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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Bob Dylan, 1962, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

Sandy shoreline of a lake, blue sky at right, dark grey with curtains of falling rain at left

Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Wow. I think you "win", which I think means you lose, this one - what an amazing example of a species having no evolutionarily "correct" cue for what it's seeing!

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

You have a (top-notch) thread for everything! 😀

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The ants don't eat the leaves directly - they farm! As a result they can be very generalist about what they harvest - here, oak, but in nature I've seen them harvest a huge variety (including, improbably, mother-in-law's-tongue).

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Leafcutter ants doing their thing at the Insectarium de Montreal @espacepourlavie.bsky.social. The colony is to the left, and ants are harvesting oak leaves from cut branches to the right. In the colony, the leaves will be fed to a fungal colony that in turn provides food for the ants.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This is a beautiful book! Go grab a copy.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

And yes, sometimes I complain. Like anyone, editors and reviewers are human and mess up. And a small minority AREN'T trying their best, which sucks, but the vast majority are just trying to help move scholarship forward.

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Martin A. Nuñez @martin-nunez.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

cool starting pack! go.bsky.app/TwZVnjU

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Definitely the latter - the post centres on those. But the former is not changeless! Our switch back to the active voice, and - just maybe - greater openness to humor and authorial voice are recent changes.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I wonder though if authors avoid that stuff for fear of reviewers thinking they're either p-hacking or inexpert...

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

That sounds snotty, but I don't mean it to be. It's a brilliant compromise, allowing unusual types of readers to be served without disadvantaging the main readership. The kind of "didn't work" stuff you mentioned would be well suited to this solution! If it becomes customary to provide.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm terrible at prediction! But I would say the Methods sections have just changed immensely- in that we now have online supplements, which (1) allow for vast amounts of detail, and (2) place that detail where it cam be easily ignored by the vast majority of readers who don't care about it.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Unusual luggage on my trip this time. Bit crowded in the hotel shower... but these magnolias have now found a new home at the Montreal Botanic Garden.

Two sapling trees in gallon pots, sitting on the floor of a small shower tall. Their leaves are long, ovate-pointed, and since it's fall, have gone yellow.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Look at the nectar spurs on the Agraecum! Pollinated by long-tongued sphinx moths (and this is not the famous Darwin's orchid, a congener with even longer spurs from which Darwin deduced the existence of a similarly long-tongued moth) 2/2

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Some orchids from the collections of the Montreal Botanic Garden! The most diverse plant family on Earth. Warczewiczella amazonica (S America) Bulbophyllum mastersianum (Borneo) Epidendrum mainauanum (Ecuador) Angraecum ebumeum (Madagascar) 1/2

A single orchid flower peeking from the base of emerald green leaves. It's white with a delicate set of fine purple lines running from base to tip of the lower petal.

A cluster of orange-red orchid flowers. The lower petal (lip) is very large and oval, the rest of the flowers are tiny, so t he effect is rather like a black-eyed susan

A loose cluster of delicate lilac-tinged white orchid flowers

A cluster or orchid flowers with white upper petals, greenish-yellow other petals, and long (several inches) nectar spurs like trailing straws from each flower.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A most excellent weevil! Eupholus schoenherrii, from New Guineau, at the Insectarium de Montreal. Beetle is about an inch long, and yes, it really is that colour.

A solid-looking beetle, about an inch long, in garish cross-wise stripes of black, gray-green, and bright lime (ish) green

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I figured sooner or later someone would chime in who is (probably) not old enough to remember what was spent in the early 70s! But I will agree - the complex now is wonderful. Could have been purpose built for 1/10 the price though :-)

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Was it good urban planning? No. Did it work well as a stadium? Also no. Was it an economic engine? Also also no. But is it extremely cool to look at? You betcha. (Montreal, Quebec, Olympic Stadium)

Selfie in front of Montreal Olympic Stadium

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Chris Martine | Plant People FTW @martinebotany.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Ludwigia fruits are bonkers

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I mean, I'll be DEEPLY disappointed if the answer is "no" - but I think the risk of that is minimal.

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Erin L. Thompson @artcrimeprof.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I HAVE A COVER! And a pub date - July 6, 2027! If you want six true stories of antiquities fraud, from a California college convinced that Hong Kong tourist trinkets were worth millions, to an entire fake museum, to the titular mummy carved from styrofoam, preorder at www.amazon.com/Styrofoam-Mu...

Cover of the book The Styrofoam Mummy https://www.amazon.com/Styrofoam-Mummy-Tales-Antiquities-Market/dp/1324035870

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Phil Knutson, PhD @philknutson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Lignin chemistry!! I’ve drawn a line tree with the lignin polymer behind it. I’ve drawn it as one single polymer throughout! This messy, highly irregular biopolymer gives plants structural strength and helps protect their cell walls. #sciart #chemsky

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Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This whale had had enough! See this (angry) whale breaking through the 1610 map and coming for you ...

a map from 1610, showing the sea in front of South America, and a whale is breaking through...

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Entomological Society of Ontario @entsocontario.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we honour Survivors, their families, and the children who never returned home, while recognizing the lasting impacts of residential schools and colonialism.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The "reverse outline" - a technique for diagnosing, and fixing, organization/structure problems in your paper drafts. Super powerful - and thus I'm slightly embarrassed I don't explain it well in my books. Here you go: scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2026/09/29/t...

scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com

The “reverse outline”: a useful writing technique I mention, but don’t explain, in BOTH my new books!

In the last year, I’ve published not one but two books on scientific writing: the new edition of The Scientist’s Guide to Writing just last month, and Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences…

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

David Francey last night at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Fredericton, NB. Fabulous concert from one of my favourite folk singer-songwriters (www.davidfrancey.com/) - if he tours near you, see him!

View of a concert on stage. David Francey, centre, is wearing jeans, white shirt, and antique waistcoat, and is singing with eyes closed into a stand mic. At left a woman dressed in black is playing fiddle; at right, a man plays guitar. A mandolin and a bouzouki are on a stand behind.

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Canadian Paintings @canadianpaintings.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The road to reconciliation begins with truth Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe c. 2022

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I was sure I'd be able to get this one... no dice. Email Patrick!

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Took me a minute, I'd call it "field pop" but that's just regional... good one!

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And "The Mammoth-Shaped Hole in the World" will, when it's finished, trace the history of our struggle to understand extinction. Why did Thomas Jefferson send Lewis & Clark in search of living mammoths? How did we discover the Neanderthal genome within ourselves? And much more...

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Charles Darwin's Barnacle and David Bowie's Spider" explores the culture and history of scientific names, via species named after people. Diana Gabaldon says it's "more fun than you've ever had with taxonomy in your whole entire life!" scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/charles-darw...

scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com

Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider

Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider is my second book (after The Scientist’s Guide to Writing) and my first for a general audience. Ever since Carl Linnaeus’ 18th-century inven…

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Meanwhile, a bunch of new folks have followed me through it. That's great! I've written 3 books with a 4th on its way. Two are "science books" (the other two are guidebooks for scientific writers and those who teach them). scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/my-books/

scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com

My Books

I’ve written three books, so far, and a fourth is on its way: Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider is a book for anyone curious about biology, natural history, and t…

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This starter pack (which rocks) is going around again, and you could do worse than just follow the whole darned thing! bsky.app/starter-pack...

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I've also cited de Maupertuis... but in a different context from @mcnees.bsky.social! His description of an expedition north to measure the circumference of the Earth is an interesting example of earlier styles in scientific writing.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

So, what's the oldest thing I've cited in my papers in evolutionary ecology? I'm not sure! Definitely a bunch of Darwin 1865 and at least one Linnaeus 1751. I may have to search more carefully, now I'm curious.

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Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My forthcoming book (scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2026/08/11/h...) is about the history of our understanding of extinction. Oldest citation there so far is Agricola 1456, De Natura Fossilium. Likely older works to come; but again, writing about history, low-hanging fruit.

scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com

Here I go again: I’m writing a fourth book!

It’s entirely possible that the world has heard just about enough from me. After all, I’ve written three books, I’ve been inflicting Scientist Sees Squirrel on you for over a decade, and the data w…

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