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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · 21h

Happy #Arachtober 10th! Here are white and yellow versions of Misumenoides formosipes.
Location: Green Swamp Preserve, Brunswick County, North Carolina (USA)
This is a wonderful preserve of @nature.org.

White version of the White-banded Crab Spider, Misumenoides formosipes. Flower is Agalinis species.

Yellow version of the White-banded Crab Spider, Misumenoides formosipes. Flower is Euthamia or Solidago, I think.

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · 2d

Happy #Arachtober the 8th! Something different for today, a public domain image from McCook's American spiders and their spinning work (1889). Original at:
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42190084
The illustrator is Elizabeth Fearne Bonsall (1861 - 1956).
I cleaned up the image in GIMP.

Plate 12 from American Spiders and their Spinning Work (1889).

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Alcohol pretty much overshadows all other preventable causes of cancer except tobacco. Environmental pollution, yes, of great concern. Alcohol is literally, "hold my beer". The carcinogenic risk of alcohol consumption is not hypothetical--it's been proven over and over for the past eighty years.

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Sep 5

Finally, the US public health establishment has been making progress on definitive research and publicization of this huge health risk, and... it's gone.
www.vox.com/health/46008...

Exclusive: RFK Jr. and the White House buried a major study on alcohol and cancer. Here’s what it shows.

Kennedy wants to “Make America Healthy Again” — but doesn’t want you to see a report that could do just that.

www.vox.com

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Aug 24

Giant Otter - Pteronura brasiliensis (26 October 2024, Encontro das Águas State Park, Brazil)
This one was spotted bathing and splashing across the river channel, swam over to investigate us, then caught an eel and consumed it noisily.

Giant Otter - Pteronura brasiliensis (bathing)

Giant Otter - Pteronura brasiliensis (crunching down on an eel)

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Aug 22

Happy Fly Day Friday, plus bonus critters. All from Gorges State Park in North Carolina.
Southern Gray-cheeked Salamander - Plethodon metcalfi
Shiny-sided Bladetail - Machimus sadyates
Caterpillar (Noctuoidea) found on Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
Compost Fly - Ptecticus trivittatus

Shiny-sided Bladetail - Machimus sadyates

Caterpillar (Noctuoidea) found on Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

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Reposted by Cotinis

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 5

kennedy is going to kill a lot of people

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · Aug 5

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces he will cancel $500 million in vaccine development projects.

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Aug 6

Worst decision ever. The mRNA vaccine platform in general produced vaccines that are safer and easier to develop--perfect for emergency use in the case of an emerging disease.
youtu.be/FMLhcACHF_g?...

BARDA and mRNA Vaccines Announcement

YouTube video by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

youtu.be

Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 28

Insects from an event at Chapel Hill Public Library (North Carolina) on 26 July 2025: #nationalmothweek.
Luna Moth - Actias luna (from other side of the sheet!)
Treehopper - Glossonotus acuminatus
Bold-feathered Grass Moth - Herpetogramma pertextalis
Beautiful Mantidfly - Leptomantispa pulchella

Luna Moth - Actias luna (from other side of the sheet!)

Bold-feathered Grass Moth - Herpetogramma pertextalis

Beautiful Mantidfly - Leptomantispa pulchella

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 17

Happy World Snake Day! (26 July 2025)
Snakes I have photographed over the years...
Red-tailed Boa - Boa constrictor constrictor; Emas NP, BR
Black-Tailed Rattlesnake - Crotalus molossus; Cave Creek Canyon, AZ USA
Tiger Rattlesnake - Crotalus tigris; Santa Rita Mountains, AZ USA
#worldsnakeday

Black-Tailed Rattlesnake - Crotalus molossus; Cave Creek Canyon, AZ USA

Tiger Rattlesnake - Crotalus tigris; Santa Rita Mountains, AZ USA

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 14

Jagged Ambush Bug - Phymata species (nymph, 4-5 mm)
13 July 2025, Durham NC (USA)
A couple of these were found on fleabane (Erigeron species). They were brought in on their flowers for some studio shots. Such little tanks!

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 13

All shorebirds are the best shorebird, but somehow my fave is the Marbled Godwit. I guess I just love that silly upturned beak.

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 13

That is a nice one--never seen it. My current motto is "I try to enjoy each taxon equally". I can afford to do that, though, being an amateur.

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 9

Certainly seems plausible. Perhaps some epidemiologist out there is studying cancer incidence in post-Covid patients.

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

For easily modified exposures in typical Western populations, alcohol is about #3. #1 (by far) is tobacco smoking, #2 is obesity. Good news is that half or more of all cancers are due to risk factors that can be modified.
acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States, 2019

In 2018, the authors reported estimates of the number and proportion of cancers attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in 2014 in the United States. These data are useful for advocating ....

acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Cotinis

William C Phelps, PhD @wcphelps.bsky.social · Jul 6

This didn't have to happen. 🧪
www.cnn.com/2025/07/05/h...

Measles cases surge to record high since disease was declared eliminated in the US | CNN

There have been more measles cases in the US this year than any other since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago.

www.cnn.com

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

And, not to beat a dead horse, but the link between heavy alcohol consumption and health effects, including cancer, cannot be emphasized enough. Paper linked below discusses liver disease, including liver cancer:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Effect of increased alcohol consumption during COVID‐19 pandemic on alcohol‐associated liver disease: A modeling study

Background and Aims Alcohol consumption increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in the United States. We projected the effect of increased alcohol consumption on alcohol-associated liver dise.....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

Original paper referred to in the article above:
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...

Trends in Alcohol Use After the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Cross-Sectional Study | Annals of Internal Medicine

www.acpjournals.org

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

Follow-up documenting the post-pandemic surge in binge-drinking, which has persisted:
news.keckmedicine.org/pandemic-era...

Pandemic-era increase in alcohol use persists

LOS ANGELES — Alcohol use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained elevated even after the pandemic ended, according to a large nationally representative Keck Medicine of USC study publishe...

news.keckmedicine.org

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

For some cancers, it is possible this is due to the post-pandemic and ongoing increase in binge drinking among younger people. Alcohol is little-appreciated as a potent carcinogen. Here's one example of research on this:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39425225/

Increasing rates of early-onset Luminal A breast cancers correlate with binge drinking patterns - PubMed

These trends support the hypothesis that one reason for the increase in early-onset breast cancer is from increased alcohol intake including binge drinking.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

Oh, "right after this time we need help". Just like the power failures a few years ago, and how many hurricanes. And Texas might just secede if federal overreach does not stop--right after you help us with our latest disaster.
www.click2houston.com/news/local/2...

‘Texas is ready’: Abbott responds to Trump’s FEMA exit strategy

A major change in federal disaster response could soon reshape how states prepare for and recover from natural disasters.

www.click2houston.com

Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 6

President T is declaring a disaster and calling in FEMA, as is totally appropriate for any state of the union. Of course, he has promised to get rid of FEMA "after this hurricane season". Gov. Abbott has said he is ready for FEMA to be eliminated just a couple of weeks ago. Why wait?

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 5

One Texas official blames the NWS: “Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service, right?” Kidd said. “You all got it, you’re all in media, you got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.”
www.texasobserver.org/trump-texas-...

Trump’s DOGE Cuts Are a Texas-Sized Disaster

Reckless agency layoffs and the dismantling of federal relief programs could leave the Lone Star State in peril.

www.texasobserver.org

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Jul 5

This opinion writer from Texas deserves a Pulitzer Prize for this piece--published 3 July 2025, the *day before* devastating floods hit Texas, killing dozens.
www.texasobserver.org/trump-texas-...

Trump’s DOGE Cuts Are a Texas-Sized Disaster

Reckless agency layoffs and the dismantling of federal relief programs could leave the Lone Star State in peril.

www.texasobserver.org

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Cotinis @cotinis.bsky.social · Apr 20

Birds from the Old Bynum Bridge area, Chatham County NC (USA), 18 April 2025.
1-Prothonotary Warbler - Protonotaria citrea (female)
2-Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor (male and female)
3-Ruby-throated hummingbird - Archilochus colubris (female on nest)

Ruby-throated hummingbird - Archilochus colubris (female on nest)

Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor (male and female)

Prothonotary Warbler - Protonotaria citrea (female)

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