Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
@doctorzedd.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist, science writer, illustrator, big geek. Really into plants.🌿 Author of UNROOTED: Botany, Motherhood, & the Fight to Save an Old Science (Melville House, April 2024) #botany #womeninstem #iamabotanist
Plants are under-appreciated as projectile launchers.
“To maintain the drag-minimizing and edge-on orientation [for] greater distances, the plant launches its seeds at about 10 m/s with a backspin of > 1200 Hz. That frequency makes hairyflower wild petunia seeds the fastest-rotating natural thing on Earth.” 🧪
physicstoday.aip.org/quick-study/...
physicstoday.aip.org/quick-study/...
How plant seeds fly
Although plants often rely on wind and water to carry their seeds and spores, some have evolved extraordinary launch mechanisms to disperse them.
physicstoday.aip.org
November 13, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Plants are under-appreciated as projectile launchers.
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
MELTDOWN is an exploration of identity, gender power dynamics, work-life balance, competing goals and dreams, support for mental health, imposter syndrome, and the delights of writing.
https://bit.ly/41lawaq
##Science #Glaciers #Hydrology #Fieldwork #Memoir #WomenInSTEM
@snowhydro.bsky.social
https://bit.ly/41lawaq
##Science #Glaciers #Hydrology #Fieldwork #Memoir #WomenInSTEM
@snowhydro.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 5:00 PM
MELTDOWN is an exploration of identity, gender power dynamics, work-life balance, competing goals and dreams, support for mental health, imposter syndrome, and the delights of writing.
https://bit.ly/41lawaq
##Science #Glaciers #Hydrology #Fieldwork #Memoir #WomenInSTEM
@snowhydro.bsky.social
https://bit.ly/41lawaq
##Science #Glaciers #Hydrology #Fieldwork #Memoir #WomenInSTEM
@snowhydro.bsky.social
I hear there have been auroras lately.
November 13, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I hear there have been auroras lately.
Today in conferences that probably aren’t virtual, but I wish they were. 🌾🧪
Ssve the Date:
Conference “The Many Meanings of Flora: Re-Evaluating the Aesthetics and Politics of Plants”, December 11-12, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
Co-organized by my fantastic colleague Anita Hosseini and yours truly
Conference “The Many Meanings of Flora: Re-Evaluating the Aesthetics and Politics of Plants”, December 11-12, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
Co-organized by my fantastic colleague Anita Hosseini and yours truly
November 6, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Today in conferences that probably aren’t virtual, but I wish they were. 🌾🧪
Happy ‘I Read Canadian’ Day! 🍁
May I humbly suggest a Canadian science memoir about the history of women in botany and the struggle of being a mother in modern science research?
#ireadcanadian #womeninstem
May I humbly suggest a Canadian science memoir about the history of women in botany and the struggle of being a mother in modern science research?
#ireadcanadian #womeninstem
November 5, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Happy ‘I Read Canadian’ Day! 🍁
May I humbly suggest a Canadian science memoir about the history of women in botany and the struggle of being a mother in modern science research?
#ireadcanadian #womeninstem
May I humbly suggest a Canadian science memoir about the history of women in botany and the struggle of being a mother in modern science research?
#ireadcanadian #womeninstem
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
For all I love the exuberance of the garden in summer, there's a lot to be said for this time of year with it's tiny treasures 🌱
November 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
For all I love the exuberance of the garden in summer, there's a lot to be said for this time of year with it's tiny treasures 🌱
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
From Knowable Magazine: How #Arabidopsis thaliana, a humble weed, became a superstar of plant biology | Knowable Magazine knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
How a humble weed became a superstar of biology
Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.
knowablemagazine.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:54 PM
From Knowable Magazine: How #Arabidopsis thaliana, a humble weed, became a superstar of plant biology | Knowable Magazine knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
Peak autumn in southern Ontario. 👌🏻🍁
October 29, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Peak autumn in southern Ontario. 👌🏻🍁
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Happy birthday to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723), the Dutch scientist & progenitor of #microbiology known for his improvements to microscope tech. 🧪🐡 #histsci He was a draper in Delft, then a politician with an interest in lensmaking. Using his handmade #microscopes, he was first to observe 🧵
October 24, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Happy birthday to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723), the Dutch scientist & progenitor of #microbiology known for his improvements to microscope tech. 🧪🐡 #histsci He was a draper in Delft, then a politician with an interest in lensmaking. Using his handmade #microscopes, he was first to observe 🧵
🇨🇦
Trump slammed for demolishing White House before Canadians could burn it down again
WASHINGTON D.C. - US President Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom, requiring the complete demolition of the historic East Wing, is being criticized by Canadians who will now never get to ligh...
www.thebeaverton.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:15 AM
🇨🇦
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Just take the Canadian approach to your head of state's residence: let the rats and mold have it, get them a condo or something.
Our enemies never could have dreamed of doing this to us
October 23, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Just take the Canadian approach to your head of state's residence: let the rats and mold have it, get them a condo or something.
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Chlorophyll and Hemoglobin
The major difference is that plant blood carries a Magnesium (Mg) molecule where our blood contains a Iron (Fe) molecule.
Magnesium is what is responsible for making plant blood green, and iron is what makes our blood red.
The major difference is that plant blood carries a Magnesium (Mg) molecule where our blood contains a Iron (Fe) molecule.
Magnesium is what is responsible for making plant blood green, and iron is what makes our blood red.
October 22, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Chlorophyll and Hemoglobin
The major difference is that plant blood carries a Magnesium (Mg) molecule where our blood contains a Iron (Fe) molecule.
Magnesium is what is responsible for making plant blood green, and iron is what makes our blood red.
The major difference is that plant blood carries a Magnesium (Mg) molecule where our blood contains a Iron (Fe) molecule.
Magnesium is what is responsible for making plant blood green, and iron is what makes our blood red.
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
I got into botany, which was a great decision
if more Americans had just taken up cool hobbies during COVID instead of storming school boards screaming about masks or demanding their local Chili’s reopen, imagine the utopia we’d live in
these should all be mass-produced. every single one.
October 22, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I got into botany, which was a great decision
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Johanna Witasek (1865-1910) was an Austrian botanist noted for her work on taxonomy, geographic distribution, and nomenclature.
Over eleven years, she published a number of papers on Solanaceae, Campanula, and Callianthemum.
#WomenInSTEM
Over eleven years, she published a number of papers on Solanaceae, Campanula, and Callianthemum.
#WomenInSTEM
October 22, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Johanna Witasek (1865-1910) was an Austrian botanist noted for her work on taxonomy, geographic distribution, and nomenclature.
Over eleven years, she published a number of papers on Solanaceae, Campanula, and Callianthemum.
#WomenInSTEM
Over eleven years, she published a number of papers on Solanaceae, Campanula, and Callianthemum.
#WomenInSTEM
🇨🇦
📅Oct 22, 1947: Ethel Stark became the 1st woman to conduct at NYC Carnegie Hall & 1st woman to study at the Curtis Institute. She also broke barriers as the founder and conductor of the Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra the first in Canada led entirely by women.
#WomenInSTEM #WomenWhoLead
#WomenInSTEM #WomenWhoLead
October 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM
🇨🇦
I really want this to catch on. I need more harmless absurdity in my life right now.
I have been traveling and today I present to you...the thing I saw in the Frankfurt airport.
Is it efficient? Undeniably. Does it probably work better than the normal way? Oh certainly. Produce less of a mess? Probably?
But the existence of Condiment Udders gives me a deep, aghast disquiet.
Is it efficient? Undeniably. Does it probably work better than the normal way? Oh certainly. Produce less of a mess? Probably?
But the existence of Condiment Udders gives me a deep, aghast disquiet.
October 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I really want this to catch on. I need more harmless absurdity in my life right now.
My last flowers, two of my favourites, holding on for dear life as the temperature drops.
October 21, 2025 at 10:43 PM
My last flowers, two of my favourites, holding on for dear life as the temperature drops.
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Pear are ‘accessory fruits’ so the fleshy bit we eat is not from the ovary wall as usual. The fruit is an enlarged hypanthium around the ovary & supports the sepals & stamens
As the fruitlets grows the sepals, do not fall off They persist and you can see them at the bottom of a pear #pear #botany
As the fruitlets grows the sepals, do not fall off They persist and you can see them at the bottom of a pear #pear #botany
October 21, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
“Sarracenia purpurea”
An engraved plate from my 1827 copy of Elements of Botany by botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, one of the first professors of natural history in the U.S., who built the largest collection of botanical specimens in the country & wrote the first U.S. botany textbook. 🌱 🐡
An engraved plate from my 1827 copy of Elements of Botany by botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, one of the first professors of natural history in the U.S., who built the largest collection of botanical specimens in the country & wrote the first U.S. botany textbook. 🌱 🐡
October 20, 2025 at 11:07 PM
“Sarracenia purpurea”
An engraved plate from my 1827 copy of Elements of Botany by botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, one of the first professors of natural history in the U.S., who built the largest collection of botanical specimens in the country & wrote the first U.S. botany textbook. 🌱 🐡
An engraved plate from my 1827 copy of Elements of Botany by botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, one of the first professors of natural history in the U.S., who built the largest collection of botanical specimens in the country & wrote the first U.S. botany textbook. 🌱 🐡
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Autumn leaf analysis by Janet Davis.
Nothing is wasted, the tree absorbs the sugary nutrients before it drops its leaves. Then the fallen leaves become habitat and over-wintering locations for moths, butterflies, & other critters. By spring, most leaves become part of the soil. Nature is amazing!
Nothing is wasted, the tree absorbs the sugary nutrients before it drops its leaves. Then the fallen leaves become habitat and over-wintering locations for moths, butterflies, & other critters. By spring, most leaves become part of the soil. Nature is amazing!
October 21, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Autumn leaf analysis by Janet Davis.
Nothing is wasted, the tree absorbs the sugary nutrients before it drops its leaves. Then the fallen leaves become habitat and over-wintering locations for moths, butterflies, & other critters. By spring, most leaves become part of the soil. Nature is amazing!
Nothing is wasted, the tree absorbs the sugary nutrients before it drops its leaves. Then the fallen leaves become habitat and over-wintering locations for moths, butterflies, & other critters. By spring, most leaves become part of the soil. Nature is amazing!
Cycads are so graceful when they unfurl new leaves.
August 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Cycads are so graceful when they unfurl new leaves.
Happy #botany2025, American plant friends! 🌿 Wish I could be there!
July 29, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Happy #botany2025, American plant friends! 🌿 Wish I could be there!
Reposted by Dr. Erin Zimmerman 🇨🇦
Tomorrow at Our Trees, we begin a series of stories about what makes the biology of trees unique. And it’s probably not stories you have heard. Have a look at this preview.
Tom Kimmerer (@tomkimmerer)
Tomorrow, we begin a new series on the basics of tree growth at Our Trees. You’ll probably find some surprises. We’ll discuss three related subjects:
Is the tree in the picture perfect, without flaws...
substack.com
July 22, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Tomorrow at Our Trees, we begin a series of stories about what makes the biology of trees unique. And it’s probably not stories you have heard. Have a look at this preview.