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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 2h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 20h

Academics when they hear not all science jobs are research jobs

Surprised Pikachu GIF

Alt: Surprised Pikachu GIF

media.tenor.com

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 1d

An excellent Narceus! A male, you can see the enlarged 7th ring.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 1d

Of course!! Winkler, Berlese, potato-potato :)

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 1d

Added!

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 1d

Done! Welcome aboard!

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 1d

Happy to add you if you want! I'll post my set up soon.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 2d

There's no better place to see pretty millipedes than the Appalachians! They come in all colors of the rainbow here.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 2d

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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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛ @santiagokique.bsky.social · 3d

Like...this is the biggest corruption scandal the NIH has experienced in its entire history and its not even close. Half of a BILLION dollars to a single project as a result of political spoils. That's the equivalent of several hundred R01s.

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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛ @santiagokique.bsky.social · 3d

Even though it's crisis #192308 in our current time, I don't think it's sufficiently sunk in with ppl in the academic community that getting federal funding for your research will primarily depend on whether Trump political appointees find you and your work useful
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News

The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...

kffhealthnews.org

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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

Erik Linstrum @eriklinstrum.bsky.social · 2d

Must-read by Joseph Fishkin: the Trump higher ed "compact" demands "a near-complete surrender of core academic freedoms" and lets DOJ pull "federal benefits to which the university and its faculty and students are entitled under federal law." A deal for suckers balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 3d

I could watch Columbo make rich people uncomfortable for hours, Peter Falk is great.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 3d

Herbert loves his dang onions I'll say

ascalaphid @ascalaphid.com · 3d

Brother Herbert's Big Onion

to the tune of Diarrhea Planet's Ghost With A Boner:
SHREW WITH AN ONION!
SHREW WITH AN O-O-O-O-NION!

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 3d

Yep on both counts. Subspecies names based on color or phantom morphology of slightly different angles. I've yet to find strong cases for subspecies in myriapods and arthropods in general.

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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4d

the usual story. rich guy wants to punish universities for not clamping down on pro-palestinian protests and for doing too much to recruit minorities. at base these guys want the top tier of american universities to become, once more, safe-spaces for their dunderheaded failsons

The Billionaire Behind Trump’s Deal for Universities

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

Miguel Clavero @chikichanka.bsky.social · Aug 28

Perverse market incentives related to the desirability of rare items are pushing the European eel to extinction, by favoring its exploitation despite extreme scarcity
@consletters.bsky.social @ebdonana.bsky.social @azti.bsky.social
See thread below
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Reposted by Derek Hennen, Ph.D.

Dan Greene @dmgreene.bsky.social · 4d

Dwayne has his job back because we organized for it. We fight or we die. Join AAUP today www.aaup.org/join

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

I never have to answer the question "how do you identify this subspecies?" again. I could weep with joy! When I first learned millipedes in Ohio, I was always vexed trying to figure out which ones occurred in the state. Lol of course they were the same! Good stuff.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

Chalk all that up to YET ANOTHER WIN for specimen collection and supporting natural history museums--this work could never have been done otherwise!

a bald man with glasses and a beard is dancing in front of a peace sign .

Alt: a bald man with glasses and a beard is dancing in front of a peace sign. A scene of the Dean from the show Community.

media.tenor.com

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

Our study used hundreds of specimens collected over a 20 year period to ensure that we had genetic data from throughout the generic distribution, so it was 100% a case of delayed gratification! And that doesn't count all the specimens (1000+) we collected but didn't use for DNA work!

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

Much legwork previous to this study was done by two of the US's preeminent millipede biologists, Richard Hoffman and Rowland Shelley. Taxonomic work like this always builds on the foundations set years beforehand, and it's gratifying to continue that legacy and solidify our knowledge of these pedes.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

Out of 20 (!!) species names, our genetic and morphological evidence shows there to be 6 valid species in the genus, with Apheloria corrugata being the most widespread. It occurs from Oklahoma to Ontario, and is the gateway millipede for many fans. Isn't it pretty?

The cherry millipede Apheloria corrugata crawling on travertine rock in southwest Virginia. The millipede is black with yellow stripes and red dots along its side, with black antennae and yellow legs.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

And these millipedes have some seriously gorgeous color morphs. Check the paper to see the full suite, here's just one species, Apheloria virginiensis. But of course, there is a lot of mimicry, so color pattern generally can't be trusted.

Apheloria virginiensis (Drury, 1770), color morphs. A: Three-spotted, with yellow paranotal, metatergal and
collum spots, and yellow legs; B: Two-spotted, with yellow paranotal spots, and yellow legs; C: Three-spotted, with pink
paranotal, metatergal and collum spots, and pink legs; D: Three-spotted, with pink paranotal spots, yellow metatergal and collum
spots, and yellow legs.

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Derek Hennen, Ph.D. @derekhennen.bsky.social · 4d

Millipede fans rejoice: we published our revision of Apheloria! This is the most common cherry millipede genus, but its taxonomy has been riddled with nebulous subspecies names. No longer! We clarify species limits and provide a distribution map. mapress.com/zt/article/v... @apheloria.bsky.social

Revision of the millipede genus Apheloria Chamberlin, 1921 (Polydesmida, Xystodesmidae, Apheloriini) | Zootaxa

mapress.com

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