Here a compilation of stupid things library consultants have said to me in solidarity with library pals at Lambeth Libraries where genius consultants has decided that a qualified head of library service post isn't really essential.

Just out- a really distinctive new species of the miniature fish genus Priocharax, Priocharax ajuru, named for a modified snout that houses a massive olfactory organ: (PDF can be requested from Researchgate at following link): www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Looking at some soft-CT data we gathered last year. Here you can really see the tubercles in this male North American minnow

Open access paper: Dolan, E. P., Fields, A. T., Bean, M. G., Doege, R. L., Hatt, J. L., Conway, K. W., & Portnoy, D. S. (2026). Conservation genomics of Pecos pupfish (𝐶𝑦𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠). Journal of Fish Biology, 1–15. doi.org/10.1111/jfb.... onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Conservation genomics of Pecos pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis)

The Pecos pupfish, Cyprinodon pecosensis, is an imperilled freshwater fish found in arid regions of Texas and New Mexico (USA). The species faces multiple challenges to persistence including reductio...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Some video of the new species 𝘎𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘬 𝘯𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘢, the blind loach discovered from a well in Northeast India www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDhl...

Neue Fischart in Brunnen entdeckt // New Fish Species Discovered from a Well

YouTube video by SenckenbergWorld

youtube.com

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran... #BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

Just published: A very unusual fish, described here as a new genus and species of loach, and the first groundwater-dwelling fish reported from Northeast India. Meet 𝑮𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒌 𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒂! Open access article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I really should double check things I think I remember. It wasn’t an essay, just a entry from “In Our Time” about cultural icons of the 70s. Here it is in full:

If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff. Democracy dies in oligarchy.

A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

Today's front-page of the Bryan Eagle showcases the very large protest for academic freedom held on the Texas A&M campus by @tamu-aaup.bsky.social last night

Every other summer we run a fish biomechanics course at Friday Harbor Labs. It is an awesome opportunity to learn the tools of biovisualization while experiencing the rich fish diversity of the Salish Sea. Come join us! 🧪

If, you me, you have NO WISH WHATSOEVER to have some annoying and un-asked-for bit of AI constantly begging for attention... you can UNINSTALL the thing.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Kevin is right -- holy hell! -- but among many other things, this obit demonstrates the possible price of resistance.

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Holy hell, what an obituary

Watchingamerica.com “…makes available in English articles written about the U.S. by foreigners, often for foreign audiences, and often in other languages. We are a unique window into world opinion.”

Phylogenomics of Cypriniformes, the most diverse order of freshwater fishes: consensus, challenges and limitations Hiranya Sudasinghe, Ralf Britz, Michael Matschiner, Kevin Conway, Heok Hui Tan, Maurice Kottelat, Rajeev Raghavan, Neelesh Dahanukar, ... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Phylogenomics of Cypriniformes, the most diverse order of freshwater fishes: consensus, challenges and limitations

Cypriniformes, the most species-rich order of freshwater fishes (~5,000 species), represents a key lineage for understanding vertebrate diversification in freshwater ecosystems. This clade includes se...

biorxiv.org

9 years ago (2016) - Yegua Creek, Brazos River

Our new open-access book has been published today. Please download and share www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

When it comes to creative and artistic works I have NO interest in anything included in the AI catchall (caveats required because machine-learning has its place WRT handling data). I will never use it. Do I want an AI copilot? No no no, no I do not; I despise the fact that I am even asked.

I'm a little wrong here, y'all! We have a couple more weeks to fight for the IMLS. It'll be through the House Appropriations Committee on July 21. Get on the phone. Get in inboxes. Your messaging? The Murder Bill is going to make libraries *even more crucial* now. appropriations.house.gov/schedule

Schedule

appropriations.house.gov

kelly jensen@heykellyjensen.bsky.social · last yr.

So with that, the IMLS is gone as of October 1. What I want to know is what this means for the two lawsuits filed against the administration over the abrupt gutting of the only agency federal supporting public libraries in the US. They're moot, yeah? The agency is *GONE* in October.

did some reporting on the impact of DOGE's cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the court cases that are preserving the agency (for now), Trump's threats to slash federal arts spending, and the importance of IMLS to libraries and schools everywhere: slate.com/life/2025/05...

Why Would Trump Dismantle This Tiny Little Agency That Does So Much Good?

Judges are on the IMLS’ side. But the budget battle is still to come.

slate.com

New paper out by Kole Kubicek, Ralf Britz & Kevin Conway in Biology Letters 🧬 Heterochrony & Innovation: What the Pectoral Fin Spine of Catfish Reveals About Evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Heterochrony leads to evolutionary novelty: the catfish pectoral-fin spine (Teleostei: Siluriformes) | Biology Letters

Studies of sequence heterochrony have revealed changes in developmental timing during skeletogenesis, which are widespread among major groups of tetrapods and may be associated with major changes in m...

royalsocietypublishing.org

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung@sgn.one · last yr.

#Forschungsnews: Der Brustflossenstachel der Welse verknöchert früher als bei anderen Fischen – ein Fall von Heterochronie. 🐟 Diese scheinbar kleine zeitliche Verschiebung in der Entwicklung hatte große evolutive Auswirkungen. 🔗 Mehr unter: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1...

www.npr.org/2025/04/17/n... But worry not - dems will soon be on board, as signalled by their reception of the bullshit ideas peddled by the authors of "Abundance". Nature will be the first to suffer while the left tries to scrape their wav back

Destroying endangered species' habitat wouldn't count as 'harm' under proposed Trump rule

The Trump administration is reinterpreting a key word in the Endangered Species Act that could have big consequences for the habitats of species at risk.

npr.org

Bad media science takes can kill off whole species. Gene edited puppies are NOT actually dire wolves, any more than an especially hair mouse is a mammoth. Endangered Species Act is NOT rendered moot by this publicity stunt www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Trump team cites wolf ‘de-extinction’ as it seeks to cut endangered species list

The interior secretary hailed a biotech company’s claim to have brought back the dire wolf, while the administration and GOP push to roll back species protections.

washingtonpost.com

Quite certain there has been a recent influx of bots to Bluesky, based on my recent follows and the content of their pages.

Of course mainstream media keeps rolling over for Colossal, providing uncritical hype and coverage in exchange for exclusivity and “wow.” What Colossal is doing is wrong and they can’t even deliver what they promise. How many times do we have to go over this?

Ancient rat brains ever crossed your mind? If so, you're in luck! Here, brain morphology of Pliocene spiny rats Eumysops chapalmalensis was studied using endocasts, uncovering unique morphology that may indicate a niche not explored by extant species! 🌍🧪🐀 academic.oup.com/zoo...

When I came to Berlin 25 years ago, moor frogs (Rana arvalis) were quite common. After years of predation by invasive racoons (so sweet...) and serious droughts, the populations have collapsed. What to do? No idea.... #stadtnatur, #berlinbiodiversity, #berlin, #urbanbiodiversity

Tiny banan