blessed be the poop lab techs

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 8h ago

Samples—and a certain stink—are accumulating at Quest Diagnostics thanks to the cyclosporiasis outbreak. “You get used to it.” on.wsj.com/4fAqfu0

Maybe you've had a cat that liked to nibble on fruit, or enjoy a sweet treat, but I am sorry to say that the research on this is pretty clear: cats can't taste sweet. As with *everything* in science, this is subject to revision with new data. Let's review the existing evidence!

Cute Cat Enjoys Ice Cream Cone

Alt: Cute Cat Enjoys Ice Cream Cone. One of those viral types of gifs in the library. Black and white cat licks a vanilla ice cream cone held by a human hand.

static.klipy.com

Electrolytes are essential for your body, but that doesn't mean most people need electrolyte drinks. Swipe through to learn when they can help, when water is enough, and how to naturally replace electrolytes. 👇 scienceupfirst.com/nutrition/ar... #ScienceUpFirst

The Impact of Conspiracy Thinking on Well-Being www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/gasl... "...associated with lower overall life satisfaction, they could also increase a sense of meaning in life in some cases. Believing in conspiracy theories may also help provide a sense of community."

The Impact of Conspiracy Thinking on Well-Being

Do you know a conspiracy theorist? Chances are you do.

psychologytoday.com

Really should be "vaccine deniers," but

Cambridge Skeptics@cambskeptics.bsky.social · 3d ago

Recognizing the stories behind people’s concerns with vaccines can help public health advocates build a more inclusive approach to healthcare, reports Katherine Shwetz. theconversation.com/how-vaccine-...

hundreds of ancient geoglyphs found in the Amazon www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/w...

Archaeologists Find Hundreds of Ancient Glyphs in the Amazon (Gift Article)

The geometric earthwork structures, carved into the ground with embankments and ditches, are in some cases more than 2,500 years old, researchers said.

nytimes.com

If you're looking for one final vacation this summer -- look somewhere else! @jwocker.bsky.social's "Don't Go There" offers a lighthearted look at grim locales like Chernobyl, Skinwalker Ranch, and the Pine Barrens, home of the Jersey Devil. @quirkbooks.bsky.social

‘Don’t Go There’ is a travelogue of frightful locations

A warning before you book that summer rental in Chernobyl.

aiptcomics.com

NEW At a lunch at his northern Virginia golf course in May, president Trump told his health secretary RFK Jr. that he had the yips. Our look inside Trump's push to get Kennedy to do more on vaccines: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Trump Turns Up the Heat on RFK Jr. to Cut Back Childhood Vaccines

​The president is focused on the shots’ alleged tie to autism, even though White House advisers wanted to tone down attention to the issue ahead of the midterms.

wsj.com

Is it useful to measure “biological” v “chronological” age? [Spoiler: Nah❗] www.economist.com/science-and-... At the individual level, biological age tests mostly nonsense. It can also lead to harmful “biomarker chasing” (obsessing on wellness longevity BS). Advice ALWAYS same: #healthylifestyle

Is it useful to measure “biological” v “chronological” age?

You will get data, but perhaps not knowledge

economist.com

How some of the world’s most powerful people sank into a morass of conspiracy theories, writes Richard Hanania. archive.ph/Zqssr www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/26/o...

I had a front-row seat to the emergence of the Tech Right. It wasn’t pretty. - The Boston Globe

How some of the world’s most powerful people sank into a morass of conspiracy theories.

bostonglobe.com

Lovely to see the affordable paperback re-release of my @laneandersonaward.bsky.social winning book Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be listed in the @kidscanpress.bsky.social Fall 2026 catalogue! Hitting stores on September 1st, 2026

Improving science literacy requires teaching people how science actually works: that it's fallible, self-correcting, and how it's funded. This paper argues that strategy is more helpful rather than just teaching more scientific facts. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

DID YOU KNOW IF YOU FIND A HORSESHOE CRAB THATS BEEN TAGGED BY THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND SUBMIT THE LOCATION YOU SAW IT USING THE FORM ON FWS DOT GOV SLASH CRABTAG THEY SEND YOU A BEAUTIFUL CRAB PIN

I wrote a tiny bit about the rediscovered O. megalodon vertebrae and quite a lot about all the weird ways things can get lost or vanish from science: theconversation.com/megalodons-l...

Megalodon’s legendary life revealed by fossil rediscovery

Previously lost fossils sometimes reemerge, but how do palaeontologists end up losing specimens in the first place?

theconversation.com

Are we having more earthquakes than usual?

Don't let exploitive supplement GRIFT win! Little evidence to support use. Poorly regulated. Possible harm. www.bbc.com/news/article... "...'insane' how many supplements people are using." "...increasing numbers of patients are coming to him with liver problems caused by herbal supplements."

Taking supplements every day? You might be doing more harm than good

While many of us take supplements regularly, there are some risks people may not be aware of.

bbc.com

Modern alligators & crocodiles are basically the Corgi or Dachshund version of their early ancestors, "pseudosuchian archosaurs". Early crocodylomorphs were much smaller, but had long legs & may have been partially bipedal: running on all fours, but capable of climbing and snatching with forelimbs.

Claude ✡️🦖🦕@cascoclauda.bsky.social · 6mo ago

a warm welcome to galahadosuchus, a small crocodylomorph from late triassic england 🐊 the holotype was previously referred to terrestrisuchus, but bodenham et al. redescribe it as a separate taxon in their #openacess paper anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

For more than two decades, Hany Farid had been the world’s leading expert in the field of digital forensics. But in the age of A.I., he is struggling to prove what’s real before the internet decides for itself. nyti.ms/4vcvvte

From @jaydewst.bsky.social: GW231123 defies our best models, hosting two black holes that shouldn’t exist. A new paper proposes a radical solution: these monsters may have been born in the early universe as primordial black holes. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/06/13/gw231123-as-primordial-bhs/

The Universe’s Most Wanted Black Holes Finally Have an Alibi

GW231123 defies our best models of stellar collapse, hosting two black holes that shouldn't exist. A new paper proposes a radical solution: these monsters may have been born in the early universe as p...

astrobites.org

In 1866, the topic became so controversial that the Société de Linguistique de Paris banned discussions about language origins altogether, writes Karen Stollznow. theconversation.com/where-did-la...

Where did language come from? Nobody really knows, but the theories are fascinating

In 1866, the topic became so controversial that the Société de Linguistique de Paris banned discussions about language origins altogether.

theconversation.com

🦇

Why tequila depends on Mexico's bats

Conservationists and communities are planting thousands of agave plants to protect endangered bats, and the future of Mexico's tequila production.

bbc.com

Oh boy, the UFO disclosure people are really excited about "Disclosure Day." But, like, what are they expecting to happen? What's gonna change after *80 YEARS* of nothing?

Is UFO disclosure really imminent?

Or do we have to settle for the fictional version in 'Department of Truth' #28?

aiptcomics.com

The arrival of soccer fans from around the world to the United States for the FIFA World Cup may lead to additional cases of some infectious diseases, but researchers say the event doesn’t pose major public health risks. https://scim.ag/4v8Dl78

Will the World Cup kick off disease outbreaks?

Don’t expect pathogens to steal the show, says research group that studied the risk of visiting fans spreading infections

scim.ag

Nostalgia Content xkcd.com/3256/

Imagine the distance between Earth and the sun is one inch. How far away do you think the nearest star is? Nope. Try again. Still wrong. Again? Nope. Huh uh. Space is WAY bigger than you think. badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/space-is-w... 🔭 🧪

Space is way bigger than you think

Go ahead and think about it. Nope, it’s bigger. Try again. Nope, still too small. This game can go on a long time.

badastronomy.beehiiv.com

To travel between solar systems, a spacecraft would need extremely sophisticated – if not impossible – technology, reports Kai James. theconversation.com/could-aliens...

Could aliens ever visit Earth? An aerospace scientist unpacks the challenges of interstellar spaceflight

To travel between solar systems, a spacecraft would need extremely sophisticated – if not impossible – technology.

theconversation.com

My latest book, Darwin and the Monsters, is now available. www.amazon.com/Darwin-Monst...

Darwin and the Monsters: The Long History of Cryptozoology

Amazon.com: Darwin and the Monsters: The Long History of Cryptozoology eBook : Regal, Brian: Kindle Store

amazon.com

Magnolias evolved before bees existed. 95 million years ago, their ancestors shared the planet with the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, but no bees. So they made a messy partnership with beetles that continues today & it explains why they're such unusual flowering plants. Let's talk about it.

Magnolias Are So Old That They’re Pollinated by Beetles

Why beetles? You'll need to read to beelieve it.

mymodernmet.com

The biggest dinosaurs are only known from partial skeletons and isolated elements. Why is that? Well, consider how long it would take to bury a hundred-foot-long, 60 ton reptile. My latest for @smithsonianmag.bsky.social 🧪🦕

What Was the Biggest Dinosaur? Fragmentary Fossils Make It Hard to Tell

Pinning down the most titanic of the large sauropod dinosaurs is not an easy task, since the odds were generally against the biggest ones being buried and preserved

smithsonianmag.com

From Ansh Gupta: We pointed JWST at a galaxy magnified 5000 times by the universe–what did we learn by seeing the unseeable? ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/05/27/jwst-stars-gravitational-lensing/

Seeing Stars: Juicing up JWST with 5000x Magnification

We pointed JWST at a galaxy magnified 5000 times by the universe–what did we learn by seeing the unseeable?

astrobites.org