iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

DAMNNN latest @qwantz.com is calling me out in that last panel

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Headlines like this infuriate me because they give free publicity to monstruos billionaires greenwashing their dirty money and also relying on the facts people generally are bad at comprehending the difference between a billion and a million.

Headline congratulating bezos for using 25 million of his 10 billion he pledged for conservation

061

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For the next three months we are setting up Mothbox HQ at @radiosnacktech.bsky.social in Montreal! And what a wonderful introduction to this fantastic hackerspace where me and @wellreadpanda.bsky.social got our first introduction to Riso printing with some of our Mothbox data visualizations!

Loading sci fi ass cartridges into a riso!

091

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's SOO nice that now in the Panama Airport they have some gorgeous photos of some of our friends i helped take care of at the Panama Nature Center Animal rescue! Here's pics of me with the two celebrities, Salome the Anteater and Pino the Tree Porcupine!

1165

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I have so much experience breaking Raspberry Pi's and seeing and fixing their various LED error codes, but when I see the 4 long, 5 short, "Abort" or "Fatal" error, i get the same rush that birders probably do when seeing a "lifer"

chart of pi error codes with 4 5 circled

0110

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Sheer volume of detections in a single image: Something I just learned, lots of common CV models (like YOLO) have built-in limits (like 300 detections max) that'll quietly fail + leave you guessing as to why there are only exactly 300 bugs detected when @wellreadpanda.bsky.social labeled 1789 bugs.

042

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

- Semi-transparent critters: You can see some of the weevils THROUGH the window panes on this moth. Do we count those?

131

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

- Massive Scale: Dealing with creatures in one image 2 orders of magnitude different from each other. We have insects that are only ~20 pixels wide that need to be counted just like the massive 4500 pixel moth does!

101

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Automated insect monitoring is pretty cool in that it is so alien that it keeps poking holes in normal machine learning stuff. In one pic we got lots of stuff computer vision doesn't often deal with:

1115

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A month ago, I was lucky enough to get to give the Keynote talk at the incredible Insects in Education and Conservation Conference about our work building tools for field biologists and making open source insect monitors!

slide with me talking about evil mine in panama

030

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Did you know that all our of documentation for the Mothbox is all totally #opensource and editable too! Each page has a little "edit this page" button, where if you spot typos, or maybe you want to give your own tip, you can edit it right there, and it turns into a pull-request! mothbox.org

140

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The upgrade to kicad 10 accidentally dropped some holes in our latest Mothbeams we had made. But I whipped up a lil jig to add em back!

060

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

New Mothbox PCBs came in, with lots of tweaks from the past half-year of on-the-ground workshops! My fav lil feature: I used a part of the PCB that normally gets cut away to help make a tiny integrated tool that some folks asked for to help with flipping some of the tiny settings switches:

close up of switch flipper flipping switches

1302

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Also if your target gets lots or breaks in the field, you can have a bonus one that is just the hat! and of course you can still totally use the device without its hat. it is just a bonus option!

010

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

- Breathable: I was inspired by the architecture of tropical houses. They keep a gap to let stuff underneath release heat and stay dry!

110

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Why a big extra roof? - Actually Solid: 3D printing can never be fully solid (without extra nasty goo and extra post-processing), but since we are laser cutting the front window anyway, we can cut another totally solid piece of plastic.

100

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

+ Solid, yet breathable Rain deflector! it lets you add a simple solid plastic sheet on top for extra waterproofing if desired! (a slightly modified acrylic target works great! You could even use a solar panel and most could be plugged straight into the box!)

110

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

There's also a cleat near the top to keep water and debris from flowing in near the top lid even if it is accidentally a bit loose. bigger news though is, you may have noticed the top looks a bit different though, and a bit flat, and there's a reason for that...

100

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

+Integrated hinge!: Realized my "zip-tie's are the ubiquitous world-wide connector"-philosophy could be used for hinges! Easier to open and close with fewer hands! and importantly keeps our design unreliant on fancy printer tolerances or exotic materials. Instead cheap vinyl ties do the hard work!

110

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

+Added strong criss-crossing molle-like attachment points for weaving zip ties through adding lots of of ways of attaching or connecting accessories. +trimmed ~80 grams + Zips distribute weight around the box + zips can connect legs straight on too!

earlier version showing zip ties holding zips

110

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

New Mothbox Box! Been cranking away on more design tweaks from our last half year of travel and use and workshop feedback. Today I just about finished up the latest concept! It is still mostly compatible with previous designs, but a couple key new features that I am excited for!

side of box with Molle - like strap zones

view of latest model with solid plastic hat!

1121

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Rodents have more olfactory receptor genes on average than other mammals, and the top rodent is the Central American Agouti (3233 genes), which has more genes than all but three other species of mammals (Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, the nine-banded armadillo, and the African savanna elephant).

111

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

You can see those cutey babies in a video @connorevansblake.com just shared in our gamboa group chat

001

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Incredibly, Agoutis can live up to 20 years (which is remarkable, especially compared to other large rodents, like Capybaras, which tend to live less than four years in the wild, or 8-10 in captivity).

010

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Here's a new baby in our yard just a couple days old

020

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

In some areas, agoutis will breed year round, but in central Panama babies are often born in roughly three periods, the end of April, the end of June, and the end of August.

210

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Mother Agoutis give birth after a gestation period of just 3 months to either twins or quadruplets. The babies are precocious (a term i learned at iecc!) and ready to walk around exploring the forest!

130

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Happy International Agouti day! They are super lovely creatures that we can all celebrate extra hard every August 23! I'll share some agouti facts here to spread the joy of these silly soft porcupines!

7134

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Took em out that night to get some cool bugs with the big blacklighting event!

000

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Did an impromptu workshop showing folks how to make their own LED blacklights for moth sheeting at IECC! (full instructions at mothbox.org for the Mothbeam)

130

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

At the coolest conference workshop at the Invertebrates in Education and Conservation Conference by Sarah Jenkins of the Omaha zoo about how to build animal enclosures from hacked materials. It's all those deep tips like which pharmacy's labels peel off easiest (CVS) + how to make tapir booties.

160

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Something that really excites me about Mothbox-style data is how ripe it is for exploring and interacting with it. For instance, these are the insects we mothboxed recently in Tucson in the desert, and through a simple visualization, it's super clear between which nights we had a big rainstorm!

radial visualizations of insects with big ones on right and small on left

161

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Did you know that the US teamed up with Panamanian Border Patrol to illegally seize the little science town of Gamboa (a famous hot spot for field biology, and our home for the past many years)? If you don't want a gringo sponsored ICE training facility in your fav science town, share this around!

ASSOCIATION

CANAL AREA COMMUNITIES

CANAL AREA COMMUNITIES ASSOCIATION (ACAC) Panama, April 21, 2026

STATEMENT Usurpation of Public Spaces in Gamboa

In November 2025, an alert was raised in the Gamboa community regarding the occupation of public and recreational spaces by the National Aeronaval Service (SENAN). This entity has been assigned a 3.9-hectare plot of land, valued at $5.7 million, through a renewable 20-year concession.

The Administrative Unit of Reverted Assets (UABR) authorized the free transfer of this land to the Ministry of Security through a resolution dated October 9, 2025. According to the document, the request responds to the objective of strengthening the security of the Panama Canal. SENAN has indicated that the headquarters of the Seventh Aeronaval Zone would be established on this land

However, this land is part of the community and has been ceded without consultation or knowledge of the residents. Gamboa is protected by Law 21 of 1997 and by Resolution 139-2000 of August 8, 2000 (Garden City Regulations), which establishes a clear land-use plan for the interoceanic region, including residential zones, natural tourism areas, green areas, and neighborhood recreational spaces.

It is questionable that the entity in charge of administering the reverted assets assumes a facilitating role in ceding land to SENAN, when its main function is to guarantee the proper use of the territory and compliance with current law.

According to statements by the representative of the Cristóbal district, Ricardo Cerrud (La Estrella de Panamá, November 26, 2025), "This decision is related to a memorandum of understanding between both countries and was allegedly driven directly from the Presidency." Residents of the area fear possible militarization

In this agreement between the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the National Air and Naval Service (SENAN), the community has been completely excluded. It has not been mentioned or considered, which implies…

134

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Here's a quick fun visualization of all the cool desert bugs we saw last night

282

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

My first Mothbox on a cactus! Was super windy all night, so didn't expect many bugs, but still got a good amount of cool leps and beetles!

190

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Was just bike packing across maine to visit my cool friends at Haystack. Maine had cool terrain but way fewer shoulders and way more MAGA than I expected. Anyway here's all the bugs I saw!

Visualization of all the bugs in the mothbox in maine

041

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

It's apparently hot bog body summer, everyone at my lunch table was talking about this book by PV Glob

120

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Was sharing Moth facts at a fantastic Dan Deacon show in Maine! (Also check out this rad photo that turned out this way because the lights were blinking super fast!) #teammoth

Dan deacon all lit in red with moth guy in foreground

1111

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Our #Mothweek event at the @amnh.org ended up super cool! We got to give a panel about how rad moths are, #opensource tech for studying them, hang on the front steps with blacklights, and when the museum closed, we lured everyone into Central Park for more first-hand mothing!

we got to give a talk under the big whale!

0103

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The museum had to end a bit early for the Moths, so we took the party, and the Mothboxes to Central Park!

Weird dude showing his glowing robot in the park

072

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

At the big Moth event tonight at @amnh.org people were asking about the awesome art by @fievelw.bsky.social on display! Check out #YearoftheMoth for all the awesome art from the Moth Challenge!

182

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This Mothy boy is freshly root-canaled and ready to talk to folks about MOTHS for #mothweek at @amnh.org !

Guy with moth stuff on him at American museum!

050

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

It's INCREDIBLE how much better getting an emergency root canal feels when the doctors use anaesthesia that actually works for your weird body! Happiest root canal patient ever!

Cool dude delighted to not feel his mouth while they pluck goo from his socket

020

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Here's a visualization of all the insects we saw at @kalindifonda.bsky.social 's hacker camp Krkcreate a couple weeks ago! (with a close up view of the visualization). I enjoy playing with different shape packing methods! #sciart #teammoth #mothweek

1153

Digital Naturalism Laboratories @dinalab.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Been having fun working on some data visualization software for the Mothbox! The left and right sides of this image are the same dataset, but one selects only 1 representative image from each "individual" vs a display of every single sighting of a creature from those nights.

050