Job tools I dislike: - computer - email - calendar - word processor Job tools I like: - microscope - colored micron pens

The ICE surge in Minnesota isn’t over — it just moved outside of the Metro. ICE agents are still terrorizing innocent people in the suburbs. They’re targeting bus stops and hospitals and parks and being more deceptive than ever. This isn’t over until ICE is out of the ENTIRE state.

Newly published: a letter that continues the discussion of “ghost records” and continues our push for good practices and replicability in bee research and monitoring: “Ghost records and unverifiable specimen data hinder bee research: a reply to Cobb et al.” doi.org/10.1093/aesa...

We got one little rain storm and all the tiny silly wasps are out again and I'm very pleased 🤎 These lovely little Encyrtids are pretty common and I love to see their comically large antennae flapping as they run. This lass was grooming hers.

Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change—all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.

#FebuArty #Fuzzy #Inverts #Bee 🐝 A Fuzzy Half-balck Bumble

This is just insane. It’s only a matter of time before DHS kills another innocent person here. (clip via MPR and @davidjbier.bsky.social on X)

Two more students from Liam Ramos' school are now in ICE detention, joining their mother who was detained first. The school principal "said the boys cried when he told them what was happening and were frightened and asked to hold a school nurse’s hand when they walked into the Whipple Building."

NEW: Minnesota's federal judges have been inundated — and become increasingly alarmed — by cases stemming from the Trump administration's deportation surge in the Twin Cities. Now they're poised to decide whether the surge can continue at all. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

Female Brown-winged striped sweat bee (Agapostemon splendens) on Camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris) 10-13-25 Bowditch Point Park Fort Meyers Beach, Florida #MacroMonday #eastcoastkin #native #bees #flowers #pollinators #macro #photography #bloomscrolling #art #macroPhotography #bugsky #nature

I found this bit, by a journalist who has written about CBP and ICE for many years, to be really instructive on how shockingly and persistently lawless those agencies, and especially CBP, have been for their entire existence, for more or less the same reason. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-101-ho...

I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening. The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.

A coworker took this from her apartment. I haven't seen a crowd this size before. Maybe the first Women's March? But it was much much warmer that day. ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA!

Great interview with Krystle Hickman, a wonderful photographer & community scientist who I'm lucky to know. She first learned about native bees as an adult and is not a trained scientist, and has since made important scientific contributions and inspired countless people (including me). 🌿🐙📷 #BugSky

As clergy pray, arrests begin

ICE detained a 5-year-old Minnesota boy coming home from school + took him and his dad to Texas, school officials say. The family has an active asylum case + entered the US at a port of entry. "They’re taking children. They're not violent criminals. They're little kids," the superintendent told me.

Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.

Yes, immigration agents not only took Arnoldo's phone, the 10th grader had to use Find My Phone to locate it — in a vending machine for used electronics, close to an ICE detention center. Read the full story here: www.propublica.org/article/vide...

WSJ investigation: In the past 6 months ICE agents have fired at vehicles 13 times, leading to: * 8 people shot * 5 of which were U.S. citizens * 2 died * no victims drew a weapon The playbook: Agents box in a vehicle, block attempts to flee, then fire www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...

The woman killed by ICE was Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year old who was the mother of a 4-year old child whose father already died a few years ago. The Star Tribune talked to her mother. www.startribune.com/she-was-an-a...

Female two-spotted longhorn bee (Melissodes bimaculatus) pollinating red & yellow dahlia flower in August’s Chicago noonday sun. #macroMonday #macro #photography #eastCoastKin #native #gardens #bugs #bees #art #flowers #macroPhotography #nature #red #yellow

In other Hymenoptera macro size comparison news: ~3/4" Sweat Bee so sweet and teeny... ...then there's the chalcid wasp following her... #inverts #becurious

drunk on pollen .... enough is enough already! Melissodes (I believe), Anza Borrego DSP, Oct 25

New Ant Lab video today about pincer wasps and a new research project. This one has some really cool, newly-filmed insect behavior in it! youtu.be/9osTBzQ0zbk

This gallery of almost all EU bee species high quality photos is quite impressive: pollinatoracademy.eu/images

Si te equivocas de entrada puede que visites la casa de una Donacosa merlini (Lycosidae). Un hembra de Eucera rufa (Apidae) es arrastrada bajo la atenta mirada de 3 machos que no entienden nada y que a pasar de sus esfuerzos no pudieron salvarla. 🐝💔🕷️ Laguna del Ojillo (RBD) @ebdonana.bsky.social

New study: backyard mosquito sprays lead to insecticide levels high enough to kill pollinators, and sprays travel easily into neighboring yards. stacksjournal.org/article/ande...

“She has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours.” Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.

Check out the latest publication from my MSc research with @nigeleraine.bsky.social where we surveyed bee and plant communities in rare TGP and savanna habitat and looked at what factors may contribute to their success 🔥🌼

Just to be clear: Minnesota will continue to be guided by science and medical expertise. While Trump and RFK wage war on vaccines and decades of science, I took executive action to safeguard vaccine access in Minnesota and prioritize the health and safety of our children.

Ma’am, you can’t just sit there in people’s driveways, it’s not safe, even for royalty. [Alameda, CA 12-2-25] #bees #bumblebees #nativebees

Bicolored striped sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens) / pulling hyssop flower #agapostemon #beePhoto #bees #SweatBee #BeesAndFlowers #beePhotography

So excited to see this paper out — determining bumblebee nesting preferences using standardized surveys led by Sami Dolan. We found 25 nests over two years in MN and WI and found that bumblebees prefer to nest in prairie and edge habitat rather than forests. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I'm heading off to EntSoc and here's my take on navigating your first scientific conference. Hope to see lots of you there! scienceforeveryone.science/getting-the-... #EntSoc25 🧪

BREAKING: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT EATS A LOSS IN 'SANDWICH GUY' CASE AS JURORS FIND DEFENDANT NOT GUILTY www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

Ma’am, you can’t just wander the sidewalk like that. Most people pay no attention to where they’re stepping. [Foothill carpenter bee, Alameda, CA 11-4-25] #bees #nativebees

Can apple cider vinegar make you lose weight? Probably not. My piece this week takes a look at a fascinating example of unreliable science, forensic metascience, and seriously problematic data. gidmk.substack.com/p/apple-cide...

Ever see a complete bee grooming routine up close? I’m not saying this Agapostemon subtilior female and I are heroes, but we are here to help. Enjoy this quality motion picture, complete with PG&E construction noises for that true California flavor. [Alameda, CA 10-27-25] #bees #nativebees

🎼 Tongue shadow, tongue shadow- 🎶 Watch this little male Zadontomerus carpenter bee perform an elaborate nectar-probing routine in a rock purslane flower. [Alameda, CA 10-21-25] #bees #nativebees

After 2024, pundits brushed off the Resistance as cringe. I submit: Yes, it was. And cringe is good. Cringe, in fact, will save democracy.

Very bizarre. An investigation by @cuny.edu's expert panel found "evidence highly suggestive of deliberate scientific misconduct" - but the university concluded that Dr. Wang did not do misconduct. #ScienceIntegrity @charlespiller.bsky.social reports at Science.

Xylethrus superbus is a fabulous species of orb weaving spider from the Amazon rainforest. While she looks a bit like a strawberry, eating her is not recommended. #Arachtober Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador 2022

Playing around with some GBIF bee data. Some records pop up with: Order: Hymenoptera Family: Apidae Genus: Crustacea Thought my code was bugging out, but no, just very bad data quality.

Agapostemon are terrible at mating (they still get it done - must be sheer numbers), but they are very, very thorough foragers. [Alameda, CA 10-3-25] #bees #nativebees

(Battle Hymn of the Republic plays in the background)

This is my friend Krystle Hickman’s gorgeous new book, which arrived today. Krystle is one the best, most dedicated photographers I know and a real inspiration to me. She is self taught and passionate, and has documented several previously undocumented behaviors. Buy this book! 🐝🐙🌿📷#invertebrates

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...

What a treat to watch this leafcutter bee bring the petals of a blanketflower back to line her nest, transforming a drainage hole into its own kind of bloom. #bees #Inverts

I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject. Gift link: