Um, did I just see a @thefuzzyslug.bsky.social & @chuckwendig.bsky.social collab?!

I just… no.

*clicks immediately

We don’t actually know why armadillos evolved their candy-coated shell. In fact, it might not be to protect them from predators, parasites, or thorn bushes. The armadillo’s armor may just be to protect them from each other! 🧪

two-parter with a 🎁

Where I grew up, daddy longlegs were everywhere! And yet, no one seemed to know a damned thing about them. In fact, the one thing everyone "knew" -- that they're the most venomous spider on earth but can't bite people -- turns out to be not just wrong, but wrong in like 3 separate ways! 😂🧪

What a ride it’s been. Let’s go #USMNT!!!

Unbelievable.

Hey friends, what do we have here?

Oo la la! Marc Bekoff has a new book out that I think a lot of us will enjoy! Love in Their Hearts: A Celebration of Animal Emotions and a Guide to Compassionate Action 🧪 www.amazon.com/dp/196891930...

Reposting for the Saturday crowd!

Iiiiiiiiiin South Philadelphia Born and raised! The leaf litter’s where I spent Most of my days Chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool Slurpin’ on slugs & earthworms like a ghoul...

Look, I may have just had a 9.5% tall boy as I finish up some work -- which may explain my last skeet being a Fresh Prince rap about lightning bugs -- but you can *feel* the love and respect Solomon and his team have for these animals in these photos.

Iiiiiiiiiin South Philadelphia Born and raised! The leaf litter’s where I spent Most of my days Chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool Slurpin’ on slugs & earthworms like a ghoul...

This world is beautiful & terrible, impossibly old & continuously new. It’s ours for only the briefest of moments. & yet how much of our limited time here is spent on cruelty, how much on boredom? How little on wonder? (Thinking about this post from '25) jasonbittel.substack.com/p/need-an-at...

Surprisingly uplifting thread about libraries (“temples of knowledge”!!)

Depending on which side you view it from, the Pacific lamprey looks like something out of the Alien universe or... a puppy dog. And you can learn all about them in my new book, GRIZZLED! 🧪 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804002...

for your consideration on this Monday: the horned sea snake (Hydrophis peronii) -

I'm not sure I've ever seen a single sentence go downhill this far and this fast

Good morning! 🪶

This skeet 🧵 has about a 75:1 ratio of 🥹:😭, and I can whole-heartedly recommend. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

The queen's gone, but not forgotten. Reread the entire story from the beginning here.

I was today years old when I learned there's CORN that makes SNOT so bacteria in the snot can fix nitrogen And it's just like, these big snotty things hanging off the corn. Thanks @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social I am a better person for knowing this www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...

Yet more evidence for The Great Forgetting. The cheers for reopening Pacific marine monuments are coming from those who profit most from reopening them. History has a lesson here: protections are often criticized most loudly by the interests that made them necessary. therevelator.org/the-great-fo...

Messi.

neapolitan ice cream sharks 🍨

It's black bear season, ya'll! Stay curious AND safe with commentary from Kari Kingery and Rae Wynn-Grant! 🧪 www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

“Nobody can discover the world for someone else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.” — Wendell Berry

It's black bear season, ya'll! Stay curious AND safe with commentary from Kari Kingery and Rae Wynn-Grant! 🧪 www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

My tv is struggling with these orange uniforms.

Feeling almost done with this Cassowary. #art#artist #pencil #mixmedia #bluesky #saturday #birds #nature #natureart #scienceart #sciart

Something #sharp for today’s #blueskyartshow 🪶🌀 #art #drawing #sciart

Man, this Friday just doesn't want to Friday.

Sharing with the #SciArt Feed:

Makes you wonder, might dinosaurs have visited "cleaner stations" where smaller dinosaurs, birds, or maybe even tiny mammals feasted on bits of rotting flesh stuck between their teeth? Egyptian plovers do it with Nile crocodiles, right?! Seems like a @stevebrusatte.bsky.social question!

At a book talk on Monday for GRIZZLED, an audience member asked what to do w/AI animal videos. Similar to @sabs.bsky.social, I said it was getting increasingly tough to tell what was real, even for us who make a living by brokering wonder for the public. But I did come up w/1 bit of advice…

Question for the hive -- fair to call a PhD student studying cognitive neuroscience a "cognitive neuroscientist"? I realize those in academia are quick to defer to their superiors or to avoid putting on false airs, but I think editors/readers prefer "cognitive neuroscientist" to "PhD student" ?🧪?

🚨ANCIENT WHALE GRAVEYARD🚨 There's a 750-mile stretch of the Indian Ocean that has been home to more than 450 whale skeletons, some of which are recent, and some of which are fossils going back 5 million years! Story by Meghan Bartels @sciam.bsky.social 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/larg...

Aw, it wants to give you a hug.

🚨🧪🦑

"Wanna know how I got these scars?"

OMG, well done @threesquare.bsky.social! Tagging @drcatmac.bsky.social @whysharksmatter.bsky.social

Play has been observed in everything from mammals to insects, and scientists increasingly believe that it serves a crucial role in not just learning how to be a wild animal, but also social relationships and even creativity. @bigthink.com 🧪 bigthink.com/science-tech...

todays warmup

I JUST SAW MY FIRST LIGHTNING BUG OF THE SEASON!!!! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

From the bottom of the ocean to your backyard, there’s no escaping Crustacea. 🧪🦀🦐🦞

I'm still waiting to hear if there's a Venn overlap of scicomm people and also those who have watched the Disney Zombie movies... disneyzombies.fandom.com/wiki/Shrimpy

Since screwworms are in the news again, I'll re-up this story I did a bit ago about the facility that has kept screwworms in check for 50+ years. It's a scientific marvel. And I am obsessed with it. 🧪 www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

I regret to inform you that leaving your phone behind when going for a walk really does cut down on the urge to turn the walk into content. Though, I guess, here I still am, contentifying.

That little flutter you're feeling - it's wonder. It happens when you see something you've never seen before, something you didn't know existed, something you didn't even know could exist. And then all of a sudden, it rises out of the depths & appears on your feed, amidst & in spite of all the doom.