iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

these worms are for you!!!!!

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And they were roommates.........

The two worms from the video, crawling in opposite directions but turning towards each other

The polychaete worm is crawling towards the other worm

The polychaete worm is now crossing over the other worm, both are unperturbed

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And yes, it was only once I watched the video that I noticed that there was, in fact, a third worm

A screenshot of the video, with a red arrow pointing to a small third worm

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I was taking this video of a polychaete worm that had crawled out of a sediment tube in this mussel shell and you can actually see me do a double take as I realize a SECOND, COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORM EMERGES FROM THE SAME TUBE

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I know leopard slug are invasive in North America but they ARE native to France so my next question is DID the French bring them here to SPM on purpose to make them feel at home (I hope so)

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

My review of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon thus far is 👍good slugs👍

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The front desk person at this inn I'm staying at smiled tolerantly at me and commented on my "enjoying the local wine" because she heard me trip and crash into the wall by the door. But she doesnt know that I had juice at dinner and just got really excited by how big this slug on the front steps was

A wooden walkway to a bright yellow house, there is a pretty big leopard slug on the wood

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Touch the grass. Touch it. Climb inside and sit in it. Slowly dissolve into your components nutrients and become one with the grass

A closer up view of the many pitcher plant flowers in the bog

A close up of a pitcher plant with the flower growing above.

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Come visit this 𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅! Step off of the boardwalk and into a beautiful 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙. Lean in very, very close to smell the flowers! Maybe even go inside them! Enjoy sinking your toes into dirt that is definitely not a peat bog that will swallow you whole! Get out there!!

A deceptive open space with trees in the background. It looks like a field unless you notice the pitcher plant flowers scattered among the grass. It is in fact a peat bog with carnivorous plants growing all over it.

A close up on pitcher plants, you can see the pitchers and their red veins.

A close up on a sundew plant, with spikes and sticky dew to catch prey. It is bright red with green underneath.

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Cannot emphasize enough a thing I learned about caribou today which is that you reverentially stand the requisite 30m away from some caribou and then turn around and another caribou has moved much closer than 30m to you

A caribou that is basically posing for the camera in front of the rocky ocean shore.

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Went to go look at a lighthouse today and then there were CARIBOU EVERYWHERE

A view out over a grassy field with the ocean beyond and a lighthouse on the right. There are four caribou eating in the field.

A view down the hill, there are even more caribou eating, one of them looks to be a baby and one of them is a very large bull with impressive antlers.

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I was in Gander yesterday, I should have been better prepared

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Reposted by Sophie W

franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I don't think I've ever posted these posters together as a set, so here's a first. Wonders of the Deep series, commissioned by the International Seabed Authority between 2020-2022 to celebrate the fragile biodiversity of deep sea. Not for sale. #Art #SciArt

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Reposted by Sophie W

Caxela @caxela.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Homology

Digital drawing. A burst of hands/forelimbs of a variety of terrestrial vertebrates emerges from the fin of a mostly unseen fishapod in the bottom left corner. The forelimbs gradually point more towards the upper left corner as you move up through the bunch.

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Reposted by Sophie W

Sam King @samcking.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Today’s Italy update: we went in a church and there was a big inflatable bug

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Reposted by Sophie W

Tyver Foucault @thedoorthedoor.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Spoons are a species of bowl. Knives are a species of plate. Forks are descended from a now-extinct dish that would be completely incomprehensible to the modern diner

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Before you say oh Sophie that was so mean to bring your insect fear friend to the insectarium!! Okay the backcountry hike was her idea and it was the hardest 5 days of my life so we all agreed it was a fair and just trade

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

One friend has The Insect Fear and was standing in the middle of the room with her arms clamped tightly around herself, and the interpreter was like um. Do you want to know more about any of the bugs? And she just extracted an arm to point at me and was like "no, but she certainly will" And I DID

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Ohhh it's #InverteFest and that means I get to talk about how I finished a 45km backcountry hike last month and then dragged my friends to the nearby insectarium after and the interpreter let me HOLD an AMBLYPYGID while I was A PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY EXHAUSTED MESS! (don't look, spider fearers)

An extremely disheveled woman is holding a whip spider above its tank at an insectarium. A whip spider is best described as God's most horrible nightmare, like a huge combination between a spider and a scorpion with two very long antennae-like legs and big pincers, but they are harmless and beautiful and it is sitting very calmly while the woman is clearly talking excitedly with her other hand

The same disheveled woman holding the whip spider closer to her face and looking happy about it

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The part of this story I forgot (how do you forget THIS well because its nearby and I hear it all the time ok) is that the dive site is in everyone's favourite Newfoundland town, Dildo (Actually technically South Dildo)

A photo over a bay of a town with a lighthouse on a hillside. Up the hill is a Hollywood sign, except it spells DILDO

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Oh also these photos and videos are all courtesy of my friend's partner who does not want to be perceived by the internet. I'm not NOT giving credit. They just don't want me to. But shoutout to that person anyway you know

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I think the excitement kept the cold at bay but by the time we were doing the safety stop boy was I feeling it lol

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This is yet another mind-blowing-from-a-nature-fiend-perspective spot that I didn't know existed until I moved here. Like you can just dive to a whale fall??? It's like when two years ago I learned you can just get on a tour boat and see sperm whales [alt: swim-over view of the skull top down]

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We ended up doing only one dive because it was just unbelievably cold at depth (2°C), but there is also supposed to be a whole vertebral column somewhere. The second photo makes it look like I was kneeling on the skull but I swear I wasn't, this was the only photo of me with the skull ok

A view from behind a whale skull on the sea floor, it is covered in kelp, anemones, and urchins.

Two scuba divers swimming around a whale skull on the sea floor. The one in the center looks like she's kneeling on the skull because of perspective but she isn't

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If I rapidly overcome my fear of submarines in time, sure why not!!!

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

On the weekend I checked off the highest bucket list item I've wanted to do since I moved to Newfoundland: diving off the old whaling wharf to see the whale bones!!! (Alt: a view circling a whale skull on the sea floor with anemones, kelp, and urchins on it.)

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Picture this: you're drifting past some nondescript rocks and then your dive buddy stops, reaches their arm up to the shoulder into the crevice beside that rock, and pulls out the biggest be-urchined leg bone you've ever seen

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Just another day in Canada, where we dive down to the bottom of the ocean and find part of a moose skeleton

A photo of big rocks on the sea floor, someone has laid out a very large limb bone and lower jaw of a moose. They have some urchins and coralline algae on them

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Oh my god look at this THING. IT'S THE CUTEST

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Ah, spring... the flowers are blooming, the pigeons are melting,,,

A grassy stretch with a flock of ducks and pigeons hanging out. A bunch of both are napping.

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

I know everyone else has been in summer for like two months already but spring has finally started here in Newfoundland and wow. Wow I forgot there were seasons other than winter

A view over the railing of a boardwalk out on a trail around a pond. There are flowers just starting to bloom and the leaves are just coming out.

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Sophie W @biologizing.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

I didn't know what Lorenzen Mushrooms were before but now I'm obsessed with them

A glass case of pottery mushrooms, they are very beautifully coloured

A view down on a shelf of the pottery mushrooms, they are a bunch of different shapes and colours.

Another view of more pottery mushrooms, all shapes and colours.

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Sara had just started her PhD and this specific experiment when I started my Masters in the same lab, and I vividly remember walking into the lab my first week there and seeing a notebook ominously placed in the centre of the table that just said "zombie project"

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(Left image from Emaline Montgomery, right is from the paper)

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Basically, they are immortal tissues. If you remove a tube foot or two from a scarlet sea cucumber and leave the tube feet in regular, bacteria-infested seawater, they will heal themselves and just carry on absorbing nutrients and staying alive as a detached foot for YEARS. YEARS!!!!

A sea cucumber on a rock, it is bright orange with lighter orange feeding arms extended.

A photoplate of a cluster of sea cucumber tube feet. Blue areas (necrotic tissues) decrease in size over time and tissue reconstructs itself.

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