iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I have had the best time at the inaugural CROAK Conference the past couple of days! It was a pleasure to present the first results from my #PhD work looking at great crested #newts population structure and genomic diversity at the Northwestern edge of their range in Scotland

A picture of a person standing in front of an audience at a conference in front of a presentation slide with a drawing of a great crested newt on it.

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I'm gonna need all amphibian ID requests to be submitted to me in this format moving forward #herps #amphibians #herpetology #animalID 🐸

A screen shot of a Reddit post which includes a funny looking drawing of a very round toad that someone has requested an ID of. The text on the post reads: saw a weird toad once at a ditch in the Netherlands around 2009 (definitely didn't have the means to take a picture back then) but I've drawn it to the best of my ability. What the heck was this thing?

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Dara 🏳️‍⚧️ @dara-the-explara.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Omg a hit skeet! Queer refugees are fleeing red states en-masse and you should do everything you can to welcome and make space for them.

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Cath Hodsman @cathhodsman.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

1. A short thread on wildlife gardening & rewilding: I've read that some folks consider rewilded gardens to be neglected messes. In my opinion, my rewilded garden is quite lovely & definitely not a neglected mess. Two short vids here to show you the habitats we've created.....🌿🌱🇬🇧🌱🌍🪲🐸🕷️🦔🦡🐦‍⬛

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I need to get to Thailand at some point they have such a wonderful diversity of herp species

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The Orianne Society @oriannesociety.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

As drought conditions continue across the Southeast, even finding water has become a challenge for Spotted Turtle researchers. In her latest Herp Journal post, Andrea shares the realities of surveying shrinking wetlands...

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

If everyone could take a couple seconds to sign and share that would be awesome. A big development is threatening London's largest population of crested newts (a protected species!!) You can read more about it here at saveournewts.org and follow the link below for the petition. c.org/gqzx2gzkLh

c.org

Sign the Petition

Save the Great Crested Newts and all protected species at Glebelands Nature Reserve

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Gus Bova @gusbova.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Texas' only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years: www.texasobserver.org/immigration-...

texasobserver.org

Longtime Immigration Court Interpreter Arrested by ICE at South Texas Airport

The state’s only licensed Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu legal interpreter is now languishing in a Raymondville detention center. She’s lived in America for 35 years.

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦕 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Smithsonian Magazine asked me to highlight five Hell Creek Formation discoveries that changed what we know about the last days of the dinosaurs. I was happy to include @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social's Infernodrakon in the short list.

smithsonianmag.com

The Hell Creek Formation Is North America's Legendary Boneyard. See the Top Five Discoveries Found in the Iconic Fossil Bed

From preserved plants to T. rex, the material found in these Late Cretaceous rocks has resulted in countless breakthroughs for paleontologists

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Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance @invertebrates.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Vote for Mollusc of the Year 2026. The winner will have its complete genome sequenced. There are some cool species in the running this year! www.unitasmalacologica.org/mollusc-of-t...

unitasmalacologica.org

Mollusc of the Year 2026

Click here to see previous Mollusc of the Year winners.

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Earth BioGenome Project 🌍 @ebpgenome.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A major milestone for biodiversity genomics: EBP-affiliated projects have now contributed over 6,000 genome assemblies toward the goal of sequencing all known eukaryotic life. 🧬 Thank you to all EBP-affiliated projects behind this work, from sampling and DNA extraction to sequencing and assembly.

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

It's #worldfrogday! Here are some of my favourite anurans that I've had the pleasure to see this past year (more info in alt txt). Amphibian species are in decline, approximately 41% are threatened with extinction. We need action now from politicians and the global community to stop this crisis 🐸

Two common toads in amplexus on a path in the Scottish Highlands. The male is on top of the slightly larger female and is gripping her sides. This can be a common sight around ponds in the UK and elsewhere in Europe at this time of year, though Bufo bufo have declined significantly in the UK due to habitat loss and fragmentation as well as high road mortality when they migrate to and from their breeding ponds.

A captive specimen of Atelopus varius the variable harlequin toad which comes from Central America. This individual is perched on a brown leaf in the Manchester Museum's vivarium. They are a striking looking animal with blotchy yellow and black colouration. This species is critically endangered due to the deadly fungus chytrid, as are many other members of their genus.

A captive golden mantella frog, Mantella aurantiaca, which hails from Madagascar. This specimen is also from the Manchester museum and is sat in the middle of some leafy greenery. The frog is bright orange and highly contrasted against the moist green leaves and the darker background. They are very restricted in their range in the wild and are one of the most threatened species of amphibian in Madagascar.

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Thomas Lesaffre 🌱 @thomaslesaffre.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

🚨 PhD position available ! 🚨 I am hiring a PhD student to work with me on the evolution of plant sexual systems 🌺 at @unifrbiology.bsky.social ! The position is funded for 4 years by @snsf.ch as part of my Ambizione fellowship. More info here: tinyurl.com/monoecy 🌱 Please RP and share widely ! 🌱

View of the old city of Fribourg from the "Pont du Milieu".
© Ville de Fribourg

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Great weekend at Herp Workers 2026 in Glasgow🦎🐸 Highlights for me were the workshops on conservation genetics and updating the HSI for crested newts. Some very interesting discussions also had surrounding rewilding in UK, more on that to follow!

A photo at dusk overlooking the river Clyde in Glasgow from Bell Bridge. On the right of the river is the Crown Plaza hotel (the location of the conference) and on the left is the BBC Scotland building.

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Finally back at my favourite conference #Herp Workers 2026! Run by @arc-trust.bsky.social and @argroupsuk.bsky.social if anyone is here come check out my poster 🐸🦎

A conference room with people sat in rows and a large screen that reads Hepetofauna workers meeting 2026 welcome.

A scientific poster showing my PhD research about great crested newts.

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Dee Evelyn @deeboom.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Niece got put on blockers cos she hit puberty at 10, my son was in line to get them at 11 but Dr said kids are hitting puberty younger nowadays. Said early in her career my kid would have been on them no question but come back if we wanted them Literally that simple for cis kids to delay puberty

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Michael E. Mann @michaelemann.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Ignore the performative, disingenuous cries of "antisemitism" Trump & GOP have so cynically used as a political shield. Look instead at what they're actually doing: www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

washingtonpost.com

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols

The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

✌️ I love being a scary lefty activist

A quote from someone on a social media app which says "just another day pushing my far left extremist agenda of wanting to make sure everyone is fed and able to go to the doctor", this is overlayed on top of a picture of a pink rose in the sunshine

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Feels especially pertinent right now. The hatred my community has received this past couple of years has been deliberately manufactured by very rich and powerful people with agendas beyond that which they would have you think. These people are costing lives.

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Looking forward to this week's department seminar with Rob Wilson @robwilsonmncn.bsky.social from the #science museum in Madrid, invited by @camilarocabado.bsky.social

A seminar slide in a lecture theatre which reads: population and community effects of global change revealed by butterflies

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Jack @jacklikesfilms.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

It's almost as if deliberately making every aspect of society worse has a negative effect on people.

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STEAMLORD @exoplanetdinosaur.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Getting legacy media to give air time to actual scientists who can communicate - and there are plenty out there - is incredibly difficult; and they are then set up against cranks whose opinions are supposedly the same value as years of scholarship

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Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

I moved the cory squad over to the 29 gal. Now they have more room for activities such as snorfling.

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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Yesterday, a Republican tried to give me holy water and Trump perfume because I’m “demonic.” Extremely normal stuff coming from an extremely normal party.

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Juliet Turner @juliet-turner.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

It has always been so obvious that the backlash to MeToo isn’t about whether the abuse is happening but whether people are allowed to want it to stop

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

📢 Adoption of new IUCN resolution on #amphibian #conservation 📢 🐸 Big news, since a recent study showed that amphib conservation is serially underfunded. The TLDR of this are calls for: -updated conservation guidelines -govts to implement long term national plans -funding research

cambridge.org

Adoption of new IUCN resolution guiding the conservation of amphibians | Oryx | Cambridge Core

Adoption of new IUCN resolution guiding the conservation of amphibians

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TheDrIsIn @thedrisin.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

One of my favorite quotes I’ve heard across some of these short Chinese dramas: “To be merciful to those who hurt you is the greatest cruelty to yourself.” They really do use your mercy to continue to hurt you.

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Dihya Tamaghza @dihyatamaghza.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Don't miss our @chillsubs.bsky.social page! Lifesaver for us writers looking for specific publication standards and guidelines! www.chillsubs.com/magazine/lun.... Just another publication hoping never to charge reading fees and encourage everybody to create art!

chillsubs.com

Lunar Sea Literary - Chill Subs

We vow to never charge fees for writers and artists, and hope, in time, to compensate successful submitters for their craft. This is our vision. A world in which the weird and wonderful thrive in harm...

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Dihya Tamaghza @dihyatamaghza.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Just launched an online literary magazine that I've been working on this past year. Eager to read what everybody has to send us! We are accepting fiction, poetry, CNF, and artwork. #literarymag #openforsubmission #fiction #poetry #writersofbluesky #artmagazine lunarsealit.wordpress.com/submissions/

lunarsealit.wordpress.com

Submissions

Submissions are presently accepted via email: lunarsealiterary@gmail.com, or via the online submission form below. We do not presently accept snail mail due to timing and geographical difficulties …

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Can someone please tell me how the fuck I'm supposed to verify my age if this stupid verification site keeps not accepting my face scan or my card details...Like, no direct messaging for me I guess??? @bsky.app #fuckkierstarmer

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

#OctoberForBats 🦇 Together, we can make a difference for bats! This month, let's rally behind bat research and outreach programs by fundraising and spreading awareness. Every contribution, no matter how small, helps us, help bats. Learn how you can participate and donate at www.albertabats.ca 💡

Text reads Happy Bat Month! Support Bats! DIY Fundraising! for more info visit www.albertabats.ca Collage of bat images (all by Jason Headley) including top left - Long-eared myotis, top right - hoary bat held in a black gloved hand, bottom left Little Brown Myotis on a cave wall, and bottom right close up of the face of a Little Brown Myotis.

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Again I ask: how did we go from half of parliament and all of the press up in arms denouncing racism as a weapon to hound out the left, to the PM giving Enoch Powell speeches and fascists running riot in the street without a word of criticism from the main parties, and active support in some cases.

theguardian.com

Refugee charities install safe rooms and relocate amid rise in far-right threats

Exclusive: One NGO placed on an online hitlist had to temporarily close its office owing to harassing phone calls

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Nome @nome.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Their memorials are history. Ours are political. Because as always, there are two sexualities - straight, and political. Two genders - male, and political. Two religions - Christian, and political. Two races - white, and political.

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Flo Débarre @flodebarre.eurosky.social · 22/08/2025

Final words of the last #ESEB2025 plenary by @jmappes.bsky.social: "Science moves forward when we keep both our curiosity and our humility"

Photo of the final slide of J Mappes's plenary at ESEB
Text on the slide:
Take-home
Natural history matters
Ecological reality is complex
Fresh ideas matter
Be ready to reject your favourite hypothesis
Science moves forward when we keep both our curiosity and our humility

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Very moving presentation from one of the recipients of the EUEA award from @eseb.bsky.social . As a trans academic myself, seeing effort being put into inclusivity has been refreshing. Thank you for platforming this topic and supporting people like this speaker 🏳️‍⚧️

Another presentation slide which contains some Qr code links to resources and some steps which academics could take to make space for trans academics. These steps are as follows:
- apply for DEI grants
- support LGBTQ+ scholarship funds
- learn about local medical/legal systems to offer newly-arrived colleagues guidance
- Avoid harmful rhetoric and behaviours

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

A selection of the wonderful #herp posters I have seen this week at #ESEB the European society for evolutionary biology conference 🐸 the sheer breadth of topics being covered is awesome, from population trends and conservation genetics to transposable elements and sexual dimorphism in meiosis!

The following pictures in this post are all of scientific posters at an evolutionary biology conference which show the methods and/or results of research currently being conducted on a wide range of topics, often accompanied by figures, pictures and graphs that help with the explanation. The title is usually displayed at the top of the page along with the authors names and their contact information, some people also choose to put a picture of themselves on the poster so that people recognise them and can talk to them at the poster session.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 12/08/2025

1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said." It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy. I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.

scrippsnews.com

RFK Jr. in interview with Scripps News: ‘Trusting the experts is not science’

HHS Secretary RFK Jr. sat down with Scripps News for a wide-ranging interview, discussing mRNA vaccine funding policy changes and a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Amanda Bretman @amandabretman.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

@karendeepsidhu.bsky.social tells us about how monogamy/polygamy alters responses to heatwaves in burying beetles (well a 25oC Scottish heatwave anyway)

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Harry Eccles @harryeccles.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

265,000 Long Term Empty Homes in England 720,000 empty homes in England currently 1,627,450 second homes in England (99610 in Wales) It's not assylum hotels stopping us housing homeless people. It's political choice. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Empty home crisis: Why aren't they being used to solve shortages?

There are almost 720,000 empty homes in England. And many more on social housing waiting lists. Is using one to help solve the other a case of a missed opportunity?

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper! We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media. Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑 doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

doi.org

Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky

Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Having a great time at the European society for Evolutionary Biology conference! Loads of interesting talks and posters, including a strong Aberdeen contingent, favorite title so far definitely goes to Eva Ringer with "who let the frogs out" 🐸 #evolution #biology #conference #herpetology

A room full of people watching a presentation entitled "who let the frogs out?"

A room of people at the conference watching a presentation entitled "uncovering the genetic and mechanistic basis of phenotypic polymorphisms in island populations of wall lizards"

A room of people watching a presentation entitled "sexual selection shapes eco-evolutionary dynamics at range margins.

A room of people watching a presentation, the slide is about diversification and adaptation in a changing world.

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Charlie T @agentlaughingperch.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Looking forward to presenting my poster later at ESEB 2025 🐸 board 166 come find me if you're here

A person standing in front of a scientific poster and smiling

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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Yesterday I was so PROUD to stand with LGBTQ+ New Yorkers alongside my friend and our Democratic nominee for Mayor, @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social!

Brad with Zohran Mamdani at the Pride parade.

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plesnercph🇩🇰 @plesnercph.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

🐸File-eared tree frog (Polypedates otilophus). Max. size for males 80 mm (3.1"), for females 100 mm (3.9"). Eats mostly insects and spiders. Found on the island of Borneo. Considered Least Concern by the IUCN. 📷by kuritafsheen77 on Freepik

A mostly brown frog is holding on to a flower stem and bud. It has a white belly and throat. The frog has black pupils and is staring directly at the camera.

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