PLANTS! IN! SPACE! www.cbc.ca/news/science...

My walk to the metro has been looking real colorful! #fallfoliage

Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts www.popsci.com/environment/...

Got my covid vaccine this weekend! As someone who typically gets side effects, I’m so grateful vaccines allow me to plan ahead for a weekend where I lounge in bed reading while my immune system goes to threat ID school. Yay science!

AFTER A YEAR OF SCIENTIFIC SCRUTINY, A ROCK SAMPLE ON MARS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED TO CONTAIN A POTENTIAL BIOSIGNATURE!!!!

Hello to September and the beginning of my favorite season! 🍂☕️

I just finished reading THAT DEVIL, AMBITION and I have to say that dark academia is the perfect way to begin fall (yes, September = fall in my mind).

People who have played Outer Wilds looking at this news like 👀

Daylilies looking spectacular on my walk to the metro!

Personal update since I've been mostly absent here: I'm in the middle of a prescribed gluten challenge in advance of a celiac test, and it turns out my body really, REALLY doesn't like gluten! I will be back to posting about books & random stuff next month after I've survived The Great Bread War!

This is exactly what 10 year old me loved about birding. I keep thinking I should pick up the hobby again.

I had a blast with #DCBookCrawl today for Indie Bookstore Day!

Okay this is it. Time for the power of book friends. Do delay; shop indie bookstore day on the 26th of April!

Today on my morning walk I passed both lilac and honeysuckle flowers, which are my two favorite flower scents. Smells like spring!

My best friend and I have a two person book club where we each pick a book and read/annotate, then do the same with the other's pick. Anyway I just got my copy of The Starless Sea back with both our annotations, and reading them in conversation is SO MUCH FUN.

Looks like the evidence for this weird chemical abundance in an exoplanet atmosphere has gotten stronger with new JWST data: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/s... Is it really a sign of life? That’s still not clear; lots of analysis left to do. But it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out! 🧪 🔭

This is devastating. This program isn't just about providing service to communities (although that's certainly a major focus), but also hands-on learning and growth and development of young people. I did a term with NCCC FEMA Corps shortly after college, and it helped shape who I am today.

Wisdom tooth? Removed. Ice cream? Acquired.

I just finished reading All the Water in the World by @eirencaffall.bsky.social, and I found it heartbreaking beautiful. It's left me thinking about the things we try to save when everything comes crashing down - history, memory, hope. What a gorgeous book.

Today it’s time to launch a big project I’ve had the privilege of working on: A Quiet Storm—an online art gallery showcasing the artwork of people living with severe ME/CFS. 1/7 www.aquietstorm.me #MECFS #pwME #OnlineArtGallery #AQuietStorm

Finally reading ALL SYSTEMS RED and I'm getting that delightful feeling of falling in love with a character while knowing I have a whole series to catch up on!

The poinsettia I got for Christmas has stubbornly hung on and started growing?! What do I do with it. I was not prepared to be the parent of a poinsettia tree.

Somehow it's sounds here that killed me.

The recent dire wolf discourse (they're not dire wolves) makes me think about the one time I saw a wolf in the wild while backpacking. It was only for a few seconds. Still took my breath away.

TIME's cover story this week is about using genetic engineering to bring back a recently-extinct species. I don't know the technical details of this case, which may or may not be as awesome as it sounds. But some thoughts on this topic in general as a conservation biologist: 🧵 🧪🌎

Speaking up matters.

I heard so many good things about The Pitt before I started watching and it turns out they're all true

Everyone raised on the AP Style Guide is having a moment with this one, thank you @ellecordova.bsky.social

A feed to browse if you want to feel some hope:

I guess I've never really introduced my WIPs for the #writingcommunity, but better late than never! I tend to always have several projects in different stages (not counting everything on my notes app, which contains any ideas that haven't reached critical mass yet). I have three current WIPs:

Moving from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast has introduced me to so many different new plants and trees and seasons. Like what do you MEAN you have a tree that has big, bright flower clusters erupt directly from tree trunks and thick branches??!

I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold

Owning the Spheniscids, is that anything www.wired.com/story/trump-...

I've been largely absent from social media - and lots of offline life too - for the last few months due to health stuff, but lately I've been gradually improving and wow it's nice to participate in life again

Nearly 45k people are still watching Cory Booker at hour 17 www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ut...

Me in my centrally heated apartment which hasn't yet switched from heat to AC, waiting for the rain to arrive and cool things off today

It's magnolia season!

Happy pi day! I don't happen to have pie this year so I'm celebrating with girl scout cookies.

FYSA: There will be a "Blood Moon" total lunar eclipse on March 14 at 3:00AM EDT. www.space.com/what-time-to...

This has wide ranging implications which is going to hurt many communities reliant on international tourism. In particular, rural communities whose very economy is reliant on the typical summer travel season and especially those recently affected by disasters still recovering. #ThruHiking #ParkChat

One of my small joys this year has been the Strange Planet daily calendar. Might have to find some sweet discs today...

This is the news we deserve. “These are the 1st images of humpbacks having sex, and they're both males 'It was not what I was expecting,' says biologist Stephanie Stack”

I worry that the focus on NOAA's weather predicting value is ignoring the millions of other ways NOAA researchers enrich communities and local economies. There are no oysters without NOAA. There are no blue crabs without NOAA. NOAA trains teachers. NOAA is the lifeblood of coastal communities.

Stumbled across these tiny beauties on my morning walk. Happy first day of March!

Eight years of having Christmas cactus plants but no flowers, and apparently all it takes is moving one plant to where it can get some freezing winter air from a cracked-open window.

A small victory and we will take it! “Trump administration backtracks on eliminating thousands of national parks employees” www.latimes.com/california/s...

Primary motivations to write: 1. the "what ifs" in my head have to go somewhere 2. candle/tea/writing vibes are killer 3. what else am I going to do at camp when it gets dark at 6pm while backpacking and I'm saving my phone battery for photos and navigation but I have a notebook and headlamp

I was talking with my friend about our favorite videogames and I didn't realize that mine are mostly all ocean based?? (Subnautica, Sunless Sea, Dredge. Portal is the one exception.)