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Travis McEnery

@travismcenery.bsky.social

Making less wronger spider science productions on YouTube. https://youtube.com/@travismcenery2919

324 Posts1367 Follower165 Folgt
Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 2w ago

I don't know who lives in this house but they've made a pretty great Halloween spider. As Halloween spider decorations go, it's pretty good! It seems to be missing pedipalps, but I'll overlook that for its sheer size and the details it got right.

A giant spider statue (looks like a black widow) in front of a suburban house.
Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I have just learned that some Dolomedes spider females will sometimes attack, kill, and eat a courting male without mating with him, and this has nothing to do with their recent foraging success or failure. "No, it's not that I'm even hungry, I just REALLY don't like you." *chomp*

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 5mo ago

This new book by Dr. Stephanie Dole (aka Dr. Beetlelady) is fantastic. For any kids in your life (it's aimed at ages 8-12), "Bug Power" depicts various invertebrates as having superhero-powers with great illustrations, alongside excellent photos and real-life information. More in alt-text!

Dr. Stephanie Dole's "Bug Power", now available wherever you get books. The illustrations are fantastic, super-imaginitive, and fun (there's even a subtle Star Wars reference in there), but pairing that with detailed photos and real science makes this a uniquely engaging book. This is the kind of book that moves kids from "ew" to "oh wow" when they encounter invertebrates. And no, I'm not getting paid to say this, the publisher just sent me a copy for review (thanks to them btw!).
Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Spent a few minutes brush-beating just for fun in my yard today since the sun was out, and into my bin fell this little guy. I believe this to be Hentzia mitrata, though I'm not positive on the species. Regardless, it's the first of this genus I've ever found here at home. #spidersky #Pentax

A jumping spider posed on some cardboard. Pentax K-5ii, 100mm Macro WR, Promaster flash w/ homebuilt diffuser
Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Ten weeks. Ten weeks of work is what it took to produce the first draft of the script for the spider silk video, and the first draft sucks. But it's a finished draft. Gonna have a beer now. Revisions are a tomorrow problem.

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Nobody talks about how much fun it is to read science from the 1700's. This is from Francois Xavier Bon's "A Discourse on the Usefulness of the Silk of Spiders", published in Philosophical Transactions Volume 27, in 1710. "Parts of Generations" is wonderfully euphemistic.

An image of a page from the text that reads "The hinder part of the body of this insect is joyned to the fore-part only by a small thread, and cover'd with a thin skin, on which are hairs of divers colours: it contains the Back, Belly, Parts of Generations, and the Anus. I shall apply my self more particularly to the Description of the Aunus, as being the Part from whence the Spiders draw their Silk; it not being my design to give a Genral Description of this Insect, but only to speak of their Silk, and the Usefulness of it. It is certain, that all Spiders spin their THread from the Aunus; about which there are five Papillae, or small Nipples, which at first sight one would take for so many Spindles, that serve to form the Thread: I have found these Papillae to me Muscular, and furnished with a Sphincter. A little within these I have observ'd two others, from the middle of which issue several Threads, in a pretty large quantity, sometimes more, and sometimes less, which the Spiders make use of...
Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Ok, so understandably there's a lot of hate for AI. But a question for the science-y folks out there: what's your feeling on AI-assisted research search engines like Consensus or Undermind? My initial experiments with Consensus were good. Thoughts?

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Trying to learn how spider silk is actually made in the silk gland from reading the literature alone is like trying to learn how an internal combustion engine works by reading repair manuals that assume you already understand how an internal combustion engine works.

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Hey #spidersky - need some research help. I'm trying to find any data on the yield point of flagelliform/capture spiral silk. I can find some stress-strain curves but I can't see a yield point on them and my own FAFO-ing suggests it remains elastic MUCH longer than MA silk. Anyone?

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Well this is neat. "For the first time in global legal history, a country has recognized the legal rights of insects, and it is the stingless bees of the Peruvian Amazon that are taking the first step toward a new model of coexistence between nature and the law." share.google/hjumfhhF2gJo...

For the first time in global legal history, a country has recognized the legal rights of insects, and it is the stingless bees of the Peruvian Amazon that are taking the first step toward a new model ...

Peru just made history: stingless bees in the Amazon now have legal rights, letting communities sue to defend hives and habitat.

share.google

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Me in a corporate workplace lunchroom: ME: Hey, can I sit with you guys? COLLEAGUE: Only if you promise not to talk about spiders. ME: Okay, I promise. COLLEAGUE: Good, because nobody wants to hear about gross poisonous insects. ME: OKAY FIRST OF ALL

Travis McEnery@travismcenery.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Had someone try to explain to me yesterday that "peer review" was a concept invented by - or "owned by", it wasn't entirely clear - Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell for some nefarious, deceptive purpose. Yes, this is a person who "does their own research". Wild.