they really need better default images... unless that is a new terrestrial long-necked shark

The Killer Robots Are Coming. The Battlefield Will Never Look the Same.

"The Second Variety" by Philip K Dick is one of the most prophetic science fiction war novellas. Now it seems that this reality is coming closer to life in the Ukraine war of defense.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/w...

Bullia is an incredible animal. They also use the waves to surf to the stranded jellies using their broad foot. The wave comes in and they emerge from the sand and march over and start eating!

Oops!

I've deleted the post (wish we could edit posts in Bluesky!)

SORRY!

I rebooked on another airline for a bit more. Hopefully the refund comes quickly for that cancelled flight!

Eidelweiss Air: we have had to make some adjustments to your flight
Translation: we cancelled the outbound section and can't find a replacement booking, but we can get you back for the same price as a round trip!

Test of the effect of marine vibrators on blue whale behavior reveals some avoidance in lower prey densities but no change when prey density is high.

doi.org/10.1007/978-...

#FossilFriday This large slab in the NHMUK covered with screws of the Carboniferous bryozoan Archimedes was unknown to me until last week. For at least 46 years it has been lurking among large specimens in the coral collection.

Diesel prices rise 40-70% with massive impacts on fisheries (since this is a major portion of their costs)

Highlighted in red: "Political interference is inappropriately shaping or interfering in the conduct, management, communication, or use of science for political advantage or such that it undermines impartiality, nonpartisanship, or professional judgement"

"HHS works to promote a culture of scientific integrity by creating an empowering environment for innovation and protecting scientists and the process of science from inappropriate interference. Scientific findings and products must not be suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes and must not be subjected to political interference or inappropriate influence. The responsible and ethical conduct of research and other scientific activities requires an environment that is safe and free from harassment and discrimination" Highlighted in red are "suppressed, delayed, or altered for political purposes", "subjected to political interference", and "inappropriate influence."

"HHS works to promote a culture of scientific integrity by creating an empowering environment for innovation and protecting scientists and the process of science from inappropriate interference. Scientific findings and products must not be subjected to interference or inappropriate influence and must not be inappropriately suppressed, delayed, or altered. The responsible and ethical conduct of research and other scientific activities requires an environment that is safe and free from harassment and discrimination." Highlighted in green are "subjected to interference or inappropriate influence" and "inappropriately suppressed, delayed, or altered."

Text, with "political" highlighted in red to indicate removal: I. Protecting Scientific Processes Scientific integrity fosters "honest scientific investigation, open discussion, refined understanding, and a firm commitment to evidence" (OSTP 2010). It also enables consideration and documentation of differing scientific opinions. Practices that support scientific integrity may include peer review and open science. Science, and public trust in science, thrives in an environment that prevents political interference and inappropriate influence from impacting scientific data and analyses and their use in decision making. It is the policy of HHS to: 1. Prohibit political interference or other inappropriate influence in the design, proposal, conduct, review, management, evaluation, communication about, and use of scientific activities and scientific information. Prohibit inappropriate restrictions on resources and capacity that limit and reduce the availability of science and scientific products (e.g., manuscripts for scientific journals, presentations for workshops, conferences, and symposia) outside of normal budgetary or priority-setting processes or without scientific, legal, or security justification. 3. Require that leadership and management ensure that covered individuals engaged in scientific activities can conduct their work objectively, free from political interference or other inappropriate influence, and free from retaliation.

HHS just published an update to its Scientific Integrity Policy. Notably, it has removed the concept of political interference, and no longer calls it out as something specifically to be prevented.
www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul... (deletions in red, insertions in green)

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.

Why is the sky blue? YouTube video by xkcd's What If?

Why is the sky blue?

Watch the latest What If? video in collaboration with
@minuteearth.bsky.social!

youtube.com/shorts/oLoxd...

Cool story about restoring salmon habitat and saving fish.

It's crazy that this country is set up this way for medical bills. Completely nuts. So sorry you are going through this. I hope you get some tax money back not that it helps very much.

You're super lucky it wasn't sent straight to spam...

[WARNING-EXTERNAL SENDER: CAUTION- THIS EMAIL ORIGINATED FROM OUTSIDE OF YOUR ORGANIZATION]

Subject: Is collaboration between institutions declining?

A four-panel comic. In panel 1, two people are standing in the forest, wearing backpacks. The red-haired person says "I've never hiked with a naturalist before! I'm excited. I hope I brought enough water." The brown-haired person says "I'm sure you did. Let's go!" In panel 2, the brown-haired person points at various nature features. "Look, a red eft! It's the teenaged form of the Eastern Newt. Ooh, wintergreen! Wanna smell it? I hear a Chestnut-sided Warbler. Glacial till. Rubble of the last ice age!" In panel 3, the naturalist points to more nature items. "This forest seems early successional. Aw, a leafcutter bee with a piece of leaf! Wow, deer poor! Wow, fungi growing out of the deer poop!!" The red-haired person says "Okay, but..." In panel 4, the red-haired person continues, "It's been an hour and we've walked three feet." The brown-haired person exclaims, looking excited, "Three amazing feet!"

Sometimes you make a new comic, and sometimes you redraw an old one because you lost the original high res file 😅

UW graduate student deported through SEA as protesters demand answers A union representing University of Washington graduate student workers says Kennedy Orwa’s student visa was rescinded without explanation.

Our PhD student Kennedy Orwa, who studies applications of AI to health care, was hastily deported today to Kenya along with his 13-year-old son without opportunity to speak to legal counsel.

King 5 reports that he held a valid visa that was rescinded without explanation.

A spiral bound field guide with a photo of sea star and a sea urchin, written and illustrated by Madelynn DeBest.

An illustrated schematic of the zones of the rocky intertidal and which species live at what depths.

An example page from a spiral bound field guide, open to the entry for bladderwarck, a light green seaweed with little air bladders to help it float.

A field guide entry for an invasive blue crab, showing it to be 9” across.

One of my former students took her final project for my field natural history class and turned it into her Honors thesis: a 100% original, hand-drawn field guide to the rocky intertidal! And she got copies printed for her defense!

It's the head of a sturgeon on a platter
Oh no wait it's just the camera perspective never mind

Yeah for $20 I'm buying 2 pounds of fresh salmon from Costco instead of one small tin of canned salmon!

"Tinned fish is finally having a moment"
Clicked on this, but disappointed to see the prices of the selected fish: $7 to $20 per tin of fish seems excessive.

www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...

From the inside too...

Thanks!!!

Ok I'm not there, but I want to know how to access the data in that simulation... for science!

Hallucinated citations are polluting the scientific literature. What can be done? Tens of thousands of publications from 2025 might include invalid references generated by AI, a Nature analysis suggests.

Hallucinated Frankenstein citations rise in scientific literature [perhaps this is the easiest way to show scientific misconduct]
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

I feel personally attacked!!! ;)

ICE Agents Detain Newlywed Spouse of Soldier Training to Deploy

Was this really necessary?
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/u...