iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Ethan Tapper @howtoloveaforest.bsky.social · 10h

Why am I hopeful about the future of forests? Hope is a major theme of my new book — The Forest Year: Finding Hope in a World Worth Saving — which is now available as a hardcover, ebook and audiobook anywhere books are sold! Pick a copy up from your local indie bookseller. #forest #nature #hope

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Sarah Hird, PhD @sarahhird.bsky.social · 16h

That time I put almost all the chipmunk species in the western USA on one map. Did you know there’s 1 species of chipmunk in Asia, 1 in eastern USA & >20 in western USA? (I’m not the crazy one here. The chipmunks are the crazy ones.)

Map of the western USA with 20 overlapping chipmunk species distributions in different colors.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Aaron Becker @aaronjbecker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Every river in North America, every day for two years. The combined flow to the sea sinks as low as 53,000 m³/s in winter and swells past 290,000 by late June, more than quadrupling each spring. Data: GloFAS, @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social #rivers #dataviz #hydrology

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Wintergreen growing in a Hemlock forest

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Maitake and waterfall in an Oak-Hemlock Forest

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴 @wamsleylab.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The fiscal year is over. The dying Social, Behavioral, and Economic division of NSF ended up awarding 90 total grants this year, as opposed to ~700-800 in recent past years. Source: grantwitness.org/nsf/analyses...

The graph shows the cumulative number of awards made by month across this fiscal year, as compared to the last 6 fiscal years. The line for this year is total flat until June, but then finally gets up to 91 by October. In prior years the increase starts building earlier and ends on average in the 700-800 range (with variability, last year was only between 400-500).

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 03/10/2026

I often see people claim that because clean energy sources like solar, wind, or nuclear are manufactured using fossil fuels their emissions are high. But thats absolutely not the case: even accounting for full lifecycle emissions they are vastly better than burning coal or gas:

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Fossil molar of a very small Eurygnathohippus, one of the last surviving 3-toed horses, from 1.5 million years ago in Kenya #FossilFriday

A small tan cracked tooth with a complex surface in front of a scale bar

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Julio the Artist @lacerdajulio.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Xenorhinotherium & Macrauchenia my beloveds This was mostly an exercise in achieving different fur textures in Blender, as well as an excuse to make an infographic since I haven't made one of those in a while. #SciArt #artbyjulio

A simple infographic showing a mostly tan, short-haired Xenorhinotherium and a dark brown, long-haired Macrauchenia against a solid background, with a human silhouette for scale. Each animal has a lineart of South America besides it showing an estimated range, and its scientific name below it.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 25/09/2026

Every day we get closer to this:

Cartoon by the human artist Twonks, showing George Jetson vacuuming the floor while Rosie the robot paints a picture

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Oryx molar from the Late Pleistocene of southern Kenya--one of the individuals I sampled for stable isotopes as part of my PhD

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Aaron Kufner @akufner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This one has been a long time coming! I'm happy to share that another chapter of my PhD has been published! In this one, I'm shaking up the taxonomy of North American metoposaurids. This work was largely done in museum collections, and more on that below. peerj.com/articles/217...

A figure with maps showing the distribution of metoposaurid occurrences in Upper Triassic outcrops of western and eastern North America (centered on the USA). The approximate chronostratigraphic ranges of the now five recognized species are plotted, and line drawings of all of the potentially or definitively diagnostic holotypes of North American metoposaurids are included.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

One of my students presenting on her summer research in Kenya!

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Ethan Tapper @howtoloveaforest.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Announcing October and November dates for The Forest Year book tour!!! See full links and details at EthanTapper.com/forestyear And there is still time to preorder The Forest Year!!! Preorder from your local indie bookseller or their website or find some options at EthanTapper.com/forestyear

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Lil Boo-kens 👻 @paleosol.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Two new papers: we re-dated the Buluk fossil site in Turkana, Kenya, and applied proxies to reconstruct climate and vegetation. Out now in GSA Bulletin! @danpeppe.bsky.social @munyaka.bsky.social @kevinuno.bsky.social @geosociety.bsky.social #MammalMonday #isotope #GSAPubs 🧪⚒️🌱🌦️🐒

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Buster is threatened by the 4lb Maitake

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Jason GRIZZLED Bittel @bittelmethis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

BREAKING NEWS: New cat species just dropped! 🧪 What is a tilcayo, exactly? Well, it's a small wild cat in the genus Leopardus and a member of the tiger cat species complex, but it is NOT a tigrina, oncilla, kodkod, Geoffroy's cat... www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

nationalgeographic.com

Meet the First New Cat Species Discovered in 100 years

A small, spotted tiger cat from Bolivia may just be the beginning of a wave of new small cat species.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Andy Snyder @wxandbiscuits.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

September is for the beautyberries.

Beautyberry with clusters of bright purple drupes

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 16/09/2026

Sea surface temperatures in the key Niño 3.4 region have been at record highs since early June (climate change plus El Niño), now more than 1°C above the 1997 record this week! 😬 Bring your El Niño questions and more to our free webinar tomorrow (sign up): climatecentral-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Line graph time series of daily Nino 3.4 sea surface temperatures from 1982 to 2026. This year is currently a record high for this time of year through September 14, 2026. Data is from NOAA OISSTv2.1, and the graphic is created by Climate Central at https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-briefings.

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A student found an Ojibwe Porcini (Boletus chippewaensis) during our outdoor class for Indigenous Ecology today! I have a very fun job

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Paige Madison @fossilhistory.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Laetoli Footprints were found #OnThisDay in 1978. The incredible discovery happened because team members were hurling elephant dung at each other. Australopithecines probably left these trace fossils behind 3.6 million years ago. 🏺🧪

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Preparing myself mentally for October 9

Greta Van Fleet album cover for Palace for the People

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 14/09/2026

Cis people do not understand how much trans people's rights have regressed in just 5 years. 5 years ago, there were none of these restrictions. 19 states banned legal recognition 21 states have bathroom bans 8 states ban gender marker changes on DLs 25 ban gender affirming care for trans youth

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#SciArtSeptember 10: Woad Convergent evolution can produce similar body shapes from different starting points, when animals adapt to the same ways of life independently. These are four iterations of otter: a true otter, rakali or water rat, otter civet, and giant otter shrew, related to tenrecs.

A children’s book style illustration of four swimming animals on a blue background: top, Eurasian river otter, then rakali, an aquatic rat with brown and orange fur, then an otter civet with bluish black fur and a grumpy-looking face, and bottom, the giant otter shrew with tiny eyes and a forest of whiskers.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 13/09/2026

Another year full of climate extremes... Did you know the last 100 days have all set new daily records for global sea surface temperatures? Learn more about our rapidly warming oceans in our webinar this week, & bring your questions! 📣 Register in advance: climatecentral-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Mushroom soup with 5 species of wild mushrooms

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 17/01/2026

neolithic guys get pissed if you tell them their cultures are organized by the type of pots and jewelry they made. "we called ourselves the blood hunters" "we conquered villages far beyond this horizon" sorry bud you're the western linear pottery culture now

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Adirondack foraging Spotted Suillus Butterball Bolete Crown-Tipped Coral Beech Rooter Chrome-Footed Bolete

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The horn core and partial skull of Antidorcas recki, a fossil Springbok, from Kenya 750,000 years ago #FossilFriday

Modern Springbok with very different horns for comparison

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Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D. @deadbovids.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Melkam Enkutatash, Happy New Year, መልካም አዲስ ዓመት ለሁሉም ኢትዮጵያዊ የስራ ባልደረቦቼና ጓደኞቼ!

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Lil Boo-kens 👻 @paleosol.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I don't fear a potential future where "the machines come for us." I fear a future planet that has been warmed beyond habitability for our civilization and clean drinking water is unaffordable for most folks. AI companies are committing us to that future, even if their AI models remain constrained.

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Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hi Dems, don’t think that millions of Muslims - & not just Muslims but anti-racist liberal & leftist Americans - don’t hear the deafening silence from most of you as the Muslim Democratic mayor of New York is being smeared and attacked by the GOP and right-wing media over 9/11.

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