Marine scientist here, chiming in to say uhhhhhh could we not?

a flyer for a phd opportunity, titled "decoding shark fishing practices for more sustainable management" deadline is 24th April 2026. background image is sharks from a fishery in a large bucket. logos for exeter and queensland universities are at the top of the page.

JOINT PhD OPPORTUNITY! 🚨🦈

Work with Uni of Qld and @exeter.ac.uk on this amazing project developing insights for managing vulnerable species in fisheries globally.

DEADLINE: 26th APRIL 2026
Apply and learn more - scholarships.uq.edu.au/scholarship/...

🦑🦈🌊🎣🧪🌐
@kristianmetcalfe.bsky.social #PhDsky

This is my favorite climate change chart. Japanese monks, aristocrats, and emperors kept meticulous records of cherry blossom festivals for 1,200 years and accidentally built the world's longest climate dataset.

Scientists watch sperm whales work as a team to assist a birth An unprecedented look at the birth of a sperm whale found that mother and calf were supported by other whales throughout the process.

An unprecedented look at the birth of a sperm whale found that mother and calf were supported by other whales throughout the process. n.pr/40THi23

クラゲは集まったらなかなか気持ち悪い

cOMPaRatiVe cOGNitiONHumans share acousticpreferences with other animalsLogan S. James1,2,3,4* Sarah C. Woolley 1,2, Jon T. Sakata1,2,Courtney B. Hilton5,6, Michael J. Ryan3,4, Samuel A. Mehr5,7,8Many animals produce courtship sounds, and receivers prefersome sounds over others. Shared ancestry and convergentevolution may generate similarities in preference across speciesand underlie Darwin’s conjecture that some animals “havenearly the same taste for the beautiful as we have.” In this study,we show that humans share acoustic preferences with a rangeof animals, that the strength of human preferences correlateswith that in other animals, and that humans respond fasterwhen in agreement with animals. Furthermore, we foundgreatest agreement in preference for adorned, ancestral, andlower-frequency sounds. humans’ music listening experiencewas associated with preferences. These results are consistentwith theories arguing that biases in processing sculpt acousticpreferences, and they confirm Darwin’s century-old hunchabout the conservation of aesthetics in nature

out now in Science: @loganjames.bsky.social collected pairs of sounds in 16 species where we *know* which sound is more attractive (to that species)

he played them to ppl on themusiclab.org, asking, in each pair, which was nicer. humans agreed w other animals

doi.org/10.1126/science.aea1202

Over the next few weeks you may see headlines about the Rice's whale. It's a population of ~50 in the Gulf of Mexico that you have likely never heard of before. My latest #openaccess #research with @emilyyeager9.bsky.social explains why that is and what you can do about it 🧵

🔗 bit.ly/RicesWhaleNews

A block of text that says "Scientists at the University of Miami are carrying out a research study on trends in the field of science communication. For this survey we are defining science communication as work that is done: • by a technical subject area expert in some field related to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, • outside of classroom settings • aimed at the public If you are 18 years of age or older and work or recently worked in this field (full-time, part-time, or as a side project), please click the link below to complete a short survey. If you are interested in learning more about this research study, please e-mail us at Julia.wester@miami.edu. In the body of your email please provide your full name, and if you would prefer to be contacted by phone, your phone number and the best time to reach you. Contacting us for more information does not commit you to participating, and should you decide to participate you may terminate your participation at any time."

Attention Science Communicators!

We are conducting a survey on the landscape of science communication & need your help gathering experiences.

Please send this to #SciComm ppl you know. We want to get as thorough a sense of the state of the field as we can.

umiami.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

I have questions.

For decades biologists assumed ravens follow wolves to their kills.
Our paper @science.org shows something different: ravens rarely follow wolves far. Instead they remember areas where wolf kills are common and return to them—sometimes from >150 km away.
doi.org/10.1126/science.adz9467
📷Dan Stahler

Y’all, I am out living my marine biologist child dreams here with Field School and @drcatmac.bsky.social and @whysharksmatter.bsky.social ! If you have always to get out and see a shark in the wild and get to help researchers, I can’t recommend this crew enough for their accessibility and teaching

Christmas Cookie Cutter Shark - Tim Andraka

www.timandraka.com/christmas-co...

This Brazilian frog might be the first pollinating amphibian known to science Nectar-loving tree frog likely moves pollen from flower to flower

It’s the first time a frog—or any amphibian—has been observed pollinating a plant, researchers reported in 2023.

Learn more on #WorldWildlifeDay: https://scim.ag/4riUU1G

Painful unforced error for cookie cutters here. No one was ever going to put the demon whale biter on a cutesy Christmas card.

I think it’s also helpful to recognize that it’s not a long leap from the militarized discourse about “combatting invasive species” to horrific nativist and anti-immigrant ideas. The first time I taught this in a graduate class, around 2018, students were skeptical. Today, it feels obvious to them.

Reminder that the role and effects of non-native species will vary across ecological contexts. Non-natives can create habitat, support and stabilize food webs, and fill the niches of depleted natives in ways that benefit biodiversity of native species.

composite satellite image of Antarctica, the snow & ice appearing as different shades of blue and beige, the sea is black. following three images are variations of this theme.

GUYS have you seen this. antarctica on google maps. go look at it. this is tech struggling to process the Sublime

I wrote a paper with @ecoandrew.bsky.social
that included some of the policy changes around this and we ended up developing a grad student drinking game around assertions that shark feeding and freedom were synonyms.

Algae Living inside Salamanders Aren't Happy about the Situation The world’s only known vertebrate–microbe symbiosis appears to be good for the salamander, but stressful for the alga. So why do they put up with it?

How come none of you have ever informed me that Spotted Salamanders have a symbiotic relationship with algae that grow in their eggs (algae supply larvae with oxygen and sugar)? That algae may live within them and pass to future generations?

www.scientificamerican.com/blog/artful-...

Valid and fair!

Yes but the question of the traits or beliefs of scientists is separate from the question of the bias (if any) of the science itself.

Four heart cockles in different hues from ofange to yellow to purple. Photo by Tim Pierce, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Happy Bivalventines 💗
Heart cockles are the flatfish of bivalves, opening on their sides. They partner with symbiotic algae to get part of their nutrition! (327) photo source: carnegiemnh.org/warm-those-h...

This argument conflates science and scientists. A person can have an opinion and still conduct unbiased research; that’s essentially what science is for. Both of the statements here can be true, and are not mutually incompatible.

Darwin also famously had beef with the marine iguanas of the Galapagos, writing "The black lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large, most disgusting, clumsy lizards" and calling them "imps of darkness"

This female lemon shark graced us with three great passes this afternoon. We couldn’t figure out which to feature, so here’s all three. What other city but Miami can serve megafauna serving like this?? 🙌🍋🦈🍋🦈🍋🦈 #lemonshark #shark #catwalkswim #coralcity #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay

It’s a striking headline given the…backstory

“That’s When the Nightmare Started” The 106-page report, “‘That’s When the Nightmare Started:’ UK and US Forced Displacement of the Chagossians and Ongoing Colonial Crimes,” documents the treatment of the Chagossians, an Indigenous peop...

You can read the (pretty damning) report from Human Rights Watch here:

That MPA creation was probably the best way to continue forcibly excluding the people of Chagos from their former homes because “the environmental lobby is far more powerful than the Chagossians’ advocates.”

Important PSA: do not let powerful interests use your love of the planet and desire to conserve it as a bludgeon against marginalized people.

Doubt that’s a risk? Well, in a leaked diplomatic cable, the US State Department noted …

1/3

Marine Biology Career Advice You asked us questions about marine biology careers, and our panel of experts answered them! In April, I solicited your questions about careers in marine biology, and we received nearly 100 questio…

Last year we published the longest post in the more than 17 year history of our science blog.

It contains a panel of experts (including me) responding to nearly 50 common questions that people have about marine biology career advice.

Please read and share! I'm happy to answer any questions.
🧪🦑🌍