iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Honored to be supporting these two guys 💕. This weekend and the past 35+ years. (They are a great source for me too!)

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

AA is a HUGE fan. And I am too when in town. Come visit us and join us for a game. This place is electric!

View of target center court at tip off. Game 1. Lynx vs Liberty.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Updated our #5 shrine. Let’s gooooo Lynx. #WNBA #MinnesotaLynx (Art by SetAdriftArt)

Picture of Minnesota mug with purple lavender, an altar candle featuring antman, and framed of Olivia Miles dribbling a basketball. All displayed on a wooden cabinet.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

This movie was produced to speak to a very specific audience: those on Team Jesse, & who have loved Costner’s voice since forever (swoon), are dog people, an regularly watch classic F1 races. And need something pulpy after a tough week. IOWs, specifically produced for ME! I didn’t stand a chance.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Enjoyed my walk in the woods today. Finally traveled to a place (NH/VT) that wasn’t currently experiencing a heatwave. I haven’t felt chilled in an outdoor setting for many months. This suits me much better. Good to find inspiration in nature again.

Collage of fungi/slime of various colors and shapes. Middle picture is of a hiking sign.

Collage of fungi/slime of various colors and shapes.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I always approve of a double serving of insect and resistance art. #minnesotastatefair #mnstatefair #minnesota #mnsf

Art work displayed on white background showing the back of a woman (Renée Good?) with hair in a bun, surrounded by butterflies. With text: They whispered to her. You cannot withstand the storm. I am the storm. She whispered back. Art work won a third place e ribbon (also displayed). The artist is Sonja Bogart from Becker, MN.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Left a wish at Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. (Busan, South Korea)

Collage with three images. Top image of many colorful lanterns seen from above, with ocean in the background. Bottom two images show message left on gold card under one of the lanterns. “May the world remember Dolly’s love and spirit forever and ever. M&A. 8/26/26”

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Tried to capture and channel this spirit. #HulkSmashNazis

Night time scene. Statue of the Hulk in Busan, seeming to emerge from the water. Bridge and fireworks in the background.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Annyeonghaseyo, I’m visiting your amazing country and capital from the United States. I’m impressed by many things, including public transport, your food, and this reflecting pool. We have so much to learn. Teach me how it’s done.

Three workers dressed all in black cleaning reflecting pool in Seoul Forest Park with pressure hoses. High rises in the background.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

My Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites applications from entomologists with research portfolios in which INSECT BIODIVERSITY LOSS is a key element (at the assistant professor level). illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Picture of a green tree-lined quad at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, with Foellinger Hall in the background. Skies are often this blue.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Come be our colleague!!!! illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Job posting that reads:

Assistant Professor

Insect Declines

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Department of Entomology and the School of Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invite applications from entomologists with research portfolios in which insect biodiversity loss is a key element, including understanding how anthropogenic stressors (such as land-use change, climate change, agriculture, invasive species, and pollution) are causing declines in insect abundance, biomass, species richness, or range size. Candidates whose work addresses amelioration of anthropogenic changes to species, populations, and people, and who are working to develop new strategies for insect and biodiversity conservation and long-term monitoring, are especially welcome to apply. We additionally encourage researchers who can build connections and expand research in understudied global regions.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Today I imagined myself as Arthur Smith from Elif Shafak’s “There Are Rivers in the Sky”, except for the wicked intellect, poverty, extremely polluted Thames, magical raindrop, etc. But I did get a bonus bevy of swans, and a suitcase full of “sea” glass.

Picture of a small sandy beach with high rises in the background (canary wharf) and an old pier with bolts sticking out on the left, and some apartments. The beach is along the Thames (between Limehouse and Wapping). On the beach are lots of pigeons and at least 6 swans.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Got this breaking news notification right when Thierry and Zatlan were asked to comment. They clearly were not allowed to say what they really think of this. So I will not either. But… #USABEL

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I’d pay big $$$ for audio/caption of what those dogs were saying to each other. www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/o...

Picture of oil refinery on outskirts of Moscow emitting dark smoke plumes after drone attack (in the distance). In foreground women looking at the smoke. She is holding two dog leashes attached two dogs sitting on walkway, with backs to the smoke, looking at each other. Probably doing the dog variety of a shoulder shrug.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Ready for my kid’s college graduation AND the World Cup (even though I’ll probably boycott one of those 😜) Also, these colors will clash with the Arsenal shirt I’ll be wearing the rest of the week. WORTH IT! #GoTigers #HupOranje #COYG

Hand with nails painted bright orange. One nail also has black tiger stripes.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Wonderful article about ABCLab's Graduate Student @insects247 (written by #UIUC undergraduate journalism student. 👏) #BrochosomesAreAwesome (This series of articles highlights the Illinois Natural History Survey's #insect collection.) lrodr29.web.illinois.edu/specimens/st...

Image of two screens associated with a scanning electron microscope (not shown). The screens show images in black and white of brochosomes, which are hollow spheres with evenly spaced holes that are shaped as pentagons or hexagons.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Clearly an important read…it was delivered 10 min after a tornado warning ended. Thanks USPS. @lollardfish.bsky.social

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

The NOLA roaches have more opinions to share.

Same roach on different structure now holding a sign that states: “Humans are Disgusting, Roaches”

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A grad student (Univ of Illinois UC) was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about a new study out of Penn State. Then that news outlet (ScienceNews) turns around and puts her quote RIGHT NEXT to an absolutely AWFUL AI-video. In the student's words: "it's booty cheeks & cringe".

Rather than linking to the article, I took a screenshot of the article thumbnail. It says: Tech - Backyard leafhoppers inspire next-generation cloacking tech. By Pragathi Ravi. 11 hours ago. And shows a picture of agreen and red leafhopper on a green leaf.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Chicago is ready for the Men’s Final Four! I-L-L

Picture of the Chicago sky line at night from the south. Against a cloudy sky. The Sears tower’s spires are lit up in blue and orange - the colors of the University of Illinois.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Saw him again. Took another picture. This time with a bonus Picasso.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Always skeet “protesting” insects. (+ my fav so far) #nokings #chicago

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Inspired by the amazing @sarahmackattack.bsky.social, the ABClab made their first zine. We had a great time. So probably first of many. #GuerrillaSciComm #SciComm

Unfolded and folded zines on a black table. Two pairs of folding them.

Zines at various stages of completeness on a white table. With a children’s book on the sand table - by coincidence.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Apropos of nothing in particular. (Finally found a use for AI tool)

Norway

Total medals per person: 41 ÷ 5.6 M ≈ 7.3 medals per million people

Gold medals per person: 18 ÷ 5.6 M ≈ 3.2 golds per million people

United States

Total medals per person: 33 ÷ 349 M ≈ 0.095 medals per million people

Gold medals per person: 12 ÷ 349 M ≈ 0.034 golds per million people

Netherlands

Total medals per person: 20 ÷ 18 M ≈ 1.1 medals per million people

Gold medals per person: 10 ÷ 18 M ≈ 0.56 golds per million people

Key Takeaways

Norway far outperformed both the U.S. and the Netherlands on a per-capita basis — both for total medals and for gold medals — thanks to a relatively small population with a strong winter sports culture.

The Netherlands also performs strongly per capita, especially in gold medals, due largely to its dominance in speed skating.

The U.S. won more medals overall than the Netherlands, but its much larger population lowers the per-person medal figures significantly.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Solidarity! Same = immigrant, proud of my t-shirt, and all my students. And the life I built in the US. Not quite the same = research in biology, engineering, and entrepreneurship. 🪰🪲🐜🐛🪳🐝🦋🦟🐞 At a different land-grant university. With #scipol experience. And someday I will write a book.

Author wearing a rebel loon shirt, next to a poster of a click beetle. In front of science march sign that says: whether you are left wing or right wing, you need entomologists. (the sign has pictures of cicada wings)

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

As the sun set on another day I wondered what advice Lincoln would have had for how to live through these times. Urbana, IL

Statue of Lincoln in snowy park where evergreen trees and ground are covered in snow. Sunset peaks through in the background.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Apropos of everything. This picture of an aurora was taken almost 7 years ago. In TRØMSO, NORWAY. A town within the arctic circle, with an amazing tunnel system of roads, that includes many roundabouts. And amazing scenery like this. And an excellent university.

Picture taken at night within the background mountains, covered with snow, and the sky is lit up by the northern lights’ green color. The tour company provided these pictures..

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

See ya, same place, ~ 15 years from now. I’ll promise to do my best to ensure that there will still be a sandy beach for you (or your female special friend) to land. #WelcomeToJamRock

4 hatchling turtles making their way across the beach into the Caribbean Ocean. Blue sky and white clouds in the background.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Oh dear. There are so many ominous ones from that year. I’ll go with the #1 European movie. Not growing up is one way to cope. “The #1 movie when you were 10 years old is how your 2026 is going to go.”

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

My people have a weird fascination with witches sitting backwards on brooms and wreaking havoc. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #OostNederland 🇳🇱

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

We need some help from folks more familiar with describing insect body parts. This is a fragment of a figure for a paper. In the text, we need to describe structure ii. (The click beetle is in this position in our test rig.)

Fragment of a figure showing on the left a picture of a click beetle - the head and prothorax and clicking mechanism, and some legs, are shown. On the right is part of graphic detailing the clicking mechanisms main components (i=peg, ii=soft cuticle, iii=cavity, iv=mesosternal lip).

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Not sure if we should actually claim her as Dutch - technically she was German. But I won’t tell if you won’t. I’m impressed by detail in the Ruysch paintings. It was fun to try to find all the critters. One docent pointed them all out for me. Fun to see that she was also enamored by the paintings.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

MSM is well-represented. Not just the Suriname plates. (We have two of the Suriname books at Illinois - I visit them yearly - but those are not colored). I also only saw the colored plates at the BP gallery. The whole museum was a very pleasant surprise.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Some day I want to learn more about and then write about the importance of these women to the arts AND to science: Sibylla Merian, Herolt, Monincks, van Rijk, Ruysch, Withoos, de Heer, van Oosterwijck, Ykens, etc. (This is a detail from a Ruysch painting from 1687)

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Here are just a few of those details.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

I am happy to report that #insects are very well represented in the exhibition “Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600-1750” at nmwa.org

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only. (I adore Omar Sy and the show Lupin.)

Picture of the actor Omar Sy walking away from the Louvre's pyramid at night. This image was used to promote the series Lupin. The picture was altered using drawing software by adding a chainsaw, high viz vest, and some of the jewels taken. One of the tiaras is on the ground.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Soooo dope. They look like the most groovy sock puppets.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

The quiet before the storm. #entvocate #entomology #insects With @insects247.bsky.social Buggapalooza at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

This week I'm celebrating 30 years of marriage (easy!) and 30 years at the University of Illinois! (wow!) The latter achievement comes with a "free" gift. There were some nerdy gift options... Reader, she went with the liquor decanter & glasses. No one is surprised. #WeAreRumPeople

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

“Tell me you’re European, without telling me you’re European”. #TeamPapaya #LeTour #SummerSundayMornings

Picture of two screens in a living room. Top TV screen shows first lap of F1 Belgian Grand Prix, bottom screen shows opening kilometers of final stage of 2025 Tour de France with leaders in various classifications locking arms.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

I love the dulcet tones of RP's Pete Woods 🤣

Picture of the Repair Shop's Pete Woods. While speaking to someone off camera within the Repair Shop's barn. He is wearing a blue sweater.

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Marianne Alleyne @cotesia.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

My brain hurts bc: 1. Trying to understand budget disaster 2. To feed brain, I'm reading Butler's "Parable of the Talents". Concl: We're currently ahead of PofT's 2032 SciFi world. 3. To relax brain, decided to watch "Idiocracy". Didn't work. Looks like IRL we are 500 yrs ahead of movie's world.

Picture of the cover of Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler. Showing a Red Bird on a black background.

Picture of the Idiocracy movie promotional material. Showing the three main stars (Rudolph, Wilson, Shepard) on a blue background.

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