TDWG 2026 Working Sessions, 11 to 22 May. Register now! Image: a group of small green plants sprouting out of the ground. by Christian Holzinger. Unsplash.com

Sessions have been announced. Register and join us for the #TDWG 2026 Online #WorkingSessions.

This is an opportunity to have a first row view on how standards are developed.

🗓️11 to 22 May
💻 Registration is free

Full list of sessions and registration here:

👉 tdwg.link/working-sess...

@tdwg.org #TDWG2026 opportunity! contribute to this #digitalcuration #roundtripping topic at the conference and in the BDJ. @sharifx.bsky.social @nickynicolson.bsky.social @miketrizna.bsky.social @evomri.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy @aguentsch.bsky.social @njdowdy.bsky.social @cabbageleek.bsky.social

Digitally native species are a necessary shift in taxonomic practice Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Biodiversity science laments how little is known about the planet’s biodiversity, yet routinely discards much of the taxonomic evidence generated during species...

Species descriptions should not be confined to "summary" PDFs only providing access to a fraction of the data underlying the conclusions. We here argue for "digitally native species" built around structured, specimen-linked, machine-actionable evidence from day one. rdcu.be/fcbwh

We just passed 3 million human curated Citations in the SFG instance of TaxonWorks. We see this as potential "gold" in Gold Standards usable to fuel next-generation AI-facilitated high-resolution processing of the science that circumscribes the Earth's species, #taxonomy

@weevil-see.bsky.social @aguentsch.bsky.social know anyone who would appreciate this opportunity?

@nfdi4earth.bsky.social #nfdi4bio @aguentsch.bsky.social will anyone from these projects be there? @weevil-see.bsky.social know anyone in the #Carpentries community in Germany?

At TaxonWorks Together online meeting, Dmitry Dmitriev will talk about Syncing Taxonomy at a Global Scale Across System Aggregators

at TaxonWorks Together 2026, the Plant Bug (Hemiptera) researchers talk about their NSF-supported efforts and moving their data AND their community into the TaxonWorks milieu.

@tettris.eu please join us at #twt2026 May 19-21. #taxonomy #taxonomists #describeLife central to our conversations such as Syncing Taxonomy at a Global Scale Across System Aggregators and Plant Bug Taxonomy in TaxonWorks: Milestones from Past to Present, and future Data Capture.

#twt2026 Registration together.taxonworks.org Menu? spanning grand challenges for our collective communities - #data capture, global #opensource #software engineering, #geospatial data, #AI experiences, #taxonomy, cross-community #collaboration, #biodiversityinformatics, and #TaxonWorks, of course!

May 19-21 #TWT2026 see intriguing topics together.taxonworks.org join conversations with @jhhartman.bsky.social @bwwilliams.bsky.social @monotomidae.bsky.social @njdowdy.bsky.social @vmshirey.bsky.social @ddpichenumonidae.bsky.social & peeps from @marinespecies.bsky.social and more (see website).

BMD promotes mobilising data to FAIR platforms like @gbif.org, @obis.org, Catalogue of Life & ENA. 🫱🏻‍🫲🏻
💻 Our Access Gate offers access to tutorials from these platforms and serves as a base for the BMD training portal, hosted by @lifewatcheric.bsky.social.
🔗 training.lifewatch.eu/en/categorie...

A cream coloured background with a biological drawing of a shell and text reading ebbe nielsen challenge 2026 with the GBIF logo at the bottom

🚀 The 2026 Ebbe Nielsen Challenge is OPEN!

Have an idea, tool or prototype that uses GBIF biodiversity data to advance open science, research or policy? Submit it to GBIF’s annual Challenge and compete for a share of €20,000 in prizes! 💸

⭐ Deadline: 26 June 2026

🔗 gbif.link/ENC-2026

TDWG 2026 Working Sessions, 11 to 22 May. More details coming shortly. Image: a group of small green plants sprouting out of the ground by Christian Holzinger. Unsplash.com

Curious to learn how standards are developed? 🤔

Do you want to know who makes the magic happen? 🪄

Have you been thinking of joining a Task or Interest Group?👷‍♀️

🗓️ Then save the date!, #TDWG will be running online working sessions from 11 to 22 May, everybody welcome!

More details coming shortly!

Ornate historical illustration titled "Fungi," featuring elaborate, colorful floral and vine patterns in blue, red, yellow, and green framing the central text. Surrounding the text are detailed watercolor images of various mushrooms in natural settings, including clusters of brown, yellow, and red fungi growing on mossy ground. Intricate scrollwork and decorative initials accompany the word "Fungi," blending botanical art with calligraphy. The border's vibrant design contrasts with the aged, yellowed paper background, emphasizing the delicate and scientific presentation of mushrooms collected in Shropshire and nearby English regions between 1860-1902.

🍄 Fungi collected in Shropshire and other neighborhoods
[England], [1860-1902]

[Source]

These billionaires pay their workers so little that many of their workers need public assistance.

Meanwhile, their companies just got another round of tax cuts from a bill that gutted the public assistance their workers have to rely on to get by.

Trickle-down economics is a sham.

You know what all teams in the men's Final Four (and both women's teams in so far) have in common?

HERBARIA.

UConn is threatening to cut the staff of our nat history collections (plus many other awful budget cuts). If only we cared as much about biodiversity as we do about buzzer beaters!

Have a look-see ucd.chalcid.org

I have been looking a lot at Chalcid wasps recently- an amazingly diverse group of insects that may contain as many as 500,000 species. 🔬

They’re everywhere, but you may live your whole life without ever noticing them because they are so tiny. I think you would be missing out!

TDWG 2026, Stay tuned. Conference mascot using a headset and listening to music. Image: Lofoten Islands, Svolvær, Norway by Valdemaras D. Unsplash.com

Review of session proposals for #TDWG2026 is underway. Call for abstracts, coming soon. Stay tuned! 🎶

#Research #Robot-ready #Biodiversity #Data #Standards

TDWG 2026, Oslo, Call for volunteers Image: Trolltunga by Dong Zhang Unsplash.com

🙋‍♀️ We need you!🙋‍♂️ Join the TDWG 2026 Program Committee and help shape the conference in Oslo. We welcome volunteers from all regions, cultural backgrounds, gender identities, ages, and career stages.
👉 Apply now: tdwg.link/eoi-conferen...
#TDWG2026 #Biodiversity #WeNeedYou

7 Days To Go! The TDWG 2026 Call for Sessions deadline is 25 February 2026, 23:59 UTC-10. Image: Nasjonal turistveg Aurlandsfjellet by Håvard Nesbø. Visitnorway.com

📣 7 Days to go to submit a session!
Deadline for session proposals: 🗓️ 25 Feb, 23:59 UTC‑10!
Submit an organized session for #TDWG2026 in #Oslo.
New this year: 🌟Discussion sessions🌟.
Theme: 🔬🤖 Research & robot‑ready biodiversity data standards.

More info: 🔗 tdwg.link/call-for-ses...

Ossoff: "This is a seismic event. This should have people across the country absolutely shook. This is a huge deal. This is an FBI raid on the Fulton County Elections office ... This is a shot across the bow at the midterm elections. He tried to steal power when he lost it in 2020."

👏👏👏

I am impeaching Secretary Kristi Noem, who is an incompetent leader and a disgrace to our democracy.

She wreaked havoc in the Chicagoland area and has brought her reign of terror to Minneapolis. One of her rogue ICE agents shot and killed an innocent woman today. It must come to an end.

Social Security scraps plan to limit disability benefits after uproar The policy would have fundamentally altered who qualifies for the two federal disability programs by eliminating or limiting a person’s age as a factor to consider.

The Trump administration planned to kick thousands of American seniors off of their disability benefits.

We pushed back — and now, they're backing off.

Public pressure works. Keep fighting back.

Asking questions during seminars is a great way to practice public speaking.

It helps you learn to be clear and concise and hopefully to think deeply about a subject and to be polite. People around you will notice and take note of your words - good or bad.

One Species -> Many IDs: Applying enterprise "Entity Resolution" to Biodiversity Data Here's a crazy idea. What if we treat species identifiers in the biodiversity data landscape the same way commercial organisations treat customers? Hear me out.

Love to hear your thought on this. @rdmpage.bsky.social @dshorthouse.bsky.social @debpaul.bsky.social 🦉 I wrote a post on treating species identifiers with the same rigour as enterprise entity resolution. Not a new idea but we have to think about the scale. www.linkedin.com/pulse/one-sp...

Research Software Engineers in HPC (RSE-HPC-2025) Research Software Engineers in HPC (RSE-HPC-2025)

If you're going to be at #SC25 tomorrow (Sunday) and are interested in research software engineering #RSEng, you might come to the RSE-HPC-2025 workshop - us-rse.org/rse-hpc-2025/ - from 9:00 to 5:30 in room 267

"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob."

—FDR, 1936

The First Step: A Trip to Portland, Exploring the Heart of Garment Innovation at the Functional Fabric Fair Our mission at Surface Athletic is to create the ultimate water sport athletic wear using cutting edge fabrics and materials that align with our commitment t...

A year ago we started developing a bikini that's actually made for movement. In our inaugural SubSurface blog post see what a crash course in supply chain management courtesy of the Functional Fabric Fair looks like.
#surfaceathletic #MadeForMovement #fashiondesign #swimwear

A leafy path through green forest

The white, black and pink face of a baby Zanzibar Red Colobus monkey peeking through leaves.

A brown and rufous elephant shrew in vegetation

A brown elephant shrew in vegetation

Day #2 in Tanzania: The beautiful UNESCO & IUCN listed Jozani Forest (the only national park in Zanzibar): monkeys & elephant shrews #HomewardBound @inaturalist.bsky.social