Sometimes I wonder, when I can't sleep, what my face mites are doing. They come out at night, right, while you sleep to mate and feed and party outside your pores. So when I can't sleep...what are they doing? Am I keeping them home? Am I inadvertently starving my face mites?!

🧬🐶💀 Two new studies show that, even before farming, dogs were common in ancient cultures, maybe aiding in guard duty, hunting, & rituals. “We call it the Swiss Army Dog, adapting to cultural roles we associate with dogs today.” @lachiescarsbrook.bsky.social Nice piece by @beebrookshire.bsky.social👇🧪

Super fun to cover this pair of papers, one from @lachiescarsbrook.bsky.social about early dogs! I esp love how they paired genetics with archaeology, to show that dogs were not "used" they were PART of human culture, and got similar funeral practices. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

One of the things I LOVE about this study is they were able to show people treating dogs and humans similarly after death. Burying them together in some cultures, eating them (yes) in others. That's beautiful. It shows they were treating these dogs as part of their group. The dogs were "us"

It's NOT the first Fido, but a new pair of papers shows humans across Europe were paling around with Some Very Good Dogs more than 14,000 years ago, pushing a domestication even back another 5,000 years. TY to @wwrfd.bsky.social for keeping my puns. www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

Who is “we” mfer

It's got lovely light humor, deep tween thoughts, found family. It just makes you happy.

Red-breasted nuthatches coat the edges of their nests in sap, keeping out pesky squirrels or other birds! By @rheisman.bsky.social But wow can you imagine getting all this resin and spreading it and then trying to get it off your BILL with no HANDS. URGH. www.allaboutbirds.org/news/why-nut...

I love this. I kind of wish serotonin had a better option than phlegm, but the rest are perfect.

It's 2026, even the raccoons have anxiety.

one hundred percent. i also think this happens in reverse where folks will just personally not like something or maybe it triggers jealousy inside of them or something, so they think 'i dont like this THEREFORE IT MUST FUNDAMENTALLY AND OBJECTIVELY BE BAD ART' then we end up with a substack article

Having run a lot of distance road races in the past few years I...I want to become a running DE influencer. Not: don't run. Please run! LOVE to run! Just: Babe you don't need ALL THAT STUFF to run.

Ooo this looks truly fascinating www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I think about this a lot. Many of us say "look for the helpers" when we feel helpless. Sometimes we ARE helpless. But a lot of the time we're panicked and depressed instead, our inner voices telling us we CAN'T, discounting every possible action as useless or impossible.

SO excited

"....the possum first arrived in the US disguised as a children's toy and purchased duty-free. As it happened, that possum was expecting, and now possum eradication efforts in the lower 48 cost upwards of $218 million per year" - us in 30 years, probably. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

When I get a new phone the FIRST THING I do is turn off most of the notifications. News especially, but apps (Uber why), app notifications. No one needs this! You can't LIVE this way, both in terms of producing writing and in terms of just being present in your own life.

One really effective way to convince me to never engage with you is to reply to important news articles with "that's behind a paywall so I am not reading it." You could just not read it. But announcing to me that you choose not to pay for journalism adds nothing of value to any conversation.

THIS LINE: "You can keep insisting you’re right, you know better than I do how publishing works. But that won’t turn your opinion into a fact." Slaps so hard. Applies to so, so many people. You cannot turn your opinion into a fact.

And note that state policies and local policies are much easier to push for than you think, your voice matters MUCH MORE than you think. State delegates, senators, etc? Their emails are all publicly available...and they don't get as many emails as you think they do.

Adults are super worried about kids these days turning to chatGPT to do their homework, for dating advice... ...what about NUTRITION. It's not good! www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-t... OTOH I'm also remembering when I was a teen and the mags I turned to for nutrition advice....

This weekend while running I ALMOST stepped on a small snake sunning itself. I would swear we both went "eep!" at the same time. It was frantically trying to get out of the way, I was frantically trying not to step on it. The nature equivalent of two people awkwardly sidestepping in the hall.

The "nobody's talking about" style post is really grating right now because like my brother in christ, we're all triaging horrors right now.

I love anatomy, and I adore physiology, but there are some processes that will never not give me the ick. The fact that we SQUIRT chyme from our stomachs to our small intestines I just... *shudder* Every. Time.

Still pissed about the Washington Post layoffs? We’ve got a proposal for you... We're building an independent local newsroom by and for D.C. In the final week of our fundraising campaign, your gift can be DOUBLED thanks to a generous $80,000 match. Here's where to give:

Today in Anatomy Facts that have absolutely made my life better: Vesalius, the most (?) famous anatomist of all time, made a set of paper dolls. Anatomy paper dolls. library.si.edu/image-galler...

“we took the sensor out of the chamber, and we were like, ‘Screw it. We’re going to try to measure a fart.’” So Hall stuck the device down his own pants and let rip. “And the signal was enormous.” www.sciencenews.org/article/smar...

You know how if you put your tongue on a freezing cold pole it'll stick? It is called "tundra tongue" And there's RESEARCH about it. With images of disembodied pig tongues that you will never unsee, thank you @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social arstechnica.com/science/2026...

On the one hand, I love that cartoons, from Looney Tunes to modern Disney, have played a role in giving kids exposure to classical music. On the other, every time my conductor talks about Béla Bartók, all I can think about is this. Imagine this lil' guy frantically scribbling a concerto.

12 years ago, I wrote Lifehacker's guidelines on science reporting. It's still up, here: lifehacker.com/lifehackers-... And apparently prestige publications still haven't gotten the memo. (Relevant: Bullet no. 2 under "common science reporting pitfalls.")

Me: Wakes up feeling like I've been hit by a train because daylight savings. A newsletter: Here's how to ease in to daylight savings with science! Me: clicks hopefully. Newsletter: You're going to want to start the week before the clocks change... Me:

You know sometimes history feels really long, and sometimes it feels unbearably squished. I recently learned that Joan of Arc faced cannon fire. She USED cannons. She was pretty good with artillery! We think of her as peak Middle Ages. She's depicted wearing armor (and she did), and yet!

This is a new one. We authors for a while were plagued with scams disguised as book clubs. "Hi we picked your book for our book club" followed by "we need a lot of money." Today: I got an email purportedly from another AUTHOR. It's definitely a scam. These are so painfully cruel.

I was reading this interview from @annehelen.bsky.social on boys choirs, and the good they can do boys in terms of gender expression. And this is true! But I want to add something: The "magic" of the "boy soprano" has harmed adult femme singers. Walk with me. www.patreon.com/posts/multi-...

OMG THEY ARE PERFECT.

Humans might show commitment with a ring, penguins offer prospective mates rocks and some beetles gift a ball of dung. Wood-feeding cockroaches show commitment with a nibble of cannibalism. You will never see a harder-core pre-nup. www.sciencenews.org/article/cock...

No one appreciates how cute spotted salamanders are. They are SO CUTE.

Chotiner: You've made the claim that no one has ever fed you in your life. My Cat: Maow. Chotiner: Yet there's food in your dish right now. My Cat: Maow. Chotiner: Let's change the subject to the ripped-open bag of sandwich bread on the floor. My Cat: Maow. Chotiner: I have read different things.

“Fish” can be both singular (one individual) and plural (multiple individuals of the same species.) “Fishes” is multiple species. 🐠 Fish 🐠🐠🐠 Fish 🐠🐡🐟 Fishes Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

Humans sometimes say "if you love someone, set them free" Wood-eating cockroaches, however, would say "if you love someone, eat their wings" www.sciencenews.org/article/cock...

Humans might show commitment with a ring, penguins offer rocks, and beetles gift a ball of dung. Wood-feeding cockroaches show commitment with a little cannibalism —and then fighting off everyone else. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cockroach-eat-wings-bond-fight-together

The next time a person says they're afraid of commitment, don't call them a cockroach. Roaches are better than that. Because the wood-eating cockroach is SO COMMITTED they chew the wings off their mate and remain with them for life, and they live up to 5 years. www.sciencenews.org/article/cock...

The next time a person says they're afraid of commitment, don't call them a cockroach. Roaches are better than that. Because the wood-eating cockroach is SO COMMITTED they chew the wings off their mate and remain with them for life, and they live up to 5 years. www.sciencenews.org/article/cock...

This a Very Serious Pause to look at this Very Serious Gentlepig. This SRS Gentlepig has made my day better.

youuuuu are getting sleeeepppyyy sleeeeeeppyyyy Your eyes are getting heavyyyyyy And now you're going to think about that one problem you're dealing with.... www.sciencenews.org/article/slee...

Me literally every time I check the bluesky vibes. Normalize processing The Horrors in the groupchat.

Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...

This is painful, and beautiful, and sad, and hopeful, all at once. How do we feel awe and wonder at space (or science in general), when we are seeing ICE kill people, seeing funding get slashed? www.sciencenews.org/article/moon... By @astrolisa.bsky.social

This. Also there are many of us who simply are just...well we're just good, solid journalists. Not Pulitzer people not Names, just getting the work done. This model doesn't give us jobs. Not that we are OWED jobs of course. Also, the infinite substackers? Most of them are opeds.

NPR and PBS would have to be much more robustly funded by the government than it was before. the problem is that the money + hands off the content approach has been largely a matter of norms. no norms will remain after trump. propublica is vital, but here's the thing about them —