A campaign to protect one of the planet’s only expanding kelp forests takes shape CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Diving in the Great African Seaforest, with its tightly packed towering kelp stipes that can rise up to 9 meters, or 30 feet, from the seabed, is a surreal experience, even…

A campaign to protect one of the planet’s only expanding kelp forests takes shape

Pace of N.I.H. Funding Slows Further in Trump’s Second Year

NEW: Spending on new medical research by the National Institutes of Health has fallen roughly $1 billion behind the pace of years past, delaying thousands of scientific projects.

@benjmueller.bsky.social @irenatfh.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s...

In honor of Earth Day: a thread of environmental wins

Earth Day reminds us science is stronger when it starts with communities | Op-Ed Science is essential. But the story of how we practice it has expanded over the decades to be more connected to real-world decisions and outcomes.

Science is essential—it helps us understand change and guide decisions. But how we do science is expanding: more collaborative, more connected, more inclusive. When it starts with communities, it leads to solutions that last. My Earth Day op-ed is out www.seattletimes.com/opinion/eart...

Happy Earth Day!

Save the Earth, it’s the only planet with sandbar sharks

AI tool listens for endangered orcas in real time to reduce human disturbance Where are the orcas at? Answering that question with pinpoint accuracy is crucial to protecting the famed “southern resident” orcas off North America’s northern Pacific coast. An AI-driven initiative…

AI tool listens for endangered orcas in real time to reduce human disturbance news.mongabay.com/2026/04/ai-t... 🦑🌎🧪

It me

Text reading "THE LIFE SCIENCE SALE - Use code HLFE26 for 40% off all life science books. Plus, get FREE SHIPPING on your $75+ order!" overlaid on a set of open books from Hopkins Press.

Celebrate Earth Day with 40% off all life science books - plus, get free shipping on your $75+ order with code HLFE26! 🌎 Save on bestsellers like "Why Sharks Matter," "Birds of North America," "Before They Vanish," and more now.

https://tr.ee/AWmGjO

I'm an academic author not an editor, but the piece of advice I give others is "have a friend who can give you tough constructive feedback read it"

It is an open symposium, which means anyone can apply to present their research, case study, or tool demo. And we'll use the focus group to generate a multi-coauthor publication.

While it's not necessary, I recommend that interested applicants reach out to me so I can make sure it's a good fit.

Pleased to report that my proposed symposium and focus group for IMCC: International Marine Conservation Congress 8, "Ocean Science Communication: What's New and What's Next," has been formally accepted. 🧪🌍🦑 #SciComm @scbmarine.bsky.social #IMCC8

Lol’ing at fending off sharks as I walk down the street to the bus stop

Is Climate Change Causing Sharks To Bite Humans? Metro Thinks So Taking public transit reduces greenhouse gas emissions. But does it change shark behavior? Scientists are dubious.

Is Climate Change Causing Sharks To Bite Humans? Metro Thinks So | Happy Earth Day, here’s your reminder about how I had to walk by billboards that misstated my own research on my way to my job combating pseudoscience.

The IFM is hosting a webinar on 8th May 2026, titled: “Modern Tools for Fisheries Management: eDNA and Stable Isotopes in Practice”. It will feature speaker Buffy Smith from The eDNA Consultancy and Dr Brian Hayden from Atomic Ecology. For more info: ifm.org.uk/events/moder...

Aerial drone image of open coastal water viewed from directly above. On the right side, a fishing vessel has deployed a large purse seine fishing net that extends outward from the stern and occupies a wide area of the surrounding water. Four humpback dolphins are visible near the net, just below the water surface. On the left side of the image, a smaller tourist boat is positioned farther away, oriented roughly parallel to the fishing vessel. While dolphins generally tend to move away from tourist boats, they are more tolerant of them in the presence of fishing gear, with which they interact, likely to forage on the fish caught.

🦤🌐🧪
Intensifying fisheries and tourism threaten coastal dolphins. Using drones and machine learning, we show that endangered Indian Ocean humpback dolphins avoid tourist boats, forage near fishing nets, and make trade-offs when both occur.
bit.ly/meps15111

Society’s scientific illiteracy makes the world a worse place.

In a nutshell, the ANES data shows:
📉 Social media use is shrinking; engagement collapsing
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~70 POINTS to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme

Longshot request- do any of my natural history nerds have a contact at the Colombo (Sri Lanka) National Museum?

Trying to arrange a behind the scenes tour.

I can ask if I get in touch with folks there

every conservative political complaint comes back to "those people shouldn't count because they disagree with me"

You monster

Why Alaska and U.S. Territories Get Damage, Not Dollars, From Deep-Sea Mining The Trump administration is advancing deep-sea mining in U.S. waters near the Pacific territories and Alaska, a process Indigenous leaders have identified as “resource colonialism” due to its prioriti...

Rural and remote communities will pay the price for the Trump Administration’s deep-sea mining schemes that Indigenous leaders have identified as "resource colonialism." www.americanprogress.org/article/why-alaska-and-u...

One of the House's biggest deep-sea mining proponents, Congressman Whitman, will likely lose his seat.

National Science Foundation’s future in limbo as Trump eyes cuts The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) future is in limbo as President Trump pushes for more budget cuts and his nominee to helm the research agency awaits Senate confirmation.  Since Trump’s retu…

'The NSF has only committed $500 million of the $8 billion it was appropriated for the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. The NSF will lose the billions of remaining funding if it does not spend it by Sept. 30.' thehill.com/homenews/adm...

When I joined Bluesky and was hoping it would be like the good old days on Twitter, I didn't mean the period when it was broken like half the time

Three Right Whales are shown swimming underwater toward the viewer, while they feed on copepod swarms in Cape Cod Bay, off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. Digital illustration, painted in Photoshop using a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet.

North Atlantic Right Whales, Cape Cod Bay. From my book "A Field Guide to Cape Cod," Yale University Press. a.co/d/eK4A0sd%F0...
🧪🐡🌿🌎 #wildlife #scicomm #sciviz #wildlifeart #illustration #scientificillustration #natureart #visualscicomm #sciviz #scicomm #whales #rightwhales #CapeCod

Arsinoitherium skull with two giant horns

We’re looking for researchers in any discipline of natural history: if you have a paper coming out and you want to pitch @pbseons.bsky.social on a potential episode about it, send me a DM! #scicomm #paleosky #FossilFriday

(Arsinoitherium says please and thank you!)

Longshot request- do any of my natural history nerds have a contact at the Colombo (Sri Lanka) National Museum?

Trying to arrange a behind the scenes tour.

Bummer that I'll miss this again! Hope you have a great time. You're basically a permanent fixture at this stage haha