Earth's largest land animals are limited by salt. Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2

Very excited to see Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes on this tree during season 5, episode 1 of Stranger Things. Will this tree’s counterpart in the Upside Down still have sapsucker holes? 🤔

LOTR would have ended very differently if Frodo had encountered one of these spiders.

I sent a calendar invite for a “TLC Marathon” to my research student today. We’re either running thin layer chromatography plates or binge-watching “My 600 lb Life”.

If birds were actually government drones, then there wouldn't have been any birds during the shutdown. It's over.

Scientists point to a long list of findings that emerged out of fundamental research, the type of studies the US government is cutting, and went on to change the world. Nature lists a few of their examples. 🧪

It’s that time of year when this meme becomes relevant again… 🫣

Humans vs. the machine! 💪>🦾

odonates, mosquitoes, craneflies, and selected turtles have entered the chat

One of the amazing things about science is we will never run out of mysteries. Take "Naturwissenschaften (2003) 90:495–500", which performed a survey of 10,000 dinosaur fossils for evidence of tumors in the bone. I was prepared for yes, no, but what I wasn't prepared for was: "only in hadrosaurs."

It all makes sense. The Bills nickname refers to bird beaks.

Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.

On National Hummingbird Day, a reminder of how cool convergent evolution is.

Cannot stop laughing at this

Watch Out!

Diabetic Man With Gene-Edited Cells Produces His Own Insulin—No Transplant Drugs Required A proof-of-concept study finds that donated insulin-producing cells can be genetically modified to avoid provoking the recipient's immune system. gizmodo.com/diabetic-man...

This paper was published 40 years after the original fieldwork was conducted. It’s never too late to share cool research!

Hey is it bad if google AI search results stop people from leaving google dot com 99% of the time? All our news and information creators can survive just fine with one percent of their previous search traffic right? I’m sure it’s fine. www.404media.co/googles-ai-i...

Perfect representation of scientific papers. 😅

Did you know that since 1750, land-use change is responsible for about *one-third* of total CO2 emissions released to the atmosphere? About 255 billion tons of carbon, or nearly *a trillion tons of CO2e*, have been emitted. That's basically the ghosts of *2 billion hectares of forests* in the sky.

Read news, op-eds, and analysis, not AI summaries. Create your own art (even if it's messy) or hire an artist to do it. Do your own homework. Talk to people, not chatbots. Keep your thinking and skills sharp and cherish our messy humanity. That's the new punk rock.

Too many favorites to name, but these are two candidates.

Happy to see a great collaborator and a great human featured here!

Future ID mark to separate Glaucous-winged Gulls from Glaucous-winged X Western Hybrids: Does it ride garbage trucks?

The black morph of the Eastern Gray Squirrel is most prevalent in Michigan and Ontario (50-60%) so a black Gray Squirrel showing up at a Tigers game is a uniquely Detroit experience!

Me after cleaning my office at the end of the semester.

Saw lots of birds on my first trip to Montrose Point in Chicago! Seeing warblers like this Canada Warbler down so low is such a treat!

The Cardinals knew about the new Pope first, but the Yellow-legged Gulls were second.

my inner monologue as i go birding: "people overlook gray catbirds but they're so cute. maybe my favorite bird? oh a hermit thrush! they're so round. that might be my favorite bird. where's that damn cape may warbler singing from? not my favorite bird. LOOK A KINGBIRD!! is that my favorite bird?" 🪶

My pet gar that I donated to Shedd Aquarium would recognize me and swim over to say hi when I visited her exhibit ❤️🐠 A rare hybrid gar, I raised her since she was 2 inches long, and had to re-home her when I moved to Chicago. I was happy I could visit her in her new home! TO BE CONTINUED…

If everyone lived like we do in Canada or the U.S., we’d need 5 planets to support us all. Australians & Koreans would each require more than 4 Earths. We are depleting nature’s ability to support life about 70% faster than it is able to regenerate. That's why I think every day should be Earth Day!

Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.

🐦 Do some birds have #PrettyPrivilege? 💫 New paper: doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2846 We show that ~half the variation in research effort on 293 bird species in US+Canada is explained by just 3 factors: 1)visual appeal, 2)range size, & 3)# of universities w/in ranges. What we did & why it matters:🧵

Started watching The Residence on Netflix, and I am loving the birding angle - and accuracy!

This entire thread is phenomenal!

One aspect of hosting a state level scientific meeting that I didn’t prepare for: Receiving and storing massive amounts of @inphyssociety.bsky.social swag in my office. 😳

Timeline cleanse.

Mark your calendars! Join us for the 15th Annual Meeting of INPhys at the University of Southern Indiana on March 29th, 2025! Abstract submissions are now open — check out the flyer for more details, or visit our website at apsindiana.org/inphys2025

Despite performing at halftime, it’s safe to say that Kendrick Lamar does not think the owl is superb.

For every dollar of federal research funding in the United States, universities generate between $2.30 and $3.00 of economy activity, much of that in local communities. That doesn’t even include the return on investment of getting a college or graduate degree, which research also dollars support.

When you’re a biologist, your work mailbox is not limited to just receiving mail.

When my students ask me a question.

Imagine if we truly came to know this ourselves. Imagine if we came to understand ourselves, not as apart from nature observing it, but a part of nature, in fact, nature ourselves together with the rest of the living biome. Imagine the transformation- the awe, the coherence, and even the joy.

No wonder there are so many birds at the feeder after this ice storm. All their natural food sources are encased in ice!

When you tell your students what your favorite bird species is.

Me: Man, so many foods are being recalled due to health concerns. Chi-Chi’s: Time for a reboot. www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/ch...

Wisdom the albatross laid another egg. At least one thing is going according to plan in 2024.

For Thanksgiving, don't be like a croc. Slow down and chew your food*. *Crocs aren't really able to chew like us hairless primates. They can rip their meal into smaller pieces, and more or less smash things with their exceptional bite force. But pretty much everything is swallowed whole. 🐊

I’m got to introduce my students to the concept of frustrating p-values today based on our results in lab.

My first few posts on here should probably build my brand as a scientist, but ohmygod this is so exciting!