Who stands to benefit from the gutting of Canada Post? The billionaire class. If Mark Carney were really serious about nation-building, Dru OJa Jay writes how the post office could become an engine for green energy, public banking, and better services. breachmedia.ca/canada-post-...

High elevation litter spiders of southern Appalachia show less local endemism than other arthropods - ballooning by spiderlings apparently overcomes geographic isolation. A great collaboration with @forthespiders.bsky.social & Ernesto Recuero doi.org/10.1636/JoA-... (if paywalled write me for pdf)

Absolutely nobody asked for this but I reformatted my animal yeetability thread into printable poster & zine files. Introducing, the "Pocket Guide to Responsible & Sustainable Animal YEETING" featuring a revamped rating system. Download links below.

I took probably too much time trying to track down the previous baby-wheeling science by checking all Banks' previous papers published in the Journal of the New York Entomological Society but no joy. If anyone wants to continue this silly quest, here's a bibliography: core.ac.uk/download/pdf...

I love the way science used to be written. Is it necessary to know that the author was pushing his baby in a pram while making observations of insects? Perhaps not, but it provides delightful context, while assuming the reader is familiar with his previously published baby-wheeling-related work.

Some harsh judgments of noctuid larvae by Bird (1902). 🐛

Canada Post “lost” 1 billion dollars last year? How about, “it cost Canadians 1 billion dollars to have a national postal service” which works out to costing about $25 a year per person (population of Canada in 2024 = 40 million). Seems like a pretty reasonable cost to me.

I am begging Canadians to understand that Canada Post, like public transit, should not be a business - it's a service. Canada Post is a lifeline for rural, remote and Northern communities and overall, we need to re-evaluate why people think they "need" random shit delivered ASAP.

let me share a little story about a remarkable wasp that I encountered yesterday in our local deserts I stumbled across her, and scrambled to get a few crappy photos .... but then realized that she had a burrow, perhaps a better photo op was possible ?? here she is at her burrow entrance.

Geopolitical trends in spider taxonomy! academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...

Conference organizers: If you want people who work outside of academia (or financially secure company), to give a talk at your conference bc you value their expertise, it's unreasonable to make them pay for registration. Artists/Nonprofit folks do not have the funding to pay you to share expertise.

If you’re in need of an uplifting story, check out this thread. 🥲

🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

is #iCanHazPDF a thing on bluesky? Dumais, J. 1994. Premieres mentions pour le Canada d'Amaurobius similis (Blackwall) (Araneae : Amaurobii- dae). Pirata 1:230-231. I can find no record of the journal 'Pirata' anywhere. cc @seq.ca

Do you fish in freshwater? Please share or/and complete survey gathering data on observations of insects for a study on aquatic insect population declines! The link to survey is here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/VXLMY89. Especially in need of information from #Canada, #SouthAmerica, #Africa & #Australia!

I am opposed to AI products and services because of the extra power they require... IN A CLIMATE CRISIS. I am opposed to AI results - texts and illustrations - because they've been created unethically, via theft and non-consensual use of the work of others. Share if you agree.

You too can urge the 🇨🇦 federal gov’t to adopt these criteria! Takes 1 min to add your name, 2 min more if you personalize the letter (DO IT DO IT): www.wcel.org/blog/nationa...

ok ok I've read the paper and as expected it is really freaking cool the queens are effectively hijacking androgenesis! so they store the sperm of the second species, and then clone that into their eggs so that the clonal males have a nuclear DNA from their og species but mito DNA from their mother

Remember to enter photos for the ESC Photo Contest here: pollunit.com/en/polls/esc...

I will never understand why more people aren't disgusted by the rightwing's obsession with children's genitals. It's creepy. It's weird. It's disturbing. It's the kind of political stance that should make a party anathema to any voter who isn't pro-pedophilia.

New fossil dragonfly from Alberta! 🧪🐉🪰 (Why is there no dragonfly emoji??)

This one is a little different, but if you want to see how some spider science gets done (and how you can do it, too), you can see what I learned from @cataranea.bsky.social and @ibycter.bsky.social when they put me up for three days in St. John's! youtu.be/6c2XqAsHnuo

You have until Aug 28 to take this questionnaire and write in your own answers to let this Liberal government know that you don't actually want them to be a conservative government.

Seeking scientist volunteers for this fall! Want to practice science communication and help author a 🌟comic🌟 about your research? I need collaborators for the next cohort of SciComm & Comics art and design students. All countries and scientific fields eligible.

We simply cannot lose Biodiversity Heritage Library. Please consider helping if you can. 🙏

Curious about careers in entomology education beyond the classroom or tenure track? Join @fitentsocamerica.bsky.social on August 26 for a dynamic ESA webinar exploring career paths from K–12 teaching and extension to zoos, museums, outreach, and edu-tainment. Register: www.entsoc.org/events/webin...

Assuming there would be zero negotiation—because of the assumption that Section 107 “would be enforced"—is the textbook definition of a bath faith negotiation. It’s the first thing that I learned at @utoronto.ca in a course about contract negotiations and difficult conversations.

All of this could've been prevented if the Liberals and Air Canada hadn't been absolutely certain they could steamroll the union. It's important that everyone remembers that the actions of the Liberals and Air Canada here weren't just greedy and malevolent, they were really, really stupid.

It takes only a few minutes & and you can choose other. I used to work in the federal government. These consultations are important and submissions do get read. Plus the opposition and journalists can request to see the results, so even if the government ignores the public will, it'll still get out.

Don't miss your chance to learn effective bystander intervention! These are important life skills that help us build community care. It's free, open to anyone, anywhere aged 12+ It's fast paced and engaging but cameras/mics are muted, so you're never on the spot. Sign up! zoom.us/webinar/regi...

1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research. This is wrong. And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.

🕷️#Arachnews alert! 🦂 New Foelix (the definitive reference for general spider biology, a must-have for every arachnologist & arachnophile) just dropped. Now called Spider Biology, this is an completely rewritten & updated version of the Biology of Spiders (2011). link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Bird abilities I wish I had. Buy my new book here: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rosem...

"At the end of the day, the effectiveness of the education we deliver is scaffolded on the quality of the relationships we build with our students." #HigherEd

Israel deliberately starving Gaza, Amnesty International says - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/amnesty-slams-israels-deliberate-campaign-starvation-new-report

Climate change is a top threat to Canada, but you wouldn't know it from our leaders. Tell us more about how we need American jets and a way to shoot down missiles from space. www.cbc.ca/news/climate...

a male Habronattus americanus jumping spider from the Mt Hood OR region, from earlier this summer some "classic" males are, well, classic in certain places we saw 100s of these spectacular little animals

"Curious how AI is transforming biodiversity research? Join us for a look at iChatBio, a cutting-edge agentic system designed to help scientists discover, process, and analyze biodiversity data with ease." if you're concerned about how this will impact iDigBio, voice your opinion in the webinar.

"Women, queer and trans people, people of colour, Indigenous people, all pay the price when the government ignores their needs in favour of the usual tropes that building more major infrastructure projects or digging another mine will solve our economic problems."

The Incompatibilities Between Generative AI & Art: cdh.princeton.edu/blog/2025/08...

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

I used to get emails from people saying they learned via google that a spider/bite was from a brown recluse but they also found my blog & they wanted to check. I now get emails about what ChatGPT or DeepSeek told them. I guess the upshot is these things are apparently referring them to me?

Anyone recognize this Euxoa, from Makkovik in Labrador? The larvae were munching some planted vegetables. We reared it out in hopes of an ID.

@supportourscience.bsky.social's letter of concern covered in @science.org's News today #cdnpoli #cdnsci

futurism.com/white-house-... You will never get me to believe that these people actually care about "fiscal responsibility" It's all just naked, brutal ideology

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

If you have power in your department or institution, now is a moment to follow through and remove them from your process. bsky.app/profile/cmbn...

For years I have been saying we must get rid of course evaluations. Lots of good tools for qualitative confidential feedback. But the bureaucratic centralized course evaluation is a tool for replicating bigotry.