Isaac Larkin
@eyesgack.bsky.social
Synthetic biologist. A better world is possible; let’s build it together.
Sunset in the river
November 3, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Sunset in the river
Sunset at the Caldwell Forest Preserve
November 3, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Sunset at the Caldwell Forest Preserve
Well that’s a new one. Very 1930s Kansas coded
May 16, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Well that’s a new one. Very 1930s Kansas coded
Guys I am reading this textbook on the evolutionary history and taxonomy of plants and I am having my mind blown...they still don't know where the flowering plants came from??
February 11, 2024 at 2:45 PM
Guys I am reading this textbook on the evolutionary history and taxonomy of plants and I am having my mind blown...they still don't know where the flowering plants came from??
Cool bug from the archives: a metallic blue-green cuckoo wasp, Chrysis angloensis, that I found by the lake. The beautiful iridescence is thanks to multiple layers of cuticle armor on their exoskeletons. They need that armor, because these wasps invade other wasps’ nests and parasitize their larvae!
September 19, 2023 at 11:04 PM
Cool bug from the archives: a metallic blue-green cuckoo wasp, Chrysis angloensis, that I found by the lake. The beautiful iridescence is thanks to multiple layers of cuticle armor on their exoskeletons. They need that armor, because these wasps invade other wasps’ nests and parasitize their larvae!
Another pic for scale: they’re small!
September 4, 2023 at 4:35 PM
Another pic for scale: they’re small!
Cool bug alert! And this one’s actually a true bug: the red-banded leafhopper, Graphicephala coccinea. Kind of a colorful mosquito, but for plants: they suck sap/phloem out of plants, and can spread bacterial diseases between plants in their saliva. They forcefully expel sugary waste liquid droplets
September 4, 2023 at 4:34 PM
Cool bug alert! And this one’s actually a true bug: the red-banded leafhopper, Graphicephala coccinea. Kind of a colorful mosquito, but for plants: they suck sap/phloem out of plants, and can spread bacterial diseases between plants in their saliva. They forcefully expel sugary waste liquid droplets
Braconid wasps use bracoviruses integrated into their genomes as part of the biochemical cocktail in their paralyzing sting; while caterpillars stung by the wasps have stolen bracovirus genes for themselves, and wield them to defend against infection by mind-controlling baculoviruses. Wonderful!
August 25, 2023 at 11:47 PM
Braconid wasps use bracoviruses integrated into their genomes as part of the biochemical cocktail in their paralyzing sting; while caterpillars stung by the wasps have stolen bracovirus genes for themselves, and wield them to defend against infection by mind-controlling baculoviruses. Wonderful!
Bonus caterpillar pics and a bonus fact, courtesy of an @edyong209.bsky.social article I read years ago: monarchs are naturally transgenic. They have incorporated into their genome a gene from a bracovirus, injected into them by a parasitic wasp. Horizontal gene transfer: it’s not just for microbes!
August 25, 2023 at 11:41 PM
Bonus caterpillar pics and a bonus fact, courtesy of an @edyong209.bsky.social article I read years ago: monarchs are naturally transgenic. They have incorporated into their genome a gene from a bracovirus, injected into them by a parasitic wasp. Horizontal gene transfer: it’s not just for microbes!
Cool bug report! A monarch butterfly caterpillar, munching on milkweed. They’re so beautiful.
August 25, 2023 at 11:27 PM
Cool bug report! A monarch butterfly caterpillar, munching on milkweed. They’re so beautiful.
Another favorite Midwest native: Sylphium terebinthinaceum, prairie dock. Closely related to the compass plant, but totally different growth form. Prairie dock has huge paddle shaped leaves that stick directly out of its root base in the ground, and shoots up a naked flower stalk up to 12 feet tall.
August 25, 2023 at 11:24 PM
Another favorite Midwest native: Sylphium terebinthinaceum, prairie dock. Closely related to the compass plant, but totally different growth form. Prairie dock has huge paddle shaped leaves that stick directly out of its root base in the ground, and shoots up a naked flower stalk up to 12 feet tall.
Geometridae, the family of inchworms or geometer moths, has 23,000 species. No idea which one this is, but respect its camo game
August 24, 2023 at 8:10 PM
Geometridae, the family of inchworms or geometer moths, has 23,000 species. No idea which one this is, but respect its camo game
Just a twig, nothing to see here…
August 24, 2023 at 8:06 PM
Just a twig, nothing to see here…
One of my favorite Midwest natives: the compass plant, Sylphium laciniatum. As its leaves grow they tilt vertically and orient themselves to point along the North-South axis. I’ve got a couple of seedlings at home; this adult is from a local park. They can live to be 100 years old.
August 24, 2023 at 7:50 PM
One of my favorite Midwest natives: the compass plant, Sylphium laciniatum. As its leaves grow they tilt vertically and orient themselves to point along the North-South axis. I’ve got a couple of seedlings at home; this adult is from a local park. They can live to be 100 years old.
Fly death fungus: The Last Of Us, but for flies, playing out on the swamp milkweed in my backyard
August 24, 2023 at 7:40 PM
Fly death fungus: The Last Of Us, but for flies, playing out on the swamp milkweed in my backyard
I believe high duplex rate has already been achieved, at least for their latest early access flow cells; main outstanding challenge for ONT is accuracy on calling homopolymers longer than ~15 bp. If/when they solve that, they get the whole enchilada
August 24, 2023 at 7:27 PM
I believe high duplex rate has already been achieved, at least for their latest early access flow cells; main outstanding challenge for ONT is accuracy on calling homopolymers longer than ~15 bp. If/when they solve that, they get the whole enchilada
American dagger moth caterpillar. Feeds on trees in the maple family; fell out of the box elder in my backyard (to which I returned it after the photo shoot)
August 23, 2023 at 11:20 PM
American dagger moth caterpillar. Feeds on trees in the maple family; fell out of the box elder in my backyard (to which I returned it after the photo shoot)
Sphex pennsylvanicus, a very sphexy great black digger wasp. Lover of prairie beebalm and enemy of katydids everywhere
August 23, 2023 at 11:16 PM
Sphex pennsylvanicus, a very sphexy great black digger wasp. Lover of prairie beebalm and enemy of katydids everywhere
Ailanthus webworm moth, on a flower at a local plant store
August 23, 2023 at 11:13 PM
Ailanthus webworm moth, on a flower at a local plant store
Cool bug thread, starting off with this longnose weevil I found in a parking lot
August 23, 2023 at 11:11 PM
Cool bug thread, starting off with this longnose weevil I found in a parking lot