@mossworm.bsky.social
Hello! Entomologist and crustacean biologist from Florida, USA! Also art and game development. AuDHD. has anyone seen my phone
Pinned
PRI's Wonderful Life — Paleontological Research Institution
By Dr. Warren Allmon , Director of the Paleontological Research Institution December 30, 2025 The holidays are a time for “Christmas movies” in my house, and one that is always on our list is&nbs...
www.priweb.org
PRI REACHED THEIR GOAL!!! MUSEUM OF THE EARTH IS STAYING OPEN!!! Thank you all so much for donating and spreading the word, I'm so overjoyed! Good things are still possible! www.priweb.org/blog-post/pr...
Ideally once I come up with the Perfect Introduction to the long names book I can just start making more specific-taxon sequels to keep my mind busy during this Everything. So like five more A-Z books but one of them is all nautiloids, one of them is all rotifers, fireflies, parasitic plants, etc.
January 20, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Ideally once I come up with the Perfect Introduction to the long names book I can just start making more specific-taxon sequels to keep my mind busy during this Everything. So like five more A-Z books but one of them is all nautiloids, one of them is all rotifers, fireflies, parasitic plants, etc.
oooough I hate deciding whether or not to talk about both species and genera in my silly book of only genera. intro getting so bulky and complicated. I should have picked something other than pears, because I can't really use the hindi and mandarin to make sure I'm talking about the same pear
January 20, 2026 at 5:28 AM
oooough I hate deciding whether or not to talk about both species and genera in my silly book of only genera. intro getting so bulky and complicated. I should have picked something other than pears, because I can't really use the hindi and mandarin to make sure I'm talking about the same pear
pyrus pyrifolia, pyrus communis, and pyrus pashia
January 20, 2026 at 4:13 AM
pyrus pyrifolia, pyrus communis, and pyrus pashia
OOOOUUUGH should I just totally rewrite the whole thing to include species names? I stuck to just genus names because I felt like that would be easier to start kids off with and because every kid knows Tyrannosaurus, but I don't want to do it in a way that becomes confusing later
brief introduction to the concept and usage of a scientific name draft #2. am I missing any important points?
![mockup of two pages in a children's book
"How to read this book
Different languages around the world have different words for the same things.
[drawing of a pear]
In English, this is called a Pear.
In Spanish, this is called a Pera.
In Mandarin, this is called a 梨 (Lí).
In Hindi, this is called a नाशपाती (Nashpati).
In Russian, this is called a груша (Grusha).
To keep track of what they are talking about, scientists give every kind of living thing its own scientific name. These names are exactly the same everywhere in the world.
The scientific name for this fruit is Pyrus.
When a scientist thinks they have found a new kind of living thing, they write an essay called a description. A description talks about what that thing looks like, where it lives, and what makes it different from everything else. They also come up with a unique scientific name for it.
Other scientists read the description, and if they agree with what it says, the name becomes accepted. Afterwards, whenever another scientist wants to talk about that living thing, they give credit to whoever first named it."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5lfgdslvkgl6swnj36dosno7/bafkreidcr3z7qo72rhkf4fmlcgmxm7c4xpqy4347jb25nneupbr2ulscui@jpeg)
![mockup of two more pages in a children's book:
"A scientific name can include almost anything the author wants. Many scientific names use Ancient Greek or Latin, but they can include words from any language.
Sometimes, scientists name a living thing after another person, as a tribute or a sign of respect. Sometimes, scientific names include the name of the place where the living thing was found. Some scientific names are made by adding a word onto another scientific name. It’s all up to the scientists who write the description.
Scientific names can look difficult at first, but they are usually made up of smaller words. You may be using some scientific names already without even knowing it.
Another famous plant has the scientific name Helianthus (Heel-e-an-thus). This name is actually made of two Ancient Greek words put together. The word hḗlios means “sun”, and the word anthos means “flower”.
Put together, the whole name means “sun flower”.
[drawing of a sunflower]
Even if you have never seen the real plant before, understanding the scientific name on its own can tell you something about it."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5lfgdslvkgl6swnj36dosno7/bafkreigthqf2d3aeqqc2wmprb37cx66ib53crctyo7ofqkzdnjozajg4uy@jpeg)
January 20, 2026 at 1:40 AM
OOOOUUUGH should I just totally rewrite the whole thing to include species names? I stuck to just genus names because I felt like that would be easier to start kids off with and because every kid knows Tyrannosaurus, but I don't want to do it in a way that becomes confusing later
brief introduction to the concept and usage of a scientific name draft #2. am I missing any important points?
January 19, 2026 at 9:58 PM
brief introduction to the concept and usage of a scientific name draft #2. am I missing any important points?
I have to go inside when the neighbors let their dog out or the dog will run over to me and bark. Not aggressive, not snarling, just looking at me and making noise. I don't know what that means ms. dog
January 19, 2026 at 7:16 PM
I have to go inside when the neighbors let their dog out or the dog will run over to me and bark. Not aggressive, not snarling, just looking at me and making noise. I don't know what that means ms. dog
I unfollowed everyone in my sphere who was following Ethan Mollick, who is making fake video games with the Claude Code agentic AI to prove a point or something. I think that's gross even if it's just a funny thought experiment, and if you think it's cool you're not allowed in my treehouse
January 19, 2026 at 6:07 PM
I unfollowed everyone in my sphere who was following Ethan Mollick, who is making fake video games with the Claude Code agentic AI to prove a point or something. I think that's gross even if it's just a funny thought experiment, and if you think it's cool you're not allowed in my treehouse
Reposted
Cow Tools!🔨🪚🪛🔧
A pet cow named Veronika uses tools in a surprisingly sophisticated way—possibly because she has been allowed to live her best life
Meet Veronika, the first cow known to engage in flexible, multipurpose tool use
A pet cow named Veronika uses tools in a surprisingly sophisticated way—possibly because she has been allowed to live her best life
www.scientificamerican.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Cow Tools!🔨🪚🪛🔧
how many days past the sell-by date would you eat a bag of carrots
January 19, 2026 at 4:51 AM
how many days past the sell-by date would you eat a bag of carrots
nothing personal against this guy, but someone I was following made me look at this, so I don't follow them anymore. I will continue to faceplant on the side of "plagiarism is bad"
January 19, 2026 at 3:57 AM
nothing personal against this guy, but someone I was following made me look at this, so I don't follow them anymore. I will continue to faceplant on the side of "plagiarism is bad"
apparently I was following some AI person and also they're calling themselves pro-tech now. my content is not for you guys, sorry.
January 19, 2026 at 2:19 AM
apparently I was following some AI person and also they're calling themselves pro-tech now. my content is not for you guys, sorry.
Reposted
eat the slop www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest
A University of Alaska student was charged with a misdemeanor for eating another student's AI-generated art in protest.
www.artnews.com
January 18, 2026 at 10:49 PM
eat the slop www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
how do I illustrate the concept of a scientific citation
like, a thank you note?
like, a thank you note?
January 18, 2026 at 9:29 PM
how do I illustrate the concept of a scientific citation
like, a thank you note?
like, a thank you note?
Fun References
January 18, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Fun References
Every time I mention on here that Florida is currently in a severe drought, it seems to rain the next day. Oooh have I mentioned Florida is in a terrible drought, oooh such a rainless place it is. There is supposed to be standing water on the ground at this time of year, but it's just not happening.
January 18, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Every time I mention on here that Florida is currently in a severe drought, it seems to rain the next day. Oooh have I mentioned Florida is in a terrible drought, oooh such a rainless place it is. There is supposed to be standing water on the ground at this time of year, but it's just not happening.
shoutout to pretzels
January 18, 2026 at 6:25 AM
shoutout to pretzels
I understand people who are loyal to institutions because of money and stability and having kids and that kind of thing, but ultimately I am loyal to bugs. I'm in this field because I like bugs. If I cared about money or stability, I would have been a dentist or something
January 18, 2026 at 5:09 AM
I understand people who are loyal to institutions because of money and stability and having kids and that kind of thing, but ultimately I am loyal to bugs. I'm in this field because I like bugs. If I cared about money or stability, I would have been a dentist or something
I'm supposed to be signing up for courses at UF, but I don't want to give them money. They're just going to use it to make the world worse with another AI center or something.
Have I mentioned this is supposed to be winter shrimp season, but we're in a drought? In Florida?
Have I mentioned this is supposed to be winter shrimp season, but we're in a drought? In Florida?
January 18, 2026 at 2:47 AM
I'm supposed to be signing up for courses at UF, but I don't want to give them money. They're just going to use it to make the world worse with another AI center or something.
Have I mentioned this is supposed to be winter shrimp season, but we're in a drought? In Florida?
Have I mentioned this is supposed to be winter shrimp season, but we're in a drought? In Florida?
Reposted
Massachusetts recently had a contest to redesign its flag that allowed people to submit their own designs. One of the submissions was this one, featuring the state dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, but for some reason it did not advance to the later voting rounds. I am still not sure why.
January 17, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Massachusetts recently had a contest to redesign its flag that allowed people to submit their own designs. One of the submissions was this one, featuring the state dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, but for some reason it did not advance to the later voting rounds. I am still not sure why.
I think I need to do *something* visually interesting to the works cited section of the kids book so that it doesn't look unfinished. Inventing the concept of ~Fun References~
January 17, 2026 at 10:34 PM
I think I need to do *something* visually interesting to the works cited section of the kids book so that it doesn't look unfinished. Inventing the concept of ~Fun References~
fanart of the actual Kimmeridgebrachypteraeschnidium fossil
January 17, 2026 at 7:03 PM
fanart of the actual Kimmeridgebrachypteraeschnidium fossil
judging by my email inbox this week, iDigBio REALLY wants people to go to their webinars again and to forget about the chatbot thing. I'm not going to forget about the chatbot thing.
January 17, 2026 at 5:32 PM
judging by my email inbox this week, iDigBio REALLY wants people to go to their webinars again and to forget about the chatbot thing. I'm not going to forget about the chatbot thing.
Reposted
