I am also known to nerd out about ostrich penises when drinking. @haruspex.bsky.social and @dianeakelly.bsky.social can attest to that 😂

Unfortunate update: Link reached out to BlueSky and got email back now on reason. His appeal is denied. He will remain permanently banned on BlueSky’s side. Here are the screenshots he just sent me as of 8:22 AM EST(my time)

I wonder: Where is the place that isn’t Problematic? Every place seems to become a Nazi bar, over and over. And we, the rats, scuttle away, ever smaller. We have our principle. We have our pride. But we no longer have a place. brookshire-team-trash.beehiiv.com/p/backed-int...

A friend described me yesterday as, “She slices, she dices, she diagnoses!” And, thank you, that is my new short bio forever. 👩🏻‍🔬 🔪 🔬

Holy moly! Personal best crocodilian tooth! No idea what kind of crocodilian, but a big one. We find a lot of shark teeth, but the crocs are rarer, so we get more excited. And I’ve only ever found ones half this long on a good day. Found at Purse State Park, Nanjemoy, MD

This bobcat is an absolute mood.

Oooh, this was a good one! Murky morals, machinations, class struggle, blood magic, and extremely messy queers.

Come to the MAGICAL local bookstore!!! Contains many BOOKS and at least one Genuine Certified Live Author! Likelihood of cursed knowledge: 95% Also, I will be there nerding.

I got yer timeline cleanse right here, folks. A whole clutch of teeny tiny snapping turtle behbehs emerged one at a time from their underground nest and crossed the gravel road while I and a couple other humans watched and made sure they were safe from anyone else coming along.

None of my cases today were fuzzy, but I was tempted by fuzz anyway. Did I touch: 1) A fluffy Aspergillus colony growing inside an animal? 2) A chonky carpenter bee, sunning itself on this lovely day? 3) Both?

So excited that this exhibit will still happen, and delighted that Baltimore gets to host. Selfishly, I’m excited to see it myself. I’m also happy that tensions with and pressures at the Smithsonian didn’t stop the art from reaching people.

The correct answer provided by our @dconscitrack.bsky.social experts was: Billionaires

Had a blast after Solve for X at DragonCon sharing distressing animal facts with @dmos150.bsky.social @haruspex.bsky.social @panic.gay and @tkingfisher.com I love this place.

This. Was. Epic.

If you like words AND cursed knowledge, I’m the friend for you! (If you like words and *curse* knowledge, you should probably read Ryan’s books, which have magic spells and hilarious hijinks. If you just like curse words, it’s back to me.)

Here's what the third day of elementary school looked like in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC.

Feel good moment! So proud of my awesome cousin Alexis for being the kind of person who will show up and do the work! (She’s always been like that.) But also delighted that there’s a pipeline and support structure to help trans folks get elected.

Super excited to be in on this nonsense!

In my safety briefing for pathology trainees in the autopsy lab: Communication is key! Expect to say things like, “I’m behind you with a knife.” Anywhere else, that would be creepy. Here, it’s just a friendly howdy. 🤠 🔪

Post your last photo of DC to show what a hellhole it is. (A lovely Clematis from a local yard.)

My dad read me A Princess of Mars practically as soon as I was out of Dick and Janes. For reading on my own power I think my first sci-fis were all McCaffrey. Definitely Pern and Talents books with a smattering of others. I think I started them in 6th or 7th grade? Crichton was shortly after.

🧪 I’m a big fan of the USFWS Feather Atlas. If you’ve ever wanted a great resource for identifying a feather you found in North America, I am so excited for you! I use this all the time at work when someone gives me, say, a partially eaten wild bird.

1)This book is excellent! 2) The People’s Book is spectacular. 3) They let me be weird and nerdy with author Bethany Brookshire entirely because I have ZERO CHILL about how fun this book is. 4) Event is free! I make no promises about the state of your finances after being in a rad bookshop. 📚 🐀 🐍

Paging @beebrookshire.bsky.social Robot bunnies for invasive python defense. My inner tween was devastated that this is not an attack bunny à la Monty Python, but that coulda gotten out of hand. Then we’d have giant snakes, murderbot bunnies, and probably *knights*. <shudder>

I love StoryGraph deeply and have zero chill about it.

Generally we think of alt-text as the domain of those with accessibility needs. However alt-text is useful for many reasons, which benefit your viewers, as well as you, the creator!

He is not a graceful animal, but this dork is a total sweetheart. A+ Trash Kitty, would adopt again.

🧪 Sir. Please keep your cat inside. For, like, so many reasons, but also HE IS BRINGING YOU NOVEL VIRUSES. PLURAL. Stop before he gets hit by a car, snatched by a predator, takes out something endangered, or *brings home ZombieFlu*. My dude. Please.

🧪 These issues are definitely not unique to neotropical freshwater rays, many taxa have this utterly baffling set of taxonomist-stumpers, & the botanists are probably having a good laugh. BUT it’s definitely the largest body size of animal where I’ve seen the family tree be so much of a thicket.

🧪 #flatfuckfriday There is a special irritation in trying to publish a [disease thing] in [species] & then ending up down a rabbit hole of whether [species] is really what you think. Fun facts about South American river rays: no one knows how many species there are or how to name them. At all. 1/

What we asked for: Fully automated luxury gay space communism. What we got: Poorly automated enshittifying cyber Nazism.

If you have an interest in reading a wonderful wizard school book (written by an excellent human and entertaining Canadian), today is the day!

Nobody tell them, but whenever I hear a gray tree frog, I turn to my partner and go, “Hey honey, what kind of frog is that?” They enjoy telling me every time.

Unexpected efficiency: I renewed my passport online and got my new one in the mail a week later. There was a holiday in that week. 🤯 I did not have to mail anything out. The site told me to expect 4-6 wk processing time. There are eligibility limits, but here’s encouragement to look into it.

I was so delighted to come across this interview of my fave shark scientist by one of my fave news sources!

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? 🧪 Taking out an eye completely requires either a sharp object and patience, or massive trauma. Those suckers are pretty well attached.

Rough day, but Morale Officer Miles is putting in the overtime to keep spirits up.

Follow up: Honor to the Fixation Fairy! I truly did not expect formalin to work as well as it did in tamping down the olfactory horrorshow that was this otter’s anal glands. It was still identifiably more musky than the rest of the tissue, but only moderately noticeable at the downdraft table.

Throwback to that time when I, random zoo pathologist on the internet, gave everyone a Lessons in Decapitation and Disarticulation™️. Because spines are a pain in the ass, but badly-done decapitation scenes are a solvable problem.

Your reminder that Humboldt Fog cheese, Humboldt County, CA, the Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti),and the Humboldt Current that allows wine grapes to grow in Chile are all named for an 18th C gay scientist whose love letters were all burned and who left his entire estate to his “valet.” 🏳️‍🌈

🧪 Public Service Announcement: This is your reminder to never pour bleach on maggots. Maggots produce ammonia. A lot of maggots produce quite a bit of ammonia. Bleach and ammonia is a bad combo (chloramines). Please do not gas yourself with maggots, friends. It’s an embarrassing way to go.

(Your standard reminder: if you were born before 1987, there is a good chance you never got the second dose of the MMR vaccine that improves the efficacy of the measles component a few critical points. Get your immunity checked with a blood test or just get a MMR booster.)

Barrayar by LM Bujold is one of my comfort re-reads. The whole series is phenomenal. Go read Cordelia’s Honor immediately if you haven’t already! And yes, I have an undersized but over-charming medically complicated cat named Miles. He probably hasn’t caused an interplanetary incident today.

Oh Costco. How dare you make me ask these questions of myself! I did not need to be here, on a Tuesday afternoon, minding my business, suddenly debating whether I or any of my loved ones might need a bodacious bonsai.

🧪 Fun Friday Fact: Many catfish species have venom glands in their armpits! Finpits? Pectoral fin axillae. Whatever. Also, the nuclei of those gland cells are HUGE AND WEIRD. If you aren’t expecting huge and weird, you might think there was something wrong. Nope. Just the pit venom gland.

It’s not every day that I take something fresh OUT of the necropsy building because I don’t want it to stink the place up. Yes. The building with the walk-in cooler of dead stuff. The building that handles rotten fish frequently. That building. Today was that day. 1/

🧪 Had an absolute blast with @whysharksmatter.bsky.social and his MS students on an actual shark science trip! And I got to meet this gorgeous bonnethead gal! Wonderful experience to talk to the students and provide information about future career options while immersed in real field work.

Inspired by Vietnam-era activism, Stand Up For Science is hosting a series of teach-ins around the USA this summer, focusing on the importance of science and science funding. I’m doing one May 30th in Silver Spring. Many of you should consider doing one too, and I’m happy to help you plan it 🦑🧪🌎

🧪 I had so much fun with the Sidedoor crew. If anyone wants to hear about zoo mysteries, enjoy! (Image: an illustration of a purple-haired white woman holding an unreasonable adorable naked mole-rat, flanked by a rhino, a kudu, a lioness, and a scimitar-horned oryx.)

I get a TON of predatory journal and similar “promote your research” or “speak at this very legit conference” scams that go straight to my junk folder. But today I was scanning through and I got one from “George Orwell, Publication Communication Aide” and thank you, scammer, for a genuine smile.