In perhaps a first, I am writing a paper on a museum specimen that does not, and likely has never, existed. How's that for negative results!

This is clever (not RFK's idiocy, I mean, the spice cabinet phylogeny via threading).

It’s here! Such a thrill to hold the book in my hands: “The Communicating Scientist” with my illustrations inside. It’s the kind of book I wish I had when I was a PhD student, and I’m glad to have it as a reference as a communications professional #SciComm 🧪 link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Graphical abstracts - what are they good for? (Tempting to quote Edwin Starr here). I don't understand them, so in a weird way I kind of admire a crappy AI one.

Reconstructing animals from their fossilized remains requires meticulous artistry and scientific rigour. What was done to bones partly of a woolly rhinoceros discovered in Germany in 1663 arguably involved neither. Behold the 'Magdeburg Unicorn' in all its tea-spitting glory. (Yes, it's real.)

It is impossible not to love tiger beetles.

This is excellent, and pithy, and very generalizable, and entertaining to boot.

One thing I always try to do as a reviewer/editor when recommending a change is to think about whether or not the resulting improvement to the paper/software justifies the amount of time I think it will take the author to address it. The bigger the ask, the greater the need in order to justify it.

It's interesting that anyone would be surprised by this. They are large language models, not large fact models. They are very good at language; it's unsurprising that they aren't terribly good at facts.

Finishing up the slides for a talk I'm giving at a nearby garden club next week. The only problem with this topic: where on Earth do I stop???

There’s scientifically accurate illustration and then there’s charming. These images are from "A Voyage to New Holland" by William Dampier, published in 1703. We’re glad that he took some time to ensure that these creatures 🐙 were captured for posterity! ➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50441252

It's usually just a matter of filling out an online form or sending an email. And it helps for real. Library sales are very, very good for an author.

My undergrad students often think that Latin names are dull. One of my missions in life seems to be to counter this misunderstanding.... and as this week's installment I give you the No Parking Whitebeam:

Absolutely bonkers flowers on this night-blooming cereus (Selenicereus undatus) at the Montreal Botanic Garden @espacepourlavie.bsky.social!

This is true, and funny because it's true, and also an argument for "early writing" - you can write much of your paper, even most of it, well before the work is complete and thus before you're too late for "should have done".

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Here are King and Roland urging scientific writers to use the active voice and the first person - in 1968. Now in 2025, some guy named Heard is working on the 3rd edition of his book urging the same things.

The "No Parking" whitebeam, a tree with a curious (and fun!) Latin name.

This is just unbelievably satisfying. But I would have been a wreck waiting for it!

Carrion flower, Ceropegia pulvinata (Apocynaceae - milkweed family, not a cactus) from Namibia. Spotted at Montreal Botanic Garden @espacepourlavie.bsky.social. Zoom in for bonus pollinating fly - drawn by the scent of carrion!

What I like about Make Your Manuscript Work, Laura Portwood-Stacer’s latest book, is that it helps you clarify your goals, make tough decisions, & then helps implement them. We discussed what that means for both planning your project & your time in this interview. jovanevery.co.uk/make-your-ma...

Just wrapping up an intensive two day visit to the Universite de Sherbrooke, to give talks. One teaser slide from each talk below - one on "AI" writing tools for scientific writing; and one on some of my research on consequences of scientific naming.

Back to bugs. This tiny moth was enjoying the goldenrods.

Some lovely specimens of the earliest vascular land plants collected last weekend with the Mid Wales Fossil Group from forestry track exposures near Bishops Castle. We think there are probably 2 Cooksonia species here in the Silurian rocks. There were also tiny fragments of Eurypterids #FossilFriday

My commute to work this morning. Parc Mint Bellevue, Sherbrooke, Quebec

A tiny Jurassic pterosaur, Bellubrunnus, wingspan, less than a foot (its head is the size of my fingernail)

xkcd absolutely nailing what it's like to be an entomologist. xkcd.com/3140 Except for "horrifying", read "fascinating". Entomologists are hard to horrify. About bugs, anyway.

The discourse around LLMs for writing is really interesting - in part, I think, because much of it makes a very large assumption about *how* writers will use LLMs. I think unpacking that is useful (including two different variants of the assumption), so I tried:

Sour Orange, Terrestrial Mollusk, and Larkspur, 1561–1562; illumination added 1591–1596. Illuminator: Joris Hoefnagel, scribe: Georg Bocskay. Watercolors, gold and silver paint, and ink on parchment (J. Paul Getty Museum)

I keep having this conversation with colleagues. We need to make it obvious to students that revision means success, not failure, as a writer. 1/

Here is a pretty substantial northward range expansion for a mosquito (detected by several authors, including @mannamacdonald.bsky.social & @stephenbheard.bsky.social). 🪲🪳🧪 www.cambridge.org/core/journal... But don't worry, this one won't bite you. It only seems to feed on... wait for it... (1/2)

Urban planning failure, Montreal edition. Just spitballing here, but maybe put the sidewalk 10 feet to the right, on the OTHER side of where you put the road signs and stuff? Not that I don't enjoy the whoosh of a dump truck barreling past at 60 km/hour just a couple of inches from my elbow...

Are the first two a question? Does the third mean the answer is "no, you also need vibes"? Is this some kind of bizarre Beatles/Beach Boys mashup? Will I be able to sleep, wondering?

Today I learned that the world has "spoon-leaved candytuft" in it, and I am happier as a result. Montreal Botanic Garden.

The discourse around LLMs for writing is really interesting - in part, I think, because much of it makes a very large assumption about *how* writers will use LLMs. I think unpacking that is useful (including two different variants of the assumption), so I tried:

Si vous êtes à Montréal mercredi, vous devriez venir écouter le séminaire de @stephenbheard.bsky.social sur l'utilisation de l'IA en rédaction scientifique! 🧪 If you are in Montreal on Wednesday, you should definitely come to @stephenbheard.bsky.social's talk on AI in scientific writing! 🧪

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

This is brilliant. I bet (1) few students would pick Bohemian Rhapsody (although I don't care, it's still a great example, maybe especially because they wouldn't pick it themselves); and (2) whatever they do pick, they'd do creative and fun things. And learn!

#MolluscMonday: a large Late Jurassic ammonite, probably from Dorset, now a long way from home as a garden ornament on an estate in East Lothian, Scotland.

ICYMI, later this week (in 2 different time slots) I am offering a free online crash-course in how to write and publish a scientific paper. This course is ideal for grad students and early career researchers interested in writing their first paper. Info and signup below: 🧪🦑🌎

It takes a long time for this story to get to the part where the driver of the child-size pink Barbie Jeep was drunk. Which may not be particularly surprising, but it does seem to be germane... @loweringthebar.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

A little mushroom emerging from the pine needles in a Scottish conifer forest. The Sickener (Russula emetica) in Deepsyke Forest near West Linton, Scottish Borders. #Fungi #Mushrooms #Nature #Photography #Nikon #TilhillForestry

Day 7 #SciArtSeptember prompt is boreal, a word I associate with evergreen forests, so I thought I’d sharemy #linocut of New Brunswick, a province I have visited many times. 🐡🧪 Its provincial bird, the black-capped chickadee and its tree, the balsam fir cover the hand-carved map of New Brunswick. 🧵

Fossilized ripple marks in the Moenkopi Formation, Capitol Reef National Park, UT. #FossilFriday #hiking

OMG a paleontology museum built in the form of a dinosaur footprint! <swoons architecturally.

Couldn’t click pre-order fast enough! I already have all my students read his Scientists’ Guide to Writing.

So excited for this book!! @stephenbheard.bsky.social’s original book (The scientist’s guide to writing) has become a core part of our lab library, and what I use to teach students to write manuscripts.

#FossilFriday: The 'Oolite and Lias Systems' from 'The Antediluvian World', drawn & engraved by John Emslie (1813–75), published by James Reynolds in 1849. An ichthyosaur & plesiosaur (much influenced by the famous 1840 John Martin plate) try to out-stare a magic-dragonoid pterosaur & Iguanodon.

Today my NCC colleague Delaney Brooks and I hosted a writing webinar for NCC's Weston Family Conservation Science Fellows, led by Prof. @stephenbheard.bsky.social from @discoverunb.bsky.social. * IT WAS GREAT. * WRITING IS HARD. * WE CAN ALL LEARN. * TOOLS EXIST. USE THEM.

I can't help loving the softly glowing honey colour of old cheap paperbacks. I know it's only because they're printed on non-acidfree paper, and eventually the paper will be so brittle it flakes apart... but it's beautiful anyway. (Agatha Christie, The Murder at Hazelmoor)

Do you mentor scientific writing, or use written assignments in the science courses you teach? Do you find mentoring/teaching writing hard, or time consuming? (Because it is!) Our new book can help, and it's getting close to being in your hands.