iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This is how we find out someone in the department is building an all-natural, organic alternative to AI.

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Similar to the discovery of the new cat species. Genetic analysis shows a widepread group of animals previously thought to be a single species is, in fact, several species, and one of them never had a formal taxonomic name. The discovery is the evolutionary genetics. The newness is a formality.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Today's winning Biology All email--in fact this is a contender for best this year

Hi all,

We received a package with no name to GSB 2144 with 80 sheep brains in it. If you are expecting this package, please reach out and we can coordinate the pickup!

Best wishes,
Jenna

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Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Dolichoderus mariae odorous ants, Wisconsin.

Macro photo of two small, shiny red ants with black gasters standing facing each other on a tree branch, against a blue sky background.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Our fantastic exhibits team put together a gorgeous mini-exhibit to highlight the CMNH’s most famous insect, “that spooky moth from Silence of the Lambs”

A lone plinth, topped by a jewel case, highlighted by a ceiling-mounted spotlight, holding some bugs. At left, you can see the wall projection of some of Adrian Smith’s fantastic insect flight videos.

Within the display is an adult death’s head hawkmoth, an inflated caterpillar of same, a PUPA of same, and the “stunt pupa” prop used in the movie with a secret tube to squirt out nasty goo when sliced into. It’s probably from a Manduca.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I became a biologist because of a museum exhibit. Real artifacts tell stories that are more powerful than anything we can get from scrolling. They are part of our engine for training the next generation of scientists. 🧪 scienceforeveryone.science/the-awesomen...

scienceforeveryone.science

The awesomeness of museums

Genuine artifacts tell the richest stories that fill our souls. And they fuel the scientific enterprise.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Claude appears to be engaging in academic dishonesty, which could be fireable for a human researcher. But one of AI’s major functions is ethics displacement, a shield that allows cheaters and other bad players to escape accountability.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

“I’ve heard from a bunch of people in our field who say, ‘Uh oh, are they training on my prompts?’” Dr. Shipman said. “We can’t not think about it.” ... '[A]fter Anthropic’s announcement last week, he is winding down his projects with Claude.' “I’m shutting down everything,” [Dr. Mestre] said.

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Trump regime cannot be trusted to pass along any accurate information, about anything, as is typical for authoritarian governments.

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NFTs in hindsight were a sort of malware, if you clicked on the right buttons you’d get these digital tokens ultimately designed to extract real money from you.

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

So what are we all doing with our old NFTs?

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Reposted by Alex Wild

An Asian needle ant, Brachyponera chinensis, carrying a larva to safety after a very rude photographer disturbed her nest. Tennessee.

Macro photograph in side view of an elongate black ponerine ant carrying a white larva in its mandibles across a damp rotting wood substrate.

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Thinking about the parallels of the Iran War and the 2021 Texas grid failure, both of which greatly enriched the Texas monied oil elite at everyone else's expense. The war dragging on hurts Americans, but no one in the Trump regime gives a shit. They're just getting insanely rich.

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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

A parasitic Apocephalus ant-decapitating fly closes in on her target, a Camponotus chromaiodes carpenter ant. Sand Ridge State Forest, Illinois.

Macro photo of a large black and red ant, slightly backlight, standing with antennae raised as a small black and yellow striped fly approaches from the right.

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Was just reading estimates that college enrollment in the US will likely fall off 10-20% in the next 20 years (lower fertility, possibly fewer immigrants and foreign students). And it's actually much worse than that because enrollment will NOT fall off at places like Harvard and MIT.

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Cornell University treating Gaza protestors more harshly than gang rapists is a real statement of values. It’s almost like violent domination by the powerful is the core belief of leadership.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 27/09/2026

Feminize a band name She Might be Giants

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Reposted by Alex Wild

🆕 📄 🤖➕🧪 “Support for using public funding for research drops when scientists use AI.” “34–40% of our sample would trust research findings and scientists less when AI is used.” doi.org/10.1016/j.re...

doi.org

Redirecting

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Reposted by Alex Wild

Gray @grays.art · 27/09/2026

Phaon crescent butterfly (Phyciodes phaon) on creeping oxeye (Sphagneticola trilobata) CREW pen flint strand lake trails Bonita Springs, Florida 9-20-26 Basking in last Sunday’s radiance. #ColorADay #OrangeSun #StunDay #eck #macro #nature #orange #threeWordGenre #art #macroPhotography #bugsky

Macro of a butterfly resting with its wings wide open flat on the bright yellow disk center of a wildflower. Viewed from a top-down dorsal perspective, the insect displays a complex, checkered pattern of dark brown and vibrant orange bands across its wings. A highly distinct, pale cream-colored median band stretches horizontally across the middle of its upper forewings. Its slender black-and-white striped antennae extend forward, while its dark torso aligns with the textured center florets. The background transitions into a smooth, dark green bokeh blur.

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Sara D Gore @crouton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Context for soccer fan with “Abolish ICE” shirt being removed

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Reposted by Alex Wild

This morning, Misael Ramos, an Austin city council candidate was abducted by DPS, presumably because of his involvement in a protest for Wilber earlier this week.

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More fascism from the TX regime

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Ted Cruz beat Beto in 2018 by 215,000 votes.

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Enough to alter the result of a close election.

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Austin weather this year has felt like boiling the frog. 8 months of gradually rising temperatures.

graph "Austin daily highs and lows, 2026 versus normal", temp on Y axis, month on X axis, with bell-shaped average seasonal curves bottoming out in January and peaking in August, and a jagged, ever-rising record of 2026 high and low temperatures.

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