Shauna Rasband
@concealocanth.bsky.social
evolutionary biology grad student @ UMD
studying birds and their funky hormones
*bi flag emoji* she/her
hobbies:
wildlife photography
drawing & painting
"world" literature & music
infodumping
follow me on iNaturalist (shauna1) or eBird (unashauna)!
studying birds and their funky hormones
*bi flag emoji* she/her
hobbies:
wildlife photography
drawing & painting
"world" literature & music
infodumping
follow me on iNaturalist (shauna1) or eBird (unashauna)!
seed but many will have sourced it from nurseries, leading to a nebulous genetic origin. Lots & lots of Prairie Moon seed both directly ordered and via resale. Prairie Moon (probably?) sourced it locally from the Upper Midwest. Or is this a small enough effect on the data that wild variation emerges
November 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
seed but many will have sourced it from nurseries, leading to a nebulous genetic origin. Lots & lots of Prairie Moon seed both directly ordered and via resale. Prairie Moon (probably?) sourced it locally from the Upper Midwest. Or is this a small enough effect on the data that wild variation emerges
This is incredible work! Can't see beyond page 1 of the preprint, so forgive me if you address this in Methods! My question is how you've accounted for many of the observations being of garden plants. Users are meant to mark them "Captive" on iNat but they usually don't. Some gardeners sew local 1/2
November 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
This is incredible work! Can't see beyond page 1 of the preprint, so forgive me if you address this in Methods! My question is how you've accounted for many of the observations being of garden plants. Users are meant to mark them "Captive" on iNat but they usually don't. Some gardeners sew local 1/2
Nice! Two birds, one stone.
November 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Nice! Two birds, one stone.
This is so cool! Is it a field trip or do you take samples from the wild? Or is it from established tanks in your lab? Or a secret fourth option?
November 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
This is so cool! Is it a field trip or do you take samples from the wild? Or is it from established tanks in your lab? Or a secret fourth option?
In fact, the traditional ones have an upscale bakery texture whereas the shortcut ones have a cheap grocery store/Hostess texture.
November 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
In fact, the traditional ones have an upscale bakery texture whereas the shortcut ones have a cheap grocery store/Hostess texture.
The crumb and mouth-melting qualities of the traditional leavening method (beating eggs for several minutes until ribbon stage is vastly superior). Would that the baking powder shortcut produced the same results, but the baking powder ones are aggressively springy and a bit strange.
November 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The crumb and mouth-melting qualities of the traditional leavening method (beating eggs for several minutes until ribbon stage is vastly superior). Would that the baking powder shortcut produced the same results, but the baking powder ones are aggressively springy and a bit strange.
Yeah. Unfortunately the "so much plastic" never really goes away. I hope we can move to more sustainable workflows that still prevent contamination.
November 5, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Yeah. Unfortunately the "so much plastic" never really goes away. I hope we can move to more sustainable workflows that still prevent contamination.
This is so real. A part of me wishes RNA were the incredibly stable molecule conspiracy theorists made it out to be during the height of COVID vaccine panic.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
November 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This is so real. A part of me wishes RNA were the incredibly stable molecule conspiracy theorists made it out to be during the height of COVID vaccine panic.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
Wow, this is really neat work! Surprisingly few Fₛₜ peaks.
November 4, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Wow, this is really neat work! Surprisingly few Fₛₜ peaks.
This is sooo good! Did you have any particular clade/species in mind, or is this more like the Platonic ideal of an African cichlid?
October 31, 2025 at 2:31 PM
This is sooo good! Did you have any particular clade/species in mind, or is this more like the Platonic ideal of an African cichlid?
I like the ones that you can use for art but watch out! They're poisonous. Like cinnabar and malachite. Not sure if you're interested in societal connections but there's a series of Ural malachite miner folktales about the deadly and beautiful Mistress of the Copper Mountain.
October 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I like the ones that you can use for art but watch out! They're poisonous. Like cinnabar and malachite. Not sure if you're interested in societal connections but there's a series of Ural malachite miner folktales about the deadly and beautiful Mistress of the Copper Mountain.
In the winter you were also working, but you were hungry and there was little to no fresh food. A lot of it was monotonous textile production. It takes hours and hours of spinning and weaving to produce even 1-2 outfits for every family member per year.
October 30, 2025 at 6:19 PM
In the winter you were also working, but you were hungry and there was little to no fresh food. A lot of it was monotonous textile production. It takes hours and hours of spinning and weaving to produce even 1-2 outfits for every family member per year.
There are some localized reports of population rebound in the past couple of years. Hopefully we will see more of this!
October 30, 2025 at 6:13 PM
There are some localized reports of population rebound in the past couple of years. Hopefully we will see more of this!
I honestly think this is mainly a numerical literacy thing. People struggle to conceptualize small percentages. "I don't know, a few? Maybe like 20%?" is the likely thought process. Many don't translate this to "one out of every five people"; if they did they'd realize it's a massive overestimate.
October 30, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I honestly think this is mainly a numerical literacy thing. People struggle to conceptualize small percentages. "I don't know, a few? Maybe like 20%?" is the likely thought process. Many don't translate this to "one out of every five people"; if they did they'd realize it's a massive overestimate.
Beautiful portraits of one of my favorite, playful species. Their population has crashed by more than 80% since 2003 when West Nile Virus arrived in California. Invasive diseases are another major bird threat!
October 30, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Beautiful portraits of one of my favorite, playful species. Their population has crashed by more than 80% since 2003 when West Nile Virus arrived in California. Invasive diseases are another major bird threat!
They actually checked for differential expression in the brain and found none. = this doesn't cause brain things. They hypothesized that the orange cat single braincell situation might be more to sex biases in behavior. Silly because boy, not silly because orange situation. Needs further research
October 29, 2025 at 5:33 PM
They actually checked for differential expression in the brain and found none. = this doesn't cause brain things. They hypothesized that the orange cat single braincell situation might be more to sex biases in behavior. Silly because boy, not silly because orange situation. Needs further research
They are! Current undergrads are much less impacted by high school COVID disruptions than 2022-2024 college students. They're more likely to have solid fundamentals. LLMs are a big problem though, to say the least.
October 23, 2025 at 2:44 PM
They are! Current undergrads are much less impacted by high school COVID disruptions than 2022-2024 college students. They're more likely to have solid fundamentals. LLMs are a big problem though, to say the least.
That's good to hear about the medical stuff. Yes, the "journeys" aspect seems... less than accurate for the majority of users, which makes it strange to roll out as a feature.
October 16, 2025 at 3:35 PM
That's good to hear about the medical stuff. Yes, the "journeys" aspect seems... less than accurate for the majority of users, which makes it strange to roll out as a feature.
e.g. their dad is "Danish" and their test results come back "30% Swedish" "20% English" and now they're doubting their paternity. They don't understand & are not given interpretive materials about the shared ancestry between these extremely fine-scale groups.
October 15, 2025 at 8:02 PM
e.g. their dad is "Danish" and their test results come back "30% Swedish" "20% English" and now they're doubting their paternity. They don't understand & are not given interpretive materials about the shared ancestry between these extremely fine-scale groups.
IMO they're not, because no matter how good their reference panel is, they aren't accounting for constant population movement and mixing. Seeing how the avg consumer interacts with it e.g. on the r/ancestry subreddit, I think it's a major ethical misstep. There's people having a crisis because 1/2
October 15, 2025 at 8:02 PM
IMO they're not, because no matter how good their reference panel is, they aren't accounting for constant population movement and mixing. Seeing how the avg consumer interacts with it e.g. on the r/ancestry subreddit, I think it's a major ethical misstep. There's people having a crisis because 1/2
I don't feel antagonized but your description did make my stomach actually growl LOL
October 10, 2025 at 8:47 PM
I don't feel antagonized but your description did make my stomach actually growl LOL