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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Order Rodentia @orodentia.bsky.social · 1d

Your regular reminder:

Please do not call bad-acting humans "rats." This is slander against rats.

Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Andrew @andrew-ecoathome.bsky.social · 4d

Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience

BIRDBASE dataset tracks ecological traits for 11,589 species of birds

Çağan Şekercioğlu was an ambitious, but perhaps naive graduate student when, 26 years ago, he embarked on a simple data-compilation project that would soon evolve into a massive career-defining achiev...

phys.org

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Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · 1d

Hahahahaha good to know! 😂

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Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · 1d

I relate 100%. Learning to play bass after finally getting a job in academia (but no one to play with in a new city). :(

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

We Are R-Ladies @weare.rladies.org · 15d

Ever run `install.packages()` and wish it were faster, smarter, and more reliable?

The {pak} package speeds things up with parallel downloads, dependency solving, and reproducible installs.

📦 pak.r-lib.org

#RStats

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

The Perfect Specimen @perfect-specimen.bsky.social · 24d

Featuring several mentions of this excellent paper www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... by our colleague Ronald Jenner.

What is animal venom? Rethinking a manipulative weapon

The scientific study of animal venoms covers a broad phylogenetic domain. We argue that the true extent of this domain has been obscured by researchers having overlooked the biological essence of veno...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 26d

As we're all taught, you can (usually) only directly date the age of a rock if it cooled from lava.

But here, scientists have dated dinosaur eggs, using uranium-lead ratios in the calcite. Hugely exciting, maybe groundbreaking.

My take @science.org

www.science.org/content/arti...

Scientists directly date dino eggshells for the first time

The new findings narrow age estimates for the clutch of eggs—and may help identify which species laid them

www.science.org

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Science Magazine @science.org · 27d

Some 241 million years ago in what is now England, a tiny, lizardlike creature had teeth well suited for snapping after insects.

Now named Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, this extinct reptile may be the oldest of its kind ever found. https://scim.ag/3V75MC5

‘Incredible’ fossil reveals earliest relative of lizards and their kin

Paleontologists use x-rays to reconstruct ancient reptile bones too fragile to remove from rock

scim.ag

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 28d

Water anoles take a bubble of air down when they submerge, which they breathe like a tiny scuba tank, and now @lindseyswierk.bsky.social & co reveal that the reptiles may also be using the bubble like a gill, to breathe oxygen directly from the water

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

A submerged water anole (Anolis aquaticus) with a bubble of air held on its head. Photo credit: Lindsey Swierk.

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Christie Wilcox @nerdychristie.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thumbs are cool and all, but have you ever thought about how important thumbnails are? They just might have been the key to rodents' evolutionary success. That and more of the best from @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Anderson Feijó examining rodents in the collections of the Field Museum. CREDIT: Field Museum

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Reposted by Rafaela Missagia

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · Sep 8

Jokes on you, that's his treadmill

Rebecca Gelernter @nearbirdstudios.bsky.social · Sep 8

Please enjoy 24 seconds of this naked mole rat's struggle to climb a small incline. He worked at it for probably five minutes while I was there.

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Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thank you very much! ☺️

Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · Sep 5

Me too! 😂

Vultures Aloft @thesleeperssleep.bsky.social · Sep 5

Truly and without irony, I love that we live in a world where folks can spend time studying rodent thumbnails

Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · Sep 4

Our paper on rodent thumbnails is out! Big team effort, powered by museum collections. Turns out, nails can reveal a lot about rodent evolution. Shoutout to Dr. Gordon Shepherd for the wild idea to study rodents thumbs!

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Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · Sep 4

thumbs up!!! 👍

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Rafaela Missagia @rmissagia.bsky.social · Sep 4

Our paper on rodent thumbnails is out! Big team effort, powered by museum collections. Turns out, nails can reveal a lot about rodent evolution. Shoutout to Dr. Gordon Shepherd for the wild idea to study rodents thumbs!

Science Magazine @science.org · Sep 4

New findings in Science suggest that rodents owe much of their evolutionary success to their thumb-nail (the first digit, D1), an adaptation that gave them dexterous hands for cracking seeds and nuts.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/46caVho

This red squirrel’s hands display tiny nail-bearing thumbs, alongside large claw-bearing digits.

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