Trevor A. Branch

@trevorabranch.bsky.social

11K followers 250 following 1.3K posts

Professor at Univ of Washington @uwsafs.bsky.social I run models and synthesize data, love R graphics, and do research on the status of marine fisheries, fishing quotas, and blue whales @bluewhalenews.bsky.social

Videos

Environmental science 66%

Geography 18%

Posts Replies Media Videos

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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · Mar 19

Sorting out the history of whaling pressure on five populations of blue whales in the Indian Ocean and SW Pacific. So many years of work went into this monumental collaboration with many many coauthors. So pleased to see this paper finally published.
doi.org/10.1111/mms....

Blue whale news @bluewhalenews.bsky.social · Mar 19

Published! Our huge effort to obtain catch series for each of five overlapping populations of pygmy blue whales. Big collaboration with 30+ coauthors using spatial patterns of blue whale song (unique to each population) to figure out where each resides 1/n

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 6h

Is that the US Coast Guard who is in charge of that?
www.stripes.com/branches/coa...

Lawmakers decry DHS secretary’s push to slash Coast Guard infrastructure budget by 90%

Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, wants to slash the Coast Guard’s shore infrastructure budget by 90%, a move that some lawmakers said would push the service’s housing...

www.stripes.com

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 7h

yup #punintended

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 7h

Humpbacks have been increasing at 3-10% per year across the globe, in all monitored populations.

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 12h

Specifically, it was the National Weather Service Modernization and Associated Restructuring, begun in the 70s, which completely overhauled how we predict and respond to rapid weather events.

vlab.noaa.gov/web/nws-heri...

The NWS Modernization and Associated Restructuring - A Retrospective (Part 1) - National Weather Service Heritage - Virtual Lab

Planned in the 1980s and implemented in the 1990s, the NWS Modernization and Associated Restructuring modernized the agency’s organization and technology to ensure more rapid detection of storms and d...

vlab.noaa.gov

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Peter Thorne, Gavin A. Schmidt , and 12 more Lisa W. Fazio, Peter Thorne, Gavin A. Schmidt, Rosemary A. Joyce, Ian Campbell, Richard Waite, Alan Richardson, Trevor A. Branch, Andrew L. Whitehead, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Erol Akçay, Jennifer A. Johnson, Julie Novkov, David Stott, Anne Hilborn

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 12h

In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.

The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.

Why?

It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Simon Roux, Trevor A. Branch , and 1 more Peter Thorne, Simon Roux, Trevor A. Branch, Stephen D. Murphy

Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 16h

Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.

Pictures of a pink sea anemone sitting on top of a hermit crab shell.

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Bea Leiderman @bealeiderman.bsky.social · 16h

Diminutive fairy wombat poop. Tiny cubes under 2mm on each side.

These are egg sacs made by a spider in the family Theridiosomatidae.

They made yesterday’s hike special. Finding something I’ve never seen before is such a thrill.

🌱 #nature #macro #spider

Tiny pink and cream colored cube under 2mm stuck to the surface of a leaf. There were several, scattered around randomly, but the photo is cropped to show the one that was in best focus. The second picture shows a bit of my thumbnail in the corner, with sparkly nail polish.

Reposted by Stelios Katsanevakis, Julie L. Lockwood, Trevor A. Branch

Nicolas Fulghum @nicolasfulghum.bsky.social · 1d

NEW data | Less than 50% of Australia's electricity generation came from fossil fuels in October 🇦🇺⚡️

This was the first month ever where renewables have overtaken fossil fuels in Australia's electricity mix.

10 years ago, in October 2015, fossil fuels made up 86%.

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah continued heavy exploitation obviously stops rebuilding!

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 1d

An amazing success story: the recovery of humpback whales 50-60 years after we stopped whaling on them.

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 1d

Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).

A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.

a man with a mustache says there be whales here in a dark room

Alt: Scotty from Star Trek Original Series (played by Jimmy Doohan) says there be whales here in a Klingon vessel's cargo hold.

media.tenor.com

Reposted by John R. Hutchinson, Trevor A. Branch, Jason Williams

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 1d

a man with a mustache says there be whales here in a dark room

Alt: Scotty from Star Trek Original Series (played by Jimmy Doohan) says there be whales here in a Klingon vessel's cargo hold.

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch, Nathalie A. Steins

Katy Stephenson @kstephensonmd.bsky.social · 2d

I like this piece a lot about Rosalind Franklin’s role in solving the structure of DNA. It really respects her as a full scientist - what she saw, what she didn’t appreciate, what could have been if she’d had true peers to support her, or had not died so young.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure

Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.

www.nature.com

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you for sharing this story with us all. I'm so sorry that it is back.

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 2d

Bipartisan laws for fisheries resulted in greater sustainability and profits in the US. Successes due to fishers, NGOs, and of course the many dedicated NOAA and state scientists collecting data, assessing status, and setting catch levels.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

How America's fisheries rebounded from collapse and over-regulation

An unlikely alliance saved U.S. fisheries from collapse - and made them more profitable.

www.usatoday.com

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 2d

New map shows Roman roads led everywhere not just Rome
Article: www.nbcnews.com/world/italy/...
Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 4d

I found current Bluesky to be almost as good as peak Twitter, and getting better. Of course current Twitter is designed 100% to enrage and engage.

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 4d

It was like that in apartheid South Africa for Black people. They needed a special permit to be in white-only areas (the Pass, for nannies, cleaners, gardeners, builders etc.) or they could be summarily arrested.

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 4d

Amazingly, there’s a research paper on why Gerlach’s wave generator didn’t produce 440 kW as designed; they estimate it could harness about 125kW, which apparently is not enough to budge the big flywheel. 🧪 www.academia.edu/35151979/The...

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 4d

In 1896, the Capitola pier hosted the world’s first electric wave power motor for commercial power generation. The Gerlach wave generator never produced the 440 kW of electricity it was designed too, and was destroyed that winter by a wave storm.
🌊🔌💡

Close up of how big the generator was compared to people

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 4d

Some of the earliest wave power devices constructed were built along this section of coastline.. to harness this wave power. 🌊

This wave machine used blow holes to hydraulically lift water to the top of a tower that could be used for dust control on the dirt wagon roads.

Postcard: Wave Motor along CHIT Drive, SANTA CRUZ, California.

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Andrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 4d

Hello. You are now aware that the Chesapeake Bay is the largest impact crater in the continental US.

Please enjoy your evening.

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Marco Festa‐Bianchet, Trevor A. Branch

Daniel Bolnick @danielbolnick.bsky.social · 4d

I hadnt seen this particular take on this story till now. A minimalist apology. Not impressed.
nationalnews.co.uk/news/shamed-...

Shamed Scientist Apologises For The First Time About The Academic Scandal That Destroyed His Career And Shocked The World

An ecologist who shot to fame after discovering that spiders have human-like personalities has made an emotional apology after being

nationalnews.co.uk

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Brendan Nyhan, Rosemary A. Joyce , and 2 more Anna O. Law, Brendan Nyhan, Rosemary A. Joyce, Trevor A. Branch, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 4d

A reminder that if you are called to be part of a jury in a political prosecution you have a right to refuse to convict on the grounds the prosecution is unjust. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Trump’s Politicized Prosecutions May Hit a Roadblock

When the president puts his political enemies on trial on pretextual grounds, jurors have the option of refusing to convict.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 4d

I’m stuck in bed between chemo treatments for metastatic coloncancer, wearing a take-home chemo pump attached to my chest.

I wanted to share my advice that you can benefit from ‘Letting Your Colleagues In’ don’t need to struggle alone
@insidehighered.com

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...

Consider Sharing Health Challenges With Colleagues (opinion)

Being open with my colleagues about my cancer diagnosis has allowed me to access an enormous source of support and comfort.

www.insidehighered.com

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 5d

The Kardashian Index.

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 5d

Kardashian: using ChatGPT to study law made her fail tests all the time because it returns wrong answers
gizmodo.com/kim-kardashi...

Kim Kardashian Blames ChatGPT for Failing Law Exams

Kardashian said the chatbot made her fail tests

gizmodo.com

Reposted by Brian J. Enquist, Nancy Knowlton, Neil Pederson , and 6 more Brian J. Enquist, Nancy Knowlton, Neil Pederson, Cathy N. Davidson, Silvia Secchi, Trevor A. Branch, Julia Lynch, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Vincent Raoult

Ben Goldfarb @bengoldfarb.bsky.social · 5d

Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.

Reposted by Trevor A. Branch

Jeff Opperman @jjopperman.bsky.social · 5d

In Michelin star restaurants, the chef inspects every plate before it goes out to the floor. And, when he thinks it needs just a tad something more, he adds a little garnish

#GarWeek
#WaterYear

@solomonrdavid.bsky.social @garlab.bsky.social

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 5d

I looked for 5 and was not disappointed.

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 5d

This is a really cool use of your sensors. Great article about hyperlocal effects of tides on small towns. Given I live in a small town (Edmonds) where high tides are alarmingly close to the parking lots, this hits home.

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