mk30

@mk30@regenerate.social
486 Followers
175 Following
2.5K Posts

artist/programmer living off-grid on hawai'i island.

as people here say, aloha 'aina!

Art/tech/general alt: @mk30

websitehttps://kukso.space

#ClimateDiary

More than 17,000 people in Canada’s western Manitoba province were being evacuated on Wednesday as the region experienced its worst start to the wildfire season in years.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/29/canada-wildfires-manitoba-province-fire-evacuation

📝 What were root genes doing before they started building roots? 🧵
https://doi.org/g9k8xd

Even plants that don’t have roots have genes to make them, so what is it that these genes are up to?

#Botany #PlantScience 🧪 #InBrief (1/10)

i started wondering whether uv lamps (like blacklights) might be useful to dry dishes washed with unfiltered water here. our main danger in unfiltered water is angiostrongylus cantonensis (the cause of "rat lung worm", or angiostrongyliasis).

i searched "uv light for angiostrongylus" and got this excellent open access article from PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases - a journal that i used to be editorial manager of 😁 :https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6772140/

it's a very nice literature review on the effects of uv light on various helminths that negatively affect human health.

the article included the following info: "Similarly, larvae of the nematode A. cantonensis exposed for 15 minutes to UV-A light were unable to develop inside an animal host."

blacklights are UV-A and i am now considering treating washed dishes with the blacklight in addition to air-drying them for a minimum 24 hours (which i already do).

i am very happy to have found this info, thankful to the scientists who did the research, and thankful to everyone who makes open access work. it feels pretty neat to have been a small contributing part of this incredibly complex knowledge production line, and to now be a beneficiary of the open knowledge that was produced.

working at PLOS wasn't always a picnic, but the scientists i worked with were amazing people with integrity, who genuinely cared about the research and the people impacted by the subjects they were researching. i feel proud to have facilitated the publication and sharing of their research findings to anyone - without subscriptions!

#OpenAccess #science #NTDs #offgrid #homestead #hawaii #RLW

Ultraviolet sensitivity of WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) -related helminths: A systematic review

Helminthiases are a group of disabling neglected tropical diseases that affect billions of people worldwide. Current control methods use preventative chemotherapy but reinfection is common and an inter-sectoral approach is required if elimination is ...

PubMed Central (PMC)

I got a whole bunch of weed mat from Craigslist for $20!

The edges are frayed, so I'm trimming the edges and cauterizing them (the same way you might seal a poly rope).

Going to give a bunch to @saltphoenix because the great garbage continuum has been very generous and it's good to share ☺️

#hawaii #offgrid #homestead #gardening

Orchids currently in bloom at my place: a white and maroon dendrobium and a purple and white spotted phalaenopsis. Both are growing up off the ground (in the canopy).

#orchids #flowers #bloomscrolling #hawaii #plants

Can you see the crab in this photo?

Camouflage is amazing!

#animals #nature #hawaii

Do any of you grow patchouli? If so, what do you use it for?

It seems to do pretty well at my place, but I don't grow enough to make oil. I dried some, but it doesn't keep its smell. Not sure what else to use it for 🤔

#plants #gardening #hawaii #patchouli #homestead @plants

Wow, I thought this tree near the shed was a mountain apple, but turns out it's a grumichama! They're tasty too!

Aside from some surinam cherry bushes, I think this might be the first tree we have that's made fruit! 🥰

#hawaii #plants #food #fruit #gardening #homestead

My bf's neighbor has a mountain apple tree that's just loaded with fruit! We helped her pick a bunch and got pounds and pounds of them to take home ♥️.

They go mushy very quickly, so they need to be eaten or sliced up and put in the fridge. They can also be frozen for future baking and smoothie uses.

#hawaii #fruit #plants #food #homestead

New Caledonia has enacted a sweeping 50-year ban on all commercial seabed mining across its entire 1.3 million km² maritime zone. The French Pacific territory, home to nearly one-third of the world's remaining pristine coral reefs, says it is prioritising environmental protection over economic extraction, allowing only non-invasive scientific research. RFI https://www.rfi.fr/en/environment/20250502-new-caledonia-bans-dangerous-seabed-mining-for-half-a-century?ref=fixthenews.com
#ShareGoodNewsToo
New Caledonia bans 'dangerous' seabed mining for half a century

New Caledonia this week imposed a 50-year ban on deep-sea mining across its entire maritime zone – a rare and sweeping move that places the French Pacific territory among the most restrictive in the world on seabed extraction.

RFI
×

Actually, I do have a couple more seedlings to demo today -- I realized there were some important ones to make sure we didn't weed out! 😅

Tomato seedlings. Some must be (and have been) weeded out so that others can thrive, but definitely don't weed them all out. Tomato seedlings might look similar to marigolds at first, but tomatoes have fuzzy stems. The leaf shape can vary a bit, depending on the specific variety of tomato. #garden #gardening

Cucurbits (squashes, cucumbers, gourds) have this funny thick set of initial leaves, rounded and spoon-like. The rest of the plant's leaves are thinner, hairy or even prickly, and symmetrical along the main vein with jagged edges. The veins on the non-cotyledon leaves of cucurbits remind me of a spider shape.

Note: Cucurbits can vary a lot in size and growth habit (whether they are bushy or climb up a trellis with a vine). Placement is kinda dependent on type. #gardening #garden

Beans come in 3 types of growth habit: bush, pole, and runner. It can be hard to tell which is which by the seedling. These are bush beans, which I know partly based on having labeled them while planting. 😅 Bush beans also tend to hold onto their initial (very-seed-shaped) leaves a bit longer than other beans, I think?

Beans in general have a wide range of colors for foliage and for fruits -- I've had beans with green leaves and beans with almost purple leaves. #gardening #garden

This is also a bean seedling, but it's a runner bean. Again, I know this partly because it was labeled, but it also doesn't have the little cotyledon leaves above the dirt. I don't know if this is always true, but I've found that my scarlet runner beans and black coat runner beans often don't show the seed-shaped initial leaves above the surface. They're still under ground with the roots. (They might not be considered leaves at that point? Idk, I'd still call them cotyledon.) #garden #gardening