Virologist Charlotte Friend (b. #OTD in 1921) proved viruses could cause cancer (1957) & revolutionized virology (& helped define modern retrovirology). She later pioneered differentiation therapy, showing cancer cells could be "reverted" to health, defining a new path to treat cancer. #WomenInSTEM

BREAKING: Senate Republicans just blocked my bill to fund TSA and FEMA... AGAIN. This isn't complicated: if Republicans won't agree to rein in ICE & CBP, they should AT MINIMUM work with us to fund TSA. But they won't.

Perched on a slender cherry branch, an Anna's hummingbird flashes its gorget and wings at another hummingbird whizzing by... the third photo demonstrates how varied the flash of iridescent color the head and gorget feathers can be. #WingsOpenNotFlying #BirdoftheDay #Birds #hummingbirds

Another Brittle Star, Ophioplocus esmarki, the Smooth Brittle Star or Esmarki's Brittle Star. A search says they eat kelp so they're detritivores. They have an interesting reproductive behavior: they brood their juveniles "It takes approximately 9 to 11 years for to reach 50% of its final body size"

A Barred Owl stares into the camera on a low branch near Fort Worden Olympic Peninsula WA The proposal to kill off Barred Owls to protect Spotted Owls neglects to account for the loss of old growth forests where Spotted Owls evolved to live. Protect the last stands of old growth instead. #birds

I'm kinda fond of brittle stars and they don't get much press. This is one of the larger more active species. Ophioderma panamense, the Panama Serpent Star. Found on rocky reefs from S. Cal to Ecuador. It has no trouble navigating some red urchins. Lots of tube feet coming out of the urchin below it

I am delighted that dogs are able to receive high-quality health care. But what about humans? In America today, 85 million are uninsured or under-insured. Health care must be considered a human right. We need Medicare for All, NOW.

Arnold wasn't a good governor. He talked a lot about Climate Change but he didn't lift a finger to change anything. Arnold put real estate brokers from Lake Tahoe & sod farmers from Oxnard in charge of Cal Fish & Game. Republicans were in charge of CA 30 years, kelp beds have gone downhill since.

MURDERER jonathan ross STILL NOT ARRESTED MURDERER jesus ochoa STILL NOT ARRESTED MURDERER raymundo gutierrez STILL NOT ARRESTED MOST CORRUPT DOJ EVER !!

No one serving the public should use confidential government information for financial gain. Sen. Merkley and I introduced legislation to ban federal elected officials from trading on prediction markets and to strengthen our ability to go after bad actors. finance.yahoo.com/news/senator...

It's lowland snowing again in the Skagit Valley. Across the Strait and further north than the post below.

Snow falling on the Sol Duc River Olympic Peninsula WA on May 15, 2022. The elevation was 180m so it wasn't high up. I used a telephoto lens so distance is compressed but it was still heavy snow. Dropped the temperature down from mid 50s to low 30s in a few minutes, then it was gone in a few hours.

This can be a little misleading, the only people saying that the White Abalone was "common" were the fishermen lobbying to get them. I'd seen them & in shallow water (10m) but this species was not common. Red & Black Abalone were common until wasting disease & poaching wiped them out.

America’s top doctor shouldn’t be someone who peddles junk science to get rich off a grift. Casey Means can’t even practice medicine.   I will vote NO on her confirmation.

The Pacific Wren vocalizing on his stump. Basically he's saying, "I am the biggest, baddest bird on the block. No other bird's got what I got. If you don’t believe me then you’ll see, I’ll make you run into a tree!" I'm paraphrasing but these birds are the pluckiest birds anywhere. #bird

That's a Thornback Ray hiding in the sand. They're known for 3 rows of denticles going down their tails. It's a predator known for eating small fish & crustaceans but it's not a great swimmer nor does it have a massive toothy mouth so my guess is it eats injured or dead fish more than healthy ones.

Diving of Vancouver island many years ago we came across a sun star that was almost 4 1/2 to 5’ I took a photo of a fellow diver next to it for scale star fish of all species were very abundant especially on places like Browning Wall..today you find very few but they are making a comeback

This is good news. It's working because the temperature is lower than this abalone's natural range (Pt Conception, Channel Is, to lower middle Baja Pacific side) so withering syndrome is kept at bay. This could have been done 45 years ago when disease 1st appeared www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Sunflower seastar was putting on a show yesterday. Lotta visitors commented how they’d never seen one that big, or with so many arms. Talked about how the wasting disease was exacerbated by #ClimateChange. Which I then used to segue into our government’s contempt for environmental policy.

Winter's not quite over yet. A Canada Jay searches for food on a winter day near the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Cornell Bird website says "The Canada Jay nests during late winter, incubating its eggs in temperatures that may drop below minus 20°F." #birds

Pycnopodia helianthoides, the Sunstar. There's a small fish hovering just above it though I still haven't ID that. Sunstars were some of the species hit hardest by withering syndrome and since they're keystone predators massive changes to the intertidal have occurred. They get as big as a pizza.

A pair of adult eagles showing the young one the ropes and a pair of crabs trying to look inconspicuous...

It's been a year (seems like forever) since I took this pic near Mt Baker WA of some Huckleberry flowers with a gnat on them. Gnats were going in each flower getting pollen. Macrophoto using f-stops for focusing. Next time I'll use a faster setting plus photo stacking. Don't need no stinkin' f/32!

This Bald Eagle photographed flying back to the nest is carrying a strange catch, a Dungeness Crab. Taken just off the pier at Fort Worden Olympic Peninsula WA. The crab is alive and the Eagle is carrying it upside down. Crabs pull their legs and claws in when they're upside down. #birds

A star commonly called The Leather Star, Dermasteria imbricata, because it isn't scaly like some stars roams a reef searching for just about anything. It eats just anything it can find including anemones & tunicates. This star, like the bat star, extrudes it's stomach to digest prey.

Another Nuthatch. This little guy (there was a pair) is likely the male as the other was almost 2X bigger has climbed down a branch looking for insects & finding a gnat. One source said "1000 insects a day" during breeding season. Taken at the Dungeness Spit campground Olympic Peninsula WA. #birds

A Black & Yellow Rockfish swims by small cave where a Cabezon lurks. Both use the same strategy on reef where they remain motionless hoping a crustacean or another tasty animal walks by. When prey get close enough they use their buccal pump to suck water & prey into their mouths.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY SWEET BENJI WILL BE ALIVE AT FULTON COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER IN ATLANTA! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN TAKE HIM

I've always like these birds, and since they sit still long enough to be captured in a photo they're even better! A Red-Breasted Nuthatch roosting in blackberry bushes looking for insects. Trying to ignore the one-eyed thing with flashing lights. Meep, meep. #birds

A spiny lobster crawls out of a recess under a reef over 2 catsharks. They're commonly called Swell Sharks since they blow up by swallowing water. Thought to keep them from getting hauled out. They hunt at night & have decent choppers so don't haul them out of their caves. People have been bitten.

We can’t clean up Washington without restoring integrity to the Supreme Court. That’s why I believe we should expand the Supreme Court to 13 justices. And then, institute term limits. Because an appointment to the Supreme Court shouldn’t mean a lifetime lack of accountability.

Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award

Trump’s war will easily cost more than it would have cost to extend the ACA tax credits. Republicans are telling the American people—there is always money for war, always money for billionaire tax breaks. Just never any money for health care or families here at home.

Well, I still don't have a decent photo of a Golden-Crowned Kinglet, one depicting the two golden stripes on their heads. These birds are faster than Bushtits and far more skittish. #birds

A Bat Star, Patiria miniata, moves across a blade of kelp covered with a colony of bryozoans, eating the colony as it goes. Underneath the kelp is a red urchin who is also eating the blade of kelp plus the bryozoans. "Individuals (stars) may combat one another if they meet, including pushing".

It is obscene to suggest that we are going to fight Trump's war of choice "FOREVER." Congress must vote to end this immediately. NO WAR WITH IRAN.

"Billions fewer birds are flying through North American skies than decades ago and their population is shrinking ever faster, mostly due to a combination of intensive agriculture and warming temperatures, a new study found." 🧪 🌎 🌿 🪶 apnews.com/article/bird...

I've always had a fascination with Dippers. This chunky little bird walks around underwater in streams hunting aquatic insects. Any place with a cold rushing stream is usually where they're found. They bob a lot, hence the name Dipper. #birds

Older Kelp. The older kelp is darker than the amber colored new kelp growth & often has colonies of a bryozoan called Membranipora membranacea. That's a colonial organism that starts out male, the oldest in the center. Nudibranchs eat them & I've seen bat stars eating them.

#ScienceUnderSiege www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/c...

I wonder how the priestess' would swallow the propaganda of today's leaders? phys.org/news/2026-03...

A Green Abalone, Halitosis fulgens, eating a blade of kelp. Abalone in California were decimated by a disease in the 1980s coupled with poaching the survivors. I've heard from a very reliable source that 2 species have increased. Climate Change is still a major threat to all 7 species of them in CA.

Chickadee Jam. Good thing they're hitched. OOOOF. #birds

Called the Opalescent Nudibranch, Hermassenda crassicornis is the species. It's an aggressive sea slug that will feed on tunicates & almost everything else from dead animals to jellyfish, anthozoans, crustaceans, and other Opalescent nudibranchs. Stinging cells from prey are moved to the gills.