iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

OK, my readers: Apex Predator has a cover! And it's awesome. Available for pre-order at the publisher's site and all major online book retailers. See you February 23! www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/boo...

blackstonepublishing.com

Apex Predator

Under the still waters of Lake Iliamna lurks a predator forgotten by time …Travel writer Geoff Connelly came to Alaska looking for a break and an easy story to send home to his editor. But when he pul...

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The attacks on 9/11 constituted an unprecedented, stunning, complicated event. It wasn't surprising that some citizens questioned the official story. But here's the last word on the technology and engineering involved. mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/09/tech...

mattbille.blogspot.com

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I’ve not said much lately about my upcoming scientific thriller Apex Predator, but now we have a firm publication date. Blackstone, my first large publisher, will launch it February 23. Very excited! I’ll post more often as we enter the home stretch. www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/boo...

blackstonepublishing.com

Apex Predator

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The last changes and inputs went to Blackstone Publishing in response to the line edit of my scientific thriller Apex Predator, due out in February. Apex is my effort to elevate the prehistoric creature thriller with a literate novel focused on human drama and accurate science. Onwards!

Author Matt Bille standing next to a skull of the prehistoric fish Dunkleosteus at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Sharks are vital to ecosystems, mostly not dangerous, and amazingly varied and adaptive. There are some 500 species filling every niche, and more are found every year. They're not all hanging off Amityville looking for tourists.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Those of us 60+ are very interested in warding off dementia, but a lesson from the admittedly fuzzy data is that healthy changes should start long before that.

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Just another monday... A grumpy #squid on a Greek #fish plate from Apulia, dating 330-300 BC. Fish plates were decorated with various examples of seafood. They were invented in Athens in the 5th century BC. Most of them are found in Southern Italy, where they were produced in... 🧵1/2

A detail of a Greek fish plate, with a red squid on a black background. The squid looks a bit grumpy.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

For those of you who love insects, good news: there are many more species than we knew. For those who hate insects, bad news.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Scientists need all the humor they can come up with these days

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Great discovery (I don't know how I'd missed it).

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

This is really cool (unless it happens again).

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Dr. Princess Vimentin PhD | Cancer Biologist @princess-vimentin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

This is a strong public demand for reliable climate information. It came from more than 2,500 small donations from people ($250000) who contributed to help preserve access to science-reviewed climate information. More than 80 scientists have volunteered to serve as subject matter expert reviewers.🧪

climate.us

Climate.us Home

independent, nonprofit, and immune to politics

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Eight months from release of my first big-publisher novel, scientific thriller Apex Predator (Blackstone, Feb). The major difference from using small publishers? Timelines. Needing to freeze everything six months out is weird when I usually research details and tweak prose until the last moment.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

This Administration is seemingly incapable of running out of bad ideas. (Disney will hire them to make movies when they leave government.)

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Fascinating! Should be useful in space exploration as well.

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Hegseth proudly ended the flu vaccine requirement for the military. Following this idiocy, only 40% of new trainees got vaccinated. There’s now a flu outbreak at an AF facility. A new recruit has died, though it is not clear if it was from flu. Now, the flu vaccine is again required there.

nytimes.com

Scores Fall Ill at Air Force Base After Hegseth Makes Flu Vaccine Optional

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Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

A great resource if you need to check species descriptions, many of which were done 100-200 years ago. The physical library is a good option, but they may not have every obscure monograph (interlibrary loan is an option too, but slower than downloading a pdf). Still worth checking both out 🧪

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The Book Baddie Diaries @tbbd.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I don’t have a “morning routine.” I have a series of unfortunate negotiations with consciousness. #booksky #bookcommunity #morningroutine #coffee #nightshift

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Today belongs to the heroes of Normandy. If you wonder what it was like, I asked my late FIL, George Kantner, who was wounded invading Saipan, about the invasion in Saving Private Ryan. He said, very quietly, "They got it right."

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This is much, much worse than I realized from media coverage. This is not taking a sledgehammer to American science. It's taking a bulldozer.

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Jeanne Timmons @mostlymammoths.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

#FossilFriday “I don’t have any illusions. I make things that look like animals.” Remie Bakker may not be emotionally involved in his creations, but the goal of his work is to provoke an emotional response in the viewer. mostlymammoths.wordpress.com/2026/05/24/r...

mostlymammoths.wordpress.com

Remie Bakker: Reconstructing the Extinct

His drawings flesh out fossils described in scientific papers or displayed in museums. His life-sized Pleistocene reconstructions are breathtakingly realistic, particularly when posed outside. Argu…

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I suppose things could be worse, but at this point I can't imagine how. Grant by peer review is not perfect: grant by appointed non-scientists with motivations including political advantage and home-region patronage cannot help but be disastrous.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I'm going to need nausea medication. NOW.

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John Paul @johnpaulhi.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Librarians literally saved my life

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Philippa Matthews @pippa-matt.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Crimes against humanity. 🧪 #MedSky

Screenshot that reads "Just three of the six immunizations the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it will no longer routinely recommend - against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and rotavirus - have prevented nearly 2 million hospitalizations and more than 90,000 deaths in the past 30 years, according to the CDC's own publications'.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Talk to people! It's therapy for them and you.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

This is terrifying: not only because it will fuel the antiscience loons, but because if fake citations keep growing, it will eventually mean they have a point.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Good thinking from the Pentagon on UFOs and aliens? Yes, it can happen. And the authors are right about what finding ET would mean.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

I don't believe there is a giant unknown American primate, but I'm very curious about those who do. Here is my take on the Estes Park, CO, Bigfoot events and my talk with primatologist Mireya Mayor. mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/04/annu...

mattbille.blogspot.com

Annual Estes Park Bigfoot events - fun and chats with Mireya Mayor

A science writer's blog on science and technology, especially conservation, new species, space exploration, space history, microsatellites, and NASA.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Fascinating. The size of species based on fragmentary evidence is often overstated, but this was one massive predator.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

There are countless proposed uses for humanoid robots, but the ones that make sense use them to do tasks designed for humans in spaces designed to be accessed by humans, with infrastructure for charging and repair already nearby. This sounds sensible.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I learned sonething new about evolution today!

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

When I first read of moving USFWS HQ out of DC, I thought it might be good, given how DC bureaucracies strangle innovation. But details show the plan will be destructive: indeed, it can only be construed as DELIBERATELY destructive to the agency's knowledge, scientific capabilities, and outreach.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Dr Alice Gorman highlights a little-known aspect of the Artemis mission, and one I had no idea about: the inclusion of Sasquatch by the Canadian Indigenous artist who created the CSA astronaut's patch as a symbol representing one of seven traditional values.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

#HorrorWritersChat A favorite concept of imprisonment - one hard to pull off but used in films from Jaws to the underrated indie The Burrowers - is being imprisoned in the open. You can move in any direction you want, but the threat is faster: you are still contained.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I've no expertise in the subject matter, but shouldn't journals, to be indexed, have to identify an individual editor responsible for acting promptly on potential retractions?

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Patrick McCann @pjmccann3.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Alaskickers and Mainiacs! You know what to do. #MedSky 🧪

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

My favorite prehistoric creature has inspired people who unlike me can actually make art.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

@whitenacklab.bsky.social We know some sharks adapted to fresh water. For fiction: Do you have a guess how many years/generations it would take for a large historically pelagic species (no prior adaptation) being pushed upriver towards a lake by competition to become a freshwater species? Thanks!

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Dr Laura Sangha @lsangha.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Question for #EarlyModern #Skystorians please! 🗃️ What are your favourite online places to search for public domain images? (free to use, out of copyright, cleared by copyright owner for public use etc)? Example: Public Domain Image Archive pdimagearchive.org

pdimagearchive.org

Public Domain Image Archive

Explore our hand-picked collection of out-of-copyright works, free for all to browse, download, and reuse. This is a living database with new images added every week.

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