iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Dragons, druids, and a delightfully kind story review!

“A Song in a Minor Scale” by Gunnar De Winter. Had to put this one first; though it’s from the last issue, it’s easily my favorite of all of them. A tale of a girl given the name Lyra, a druid named Braze, and a dragon whose name is likely not Ormir.

Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Ants like a morning pick-me-up too! “… under low to intermediate caffeine concentrations, ants were 38% faster with each consecutive visit, implying that caffeine boosts learning.” Bonus point for the ant people in the graphical abstract. www.cell.com/iscience/ful... #science #biology #animals

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Meet the sperm whale... termite? A newly decribed termite species, Cryptotermes mobydicki, is "unique ... for its very narrow, elongate head capsule terminating with an extended frontal process." (Study: zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1660...) #science #biology #animals 🧪

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

UV cassowaries! "... casque keratin reflects 365 nm UV light, a wavelength within the range of cassowary eye sensitivity. " (Study: www.nature.com/articles/s41...) #science #biology #animals #birds

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Interesting essay on screentime and multimodal attention spans by Carlo Iacono at @aeon.co "Your inability to focus isn’t a failing. It’s a design problem, and the answer isn’t getting rid of our screen time." #psychology #culture

Your inability to focus isn’t a moral failing. It’s a design problem. You’re trying to think in environments built to prevent thinking. You’re trying to sustain attention in spaces engineered to shatter it. You’re fighting algorithms explicitly optimised to keep you scrolling, not learning.

The solution isn’t discipline. It’s architecture. Build different defaults. Create different spaces. Establish different rhythms. Make depth as easy as distraction currently is. Make thinking feel as natural as scrolling currently does.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Ceci n'est pas a spider. Scientists observed a species of spider (B and E) build a large decoy spider (A,C, and D) from plant detritus and prey remains, possibly to misdirect or repel predatory attacks. (Study: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...) #science #biology #animals

(A) The “spider-like decoy” stabilimentum of the first individual Cyclosa sp. observed in the Philippines. (B) The Cyclosa sp. observed resting within the stabilimentum illustrated in Figure 1A. (C) The first Cyclosa individual found exhibiting a spider-like stabilimentum in Madre de Dios, Peru. (D) The stabilimentum and spider of the Peruvian Cyclosa sp. showing the spider's position above the stabilimentum. (E) The Peruvian Cyclosa species that builds stabilimentum. (F) A similar stabilimentum, built by an unknown spider taxon, found and photographed in the Torotorofotsy-Ihofa forest, Madagascar by H. Cordey.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Spider Megacity just dropped. In Sulfur Cave, on the border between Albania and Greece, researchers have found the largest spiderweb in the world. At over 1,000 square feet, it houses over 100,000 individual spiders, mostly of two species. #science #biology subtbiol.pensoft.net/article/1623...

The colonial spider web in Sulfur Cave, is home to a mixed colony of Tegenaria domestica and Prinerigone vagans. A. Side view; B. frontal view

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

The U-hump of happiness has disappeared. It's basically despair until retirement. "... this change has come about because the mental health of the young has deteriorated compared to that of older people" (study: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...) #science #culture #health

A graph of trends in despair by agein the United States for two periods - 2009-2018 (the blue line) and 2019-2024 (the red dotted line). It is apparent that the hump-shape in despair by age in the first period has been replaced by despair declining in age due to a rise in the rate of despair among younger people.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

What a killer opening paragraph! (From a recent @aeon.co essay: aeon.co/essays/philo...)

Reality is not what you think it is. It is not the foundation of our joyful flourishing. It is not an eternally renewing resource, nor something that would, were it not for our excessive intervention and reckless consumption, continue to harmoniously expand into the future. The truth is that reality is not nearly so benevolent. Like everything else that exists – stars, microbes, oil, dolphins, shadows, dust and cities – we are nothing more than cups destined to shatter endlessly through time until there is nothing left to break. This, according to the conclusions of scientists over the past two centuries, is the quiet horror that structures existence itself.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

When you reach the top of the mountain... you do a handstand.

Yours truly doing a handstand in a gray shirt and blue shorts on a patch of grass. Fores-covered mountain in the background

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

The new color's name is olo. Meet olo.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Looks at (non-fiction) publisher website... *lolsob #writing

A proposed publicity plan detailing your ability to promote and sell your book, including: stats for your online platform and following (Facebook, Instagram, website readership, etc); connections with key media partners, publications, and organizations that would help promote your book; teaching and speaking venues where you are known; noted individuals you are connected with who would potentially endorse and help promote your book; availability and commitment to travel and promote.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

😳 Tomorrow on Tractor Beam... (if my previously-dead, now resurrected IG account cooperates). *gulp (Also, feels weird to see 'author' with my name, but I can get used to it 😅) #writing #sciencefiction #shortstory

Sepia photo of yours truly on a pink background.
In white letters above the photo: Live reading and Q&A with author Gunnar De Winter. Fri 4/4, 12PM EST, Instagram Live
Under the photo, in yellow letters: Desert Beetle Song

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Some days my brain goes, “Here’s an impossible to-do list. Let’s do everything. At the same time.”

Meme pf wide-eyed gray cat, ears tucked back. Caption: "My hypothalamus is full. I'm going home now."

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

As an international writer, contributor copies aren't always on the table (understandable). That makes it extra special when one arrives. Thank you, @heartlines-spec.com #writing #writingcommunity

Cover of Heartlines Spec issue 6, a group of people with ghostlike masks standing in front of colored wooden houses

Open book at page with title Butchered Tongue by Gunnar De Winter, with a heart-shaped bookmark

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

These are the trunks of the rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta). The bark sheds in strips. Newly exposed bark is full of chlorophyll (green), then tannins accumulate (from green to purplish). Finally, the chlorophyll content drops (shift to orange and brown). #biology #science 🧪 #botany

Picture of slim, smooth tree trunks with strips of bright green, orange, darker red, and brown. (From Wikimedia Commons, taken by Janine Sprout.)

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

🧟 New zombie fungus just dropped! This is Gibellula attenboroughii (yes, named after David Attenborough), a fungus that infects cave spiders in Ireland and changes their behavior. #science 🧪 #biology #fungi (Study & image source: www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wfbi...)

Brown spider on a leaf, covered with a white 'crust' of fungus

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

When I hit 1,000 followers, I'll... have 1,000 followers. Look, we're all just winging it okay?

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

In case you need an extra smile today, the winners of the 2024 Comedy Wildlife Photography Contest have been announced... The winner? Stuck squirrel by Milko Marchetti. #science #biology #nature #scicomm (Check out all the finalists here: www.comedywildlifephoto.com/gallery/come...)

Legs of a red squirrel sticking horizontally from a tree.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

This is the orchid Brassavola nodosa, or the ‘lady of the night’. Growing in Latin and South America, the lady produces a strong sweet fragrance at dusk to attract its main pollinators, moths. The lady can be epiphytic (growing on other plants) or lithophytic (growing on rock). #biology #scicomm

Three medium-sized white orchids amid green and round short stems, against a black background.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

This is the 'expert’s dilemma': "An increase in a scientist’s abilities for creative interdisciplinary thinking is linked to a loss in expertise and credibility in their home field, reducing the acceptability of the work to peers." Thoughts? (From genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....)

Graph with interdisciplinarity on x-axis, Day science experience on left x-axis, night science creative potential on right y-axis. As the blue line of day science experience drops, the red one of night science creative potential rises. They meet in the middle of the graph, labeled 'renaissance'.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Post a great album from the 90s that isn’t Nirvana, Pearl Jam, or Alice in Chains…

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

This is Magoshpaera planula, a microscopic organism Haeckel observed in September 1869. No one has seen it since. Is it real? Was he hallucinating? Whatever the case, Magospheara inspired Haeckel to develop one of the first modern theories linking ontogeny and phylogeny #biology #scicomm #evolution

Vintage scientific illustration of Magospheara life stages, from a single cell over an embryo-looking clump of cells to a ball of amoeba-looking cells.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

This lovely blob is the recently discovered ‘mystery mollusk’ (Bathydevius caudactylus) - the first sea slug ever observed in the midnight zone (~1,000 to ~4,000m). That bell shape is a gelatinous flap around its mouth used to catch fast prey. #biology (study: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...)

Left: milky, luminescent sea slug with a tentacled tail left and a large bell shape to the right.
Right: same shape in the dark, speckled with luminescent green dots

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 08/11/2024

Time for a feed cleanse. This adorable critter (yes, that’s a human fingertip) is the recently discovered flea toad, Brachycephalus dacnis. Adults grow up to 8mm (just under 1/3 inch). This makes them one of the smallest known vertebrates. (Source: peerj.com/articles/182...) #biology #animals

Tiny toad, shiny and brown, crawling up a human fingertip

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 06/09/2024

The rejection emails are pinging in Morse code. Stop... writing ... fiction ... dumb... fool. (It's been a *day*)

Woody and Buzz Lightyear meme.
Caption: Writer's block is just the beginning. You also have endless rejection letters and caffeine addiction to look forward to.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

Bad news. trying to speak to the troll in its own language apparently causes an adverse reaction... I better apologize.

Comment: "I threw up after reading this."
My reply, attempting to speak troll "pretty beta"
Comment: vomiting emoji.
My reply: "You’re adorable. Have a good day, sweetie."

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

Exciting news! The first trolls have found my newsletter! The biologist in me can't help but run some experiments. Do you think David Attenborough will want to narrate the documentary? "The troll, slack-jawed now, musters all of its cognitive resources to articulate a response..."

Comment: "Beta whiteys simp for trad-thots and then wonder why their women chase chads.
Reply: "I was waiting for this comment. What took you so long?"

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 01/09/2024

Okay, stop the press. This is not a joke, but researchers developed a wearable EEG monitor for cats. Again, this is not a joke. #science #biology (Source: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) Here’s the real thing:

The face of a black-and-white cat with a white knitted hat that includes electrodes.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 22/06/2024

A truth rarely acknowledged by our friends steering the out-of-control tech titans. How Vulnerable Low-Wage Workers Power AI Algorithms (From lithub.com/how-vulnerab...)

Displaced Syrian doctors train medical software that helps diagnose prostate cancer in Britain. Out-of-work college graduates in recession-hit Venezuela categorize fashion products for e-commerce sites. Impoverished women in Kolkata’s Metiabruz, a poor Muslim neighborhood, have labelled voice clips for Amazon’s Echo speaker. Their work couches a badly kept secret about so-called artificial intelligence systems—that the technology does not ‘learn’ independently, and it needs humans, millions of them, to power it. Data workers are the invaluable human links in the global AI supply chain.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 16/06/2024

17th-century Polish cavalry: hold our beers

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 11/06/2024

Joan Didion, everyone. (source: lithub.com/joan-didion-...) #writingcommunity #writing

... it took me some years to discover what I was.

Which was a writer.

By which I mean not a “good” writer or a “bad” writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper. Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 27/05/2024

Here's what you need to know about the current landscape of short fiction submissions... 😅 #writingcommunity

Screenshot, black letters on white background: Queue position 1162.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 16/04/2024

Advertise your account with just one image:

Stereotypical mad scientist (Doc from Back To the Future) holding jumper cables.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 08/04/2024

All Monday mornings should start like this... 😊 Also, hashtag endorsement. If this makes you want to test the (free) waters of my weird little experiment: 👉 subtlesparks.substack.com

Screenshot of text: @Gunnar is a biologist who writes so clearly and eloquently! Have you met many of those? And the topics are just fascinating. I highly recommend his substack.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 29/03/2024

*buys decaf coffee* *slams down high-caffeine energy drink*

Meme from The Great Gatsby of Leo Dicaprio raising a glass. Caption: What is the key to success? Consistency.

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Gunnar De Winter @gunnardewinter.bsky.social · 24/03/2024

Ooh, good one. Halteres is def a possibility. Still, to the extent that we can trust it, this wikimedia figure makes me think alula (number 3 in pic). Also, this 2006 chapter (www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.5...) notes that the alula is 'particularly well developed' in Cuterebrinae.

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