iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Well I'm not a staffer but I DO write for the media referred to here and joke's on them; I'm not raising ANYone - childfree and proud over here. The ASSUMPTIONS that we all live the same lives is just laughable at this point.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I attended SIPA events as a grad student at Columbia; I SO admired them and the students were brilliant to speak with. This is DISGRACEFUL. I never thought I'd be so ashamed of my alma mater which I was so proud to attend. When I got into my MFA it was one of the happiest life moments now scarred.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

STEM and Textiles are one of my very favorite things to combine!!!

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Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

TIL there’s a fish that lives in the lowest depths of the Congo River that has stunted growth, no color pigment, and no eyes. And locally it’s called “mondeli bureau,” which translates to “white man in an office” LMAO

A very small blind pasty white yellowish fish in the palm of someone’s hand.

Lamprologus lethops, a fish that lives in the lower Congo River, is pale and blind like fish that dwell in caves deep underwater.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Melanie Stiassny)

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tweety fish oh wow like a chimera or something spoooky @sifu.tweety.fish · 02/10/2026

I for one welcome the dawn of thicc earth

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

There's a LOT of pro-catholic propaganda going on of late but let's be real about the organization that has billions and still collects $$ from poor people and disallows birth control and also this:

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Wait, we are trying to teach AI to be moral, but we do not live in a moral society or culture. So how could we possibly teach another intelligence what that is? This is BONKERS. And liasing with religious leaders/heads of deeply misogynistic belief systems? WTF www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...

nytimes.com

Religious Scholars Met With Anthropic. What They Heard Stunned Them.

In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Simple solutions are so satisfying!

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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

What butterfly wings have in common with barbershop poles: Wing patterns and flight dynamics combine to create “motion dazzle” effect, similar to the barbershop pole optical illusion.That makes it harder for predators to gauge a butterfly's speed, direction. arstechnica.com/science/2026...

arstechnica.com

What butterfly wings have in common with barbershop poles

Wing patterns, flight dynamics create "motion dazzle" effect, make it harder to gauge speed, direction.

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Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I think one thing that the MAHA-friendly people of the world do not appreciate is how terrible it is for you to have viruses invade and then live in your body

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Ken Schwencke @schwanksta.com · 28/09/2026

ICYMI: @propublica.org has a Chrome and Firefox plugin that allows you to grab your data from FanDuel and DraftKings. If you use it, you can upload your data to us to help us to continue investigating how these sites induce people to keep betting. projects.propublica.org/sports-betti...

projects.propublica.org

Help ProPublica Report on Sports Betting by Sending Us Your App Data

If you’ve bet on sports with FanDuel or DraftKings, you can help ProPublica understand how these apps respond to their users’ betting behavior. Use our browser extension to download your betting histo...

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

So many children are raised by depressed parents, and it takes such a toll on them. I can't understand why parents think the kids don't notice or just loving them makes it OK. It's awful and has lifelong consequences to be raised by a depressed person. It sucks.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is a HELL of a list. And, gotta say it: Not all men, but always a man! WTF.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

SO looking forward to presenting at @sciencewriters.org annual conference on the ins and outs of publishing a nonfiction, research-based book In These Times! Should be fun to share the stage with fellow science authors @jenniferfrazer.bsky.social & Jason Bittel & inspire more amazing science books!

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I keep having THE most godawful experiences in hotels. WHY are they always SO LOUD.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I'm officially collecting ADVICE & RECOMMENDATIONS for turning 50 (in January - yes of course I'm Aquarius!). From everyone in my life which includes all of YOU dear Blueskyers! Please share! #adviceforturning50

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is a good example of why even though a lot of Americans think they are "safe" in "good" blue states, there's a lot of this type of thing going on. Washington and Oregon are even worse, despite people thinking of them as blue.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Looking for a great new read on psychedelics? "Trip Reports" is now out!

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Incredible piece of investigation. The number of SCIENCE publications included in this roundup is so disturbing. I know people that used to write for some of these sites, esp the Science Daily ones. JFC.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

So my dad is having some health issues that will require me to ask PEOPLE FOR HELP and I HATE asking anyone for anything!! (And guess who taught me to hate asking for help?? My dad!) What the fuck with the life lessons over here? SO on the nose. UGH I feel so gross asking for things. Sigh.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I remember when I was a teen thinking that most adults seemed like real losers. There were def some cool adults here & there but most just seemed SO LAME, like they had all this adulty autonomy & didn't do a damn thing with it! Little bitchy me (pictured at 16 w/my dog) was entirely correct.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Being a crappy person pays SO MUCH BETTER than being a good person (or even a decent person), and that is something that will ALWAYS leave me ranting about how this culture should be ripped apart and rebuilt. The whole thing is trash, built on greed.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I KNOW that Australia wants in on this too!!!

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I just canNOT believe I am still hearing abt nice liberals saying we just need to "reach across the aisle" and "listen more" and that our differences are just about people's ignorance of each other. A whole 6-part series of how "community" will bridge the partisan gap. Why are liberals SO CREDULOUS?

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We are trading human lives for AI. (How "intelligent" is that? How is this any different than human sacrifices to the gods?)

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

YAY!!!! I'm over my first 1K here! THANKS! AND my latest #geology story is front page on @sciencealert.com.web.brid.gy ! What a day. (SO excited I get to write about geology again, my first love..."she picks up rocks wherever she goes" was in my bio for ages.) www.sciencealert.com/earth-may-be...

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Just made my annual $20 donation to Wikipedia. It's not much, but it's something for a site whose mission I can still believe in and for nonprofits, showing they have a wide user/fan base helps them in turn raise more funds. So even $5 is great if you use Wikipedia! www.wikipedia.org

wikipedia.org

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Personally, both of them piss me off.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is not the "interesting times" I had hoped for.

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Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“If the move survives expected legal challenges, it could also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.” Absolutely fucking demonic. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/13/c...

NYT headline: E.P.A. Expected to Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power Plants

Generation of electricity is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.

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Caræsten 🇵🇸 @cara.city · 13/09/2026

for two months, I've been flying drones over Flock cameras to situation them in space and geography; I even got my commercial drone license in order to do it. I'd like to share this project with you all: it's called Records Of Enemy Surveillance: recordsofenemysurveillance.com

image of a residential intersection with one red car driving across it and a baseball field in the background

black and white dithered image of two red squares around the flock cameras in the previous image, on either side of the intersection

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It's REALLY important to understand that media layoffs are part of the plan to keep the public dumber and less informed, which makes manipulating them and stealing resources and elections and tax dollars easier to get into the hands of billionaires. That's it. Not complicated.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A few people will change their order when gently informed abt their food's climate impact, according to this new study I reported on. As usual, its a minority of people who GAF. But across tens of millions of fast-food meals/day, it could make a difference. www.sciencealert.com/a-tiny-label...

sciencealert.com

A Tiny Label on a Fast-Food Menu Changed What 10,000 People Ordered

Changing people's behavior can often feel nearly impossible.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Even bringing together 163 RCTs w/almost 16K adults—w/several compounds showing promise—those trials were still too small/poorly designed to show reliable cause/effect. WHY is nobody studying this more rigorously? My latest for @sciencealert.com.web.brid.gy www.sciencealert.com/massive-anal...

sciencealert.com

Massive Analysis Finds Only 3 Supplements Show 'Unrealistically Large' Effects on Depression

If you've ever stood staring at a wall of supplements, wondering whether that bottle of fish oil, vitamin D, or saffron might lift your mood, you're not alone.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

New piece in the New Yorker asks: "Have Conservatives Taken Sexy Back"? It includes the ACTUAL LINE: "shopping guides for the #MyBodyHisChoice customer"?!?! (This is from their email newsletter and so I guess the NYer is getting in on ragebaiting their readers now too?)

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A Jean Stevenson @amandajean.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

We are punishing people for having devoted their lives to helping us all.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I always read the book! But I did vamp a bit in some cases when I didn't LIKE the book. But otherwise, yes, this.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is so cosmically perfect I don't even know what else to do with myself. There is NO other actor for whom this would fit so very perfectly.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This reminds me of 2007 Twitter!

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

“The Right needs Americans to believe that pregnancy is only positive. They can pretend that forcing women into childbirth isn’t a nightmare, but a gift” The Right are terrified of women uniting & demanding an end to the patriarchy. The Clancy case is a trial balloon. Pay attention:

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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.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

We're going to see a BONANZA of building projects (incl data centers, which is what I bet this is for), paving over formerly protected seasonal wetlands that are literally the nurseries for already-imperiled amphibians. Possibly the overall WORST thing this admin does long-term for environment.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I too have AMAZING ideas for the surrealist ceramic sculptures I (try to) create. After 5 years of dedicated ceramics practice, parts of them emerge. Maybe in 10 years they will be what I imagine. Or maybe I should just input "the raw data of a sculpture into AI.

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Yup, fifth-gen NYer on one side, 6th-gen Australian on the other. ButI will always sound like a NYer; my dad's been in Sydney for 50 years and still sounds like a kid from Manhattan. Sigh. I'd love to adopt an Aussie accent!

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Starre Vartan @starrevartan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Well this was my first time through the Rice Truck Saga but I'm sure won't be my last. I love a good secular holiday!

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