Fighting with leverage and chalk

Panama’s golden frogs beat extinction

The amphibians are returning to the wild 17 years after a deadly fungus nearly wiped them out.

It’s been 17 years since the bright yellow Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) hopped through its native habitat. But after nearly two decades of hard work, conservationists are finally reintroducing a new generation of the tiny fluorescent amphibians back into the tropical island’s ecosystem. It wasn’t that long ago that golden frogs were staring down almost certain extinction. The saga began in the late 1980s, when an invasive fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) arrived in lower Central America. Soon, Bd spores spread throughout Panama. The fungal spores had no difficulty traveling through water—and because golden frogs only live close to streams, they soon encountered the fungus themselves...

SIKE

THEY'RE GAY

And they're not some rare exception to the rule, either!!!

About 25% of black swan couples consist of two swans of the same sex (typically, two males).

These couples will court each other, build a nest, and raise their young together in a more-or-less committed monogamous relationship.

In fact, these same-sex couples have a high success rate of 80% when raising their young to adulthood, as opposed to the 30% of their heterosexual counterparts! Two big buff papa swans are better than one when it comes to stomping on invaders of nesting territory.

"But," I hear you say, "where do their baby floofballs come from? Does mpreg exist among black swans?"

Alas, no, but there is a very elegant solution to this. The swan couple may simply temporarily associate themselves with a female swan.

Afterwards, the female swan deposits their eggs and swims off free to live her single girlie life if she wishes (or, find a boyfriend. Preferably one who isn't already committed to another boyfriend.)

So whenever someone commits the naturalistic fallacy "homosexuality bad because unnatural >:(" I like to point out not only their glaring illogicality, but also, respectfully, there is homosexuality happening in the local lake right now.

Anthropic illegally downloaded some 500,000 titles, and 92% of those eligible for an award—both authors and publishers are entitled to payment—had opted into the class action. Martínez-Olguín denied all but two requests to opt out of the agreement. “We applaud the court’s final approval of this settlement, which represents an important victory in the larger battle to hold big tech accountable for its unscrupulous appropriation of intellectual and creative properties that clearly belong to authors and publishers,” said Maria Pallante, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, in a statement. Pallante praised the court for recognizing that downloading from pirate sites “is not a choice we should simply accept as an efficiency for the infringer; on the contrary, it’s abhorrent conduct that should never be normalized.” She also argued that fair use should not be extended to allow tech companies to copy copyrighted materials, and that tech giants should look to licensing agreements to train their AI models.

Now we'll see how long the payouts take to come through. I had between a half and two-thirds of my lifetime output stolen by these schmucks, but payouts from many of those thefts will be split 50/50 with the publishers. (Which strikes me as fair enough.)

Yield: 8 servings

ingredients

3/4c or 177 mll extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing the pan

1/2 cup or 118 mll Earl Grey tea, or use coffee, dry red wine, orange juice, or water

1/2 cup or 50 grams Dutch processed cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 cup or 200 grams granulated sugar

3 large eggs at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons or 135 grams all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

preparation

step 1 heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round pan and line the bottom with parchment paper

step 2: in a medium saucepan over high heat, bring tea or other liquid to a simmer, then turn off heat. whisk in cocoa, cinnamon, and salt until smooth, then set aside to cool

step 3: in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla. beat for about 3 minutes. reduce speed and pour in cocoa mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl. gradually beat in flour and baking soda until just incorporated.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

"A Scottish field once home to mono-crop barley has become a pollinator’s paradise after intervention from a local trust saw bumblebee numbers increase 100-fold.

Entitled Rewilding Denmarkfield, and run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the project has also seen a sharp increase in the number of species passing through the rolling meadows after they were reclaimed by dozens of wildflower species.

The area north of Perth is about 90 acres in size, and surveys of bumblebees before the project began rarely recorded more than 50. But by 2023, just two years of letting “nature take the lead” that number has topped 4,000, with the number of different bee species doubling.

“This superb variety of plants attracts thousands of pollinators. Many of these plants, such as spear thistle and smooth hawk’s beard, are sometimes branded as ‘weeds’. But they are all native species that are benefiting native wildlife in different ways,” Ecologist Ellie Corsie, who has been managing the project since it began in 2021, said.

“Due to intensive arable farming, with decades of plowing, herbicide, and pesticide use, biodiversity was incredibly low when we started. Wildlife had largely been sanitized from the fields. Rewilding the site has had a remarkable benefit.”

Similar increases have been recorded in the populations of butterflies, with a tripling in the number of these insects seen on average during a ramble through the field.

The numbers of both insects are now so high that Rewilding Denmarkfield offers bee and butterfly safaris to visitors.

Local residents told the Scotsman that on spring and summer days, the field is awash with color, and hums with the sounds of bees and birds. Even as multiple housing developments expand around the Denmarkfield area, the field is a haven for wildlife."

He answers: I believe that whoever created the concept of soulmates should be taken into the town square and beaten to death. Or you should tell me who they are so I can send them a check for a couple of hundred thousand dollars, because they have done more to facilitate the demise of happy marriages than I could ever aspire to doing.

The concept of a soulmate to me is absolutely bizarre. To suggest that out of eight billion other people in the world, that there's just this one person, and they happen by the way to live within like the same town as you, where they went to the same university as you - what were the odds of that? And that's the only person you could ever have a happy, fulfilling relationship with. That's insane, folks. It's insane. And by the way, it's toxic. Because here's the thing: when you get married, society essentially tells you, this person, they're supposed to be your best friend, best lover, best roommate, best travel companion, best co-parent - that's a hell of a resume, guy. Like, it'd be shocking to find someone who fits all three of those things.

So what happens when you have this concept of a soulmate? And my partner, you know, they're the best co-parent, they're the best roommate, the best travel companion, but you know, they're not the best lover I ever had. Well, they mustn't be your soulmate then. That means that there's somebody out there in the eight billion people, that they would be the perfect one. And that's what the horizon that just forever recedes and keeps people constantly craving the next thing that might check all of the boxes. It's dangerous.

Now, more changes to the Endangered Species Act by the current administration continue to attack crucial parts of the law to protect habitat and newly listed species.

These changes prioritize harmful development over science-based management and make it harder to put species on a path to recovery.

A healthy marine ecosystem is essential to support biodiversity and save endangered species. We need an Endangered Species Act and management guided by science and expertise that puts the environment first.

Sign up for ocean action emails to learn more about what you can do to support endangered species:

And read our statement here:

The European Union already forced Apple to abandon its proprietary charging port and adopt USB-C across its entire iPhone lineup. It just did something bigger. A new EU mandate requires every smartphone sold in Europe including Apple devices to feature a battery that can be replaced by the user without specialist tools, without voiding a warranty, and without sending the device to a manufacturer approved service center. Batteries must maintain a minimum capacity threshold after a set number of charge cycles and replacement parts must remain available for up to ten years after a model goes on sale.

The consumer electronics industry built its current business model around batteries that degrade, cannot be replaced at home, and create a natural upgrade cycle every two to three years. The EU just legislated that model out of existence in the world's largest regulatory market.

Apple, Samsung, and every other manufacturer now faces a choice between redesigning their devices for the European market or accepting that their current hardware architecture is no longer legally sellable there.

The Enshittificator

Oh hey, it's Skype a Scientist again, here to fund science education projects with COOL ART.

Introducing SHRIMP CITY!

Look cool as hell in while talking about shrimp science with your friends.

For example: 🦐 Mantis Shrimp (who punch so fast they create pressure voids in the water that collapse to produce shockwaves, heat, and even a flash of light!) 🦐 Pistol Shrimp (Instead of a punch, pistol shrimp create their shockwaves using the snap of their claws!) 🦐 Hermit Crabs (who aren't "true" crabs, but Shrimp City is an inclusive town) 🦐Yeti Crabs (who live in Shrimp City's sister city, Hydrothermal Ventopolis, where they grow bacteria on their hairy arms that they lick off for a snack!) 🦐 Insects (who are not shrimps per se, but did you know recent research suggests that insects group with the crustaceans?? You may have heard that shrimps is bugs, but nay… bugs is shrimp).

These shirts were designed by Philly designer The 666 Cat!

What kind of science education are you funding by buying a shirt, you ask? Well, lots of stuff, but here's a recent example:

Here's a mural all about local biodiversity that we painted in collaboration with a Philly public elementary school with local artist NDA!

We got the kids from the school to help us paint it and everything! These projects are educational and cute as hell.

or a biology is bigger than binaries?

Would love to clear out as many as we can because:

Squid shirts arrive next week (hell yeah)