Aimee Dunlap
@msaimeesue.bsky.social
Prof at University of Missouri- St. Louis. Studying the ecology and evolution of cognition in bees, flies, and other critters. Biophile. Urban gardener. Trekkie. Sciencing while chronically ill. #DisabledinSTEM
I’m got to help feed 195 very young tarantulas in the lab today and let me tell you it was way more fun than staring at a computer monitor and doing endless meetings on Zoom. I definitely need more lab time going forward.
July 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I’m got to help feed 195 very young tarantulas in the lab today and let me tell you it was way more fun than staring at a computer monitor and doing endless meetings on Zoom. I definitely need more lab time going forward.
This Sunday I’m happy to have completed a needlepoint canvas I’ve been working on since mid-autumn. The design is Bordered Diamonds by Kaffe Fassett. This will become a cushion in a guest room. Eventually. Whenever I get to it. I have a stack of these waiting to be cushions. #CraftSky #needlepoint
December 22, 2024 at 9:17 PM
This Sunday I’m happy to have completed a needlepoint canvas I’ve been working on since mid-autumn. The design is Bordered Diamonds by Kaffe Fassett. This will become a cushion in a guest room. Eventually. Whenever I get to it. I have a stack of these waiting to be cushions. #CraftSky #needlepoint
And my hat is complete!
December 8, 2024 at 11:57 PM
And my hat is complete!
This Sunday I’m taking a break from needlepoint to work on a wool hat using nalbinding. I’ve been nalbinding for about 15 years and spent the early years intensively researching the archaeological literature & reconstructing Finnish Iron Age mittens. Today is just a warm hat. #CraftSky #nalbinding
December 8, 2024 at 6:37 PM
This Sunday I’m taking a break from needlepoint to work on a wool hat using nalbinding. I’ve been nalbinding for about 15 years and spent the early years intensively researching the archaeological literature & reconstructing Finnish Iron Age mittens. Today is just a warm hat. #CraftSky #nalbinding
Another Sunday, and more time into a project. I have maybe a week left on “Bordered Diamonds” designed by Kaffe Fassett. This will eventually be a pillow. #craftsky #needlepoint
December 1, 2024 at 9:32 PM
Another Sunday, and more time into a project. I have maybe a week left on “Bordered Diamonds” designed by Kaffe Fassett. This will eventually be a pillow. #craftsky #needlepoint
My December reading preorder just arrived. I’m excited to spend some time with Heather Browning’s @zoophilosophy.bsky.social and Walter Veit’s new book on the ethics of zoos. I’ve really enjoyed reading work by each of them as my lab has delved deeper into arthropod welfare research.
November 27, 2024 at 1:53 PM
My December reading preorder just arrived. I’m excited to spend some time with Heather Browning’s @zoophilosophy.bsky.social and Walter Veit’s new book on the ethics of zoos. I’ve really enjoyed reading work by each of them as my lab has delved deeper into arthropod welfare research.
I love working at home when I can traipse through my garden when I need a break. Today I was enjoying my Ozark witch hazel, which at 5 years post planting is finally big enough for some good fall color. I’m cheap and buy small plants so it’s good that I’m patient.
November 25, 2024 at 8:14 PM
I love working at home when I can traipse through my garden when I need a break. Today I was enjoying my Ozark witch hazel, which at 5 years post planting is finally big enough for some good fall color. I’m cheap and buy small plants so it’s good that I’m patient.
Work continues on the bordered diamonds needlepoint. In the meantime here is the one I finished in October. It’s another Kaffe Fassett design called “Cat in a Ruff.” This one cracked me up and I really enjoyed the process.
November 24, 2024 at 9:56 PM
Work continues on the bordered diamonds needlepoint. In the meantime here is the one I finished in October. It’s another Kaffe Fassett design called “Cat in a Ruff.” This one cracked me up and I really enjoyed the process.
Sundays are good days for no academic work and just resting. I’ve been doing needlepoint on Sundays for the past few years- a single project takes 1-2 months. I really enjoy designs by Kaffe Fassett- bright colors in combinations I would never quite come up with myself. #needlepoint #craftsky
November 17, 2024 at 7:05 PM
Sundays are good days for no academic work and just resting. I’ve been doing needlepoint on Sundays for the past few years- a single project takes 1-2 months. I really enjoy designs by Kaffe Fassett- bright colors in combinations I would never quite come up with myself. #needlepoint #craftsky
No thanks to the warm February weather, we discovered today that the start of our field season has moved earlier by a whopping 20 days after three years of reliable weeks of first fruit tree bloom. This was not a picture I wanted to see on Slack today.
March 1, 2024 at 9:51 PM
No thanks to the warm February weather, we discovered today that the start of our field season has moved earlier by a whopping 20 days after three years of reliable weeks of first fruit tree bloom. This was not a picture I wanted to see on Slack today.
I rarely seem to be able to work from home these days. But when I do, I get an awesome dog coworker, Mr. Jacques-Louis. How can I be so behind on so much when this year has only just started??
January 11, 2024 at 10:28 PM
I rarely seem to be able to work from home these days. But when I do, I get an awesome dog coworker, Mr. Jacques-Louis. How can I be so behind on so much when this year has only just started??
Was the first person in the actual room and in the Zoom room and our Meeting Owl decided I was having a meeting with a bunch of me’s. The good news is everyone did make it to the meeting and grad student George passed his dissertation proposal defense :)
September 25, 2023 at 9:17 PM
Was the first person in the actual room and in the Zoom room and our Meeting Owl decided I was having a meeting with a bunch of me’s. The good news is everyone did make it to the meeting and grad student George passed his dissertation proposal defense :)
It’s been a fun afternoon in the lab helping grad students troubleshoot protocols, which is one of my very favorite tasks in research. Plus it was fun to see hover fly #1 from George’s pilot work. It sure is awesome to have flies in the lab again! Big change from Drosophila.
November 13, 2024 at 8:02 AM
It’s been a fun afternoon in the lab helping grad students troubleshoot protocols, which is one of my very favorite tasks in research. Plus it was fun to see hover fly #1 from George’s pilot work. It sure is awesome to have flies in the lab again! Big change from Drosophila.
We had to say goodbye last night to our sweet boy Bruce-Dog. He’s been my steady companion since my post doc, and made it through 10 years of my faculty life. We think he was around 15. His canine roommate Jacques-Louis is adjusting to his absence.
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
We had to say goodbye last night to our sweet boy Bruce-Dog. He’s been my steady companion since my post doc, and made it through 10 years of my faculty life. We think he was around 15. His canine roommate Jacques-Louis is adjusting to his absence.
My assistant Jacques-Louis is working very hard today. I’m finally on the mend (I hope) after 2.5 weeks of covid. Playing catch up on dozens of tasks while facing the impending doom that is the start of the fall semester.
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
My assistant Jacques-Louis is working very hard today. I’m finally on the mend (I hope) after 2.5 weeks of covid. Playing catch up on dozens of tasks while facing the impending doom that is the start of the fall semester.
Our final lab defense this summer was a big one. Congratulations to Rachel Brant on her very awesome dissertation talk. @rachelbrant_ Rachel has been working on how & why some bees are behaviorally plastic in cities and combined approaches to look at this in sweat bees. 1/
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Our final lab defense this summer was a big one. Congratulations to Rachel Brant on her very awesome dissertation talk. @rachelbrant_ Rachel has been working on how & why some bees are behaviorally plastic in cities and combined approaches to look at this in sweat bees. 1/
We are celebrating a few defenses this past week. The first is Jill Lee, who defended her MS thesis on overshadowing in fruit flies with experimentally evolved oviposition preference. Jill's will be the last fly thesis for some time in the lab (may the flies rest in peace).
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
We are celebrating a few defenses this past week. The first is Jill Lee, who defended her MS thesis on overshadowing in fruit flies with experimentally evolved oviposition preference. Jill's will be the last fly thesis for some time in the lab (may the flies rest in peace).
One of my summer goals is met! Got my yard Gold Certified by the St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home program. I’m pretty happy- it’s been a lot of work building habitat in a city lot that was once only crabgrass.
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
One of my summer goals is met! Got my yard Gold Certified by the St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home program. I’m pretty happy- it’s been a lot of work building habitat in a city lot that was once only crabgrass.
The totality of news this week finally crushed me and shut my brain off with a wave of anxiety this afternoon. So I watched a cooking show, talked with a friend, and looked for bees outside. Here are some flowers from my garden.
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
The totality of news this week finally crushed me and shut my brain off with a wave of anxiety this afternoon. So I watched a cooking show, talked with a friend, and looked for bees outside. Here are some flowers from my garden.
Late-breaking full time teaching track position in biology! Our department is looking for an assistant teaching professor to join us this fall. The classes would be anatomy & physiology, vertebrate physiology, and other courses based on your expertise. Please share! 1/3
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Late-breaking full time teaching track position in biology! Our department is looking for an assistant teaching professor to join us this fall. The classes would be anatomy & physiology, vertebrate physiology, and other courses based on your expertise. Please share! 1/3
This will never not be fun. 2 new master’s thesis experiments are starting & I’m glad to have seasoned grad student Avery here to help me train six students in moving bumble bee colonies.
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
This will never not be fun. 2 new master’s thesis experiments are starting & I’m glad to have seasoned grad student Avery here to help me train six students in moving bumble bee colonies.
I’m out at the campus prairie with some students and it’s actually more comfy than my hot office. Ha. We are wrapping this up before before it gets hotter. Fun to watch students net their first bees!
November 13, 2024 at 8:14 AM
I’m out at the campus prairie with some students and it’s actually more comfy than my hot office. Ha. We are wrapping this up before before it gets hotter. Fun to watch students net their first bees!
Back porch robin eggs have hatched! I’ve been watching the mama every morning through the transom window during my coffee. Thrilled to see little beaks poking above the edge of the nest and lots of feeding happening.
November 13, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Back porch robin eggs have hatched! I’ve been watching the mama every morning through the transom window during my coffee. Thrilled to see little beaks poking above the edge of the nest and lots of feeding happening.
I finally escaped my office today and visited two of our field sites in north county. George and Brendan have the pollinator surveillance set up nicely here. Video cameras everywhere! Spotted a bumble bee queen at each site. Beautiful day!
November 13, 2024 at 8:14 AM
I finally escaped my office today and visited two of our field sites in north county. George and Brendan have the pollinator surveillance set up nicely here. Video cameras everywhere! Spotted a bumble bee queen at each site. Beautiful day!
FINALLY the first Bombus queens of the year in my yard! Two looked newly emerged and a third was foraging. Hard to miss the loud buzz of their flying by! Happy to have lots of native plants blooming for them.
November 13, 2024 at 8:14 AM
FINALLY the first Bombus queens of the year in my yard! Two looked newly emerged and a third was foraging. Hard to miss the loud buzz of their flying by! Happy to have lots of native plants blooming for them.