Michael Skvarla
@napoleonicento.bsky.social
PhD in entomology, professor of insect ID. Co-host of @Arthro_Podshow. Slava Ukraini. Views are my own.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Our politics seems to be entering a phase of "right supremacy" where only the lives of right-wingers have value. Assassinating the leader of a state legislative body in her own damn home was business as usual, but all of America has to have a reckoning if it's a far-right online influencer.
September 11, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Our politics seems to be entering a phase of "right supremacy" where only the lives of right-wingers have value. Assassinating the leader of a state legislative body in her own damn home was business as usual, but all of America has to have a reckoning if it's a far-right online influencer.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
BOOM! Studios is HIRING!!!
We're looking for a talented, organized, and detail-oriented Assistant Editor with 1-2 years in editorial or a similar field! You will most likely be working directly with me on a variety of comic titles. Please visit the link to apply!
bit.ly/42ooXLq
#comicjobs
We're looking for a talented, organized, and detail-oriented Assistant Editor with 1-2 years in editorial or a similar field! You will most likely be working directly with me on a variety of comic titles. Please visit the link to apply!
bit.ly/42ooXLq
#comicjobs
Assistant Editor, BOOM! Studios (Open to Remote)
Assistant Editor, BOOM! Studios (Open to Remote)
bit.ly
September 11, 2025 at 2:05 PM
BOOM! Studios is HIRING!!!
We're looking for a talented, organized, and detail-oriented Assistant Editor with 1-2 years in editorial or a similar field! You will most likely be working directly with me on a variety of comic titles. Please visit the link to apply!
bit.ly/42ooXLq
#comicjobs
We're looking for a talented, organized, and detail-oriented Assistant Editor with 1-2 years in editorial or a similar field! You will most likely be working directly with me on a variety of comic titles. Please visit the link to apply!
bit.ly/42ooXLq
#comicjobs
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
August 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!
LLMs can't think or evaluate so this is unsurprising
“The study authors asked GPT 4o-mini to evaluate the quality of 217 papers. The tool didn’t mention in any of the reports that the papers being analyzed had been retracted or had validity issues.
In 190 cases, GPT described the papers as world leading, internationally excellent, or close to that”
In 190 cases, GPT described the papers as world leading, internationally excellent, or close to that”
ChatGPT tends to ignore retractions on scientific papers
Study finds the chatbot doesn’t acknowledge concerns with problematic studies
cen.acs.org
August 25, 2025 at 11:51 AM
LLMs can't think or evaluate so this is unsurprising
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Light pollution is causing birds around the world to sing for longer each day, prolonging their vocalizations on average by 50 minutes, according to a new study in Science.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Uz7vzP
Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Uz7vzP
August 21, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Light pollution is causing birds around the world to sing for longer each day, prolonging their vocalizations on average by 50 minutes, according to a new study in Science.
Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Uz7vzP
Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Uz7vzP
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Now police are monitoring the site. What are we even doing.
A Florida Department of Transportation crew early Sunday painted the Pulse crosswalk back to black and white for a second time as supporters continued to try to restore the rainbow-colored crossing. Now, police agencies are monitoring the site.
DOT repaints Pulse crosswalk for a second time. FHP and OPD watching site
A squad of Florida Highway Patrol and Orlando Police Department officers surveilled the dozen people who were using chalk on the rainbow crosswalk on Sunday. Advocates said it was an intimidation t…
www.sun-sentinel.com
August 25, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Now police are monitoring the site. What are we even doing.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
obviously people deserve blame for being antisemitic but it is a world-historical catastrophe that almost every institution nominally dedicated to fighting antisemitism has decided to burn their credibility for the short term interests of the Netanuahu government
a very bleak development in terms of my view of the world in the last few years has been both ‘the Israeli govt is much worse than I thought and deserves an enormous amount of criticism’ and ‘yeah a lot of people geniunely are just low-grade antisemitic’ both apparently being true.
The latest on how the internet has made us all medieval peasants: “this cookie chain has the spirit of the perfidious Jew behind it”
August 25, 2025 at 2:15 AM
obviously people deserve blame for being antisemitic but it is a world-historical catastrophe that almost every institution nominally dedicated to fighting antisemitism has decided to burn their credibility for the short term interests of the Netanuahu government
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Who wants a job like mine? If so you may be in luck! 🥳
Virginia Tech is hiring an Insect Identification Laboratory Manager: careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us... Follow the link for info and to apply.
Virginia Tech is hiring an Insect Identification Laboratory Manager: careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us... Follow the link for info and to apply.
August 22, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Who wants a job like mine? If so you may be in luck! 🥳
Virginia Tech is hiring an Insect Identification Laboratory Manager: careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us... Follow the link for info and to apply.
Virginia Tech is hiring an Insect Identification Laboratory Manager: careers.pageuppeople.com/968/cw/en-us... Follow the link for info and to apply.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
The ruling class is desperate to shunt as much intellectual activity through AI as it can, because AI is another lever to prevent ideas that threaten their social status from surfacing.
So, Research Assistant (AI feature, Primo) is censoring the following topics: Genocide in Palestine
Gaza war
Rwandan genocide
Armenian genocide
Genocides across the world
History of genocides
lynching
lynching in the united states
lynchings in the united states
january 6
covid
covid data
COVID-19”
Gaza war
Rwandan genocide
Armenian genocide
Genocides across the world
History of genocides
lynching
lynching in the united states
lynchings in the united states
january 6
covid
covid data
COVID-19”
August 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The ruling class is desperate to shunt as much intellectual activity through AI as it can, because AI is another lever to prevent ideas that threaten their social status from surfacing.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
It was only through collective action — in the form of a class-action lawsuit, that people got paid.
www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article...
www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article...
Elon Musk to pay $500 million in severance to 6,000 ex-Twitter workers
The tentative $500 million deal, filed in federal court, covers about 6,000 workers who were laid off after Musk bought the company for $44 billion and rebranded it as X.
www.sfchronicle.com
August 22, 2025 at 3:02 PM
It was only through collective action — in the form of a class-action lawsuit, that people got paid.
www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article...
www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article...
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
This sounds hyperbolic and I need every cis person following me, who thinks it is, to understand this is very much the reality in the UK.
So basically in the UK, any time someone regrets having sex with a trans woman, they can go cry to the police that she "lied" about being a woman and the police and jury will believe them every time.
Then the woman will be sentenced to be raped by men in men's prison.
Then the woman will be sentenced to be raped by men in men's prison.
This is a vastly upsetting case, that uses CPS guidelines that effectively mean if Trans+ people don't come out before sexual contact, they can now be found guilty of sexual assault - which is what has happened here
Let's take a look at the background 🧵
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Let's take a look at the background 🧵
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
August 22, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This sounds hyperbolic and I need every cis person following me, who thinks it is, to understand this is very much the reality in the UK.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
There was a *whole lot of news* yesterday on the Eric Adams extended universe indictments that you may have missed, so let's get a thread going. First, with this lengthy breakdown on just what was included in some of these indictments. hellgatenyc.com/lewis-martin...
Killing Bike Lanes for Cash and Fame: How Eric Adams's Former Top Aide Allegedly Ran This Filthy Town
The Manhattan DA has hit former top mayoral aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin and six other people with a range of corruption charges that involve karaoke bars, a promise of a SAG card, and $10,000 in seafood.
hellgatenyc.com
August 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM
There was a *whole lot of news* yesterday on the Eric Adams extended universe indictments that you may have missed, so let's get a thread going. First, with this lengthy breakdown on just what was included in some of these indictments. hellgatenyc.com/lewis-martin...
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
The fact that the thing we're calling artificial intelligence *can't do math* and yet we're jamming it into programs that successfully *have done math* for decades, then warning people against using the AI to do math, seems like an excellent summary of where we are.
Good thing no one uses Microsoft Excel for anything related to legal, regulatory or compliance business functions
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
August 19, 2025 at 6:09 PM
The fact that the thing we're calling artificial intelligence *can't do math* and yet we're jamming it into programs that successfully *have done math* for decades, then warning people against using the AI to do math, seems like an excellent summary of where we are.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll.....
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
August 19, 2025 at 3:04 PM
2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll.....
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/
Here is an example of a paper wasp with one wing folded longitudinally and the open. I prepared it for an online course about stinging insects, maybe it'll be useful for someone's insect taxonomy class.
August 19, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Here is an example of a paper wasp with one wing folded longitudinally and the open. I prepared it for an online course about stinging insects, maybe it'll be useful for someone's insect taxonomy class.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
I don't know why this lad is building a subterranean city for cats, but I'm all for it.
August 16, 2025 at 11:12 PM
I don't know why this lad is building a subterranean city for cats, but I'm all for it.
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Abolish ICE
While masked agents were violently attacking a delivery worker this morning, bystanders repeatedly asked to see their badge numbers but they refused.
Bystander: You guys are ruining this country, you know that, right?
Agent: Liberals already ruined it.
Bystander: You guys are ruining this country, you know that, right?
Agent: Liberals already ruined it.
August 16, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Abolish ICE
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Abundant Eocene fossils of plants and animals are found in the Green River Formation of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. This fossil Pseudosalix Hanleyi, with stems, leaves and flowers preserved, is harder to find than a T-rex tooth!
August 16, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Abundant Eocene fossils of plants and animals are found in the Green River Formation of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. This fossil Pseudosalix Hanleyi, with stems, leaves and flowers preserved, is harder to find than a T-rex tooth!
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
We asked people who experienced "sweeps" of homeless encampments to write about it in their own words.
In Portland, Teresa Stratton told us about how her husband’s ashes were taken in a removal:
In Portland, Teresa Stratton told us about how her husband’s ashes were taken in a removal:
August 16, 2025 at 8:02 PM
We asked people who experienced "sweeps" of homeless encampments to write about it in their own words.
In Portland, Teresa Stratton told us about how her husband’s ashes were taken in a removal:
In Portland, Teresa Stratton told us about how her husband’s ashes were taken in a removal:
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
tldr; please help me fight back against Another Website Making A Chatbot while there is still time
iDigBio is hosting a zoom webinar on Monday, August 18, 1pm - 2pm (it says ET in one place and CT in another place, I'm assuming it's ET??) to discuss how their new agentic LLM chatbot iChatBio is "transforming" biodiversity research. I'm sure it is.
ufl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
ufl.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: iChatBio: A Modular Agent System for Biodiversity Data Exploration. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Curious how AI is transforming biodiversity research? Join us for a look at iChatBio, a cutting-edge agentic system designed to help scientists discover, process, and analyze biodiversity data with ea...
ufl.zoom.us
August 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM
tldr; please help me fight back against Another Website Making A Chatbot while there is still time
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
Buried in the regime's political takeover letter of the Smithsonian is the worst bit. Unlike exhibits, which are non-destructive towards primary materials, temporary in nature, and reversible, the foundational collections are irreplacable. They want to be able to throw stuff out.
August 13, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Buried in the regime's political takeover letter of the Smithsonian is the worst bit. Unlike exhibits, which are non-destructive towards primary materials, temporary in nature, and reversible, the foundational collections are irreplacable. They want to be able to throw stuff out.
Wow! What a good-looking red tail just hanging out
August 13, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Wow! What a good-looking red tail just hanging out
Reposted by Michael Skvarla
A look at three species of Pterosaurs from Late Triassic Europe
These are illustrations I did for my book (in preparation) about the tetrapods of the Triassic
#paleoart #pterosaurs #sciart #art
These are illustrations I did for my book (in preparation) about the tetrapods of the Triassic
#paleoart #pterosaurs #sciart #art
August 8, 2025 at 1:55 PM
A look at three species of Pterosaurs from Late Triassic Europe
These are illustrations I did for my book (in preparation) about the tetrapods of the Triassic
#paleoart #pterosaurs #sciart #art
These are illustrations I did for my book (in preparation) about the tetrapods of the Triassic
#paleoart #pterosaurs #sciart #art