And not everybody knew
That plants have sperm

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing!

Plants Have Sperm. But Only Some Can Swim. From swimming cells to pollen tubes, plants solved the same problem in two very different ways

Plants have sperm.

Some of it swims.

Which means a patch of moss after rain isn’t just wet… it’s a place where cells are actively moving to reproduce.

Most plants don’t do this anymore.

So why do mosses and ferns still need water?
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/lMiZDw9

Thanks for sharing, Alan! Great article!

Why Are Axolotls So Cute? And Why Evolution Kept Them That Way Why are axolotls so cute? Well, they have a weird evolutionary trick. They’ve got the big head, tiny limbs, soft colors, and that little smile-looking face humans are wired to love. But here’s the…

Why are axolotls so cute?

Big head. Tiny limbs. That little smile.

There’s a very strange evolutionary reason for that 👀
🧪 #SciComm

buff.ly/KxbSkYv

That too!

Why Are Axolotls So Cute? And Why Evolution Kept Them That Way From Mexican canals to children’s toys: how evolution and human choices shaped the axolotl we see today

Axolotls didn’t evolve to be cute.

They evolved to stay young (and alive).

We just happen to love that.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/e9GK8gy

Easy to group them together, but bears and dogs split a long time ago and went in very different directions.
Canids leaned into endurance and cooperation. Bears went toward size, strength, and omnivory.

Yes, and that’s the key difference, pack hunting reduces the pressure to evolve huge body sizes in the first place.

We Have Big Cats. Why Not Big Dogs? Why do we have big cats, but not big dogs? It feels like we should. Wolves and wild dogs are great hunters. So why didn’t evolution make a lion-sized dog? The strange part is: it did. Millions of…

We have lions. We have wolves.
So why don’t we have lion-sized dogs?

The weird part is… we used to.
🧪 #SciComm

buff.ly/06fvqeX

We Have Big Cats. Why Not Big Dogs? It turns out size is not just about strength, but about how predators move, hunt, and survive over time

We have lions, tigers, and leopards.

We also have wolves.

So why don’t we have “lion-sized dogs”?
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/csX4PNI

I bet some zoo may have tried! 😜

Why Penguins Never Conquered the Arctic #animals #evolution It feels like penguins and polar bears should live together. Same ice. Same cold. Same world. But they never do. The reason isn’t just temperature. It’s history. Penguins evolved in the Southern…

Penguins and polar bears live on ice that looks almost identical.

So why have they never met?

The answer isn’t temperature. It’s a story of evolution, ocean currents, and a world that isn’t as connected as it seems.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/WByZigZ

Why Don’t Penguins Live in the Arctic? A story of evolution, ocean currents, and why similar climates don’t mean shared worlds

Penguins live on ice. Polar bears live on ice.
So why have they never met?

It’s not temperature. It’s history.
A story shaped by evolution, ocean currents, and a boundary most people never think about.

Why don’t penguins live in the Arctic? 🐧
🧪 #Scicomm
buff.ly/Xavy4Qh

Thanks! This means the world to me!
Women’s power!

Yup, we call them birds 🥰

That would have been a good guess, too!
Indeed, paleontology is soooo cool!!

Hahaha! Thanks for sharing. Yup, having spent 4 years down-under, I now make clear what the seasons mean 😊🧪

Thanks! It may have started like that, but now there’s no way back for them 🫣

Fossils like Pakicetus and Ambulocetus show the step from land to water, and genetic data independently confirms whales are closely related to hippos.

What’s powerful here is that fossils, anatomy, and DNA all tell the same story.
🧪🧵2/2

This article comes from a non-scientific source that starts from a fixed conclusion and works backward.

Whale evolution is actually one of the best-documented transitions we have.
🧪🧵1/2

How Whales Lost the Ability to Live on Land #evolution #deeptime Whales breathe air. So why do they die on land? It sounds like they should be fine. They have lungs. They surface to breathe just like we do. So what’s the problem? To answer that, go back 50 million…

If whales breathe air as we do, why do they struggle when stranded?

The answer goes back 50 million years, when their ancestors walked on land

and explains how evolution reshaped their bodies for life in water.
🧪 #SciComm

buff.ly/onkO06f

Among others!

I get to note you learn why whales beach themselves in my novel Napier's Bones, getting a fancy new rerelease this autumn from the good people at @newestpress.bsky.social. And I swear every word is true (except for the bits I make up).

Thanks for sharing, Derryl! We can’t wait

That’s a great way to put it. Thanks for sharing!

Embarrassment.
They die of embarrassment.
Did I just swim onto land? What the fuck? Oh god. Don't tell the other whales. Just leave me.

That’s a point ;) thanks for sharing!

Indeed. Great addition!

Thanks!