Dirty Business - the sewage scandal docu-drama - on C4 is staggering TV. Not only the cold rage of it, and the depiction of banal corporate evil, but the production methods and performances. Poo Chernobyl.
“Dirty Business illustrates how corporate greed and the fundamental lack of governance and regulatory oversight across the nation’s water industry allowed this sewage crisis to happen – at the cost of environmental and human health, and our future water security”
theconversation.com/englands-sew...
This summer, why not create habitat for caterpillars in your garden?
Ours is now full of Scarlet Tiger moth caterpillars! 🐛
We encourage them & many other species by maintaining their host plants - bramble, comfrey, nettle, blackthorn, etc. alongside our ornamental plants & veg.
Secondhand bookshop treasure: published in 1895!
Today’s insect highlight is this hyperparasitoid wasp: It parasitises other parasitoid wasps which parasitise aphids!
If my ID is correct, it is from the subfamily Charipinae.
#natureisamazing
Chimpanzees have culture. Do they also have cultural heritage worthy of protection? @simonfitzpatrick.bsky.social and I argue they do in our new paper, because their cultural practices create value.
link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758...
Last week I made an appearance on the children’s science discovery channel
‘Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants’
where I gave an introduction to the wonderful world of social insects 🐜 🐝
Thanks so much for having me! @ebtsoyp.bsky.social 🌎
I'm very happy to share that a paper from my DPhil thesis has been selected as the Editor's Choice article in Evolution. 😊
You can read it here: lnkd.in/eCnAQfzT 🐜
@journal-evo.bsky.social
#EvolutionaryBiology #SocialEvolution #Insects
My insect highlight of the day is this absolutely adorable 1mm long parasitic wasp
Thank you!
Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin! 🎉
Thank you for creating the field of evolutionary biology.
It’s always fun to get started on a new taxonomic group and become familiar with things that once seemed completely unrecognisable. 🔬🐝
Some fly groups require careful examination of their wing venation, leg segments, or mouthparts.
Luckily, I’ve had a lot of practice with careful microscopic identification over the last year as I worked on a pollinator project requiring high resolution bee ID.
Flies are often overlooked, yet they are pollinators, decomposers, predators, a vital food source for other wildlife, and indicators of overall ecosystem health.
In this project I will be identifying & recording many different types of insect, including some I am am less practiced with- such as the flies. 🪰
Long-term datasets like this are hugely important for monitoring wildlife declines & recovery.
I just completed a report on organic farming for a royal estate, and now I am starting work on a long-term biodiversity monitoring project for which samples have been collected every year since 1992!
Recently I have posted more about my evolutionary research, but I also work as a farmland ecologist, involved in many different types of projects around the UK.
This week, I have mostly been thinking about flies 🪰
Good to know that Martin Nowak was keeping Jeffrey Epstein abreast of developments in our field www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
Strange discovery that an email about inclusive fitness was forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein, with the emailer quoting Jerusalem and comparing themself to Einstein. Are you one of the >100 evolutionary biologists now in the Epstein files? www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
I wish! I fear the enthusiasm may only go in one direction.
In case anyone doubted that this is a lifelong habit, here’s me in Malawi in around 2003!
I realised that wherever I go, whatever I’m doing, there’s a very high chance that I will find a giant mantis to hold
4 photos from 4 countries:
Italy, Uganda, South Africa, PNG
Oh amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Wabag. When did you last visit?
This was a cultural show and gathering of diverse tribes from across the highlands, so many singsings taking place.
My photos from a 2023 visit to Enga in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. I had the privilege of meeting many amazing and unusual people; some had walked for seven days through the forest just to reach their nearest road.
Wow! Amazing finds
Thank you! That’s very interesting. I would love to know more about it in the context of embryology!
