iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Cellular Tracking Technologies @celltracktech.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A Northern Waterthrush tagged in Cape May, NJ left after sunset on Sep 11. Two weeks later it was over Colombia! Jamaica -> Colombia included ~800 km of open Caribbean. 3,082 km so far! @birdscanada.bsky.social @originalstu.bsky.social #MotusWTS #BirdMigration #ornithology @nature.org

13918

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 27/09/2026

Ignore for a moment the question about whether Anthropic trains on user sessions. I am I right in reading this as saying that Anthropic's "never-before-discovered" reverse transcriptase was *patented* three years ago?

Dr. Mestre first encountered the enzymes in jumbo phages in 2022 while searching for new reverse transcriptases. He worked briefly as a consultant for ReNegade Therapeutics, which filed a patent in 2023 on a number of reverse transcriptases, including the ones Dr. Mestre found. He is listed as a co-inventor on the patent filing.

10379111

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Western University @westernu.ca · 25/09/2026

Literary icon Margaret Atwood has gifted $1M to #WesternU, honouring her longtime partner Graeme Gibson, BA'58, to establish the Graeme Gibson Chair in Avian Biology - advancing research on how birds move, behave and adapt in a changing world. #AllinWesternU news.westernu.ca/2026/09/grae...

13917

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Kevin Sievers @diplotomodon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Sign the petitions, call city and state officials, donate to the (unaffiliated) coalition's organizing efforts at the link below. Job's not done. save-the-academy.org

save-the-academy.org

Save the Academy of Natural Sciences

Don't mourn — organize. The museum's last public day is Sunday, Sept 27. Ten things you can do today.

0148

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Ricardo J Pereira @biodiversitysmns.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Island species 🏝️ frequently experience founder events and population bottlenecks 🧬 and are often subject to disturbances that further reduce population sizes. Despite these challenges, some island lineages persist for millennia 🕰️ —the paradox of persistence. Here’s what we learned about it:

0157

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

What's behind this tidal wave of epidemics? In the largest study ever conducted on emerging infectious diseases, we show that the popular explanation - "our relationship with nature is out of balance" - doesn't hold up. Out now in Nature, after half a decade of work: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases - Nature

Emerging infectious disease outbreak risks are ubiquitous worldwide, and highest in landscapes where people, livestock and fragmented natural ecosystems coexist, but detection and data ...

8553276

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Doudna Lab @doudna-lab.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Out now in Science: Two papers from our lab reveal VIPR, an RNA-guided DNA-targeting system in bacteriophages, providing clues to the origins of CRISPR www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Congrats to Peter Yoon, @kenjmloi.bsky.social @terryzzy.bsky.social, T.Docter & team

science.org

A noncontiguous code for RNA-guided DNA recognition at the origin of CRISPR-Cas

CRISPR-Cas provides RNA-mediated adaptive immunity, but how its first RNA-guided effector arose is unclear. In this study, we report the discovery of Viral Interference Programmable Repeat (VIPR) syst...

217569

Christopher Witt @msbbirds.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Bear cub does everything Fred Astaire did, backwards, and in claws

093

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Dan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

12 grams of wing and muscle. Just enough to get from the boreal forests of Canada down to Venezuela. Never ceases to amaze. (Bay-breasted Warbler)

211515

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Our new paper led by @ollie333.bsky.social highlights poor performance of global bird classifier models (Perch and Birdnet) for Amazonian species identification, but shows they can be used as data-derived acoustic indices capturing species richness #Ornithology 🌎🧪🪶📊 doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

Maximum F1 score mapped onto an avian phylogeny for 122 species with at least 10 manual annotations, at window (A) and site (B) scale. Inner and outer rings show BirdNET and Perch scores respectively, coloured by maximum F1 across all confidence thresholds. Phylogenetic structuring of performance increased from window to site scale.

12810

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This mechanism likely partially explains interannual variation in vagrancy too (coupled with weather systems and lemming numbers).

3155

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Journal of Evolutionary Biology @jevbio.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Read the latest issue of @jevbio.bsky.social now! 📸The giant manual claw of a megaraptorid being excavated from Late Cretaceous sediments of central Patagonia, Argentina (Pereyra and Ibiricu 2026) academic.oup.com/jeb/issue/39/9

021

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Dr. Paige Duffin @paigeduffin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Conceptual overview and example usage:

052

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Securitization fails. Securitization is more than failure-prone. Securitization is the cause. Securitization is an existential threat to public services. Securitization is fundamentally conservative. Securitization is fundamentally violent. Securitization is the enemy of public health.

2268

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

TFW your entire country's path into the future gets fucking bodied by a 10-year-old named Riley Grunch

422689485

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 12/09/2026

Tech fascism is becoming impossible to ignore. It's a key mechanism of the climate crisis, the economic crisis, and the democratic crisis. Use your voice to raise the alarm and fight back. The establishment can ignore some of us. It cannot ignore all of us. 🎁🔗 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/m...

nytimes.com

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor Say the End of the World Is Now on the Table (Gift Article)

In a new book, the writers argue that a powerful coalition of “end times fascists” is just fine with the earth’s demise.

14388146

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 12/09/2026

I just got a letter saying that my health insurance premium will go up by about 7.9 percent next year. It is lower than the national average (about 11 percent), but still way outstrips pay raises. This frustrates both employers and employees alike, and hits higher ed especially hard.

A letter saying that my health insurance premium is going up about 7.9 percent next year.

45212

Reposted by Christopher Witt

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I resigned from ExxonMobil today. I spent the last three years doing fossil fuel extraction research at both BP and ExxonMobil. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing to maximize extraction while the window to act closes, and gambling with our lives. More below.

145136954892

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

At the same time folks were fast and lose with ringing the “science is broken” bell, and if it’s rung loud enough and long this is who comes to dinner. Science is, of course, not broken as we’ve seen with enduring from operation warp speed to LIGO.

3396

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Center for Biological Diversity @biologicaldiversity.org · 10/09/2026

#Colorado can’t keep killing #wolves when we already have so few left and no additional reintroductions are in sight. Killing three endangered wolves in a single week amounts to internal sabotage by an agency that’s failing to take its responsibility for wolf recovery seriously.

03611

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Center for Biological Diversity @biologicaldiversity.org · 10/09/2026

There's still time to save the #RoadlessRule and all that it protects. The comment period has been extended, but it's open only until Oct 6. We need as many people as possible to raise their voices and urge the Forest Service to keep roadless #NationalForests protected 🔗➡️ bit.ly/4goOc6L

48852

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Amazing news, thanks to decades of unrelenting advocacy by the Yurok, Karuk and Klamath Tribes. It’s heartening to see the collaborative nature of the salmon restoration effort reflected in this paper’s authorship, which includes all three Tribes, state & federal agencies, NGOs & private entities.

4793357

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Honest to god can we stop with the “Trump says…” ledes. I’m begging you

772167291

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.

8576732174

Christopher Witt @msbbirds.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

in which City Councilmember Nina Ahmad suggests that Drexel may be closing the Academy of Natural Sciences in order to sell its prime real estate 😕 share.inquirer.com/k7BlTs

share.inquirer.com

Hundreds rally to protest the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum

The crowd was decidedly intergenerational.

032

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Jay Troyer @gr8flbluejay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Criselda Vasquez, American, The New American Gothic, 2017, oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in, private collection The artist's father, portrayed in the painting, was kidnapped by ICE on 31 March 2026

201308675010

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Shame on Mt. Sinai for capitulating with this settlement, which violates that legacy of inclusion, their own Hippocratic oath, and New York’s human rights laws. (3/3)

71698259

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A staggering story with all kinds of implications, none of them good.

28751

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The current NIH Director’s animus against NIAID to sign away much needed research funds so we can continue bombing another country is… a staggering betrayal of Congressional intentions and authority. Not surprising but still staggering.

5466116

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Please repost! Drexel announced that it will close the Academy of Natural Sciences public museum- the oldest nat history museum in the US. There are 2 petitions to support the academy. Please sign both & come to our rally Tues. actionnetwork.org/petitions/pe... www.change.org/p/the-academ...

A poster featuring the T-Rex at the cognitive natural sciences, which says save the Academy natural sciences, museum rally in front of the academy 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Tuesday, September 8 10 AM. The T-Rex is saying tell Drexel keep the museum open. There’s an RSVP QR code and then the logos of Philly Science Action Skype scientist In Philly on the bottom.

9908857

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Tedra Osell @tedos.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This is a tremendous read

0238

Christopher Witt @msbbirds.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

You can take a boy out of Philly, but... mydialect.us

heat map of lower 48 states showing high dialectical similarity to the Philadelphia area

220

Reposted by Christopher Witt

daniel cadena @cdanielcadena.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

our in memoriam piece, celebrating the academic life and multifaceted, seminal scientific contributions of the great bob ricklefs is now out in the american naturalist www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

journals.uchicago.edu

In Memoriam: Robert E. Ricklefs (1943–2026) | The American Naturalist: Vol 0, No ja

02321

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Martin A. Nuñez @martin-nunez.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Very excited to see our new paper in @Nature! Conifers introduced to the Southern Hemisphere grew up to 4× faster than in their native ranges and were also more resistant and resilient to drought. I’m honored to have been part of this fantastic international team.

pines grow faster in the southern hemisphere

68429

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Dan Baldassarre @evornithology.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Jeez this is a beautiful study. Bravo.

1221

Reposted by Christopher Witt

David Tan @mangrovepitta.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Big yikes.

041

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Liam U. Taylor @liamtaylor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

there is nothing - I mean this, nothing - as biologically cool to me as the fact that bird produce coherent plumage patches on their wings by overlapping portions of different feathers

211130

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We don’t have a right to ask whether we’re going to succeed or not. The only question we have a right to ask is what’s the right thing to do?” --Wendell Berry

2666195

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Laura Lagomarsino, PhD @tropicalbotany.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Look, y'all— this is not the worst outcome, but it's also not great. Framing this as gaining a notably large herbarium is spin; the reality is a historic, important herbarium has lost its identity. The specimens were never going to be trashed; Duke still voluntarily truncated their botanical legacy.

47029

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Dr Craig R McClain @drcraigmc.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

New in PNAS today: we projected how climate change will reshape the body size of marine life across the entire ocean. 23,329 mollusc species, every ocean basin. The headline everyone expects is "life shrinks." The real answer is far stranger. 🧪 #marinelife www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.org

Nonuniform resizing of marine life under climate change | PNAS

Global warming is often predicted to drive universal declines in animal body size, but empirical evidence remains equivocal. This is particularly t...

29647

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Dr Craig R McClain @drcraigmc.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

It matters beyond size. Shifts in the size structure of ocean life ripple into carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and the seafood billions of people depend on. And the gap between low and high emissions is enormous, so the scale of this is still ours to decide. 🧪 #marinelife

173

Reposted by Christopher Witt

Megan Barkdull @meganbarkdull.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The Natural History Museum of LA is hiring a Curator of Marine Invertebrates! Come join an amazing team and contribute to stewarding the largest marine invert collection in the Western US. 🐙🪼🦐 workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...

An image of several sea anemones under water.

16348