Gary W Hartley
@garybugsyou.bsky.social
Writer: Bugs, biodiversity, farming and odd lit. The Observer, New Scientist, Scientific American, The Times, Farming Future Food etc.
Retired daft poetry guy. Perennially mildly-disappointed #lufc fan. Half-hearted groundhopper. gary at gwhartley dot com
Retired daft poetry guy. Perennially mildly-disappointed #lufc fan. Half-hearted groundhopper. gary at gwhartley dot com
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Japanese knotweed is almost freakishly resilient. It can grow eight inches in a single day, clone itself from the tiniest piece of stem, and exudes a chemical that repels other plants. It might be time to learn to live alongside it.
The Knotweed Factor | Jennifer Kabat
If we’ll never be able to undo the worst of our actions, can we can appreciate nature’s adaptations?
thebaffler.com
January 23, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Japanese knotweed is almost freakishly resilient. It can grow eight inches in a single day, clone itself from the tiniest piece of stem, and exudes a chemical that repels other plants. It might be time to learn to live alongside it.
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
"And why not a rubber chicken, America’s trusty totem of self-parody? It’s not as if I could beat the Earth’s best powerlifters, breath-holders, or yo-yo artists. Desperate times called for farcical measures." — @byardduncan.bsky.social for @slate.com
I Was Having a Millennial Midlife Crisis. Until I Picked Up the Most Unhinged Hobby Imaginable.
Desperate times called for farcical measures.
slate.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:35 PM
"And why not a rubber chicken, America’s trusty totem of self-parody? It’s not as if I could beat the Earth’s best powerlifters, breath-holders, or yo-yo artists. Desperate times called for farcical measures." — @byardduncan.bsky.social for @slate.com
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
January 21, 2026 at 9:23 AM
Really enjoyed this rice-reheating odyssey from @vittles.bsky.social
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/grain-of-t...
#food #writing #history #scicomm
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/grain-of-t...
#food #writing #history #scicomm
Grain of Terror
Why is the Western world so afraid of reheating rice? Joe Zadeh reports. Illustration by Ibrahim Rayintakath
www.vittlesmagazine.com
January 19, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Really enjoyed this rice-reheating odyssey from @vittles.bsky.social
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/grain-of-t...
#food #writing #history #scicomm
www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/grain-of-t...
#food #writing #history #scicomm
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
There are few successful or sustainable ways to tackle the spotted wing drosophila, a notorious #fruit pest, but delivering #RNAi interference via yeast (and some Coca-Cola) looks very promising.
farmingfuturefood.com/next-generat...
#farming #agritech #genetics #scicomm
farmingfuturefood.com/next-generat...
#farming #agritech #genetics #scicomm
Next-generation biopesticide uses RNAi yeast and sugar lures to target fruit fly pest - Farming Future Food
U.S. researchers have used RNA interference to engineer yeast that selectively kills spotted wing drosophila when delivered in a sugar bait, offering a potential new class of biorational insecticides.
farmingfuturefood.com
January 19, 2026 at 11:02 AM
If I knocked back a shot every time Efan Ekoku said "the football" I'd be long dead #Afcon #CAF #Commentary
January 18, 2026 at 8:12 PM
If I knocked back a shot every time Efan Ekoku said "the football" I'd be long dead #Afcon #CAF #Commentary
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
“Involuntary parks” — lands emptied by war, pollution or conflict — can become accidental refuges for wildlife.
From the radioactive Hanford Reach to the disputed Kuril Islands, nature often rebounds without people, raising hard questions about conservation, recovery and responsibility.
From the radioactive Hanford Reach to the disputed Kuril Islands, nature often rebounds without people, raising hard questions about conservation, recovery and responsibility.
Involuntary parks: Human conflict is creating unintended refuges for wildlife
Few locations on Earth are as haunting or deeply ironic as so-called involuntary parks — places too toxic, dangerous, or otherwise made off-limits for human habitation, but which have paradoxically…
news.mongabay.com
January 16, 2026 at 6:15 PM
“Involuntary parks” — lands emptied by war, pollution or conflict — can become accidental refuges for wildlife.
From the radioactive Hanford Reach to the disputed Kuril Islands, nature often rebounds without people, raising hard questions about conservation, recovery and responsibility.
From the radioactive Hanford Reach to the disputed Kuril Islands, nature often rebounds without people, raising hard questions about conservation, recovery and responsibility.
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Possums aren't the only animals who play dead. Creatures across the animal kingdom--including the grass snake pictured below--fake death as a last-ditch defense against predation. The behavior is known as thanatosis, which shares its root with Thanatos, the ancient Greek personification of death.
The Reptile Who Plays Possum - bioGraphic
Grass snakes fake death to avoid predation.
www.biographic.com
January 15, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Possums aren't the only animals who play dead. Creatures across the animal kingdom--including the grass snake pictured below--fake death as a last-ditch defense against predation. The behavior is known as thanatosis, which shares its root with Thanatos, the ancient Greek personification of death.
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Scientists are using AI to design new experiments, but research shows that all major models fail to spot serious safety problems that risk causing fires, explosions or poisonings.
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
All major AI models risk encouraging dangerous science experiments
Researchers risk fire, explosion or poisoning by allowing AI to design experiments, warn scientists. Some 19 different AI models were tested on hundreds of questions to assess their ability to spot an...
www.newscientist.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:40 AM
Scientists are using AI to design new experiments, but research shows that all major models fail to spot serious safety problems that risk causing fires, explosions or poisonings.
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
www.newscientist.com/article/2511...
Wrote this for The New Climate, based on a fascinating interview with Bosnia's keeper of #insect records Dejan Kulijer.
And yes, it's pretty easy to record new species in the Balkans if you're willing to try!
medium.com/the-new-clim...
CC @sarajevo-times.bsky.social
#Bosnia #bugsky #scicomm
And yes, it's pretty easy to record new species in the Balkans if you're willing to try!
medium.com/the-new-clim...
CC @sarajevo-times.bsky.social
#Bosnia #bugsky #scicomm
When a New Species Lands on Your Windowsill
Bosnia’s insect experts are rebuilding a lost natural record — one new species at a time.
medium.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:30 AM
Wrote this for The New Climate, based on a fascinating interview with Bosnia's keeper of #insect records Dejan Kulijer.
And yes, it's pretty easy to record new species in the Balkans if you're willing to try!
medium.com/the-new-clim...
CC @sarajevo-times.bsky.social
#Bosnia #bugsky #scicomm
And yes, it's pretty easy to record new species in the Balkans if you're willing to try!
medium.com/the-new-clim...
CC @sarajevo-times.bsky.social
#Bosnia #bugsky #scicomm
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
“In the summer of 2012, the tule elk had suddenly and mysteriously started turning up dead, their emaciated bodies found rotting into the ground. That’s when the forty-year peace between the ranchers and conservationists started to go cold.”
Last Herd on Earth | Lauren Markham
In California, conservation-minded environmentalists go to war against organic milk producers.
thebaffler.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:29 AM
“In the summer of 2012, the tule elk had suddenly and mysteriously started turning up dead, their emaciated bodies found rotting into the ground. That’s when the forty-year peace between the ranchers and conservationists started to go cold.”
January 5, 2026 at 1:10 PM
Wrote something about utterly adorable spiders quietly annihilating disease-spreading mosquitoes.
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #spidersky #wildlife #cities
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #spidersky #wildlife #cities
Could the world’s cutest spiders aid the fight against a tropical disease?
Brazilian research suggests jumping spiders are more than popular pets — they prey on mosquitoes linked to dengue transmission in cities.
medium.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Wrote something about utterly adorable spiders quietly annihilating disease-spreading mosquitoes.
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #spidersky #wildlife #cities
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #spidersky #wildlife #cities
December 23, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Israel’s war and occupation in Palestine has damaged vast amounts of cropland. In the West Bank, a social enterprise is equipping farmers with the resources they need to cultivate their lands and establish autonomy over food production. @pragathiravi.bsky.social www.earthisland.org/journal/inde...
December 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Israel’s war and occupation in Palestine has damaged vast amounts of cropland. In the West Bank, a social enterprise is equipping farmers with the resources they need to cultivate their lands and establish autonomy over food production. @pragathiravi.bsky.social www.earthisland.org/journal/inde...
December 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Deep-rooted fears of sharp objects and childhood injection experiences are hitting the public's perception of #insects.
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #psychology #psysky #scicomm
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #psychology #psysky #scicomm
Looking like a needle proves a jab against insect-positivity
New research shows that insects with needle-like bodies trigger the same deep-rooted fear and disgust as injections.
medium.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Deep-rooted fears of sharp objects and childhood injection experiences are hitting the public's perception of #insects.
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #psychology #psysky #scicomm
medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #psychology #psysky #scicomm
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Need a little help, have written a book (How To Get Your Book Published) and am looking for any contacts in publishing xx
December 13, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Need a little help, have written a book (How To Get Your Book Published) and am looking for any contacts in publishing xx
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
more absolute filth in the pollination literature
![Gottsberger's florid report (1991) on the pollination of Cyclanthaceae: "beetles arrived at the inflorescences, crawled around, copulated, gnawed on the staminodes, and frequently entered into the interior [...] there they "licked" on the stigmatic exudates"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ywua4qjetzwsq5hzyty3exua/bafkreiac36nylqswha6xbr2ta47pzcwcxilfyx5tldl2rq6fcuwcffq7bu@jpeg)
December 10, 2025 at 7:20 PM
more absolute filth in the pollination literature
What an absolute beast this is, even by the banger-laden standards of @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social #booksky #reading
December 3, 2025 at 4:33 PM
What an absolute beast this is, even by the banger-laden standards of @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social #booksky #reading
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Raymond Carver, Rain
December 3, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Raymond Carver, Rain
And now for the top story on our bloodsucking neighbours.
sciencespectrumu.com/mosquitoes-h...
#nature #scicomm #bugsky #behaviour #mosquito
sciencespectrumu.com/mosquitoes-h...
#nature #scicomm #bugsky #behaviour #mosquito
Mosquitoes Have Personalities, Too
New experiments reveal that mosquito larvae range from shy to adventurous, with implications for pest management and ecology.
sciencespectrumu.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:16 AM
And now for the top story on our bloodsucking neighbours.
sciencespectrumu.com/mosquitoes-h...
#nature #scicomm #bugsky #behaviour #mosquito
sciencespectrumu.com/mosquitoes-h...
#nature #scicomm #bugsky #behaviour #mosquito
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Give someone the gift of The Blizzard this Christmas 🎄🎅
Subscriptions, art prints and books - it's Christmas time at The Blizzard.
The perfect gifts for the thinking football fan
Find out more: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
The perfect gifts for the thinking football fan
Find out more: theblizzard.co.uk/the-blizzard...
November 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Give someone the gift of The Blizzard this Christmas 🎄🎅