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Milo Berrigan

@miloberrigan.bsky.social
901 followers 1.1K following 139 posts

Fan of plants, prose, and the public domain.🌿📖🎨 Posts occasionally. Responds sporadically. Just generally bad at this. Anti-AI and pro-people.✊ #SciArt #Booksky #JAFF (she/her)

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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 07/07/2025
This is really cool! A rabies vaccine, applied as a gel to fur, spreads quickly among bats as they lick and groom each other. That prevents rabies outbreaks in other animals. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Vampire bats' mutual grooming helps spread innovative rabies vaccine
A gel that bats lick off one another’s fur could help prevent rabies outbreaks in cattle, a growing problem in Latin America
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Happy birthday to #botanist Isabella Aiona Abbott (1919-2010), 🧪🐡👩🏻‍🔬 #histsci renown algae expert, celebrated seaweed cook, devoted teacher & mentor, expert on Hawaiian ethnobotany, 1st Indigenous Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in science & 1st woman or person of colour to become a full professor on 🧵
Linocut portrait of Isabella Aiona Abbott in indigo on cream coloured paper. She’s facing forward at a table in a shirt and sweater vest with a sheet with algae samples on the table. In my print, she is surrounded by algae of the Pacific, all of which appeared in Abbott's research publications, including several species she discovered, or based on images of specimen she personally collected or whose traditional use as food she documented. The algae are in pinks, khaki green and rust.
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
ProfKFH @profkfh.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Short profile of mom on PBS: “A brief, but spectacular take on piecing the past to the future” #quilts #quilting #art #Juneteenth youtu.be/jFr8lkfSMks?...
youtu.be
A Brief But Spectacular take on piecing the past to the future
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
When it comes to self-defence, skunks and spitting cobras have nothing on the medieval “bonnacon”. It was said to defecate with such explosive force that it could scald targets more than a football pitch away with its fire-like dung. More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/b…
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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Welcome to the archives.
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The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
For #WorldEnvironmentDay today, “A Bestiary of Loss” — images of 39 recently extinct animals and their stories, from the aurochs to the ivory-billed woodpecker: publicdomainreview.org/collection/e...
publicdomainreview.org
A Bestiary of Loss
To mark Lost Species Day, images of 39 recently extinct animals and their stories — from the aurochs to the ivory-billed woodpecker.
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Tricia Matthew @triciamatthew.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
I was happy for the opportunity to edit two Austen novels for the 250th. These are for a general audiences—introduction, context essays, suggestions for further reading. There are Austen novels with explicit references to empire, the slave trade, abolition, etc. +
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Library Futures @libraryfutures.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
As we write, DOGE is reportedly inside the gates of the IMLS (Institute for Museum and Library Services), where Keith Sonderling, Deputy Secretary of Labor and “somehow now Acting Director” of IMLS is dismantling the agency that helps libraries be libraries. /1 www.reddit.com/r/fednews/s/...
reddit.com
From the fednews community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the fednews community
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Claudia Friedlander @voiceteachernyc.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Tesla Model 3 crushed by an Olmec statue By Mexican sculptor @chavismarmol.bsky.social
A blue Tesla Model 3 has been crushed by an Olmec statue. A man with long black braids leans against the hood of the car with his arms crossed, staring down the camera.
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
hyperallergic.com/878913/artis...
hyperallergic.com
Artist Crushes Tesla With Colossal Olmec Head Sculpture
Chavis Mármol told Hyperallergic that he wanted to “crush an object that represents a sinister figure like Elon Mollusk.”
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Apologies if you know this already...but you can refine your search on Etsy. After you run a general search, click on "All Filters," go to "Shop Location," click on "Custom," and type Ukraine. Found this 5-star shop that looks promising. (And they're having a sale!) www.etsy.com/shop/YourMag...
etsy.com
YourMagicYarn - Etsy
Shop Пряжа ручного фарбування • пряжа для шкарпеток •меринос by YourMagicYarn. Smooth shipping! Has a history of shipping on time with tracking. Speedy replies! Has a history of replying to messages quickly. Rave reviews! Average review rating is 4.8 or higher.
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
An automaton fuelled by tomes of newly available knowledge sweeps away the old society. No, not a self-portrait by ChatGPT in the style of a Georgian satirical print, but one of several “March of Intellect” cartoons published ca. 1828: publicdomainreview.org/collection/m...
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Sleestak @sleestak.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
James Harrison, whose blood donations saved over 2 million babies, has died. www.npr.org/2025/03/03/n...
npr.org
James Harrison, whose blood donations saved over 2 million babies, has died
Harrison, whose plasma contained a rare antibody, rolled up his sleeve 1,173 times from 1954 to 2018. The Australian is credited with helping 2.4 million babies and advancing scientific research.
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Esme Weatherwax 📚🧶🦉🌳🔬📸 🌈 ally @esmeweatherwax8.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
A visual guide to spring flowers in East Asia. Clockwise from top right, in Japanese. I added English + Korean and Chinese Mandarin readings below 梅 plum (ume/maehwa/mei) 杏 apricot (anzu/salgu/xing) 李 plum (sumomo/jadu/li) 桃 peach (momo/boksung-a/tao) 櫻 cherry (sakura/beotkkeot/ying) 🎨 mojacookie
An pencil sketch illustration of different spring flowers and their petal shapes, by mojacookie
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
In ONE DAY?!? That's *incredible*! Congratulations!!! 🎉🎊🎉
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Friendly Neighborhood Mouse @missmouse.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Oh hey! Still at US AID. We’re blocking 14th Street now!
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
What a cool promotion! A JAFF raffle. A JAFF-le! I love it. Happy for whoever wins this! (Five books it *a lot*. Congrats on having created such a collection!)
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Congratulations! That's FANTASTIC! 🎉🎊🎉
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Thanks for sharing this!
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
What a fascinating woman! Her words remind me of Seneca: "Do you forbid me to contemplate the universe? Do you compel me to withdraw from the whole and restrict me to a part? …Do you bid me live with my head bowed down? No, I am above such an existence; I was born to a greater destiny."
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Congrats on the new release! Can't do much better than #1! :) #JAFF
Screen shot of Amazon listing for "Intentions and Mishaps" showing it as #1 in the "British Short Stories" sales category.
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Thanks for this review! Hadn't heard of this. Boosting to #JAFF
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
This is great work! Really informative and clearly communicated. And it's so good/important to see Black patients depicted in medical illustration. Thanks for sharing!
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
What an interesting premise. And such a cinematic cover! (And for an A-List movie, too. Your Darcy looks so much like Michael Fassbender! Excellent "casting.")
Image of Micheal Fassbender as Mr. Rochester in the movie adaption of Jane Eyre.
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Congrats on the release! I see this is your first post on Bluesky. Welcome! Just so you know there's a Jane Austen Fan Fiction feed. (Created by Abigail Reynolds.) If you want to promote your work there, add #JAFF or #Austenesque to your posts! bsky.app/profile/abig...
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Ha! I love that as the indie author's "by hook or by crook." By prose or by toes. 📖🦶 One way or another, I'm going to finance this thing! And I can totally see why. So great to have found someone like that. And in such a win-win situation, too. Hope it continues! (Paid for by prose not by toes.)
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Wow! I just looked at her site and I'm so impressed. And I'm kinda shocked at her rates. If you paid anything close to the prices she's advertising, you really got your money's worth! Totally eye-catching. (Sorry if that's weird to say. Not trying to publicly pry into your finances!)
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Congratulations! That's incredible! (And so are your book covers! Those are *gorgeous*. Really beautifully done!)
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
What a fabulous collection of artwork! Thanks for sharing this thread!
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Congratulations! A compelling premise and a great cover, too! That's such a beautiful painting and so evocative. There's a real sense of quiet longing. Love it! Hope the launch goes well! Best of luck!
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
I've never seen this conceit done with P&P before! The variations really are endless, aren't they? If you’re interested, Abigail Reynolds recently created a Jane Austen Fan Fiction feed. If you want to promote your work there, tag it with #JAFF or #Austenesque.
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Beautiful! I think it's Red Ginger (Alpinia purpurata.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpinia...
en.wikipedia.org
Alpinia purpurata - Wikipedia
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Update! Apologies to the artists of yore! Just saw this preserved specimen of Pipa pipa and you can clearly see that some toadlets emerge bottom first and others top first! They were documenting a real phenomenon. I just misinterpreted it.
Photograph of a preserved specimen of Pipa pipa. There are two toadlets emerging from the toad’s back, one is front first and the other bottom first.

Image by Endeneon (Via Wiki Commons)
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
This one is from a field study by the German naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, a pioneering entomologist who spent years researching the insects (& occasional toads) of Surinam. She was born in *1647*. And she knew things about the natural world that I just learned today. How cool is that?
Early 18th-century illustration of the Surinam Toad in its native habitat. This specimen is depicted swimming in shallow waters near a large semi-aquatic plant that fills out most of the frame. The water is lightly colored for clarity, but what little color is present is a light brown. This is accurate as the Surinam Toad lives in murky waters.

Unlike the previous illustrations, which highlight the end stage of the reproductive cycle, this one focuses more on the first. Showing the toad with the eggs as they are first deposited on the back. Some toadlets are also shown emerging and one is already swimming on its own in the water. In nature, both of these would not be visible at the same time. It is a bit of artistic license intended to capture the whole cycle in a single frame.

From a technical perspective, it is exceptionally well done. The etching is incredibly detailed and highly precise.

Note for screen readers: the image source, cited below, has a Latin title.

Image from Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium by Maria Sibylla Merian. (1705).
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
The above portrait of Pipa pipa sitting on shore is a bit misleading, too. Though they sometimes forage on land, they're a fully aquatic species and live and breed in the water. So, those toadlets should be swimming - not hopping - away. The illustration below, drawn in 1705, is more accurate...
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Turns out there *are* some inaccuracies to these older illustrations, though. Artists of yore often portrayed the toadlets like little joeys. Drawing them both entering and exiting their “pouch.” But, in truth, the toadlets have a one-way ticket. Once they emerge, they’re on their own.
Early 19th-century scientific illustration of the Surinam Toad. This illustration is very similar to the first one, with the specimen drawn prone and legs splayed. The only notable difference is that the interior of the wells on its back are colored a dark, blood red. This color is not accurate to nature, but it succeeds in conveying a sense of vitality. Giving the impression of life beneath the surface.

Image from the Iconographia Zoologica: A Paper Animal Kingdom (Special Collections University of Amsterdam) (c. 1800) Artist unknown. Close up of the previous picture showing the toadlets in greater detail. Most of these are shown entering rather than exiting the holes with only their little toad tushes visible. It’s very cute even though it is inaccurate.
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Nature is *WILD*!!! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_...
en.wikipedia.org
Common Surinam toad - Wikipedia
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I can’t believe that I’ve never heard of this! The fertilized eggs are deposited on the female’s back and the yolks sink into a special layer of skin. The embryos mature there – through the tadpole stage – and emerge as tiny toadlets. Then she sheds that layer of skin and starts again!
Mid-19th century scientific illustration of the Surinam Toad. It looks, of course, very similar to the toad depicted in the previous picture. However, this specimen is depicted sitting on the shoreline with tuffs of grass and rocks visible in the background. It is turned with its back to the viewer, highlighting the toadlets entering and exiting the wells. 

Note for screen readers: the image source, cited below, has a German title.

Image from Bilder-Atlas zur wissenschaftlich-populären Naturgeschichte der Amphibien in ihren sämmtlichen Hauptformen by Leopold Joseph Fitzinger. (1864).
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Is anyone else new to the Pipa pipa party?!? 🐡🐸🐡 I came across this 18th century illustration of the Surinam Toad (Pipa pipa) – drawn with dozens of baby toads sprouting from its back – and I totally thought it was a historical error. An artifact of outdated science... But it’s real?!? 🧵
Late 18th-century scientific illustration of the Surinam Toad, a fully-aquatic toad native to the tropical regions of South America. It has dull brown skin and a wide, flat body with a triangular head. This appearance functions as camouflage, allowing it to look like a dead leaf or piece of rotten wood floating in the water. The specimen is drawn prone, with its legs fully splayed. It has long spindly toes on its front feet and its back feet are wide and fully webbed.

On the toad’s back, there are dozens of circular wells arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern. They look something like a reverse bubble wrap. With pits or holes instead of bubbles. Tiny toadlets are shown emerging from some of these holes and a few more toadlets fill the rest of the frame. 

Image from The Naturalist's Miscellany (Vol. 1) by George Shaw. (1789).Close up of the previous picture showing the emerging toadlets in greater detail. Toadlets are shown entering and exiting the holes on the toad’s back.
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U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission @cpsc.gov · 23/01/2025
#RECALL: Duluth Trading Company recalls children’s holiday pajama sets; burn hazard; violation of regulations. Get refund. CONTACT: 866-300-9719, email: ProductRecallK0040@duluthtrading.com; www.duluthtrading.com/content/recall or www.duluthtrading.com Details: cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025...
Recalled Duluth Trading Children’s Holiday Pajama Sets and label
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission @cpsc.gov · 23/01/2025
#WARNING: @cpsc.gov warns consumers to immediately stop using Babypark Sling Carriers due to fall hazard; Violations of the Federal Regulation for Sling Carriers. Do not sell or give away these hazardous sling carriers. Full warning: cpsc.gov/Warnings/202...
Babypark sling carrier and label with “GB/T 40227-2021” and “GB31701-2015”
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
Fellow scientists, please consider speaking w/ media about what this means for "regular Americans." The link below is to contact a reporter who's collecting stories about the unfolding NIH situation - pls share anonymously or on record. @anniewaldman.bsky.social www.propublica.org/people/annie...
propublica.org
Annie Waldman
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
Firestorm Books @firestorm.coop · 20/01/2025
Our co-op is no stranger to unwanted government attention; we've been threatened by city officials, visited by the FBI, and surveilled by police. Today we're publishing a Statement of Noncooperation that spells out our commitments. firestorm.coop/noncooperati... 1/6
A photo of five masked humans and an elderly dachshund, all members the Firestorm Collective, standing in front of Firestorm Books on Haywood Road. Behind them, the metal store sign is visible in front of a mural depicting a bespectacled skunk reading "The Dispossessed." In the left lower corner, bold text reads "Statement of Noncooperation."
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
What a great project! Sharing with the #JAFF and #Booksky folks in case anyone's interested.
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Reposted by Milo Berrigan
NDN Collective @ndncollective.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
🔊 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 🔊 “It’s finally over– I’m going home.” – Leonard Peltier  Today, President Biden granted Leonard Peltier executive clemency and commuted the remainder of his sentence. Read our full press release: ndnco.cc/PeltierCleme...
ndnco.cc
'It's finally over': President Biden Grants Leonard Peltier Clemency - NDN COLLECTIVE
In his final moments in office, President Biden grants executive clemency to Leonard Peltier, the longest-incarcerated Native American political prisoner in American history.
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteroca...
en.wikipedia.org
Pterocarya fraxinifolia - Wikipedia
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Milo Berrigan @miloberrigan.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Plant of the Day🌿🐡 CAUCASIAN WINGNUT (Pterocarya fraxinifolia) Illustration from Flore médicale des Antilles (Vol. 7) by M.E. Descourtilz. (1829)
Early 19th-century illustration of the Caucasian Wingnut, also known as the Caucasian Walnut, a flowering tree native to the Caucasus. Illustration shows a single branch with a couple sprays of leaves. The leaves are dark green with serrated edges and grow in matching pairs on either side of a central stem. Two fruits of the tree are also shown in an in-set. They are brown with an irregular surface, similar to other walnuts.
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