Diane A. Kelly
@dianeakelly.bsky.social
Biologist studying biomechanics of sex. Super-picky checker of facts. Science writer, occasional game designer. Loves a hot tea.
There's an enormous dead sperm whale on the beach in Nantucket. Fortunately, 55 years ago we learned what NOT to do to deal with it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CL...
November 20, 2025 at 2:35 PM
There's an enormous dead sperm whale on the beach in Nantucket. Fortunately, 55 years ago we learned what NOT to do to deal with it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CL...
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
The Casper octopus gets its nickname from its lack of pigment cells, which gives it a ghostly appearance.
Discovered in 2016 more than 4,000 meters below the ocean surface off Hawai’i, it is the deepest-known octopus without fins.
Discovered in 2016 more than 4,000 meters below the ocean surface off Hawai’i, it is the deepest-known octopus without fins.
November 18, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The Casper octopus gets its nickname from its lack of pigment cells, which gives it a ghostly appearance.
Discovered in 2016 more than 4,000 meters below the ocean surface off Hawai’i, it is the deepest-known octopus without fins.
Discovered in 2016 more than 4,000 meters below the ocean surface off Hawai’i, it is the deepest-known octopus without fins.
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
The notebook I'm using for my sketch workshop today also has my notes from the Monsterotica Romantasy Biology Class dragoncon panel in it, and last night I hung out with @dianeakelly.bsky.social nerding out about echidna genitals.
Poor sweet Kevin McDonald might be in for some real weird sketches 😂
Poor sweet Kevin McDonald might be in for some real weird sketches 😂
November 7, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The notebook I'm using for my sketch workshop today also has my notes from the Monsterotica Romantasy Biology Class dragoncon panel in it, and last night I hung out with @dianeakelly.bsky.social nerding out about echidna genitals.
Poor sweet Kevin McDonald might be in for some real weird sketches 😂
Poor sweet Kevin McDonald might be in for some real weird sketches 😂
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Recent paper from our lab on the puncture performance of hemipene spines in snakes! Some are like cat claws, others barely puncture. A single species can have many different spine morphologies and thousands of spines! 🧪 🐍
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
November 3, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Recent paper from our lab on the puncture performance of hemipene spines in snakes! Some are like cat claws, others barely puncture. A single species can have many different spine morphologies and thousands of spines! 🧪 🐍
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'
10/10 response, no notes
10/10 response, no notes
October 24, 2025 at 8:27 AM
The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'
10/10 response, no notes
10/10 response, no notes
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
October 19, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
![Comic. [Giant balloon reminiscent of a hot air balloon but wavy and laying on the ground with “bloop” “bloop” sound effects. Two people are in a basket attached to one end of the balloon.] [caption] Hot water balloon rides turn out to be significantly less romantic than the air kind.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiekfxpa7ftvzd2xpsuyjv5czmrpb5ihpmvnhj3ug5gadsrbbybx6m@jpeg)
October 14, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
i feel like i need to share this oldie but a goodie today
October 13, 2025 at 10:26 PM
i feel like i need to share this oldie but a goodie today
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans
October 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Boxes also work on bobcats
October 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Boxes also work on bobcats
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Caterpillar Absolem feasting on Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)
March 31, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Caterpillar Absolem feasting on Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
This is my 1st time catching my pet archer fish, Legolas, spitting on camera. Archerfish use modified jaw and tongue bones to fire a jet of water to knock down bugs from over hanging vegetation. Here Legolas is shooting down a fruit fly 🪰 🐠🧪
September 30, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This is my 1st time catching my pet archer fish, Legolas, spitting on camera. Archerfish use modified jaw and tongue bones to fire a jet of water to knock down bugs from over hanging vegetation. Here Legolas is shooting down a fruit fly 🪰 🐠🧪
I’m really really really glad that @lilolmoi.bsky.social is still here to write this.
Part 1 of my exploring a medical mystery that nearly took me out last year.
Of course I'm very glad to be much more well today, but even more than that I'm glad I preserved my text messages because I'd wildly misremembered some details.
thenightmail.beehiiv.com/p/the-clot-p...
Of course I'm very glad to be much more well today, but even more than that I'm glad I preserved my text messages because I'd wildly misremembered some details.
thenightmail.beehiiv.com/p/the-clot-p...
The Clot, Pt. 1
In which, one year ago, I have a Medical Moment
thenightmail.beehiiv.com
September 30, 2025 at 10:48 PM
I’m really really really glad that @lilolmoi.bsky.social is still here to write this.
Post you from a different era
September 30, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Post you from a different era
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Nature research paper: Co-option of an ancestral cloacal regulatory landscape during digit evolution
go.nature.com/3K576D7
go.nature.com/3K576D7
Co-option of an ancestral cloacal regulatory landscape during digit evolution - Nature
The regulatory landscape controlling Hoxd gene expression in tetrapod digit development was probably co-opted from a pre-existing cloacal regulatory mechanism, as evidenced by the effects of genetic deletion experiments in zebrafish fin, cloaca and mouse urogenital development.
go.nature.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Nature research paper: Co-option of an ancestral cloacal regulatory landscape during digit evolution
go.nature.com/3K576D7
go.nature.com/3K576D7
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Oh to be a little Tardigrade scratching its back on a bubble. 🫧🐻🧪
September 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Oh to be a little Tardigrade scratching its back on a bubble. 🫧🐻🧪
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Just woke up from a social media pause and the first thing I see is an incredible footage of a sperm whale casually cruising with a giant squid in its mouth ??
🦑 🌊 🌿
🦑 🌊 🌿
September 8, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Just woke up from a social media pause and the first thing I see is an incredible footage of a sperm whale casually cruising with a giant squid in its mouth ??
🦑 🌊 🌿
🦑 🌊 🌿
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
News in the history of molecular biology. The Science History Institute in Philadelphia has acquired a huge archive of correspondence and other scientific material from the pioneers of molecular biology (Franklin, Klug, Perutz, Delbrück etc, with items from Crick and Watson, too). 1/n
History of Molecular Biology Collection
This unparalleled collection includes Rosalind Franklin's historic 'Photo 51,' which revealed the double-helix structure of DNA.
www.sciencehistory.org
September 8, 2025 at 12:28 PM
News in the history of molecular biology. The Science History Institute in Philadelphia has acquired a huge archive of correspondence and other scientific material from the pioneers of molecular biology (Franklin, Klug, Perutz, Delbrück etc, with items from Crick and Watson, too). 1/n
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
If you are wondering whether or not you can get a COVID vaccine, wonder no more…
🧪#MedSky
🧪#MedSky
September 6, 2025 at 9:40 PM
If you are wondering whether or not you can get a COVID vaccine, wonder no more…
🧪#MedSky
🧪#MedSky
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
September 4, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
100% agree.
Without a doubt, the best part of my job is when students stop by to ask questions that aren't about grades.
If you are a college student, maybe a week or two into the semester, why not visit office hours and ask your professor that question?
You know, that thing you were wondering in class? Or when you were doing the homework?
Go ask them! That’s why they are there. They will be excited to see you.
You know, that thing you were wondering in class? Or when you were doing the homework?
Go ask them! That’s why they are there. They will be excited to see you.
September 3, 2025 at 9:28 PM
100% agree.
Reposted by Diane A. Kelly
Yes, it was carefully hidden in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... )
1/2
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... )
1/2
September 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Yes, it was carefully hidden in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... )
1/2
Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1... )
1/2