Ye Olde Science Twitter is BACK

Here is my contribution to Bluesky air conditioning discourse. This is my electricity bill from May/June with quite a few 95+ degree daye in DC - solar panels really are great! (Also a rowhouse, also weatherizing).

In 2017, I had to abandon ship. I was lost at sea. Caribbean fishermen, in the dead of night, risked their safety to pull me out of the ocean. Ever since the first illegal boat strike, I've been haunted by the betrayal of our duty to render aid and what it means for the safety of life at sea.

One thing that’s striking about all of this Is that they keep denying offshore wind permits, which are a critical solution to climate change, because they falsely claim it’s bad for whales But then they keep doing things that actually will kill whales

The context of this is that Trump just opened up the three remaining marine national monuments to destructive industrial fishing. The monuments recognize the Indigenous Pacific voyaging legacy. They also support endangered marine wildlife and protect whales, sea turtles, and seabirds.

Happy #WorldOceanDay2026! The ocean sustains life, heals, and inspires us. By working together, we can restore what's been lost, protect what remains, and ensure future generations inherit a thriving ocean and stable climate. 📸: Robert Schwemmer/NOAA

I was interested in Deep Spring but they didn’t admit women until 2011.

Join us tomorrow for IBES' Commencement Forum, "Ocean Health, Our Health"! Can't make it in person? Watch along via livestream: livestream.brown.edu/ibes @miriamgoldstein.bsky.social @usoceanprotection.bsky.social @baylorfk.bsky.social @rebecca-altman.bsky.social @kimcobb.bsky.social

The US is rushing to sell off the seafloor to seabed mining companies. But this industry is looking more like a money pit than a gold rush, with no way to process the minerals, sky-high costs, and unproven tech. Learn more: tinyurl.com/4nfjks7r

I have seen live giant isopods for the first time ever, and while they don’t really look any different than dead giant isopods, it made me happy. @montereybayaquarium.org

Excited to return to my alma mater to discuss the future of our ocean at the IBES Commencement Forum on May 23rd. Perhaps I will share how my career in ocean science & policy started with a semi-cursed student production of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." events.brown.edu/ibes/event/3...

“We hold a simple truth: the ocean sustains us. It shapes our climate, feeds our communities, supports our economies, and holds the stories of those who came before us.” Read more (en español) on why marine protections are so important: tinyurl.com/pshph3th

🧵I’ve just returned from Guam from the UOG Conference on Island Sustainability. The timing was tough, arriving just days after Super Typhoon Sinlaku. While Guam was spared a direct hit, the road to recovery for CNMI and Chuuk is long, and my thoughts remain with those communities as they rebuild.

For anyone interested in science, activism, and inside-outside strategizing, I strongly recommend "Let the Record Show" by Sarah Schulman, which talks about Dr. Long and her incredible work.

This was a tough one to write, and I took a bit of a personal risk sharing my own career-long process of discovery from tentatively swayed by the potential for deep-sea mining to convinced that we are simply not ready.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku: What to know, How you can help www.angelovillagomez.com/2026/04/supe...

In 1963, WHOI biologist Dick Backus set his sights on a question that had puzzled scientists for decades: what caused the daily vertical movement of plankton? The sun or an internal clock? During an eclipse, Backus was able to monitor that the migration was triggered by changing light levels!

Several years ago, on a whim, I started drawing a map of an eel's life travels as seen by the eel. I figured an eel thinks about its life as a linear journey, rather than a there-and-back again adventure. So I wanted to do a map to reflect this. This morning, on another whim, I finished the map!

I'd like to introduce you to Panulirus ornatus, the ornate rock lobster. They're native to the Indo-Pacific, with a large range centered on New Guinea & the Great Barrier Reef near Australia. They're a member of family Palinuridae, the spiny or rock lobsters. So why so colorful?

We need ocean advocates now more than ever! If you would benefit from this free training from @usoceanprotection.bsky.social partner @inlandoceanco.bsky.social, apply today, or share widely. inlandoceancoalition.org/inland-ocean...

ok now i will believe that Bluesky is getting close to the glory days of Olde Ocean Twitter

I love this crab so much.

A very tiny, but very beautiful larval-stage Diamond Squid - this one just about 1/2” TL. #thysanoteuthisrhombus #thysanoteuthis #diamondsquid #squid #🦑 #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography #chrisgug #fugunderwater #gug

Thysanoteuthis doin' some space ship impression! #molluscmonday www.inaturalist.org/observations...

I made this a while ago. There are some vertebrates in here but the inverts steal the show. I especially love the triangular plaid on the velvet worm.

Good Friday ocean news! 🐋 @newenglandaquarium.bsky.social spotted endangered blue whales in the Northeast Canyons & Seamounts. It even made People Magazine! Proof the public deeply loves our remote offshore waters. 🧵 1/2 people.com/scientists-s...

Maybe it's a "lottery ticket" for industry, but it threatens local culture and ocean stewardship. See how American Samoans are pushing back against seabed mining in their waters with national support @insideclimatenews.org tinyurl.com/msv3axu2

This is extremely cool. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/s...

Amazing footage of a living foraminiferan, a type of single-celled ocean plankton that extends long thin gelatinous tendrils of cytoplasm through its shell to forage. Like some cosmic dandelion, drifting through the ether, shimmering and electric

The Trump administration’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is rapidly shaping up to be the defining ocean policy issue of this second term. I put a little primer over at LinkedIn, but here's a thread so you don't have to click through. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/... 🧵 1/4

Okay, here’s today’s assignment: celebrate the joy of nudibranchs. First: read this thoroughly wonderful piece on artist Arina Bovenich and her felted nudibranchs. Tiny wool sea slugs. Maximum delight. If this doesn’t spark joy, nothing will. #Nudibranchs #OceanHoptimism

If you follow ocean policy, the Trump admin’s aggressive push for deep-sea mining is THE ocean issue right now. From Guam’s fight on the frontlines (glad NPR covered this yesterday!) to the shaky economics, I put a little primer on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Timeline cleanse!

"The mola doesn't look like it's winning. It just is winning." How did I miss @hankgreen.bsky.social explaining why my favorite fish, the mola mola, is the BEST FISH? www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR9M...

Pacific Ocean Floor by MARIE THARP, Bruce Heezan, and Heinrich Berann, *as published in* the National Geographic. There, fixed it.😉

WEIRD INVERTEBRATES (sea spiders are the best, they breathe through their legs and the males are the ones who get pregnant)

Peter Navarro tried to explain Trump's fisheries policy in my hometown newspaper, but it turns out his geography is worse than his economics policies. You know what the Granite State loves? Getting mixed up with New York! Anyway, I fixed his homework for him. ⬇️ www.unionleader.com/opinion/lett...

WEIRD INVERTEBRATES

Considering coming off Bluesky hiatus, mostly to post ocean policy takes and weird invertebrates. Is this a terrible idea? Is it just misplaced nostalgia for Ocean Twitter circa 2010? Please advise.

“We have the opportunity now, in this moment, to protect and save [these places] for future generations... We are passing this gift down so that they will know...that they're not a sad story of the past, but that they are there thriving quietly in the dark.” - Me www.sierraclub.org/sierra/monum...

Geologist @deepseadawn.bsky.social has been to the deepest place on Earth. Now, Trump wants to mine nearby. To her, "the choice is clear: protect and explore one of Earth’s last frontiers, or destroy it before we even understand what we are losing." tinyurl.com/22ta9fkw

Two weeks ago I testified before congress on the promise and peril of deep-sea mining. A few key points of my testimony, and my responses to Congresswoman Dexter, were clipped by Forbes. I think they're worth a listen. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLY2...

Forty years ago, Californians stopped an ill-conceived federal plan to open our coast to offshore oil and gas drilling. In the decades since, we’ve taken remarkable steps to safeguard our coastal waters. Now the Trump administration is pushing to undo all we’ve accomplished. bit.ly/3Lo2hWp

well Impossible Metals is so mad about this report that they spent all weekend posting about it on my LinkedIn...so you are definitely going to want to tune in! Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

let's take the CAR out of CARCINIZATION

Please join Michael Barnard, Lyle Trytten, and I for a public webinar to discuss their new report on whether seabed mining in the American Samoa region is economically viable and technically achievable. Tues 12/2 at 3 PM ET/12 PM PT/9 AM SST. Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Thanks! Please come join us!

Haunting read by my friend @oceanhoptimism.org

"Our data are exquisite. Our world is empty." An amazing piece on the coral reefs of the future by Rick MacPherson.