Matt Bracken

OMG! 🦀
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

@franzanth.bsky.social
@jopabinia.bsky.social

Guild of Natural Science Illustrators GNSI advances scientific illustration and visual science communication through education, community, and professional support.

The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (gnsi.org) has a job board they update regularly for requests like this. Researchers can contact news@gnsi.org with specs and GNSI will post it if it fits their guidelines. Paying work only, no spec work, but other than that, no job is too small #sciart

#HerpInTheGrass - make it happen people!

Common Garter Snake BOOP

#HERper #becurious 🐍

A figure depicting the relative abundance of different prey items among two species of felid (e.g., monkey, small bird, agouti), derived from scat. The x axis is labeled "PoO (%)."

I would like to interrupt your doomscrolling for an important announcement: This figure from Ellen Dymit et al., 2025, depicts the proportion of vertebrate prey in felid scat, recorded as a Proportion of Occurrence (PoO). 💩

In this issue, Chen et al. present the first population genomics analyses of Indian Ocean hydrothermal vent animals, using eight populations of the scaly-foot snail (Chrysomallon squamiferum) distributed across three mid-ocean ridges. They show an asymmetric south-to-north gene flow driven by deep currents and aided by ghost populations. Their results also identify source-sink dynamics and dispersal barriers essential for conservation planning in the context of upcoming deep-sea mining. The scaly-foot snail is an iconic vent-endemic species famed for the iron-infused sclerites on its foot and functions as a flagship species in deep-sea conservation efforts.

NEW Issue is out!👇
www.cell.com/issue/S0960-...

As the world is being plunged into the abyss, we bring you some abyssal scaly-footed snails from the deep ocean.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Plus it's #MolluscMonday

Associate Lecturer in Plant Ecology PRIMARY DETAIL - Salary package: $123,435 FTE (Level B.1) plus 17% employer's superannuation contribution and annual leave loading. - Full-time- 35 hours per week, fixed term for 36 months - Based at ...

Exciting position at The School of Natural Sciences at Macquarie University.

We are looking for an Associate Lecturer in Plant Ecology.

A great opportunity to teach, mentor students and contribute to plant ecology research on the Wallumattagal Campus in Sydney.

Striking signal for much above-normal temperatures across California, the Great Basin, northern Rockies and Desert Southwest from March 15-20. Temperatures will be more typical of summer than early spring (potentially 25 degrees above normal) in many areas and monthly records could be shattered.

Did you know kelp restoration isn't just about the seaweed? It’s about people too! 🌊🤝 Collaborating with communities makes a huge difference. Let’s intertwine our efforts with nature and humanity. Check out this guide for the scoop: https://kelpforestalliance.com/kelp-restoration-guidebook

Would aliens do physics, or is science a human invention? Shaped by a different biology or culture, other intelligent civilisations – if they’re out there – might understand the universe in a completely different way than we do. Physicist Daniel Whiteson explores what that could tell us about physics and ourselves

Shaped by a different biology or culture, other intelligent civilisations – if they’re out there – might understand the universe in a completely different way than we do. Physicist Daniel Whiteson explores what that could tell us about physics and ourselves

A Spring Breaker’s Guide To Foul-Smelling Sargassum Seaweed As students hit tropical beaches for spring break, here's a guide to the foul-smelling seaweed washing ashore in Florida, Mexico, and parts of the Caribbean Sea.

My guide for spring breakers as they head to the beach. What's that smelly seaweed washing ashore and is there a connection to human activities?
www.forbes.com/sites/marsha...

😢 #Seaweed #MarineLife 🌊🦑

It's a marathon, not a sprint When you've committed to holding a Summer Olympics, a marathon route becomes a guaranteed death march

With tomorrow's highs in the 80s, the LA Marathon is letting runners bail at mile 18 and still get a finishing medal. But how will LA28 handle the Olympic marathon at the end of July in what will almost certainly be hotter weather?

Plus a 2028 state hearing, and the latest Hot Links headlines 🔥

💜 #IWD2026 #Seaweed 🦑🌊

Did you know kelp forests are the ocean's superheroes? 🌊💚 They boost biodiversity, stabilize ecosystems, and even help fight climate change! Dive into the latest on our underwater allies and their carbon-crunching powers. Check it out: https://kelpforestalliance.com/kelp-and-carbon

Yeah, a putative decapod w/ only 8 obvious pereiopods is almost certainly an anomuran. Maybe a *Paralomis* ventured north….

#MarineLife #SciArt 🌊🦑

🦞🦀🦐🤷 jameystegmaier.com/2020/07/is-s...

🦀

The image shows two figures, a and b. Figure a shows a map of Europe with thermal positions indicated by color-coded hexagons, ranging from -1.0 to 1.0. Arrows point to "Reduced negative impacts" and "Increased negative impacts." Figure b shows a scatter plot of effect size vs thermal position with a fish illustration on top. "Biomass change estimates" indicated by circle size.

A study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution reports that long-term ocean warming reduces global fish biomass by up to 19.8% annually. Warmer years and marine heatwaves were linked to sharp biomass losses of up to 43.4%. go.nature.com/40b6AIB 🧪 🌍

NASA lost a lunar spacecraft one day after launch. A new report details what went wrong Why did a $72 million mission to study water on the moon fail so soon after launch? A new NASA report has the answer.

For when your physics students don't draw a sketch of the components before determining the direction of as vector: "Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft solar panels toward the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun." www.npr.org/2026/02/26/n... #ITeachPhysics

A small frog in the spout of a green watering can.

🌱 I wondered why the water wasn't flowing out of the watering can spout properly! Hello little frog! 🐸 #Gardening #AustralianWildlife

#Seaweed 🌊🦑

😍 #Seaweed #SciArt #MarineLife 🌊🦑

#PhycoFashion #PhycologyFriday 💚🏮🌊

For #PhycologyFriday, some views from the annual Pacific herring spawn dive surveys I’m working this year, exemplifying the importance of seaweeds as fish habitat! Seen in Toquaht and Huu-ay-aht territories, west Vancouver Island

#PhycologyFriday

Bouquet of green seaweeds #SciArt #PhycologyFriday

This view shows puffing dust bubbles and an erupting gas shell — the final acts of a monster star. It is about the star AG Carinae. The image showcases the details of the ionised hydrogen and ionised nitrogen emissions from the nebula (seen here in red). The blue demonstrates the contrasting appearance of the distribution of the dust that shines of reflected stellar light. Astronomers believe that the dust bubbles and filaments formed within and were shaped by powerful stellar wind . The star is surrounded by an expanding shell of gas and dust — a nebula — that is shaped by the powerful winds emanating from the star. The nebula is about five light-years wide, equal to the distance from here to our nearest star, Alpha Centauri.

🧵
#Hubble celebrated its 31st anniversary with this impressive view of AG Carinae, a luminous blue variable (LBV) 20,000 ly away in the constellation Carina.

Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, A. Nota, C. Britt 🔭 🧪 ⚛️

➡️ esahubble.org/images/potw2...

#universe #space #astronomy #stellarastro #science 1/3

Columbia Morningside Campus and NYC. Credit: Eileen Barroso, Columbia University

📣 Job Alert! Columbia Climate School seeks Lecturer in Discipline of Climate with expertise in climate change mitigation, adaptation, climate justice, and/or climate & food systems to teach within our interdisciplinary degree programs. ➡️ Learn more/apply (and please share!): https://bit.ly/4ss3dJf

Time series plot depicting predicted Nino 3.4 region ocean temperature anomalies from the latest (Mar 2026) ECMWF ensemble. It depicts an extremely rapid rise in such temperatures, from modest negative anomalies to strong positive anomalies, by mid-summer 2026--indicative of a transition from weak-moderate La Nina conditions to moderate-strong El Nino conditions over just a few months.

Whew.

All signs are increasingly pointing to a significant, if not strong to very strong, El Niño event. I'll have more to say in coming weeks & months, but for now I'll just say that this is increasingly likely to become a major regional-to-global climate driver in 2026-2027.