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#GVerse Bill Murray with Buttercup, a rescue puppy. "I'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn't like a person," said Murray.

Forget Trump's nonsense. Voting by mail is safe and secure. Period. Don't forget to subscribe: www.dworkinsubstack.com/subscribe

The economic disruption/sabotage of deporting millions of workers at time of near full employment is only just beginning to be felt. “Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry www.texastribune.org/2025/12/24/s...

"She frequently decried the influx of immigrants into France, especially Muslims. She was convicted and fined five times in French courts of inciting racial hatred . . ."

I think most researchers and policymakers underestimate how much people really do not understand the difference between college sticker and net price. And the way high prices at a select few influences feelings about all.

This was the very first dive I watched & honestly can you blame me for being hooked after that? The 1 & only time I've seen a living whale on a ROV dive & wow have I gotten to see some amazing stuff since then! Still waiting for whale # 2. From @nautiluslive.org #MarineLife youtu.be/SkBpummjR5I?...

Happy #sleepysaturday 😊 Today we continue our countdown to New Years Day with another favourite reels/videos of 2025😍 This one features the famous Sea Otter 'Ollie' 🦦 We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did🥰 #countdowntonewyear #seaotter #MarineLife

We present: The Art of #InverteFest - December 2025 Edition A digital art book showcasing the work of 100 artists from around the world, in celebration of overlooked invertebrate fauna. Thank you to the artists who contributed to our book! Download: drive.google.com/file/d/1JCXz... #Art #SciArt

There were definitely deep mythologies about avatars of the forest at the very least! I love love love how nature is always two steps ahead of our stories.

I loved your Green Knight reference: maybe there were photosynthetic, autotomic, kleptoplastic warriors of old! 😀

This process (autotomy) may be an adaptation to internal parasite infestations, allowing the head to start over with a fresh body, free of parasites. The world is filled with weird little guys with amazing abilities! Some are even cute! The primary source is here:

This photosynthetic magic trick allows for the big finale: some sacoglossan sea slugs can detach their own heads from their body (which contains the gut!) & live on photosynthesis for a few weeks while the body regrows from the head! The body, unfortunately, cannot grow a new head.

It was speculated that there's some degree of DNA exchange between algae & sea slug to create the "support system" for the chloroplasts, but in at least one species, that appears not to be the case. Changes in the expression of the sea slug genes were sufficient to support the kleptoplasty.

Many members of the sacoglossan sea slug family are adapted to a kleptoplastic lifestyle, allowing them to (inefficiently) photosynthesize for brief periods when food is scarce. But turning an animal cell into a plant cell is not a trivial task. Plants are specially adapted to keep chloroplasts.

I mean, it's also frickin' adorable. Two eyespots & two sensory stalks called 'rhinophores' resemble a sheep's face. But those 'tentacles' sticking up ('cerata') are lined with specialized cells capable of harnessing ingested algae chloroplasts, a process called "kleptoplasty" ('klepto-'=to steal)

This is the "SEA SHEEP" (Costasiella kuroshimae) & it took the old axiom: "you are what you eat" VERY literally. It eats algae & rather than just digest them, it harvests the chloroplasts & becomes PHOTOSYNTHETIC. Solar slug! Also, some of its cousins can rip their own heads off.

Damnit. I am the most recent victim of this decade-long (or more?) running gag of slipping this awful elf into family luggage. Vengeance will be mine, however.

A game about validating plant phenotypes by making crosses? My ONE chance to make use of my PhD in plant genetics and what do I do? I play against my wife who is also a biologist… and lose.

I’d like to say Graham and I never do this in person in the middle of meetings that are ostensibly to advise trainees. I’d really like to.

Barely a blip in the news. 🦗from the New York Times editorial and opinion pages. Compare with days of Hunter Biden Hysteria about unprecedented abuse of the pardon power.

My really basic litmus test for determining if someone will say anything in the hope of getting power is the (very small number of) people arguing that birthright citizenship is anything other than what it has been accepted to be for a century and a half.

This message hits hard.

Written over 80 years ago, "Keeper of the Flame" presciently describes the times we live in.

“In one of the most astonishing political transformations in the history of democracy,” Hitler destroyed “a constitutional republic through constitutional means,” Timothy W. Ryback wrote in January. Revisit one of The Atlantic’s most-read stories of 2025: theatln.tc/wPdKTofM

The biggest divide in America today is not between “right” and “left,” or between Republicans and Democrats. It’s between democracy and oligarchy. The old labels — “right” and “left” — prevent most people from noticing they’re getting the shaft. Know the truth.

“Putin doesn’t want peace.” After another night of terror in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy called out Russia’s lies, while Canada stepped up, announcing billions in economic and military support to defend Ukraine and build a just, lasting peace.

We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” ― James Baldwin Pic of the day #photography

🤔 @stevescalise.bsky.social : “He wants all Americans on government-run health care. It’s failed everywhere it’s been tried.” UM NO IT HASN’T, STEVE. EVERY WEALTHY COUNTRY HAS UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE BUT US. #MedicareForAllNOW (“Everyone on Medicaid is what Dems are doing” — if only!)

Gee, if only this had been tried before and we had some data to consider, instead of stenography for the rich: www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

This is very bad.

If he think the party faction that rejected Ramaswamy for being Indian will forgive Vance for marrying one, he is in for a rude wake up call.

I’ll believe it when I see it. (When Massachusetts passed this tax, no one left there like they said they would, and the tax is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, and the wealthy are still wealthy and still enjoying the benefits of living in MA.)

This administration lied about the people it sent to an overseas torture prison. It lies about the people it’s deporting. It lies every day to gain political advantage. Not a chance in hell they won’t lie about huge swaths of people they suspect might vote for the other party.

HHS is trying to force Seattle Children's into doing a Sophie's choice of abandoning trans youth or see kids with cancer or other serious illness have their coverage and care disrupted. That's what this is about. Hopefully, the courts put a quick stop to this like the subpoenas.

Good article, but I think we could add that many of the current government officials & influencers spreading political point-scoring falsehoods during crisis events HAVE BECOME gov officials & influencers BECAUSE of their bullshit-spreading talents. System effects of rotten attention dynamics.

This is extremely dumb for a variety of reasons but perhaps the most obvious is that the Romans didn't apply their adoption law to grants of citizenship. I cannot communicate how basic an error he is making here. Staggeringly elementary, a thing you learn in Roman Civ 101.

They aren’t going anywhere.

My family and I, and the entire Japanese American community on the West Coast, were denied due process during our internment in WWII. It is a cherished, critical right for all people within the U.S.’s borders.

The most common question I receive is how everyday citizens can help in the fight for democracy. My advice, take the first step, start with something small and see what works for you. Here are ten things all of us can do. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/10-t...

Think Tank Called ‘The Himmler Institute’ Assures Nation This All Legal https://theonion.com/think-tank-called-the-himmler-institute-assures-nation-this-all-legal/

we’ve been over this we just did this in Massachusetts they’re not gonna leave, they’ll whine and bitch and moan and eventually this will raise more money than expected because nowhere they go is actually like the place they’re leaving

Just like they were going to leave New York City if Mamdani won and now they are not just staying but setting up new facilities and larger workforces? Y’all can’t even keep the lies you’re telling for the wealthy straight anymore it’s just vapid fear mongering and open lies from the times.

ICYMI | The Department of Justice has declared a slew of Department of Education programs and grants unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and the University of North Carolina. https://bit.ly/3LjEVkL #EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky

Multiple articles have reported allegedly alarmingly low levels of #math prep of students at @ucsandiego.bsky.social (buff.ly/L5TlNL3 ). We need to know how this is being measured because research has shown that traditional techniques have made many errors (buff.ly/9YyhCvW). #AcademicSky #highered

"Faculty would prefer more emphasis on teaching and somewhat more on service than they observed in practice. The largest disconnects were the overvaluation of publication numbers and grants and undervaluation of publication quality in research" #Science #AcademicSky #EduSky doi.org/10.1007/s442...

🧵A thread about academic book reviews... #AcademicSky I've been spending a bit of time trying to find reviewers for my first book and pitching reviews of my own for recent books in my field, with some success. The advice I've received from colleagues, however, is split into two camps... 1/5

Gotu kola (Centella asiatica, Apiaceae parsley family). Growing quite happily indoors. I thought the aphids would be all over it, but apparently, not. I also noticed at a herb conference this summer, others had grown it. Suddenly, seed is available. Nice.

My penultimate post for this 2025 botanical review. Almost saving the best (IMO) to last with a duo of delicious docks. A September trip north to Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to see Marsh Dock Rumex palustris and Golden Dock Rumex maritimus in all their glory. @bsbibotany.bsky.social