[junestrings]

a lot of people dont care about insect biomass collapse bc when they hear we are losing 2.5% of the insect biomass per year they just imagine the cockroach and housefly population decreasing by that much. they dont realize those are among the only ones that will remain unbothered

[junestrings]

you can make a little oasis right where you are, and it matters

[headspace-hotel]

every year of restoring native plants I see a great increase in the insect populations, and loads of new insects i never saw before (all of them harmless--the insects that are harmful or parasitic on humans are the main ones being unaffected by the decrease in insect populations)

(a large part of) the problem is Plant Sameness. we must restore plant diversity

[bugetopia]

This kind of bums me out and tbh I'm tired of posting bug photos when I know that these same bugs will become harder to come by in the future.

In Singapore, large parts of forests are going to be cleared for housing soon and they have endangered/ critically endangered plants and animals. The sad thing is that I don't think most people will care.

Sure, most people can say that it's a pity, but I think most will think it's a necessary evil for the economy. There are people who are very detached from the outside, spend most of their time in buildings and only think about nature when it inconveniences them.

Signing petitions and rallying against deforestation plans can only go so far if most people don't know what a forest is.

[beardedmrbean]

Periscope up

[birds-in-posts]

Green heron (Butorides virescens)

[flareonfloof]

birds have secret bones we're not allowed to know about

[waspdaily]

Today's wasp of the day is Vanhornia eucnemidarum!

Credits: photo 1, photo 2

Wasps of the family Vanhorniidae are rare with currently only 4 known species scattered all across the world. If you want to meet this cryptid for yourself, a good place to check would be near/on dead or dying maple trees as they are parasitoids of the false click beetles (Eucnemidae) that make the rotting wood their home.

[waspdaily]

Oh yeah and she also has weird mandibles that possibly swing outwards. That or she could just use some braces.

[carbomcoco]

"these researchers published a paper on something that literally any of us could have told you 🙄" ok well my supervisors wont let me write something in my thesis unless I can back it up with a citation so maybe it's a good thing that they're amplifying your voice to the scientific community in a way that prevents people from writing off your experiences as annecdotal evidence

[carbomcoco]

they did the research in the first place because they believed you and wanted to tell people about it. they are not our enemies.

[aphony-cree]

people always go "Instead of spending all that time on a study they could have just listened to us when we said these thing happen"

they did listen, that's how studies work, they asked people about their experiences and put all the data together in a nice package that can be cited

[parkchanwoohoo]

[bedupolker]

I know bugs, especially eusocial insects, don't have the remotest conception of human gender, I just like calling them ladies, tiny women, etc to combat how literally everyone else assumes every animal ever is male and a Good Heckin Boy or whatever

[autumngracy]

Saw this twitter post and instantly started looking for pictures of Stratt to use it with

[newsandstuffisee]

[kuttithevangu]

OK I keep seeing people refer to the Michigan parasite outbreak and then others will chime in “it’s in my state too!” so to clarify this for everyone it is a NATIONWIDE outbreak reported in 31 US states as of today, July 12th 2026. There is no reason to assume it is not present in the rest of them

Cyclospora, the ‘Explosive Diarrhea’ Parasite, Cases Reported in at Least 31 States: See the Map

NBC News’ tally shows at least 26 states have reported cases of the parasitic stomach illness, as health authorities race to find the source

[kuttithevangu]

The CDC is tracking cases but they are significantly lagging behind the states on numbers (their data is weeks behind) so it’s probably going to be most effective to check your individual state’s infectious disease tracking.

This is a parasite that usually causes about 3000 cases of illness per year in the USA, Michigan currently has reported about 2900 (the confusion about “Michigan outbreak” is because Michigan is the first that caught an uptick in cases and has been very proactive about trying to trace them). Last official update from Massachusetts was 18 cases here centered in Greater Boston. The CDC recommends NOT assuming there are no sources of the parasite in your state even if no cases have been reported.

It isn’t an unknown illness but it is an unusual quantity of cases, and the fact that they haven’t been able to pin down the source after weeks of tracking is what makes it particularly concerning this year (harder to contain).

Wash your hands, wash your produce, cook it ideally, and advocate for farm workers to have access to safe and hygienic toilet facilities

[luesmainblog]

that last part is extra important. nearly every one of these produce outbreaks are because of poor hygenic practices on the fields, and particularly, because field workers do not have adequate access to bathrooms. nobody wants to poison your food, but they often don't have a choice. they also often lack proper access to water, cooling equipment (such as sun hats and portable fans), and management; this can make it significantly harder to think clearly and make a wise decision, let alone survive the day. when this comes up in conversation, call this out. make sure everyone around you KNOWS that the reason the lettuce is constantly unsafe is because farms are not giving a shit about worker welfare, and the people growing and picking your lettuce have to walk ungodly distances in 100+ degree weather without water just to take a shit. oh, and if they DO choose to do that, they may be punished for taking an unscheduled break.

if you wanna go further, let everyone know that the majority of labor laws have an exception carved out for agricultural workers.

[kuttithevangu]

One U.S. visa program is growing rapidly. No one is happy with it

Republicans on Capitol Hill are starting to talk about one facet of immigration reform: how to expand the popular H-2A visa program for farm

Worth keeping up with developments in the fight over farm workers’ visas because while trying to get legal documents for workers, agricultural producers are also trying to fight for those legal documents to have fewer human rights provisions in them

[waspdaily]

Today's wasp of the day is the tick wasp (Ixodiphagus hookeri)!

Credits: photo 1, photo 2

With cases of Lyme disease and other tickborne illnesses on the rise recently, it's important as ever to recognize the important role wasps play in regulating insect and arachnid populations.

Mama wasp will lay an egg within a young tick that has not had its first meal yet. The egg's development only starts once the tick gets some blood in its tum. The tick will continue its development but not get too far along as the wasp baby eats it from the inside out.

While I. hookeri has been noted to be capable of using multiple species of ticks as their hosts, what complicates matters is that they're individually picky. Different populations of the same species of wasp will show different bias for which tick species they go after. If only we could understand what goes on in that tiny ganglion of theirs.

[waspdaily]

She's a bit of a diva to work with

[transattacks]

not seeing a lot of people on here talking about ICE murdering another man yesterday. His name was Lorenzo Salgado Arajou. He was a Mexican man living in Huston Texas. He was killed at age 52 and lived the past 35 years here in the USA, and was in the process of obtaining a work permit. He was shot and killed during a traffic stop that ICE claims was part of a targeted operation, and claimed he was “weaponizing his vehicle”- the same claim ICE agents made when they shot and murdered Renee Good.

During the stop, Lorenzo had 3 coworkers with him in his truck who have all been taken into ICE custody.

His family described Lorenzo as a hardworking family man who didn’t deserve to be killed. All he wanted was to provide for his wife and see his sons become great people. His eldest son recognized his father by his cries and pleas when trying to identify who the victim was.

The Salgado Araujo family has set up a gofundme to help with funeral and legal costs, and to help keep their family supported since Lorenzo was the sole provider.

Donate to In Loving Memory of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52 Years Old, organized by LULAC Institute, Inc.

On the morning of July 7, 2026, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was ta… LULAC Institute, Inc. needs your support for In Loving Memory of Lorenzo Salg

[bovid-beauty]

"Fascism"—New Federal Rule Would Require Federal Funding Recipients To Deny Trans People Exist

The rule could have heavy impacts towards trans people across society.

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

Importantly, the gender ideology prohibition has no age limitation—hospitals could be targeted not just for providing care to minors but for providing gender-affirming care to adults, because prescribing hormone therapy to a transgender patient of any age could be deemed promoting the belief that "sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic."

[junequeer]

THIS IS OPEN TO COMMENT UNTIL JULY 13, 2026

[featherandstorm]

This is all very bad and horrible, but I want to be clear that it’s worse and more sweeping than just eliminating trans research.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Please, if you only ever write one public comment, this is the one to do.

[genderkoolaid]

Bringing back this guide to writing an effective public comment. This gives you the basics you need to know, what you need to include, a basic outline you can follow, etc.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

But also, if possible, don't stop at writing a comment. Don't stop at calling your representatives. You should ideally be talking to people in your community about this and organizing resistance on-the-ground; there is a good chance people are already doing that even if you aren't hearing about it.

[cherrispryte]

Some added 101-level context from someone (me) who’s worked in federal grantmaking for 20 years and is literally certified on this document - this is a document that governs all federal grantmaking. It’s been around for over a decade and is a mega-document that combine multiple previous smaller documents that have been around for ages. It is updated every few years and generally the updates are minor - a notable change in the previous update was raising the small procurement threshold from $10,000 to $15,000 for example. Deeply dry boring minutiae that no one outside of federal grantmakers need concern themselves with. It was also federal GUIDELINES, which means there was flexibility.

This year’s is different. They are now federal REQUIREMENTS, which means there’s no flexibility. As was said previously, the 400 pages are not singularly devoted to being absolute shitheads to trans people. Theres a lot of stuff in there, some of which is the standard dry boring grants stuff, some of which is the horrible ideological warfare outlined above.

This document is issued by the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, which is currently lead by fucking Russell Vought, the principal architect of Project 2025. This is how they’re going to implement all the horrible shit in there that wasn’t covered by Executive Order. Russell Vought is actively coming for my job, my marriage, and my kid, and most of my friends lost their jobs last year because of him. He is the fucking arch villain behind the heinous shit the current regime is doing.

So yes, please comment. You don’t have to read all 400 pages before doing so, it’s dry and dense as fuck, but I thought this information might be helpful. Also, while there is a public comment period, this isn’t voted on by Congress. The OMB just fucking issues it. Pressuring your elected officials into publicly saying “hey what the fuck are you doing here” is good, though.

[mikkeneko]

Please note the comment period is open through JULY 13th, not JUNE 13th. I saw a lot of relogs yesterday saying "last day!" and I just want to say it is very much not too late.

[great-and-small]

“People suck”

Okay but what about the person who brought this injured dragonfly to a wildlife rehabber

[transmanace]

@bugthingsdaily

[movementnudge]

Movement nudge, coach John makes the period stretches more accessible

X

[theblackparadeisdead]

I'll admit it I'm a freak who loves airplane turbulence it's like a roller coaster to me. It's fun and a rush and I'm tired of pretending it's not

[thickness-protection-program]

According to fox entertainment this is who we should be afraid of. I didn't know who Francesca Hong was 10 minutes ago but thankfully now I'm aware of this monster and her monsterous policies

[estrogenesis-eeveeangelion]

"are you gonna take those pills the rest of your life?" you mean my molecules? why surely you wouldn't deprive me of my molecules. they are shaped exactly just so, you see. my molecules

[estrogenesis-eeveeangelion]

do you know how hard someone had to work to make my molecules into their molecule shapes??

[estrogenesis-eeveeangelion]

they invented a new shape of molecule just for me and you want me to what, not absorb it???

[estrogenesis-eeveeangelion]

reblog to remind somebody about their molecules

[estrogenesis-eeveeangelion]

people who shape molecules at their jobs found this post and they're in the notes being happy to be appreciated. go take your fucking molecules