published: www.popsci.com/environment/...

A Four-lined Tree Frog going with the grain.

Fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) flowering in the Spessart meadows near Jossa, about 80km from Frankfurt

#Invertefest in our Spiraea (Cetonia aurata)

Watching animals eat is like my biology crack. I don’t need it, I don’t have to do it, I don’t even always like it, but there’s just something about critters noshing on one another that leaves me gobsmacked. And nothing does it like the comb jelly Beroe [Thread 🧵] 📽️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xkN...