iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Development scholars never considered that brain drain would eventually be solved by wealthy countries collectively deciding they don't want smart immigrants anymore.

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noam @noamchompers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

'devastating rebuttals to all potential arguments' is an awesome thing to say. i'm stealing that for my papers

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Sarah Hird, PhD @sarahhird.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Last fun fact: the first paper I was ever an author on has - perhaps - the most underrated phylogeny of all time. Super cool genetic results (mitochondrial introgressions, both old and new) side by side with bacular morphology. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Phylogeny of chipmunk mitochondrial introgression with outlines of penis bones as well.

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Dr. Emma E. Bird @dremmabird.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

For years, 💀MorphoSource💀 has given researchers, educators, and students 🚨free access🚨 to 3D data on museum specimens from around the world. 🔆Now it is asking for some help to continue its work🔆 www.morphosource.org/donate/

morphosource.org

Why Give | Support MorphoSource

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Gavin Jackson @gavinjackson.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I visited the Amazon rainforest a year ago ahead of the cop conference in Belem. Historically the only thing that has stopped deforestation has been electing Lula da Silva has Brazilian president. www.economist.com/the-americas...

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Jean-François Cudennec @limpetnerd.eurosky.social · 02/10/2026

A gorgeous specimen for #FossilFriday : the internal cast of a Jurassic bivalve (Pleuromya cf. uniformis), turned into a talisman with a religious Islamic inscription : ‘There is no god but Allāh [and] Muḥammad is His Prophet’ #PaleoSky ⚒️🏺🧪🦑🦕

Fig. 1. Pleuromya cf. uniformis (Sowerby 1813), Jurassic, Morocco. Internal mould of articulated specimen bearing a religious inscription in high relief. Museo Geominero, Madrid, catalogue number MGM-7809X. (a) Left valve view; (b) right valve view; (c) anterior view; (d) dorsal view; and (e) detail showing striations visible on the surface of the letters (left arrow) and how a fissure in the rock also affects the letter (right arrows), indicating that the letters were carved in high relief and do not represent surface adherences of any foreign material. The thick patina of dirt that covered the specimen, originally dark grey in colour, was removed by washing with detergents, alternating with immersions in hydrogen peroxide.

Source : https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/full/10.1144/jgs2026-014

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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm sure it wasn't the first time it happened, but this was the first time I noticed the pattern where conspiracy theorists declare complete vindication on the basis of LEAKED SECRET DOCUMENTS that even more strongly prove that they are wrong.

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The Mixed categories are the most insane tbh "Here's 3 options involving white people and we have no idea what wacky combos people do outside of those" White and Black Caribbean White and Black African White and Asian Any other Mixed or multiple ethnic background

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Maija Karala @maijakarala.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Where did our lost rhinos roam? Distribution charts based on bone finds (individual dots) and habitat suitability for the four fluffy rhinos of late Pleistocene. These are of course approximate and might not include all obscure finds. #Sciart

Illustration of extinct narrow-nosed rhino with a map in the background showing it lived in central and southern Europe, northern Africa and some way into western Asia

Illustration of ”Siberian unicorn” or Elasmotherium sibiricum with a map on the background showing it lived in Eastern Europe and central Asia

Illustration of a woolly rhinoceros with a map in the background showing it had a very wide distribution from southwestern Europe all the way through Europe and Russia to the Pacific coast and northern China.

Illustration of a merck’s rhinoceros with a map in the background showing it lived in a large area from southwestern and central Europe to western Asia, parts of Siberia and northern and eastern China.

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Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Buckle up guys: I've got a story for you about my recent experience submitting a paper to Scientific Reports, a @natureportfolio.nature.com journal. I certainly won't be submitting there or peer-reviewing for them again, and I suggest you don't either, unless you enjoy your privacy being breached!

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

, and both in size and numerically in the case of species, when the centre of development of the group to which they belong is in the warm-temperate or tropical regions." All he's saying is that, in a family, animals get bigger and there are more species closer to their origin

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I am simultaneously relieved and sad that authors don't write like its 1877 in scientific papers anymore: "Consequently there is frequently a double decadence in size within specific groups (cont.)

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The government must know full well that many people have neither the space nor the money to store extra food in their homes. It is individuating responsibility for a collective problem. As usual, it is the poorest and most excluded who will suffer from it. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

Minister tells Brits to stock up on days of supplies after ‘supersize’ El Niño warning

Exclusive: Angela Eagle urges UK citizens to be ‘a bit more resilient’ as they plan for national emergencies

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

"Yeah I'm based on Moscow" Me, a smartass: "hehe which one" "both"

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I know the fault of the closing of the Academy of Natural Sciences lies with Drexel University but I called to complain to the Mayor anyway. If I learn of something more useful to do I'll let you know. Her office number is (215) 686-2181 Saving the museum would be great PR for her (she needs it).

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Rhys Kaminski-Jones @rhyskamjones.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Satisfying how the Protestant urge to religious self-criticism gets you an eighteenth century Welsh Methodist writing things like "and are we not also rather like the Hindus ourselves, because we only marry people who go to the right kind of chapel and are extremely attached to our cows?"

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The writing was on the wall, per the article: "late last month that Ukraine tested an entirely autonomous A.I. system in Russian-occupied Crimea over the past several months. Mr. Fedorov said that the devices targeted fuel storage sites and military equipment and that no civilians had been killed."

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I fucking knew they didn't have the guts to have the main character be named Wat.

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J Pardo @jdpardo.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Couple thoughts on the recent resurgence of "scientific" racism. 1) This is usually treated as a science=head/humanities=heart problem. It is increasingly clear that this is a false framing. Lot of major players are emerging within the humanities (esp phil. depts). Biosci is largely steering clear

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Eumenes has a manga and is getting an anime en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histori...

en.wikipedia.org

Historié - Wikipedia

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Cab Davidson @gnomeicide.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Tuna used to be plentiful in the north sea. But no, you're not misremembering, there are no traditional recipes on the east coast. We didn't used to eat it. We just killed it. Sad thread on why. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

First bluefin tuna caught and landed in Yorkshire since 1960s

A crew from Whitby lands two of the migratory species weighing over 300kg each in as many days.

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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

This is genuinely incredibly dense fossil record! Why we don't see more bat fossil evolutionary and paleoecological studies? I would guess, such snapshots should be treasure troves of the information on the workings of ancient terrestrial ecosystems. 🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio

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Mauricio González-Forero @mauriciogforero.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Updated preprint: “A mathematical synthesis of genetics, development, and evolution”. Much of our understanding of phenotypic evolution relies on quantitative genetics, which in turn relies on what is known as the infinitesimal model. Thread. 1/10 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

A mathematical synthesis of genetics, development, and evolution

Mathematically integrating genetics, development, and evolution is a longstanding challenge. A prevalent approach is quantitative genetics underpinned by the infinitesimal model, which considers a sim...

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

This is the age that gave us Malthus so it really wouldn't be very odd to see someone rather concerned about food and lack thereof

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Aeon Magazine @aeon.co · 18/07/2026

Tech titans claim the science fiction genre inspired them. But all they’ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future. An Essay by @alirizataskale.bsky.social

aeon.co

Silicon Valley has a science fiction problem | Aeon Essays

Tech titans claim the genre inspired them. But all they’ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future

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Ferran Sayol @ferransayol.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

New paper out! 🖨️ Glad to be part of this study, out in Science Advances: "Emergent patterns of island biodiversity in the Anthropocene" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Much of what looks natural in island biodiversity is a legacy of human impacts going back millennia. See main findings 👇🧵 (1/8)

science.org

Emergent patterns of island biodiversity in the Anthropocene

Human impacts substantially affect our ability to detect and understand natural biodiversity patterns.

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Honestly a big networking help at academic conferences being able to speak, say, French to French people. Anyone who speaks a second language would know that sometimes it just gets tiring to speak it so being able to relax with your interlocutor can be quite nice.

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samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 21/07/2026

the most realistic scene in Jurassic Park is when two scientists make a questionable decision — traveling to an undisclosed location with a strange man — on the promise of three years of modest funding

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Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

$50.1 million could fund over 400 doctorates; 933 years worth of annual curator salaries (UK), or running cost for a millennium-worth of free events like the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival. It is inane that people can accumulate such wealth, and use it explicitly to cause public harm.

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PaleoJim @paleojim.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Worse than I could have imagined with near total loss of our Campanian dinosaur beds. @utahpaleo-ufop.bsky.social @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social @agu.org @natgeosci.nature.com @paleosoc.bsky.social No one asked my opinion as Utah's State Paleontologist! @paleontologizing.bsky.social

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Asher HELLbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

You ever read a sentence that elegantly encapsulates a whole thing that's been quietly bothering you

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Cape Verde (and Scotland) fans are mostly hoping enough other 3rd place teams do poorly.

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

BHL is featured in @theguardian.com's Age of Extinction series. The article highlights the extraordinary value of BHL and the urgent need to ensure it remains free and open into the future. Please read and share: www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧪 🌎 📖 🔗 🐟 💚

theguardian.com

A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

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Asher HELLbein @asherelbein.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Horses are the cats of livestock, in that they have extremely fervant supporters who a.) are romantically attached to feral ones being around, and b.) go absolutely apeshit the second someone tries to mitigate their environmental impacts

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

And its a perfectly defensible thing for a country defending itself in an existential war to do... It feels it just adds to the tragedy if/when the insights from Ukrainian Skynet are unleashed on armies, forces and civilians who aren't waging an insane war of conquest

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I think its rather unnerving seeing the genuinely very impressive aerial, sea and land drones Ukraine is developing being tied together in ever more sophisticated digital commands, with the ultimate hope of AI being able to automate more and more of the detection and killing.

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

They've moved beyond trenches. The kill zone stretches for kilometers where you're at constant risk of being killed by drones if you're visible.

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Caxela @caxela.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Cetacea

Digital Drawing. An early whale (Pakicetus) stands at the water's edge, bending down for a drink. Behind it is a wall of tall grasses/reeds. The entire scene is shown within the shape of a blue whale. Despite the vast gulf in form and time between the two animals, they are of the same group: Cetacea.

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

To my friends in soil science, If your goal remains sharing your peer-reviewed research papers on social media and disucssing them with the public, I might suggest considering changing the name of this journal. (Yes, I know what the term means in the context of soil.)

sciencedirect.com

Pedosphere | Journal | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier

Read the latest articles of Pedosphere at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier’s leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Gorgeous art! Now I have the bizarre desire to see taikonauts ride these ancient dragons like in the Buryat painting commemorating Apollo-Soyuz

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James Tang @jamocetus.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

I wish all conference presentations looked as good as this😔

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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 27/05/2026

A very cool bacteriophage in purple and blue ink #sciart artologica.etsy.com/listing/4512...

purple and blue ink painting of bacteriophage

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