Pometia pinnata (Fiji Longan, Island Lychee) is a massive evergreen tree with monstrous buttress roots native to Taiwan. Join us to explore how this unique tree is central to the Yami (Tao) people of Orchid Island & how it fits into the island ecosystem. #Taiwan www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Cl...

Explore Taiwan's aquatic plants with the new Botanical Wonders (@taiwanplusshows) episode on youtube! Lotus & water lily species have evolved unique ways to live submerged in water, including Taiwan's beautiful endemic minimalist － the yellow water lily. youtu.be/43it_bWEFy4?...

Taiwan's forested coral reef! (new YT upload) Once a thriving coral reef (under water...), tectonic forces thrust it out of the sea and time covered it with a forest. A truly unique ecosystem, with truly unique plants - click and explore! #Taiwan #botany #forest youtu.be/sectVDvOSp4?...

There’s no way to stop climate change without consuming less.

Good news: carbon intensity has declined Bad news: carbon emissions increased, due to the rapid rise in world GDP Also bad news: the chance of staying below 2°C remained low, at 17% Better news: chance of going above 3°C has gone down substantially, from 26% to 9%

Teens who won a lawsuit requiring Hawaiʻi to eliminate carbon emissions from the state’s transportation system in the next 20 years rightly call out sustainable aviation fuel as bullshit.

The wet tropical rainforests of Queensland are now a carbon source because CO₂ emitted from trees dying and decaying outstripped the CO₂ taken up by trees growing. 😕

Neobartsia mutica is another hemiparasite. It has a broad distribution across South America (I recently saw it in the Andes of Peru). Like so many of these hemiparasites, it has showy flowers. This one may be adapted to hummingbird pollination. #parasite #Orobanchaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

In recognition of us doing fuck all to reduce emissions, let me remind y'all that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is useless unless we decarbonize drastically. rdcu.be/dbFbB

Taiwan's forested coral reef! (new YT upload) Once a thriving coral reef (under water...), tectonic forces thrust it out of the sea and time covered it with a forest. A truly unique ecosystem, with truly unique plants - click and explore! #Taiwan #botany #forest youtu.be/sectVDvOSp4?...

It blows my mind that red-&-black fruits and seeds are attractive, but red-&-black insects are repellent (aposematic). In dispersal, as in life, context is everything! 📷1: Ripe fruits of Pinanga malaiana (#Arecaceae). 📷2: red-spotted stink bug, Jose Amorin CCBYNCSA2. #dispersal #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

Explore Taiwan's aquatic plants with the new Botanical Wonders (@taiwanplusshows) episode on youtube! Lotus & water lily species have evolved unique ways to live submerged in water, including Taiwan's beautiful endemic minimalist － the yellow water lily. youtu.be/43it_bWEFy4?...

Of the reported cases, 50 people were “disappeared” after entering China, 19 were detained and 119 had their movement restricted in some form, the MAC said on social media on Wednesday. www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

Awesome: Undergraduate and professor discover several new species of violets in the mountains of Virginia. “Put very simply, we looked." #iamabotanist #plantpeopleFTW www.ohio.edu/news/2025/09...

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

Without clear planning and sustained coordination with the US, Taiwan will struggle to keep pace with China’s advances and regional stability will suffer. More critically, failure by Taiwan to skillfully manage internal political contradictions will weaken Taipei’s credibility and reputation abroad.

President Donald Trump has declined to approve a more than $400 million military aid package for Taiwan as he seeks a trade deal with China, according to the Washington Post

Pometia pinnata (Fiji Longan, Island Lychee) is a massive evergreen tree with monstrous buttress roots native to Taiwan. Join us to explore how this unique tree is central to the Yami (Tao) people of Orchid Island & how it fits into the island ecosystem. #Taiwan www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Cl...

The concluding paragraph of #ScienceUnderSiege (www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/micha...)

We're excited to see that #ScienceUnderSiege has broken the top 1000 on Amazon. Please consider purchasing from e.g. @barnesandnoble.com or your local independent bookseller (or ask your local library to acquire). Thanks!

New BOTANICAL WONDERS episode on YT: Paper mulberry Used for food (leaves, fruit), rope (bark, roots), tool handles (wood), ..., throughout the Pacific, recent work has shown that - just like Austronesian languages - it too has an "out of Taiwan" history! youtu.be/i235W7_arqg?... #Tawan

I'm not sure many folks realize just how persistent the warming from CO2 is. Here is a set of 1000-year climate model runs (using FaIR) simulating one year of CO2 emissions (40 gigatons in 2020); a millennia later the world has not cooled back down!

New Episode on YT: Taiwan Sugar Palm! Found in the understory of Taiwan's forests, 'Arenga engleri' is a palm species with multiple important roles in Taiwan. In this episode of Botanical Wonders we explore it's ecology & its role in hunting and fishing! youtu.be/opgJjoxQtkY?... #Taiwan #ecology

Exclusive from me: China drilling for oil and gas inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

China drilling for oil and gas inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone – The Guardian: ‘However, there is no sign of the Taiwan government having responded to it, despite frequently enforcing its EEZ elsewhere.’

Going, going, almost gone...

Cauliflory (nothing to do with the vegetable) Often flowers (which become fruit) grow from positions on branches, often as individual flowers of various forms of flower clusters. In some trees, the flowers grow directly on the trunk, like Baccaurea sp. (left) and many figs (Ficus; right)

New Episode: Botanical Wonders Coastal forests are a unique ecosystems where ocean meets land & land meets ocean. Globally, these forests have faced severe decline. However, the species that call this enigmatic ecosystem home can teach us about resilience & innovation. youtu.be/SIDNLVZR25A?...

Forest treasures: If you slow (and look!) down, there are captivating stories unfolding all over the forest floor. Names of these mycological treasures: Marasmiaceae, Amanita, Cryptotrama, Unknown [infecting fruit of Barringtonia sp., probably racemosa] #vietnam #mycology #fungi

Cyclists, don't forget to wear hi viz!

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Scopes trial telling students in central Tennessee about their inner fish. I’m so grateful to the high school and middle school teachers who brought their students from small schools to the event (some from almost an hr away).

How to eat a tree (and other woody matter): Digesting lignin/cellulose in woody material is tough. To make them consumable, termites evolved 2 main strategies. Internal digestion (most termites): gut bacteria digests External digestion (Macrotermitinae): cultivate fungi to digest it for you!

More millipede madness from Vietnam's ethereal tropical forests: Prionobelum (97.6% sure) Also known as pill millipedes, these are able to roll into a ball ("volvation") as a defense mechanism, which the flat backed millipedes (e.g., below) cannot do. Equally cute, equally important!

Polydesmida millipedes (flat backed) can often be colourful, large & calm. Found in the leaf litter in low to high elevation tropical to temperate forests (usually humid areas), these decomposers are not just beautiful but important contributors to nutrient cycling. Left: #Taiwan Right: #Vietnam

Semi-snails (Megaustenia app.) of Vietnam: an evolutionary link between slugs (no shell) & snails (full shell). Their shells are thin & incomplete, & need to be covered by their skin ('mantle') which offers protection, camouflage, & secretes calcium carbonate to build more shell. #Vietnam #snail

Makino Bamboo - one of 25 bamboo species native to Taiwan - is a wonder. Deeply embedded in Taiwan's culture, this species of grass (yes!) has a unique story to tell. Hike into Taiwan's bamboo forests to learn about this useful and delicious plant. youtu.be/0nPR9KZCuBU?...

No amount of wishing or hoping for an imaginary carbon unicorn will make carbon markets work for the climate --- Op-ed by ActionAid Ireland's director Karol Balfe @actionaidie.bsky.social @karolbalfe.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Never-before-seen tubes that seem to connect bacteria and microbes called archaea may indicate how the symbiotic relationship between such species led to the first complex cells more than 2 billion years ago @newscientist.com #science 🧪 #evolution 🦑 www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

Plant-based jelly!! Two unassuming plants that call Taiwan home are important and delicious components of many of Taiwan's food and drinks: Mesona (grass jelly) and a variety of the climbing fig Ficus pumila (aiyu jelly). Come explore these botanical wonders with us! youtu.be/-E_G5HJyTB4?...

In Singleton to address the NSW Independent Planning Commission regarding a proposal to clear half a million hectares of woodlands in Western NSW, intended as biomass feedstock for Redbank Power Station. In my professional opinion this will push embattled outback flora and fauna closer to extinction

The 21 July 2025 rock avalanche in the Matia'an valley in Wanrong, east Taiwan is generating a lake that could have a volume of 86 million cubic metres at the point of overtopping. This poses a threat to at least seven downstream communities. eos.org/thelandslide...

BOTANICAL WONDERS: EPISODE 3 (YouTube) Taiwania is a monotypic genus, meaning it has only 1 species - Taiwania cryptomerioides, which happens to be the tallest species in Taiwan!! Climb with us to the top & explore the unique botanical wonders we meet along the way! youtu.be/9jHWRL1UHqs?...

Awesome plants, and, weirdly, they have been found to have an ancient connection with mistletoes…. Horizontal gene transfer for the win! www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2015/12...

Go to a granite outcrop and look closely, you may just find the tiny Adders Tongue Fern #Ophioglossum lusitanicum! Throwing up their specialised fertile frond these ferns are an unusual group, needing a symbiotic relationship with fungi to grow from spore to spore forming mature plant!

"This is the largest wildfire evacuation Manitoba will have seen in people's living memory," Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said..."It's not a fire in one region, we have fires in every region. That is a sign of a changing climate that we are going to have to adapt to." 🌍 www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Call me picky, but Taiwan has been insisting it's an independent state since 1997 when LTH first said it. Unfortunately this person has made replying impossible.

Really enjoyed recording this timely podcast about Taiwan's history, domestic politics, and its ties with the US with @davetroy.com last week. Give it a listen - link is at the end of this post: america2.news/podcast-ghost-…#GhostNationon

Big news! My book "Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formation" is officially available for pre-order through University of Washington Press! Here's a brief summary of the book, contested politics, and why Taiwan matters for political science:

The Trump administration canceling Lai’s planned flyover for the sake of US-China relations is the kind of signal that Trump’s support for Taiwan is transactional and conditional, not fixed. www.ft.com/content/2157...

Ferns! The island nation of Taiwan is home to an amazing diversity of ferns - more than all of North America & Europe *combined*! In our 2nd episode we explore why Taiwan's nickname "fern kingdom" is truly apt! Taiwan: The World’s Hidden Hotspot for Plant Diversity | youtu.be/LXC6W1a2kBY?...