Bugguide photo of a "Thief weevil" (Attelabidae: Pterocolus sp) by user Metrioptera. He is a jolly iridescent turquoise and sort of rectangular in shape, with an unusually wide stance.
let's all take a moment to consider the Thief Weevil and his outrageous pantaloons
"This annual award is designed to recognize and celebrate scientists who identify substantial errors in their own published work and take proactive, meaningful steps to correct the scientific record, even if faced with potential professional or personal consequences."
Even if you find “AI” chatbots useful and reliable for other tasks, don’t take at face value any responses that appear to describe what the system is actually doing or how it works. They’re designed to generate plausible sentences, not account for their own operations (or issue corporate statements)
While people have long believed in ghosts, our search to find them began relatively recently. @alicevernon10.bsky.social looks at our (not always rigorous) quest for evidence in "Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking." @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social
We all know about the Krampus connection to Christmas now, but did you know there be monsters in Carnival, too? It's all tied more into Lent and Easter than you might think, too. @feralhouse.bsky.social
Batman's an inspiration in the DC Universe, but can he also inspire *US* to be better? @michaelrosch.bsky.social takes a look at "the Batman effect," stemming from a subway experiment in Italy. @aiptcomics.com
Are we missing out on a crucial stage of pulsar evolution? Guest author Tibby Finn Leeming shows how a lack of data can sometimes be misleading. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪
astrobites.org/2026/02/14/i...
Four burrowing owls in different body poses, set against a barren prairie scene.
Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) are found throughout the Americas wherever vegetation is low, and soil permits burrows.
They're prevalent in the mountain states of Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, especially in area where prairie dogs create convenient burrows.
(pic: Wendy Miller)
Before you move in permanently with the ants, just be sure about it. #never-look-back #symbiosis 🐜🪲🔬https://www.science.org/content/article/these-beetles-wear-chemical-invisibility-cloaks-and-will-die-if-they-re-removed
Sure, "KPop Demon Hunters" has, uh, demons, but there's a skeptical message in there about wellness gurus, too. Learn the signs of a grifter from Healer Han! @caulfieldtim.bsky.social @jonathanstea.bsky.social @joho.bsky.social @gorskon.bsky.social
It's Frost Quake season. Here's a post from 2024 that is applicable to what is happening in the eastern US now.
sharonahill.com/rapid-deep-f...
*taps mic* ahem
May I interrupt the nonstop tidal wave of doom with a tidal wave of LAVA?
They're as high as a skyscraper, ooze at the speed of a human sprinter, and are really, really hot.
By me for @science.org, reported from the #RockyWorlds4 conference: 🔭🧪
In today’s media landscape, we’re often not just disagreeing — we’re living in different information worlds. Here, I unpack what research actually says about echo chambers, outrage, and how platform design fuels polarization.
The good news: this isn’t inevitable.
If you need some listening while you shovel snow, or just a break from the weekend's harsh news, I'm on "The Sunday Daily," a new @nytimes.com podcast, talking about Neanderthals and other humans with Michael Barbaro & Franz Lidz www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/p...
An artists’ impression of the re-entering debris breaking up over California and generating a sonic boom which propagates down to the ground and is recorded by seismometers.
Researchers in Science present a novel way to track errant space debris as it falls to Earth in near-real-time.
Their method uses publicly available data from ground-based seismic sensors to detect the shockwaves, or sonic booms, of reentering debris. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4jTaKxz
Reading comprehension scores are tanking, and fewer Americans are picking up books. But practicing deep reading can help you process content more carefully and keep you from falling for misinformation, write JT Torres and Jeff Saerys-Foy. theconversation.com/deep-reading...
This kind of research highlights the complexity of issue...👇
Evidence for link between digital technology use & teenage mental health problems is weak, our large study suggests theconversation.com/evidence-for...
"...it’s important to look at the broader context of a young person’s life..."
Stars are colorful, and the brightest can appear blue, red, yellow or sometimes white. But not green--even though they emit lots of green light! Here's why
Industry is sceptical that the technology will be commercially viable anytime soon, reports Ryohtaroh Satoh. archive.ph/luLak www.ft.com/content/129b...
A view from above of a large cyclonic storm that is mainly a grey colour, set against a swirling backdrop of more bluish smaller storms. At the 12 o'clock position in the large storm is a small point of green light, which is a lightning bolt. This scene is on Jupiter.
Psst.
This is a lightning bolt.
On fucking Jupiter.
A pink near-translucent animal with four tentacles and eight or more tube feet. It's sort of shapeless, like a condom that's been filled with water, but the tentacles remind me of antennae, and the tube feet look like something out of a cartoon. It sits on the sandy ocean bottom.
They're a type of sea cucumber, but we've decided to call them SEA PIGS. Let's meet 'Scotoplanes globosa'.
They live on the bottom of the sea, on abyssal plains.
They're adapted to crushing depths (up to 6,000 m / 20,000 feet) & near-freezing temps.
(📷: MBARI)
How do you control a robot smaller than a grain of sand? With a bit of help from Albert Einstein, it turns out.
Learn more in one of our favorite stories from last year: https://scim.ag/3Ng7aSc
I just learned that Erich von Daeniken, who wrote the racist and massively ridiculous Chariots of the Gods book(s), has died. I loved that stuff before I learned how reality actually works, and now regard it as profoundly damaging to science and popular culture.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_v...
Why do we feel starved for time? www.sciencenews.org/article/star...
"Recent research shows that time poverty depends more on perceived shortages than actual ones."
Studies: people have MORE free time now, but we all FEEL busier.
Key: fragmentation, less "flow" time, online environment...
I talked to the podcast "Explain It To Me" about why we still struggle with the flu and the common cold. Don't underestimate the power of viruses! Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3r0h... Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
THERE'S GOLD IN THEM THERE PILLS
RFK, Jr. promotes scads of supplements, unproven and potentially dangerous intravenous infusions, tinctures, and tonics.
The potion purveyors reap prodigious profits.
www.wsj.com/health/rfk-j...
Why does life explore so few of the forms it could possibly take? Using fractal descriptors, this #scienceadvances paper shows that Earth’s biosphere clusters around simple shapes, reflecting deep evolutionary constraints. @artemyte.bsky.social @manlius.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...
Plot twist: Europe’s ceratopsians were hiding in plain sight, misidentified this whole time. www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new... #FossilFriday
Skeptics with a K: Episode #446
Happy New Year! For the first episode of 2026, Marsh takes a look back at the predictions psychics made for 2025 and how many came true.
www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/ske...
Just read through this whole series on various cryptids and the state of cryptozoology today, pop culture, and their ongoing slide into the paranormal, plenty to ponder.
