iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Autumn is here, which means cat snuggles, warm fuzzy blankets, and trying to crochet my first sweater. For the second time. The first try was a mess, and I turned it into a cowl.

Orange cat curled up on a blue blanket next to some crocheted work

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Woot! My kids’ band did great! And the rain held off until all bands were done. Bonus image: my oldest kid designed the show shirt this year. They’re a fantastic artist and looking to major in art in college next year.

Meadville Marching Band on the football field

Band show shirt design: grayish hand and arm wearing a black and red band uniform. There is a black and red spider in the index finger. Words are woven into the spider web in the background: Infected 2026 and various song titles

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

At the first band show of the season, and my favorite band that isn’t my kids band is up! Only 28 kids (which is actually huge for this school) and they always do the best job!!

Small marching band on a football field with a mountain-themed staircase in the background

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

It’s been a busy month! Taking kid 1 to visit colleges, learning how to be an associate provost, band season is full swing… Took a much needed art break this evening to keep working on this puffer linocut 🐡

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Completed a new to me art form - Kinusaiga! I found a photo of a whale shark and based the pattern on that. This is done insulation foam with fabric from my stash. No sewing- just tucking the edges into grooves I cut into the foam.

Art piece of a whale shark swimming, which looks like a mosaic made of fabric

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Found this nugget of joy at a local antique/thrift store. The label says “creepy fish taxidermy”. It did not come home with me, only because I couldn’t figure out what I would do with it or to whom I would gift it.

Fish head with an open mouth and flared gills, mounted to a plaque that says “Creepy fish taxidermy”

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Also met this terrifying girl - an Andean Condor. She’s freaking huge and startled the crap out of us when she suddenly glided toward the fence. Pure dinosaur!

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

I got to see a harpy eagle in real life today! She was so big!!

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

My cheeks hurt from smiling with joy! The Masters of the Universe movie was just the best for this Gen X kid who has MotU stuff all over her office. So many deep cuts!

Lisa wearing a Skeletor tshirt next to a painting of HeMan

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Everything in the world is terrible, but let me interrupt your doom scrolling to introduce you to my new yard octopus, who will greet me everyday when I come up the driveway after work. 🐙

Raised garden in front of a grassy hill. Behind the garden wall is a metal octopus statue.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

I love having a kid who is true to themselves. Junior prom tonight, and the theme is “Masquerade”. They made the nature-themed cat mask, and I put together the boutonniere with flowers from our yard because they wanted forget-me-nots.

Custom grey cat mask with two mushroom horns and pink ash purple wild flowers

Boutonniere made of various purple wild flowers

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

This week has been a lot. Tonight called for some art time and I decided to plan out some linocut stuff. Hoping the one on the right will be some sort of reduction print, which I’ve never done before.

Sketch of a pajama shy shark and a nurse shark

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

I love when a pedagogical experiment comes together! My marine bio students always have a project where they learn about a marine organism and have to teach the class about it somehow. This semester, inspired by @sarahmackattack.bsky.social's @sicb.bsky.social talk, we did zines!

11 different zines about marine organisms on a table. Each zine is about a different animal.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Managed to make some progress on the calico crab painting. Not done yet, as the carapace is still kind of drab looking.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

The last of the spring break bird paintings. I’m glad I put it in time out for a day. I eventually figured out how to get the yellow-tinged grey but it took a really long time. I also got a calico crab painting halfway done. But now that break is over, I have no idea when I will get back to it.

Painting of a hooded warbler on a branch

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

This week is spring break, and I’m actually taking time off <gasp!> There’s an art show focused on birds at my local gallery. Thus the bird-specific class from last weekend. I might futz with the berries more, but I might submit this one.

Painting of a black capped chickadee on a branch with berries

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

One of the ways I’m trying to mentally deal with <gestures to the atrocities> is by doing more creative things to recharge before diving back in. Today a took a class on drawing and painting birds, and this titmouse was the end result.

Painting of a tufted titmouse on a branch

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Today I spent a blissful couple of hours learning some basic watercolor techniques - a temporary reprieve from <gestures to everything>. I took a chance and freehanded this seahorse, and I’m so happy with it!

Watercolor painting of a blue and purple seahorse surrounded by sea grass

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

This drawing of various parts of snake anatomy was very cool!

Pencil drawing of a snake with its mouth open, but the torso shows ribs and muscles.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

This beautiful oil painting compares the feet of Deinonychus to those of a harpy eagle

This beautiful oil painting compares the feet of Deinonychus to a harpy eagle

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

This version of monopoly was all about it the reproductive systems, strategies, and evolution of ovary-bearing vertebrates. The cards cracked me up!

Hand painted, pink monopoly board that is called “feminopoly”

A custom chance card that says “the transition from water to land causes eggs to dry out on land!! Move back thee spaces as reproduction becomes more challenging!”

Card that says “Testudines have a well developed clitoris which does not have a clear role in reproduction. Pay $25 for baffling biologists.”

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Saw this beautiful nudibranch at Bird Rock, San Diego. No idea what species and iNaturalist tried to tell me it was an anemone. 🙄 Anyone on #Invertsky have an id for this beauty? 🧪

Beautiful orange and white nudibranch on a rock

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Doomscroll safety stop 🛑 Seeing this longhorn cowfish at the Birch Aquarium this week brought a smile to my face. Like other boxfishes, they are fins-only swimmers because their scales fuse together, preventing the body from bending. And they look like Zoolander doing blue steel. Ok carry on

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Busted out my reliable brain slug for Halloween 🎃

Photo of Lisa with a crocheted brain slug from Futurama on her head

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

This is yesterday’s postcard-perfect view from my office in our Center for Research and Teaching Excellence at Allegheny. I love the show that Mother Nature puts on in the autumn!

Landscape image of an old observatory with a green copper roof among trees rich in autumn colors

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

It’s band-tober, which means that marching band is our entire life right now. Tonight was a small show (4 HS bands and 1 college band), but the closer had them all playing Sweet Caroline together. Music brings such joy in a timeline where it is tough to find.

300 high school and college students from 5 marching bands standing at attention on a football field

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

My comparative anatomy students had a blast learning with these @3danatomystudios.com shark skull models this week!

Large 3D printed model of a dogfish skull with jaws and arches

Several students in a classroom working with large 3D printed shark skull models

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Wow, it’s been a while since an afternoon of lab work has made me this stinky. But I did manage to finally prep out a freeze dried snake and a barracuda head . Both have been sitting in my work freezer for 8 years, and before then were in Tom Frazetta’s freezer probably for decades.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

It’s nice to do something fun for a good cause among all of this <gestures at world> Guest bartending at my local bar to raise $ for a local foundation that benefits our school district’s kids while also representing my kids’ marching band. Our lights are 🎵 and our hats are music themed!

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Chaetognath translates to “bristle jaw”. Their jaws don’t share the same evolutionary history with our jaws. They’re made out of chitin, which is the same stuff insect bodies are made of (among other things). The photo below is a super-closeup of the head and also shows where “bristle” came from

Electron micrograph of the head of the chaetognath Sagitta. Photo by wiki commons user Zatelmar

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

An entire slice of bread causes a brief carp feeding frenzy. 🍞 I helped a colleague catch some of these carp (for science) with bread and a basket net. I then wrestled the carp while she took cheek swabs for DNA. 🧬 Turns out carp slime makes you too smelly for Walmart and gets you kicked out. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Many carp at the water surface with their mouths open.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Doomscroll safety stop 🛑 Took my mom, sister, & her kids to the Linesville Spillway. It is known as “where the ducks walk on the fish”. 🦆 🐟 🐟 These greedy fish are common carp (Cyrpinius cardio). Many of them are as long as my arm. Tourists feed them bread and fish pellets.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Doomscroll safety stop 🛑 This is Monty, a peacock mantis shrimp. Monty molted in May. They are now huge (my hand for scale). Monty can see more colors than we can because they have more types of photoreceptors in their eyes. They can also sense UV.

A large peacock mantis shrimp against some rocks and algae

A peacock mantis shrimp in a tank with a hand for scale. It is roughly the size of a hot dog.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

I spied the National Parks Service logo from the #JMIH2025 venue. Turns out there’s a nice little NPS visitor center in the lobby of the science museum across the street. Got my NPS passport stamp, enjoyed the center, and then took a few minutes to gaze at the mighty Mississippi.

A view of the Mississippi River from above, with a street running along side it

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Doomscroll safety stop 🛑 This is Oz, aka Ozzy Bear, Dingus, Orange Demon. 🐱 I couldn’t figure out what was making this noise. Then I realized he was snoring. 😴 Happened to catch the moment this orange boi woke himself up with his own snore. 🙄 Ok, carry on

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Good evening from this cherry cownose ray! It’s been so fun being back in Sarasota, which I haven’t been to since we moved from FL 15 years ago

Ventral side of a cownose ray as it swims in an aquarium

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Had a blast as the mystery guest for my local Remake Learning Days event! Kids read Arlo Draws an Octopus, then we played 20 questions where they had to guess my job. Then it was time to touch shark jaws and visit with all of the community partners! The therapy dogs were the favorite 🤩

4 sharks jaws and print outs of the shark species their from laying on a table

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Doomscroll safety stop 🛑 Fred (aka Winifred, Freddie, Relaxed Fit, Fubastank) decided to be my dinner companion. She likes to listen to the bedtime reading that my youngest kiddo and partner fo together each night I’m sure it was all wanting to be with me and not my dinner she wanted Ok carry on

Black and white sits in a chair at the dinner table across from sushi

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

These shark jaws were recovered from a fisher’s estate, where he took the jaws out of a few thousand sharks over his career. His family donated them for scientific work. Today I’m pulling a bunch to send to a colleague for isotope work. I’ve been bitten so many times this afternoon.

A table with about 40 dried shark jaws on it

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Doomscroll safety stop 🛑 My snuggly Ozzy Bear being adorable on this literally and metaphorically gloomy Friday afternoon. May you have the equivalent of this to help ease some of the gloom for a bit. Ok, carry on

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Doom scroll safety stop 🛑 Or maybe bloom scroll? Anyway, we’re into our first part of fake spring here in NW PA, and my snowdrops are blooming! This always makes me happy, because it means we’re starting to crawl away from winter. Ok, carry on

A small bunch of snowdrop flowers blooming

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Doom scroll safety stop 🛑 I love how fuzzy this bee is. I took this a few summers ago, and I’m thinking about what seeds I want to start this month. Ok, carry on

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Whelp, my “don’t buy new craft project stuff in 2025” resolution lasted until March. Saw this just-started piece at one of my favorite thrift stores for $7 and I snatched it up. Do I know how to do this type of needlework? No. Do I have the right type of thread/yarn/floss? Also no.

Embroidery pattern of a coral reef with many fish printed into fabric. One fish is embroidered.

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Looked up from my notebook and saw that the progress bar in Spotify became a lightsaber when a Star Wars track came on!

Progress bar indicating how far into a song I am in Spotify, but the bar is a blue lightsaber

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Today I get to spend the morning with 4th graders, teaching them about the rock cycle and fossils! I co-run a program that brings every 4th grader in my local school district to Allegheny for a day of hands-on science. This is our 10th year of the program!! 🧪🦕

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

And back at it with another ensemble

Sheet music for horn 2 for How to Train Your Dragon

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Lisa Whitenack, PhD @whitenacklab.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Doomscroll safety stop! 🛑 This is Joe. Joe’s owner likes to take him around town and visit local businesses. Joe’s owner posts updates on our local FB page. Today is Joe’s birthday! 🎉 Ok, carry on

Bison wearing a birthday party hat and a scarf

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