Ha, this Kennedy Center Honors singer is my high school classmate who also sang at RFK Jr. campaign events:

Happy holidays! Pigeons make milk, and I hope this fact fills you with joy and concern during this festive time of year

I rounded up everything I wrote this year, from squids to lemurs to moldy cheese and back to squids again: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-wra... 🧪

My husband already knew that my favorite garden implement is the scuffle hoe, and when I told him this weekend about a trendy tool called a hori-hori knife, he said, "So...are all garden tools slut-shaming?"

You start to get cynical & bitter & then you find out one of your state's snow plows this year is named Clearopathra & you remember there is no limit to human brilliance

Also wildly homicidal.

Kids, freelance science journalism is never going to pay well, but if you work hard, one day you may coin a goofy neologism that will show up in people's push notifications 🧪

"Refusing is actually the more hopeful, expansive vision of the future." Thank you @tressiemcphd.bsky.social for this boost for my soul:

Guys...no. There are no plants down there. (Here's my story about the camouflaged deep-sea squid: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/s...) 🧪

Delighted that the editors let me keep "sexpocalypse" in the headline of my first ever feature for @sciam.bsky.social! I had a lot of fun writing this: www.scientificamerican.com/article/glob... (You'll need a subscription to read it.) 🧪

My daughters and I got to pet a tiny 8-week-old Boston terrier (?) who was walking past our house wearing a little jacket, and the puppy's name was Fry

Attention introverts: If you really want to be left alone, maybe try living 2.5 miles deep in the ocean and posing as a sea sponge? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/s... 🧪

Now you see squid, now you don't! I wrote about a deep-sea squid that might be mimicking other animals to disguise itself: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/s... 🧪

This is DELIGHTFUL and I highly recommend a scroll through the whole thing: neal.fun/size-of-life/ 🧪

Best misunderstanding from last night's ESOL class: Me: "Do you like fast food? What is your favorite fast food?" Student: "Yes. I like fast food. My favorite fast food is fish, and bananas."

These scientists gifted themselves a shiny new dataset by digging through TikTok for videos of cats eating bugs. Read more here: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-cro... and subscribe to my newsletter for animal-inspired advice of questionable utility, in the holiday season and all seasons! 🧪

I love corvids, thank you for sharing!! I didn't get any pics of this, but I keep trying to find other people who might find the below info exciting/valuable, so am sharing again 😅 bsky.app/profile/jnxo...

Last night I got to visit the massive winter crow roost in Lawrence, MA, where (for unknown reasons) up to 15,000 American crows and fish crows come together each night to sleep. Sound on!! Unless you have a Hitchcock-related phobia. 🧪

I am NOT going to write a holiday gift guide, but I AM going to tell you how scientists used TikTok to learn about the urban ecology of cats murdering arthropods: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-cro... 🧪

Lord, grant me the confidence of Instagram's AI bot that summarizes videos for Google search. Why 5 life lessons? What are they?? To be clear, this is a video of my book galleys hatching out of a bag like it's an egg.

Was this a good use of an hour yesterday? I think yes. Preorder here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741329...

*looks directly at camera*

Apparently, to transfer my daughter's wrist x-rays to a new medical practice, I need to go physically to the first doctor's office and ask them to burn me a CD. Afterward maybe I'll put on three shirts and ask my mom to drop me at the mall so I can hang out at Borders.

Why do I feel like this sign is targeted at one guy

Since publishing our investigation into "Victoria Goldiee" at @thelocal.to, I've heard from editors from around the world who've had their own run-ins. A quick follow-up, plus a conversation with @cstarnino.bsky.social about journalism in a world of AI fakery. thelocal.to/fallout-from...

Remember last year, when bioGraphic and Hakai Magazine were both facing uncertain futures? Your donations saved the day--we raised $140,000 and lived to publish another day! Now we need help balancing our 2026 budget. Please donate via the link below, and snag some cool stickers to boot!

In my latest newsletter, I turned to a sea creature that can regrow its head for advice about finding hope when everything is topsy-turvy: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-rec... 🧪

when we say we want more streets to be pedestrianized, this is what we mean

My latest story for Nat Geo is about an adolescent orangutan named Rossa who adopted her sister and saved her life: www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

How to feel hopeful when times are bleak: Some advice for all of us, maybe, from an animal that can regrow its head. elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-rec... 🧪

I’ve written a lot about birth and freebirth and have my own history with “natural” birth and it’s hard… these women have done such harm AND we have to better address a failure in the medical model and the actual abuse that led so many women to them. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

I made jokes about RFK Junior bringing back leeches. I have to stop making jokes.

"Now before your author-scam radar goes off--" let me stop you right there

A very good article about one fake freelancer and the grim state of journalism/the world: thelocal.to/investigatin...

If you don't know what kids are like, this cold weather policy from our after-school program will give you a pretty good idea.

My kindergartener: "When am I gonna learn the F word?"

"The narrative of technological inevitability relies on a society-wide conflation of efficiency with value, a profound denial of and disinterest in human agency, and [...] the shallowest possible grasp of history." @lizziewade.bsky.social on AI: theantiquarian.email/archive/is-a... 🧪

Even in THEIR OWN AD, Charlie at the end looks like he’s thinking, “This is sad and weird.” Promising people you can prevent feelings of loss is not only ridiculous; it’s perverse. Sad things and happy things need each other. This company is promising numbness.

Strange things are afoot in the forests of Madagascar. @inkfish.bsky.social investigates for @biographic.bsky.social! 🧪 www.biographic.com/investigatin...

Naked mole rats can survive in a crowded space that's so airless, it would kill a human. In fact, they seek it out. Can these cuddle-obsessed mammals inspire us to make it through the holiday season with our families? elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-lov... 🧪

My 9-year-old to my husband: "Are you a Leo?" Him: "Are you talking about my zodiac sign?" Her, annoyed: "I'm talking about ASTROMAGY."

As we approach the holiday season, the naked mole rats have some lessons for us about tolerating family time: elizabethgpreston.substack.com/p/how-to-lov...

I asked my kindergartener if she'd chosen a candle for her "spa bath" and she said "I can't decide between grapefruit and cheddar blossom."

These endangered lemurs don't have babies often. (You won't believe how females keep males from mating with them!) When they do give birth, they raise kids communally. But in today's climate, their patterns are changing. By me, for @biographic.bsky.social: www.biographic.com/investigatin...

Chatted with a grandma at a birthday party, who mentioned she was surprised when one of her grandkids was named Allo. She asked her daughter-in-law if it was after the folk singer, Allo Guthrie, but she just liked the name! And wouldn't you know there are 3 other Allos at his preschool! #boston

Oof. A really good investigation by Sarah Kliff into electronic fetal monitoring, the moms and babies it doesn't help, and the lawyers and corporations it does: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/h... 🧪

In the treetops of a remote Madagascar rainforest, black-and-white ruffed lemurs are enjoying a baby boom. But what looks like unprecedented fecundity might actually be a sign of scrambled signals from a changing climate. @inkfish.bsky.social reports:

Last month's delightful conversation with Mary Roach is online now! youtu.be/6FUVkG8kieI?... @harvardbookstore.bsky.social 🧪

Huge thanks to everyone who has donated wood to our woodchuck enclosure. We have reached an undetermined percentage of our goal.