It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the state of the world from reading the news. Nature provides some good news stories you may have missed that include the discovery of new species and a promising medical treatment for a fatal mitochondria disease. 🧪

A survivor of the Kent State Massacre rings the bell on campus today, May 4, at exactly 12:20, the moment his classmates fell, 56 years ago.

Here is i the first #MosasaurMonday in May! How about a little whimsy? My mosasaur PEZ dispenser!

Sirenia Digest 236 coming! New short story + a PDF w/MORE Dancy goodness, the final Dark Horse Alabaster graphic novel, THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE BIRD! (In B&W, because I HATED the color for that book, & the inks are great). Greg Ruth's covers. however, are the shit. www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

10 people have told me how gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is about insuring "equal rights for white people." They really have. W/straight faces. & I've to wonder how many of them are so ignorant their straight faces followed fr. genuine belief that US white folks have suffered racial bigotry.

Sirenia Digest 236 coming! New short story + a PDF w/MORE Dancy goodness, the final Dark Horse Alabaster graphic novel, THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE BIRD! (In B&W, because I HATED the color for that book, & the inks are great). Greg Ruth's covers. however, are the shit. www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

The editorial cartoonist's pen is one of the sharpest tools in journalism, whittling issues down to basics for satire or rage. I'm proud to say that my long-ago colleague, Milt Priggee, is unafraid to shock with a tough point of view.

On this day in 1989, The Cure released a classic, Disintegration. (One of my top ten most beloved albums.)

Sirenia Digest 236 coming! I'm working on a Hemingway/Lovecraft "mashup" called "The Old Man and the Shuggoth." + you get PDF MORE Dancy goodness, the final Alabaster graphic novel, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BIRD. I HATED the colors on this series, so the PDF is B&W. www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

Comparative histological analysis of vertebrates reveals Triassic climate variability across southern Pangea - Trinidad - Journal of Anatomy - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I was "lucky" enough, in 1985, to see the Paracertherium befor it was taken down.

Evolutionary drivers of humeral (upper wing bone) shape in hummingbirds: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... 🪶🧪 (📷Ríos-Orjuela et al.)

Sirenia Digest 236 coming! I'm working on a Hemingway/Lovecraft "mashup" called "The Old Man and the Shuggoth." + you get PDF MORE Dancy goodness, the final Alabaster graphic novel, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BIRD. I HATED the colors on this series, so the PDF is B&W. www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

Sirenia Digest 236 coming! I'm working on a Hemingway/Lovecraft "mashup" called "The Old Man and the Shuggoth." + you get PDF MORE Dancy goodness, the final Alabaster graphic novel, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE BIRD. I HATED the colors on this series, so the PDF is B&W. www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

From September 2026, Google is pushing a forced, irreversible update that removes your ability to install software they haven't approved on a device you own, with no consent and no way to reverse it.

I had some real asshole moments as a teenager, but it would never have even occurred to me to send death threats to a public figure I disliked. and that's not because I was exceptionally pure of heart. the apparatus simply didn't exist for it. www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...

Withholding your vote from Democrats in the current environment is nothing more than lending tacit support to the party of Trumpism, MAGA, and tyranny. We have to own our individual agency and make choices under the conditions that exist. @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com states the situation clearly

My obituary of the highly accomplished and brilliant Professor Hans-Dieter Sues (1956-2026) is now online, let me know if you want a pdf... www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NICGG...

Less than 3.5 hours left, but not too late to save! Books by me, signed to you (if you wish). That's Blixa, by the way, Cat of Chaos. dreamingsquidsundries.bigcartel.com/products

When I covered Trump's tariffs, I discovered that orange crops have cratered in FL. This explains all the reasons--disease, climate change, overspraying, finance--why. slate.com/business/202...

Take 2! This time I actually read. www.patreon.com/posts/inters...

There's a three-day 25% off sale in the Dreaming Squid Sundries shop, ending at 12 Central on Tuesday. The code SQUID25 will be applied at checkout, so no need to cut and paste or remember it. Books by me, signed to you! dreamingsquidsundries.bigcartel.com/products

Happy Trans Day of Visibility! ✊ trans rights are human rights. full stop. #TDOV #TDOV2026

Take two! I actually read.

April 19, 1882, died on this day at the age of 73 naturalist and geologist Charles R. Darwin ...

Rutilated #Quartz crystals with dense golden #Rutile needles inside from Novo Horizonte, Bahia, Brazil. #mineral #crystal #mineralogy #mineralexpert

"In PJM alone, consumers are already on the hook for $16.6 billion in capacity costs tied to data center demand forecasts that industry experts widely expect to be wrong."

There's a three-day 25% off sale in the Dreaming Squid Sundries shop, ending at 12 Central on Tuesday. The code SQUID25 will be applied at checkout, so no need to cut and paste or remember it. Books by me, signed to you! dreamingsquidsundries.bigcartel.com/products

It's easiest if you just watch it...

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #HeadShots, any head shot will do. Cormorants know how to do eyes. This is the spectacular Imperial Cormorant, one of the aptly named blue-eyed shags. Form the Falkland Islands. 🪶🦑

The #ocean’s fastest and most formidable #predators might also be the most physiologically vulnerable to #warming waters, researchers warn #sharks insideclimatenews.org/news/1604202...

Get in on the Sirenia Digest 235 Alabaster/Wolves special via my Patreon. A new Dancy short story + access to the last few back issues of the digest FREE! & as part of No. 235, download a PDF of the Dark Horse Comics Alabaster graphic novel Wolves! (ArtxGreg Ruth) www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

It's easiest if you just watch it...

Bluebird posting will continue until morale improves

This week, my state of Maryland became the first U.S. State to get an official state shark! I wrote about why Megalodon is awesome, how we know that it's extinct, and what having a state shark means for modern-day shark science and conservation I'm fine, everything is fine. 🧪🌍🦑🦈

The podcast is coming, just a little more slowly than expected. But it is coming. Keep watching the skies. My thanks to the indomitable Figbash for continuing to sit in the Fancy Chair and act as my body double. www.patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi...

Debates over gender identity could weaken global efforts to protect victims of violence. Important read:

babe, wake up, new form of mansplaining just dropped

Scientists thawed the ancient sample from the Alazeya River in northeastern Siberia, and to their surprise, the creature woke up. www.iflscience.com/a-rotifer-go...

"How birds survived the dinosaurs’ doomsday" By Steve Brusatte Scientists finally understand why birds were the only dinosaurs to pull through the end-Cretaceous mass extinction www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-a... @utahpaleo-ufop.bsky.social @paleontologizing.bsky.social

Never been a better time to subscribe... patreon.com/c/CaitlinRKi... ($12.50 and above gets you the digest) No. 235 will be an all Dancy/Alabaster special, including a new short story, never-before-seen art, and the Dark Horse graphic novel wolves in PDF form!

And especially delighted to see The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison @pennyvixen.bsky.social, Bright Dead Star by @caitlinrkiernan.bsky.social, Crows and Silences by Lucius Shepherd, and Starling House by @alixeharrow.bsky.social for art book with art by @rovinacai.bsky.social! Congrats!

Congrats to the @locusmag.bsky.social finalists! We see many authors we're lucky to work [email protected], @marthawells.com, @silviamg.bsky.social, @aptshadow.bsky.social, @robertjbennett.bsky.social, @tkingfisher.com, @joe-hill.bsky.social + more! locusmag.com/2026/04/2026...

I'll be joining Figbash and the Antlers of Anxiety in the fancy chair tonight for the inaugural episode of my podcast. This first episode, which will go live tomorrow, will be FREE TO ALL (after this, only available via my Patreon). I'll be reading from Zoetrope Bizarre...and who knows what else!

#MosasaurMonday! How about this impressive Tylosaurus proriger snout from the basal Mooreville Chalk of Ala.? Collected in 1983 by a crew from the late, great Red Mtn. Museum, it's part of a fairly complete skeleton measuring 40+ft (12m). In the collections of @mcwanescience.bsky.social!

Feminists began raising the alarm about the manosphere decades ago – and we were ignored | Laurie Penny

The National Science Foundation has proposed eliminating the directorate that includes most of the federal funding for fieldwork and research in human origins. It's a sudden acceleration of a decades-long trend. I comment on what this means. www.johnhawks.net/p/us-federal...

New with @pamherd.bsky.social: While never mentioning Trump or political parties, the show’s second season offers an almost-real time commentary on how policy changes are affecting health. Lets take one particular example of Medicaid coverage loss. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-the-p...