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Hannah Thomasy

@hannahthomasy.bsky.social

2.2K followers 4.7K following 290 posts

Science journalist & biology nerd. ❤️🧪 Lover of brains & microbes & weird animals. Opinions mine obviously.

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Jan 2

Sharing one cool science experiment/discovery every day. Follow along if you need a quick break from the existential crisis that is 2025.

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 19h

Is this image from a site about sharks? If so, major missed opportunity not calling it sharkive

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 1d

Stressed out bees become pessimistic, have lower expectations that good things will happen. Same bees, same.
🧪🪲🧠
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Physically stressed bees expect less reward in an active choice judgement bias test | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Emotion-like states in animals are commonly assessed using judgment bias tests that measure judgements of ambiguous cues. Some studies have used these tests to argue for emotion-like states in insects...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 12d

Wishing a joyous Fat Bear Week to all who celebrate!!
Vote for your favorite chonkers OR watch the live stream @ links below
(Not gonna lie"Click to watch fat bears live" felt like a bit of a risky click.The internet has rotted my brain)
katmaiconservancy.org/fatbearweek
explore.org/livecams/bro...

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Reposted by Hannah Thomasy

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 19d

I like this. Since under RFK Jr, Covid shots are now for people with underlying conditions that put them at risk, Michigan’s chief medical executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian states that not having the most recent Covid shot constitutes such an underlying condition.

www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/inside...

In her recommendation, Bagdasarian stated,
"Any person over the age of six months without contraindication who has not received a dose of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved or-authorized 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine may be considered to have an underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 and is thus eligible to receive an age-appropriate dose."

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 27d

Bug friends! Where are all of the ~1000 fruit flies in my kitchen coming from?? Are they flying in from outside? Are they breeding inside? And if so, where?? I have hidden all the fruit and the little buggers are still proliferating.

I must know, even though I suspect the answer may be upsetting 🧪🪲

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 27d

From CBC. Presented without comment.

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 29d

One of my academic papers is in there...do I sign up? Or can I sign up on behalf of J Neurosci??

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 29d

Reba is dark brown with two little white triangles on her back so I think she is a triangulate cobweb spider? But let me know if you have other thoughts! 🧪

(The spider pronouns are arbitrary I have no idea if these guys are male or female)

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 29d

Because she hung out in the corner & seemed chill. Unlike Dave who was a maniac. But then one day I came downstairs and she was EATING Dave who was easily 2x her size. Anyway now she’s named Reba(a single mom who works 2 jobs who loves her kids& never stops with gentle hands& the heart of a spider)

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · 29d

Hey nerds wanna hear about the spider drama in my basement? Of course you do. About a week ago I found a LARGE spider in my basement. I am trying to be less freaked out by spiders so I named him Dave (idk why naming them helps but it does). We also had a medium sized spider that I was less scared of

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Reposted by Hannah Thomasy

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · Sep 8

"How Are the Very Rich Feeling About New York’s Next Mayor?"

A Dramatic Reading of The Recent New York Times Dispatch from the Hamptons.

Presented by The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector.

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Sep 5

Absolutely I am also extremely pro-bat

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Sep 5

Also I made the ER doctor seeing me at 2am chuckle slightly so I believe I received at least an A- in being an emerg patient. Something it is possible to achieve and totally normal to want.

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Sep 5

Yesterday I had an unplanned encounter with a bat. Not only was I able to get a rabies vaccine but I also got rabies immunoglobulin- antibodies pooled from lots of blood donors who were also vaccinated. Anyway vaccines are pretty fucking cool & we should talk about that a lot more. 🧪🦇🦠

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Sep 3

Maybe now this is just an account where I share my favorite paper/presentation titles? 🧪🦑

Today's paper is "Unsolicited nudis: ongoing spread of two non-native nudibranchs along Australia’s east coast"

Bonus nudi pic:

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 28

In the spirit of #InverteFest I am trying to be more chill about spiders. Does anyone have suggestions for offerings that I can make to this eldritch god of a spider that lives outside my front door in order to show respect and ask that he please please never come inside my house 🙏

Very large brown spider on a wooden wall

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 27

"Boulevard of broken frogs: patterns of local (mal)adaptation in polluted ponds."

"May the bite force be with you: a force-based classification of biting mechanisms in fish."

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 27

Browsing through the #SICB 2025 abstracts (as one does) & the titles are SO GOOD. 🧪

"Turning the frickin' frogs gay: the intersection of herpetology and queer internet culture."

"Hot parents in your area: Abiotic and social environment influence parental behavior." (I think about prairie voles??)

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 27

Ooh very cool I’ll have to check this out

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 26

Tentative IDs: yellow-haired sun fly (left) and black-margined flower fly (right) but let me know if you have other ideas!

Also important to note: unlike bees, these guys will pollinate your garden but never sting you. Also the larvae often eat aphids & other pests. What now bees
🧪

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 26

@franzanth.bsky.social are there events for #InverteFest? Or we celebrate by forcing friends/loved ones/strangers to look at a cool bug we found?

My cool bugs are the Syrphid flies in my backyard. Basically flies dressed in lil bee costumes. They're important (but understudied!) pollinators🧪🪲

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 25

It has come to my attention that my husband writes work emails WITHOUT A SINGLE EXCLAMATION POINT. Is he a sociopath or is this just how men exist in the world

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 23

Given the state of things, we as journalists really need to do our due diligence when it comes to technologies that could do real harm. Everyone deserves access to the best treatments for their disease, but I don’t think letting AI give desperate people promises about cures is the way to go.🧪

Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 23

While the host did try to push back somewhat, I think it is journalistically questionable to give this such a huge platform without interviewing multiple experts who can speak to the concerns here. There were many statements that were not exactly wrong but only served one side of the story. 🧪

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Hannah Thomasy @hannahthomasy.bsky.social · Aug 23

Oh nooo I listened to the new Radiolab ep even though I knew it would make me mad. Yes, Every Cure could help certain people but it seems likely to lead to people self-treating with dangerous/ineffective drugs without proper medical supervision ESPECIALLY as healthcare is increasingly unaffordable 🧪

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