Mastodawn

Michael Brewer Jun 20, 2025

Noam Ross Jun 19, 2025

Very proud of, and sad for, our friends at @thecarpentries for turning down a $1.5M #NSF grant rather than abandon their values. The (illegal) demands that they abandon DEI work were fundamentally at odds with their mission, and they made a hard and principled choice.

Click through for ways you can support them, financially or otherwise.

https://carpentries.org/blog/2025/06/announcing-withdrawal-of-nsf-pose-proposal/

Announcing Withdrawal of NSF Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems Proposal

In September 2024, The Carpentries submitted a proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) Program. This project would position The Carpentries as a leading open source ecosystem and further solidify our independence as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation. Developing a proposal of this magnitude (1.5 million USD) involved a significant amount of preparation, from conceptualisation of the idea to navigating the complex submission process. It was the first time The Carpentries did it on our own, with our Associate Director, Erin Becker, leading as principal investigator.

The Carpentries

Michael Brewer Apr 25, 2025

neville park Apr 25, 2025

the nerds are at it again

a new species of ghost spider (family Anyphaenidae) from Brazil's Atlantic forest has been named _Eldar galadrielae_ (the Eldar are the Elves in LotR)

paper: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-025-01982-4 // PDF free if you have an account at the World Spider Catalog: https://wsc.nmbe.ch/reference/18403

#Arachnews #arachnology #spiders #SpidersOfMastodon #taxonomy #brasil

Michael Brewer Mar 8, 2025

Blue Appaloosa Mar 8, 2025

Spider organs 3d model WIP. The plan is to 3d print in clear resin, with the organs as cavities I can fill with colored paint. I don't know if this will work!

(Spider experts, feel free to offer advice. Be gentle, I'm learning spider biology as I go. This is a mygalomorph.)

#SciArt #Arachnid #Spider

Michael Brewer Jan 25, 2025

Daniel 🐅🏔Jan 25, 2025

playin' video games and postin' nature photos
livin' the dream

Michael Brewer Jan 2, 2025

ranjit Jan 2, 2025

Bird Migration Explorer!

https://explorer.audubon.org/home

Bird Migration Explorer

The Bird Migration Explorer is your guide to the heroic annual journeys made by over 450 bird species, and the challenges they face along the way.

Michael Brewer Dec 17, 2024

Adel Durand-Monteil Dec 17, 2024

Pour le 17ème jour du #ArtAdventCalendar on retourne sur les araignées, avec cette tétragnathe aux longues chélicères.

#Art #Illustration

Michael Brewer Sep 20, 2024

Quentin Ruyant Jun 7, 2024

So, I was bored and I made that. It's a tree of life with emojis. It took much more time than I expected... Feel free to share!

Michael Brewer Sep 17, 2024

neville park Sep 17, 2024

Just Guys Being Dudes, scorpion edition: a delightful new-to-me Jan. 2023 paper in _Euscorpius_ about the male-male "arm-span competition", a sort of ritual combat, in the scorpion _Srilankametrus yaleensis_. They face off, posture, entangle their tails (and sometimes flip each other over), but don't (usually) actually try to injure each other. <https://mds.marshall.edu/euscorpius/vol2023/iss368/1/>

#OpenAccess #arachnids #scorpions • #Scorpiones #Scorpionidae #Heterometrinae 🦂

Non-aggressive competition between males of <em>Srilankametrus yaleensis</em> (Kovařík et al., 2019) (Scorpionidae), and other types of agonistic behavior observed in scorpions

A peculiar intraspecific agonistic behavior involving a non-aggressive physical combat is reported between the adult males of Srilankametrus yaleensis (Kovařík et al., 2019) (Scorpionidae: Heterometrinae). The adult males were observed to resort to a ritualized and relatively gentle way for strength demonstration. The combat is characterized by lateral spreading of pedipalps, chelicerae-to-chelicerae collision, and entanglement of metasomal segments. This behavior is hereby considered a form of an intrasexual combat defined as the “arm-span competition”. It is hypothesized to be beneficial for solving territorial and/ or sexual competitions while avoiding unnecessary mortality which could pose adverse impact to the natural populations. Other Heterometrinae species that possess sexually dimorphic, elongate pedipalps in males were also found to display similar behavior. This may account for at least one potential reason for the evolution of such sexual dimorphism. Finally, this study supplements several other agonistic behaviors (intraguild or antipredatory) observed in scorpions, with special attention to the family Scorpionidae. Three basic types of behavior are defined for this family: aggressive response, shielding response, and arm-span competition. These types of behavior may have implications for the evolution of this family.

Marshall Digital Scholar

Michael Brewer Sep 17, 2024

Juan Nunez-Iglesias Sep 17, 2024

“Who do you think are your main competitors, and how does that influence your research direction?”

👆actual question asked of a PhD student by their panel member. I am disgusted by this culture and by the fact that it is being taught to a new generation.

For a while I had fooled myself that we had moved past this. I see no competitors, only potential collaborators. But this episode reminded me that I am part of a small minority.

Michael Brewer Feb 24, 2024

José Cerca Feb 23, 2024

Join us for a one-day symposium on "Perspectives on Speciation" at the Linnean Society of London on 11 April 2024 or online. We also have a special issue on speciation on the Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society.

All info
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/perspectives-on-speciation-hybrid-meeting-tickets-728342330517

Perspectives on Speciation (Hybrid meeting)

A one-day interdisciplinary symposium examining how the process of speciation is viewed from a diversity of disciplines

Eventbrite

Pronouns	He/They
Website	brewerlab.net