artist/programmer living off-grid on hawai'i island.
as people here say, aloha 'aina!
Art/tech/general alt: @mk30
| website | https://kukso.space |
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!
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 ...
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 ☺️
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).
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 🤔
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! 🥰
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.
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
Pauline von Hellermann
Botany One
Ada Palmer
Crystal Huff (they/them)