Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Karen James

@kejames.bsky.social

7.7K followers 2.6K following 2.6K posts

Environmental geneticist & outdoorswoman into eDNA, botany, evolution, space, sci-comm, skiing, Outlander & kindness • auntie • cat mom • honorary dog mom (she/her) 📍Unceded Wabanaki land (aka Maine)

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 29d

Thank you for loving my turtles, everyone. 🥹

1 30

Reposted by Karen James

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 6h

They have fired the staff of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, who are disease detectives that respond to outbreaks around the world.

I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous it is to dismantle our disease surveillance infrastructure.

120 1.5K 3.2K

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 9h

Big fan of Karl Ramsdell! If you’re on Fb, his page is *chef kiss*. I like how seasonal it is, too. Paddleboarding and seals will soon give way to wild ice skating and snowy owls.

Bangor Daily News @bangordailynews.bsky.social · 10h

Karl Ramsdell, a professional photographer, especially enjoys capturing images of seals, which he affectionately calls “chubmarines.”

Maine paddleboarder’s 5-mile trip to photograph seals ends with rare lighthouse view

Karl Ramsdell, a professional photographer, especially enjoys capturing images of seals, which he affectionately calls “chubmarines.”

www.bangordailynews.com

Reposted by Karen James

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 21h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

840 8.3K 15K

Reposted by Karen James

Alt Acadia National Park @altacadia.bsky.social · 10h

We 💯 support Amphifa! Give me ribbety, or give me death. 🐸

A poster for "Amphifa: amphibians against fascism" showing a black and green flag with a green frog

Three protestors dressed in inflatable frog costumes holding a sign that says "Portland frog brigade"

10 89 290

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 10h

Mate!

1 1

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 10h

a close up of a man 's face with his mouth open .

Alt: Gif from Star Wars - a close up of a man (Kylo Ren) screaming, “more!”

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Karen James

Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · 13h

More posts like this from politicians please

Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 1d

Thoughts and prayers to Cosplay Cop Kristi who had to brave the dogs, farmer’s markets, capybaras, and marathon runners of Portland this week.

18 150 800

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 23h

Wait, what?

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

SAME, re. ocean and mountains.

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

It is on my short list.

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

Me too. I think about all he might have done, both musically and in terms of environmental conservation, were he still alive.

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

I’d be happy to introduce you to a couple Lep folks I know at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario who I think have written up similar things if that would be helpful.

1 1

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

Good! Now all the rest.

1 2 16

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

As far as I know, fishing boots don’t have heels, but these sure do. Hrrrrrr.

1 1 1

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

Oh wow.

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

Fun fact: JD wrote that song in 10 minutes, on an Aspen chairlift, in the year of my birth, 1973, after an exhilarating ski run, and yes, that absolutely does further cement his place in my heart.

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

I have loved John Denver since I was a 3-year-old girl in pigtails, just learning to ski in the Colorado high country. You might think that’s corny, but if so, please watch this performance of Annie’s Song and say it to my face. *dons boxing gloves* youtu.be/4Nz-AT70ZX0?...

John Denver - Annie's Song

YouTube video by Scottie Lore

youtu.be

18 9 49

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 1d

Oh man, these are dark.

Dark and true.

🫠

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 1d

What is the name of your least favorite child?

In what year did you abandon your dreams?

What is the maiden name of your father's mistress?

Nihilistic Password Security Questions

What is the name of your least favorite child? In what year did you abandon your dreams? What is the maiden name of your father’s mistress? At what...

buff.ly

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 2d

Oh no! Holding you all in my thoughts. ♥️

Reposted by Karen James

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 2d

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

86 770 3.4K

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 2d

The Nobel committee, until today, apparently:

a group of people are sitting around a table with the words `` we don 't serve their kind here '' written above them .

Alt: Star Wars Cantina scene: a group of aliens are sitting at a bar and the bartender is pointing at droids (off screen) saying, “we don 't serve their kind here”

media.tenor.com

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 2d

“Some illegal rabble rouser” – Pontius Pilate, probably

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Mike Johnson: "If you're a young, pregnant American citizen women who shows up in an ER and you get treated and they pay the hospital less for treating you than some illegal rabble rouser who came in from some South American country to do us harm, that is wrong."

1 8

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 2d

Right? It’s wild he chose THAT as his example.

1 7

Reposted by Karen James

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 2d

The Atlantic, the NYT, the Post, the Free Press, Persuasion ... god, so many others ... they did it. They participated in the destruction of norms against bigotry & now bigotry is running rampant, out in the open, at the highest levels.

Great work everyone.

23 290 1.6K

Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 2d

Timeline cleanse: the “whale pump”

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 2d

The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.

Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.

Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.

Change in distribution and abundance of southern right whales. (A) Shows historical and contemporary wintering distributions (Figure 1 from Carroll et al., 2018), and (B) shows decline in abundance and subsequent recovery (solid line is the mean, dashed line shows upper and lower 95% CI). Modified Figure 1 from Jackson et al. (2008). Contemporary sightings are divided into regions where large aggregations are seen during winter: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BZL), South Africa (SAF), southwest Australia (SWA), south central Australia (SCA), and New Zealand sub-Antarctic (NZSA) and regions where sightings are typically of small numbers of individuals per year. The large aggregations are IWC management units and correspond to historical whaling grounds, although another 5 whaling grounds show little sign of recovery. Summer feeding areas are poorly described and so not shown.

4 13