Y'all - now you know us photogs are NOT kidding when we say the Northern Pygmy owls are SO SO SMOL!

A > 45 minute wait for early voting in Franklin County, OH. A sarcastic “thank you” to the Ohio Secretary of State for limiting early voting hours and polling places to suppress turnout. Because Ohio GOP is afraid of the voters

I’ve said this before but white guilt is useless. I don’t want people to feel guilty for things they had no part in, and guilt easily curdles into resentment. But everyone regardless should feel an obligation to correct injustice, especially if you somehow benefit. bsky.app/profile/mich...

Leisure time. Photo from my collection, no date/info.

You might’ve heard the news: SpaceX just passed 10,000 Starlink satellites launched. And that number is already old news, as there’s now a new Starlink batch launched every other day. Here’s what that looks like in a short animation of Comet A6 Lemmon courtesy of Michael Jaeger:

Bishop Museum, the State of Hawai‘i Museum of Natural and Cultural History, has announced the rediscovery of two native Hawaiian land snails not seen in nearly a century. #BishopMuseum #Kahuli #Snails

Fall break

Simple: they’ve broken the law for four years:

i feel like i need to share this oldie but a goodie today

Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...

I had a judge presiding over one of my cases ask me if I had been a defendant in one of his cases because he recognized me. I was like nope. I'm counsel. I was dressed impeccably in a vintage Calvin Klein suit that I'd paid way too much money for. It happened in 2005ish and I still think about it.

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Being stylish at the Veleros de Columbus game

Process of the commission prize for K'Andra, winner of the @blackinastro.bsky.social Art Contest! #sciart

We found a Florida grad student who was able to start it, so we can confirm the NSF AAPF is OPEN!! I will post instructions since it is actually challenging to navigate (none of the OSU grads had been able to figure it out)!

Great story about @capricephillips.bsky.social by @tatyanazaria.bsky.social in the OSU alumni magazine! 🔭 alumnimagazine.osu.edu/story/capric...

I can

My heart is broken 💔 that corundum doesn't get a chance this year #MinCup25

"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?" Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.

It's Minnesota State Fair time! It's time for Minnesotan folk art! Here, for example, is Saturn Devouring His Corn, in the seed art category!

Kamala Harris at her closing campaign rally: "Donald Trump intends to use the United States Military against American citizens who simply disagree with him."

At the ballgame with Jen Pawol behind the plate

Trust me, y'all need to watch this video

Not that anyone is still on this topic, but I worked (it was not insignificant work) w/ my uni’s general counsel to appeal cancellation of my NSF grant. The appeal has been denied. Not a surprise and I’m sure 1000s of others are in the same boat but, hey, we all really wanted to do just do the work.

Flock of Roseate Spoonbills taking over my crappy boat! #birds

RIP National Heat Strategy you would've loved saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars in Summer 2025 and beyond

Texas is preparing to kill an innocent man. Robert Roberson is on death row for a crime that never happened. He’s scheduled for execution on Oct. 16. Time is running out. Read about his story and learn how to help: innocenceproject.org/news/what-to...

Heading home after Alaska, with a smol stowaway

When your sister is holding a piece of glacier ice and you want to get in on the action

Catching up on photo posting .. Humpback whale heading for feeding

A glaciarita after the day in Glacier Bay National Park

Good day!

Fun in the sun

Fun in the sun

People should understand that mRNA vaccines were the next frontier in disease prevention and treatment. We have barely any idea what they’re capable of, because we’ve only just begun exploring the possibilities. Among those, potentially: AIDS, various cancers, and all respiratory viruses (at once).

Good morning!

Otterly adorable

Do you want to see the deviled egg flight I got at the Ohio State Fair? Of course you do. (Also you don’t have a choice, this is An Experience.)

Pale Blue Dot (commission)

maybe there's still some good left in this world after all

The NIH’s 2024 budget of just under $37B generated $95B in economic activity in 2024 alone. 99.4% of new pharmaceuticals approved from 2010-2019 came from NIH-funded research. I’m hard pressed to think of anything that generates as much direct economic benefit as our NIH did before they destroyed it

“did u finish the work on the terrifying dread kraken to strike fear in the hearts of men” “sure did boss just like u asked made him goofy as hell all googley eyed and waving his lil tentacles up in the air’ “wait wat”

Ex-farm worker here. We need to talk about this whole "But a living wage for farm workers would spike the cost of food!" thing. Not true AT ALL. Y'all don't understand how fast experienced farm workers are. The average tomato picker pulls 650lbs per hour. At $20/hr, that's $0.03/lb for labor.

I’m assuming you’ve seen this site that lets you scroll into the depths, with the creatures at each depth… but in case you haven’t, I highly recommend it neal.fun/deep-sea/

The white students who are struggling to make ends meet are not struggling because Black and immigrant students got into our university. They are struggling because of a shitty social safety net & high tuition because people like Andreesen don't pay sufficient taxes/the state doesn't pay its share.

Further context: If you’ve never dealt with FEMA after a disaster I can tell you they answer within 30 seconds. No hold times. Real live wonderful people who help while you cry and can’t even figure out what questions to ask. They walk you through it all. Every call. NOEM STOLE THAT $ FOR ICE

This is what social media should have always been

We have a data release! Check out sdss.org/dr19 for all the data that just became publicly available with our 19th data release #DR19

So many webpages........