Joanna Wilson
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wilsontoxlab.bsky.social
Joanna Wilson
@wilsontoxlab.bsky.social
1.3K followers 340 following 920 posts
Aquatic sciences 🌊, toxicology, environment science research🧪👩‍🔬🌎. We study chemical & temperature effects in Fish 🐟 🐠& fun inverts 🪱🪼. Prof at McMaster University in Biology. Loves Hockey 🏒(Go Leafs!) & Rugby. Posts are all my own views. WilsonToxLab.ca
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Happy Pride 🌈

Love your kids. Full stop. As a parent, that’s your biggest requirement- to love them so much, they always feel it.
Me, sitting in the shade, sunglasses on my head, wearing a tshirt with a rainbow with the words “Free Mom Hugs”. And for the record, I mean that. One of my adorable & amazing kids is sitting beside me with his sunglasses on.
June 29, 2025 at 7:06 PM
wilsontoxlab.bsky.social
I was too in the moment to take many decent photos or video today. But I finally saw some more dolphins and they were putting on a show, splashing and jumping.

But the sea eagles? Those were impressive & I did get a video.

(I’m more of a watch & be in the moment person when I’m with nature)
June 18, 2025 at 8:44 PM
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In case your day, or reading the news, has left you a bit down…

I’m sharing photos of some lovely Highland cows that I got to feed this morning. It was the perfect start to my day.

No idea why, but the hairy coos make me happy. They are super cute 🥰
This is Sean, a lovely brown, 8 month old hairy coo. He has a sweet brown nose, lovely brown eyes, a shaggy & damp brown coat and little horns just growing out of his head. He loved sweet potato This is Sean’s momma. She’s was also a bit damp and shaggy today, with a light brown coat & big horns coming out the side of her head. This is another baby coo, only 8 months old but with a blond shaggy coat. The cow has tiny horns, just starting to grow, and a small mane sweeping down his brow. So sweet!
June 14, 2025 at 7:15 PM
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Saw 8 seals today, walking around Mousa.
Sign post at the beach declaring “Selkie Kingdom”.
June 9, 2025 at 7:53 PM
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Best view for coffee ever.
White Coffee cup in front of a window over looking a cliff. The cliffs are full of seabirds and the blue ocean is visible below
June 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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Seabirds!!!!
A beautiful gannet sits on a cliff edge, yellowish head, a white body and amazing black lines outlining the eyes A large group of guillemots sitting on a rock Craggy cliffs leading down to the sea. Birds live every nook and cranny
June 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM
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Eshaness… I think my phrase of the day was “Oh my God!”. Glorious day with sun and wind and sea; sea birds and lambs everywhere.
View out to sea.. green grass with tiny pink flowers, dropping off into a cliff of rugged, black stone. The sea is blue on the horizon but crashing, foamy white where it meets the rocks. The sun is shining and a line of white fluffy clouds are in the light blue sky. Glorious day with wind and sun
June 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
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Puffins are ridiculously cute!
3 puffins sitting on the grass, small pink flowers are in the ground. Black ragged rocks and a swirling sea is in the background
June 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
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Are you ready Leafs Nation???

Bucket list night. At a playoff game with kid#2!
Me, in a leafs hat, with my kid. We are smiling like crazy and you can see the ice at the Leafs game behind us
May 7, 2025 at 10:26 PM
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Kid#2 got a “Mom” tattoo today & I love, love, love it

Nothing says you love your Mom like a fish on your arm!
Zebrafish tattoo in black ink on a forearm.
April 13, 2025 at 5:50 PM
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The lab is full of smiles today! Celebrating our award winners & the grad students who have provided such great support this year
WildonToxLab members are in front of a waterfall. 3 students are in front, holding their presentation awards. Our 3 grad students are behind.
April 9, 2025 at 10:18 PM
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Grumpy faced bandit at the back door as I was coming in to work this morning. Wasn’t moving. Looks like more sleep was needed today
Pudgy raccoon, curled up in a corner. One eye is open as it gives me a grumpy look for disturbing its sleep
April 4, 2025 at 4:57 PM
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The lion arrived to remind us the winter isn’t quite done with us.
Snow covers the ground, trees and greenhouse. The pink lights are on in the research cells
April 2, 2025 at 5:07 PM
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Want to hear about zebrafish enrichment? Ally & had a beautiful poster to share their results.
Ally & Clarice, two undergraduates working on a research project, present their poster on zebrafish enrichment.
March 8, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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Nice cold weather and a beautiful view of the frozen lake at the Rice Lake Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Workshop
White snowy landscape with some small trees in the foreground and an icy lake in the background. The sun is just coming up and the sky is pink and yellow on the horizon and blue higher in the sky
February 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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Birthday presents and cards are on point..
January 29, 2025 at 2:25 AM
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Such a beautiful sky!!!
Glass greenhouse in the foreground with trees and other building behind. The sky is a blue to the right and bleeding into a pinky orange with the setting sun
January 27, 2025 at 10:32 PM
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Birthday surprise of balloons and cupcakes with my students!
My students, crammed into my office to yell “Happy Birthday!” After I came back from class. There are pink and white balloons on my table, chairs, bookcase and desk. Cupcakes are on the table for everyone to savour
January 27, 2025 at 4:38 PM
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Lots of people have made comments over the years about the limits of UG research. Such BS.

Just look at these beautiful images. An UG thesis student did this!!! Optimized the staining (zebrafish protocol didn’t work in perch), stained perch larvae & juveniles. 😍

ars.els-cdn.com/content/imag...
A 6 panel image of the spinal column of a yellow perch juvenile. Fish were stained with alizarin red and alcian blue. The alizarin red stains the ossified bone an intense pink red and in the spinal column, each vertebra is a bright pink block. As the animal gets older, the vertebral spines are also pink. In 4 of the panels the dorsal and ventral fins are visible as pink rays. The background fish tissue is clear.
January 21, 2025 at 2:50 AM
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How can you not love these?

ars.els-cdn.com/content/imag...
Yellow perch fins, stained with alizarin red and alcian blue. Each rat in the fin is clearly visible, the pink/red (for ossified bone) is only visible in the rays in the first panel, cartilage has a blue stain in the bones at the base. In each of the next 3 panels, each ray becomes more pink and individual bones at the base of the fin start to ossify, evidenced by the pink colour. In the last panel, every visible bone and fin ray is an intense pink red colour
January 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
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Ok last crochet sea creature of the winter break - a sting ray. This cold has sucked but it’s the reason I have so many creatures finished.

Today though, I really wish I was well enough for the rink. Missed all of the knock out round. I no longer feel guilty about hogging the pool play a bit.
Light blue crocheted sting ray. The ray has black eyes, a black smile, and yellow spots on the head. You can see one fin and the tip of the tail. The bottom is white. The sting ray is on the arm of a rust orange couch.
January 5, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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Crochet sea creatures part 3!

I’ve caught a cold so no arena for me today. I’ve been napping, reading, and doing a bit of crochet. Of course I’m watching some hockey too.

Nothing like an electric eel to make me smile when I feel like 💩

Fun fact: these glow in the dark!
Green crocheted eel, with a yellow frill running down the back. A small white tooth is coming out the side of a black mouth. The other side of my green eel, the frill goes all the way down to the tip of the tail. Fun fact: he glows in the dark!
January 3, 2025 at 3:03 AM
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Angry squid!! Beware the kraken…

Crochet sea creatures part 2

God these amuse me
Yellow squid body with a blue and green frill over the head. He is a bit cranky with angry eyebrows over his black eyes
January 2, 2025 at 2:07 AM
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Crocheted an anglerfish and I’m loving this one. Endless amusement bc it glows in the dark too!!

I’ve started crocheting sea creatures and can’t stop. Forget anything else, it’s aquatic animals for me!
Pink fish with blue fins. It’s got a large blue jaw and white teeth on the front and a blue and yellow lure off the top of the head
December 30, 2024 at 10:00 PM
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Team Canada!!
Line of players in red jerseys, on the blue line
December 30, 2024 at 3:11 AM