Bri Johns
@briannaljohns.bsky.social
Former Fulbright Student Researcher + NSF SEEKCommons fellow working on The Mothbox project | Wildlabs Open Source Solutions group manager | she/they briannaljohns.com
Ohhh I found our first ever Rosy Maple Moth from one of our Mothbox deployments at @briannaljohns.bsky.social parent's in North Carolina! #teammoth
Hey look we got a cool new paper out in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social all about the MOTHBOX! Hubert put together a really nice paper with our team including Bernat Fortet, Daisy H. Dent, @wellreadpanda.bsky.social and @briannaljohns.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Mothbox and Mothbot: Automated light trap and data processing system for scalable insect monitoring
Insects represent the most diverse group of organisms on Earth and comprise the majority of known species; yet they are seldom accounted for in large-scale biodiversity monitoring systems and cons...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Man, documenting something while you build it makes it take like 100 times longer! But i finally finished the steps for how to build the latest "Mothbox Pro." Now, when I put them together, it's a breeze! digital-naturalism-laboratories.github.io/Mothbox/docs...
We're bringing back Open Science Shop + Mothbox meetings in 2026! Interested in manufacturing Mothboxes locally? Then these meetings are perfect for you! New meeting times: 1am and 3pm UTC. @dinalab.bsky.social
Interested in building & selling Mothboxes locally? We're starting up a working group of vendors across the globe interested in manufacturing Mothboxes ✨ Join us for our first meeting on August 28th at 14:00 UTC! @dinalab.bsky.social www.openscienceshop.org/join-the-mot...
Some big diffs between citizen science observations (from iNaturalist) and specimen records (from digitised museum collections) - cit. sci records biased towards large inverts & exotic spp. Great MSc project with recommendations 🌏🧪@nzhymenoptera.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Fun news! Our post about finding the caterpillar of the White Witch moth (while we were on our big mothbox expedition) is listed on the front page of the @inaturalist.bsky.social recap of posts of the year! www.inaturalist.org/stats/2025?u...
iNaturalist's Global 2025 Year in Review
Highlights and stats from 2025 on iNaturalist
inaturalist.org
Is this the caterpillar of the white witch? If so we are hanging with it right now on cerro hoya. Entomology sky help us out! @wizentrop.bsky.social ?
The Open Science Shop is working to develop a distributed manufacturing network of open science hardware. I am excited to share that the Open Science Shop has now documented the steps you can take to become an open science hardware vendor. Check it out here: www.openscienceshop.org/new_vendors/
New Vendor Information
Information and resources for new Open Science Shop vendors
openscienceshop.org
We’re excited to release the DIGITCORE Toolkit! The Digital Toolkit for Collaborative Environmental Research (DIGITCORE) outlines challenges, problems, and situations experienced in collaborative environmental research. Access the toolkit at digitcore.openenvironmentaldata.org
"You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it" | My commentary on Bill Gates' flawed new climate missive for @thebulletin.org: thebulletin.org/2025/10/you-...
You can’t reboot the planet if you crash it
What Gates is putting forward aren’t legitimate arguments that can be made in good faith. They are shopworn fossil fuel industry talking points.
thebulletin.org
🎉 @opensciencehw.bsky.social has named @griffey.bsky.social its 1st Executive Director! A leader in 🔓 open infrastructure & the 🔍 research ecosystem, Jason will guide OSHF to build sustainable community-driven systems for #openscience worldwide. opensciencehardware.org/2025/10/oshf... #opensource
opensciencehardware.org
I wrote a little comic about #opensource hardware and serviceberry foraging! I'll post all the panels here, but you can also read the whole thing on @archive.org : dinalab.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?...
Vampire moths might sound more horror film than natural world, but they’re 100% real! 😱 See why some moths pick human blood over fruit juice in this week’s Surprising Science. 🩸🦇
🌍 Languages of Life | Línguas da Vida | Bahasa Kehidupan 🗣️🌱 Biodiversity doesn’t speak only English. 🌳🐒 If species cross borders, our words should too. New paper in @ConLetters : why saving life also means using more languages 🔗https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/conl.13139
"We are not here to drop the aid and go home and pat ourselves on the back. We are here to establish a humanitarian corridor for states themselves to assume their responsibilities."
Italy, Spain Deploy Naval Ships After Drones Repeatedly Attack Gaza-Bound Flotilla
Spain and Italy are sending naval vessels to protect the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla after activists said drones repeatedly attacked their boats near Greece on Wednesday. Activists said the most ...
democracynow.org
very informative, if not very optimistic, piece on Nepal’s upheaval this month, its background and context: www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
Nepal’s Violent Gen Z Uprising
Fed up with élite corruption and widening inequality, a youth-led movement toppled the government in forty-eight hours. Now what?
newyorker.com
Our entirely localized open source processing scripts for The mothbox now have a cool new UI! JUST SELECT YOUR FOLDERS AND START FINDING COOL BUGS! @briannaljohns.bsky.social even made nice documentation to show you how to do it! digital-naturalism-laboratories.github.io/Mothbox/docs...
Start UI
Open Source Low Cost DIY Nocturnal Insect Monitoring
digital-naturalism-laboratories.github.io
Queer Night Hike! We took the local queer activist group, Salva El Grillo, on a fun nocturnal adventure in the rainforest! Saw so many creatures including: Olingo, caiman, red eyed tree frogs, scorpions, and more!
✨Science Spotlight✨ A Melbourne study shows gardened nature strips attract more insects than lawn - boosting bees, beetles & butterflies 🐝. Providing habitat and resources in urban spaces can make a big difference for biodiversity 🧪🌍 @philippabell.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Testing the MEGA MOTHBEAM. It kicked ass tonight and didn't melt itself! With @briannaljohns.bsky.social
'All paths lead to water' - my newest aerial embroidery, inspired by the grounds of Antony House, Cornwall! I loved the radiating paths through the trees leading to the water edge so here's my take on the landscape... with kayakers! Now available here: victoriaroserichards.co.uk/collection/a...
Hard to read but just one example of the human cost of wildfires - with climate change increasing the number of fires each year. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
‘If I Live to 25, I’ve Lived a Good Life’
nytimes.com
So @theturing.bsky.social has decided they no longer need Humanities (!) - so the The Alan Turing Institute’s Humanities and Data Science Interest Group are having one final event: "Network power: the humanities and data science in collaboration" In person and online, Oxford, 25th Sept. Pls share!
Network power: the humanities and data science in collaboration
digitalscholarship.web.ox.ac.uk
Making super low cost moth attractors with Dinalab crew: @wellreadpanda.bsky.social @briannaljohns.bsky.social
Unfortunately, Bluesky is unavailable in Mississippi right now, due to a new state law that requires age verification for all users. While intended for child safety, we think this law poses broader challenges & creates significant barriers that limit free speech & harm smaller platforms like ours.
Interested in building & selling Mothboxes locally? We're starting up a working group of vendors across the globe interested in manufacturing Mothboxes ✨ Join us for our first meeting on August 28th at 14:00 UTC! @dinalab.bsky.social www.openscienceshop.org/join-the-mot...
Join the Mothbox Working Group for our first meeting!
We're kicking off the Mothbox Working Group with our first meeting on August 28th at 14:00 UTC.
openscienceshop.org
So this is what I needed the "neutral face" author photo for :) I'm pontificating about why big sticky animals are hard to find. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A huge stick insect has been discovered in Australia. Here’s why that’s important | Gwen Pearson
Yes, they can be hard to spot – but this find in Australia highlights how little we know about creatures crucial to our ecosystem, writes entomologist Gwen Pearson
theguardian.com
Here's a super cool documentary about the Mothbox! Learn about the development and use of this fun #openscience #opensource tool for DIY biodiversity monitoring! youtu.be/1LGz3aWpeVE?...
Mothbox - Wildlabs Award 2024
YouTube video by Digital Naturalism Laboratories (Andrew Quitmeyer)
youtu.be
🚨 REMINDER: We're #hiring a new Executive Director! 📍 Remote ⏰ Full-time 💰 USD 100–115k Help grow the OSHF, lead programs+fundraising, and support #openscience & #openhardware: opensciencehardware.org/2025/07/were... #job #opensource #sciencejob
We’re hiring: Executive Director - Open Science Hardware Foundation
Job Summary The Open Science Hardware Foundation (OSHF) is a U.S.-based 501c3 not-for-profit organization working to foster enabling ecosystem for open-source development of scientific instruments, eq...
opensciencehardware.org
Have you wanted a mothbox? But didn't have time to build one yourself? We have a rare opportunity of a couple extra moth boxes in the USA that we could potentially ship to people at cost. It's basically $375 in parts plus shipping!
Hiya folks! For new people here's the big project we have been working on in Panamá! The Mothbox! It's a fully #opensource insect camera trap with loads of documentation to build the whole thing yourself from off the shelf parts! digital-naturalism-laboratories.github.io/Mothbox/