iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Hawaiian indy filmmaker G.B. Hajim captured this footage of a Persian carpet flatworm (Pseudobiceros bedfordi) The elaborate color patterns help them recognize each other for mating/battle rituals in reef environments. See, Pseudobiceros engage in 'penis fencing'. (📷: G.B. Hajim)

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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

This is why we fund basic science. You never know from what little curiosity will derive the tools that enable greatness.

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Nicholas Wu @nicholaswu.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The due date for the PLNB #PhD project has been extended to 30th March. 🦇 Apply now: www.murdoch.edu.au/study/schola...

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Jennifer Campbell-Smith, PhD 𓄿𓃥𓅃 @jcampbellsmith.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

"I Contain Multitudes" This digitally painted piece honors coyote by tracing its lineage from the first cells of life to the animal trotting our cities and the wilderness today. The thread gives descriptions of all the extinct organisms shown in this piece (not to scale)

This digitally painted piece honors the survivor spirit of the coyote by tracing its lineage from the first cells of life to the animal trotting our landscapes today. Below the horizon, carefully chosen ancestors mark pivotal moments in adaptation, each contributing to the form and survivor we see today. Above the horizon, Coyote stands alert at the center, framed by both Denver’s skyline and a mountain backdrop, symbols of their ability to thrive in cities as well as wilderness. Embedded in the ground are the skulls and bones of carnivores whose lineages ended long ago, emphasizing Coyote’s persistence in contrast.

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Dr. Headbutt 🌈🧪 @nicoleackermans.com · 30/01/2026

I made sure to correct some blasphemy on campus today

Whiteboard with anatomy sucks written. But covered with anatomy fucks

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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Moon jellyfish recover well from high pressure, their nerves and connective tissue are fine after experiencing 300atm pressure, although their muscles may be damaged. Mitchell Ford &co suggest the jellies could propel hybrid robots for deep sea exploration journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Eight moon jellyfish swimming in the observation tank of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, USA, pressure chamber, during the pressure test. Photo credit: Sean Colin.

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Here's a weird question: How do whales sleep without drowning? These sperm whales are power-napping below the water's surface, hanging like cocoons in the ocean. But whales evolved from land creatures: they breathe under *voluntary control*. What happens when the conscious mind shuts down?

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Krista Koeller @kristalerista.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

My favorite bones are ones that look like they’re melting. Ophisaurus apoda shoulder bones FMNH 22088 This was, as far as I know, a normal individual. Things just get weird in there when you evolve away your arms.

For non-anatomists: some lizard bones perched on a finger. A big one in the middle looks like it has drips coming off it and is asymmetrical.

For anatomists: The pectoral girdle of a lizard on a finger, like a macabre thimble. The interclavicle is broad and arched and looks like it has drips coming off it. It is not symmetrical. The sternum of calcified cartilage forms a band that is bigger on the right side than the left. The scapulocoracoids are reduced but seem to be symmetrical. The clavicles are askew but symmetrical.

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𝔾𝔼ℕ⭑｡𖦹°‧ @papayaya.online · 03/11/2025

a baby alligator snapping turtle named Acorn, and an acorn named Baby Alligator Snapping Turtle ༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･

two? three? years ago i found a baby alligator snapping turtle on the sidewalk by my apartment, toody and i took it to the river nearby, on our way i found a GIANT acorn and i took it home. we named the turtle Acorn and the acorn Baby Alligator Snapping Turtle.

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Ethan Kocak @ethankocak.com · 06/11/2025

Just thinking about her

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Ed Stanley @drscanley.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Very happy that our new paper on the odd, looped optic nerves of chameleons is now out! It turns out having highly mobile eyes require some pretty specialized connections! doi.org/10.1038/s415...

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Your BONES 🦴 are WET💧. Sorry, I know that's a weird thing to tell someone, but it's: A. True. B. Important, for reasons. Your bones are about 30% water by weight & an adult skeleton contains ~3.2 liters of water, a little less than a gallon.

One of those Etsy pages that sells decals that say "Your Bones are wet" and a dancing skeleton.

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

This picture tells a story about who we are as humans: we're monkeys that want to see the view from the hill, because it might be pretty, surprising, or neat. We're driven by discovery, novelty, curiosity. But you'll also notice how uniform the patterning is. Let's talk about Desire Paths.

Stolen from the Internet: a paved path goes up some shallow stairs that curve around to the left. Meanwhile, a foot-beaten trail goes to the top of a green hill, with cloudy skies above.

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Jonathan Huie, PhD @jmhuie.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

New PhD preprint! We studied the effects of habitat and multi-stage life cycles on salamander limb bones! Aquatic and terrestrial spp. have divergent morphs + semi-aquatic and multi-phasic spp. do their own thing + decoupled external and internal shape promote diversity. 🧪🦎 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

salamander phylogeny with representative limb bones and their cross-sections

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Professor John R. Hutchinson @johnrhutchinson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

New paper on crocodylian locomotor evolution led by Masaya Iijima, w/Richard Blob & me! More erect hindlimb postures help extant gators support their weight (esp. at ankle), & how these mechanics constrained giant Deinosuchus to a slow walk at best! The paper-- www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Biomechanical simulations of hindlimb function in Alligator provide insights into postural shifts and body size evolution

Locomotor simulations in alligators reveal that transitions to erect limb postures facilitate the evolution of larger body sizes.

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Riley Black 🏳️‍⚧️ 🦖 @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Taphonomy is the science of what happens between death and discovery.

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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

For this #FluorescenceFriday, a gorgeous image of an adult mouse kidney labeled with AQP2 and alpha SMA antibodies. AQP2 (green) marks the collecting duct and distal connecting segment while SMA marks the arterial tree. Courtesy of talented postdoc Sarah McLarnon.

Image of a fluorescently labeled adult mouse kidney showing AQP2 staining of collecting ducts and connecting segment in green and alpha SMA staining of the arterial tree in magenta. The collecting ducts look like squiggly branches.

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Mayerl Lab @mayerllab.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Newest paper from the lab! Led by recent lab alum Maressa Kennedy, we utilized a novel nipple apparatus capable of modulating milk flow rate and stiffness to investigate the impact of multiple sensory inputs on suck-swallow-breathing coordination in an infant pig model. 🤖🐷🍼 doi.org/10.1152/japp...

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Valentina Di Santo @vdisanto.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Apply for the Scripps Postdoctoral Fellowship! I'm looking to support a strong candidate in fish physiology and/or biomechanics. Deadline: Oct 9, 2025. Eligibility: PhD by Nov 30, 2026 with ≤3 years postdoc experience. 2 years, $74K salary, $6K research allowance 👉 apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04348 🧪 🐟

apol-recruit.ucsd.edu

Scripps Postdoctoral Scholar Award - 2026

University of California, San Diego is hiring. Apply now!

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Halloween Rex @katyrex.meatjacker.social · 05/09/2025

I'M LOSING MY MIND, THE BEST AND MOST EXCITING YHING JUST HAPPENED, BABY SNAPPING TURTLES HATCHED IN MY YARD, HOLY FUCKING SHIT WOW HOLY FUCK

A baby snapping turtle craning their neck in the grass and weeds.

A grumpy baby snapping turtle looking at me over the creeping charlie.

6 baby snapping turtles on a stone paver.

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Armita R. Manafzadeh @armanafzadeh.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

I'm recruiting a PhD student to join the lab at @gtsciences.bsky.social in Fall 2026! Broad taxonomic and topical freedom under the umbrella of vertebrate joint form and function. Information here: www.manafzadeh.com – please share 🦴🩻

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Mayerl Lab @mayerllab.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

New paper out in Pediatric Research! We found that feeding in infant pigs raised on a ducted, biomimetic nipple more closely resembled the mechanics of breastfeeding, and that differences in nipple design impacted milk acquisition and overall feeding performance 🐷🍼 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Tharusha Wijewardena 🐢 @turtleecology.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Hatchlings are emerging! Look at the little sand beard on this baby snapper! 🐢

Baby snapping turtle in sandy beach. Wet sand on its chin.

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Mayerl Lab @mayerllab.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Our new paper led by recent lab alumni Hannah Shideler and postdoc Elska Kaczmarek is out in ICB @sicbjournals.bsky.social! For the first time ever, we reconstructed the volume of the oral cavity during suckling, and found that nipple design impacts tongue function. doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

I NEED to tell you the story of Tae Heung “William” Kim. He's a graduate student at Texas A&M where he's working on a vaccine for Lyme disease. He's a *legal permanent resident* of the United States. And he's been in ICE detention for 12 days & counting, transferred Tuesday to South Texas.

From left to right, Dr. Albert Mulenga, William Tae Heung Kim, Dr. Thu Thuy Nguyen, Dr. Alex Kiarie Gaithuma, Dr Hassan Hakimi and Emily Bencosme Cuevas. Kim is a Texas A&M researcher who was detained in San Francisco last Monday despite being a permanent resident of the United States and a green card holder.

COURTESY OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

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Bill Ryerson @billryerson.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

New Comparative Anatomy Textbook! Completely free to read and open access! doi.org/10.59319/YHF...

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Alana Sharp @acsharp.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

📣I’m hiring! Two weeks to apply for an October start. Start date is also flexible. #PhD #Morphology #evolution

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Orit Peleg @oritpeleg.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

New review in PRX Life, where we propose a tangibility scale for the physics of social interactions, and highlight a few tangible examples - from dead fish “swimming” to efficient schooling, warm penguin huddles, and dry ant rafts. Written with the brilliant Chantal Nguyen 🐟🐧🐜 tinyurl.com/naet5tdh

Three‑row table linking scales: fish, penguin, ant. Each row shows an individual silhouette, a pair‑level interaction image, and the emergent collective - schooling fish, penguin huddle, and an ant raft.

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Dr. Jaimi Gray @jaimiagray.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Say hello to Florida's newest established species, Typhlonectes natans - the Rio Cauca Caecilian! You can read about their relative abundance, distribution, & natural history, in our brand new paper: journals.ku.edu/reptilesanda... Here is one individual I CT scanned that had 7 babies inside!

A 3d rendering of a CT scan of a Rio Cauca caecilian with transparent body and bone colored skeleton, showing 7 baby caecilians inside, each rendered in a different color - counter-clockwise from tail to head - red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, purple.

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

One of the most irritating things about RFK Jr is how he makes things that are usually fun biologist anecdotes ("I found some neat roadkill, I got to hold a lamprey" etc) seem uncool and weird

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Be the vigilante arborist you want to see in the world

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Anna Bell @annabellreads.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

btw did you know you can subscribe to PBS for only like $5/mo or a $60 one-time for a year donation, and get access to their Passport streaming service? They mail you a little live programming guide and everything, too. The 40-something seasons of NOVA alone are worth it.

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Mayerl Lab @mayerllab.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

The Mayerl Lab at NAU is looking to recruit a PhD student for Fall 2026! We take an integrative approach that bridges engineering, clinical, and evolutionary approaches to study feeding physiology of vertebrates. Our lab website is linked in our bio, and feel free to reach out on here or via email.

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Brooke Fitzwater, PhD (she/her) 🐟🪱🏳️‍🌈♾️ @oceanfilly.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Are you a PI in a biology field looking for students to join your lab as a PhD student? I made a Starter Pack to help PIs and potential PhD students connect! If you would like to be added to this pack, please let me know! go.bsky.app/EFj87fi

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Nature Podcast @naturepodcast.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

This week on the pod: 🦈 The ancient mega-predator with a ‘stealth mode’ 💤 ‘Leaky’ mitochondria could be the root cause of sleep 📄 The secret messages used to trick peer-review AI go.nature.com/3IrcyQ5

go.nature.com

‘Stealth flippers’ helped this extinct mega-predator stalk its prey

Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 16 July 2025

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Dr. Solomon David @solomonrdavid.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Being true to yourself amidst a changing world [for over 150 million years] Maybe that's the real punk rock👍

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Thomas Stroud @tstroudd.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

One of my favorite moments I’ve ever captured back from my master’s work on Basiliscus plumifrons water-running mechanics. Each splash you see is approximately equivalent to one stride length. I like to think of these as almost “footprints” at the water’s surface.

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Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

This baby pterosaur is no bigger than my thumb

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Wobbologist @wobbologist.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Happy Nonbinary Day and Shark Awareness Day from your neighborhood trans, agender, shark person :) I love learning about the sensory systems and mechanics of these amazing animals! 🦈 🐟 🦑 #sharks #sensory #neuromechanics #science #research #TransInStem #agender

A wobbegong shark propped up on the pectoral fins and looking up for food.

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Mayerl Lab @mayerllab.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Our paper reviewing the neurophysiology of swallowing just came out! We detail 70 years of progress towards understanding neuromotor functioning in feeding, and highlight several emerging technologies for the future Check it out at the link below - journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 29/12/2023

The 9 banded armadillo, the state mammal of Texas, is heavy-bodied but has two methods of crossing water. 1. They can hold their breath for 5-6 minutes at a time, and walk along the bottom. 2. They can gulp air to increase buoyancy and swim (dog paddle) for up to an hour. Armored mermaids!

An aquatic armadillo paddling through water. Source unknown.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Whew, ok, with a few hours to spare, the 2025 classroom map is ready! The 7th annual United States of Science competition starts tomorrow. If you wanna get your region off to a head start, just between us night owls, here's that link 😘 givebutter.com/USS2025

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Dr. Jack Brown @drjackbrown.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Iraq had no WMDs in 2003. Iran was not nuclear weapons capable. Some people just want war.

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

On the plus side for today, my Pride Month Tiktaalik turned out pretty sweet, so guess I have that going for me

A 3D print of a fossil that appears to be a particularly triangular croc skull

A view from the side showing the rainbow color gradient

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Oliver Ghingold @emceebois.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

CLARIFICATION : The Trevor Project's hotline will still be live. But basically this means LGBTQ people can no longer be connected to it through the US national 988 suicide prevention hotline. They will need to be contacted DIRECTLY So spread this around They can be texted. They can be called.

A screenshot of a website laid out in a two-by-two grid:

Top-left, a line-drawing image of a cartoon woman with braided hair looking at text messages on her smartphone with a smile.

Top-right, "Text us from anywhere, anytime. Standard text messaging rates may apply." "Text 'START' to 678-678" button, "What to expect +" link.

Bottom-left, "Reach out to hear a live voice on the line." "Call us at 1-866-488-7386" button. "What to expect +" link.

Bottom-right, side-by-side line-drawing images of two cartoon people. On the left, a cartoon woman is holding her phone to her ear and looking up at the night sky. On the right, a cartoon phone agent is sitting in front of a laptop with a headset on in front of a bright, sunny sky.

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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 12/02/2025

I have work to do but I'm distracted by watching US scientific progress & leadership being irreversibly undermined because a few unelected malcontents are penalizing researchers for following legal requirements set out by congressional orders to augment basic research with benefits to society.

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