iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Another dahlia bloom, this one from an unknown variety (purchased as a mystery tuber, which is always a category at any dahlia sale)

A large light orange dahlia flower with red streaks in its petals. The petals are rolled in a “semi-cactus” form.

2532

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I note that the picture of the "European Academy of Engineering" that comes up in Google Maps is an altered version a 2022 picture of a main building of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The facade has been digitally reworked to make it look like the engineering academy!

A side by side comparison of an altered version (top) of a Gothenburg University building versus the actual 2022 photo (bottom), which was a show of solidarity with Ukraine

22514

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The turtlehead flowers (Chelone) are good enough to offer the bees a pull-through pickup lane for pollen.

0383

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A bumblebee working into a bottle gentian flower. They’re pretty much the only pollinator that can do it!

17114

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Dahlia “Bay State Blue Moon”

An orange single dahlia whose petals shade to bright yellow-green as they approach the deep yellow center

4633

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Dahlia “Carmen Fiesta”. We have a whole list of these coming into bloom, some of which we bought blind as tubers and so have no idea of what to expect.

A large multipetaled dahlia flower, overall a bright creamy pink like strawberry ice cream but with red spots and streaks all through the petals and hints of yellow near the center.

2441

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I had the chance to observe at Stellafane (Springfield, VT) last night. Here’s what the Milky Way looks like from up there - you may need to be in low ambient light to see it well:

A ten-second iPhone exposure of the late-summer Milky Way. The sky is very dark, and the constellation Cygnus is at the top of the frame. The Cygnus Star Cloud and the “Great Rift” dark feature are prominent.

3250

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

The molting blue jays are not going on the cover of any field guides, either!

A blue jay who has lost basically every feather on his head, but few (if any) from the rest of his body. He ends up looking like a miniature turkey vulture dressed up as a blue jay.

2334

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Google’s AI is mixing up its Emily Wilsons. Impressive stuff from the all-knowing oracle.

A screen shot of a Google AI overview on sales of Prof. Emily Wilson’s translation of the Odussey, illustrated by a backless-dress model photo of a rather different Emily Wilson.

4497

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Glad I got the telescope out on Sunday night because as of today it’s Canadian Wildfire Smoke Season in Massachusetts! Here’s the sun struggling to pierce through the thick, creamy haze:

1314

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

C.M. Kornbluth was with you in his 1950s science fiction classic, “The Marching Morons”:

An idiotic department store buyer of the future expresses enthusiasm for some pottery, saying that “they are real est’etic”

The buyer’s assistant, who has actual intelligence, explains to the equally intelligent potter that the store’s budget was blown on Mexican piggy banks. “I’ll bet they look mighty est’etic” “They’re painted in purple cacti”

010

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Ah, Massachusetts. Top picture is January 2025, bottom is today (July 2, 2026). In Centigrade, -19 and 38.

Two photos of a car dashboard, the upper one reading an outside temperature of -3F and the lower a temperature of 100F.

1361

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Gosh, you wonder why they don’t just ask an AI chatbot or something. (From the NYT article on the “Spudcell” work).

Description of how the work to produce stripped-down living cells led to one with only 525 genes, and how one-third of them had unknown functions. Another ten years of work and there are still 56 of these genes that are essential, but no one knows why.

2395

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I have one that you’ve probably never heard of!

000

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Well, it's not deep dish, but here's last night's homemade pizza over here:

A large round pizza covered with sauce, cheese, white onions, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni

040

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Looks like the tall pitcher plant didn’t mind spending winter dormancy in a plastic bag in the refrigerator! It was putting up a bloom spike when I took it out ten days ago, and here’s the flower.

A oddly complex light green flower resembling some sort of hanging lamp, coming off a thick green stem that curves to leave the flower pointing downwards.

Another angle: A oddly complex light green flower resembling some sort of hanging lamp, coming off a thick green stem that curves to leave the flower pointing downwards.

4611

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Robin nesting in a rhododendron bush near one of our windows

A mother robin sitting on a nest of small twigs in the shade inside the bush, tail towards the camera

0431

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Primroses blooming in the back garden here:

A yellow-and-pink long-stemmed primrose with three flowers on its stem

Deep red primrose flowers, doubled-petaled, held just above their vivid green leaves.

Pink/purple-edged primrose flowers which lead in stripes down to white centers.

Deep purple-blue primrose flowers with crowded double petals.

1152

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Tulip festival, upstate New York

Fields of multicolored tulips stretching into the distance

1555

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Best star trek crew, wrong answers only

1251

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

And here's what you can do if you would like to help. Write to these Senators and Representatives and urge them to move these bills forward:

Urging people to contact Sen. Michael Rodrigues, Ways and Means Chair (Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov), Sen. Karen Spilka, Senate President (Karen.Spilka@masenate.gov), Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, Chair House Ways and Means (Aaron.M.Michlewitz@mahouse.gov) and Rep. Ronald Mariano, Speaker of the House (Ronald.Mariano@mahouse.gov)

The idea is to express support for the provisions of the bills and urge them to move these forward in the legislature.

092

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Fellow Massachusetts residents: there are currently bills in the legislature to try to protect the night sky - here are the details:

A description of the provisions of H.3494 / S.2243 on light pollution, including reduced electric rates for low-wattage lighting as an incentive, requirements for all new public lighting to be shielded from upward scatter, limited blue-light emissions, bringing lighting in line with environmental mandates (migrations, noctural animals), and requiring MassDOT to update their roadway lighting criteria.

2317

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

The other night one of the local skunks stopped by here to polish off some baked goods:

130

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I have a lot of photos from S. Utah/Northern AZ that look like they were taken from Martian rover mastcams. . .

Weathered layers of pinkish-grey sedimentary rock, looking like a pile of phyllo dough

A pitted orange rock face resembling a giant sponge

0201

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Happy Noh Ruz to those who celebrate! It’s a rough one this time, but we can hope for better and try to bring it.

A “haftseen” for Persian New Year, with hyacinths, painted eggs, saffron, an apple, vinegar, some candy, dried senjed (oleaster) fruit, a head of garlic, and a dish of newly sprouted greens (in this case lentils).

2427

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

It’s the big amphibian migration night here in Eastern MA - we’ve been out helping frogs and salamanders get across some busy local roads.

27512

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Plenty of wood frogs and spring peepers along with these guys too

A light brown Wood Frog sitting on top of my shoe as I give him/her a ride across a wet asphalt road during the spring vernal pool migration.

030

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I help out with the migration across some local roads here. But the vernal pools are completely iced over and we still have 18” of snow and ice on the ground! The frogs and salamanders will be waiting a bit. Previous year shown with my wife doing the salamandering.

A woman’s hands carefully holding a spotted salamander (black with rows of bright yellow spots) and helping it cross a busy road during the spring vernal pool migration

140

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Looks like I’m way over here!

Location of my account in Bluesky space, far removed from the chemical science cluster

Closeup view of my account in BlueSky space, near the Science Communication Network

2140

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Planting poppy seeds in the snow today (they need some cold temperatures to sprout later on). It’s not always rewarding, but some years things work out:

A brilliant scarlet-and-white “Danish Flag” poppy seen from the side against a green leafy background

A brilliant scarlet-and-white “Danish Flag” poppy seen from the top with its yellow center visible

2392

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

That’s how I grew up as well. And you would see the stripped paperbacks for sale even cheaper - I have quite a few of those from back in the 70s and 80s.

1100

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

“The Big Bonanza” (1876) by Mark Twain’s contemporary Dan DeQuille has this style:

A contents page showing chapters, each with a list of the topics that come up every few paragraphs.

020

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

So how do I put my money down on the other side of this prediction? www.quantamagazine.org/is-particle-...

12949

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Cooper’s Hawk visiting the bird feeder this morning!

A Cooper’s hawk, brown-winged with rust stripes along his neck that stretch down across his front, bright orange claws gripping the metal of a shepherd’s-crook bird feeder pole

3553

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Not exactly one of my favorite Massachusetts homeowner tasks, but I would also rather not develop glacial lakes behind ice dams on the roof. Behold the mighty snow rake:

An aluminum snow rake with pole sections making it about 20ft long. At the end is a sort of thin metal plow with wheels built into it, to drag piles of snow off a roof (and especially away from exposed eaves)

3330

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Richard Pazdur on the chaos inside the FDA: www.statnews.com/2026/01/13/r...

13911

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

As you may know, Sky and Telescope magazine publishes such a chart as a look ahead every year. You can certainly see the day/night length difference between their 40 degrees north version and yours from the Netherlands!

250

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

And a Downy woodpecker hitting the suet feeder:

A small black and white woodpecker perched on the side a a suet feeder cage

2240

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Lots of bird action at the feeder in this weather. Here’s a Carolina wren:

3444

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Grey squirrel vs. red squirrel size comparison, during a rare moment of harmony.

A grey squirrel and a red squirrel both eating sunflower seeds in the snow. The former is 3-4x the size of the latter.

0405