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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Soh Kam Yung @sohkamyung.bsky.social · 4d

My first pseudoscorpion observation was pure luck. Happen to see this wasp and took a shot. It was only later did I see what was hanging on the antenna.

On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ]

A brown pseudoscopion hanging on to the antenna of a wasp. The wasp is yellow with black stripes and transparent wings.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 2d

"People can do these jobs, and people learn things by doing them, and eventually these people will replace you when you retire. Your expertise is the result of every single thing you’ve ever learned or done, so what are we doing to the expertise of students and postdocs by outsourcing the work[...]"

Ben Harrap @bharrap.bsky.social · 2d

I clearly had a lot of thoughts/feelings from reading Terry's blog post, so I wrote one of my own

It ended up being a bit of a stream-of-thought post but I think it captures some of my worries

benharrap.com/post/2025-10...

#statssky #episky #academicsky

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

But see this (not typical) take on copyright and what happens as we go down this road: jwmason.substack.com/p/actual-int...

“private appropriation is incompatible with collective activity that maintains them. Can’t expect people to keep posting on Reddit if all they hear back is AI slop.”

Actual Intelligence

I wanted to put down some thoughts on Large Language Models (LLMs), or so-called artificial intelligence.

jwmason.substack.com

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 2d

So when I hear of students being encouraged to use GPT in college I don’t hear innovation. I hear cognitive atrophy, the inability to think critically for oneself, and total dependence on vulnerable centralized repositories of data for knowledge without ever understanding how knowledge is generated.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 2d

The more we use this technology, the more we necessarily turn over not only our data and our privacy but the basic things we need to survive. Meanwhile, reality is totally reshaped by LLMs as increasingly authoritarian media is pumped out as training data. Nothing could be more useful to them.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Jessica Kant @jessdkant.bsky.social · 2d

Imagine for a moment a world so dependent on data centers that every aspect of municipal infrastructure must be reshaped. Not around human need, but maintaining GPU farms that use exponentially more power and water with each build. Models are only growing, and our resources are only diminishing.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

I like this framing: LLMs as a window into thinking people previously did jwmason.substack.com/p/actual-int...

“The lesson we should be taking from LLMs is the immense social value there is in having all kinds of material–all kinds of products of human intellectual labor–freely available online.”

Actual Intelligence

I wanted to put down some thoughts on Large Language Models (LLMs), or so-called artificial intelligence.

jwmason.substack.com

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

I like this framing: LLMs as a window into thinking people previously did jwmason.substack.com/p/actual-int...

“The lesson we should be taking from LLMs is the immense social value there is in having all kinds of material–all kinds of products of human intellectual labor–freely available online.”

Actual Intelligence

I wanted to put down some thoughts on Large Language Models (LLMs), or so-called artificial intelligence.

jwmason.substack.com

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

I think the question in your blog post is an important one because students can and will use LLMs to do statistics. But I don’t personally think there is a line between ethical/appropriate and unethical/inappropriate use of this technology.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

If all the LLM is doing is predicting code that will successfully clean your data and run analyses and make figures, there are already purpose built tools for that, like GraphPad or JMP or JASP (for stats) and Openrefine (for data cleaning). ChatGPT isn’t really the right tool for this?

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

I could imagine someone arguing “I just use images to illustrate my talks/papers. I could spend a long time figuring out making them in bio render/whatever software or learn how to draw or pay an artist, but now I can save time & money by using AI tools to create images”

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 1d

I had a similar reaction as @entomomancer.bsky.social to this & your previous post about AI. You've drawn a personal line between "creative work" and "tool" which is both not universal different from mine.

screenshot of text reading "When we replace creative work with the content of generative AI, we are shitting on creators and denigrating the humanness of creativity."

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 6d

I started a list for scientists and others interested in leaf litter fauna, please share and let me know if you want to be added! Do you love a good hand lens, soil sieves, and Berlese funnels? Perhaps this is the place for you.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 8d

Hot tip for @canentomologist.bsky.social members arriving in Calgary today:

The conference hotel has an airport shuttle (for $5) that runs on the half hour, but you have to call to book a spot.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 8d

For those not coming to the #ESCJAM in Calgary, if you like the look of these bags (laptop sleeve, pencil/dissection tools cases, etc.), I would be happy to make you a custom one (any size/your favourite bugs) in exchange for a donation to the @canentomologist.bsky.social student scholarsip fund!

photo of several quilted patchwork zipper pouches of various sizes, all featuring colourful insect-themed fabrics

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 8d

In addition to this amazing selection of gear from Donna, the silent auction will also include several bags I made out of scraps leftover from my early-pandemic era mask-making: laptop/tablet sleeve, pencil cases, change purses, etc. (more than in this photo).
@canentomologist.bsky.social #ESCJAM

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Donna Giberson (Elbows UP!) 🇨🇦🇺🇦 @donnag.bsky.social · 8d

@canentomologist.bsky.social members: I'm doing a partial clearout of my home lab & bringing some great stuff for the student auction at the ESC meeting in Calgary next week: nets, vials, malaise trap, pinning/mounting supplies, & a Wild M5 stereoscope (see photo)! Also books!
#ESCmeeting #ESCJAM

an image of a person examining an insect using a Wild M5 stereoscopic dissecting microscope. He is peering down the eyepieces of the microscope.

Two packages of glass vials, each package holding about 12 dozen vials.

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

The Breach @breachmedia.ca · 10d

Who stands to benefit from the gutting of Canada Post?

The billionaire class.

If Mark Carney were really serious about nation-building, Dru OJa Jay writes how the post office could become an engine for green energy, public banking, and better services. breachmedia.ca/canada-post-...

Canada Post faces two futures—a revitalized public service or a billionaire cash machine ⋆ The Breach

The Liberal government is dismantling Canada Post for the billionaire class, while ignoring bold proposals from postal workers to reinvent the public service

breachmedia.ca

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 12d

High elevation litter spiders of southern Appalachia show less local endemism than other arthropods - ballooning by spiderlings apparently overcomes geographic isolation. A great collaboration with @forthespiders.bsky.social & Ernesto Recuero

doi.org/10.1636/JoA-... (if paywalled write me for pdf)

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of three representative taxa along the right side, Wadotes hybridus (reddish brown cephalothorax with zig-zag stripey gray and white abdomen), Neon nelli (large-eyed gray jumping spider), and Antrodiaetus sp. (a large-jawed mygalomorph trapdoor spider, light tan with a reddish abdomen.

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Centromerus denticulatus and Centromerus tennapax (both mostly golden brown with gray abdomen, both males with enlarged palps), Bathyphantes bishopi (dark brown cephalothorax, long legs, dark gray abdomen), Tenuiphantes sabulosus (golden cephalothorax, long legs, pale dark-striped abdomen).

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Collinsia sp. and Collinsia oxypaederotipus (both with light brown cephalothorax, pale legs, gray-green abdomen, both males with enlarged palps), Ceraticelus laetabilis (stout, with brown cephalothorax and lighter brown abdomen, palps slightly enlarged), Ceraticelus fissiceps (orange cephalothorax with distinctly enlarged dark snout, lighter abdomen).

One fourth of a phylogenetic tree of southern Appalachian spiders, with photos of four representative taxa along the right side, Sisicus n. sp (not yet described, light brown round cephalothorax, with pale abdomen and legs, large male palps), Floricomus praedesignatus (dark tuberculate male cephalothorax, gray-green abdomen, pale legs), Blestia sarcocuon (anteriorly pointed cephalothorax, dark with long yellowish legs, impressive male palps), and Ceratinops carolinus (prolonged elevated, brown male cephalothorax, gray-green abdomen).

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Reposted by Dr. Catherine Scott

franz @franzanth.bsky.social · Feb 29

Absolutely nobody asked for this but I reformatted my animal yeetability thread into printable poster & zine files.

Introducing, the "Pocket Guide to Responsible & Sustainable Animal YEETING" featuring a revamped rating system. Download links below.

Poster showing various animals and their yeetability rating. For full rating, see the link in the reply. Intro text reads:

POCKET GUIDE TO RESPONSIBLE & SUSTAINABLE ANIMAL YEETING
by franzanth

In this context, YEETING is defined as the act of throwing a “projectile” at a slightly upward angle with low initial velocity. The goal here is relocation, not destruction. Therefore, YEETING is ideally performed toward soft surfaces like leaves to minimize downward acceleration that might result in said projectile's discomfort.

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 15d

The second baby was referenced in this paper: www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2... (Sleeping Habits of Certain Hymenoptera)

www.jstor.org

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 15d

I took probably too much time trying to track down the previous baby-wheeling science by checking all Banks' previous papers published in the Journal of the New York Entomological Society but no joy.

If anyone wants to continue this silly quest, here's a bibliography: core.ac.uk/download/pdf...

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 16d

I was just copying this sentence down to possibly use in a talk!

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 16d

I love the way science used to be written. Is it necessary to know that the author was pushing his baby in a pram while making observations of insects? Perhaps not, but it provides delightful context, while assuming the reader is familiar with his previously published baby-wheeling-related work.

A screenshot of some text of a paper, with the following sentence highlighted: "One July evening last summer, while engaged in wheeling the baby (another one this time) through some tall grass in the corner of my yard, I noticed..." It continues "an Ammophila attached to a grass-stem in the peculiar..."

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Dr. Catherine Scott @cataranea.bsky.social · 16d

Some harsh judgments of noctuid larvae by Bird (1902). 🐛

Screen shot of an old paper titled "Boring Noctuid Larvae" by Henry Bird. There is a chunk of text (which makes clear it is about larvae that bore into objects) with a section highlighted that says "Among the more important noctuids..."

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