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I love how, when you’re little, you learn that orbit around the nucleus like the planets go around the sun. And then you hit AP or college science and the teacher’s like, yeah, that’s not true, we’ve known that’s not true for a hundred years. they’re not orbiting they’re just in [drawing a red ‘cryptid here’ blob somewhere near the nucleus] this general area. :) maybe :)

real ones know about my lifelong love for octopuses, scicom & animal cognition… so you can imagine my delight when asked if I would illustrate this article on octopus camouflage and the social (racial) human parallel of code switching by actual neuroscientist Angelique Allen for Science for the People Magazine <3

read the article online or support the longest running anti-war science publication by grabbing a physical copy of vol 27.

it’s very worth it, if only to see Matteo Farinella’s gorgeous cover & spot art in person 🌊

an interesting bit on scicomm, public health, disinformation, and marketing from abby cartus

The affiliate marketing HHS

I want to focus on the obvious pitfalls of fighting disinformation qua disinformation. Framing the issue as one of disinformation suggests that the core social problem at hand is that people see wrong facts, and for any reason at all, believe them. As Quinta Jurecic wrote in a great 2024 essay about the failure of anti-disinformation effort No License for Disinformation, “lies, it turns out, have a constituency,” though the nature of this constituency is never investigated. […] the problem is the theory of the case underpinning furious posting as a strategy, something like: people are seeing wrong facts, from people who don’t have sufficient expertise to speak on behalf of the scientific consensus, and so we need to expose people to real facts, and loudly and insistently establish our credentials for conveying these facts, which is to say, to insist that we should be believed because we’re educated.

The main problem with this is that it doesn’t work. At all. It hasn’t ever worked. For one thing, plenty of people with impeccable credentials are inveterate bad actors and shit-peddlers – take Martin Kulldorff, for example. For another, as Jurecic notes in her essay, there is great “difficulty” in “distinguish dangerous quackery from productive disagreement.” Attempts to understand MAHA and what is happening in the federal health bureaucracy through the disinformation framework will never not be plagued by these issues. They are epistemic issues inherent in science itself and hence in any attempt to communicate science; they cannot be overcome by establishing expertise or authority. In light of the overwhelming evidence that the disinformation framework leads nowhere productive, I want to suggest that we act like the scientists we play online and abandon it in favor of a framework that I think does a better job of explaining many of the relevant data points. The right framework – the one that gets us asking the right questions, and opens rather than closes avenues for political possibility – is marketing.

[…]

To be effective, science communication needs to learn something from marketing strategy. It needs to reflect a coherent understanding of the world back to people, and to help make sense of their actual fears and grievances, not the fears and grievances they would have if they were smarter, more scientifically literate, or more politically sophisticated. (I also think that there’s something of a sublimated wish here, for actual political reality to be as degraded and hopeless as people’s emotional lives, that the MAHA marketing works on, but that’s a subject for another essay.) To have an effective science communication strategy, we simply can no longer bury our heads in the sand about health care and medicine. Part of the reason wellness marketing works is that we’re used to being aggressively marketed legitimate medical treatments by legitimate professionals. When I was a teenager, for example, a family doctor – a woman of prestigious education and tremendous professional and personal integrity – tried to market me the skin care products she was selling from her office during a checkup! Another reason it works is that science communication is leaving the entire experience of health care on the table.

Consider the actual experience of trying to access behavioral health services for autism – it’s almost impossible in this country, destabilizing and financially grueling for most families. This creates a rich deposit of anxiety in the population that MAHA is happily mining for its own enrichment while we, the experts, tell ourselves that nothing can be done if people just really want to believe falsehoods. Jurecic writes that there is “political benefit” to promoting falsehoods, and I really wish she had followed that thought out to its conclusion. Political benefit to whom? What if we tried, in terms of science communication, to confront the psychological appeal of wellness bullshit? For example: we see and understand how impossible it is to get your kid a behavioral health diagnosis, or any follow-up care. We understand that this creates real, cascading problems for you that you have to contend with and that demand immediate solutions. There are real treatments out there that can help you, but they’re unacceptably hard to get, and we, the experts, are committed to the political advocacy necessary to reform our health care system so that it works for you, not the insurance executives or the supplements hawkers – but we need you, and we can’t do it alone.

This last part is literal, by the way. We really can’t do it alone. And we can’t just scicomm it all the way. We have to fucking mean what we say. This is all disastrous, but I must continue to emphasize that it can be undone. It can be undone tomorrow, if we were to gain some political power tomorrow. It’s much easier to get political power to change the leadership of HHS than it is to convince everyone to “trust science.” But it’s much easier to post expert cringe on main than it is to make meaningful commitments to concrete political efforts and to the “public” that public health is supposed to serve.

(obligatory disclaimer: i don’t think it’s necessary to unpack the “behavioral health services for autism” can of worms in order to get the message of this piece. i do think it’s worth unpacking in relation to this argument though)

I haven’t listened to his podcast or seen much of his direct scicomm work, but his support of science communication training and research efforts is well known, and is a good sign that he’s put a lot of serious thought into the challenges of doing science communication well (compared to some celebrity scientists who assume that because they understand science they’re automatically good at communicating it). I know the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stonybrook University has a great reputation, for instance, and the “Alda Method” they teach is about applying what we know both from social science research and from acting/improv to improve scicomm efforts.

Acropora cervicornis and Acropora palmata declared “functionally extinct” in Florida, much of its native range.

I really wish I was kidding, but this is where we’re at. A new study published in Science with around 50 authors from various institutions and agencies reports that due to marine heatwave events in 2023-2024, these two Acropora species have faced such high mass mortality events that the remaining population is considered “ecologically insignificant”.

The authors found that average surface water temperatures reached sustained >31° C (87.8° F) for approximately 40.2 days, resulting in 2.2 to fourfold levels of prolonged heat exposure. Since 2023, 97.8 to 100% of the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas Acropora palmata and Acropora cervicornis (respectively) colonies have died, including restorative outplanting colonies. The Southeast coast of Florida experienced a roughly 38% mortality rate, indicating cooler temperature levels.

Now, the situation is dire. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. These two species are wonderful animals that have existed here for nearly 250,000 years, and losing them is a tragedy. The takeaway, however, is that they are functionally extinct, meaning we still have many healthy colonies in captivity being utilized for protection, research, and future population restoration. The first order of business is to focus on emissions reduction and carbon sequestration through the restoration of natural sinks, such as mature forests. Landback initiatives that honor traditional stewardship can help increase the longevity of these reefs. There is still time. In fact, we recently celebrated a “baby boom” of both species at the Florida Aquarium as part of the Coral Reef Restoration and Recovery Initiative (FCR3), which aims to restore 25% of the total coral population by 2030. It’s one of the most productive artificial coral spawns to date!

If you want to contribute to coral conservation or learn more, I highly recommend you check out my colleague’s work at the Coral Restoration Foundation, Mote Marine Laboratory, and the Florida Aquarium.

I will just be here with my silly little guys, taking care of them until they’re able to go home.

[ImageID: A video produced by user creacher-art of their cultivated staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis). It is a close-up video of a branch of yellow-gold coral polyps with white tips as they sway in the tank’s current. There are no polyps on the underside of the branch due to a lack of light for photosynthesis, leaving it white. /endID]

Singulon Theory part 5: Singulon Life Phase 1, Creation

By Richard D. Treadaway

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Now that we have established the nature of 3D space, 4D space, and the Zero-Point Boundary, we can begin exploring the Singulon itself and the distinct phases of its existence.

We begin within the Gravitino, where I-particles are constantly in motion, continuously shifting direction under the influence of surrounding I-particles. When two of these I-particles collide head-on, they instantly decelerate to light speed and become entangled. However, due to Gauss’s law of magnetism, which states that no magnetic monopoles can exist, one of these I-particles collapses into a single point, forming the positively charged T-particle.

When this occurs, two things happen.

First, the newly formed T-particle is imbued with angular momentum determined by the manner in which the original I-particles collided. Because I-particles are purely wave functions, they naturally slide past one another upon impact. However, when one collapses into a point, that sliding motion is converted into angular momentum, which becomes an intrinsic property of the Singulon.

Second, the T-particle begins to push against the surrounding Gravitino. Because opposite poles repel in 4D space, the mass-energy of the Gravitino is forced outward from the newly formed Singulon. Yet, since the Gravitino is infinitely dense, that energy has nowhere to escape. Instead, it collapses inward, imparting its mass-energy into the Singulon and setting the stage for the next phase of its existence, oscillation.

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I hope I’ve managed to pique your interest. In Part 6, we’ll explore how the Singulon oscillates between the third and fourth dimensions, bridging the boundary between them.

The Marvelous Gastrointestinal Tract

A short comic I drew for a science communication magazine! Check out the rest of the pieces here: https://misciwriters.com/edition-4-everyday-wonders-2/

Transcription + description under read more.

Page 1 of a Magic School Bus-style comic.

The scientist introduces themself: “Heya, I’m Jess! I’ll be your guide today on our tour of…”

The Marvelous Gastrointestinal Tract

The scientist climbs into an apple and invites the reader to join, saying “Hop on into this ole apple. We’re going in worm style.”

Location: Mouth

Scientist saying “Careful of the gnashers.”

Teeth start digestion by physically breaking apart food (aka mechanical digestion). The tongue and jaw muscles are some of the stongest muscles in the body!

A cookie is no match for mechanical digestion.

Amylase: an enzyme in saliva that turns starch into simpler sugars. Lipases are simliar but work on fats instead.

You can think of these enzymes as scissors that cut long molecules into smaller ones.

Page 2

Location: Esophagus

The scientist, upside down in the throat, explains “The peristalsis does wonders for my back.”

Peristalsis: wave-like contractions that push food through the digestive tract.

The scientist then falls through the open lower esophageal sphincter into the stomach, losing a shoe on the way.

Location: Stomach

The scientist lounges in stomach acid as if it were a pool, saying “Make yourself comfy, we’ll be here for a few hours.

Hydrochloric acid (HCl): activates enzymes that break down proteins. The low pH (1-3) also protects us from many disease-causing organisms, but our stomach cells need mucus for protection.

Off to the side, a half-submerged bacterium regards the scientist with curiosity.

Helicobacter pylori: one of the few bacteria that can live in the stomach. Can cause stomach ulcers, but are usually harmless.

Page 3: a busy factory floor with a snaking conveyor belt (representing the small intestine) holding many packages that must be unboxed and processed.

Location: Small intestine

Safety poster reads: Divide & Conquer! Lipases and Bile are in charge of Fat boxes, Trypsin and Proteases are in charge of Protein boxes, Amylases are in charge of Starch boxes.

More lipases, trypsin, proteases, and amylases are arriving from the pancreas while bile arrives from the gallbladder. The start of the conveyor belt (duodenum) contains a large pile of mixed boxes and represents chyme.

Chyme: partially digested food from the stomach.

At the jejunum, the digestive enzymes and compounds open the boxes they are in charge of and feed contents to enterocytes.

Enterocytes: specialized intestinal cells that absorb nutrients from food.

Some contents remain on the conveyor belt and travel to the ileum section, where enterocytes finish consuming the nutrients. By the end of the conveyor belt, only dietary fiber packages remain.

Dietary fiber cannot be digested by humans. They move to the large intestine.

The scientist observes the busting factor and declares it "A model of teamwork.”

Page 4

The scientist, now in a car, travels through a neighborhood by car.

Location: Large intestine.

The road consists of Ascending Avenue, Transverse Street, Descending Road, and curves to the Landfill. Along the way, the scientist observes snapshots of the residents’ lives.

Anthropomorphized bacteria train the immune system, ake vitamins + other nutrients, and break down food parts we can’t digest (for example, the dietary fiber packages from earlier.

At the end, the scientist, clad in a poop emoji hat, falls into the toilet. The tour has finished.

The scientist sends the reader off with a cheery “That’s all, folks!”

Singulon Theory part 4: The Zero-Point Boundry

By Richard D. Treadaway

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The Zero-Point Boundary (ZPB) refers to the exact point at which 3D space transitions into 4D space. Unlike the Singulon, the ZPB is not a particle but rather a conceptual threshold, a boundary condition within spacetime itself. Only Singulons are capable of crossing this threshold, doing so as they gather energy and fold space around themselves.

As Singulons gather energy, they begin to bend the fabric of space around themselves. The ZPB forms when this spatial curvature becomes so extreme that the entirety of space collapses into a single Planck volume centered on the Singulon. At this stage, space exists as a one-dimensional representation of its parent domain, either 3D or 4D, depending on which side of reality the Singulon currently inhabits.

in the figure belowe we will look at the energy signitures and properties of singulons aproching the zpb.

When a Singulon enters 3D space, it is cold, yet in a state of extremely high potential energy. Almost immediately, it begins to heat up, reaching the Planck temperature in an instant due to its infinitesimal size. As it does, the surrounding space bends more and more sharply until, upon reaching the speed of light ©, the Singulon crosses into the ZPB.

Within this threshold, the opposing energy signatures of 3D and 4D space cancel one another out, forming a region of true neutrality, what can be understood as absolute zero. Here, the Singulon releases its stored energy to propel itself into the next dimension, continuing its oscillation until it returns to the same energy state it possessed at the moment of its creation.

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and with that we have everything we need in orser to begin talking about the life phases of the singulon so i hope youll join me in part 5 the creation on the singulon!

I hear this all the time, but it pretty much universally stems from people not being up to date on the current state of literature regarding species concepts and speciation, and textbooks and curricula failing to be updated. Basically, this argument was put to rest in 2007, when a landmark paper by Kevin de Queiroz in 2007 (required reading in my lab), pointed out that we actually all agree what a species is: a ‘separately evolving metapopulation lineage’ (actually he had already basically made this point in 1998 and 2005, but third time’s the charm).

The perceived 'argument’ is simply around the criteria we use to identify species. Speciation is (usually) a gradual process, over which a series of 'species criteria’ become satisfied, e.g. the biological species criterion (inability to interbreed with other metapopulation lineages), or the phenotypic species criterion (phenotypic distinction form other metamopopulation lineages). Different instances of speciation can have such criteria satisfied in a different order, and in some cases, some criteria are never satisfied, or at least, not until much much later (e.g. the inability to interbreed [biological species criterion, one of the hardest to satisfy and test] may be the last criterion to be fulfilled, and in some cases can take millions upon millions of years—just look at cichlid fish, which can, in captivity, sometimes hybridise between South American and African lineages that are >45 million years apart! And don’t get me started on the sturddlefish!).

This re-framing allows scientists working on different taxa, for which some criteria might be preferable or more detectable than others, to use those criteria best suited to them to help define/recognise/circumscribe their species. For instance, it is impossible for clonal organisms to have the biological species criterion applied to them—no individual can interbreed with any other, so is every individual a species? If you are debating about the primacy of the 'biological species concept’, this will always come up. But if we treat that as just one criterion that is just as good as any other, suddenly that doesn’t matter so much.

Now, it is important to remember that species are hypotheses—hypotheses concerning which individuals belong to which metapopulation lineages, and how independent those lineages are from others. Species are real, but our concept of them is based on lines of evidence. They can be confirmed as they can be refuted. When the hypothesis is good, we see it confirmed by multiple lines of evidence; when it is bad, it gets messy, and it can align well with some lines of evidence, but not others. This, too, is exceptionally well suited to this reimagined species concept (what de Queiroz variously calls the 'unified species concept’ or the 'generalised lineage species concept’) that hinges on a central agreement of what a species is, and a variety of criteria that it can satisfy for us to recognise it. This does a much better job of capturing the biological reality of species and their variation and complexity, than any attempt at using a single 'concept’ as we might have in the past.

By the way, de Queiroz also has opinions about subspecies, and his thoughts are what my colleagues and I have adopted: incipient lineages on their way to full species status, but with some criteria still insufficiently satisfied.

As ever, a failure of education to keep up with breakthroughs in the field—a problem ever exacerbated in our age of mass scientific breakthroughs and lagging, underfunded, and often anti-intellectual education systems—continues to breathe life into arguments that have long been put to rest.

As to the question of what a genus is, and how it is distinguished from a species, that one is easy: it is a convenient box into which a group of taxonomists working on the taxon in question decided (and/or agreed) to lump a group of species. This same definition holds true for every rank above species. Unlike species, genera are illusions. Families and other higher ranks, doubly so. They try to tell us something about the evolution and history of a group of species that sit inside them, but they will never do as good a job as a real cladogram. And the decision as to which branch on the cladogram should be given a rank and name? that is totally arbitrary, differs vastly by group, and has a lot to do with tradition and very little to do with consistent scientific logic. After all, after Linnaeus, very very few biologists continued to work on more than one major taxon in a meaningful way. Today, I can count on one hand the number of taxonomists I know who work on two majorly different animal groups, and I don’t know a single one who works on different kingdoms. Moreover, most of these higher taxon decisions were taken before cladograms had even been invented, long before Charles Darwin was born—and even today, many taxa have only fragmentary, morphological cladograms drawn for them, and no genetic sequences that would allow a more 'objective’ placement of rank names.

This has a very important consequence: you must NEVER try to compare higher taxa, especially across phyla. An insect genus is incomparable with a rodent genus is fundamentally different from an orchid genus is not even in the same universe as a bacterium genus. Even though they are both frog families, it is never informative to say ’ The family Microhylidae (768 species) has 1.7 times as many species as Ranidae (457 species)'—Microhylidae is twice as old as Ranidae! The people who work on the group matter more than anything. Just look at anoles. A leading group of people working on anoles flatly refuse to accept division of the family Anoliidae into multiple genera (even though this is easy, has been proposed thoroughly and imho convincingly, and would make it much easier to know how anoles you are talking to are related to one another!), and consequently Anoliidae == Anolis—a genus containing 435 species. A wastebin taxon if ever there was one. The point of higher taxonomy is to be useful. This is not useful.

TL;DR: We basically all agree now what species are, and people who make this into an argument show that they are not up with the times, revealing failures in our education systems. Higher taxa, like genera, are conveniences to help us manage species, but cannot be compared. That’s not what they’re for, anyway.

Singulon Theory part 3: 4D space

By Richard D. Treadaway

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Now that we’ve established what 3D space is and outlined its major physical principles, it’s time to construct our hypothetical 4D space. The physics and properties of this 4D space are built entirely around the implications of the Singulon’s existence, and some of the concepts we discuss here will interconnect and resurface later when we begin exploring the life phases of the Singulon.

Let’s start by defining what 4D space is. If 3D space is “an infinite continuum of empty void with no native mass-energy of its own,” then 4D space must be “an infinite continuum of mass-energy that exists everywhere except where 3D mass-energy exists.” I have taken to calling this infinite continuum the Gravitino, the underlying medium of 4D space that interacts with and sustains the structures of our 3D universe.

Simple Particles: Within the Gravitino exists an infinite number of negatively charged I-particles. These I-particles are constantly in motion, weaving past one another at speeds exceeding that of light itself.

Electromagnetism: In 4D space, the magnetic rules are inverted, like poles attract while opposite poles repel. This means that negative charges attract other negative charges. For those with a keen eye, this might seem problematic: “If the Gravitino is composed of I-particles packed so densely together, why don’t they simply collapse into a single mass?”

The answer lies in their speed.

Light Speed: In 4D space, the speed of light is not the fastest possible velocity, it is, in fact, the slowest. The I-particles travel so much faster than light that their immense momentum overpowers their magnetic attraction to one another. Only when two I-particles collide head-on can their momenta cancel out, allowing interaction or entanglement to occur.

Universal Contraction: When two I-particles collide, they entangle, forming Singulons, which act as bridges that carry mass-energy out of 4D space and into 3D space. This continuous transfer results in a universe that is, at its core, shrinking rather than expanding. However, this collapse occurs at a rate perfectly balanced with the expansion of our own dimension. In essence, as 3D space expands outward, 4D space contracts inward, maintaining a dynamic equilibrium across the boundary between them.

Thermodynamics: Unlike in 3D space, where energy naturally flows from hot to cold, 4D energy flows from cold to hot. This means that as particles in 4D space heat up, they are actually losing energy rather than gaining it, a complete inversion of the thermodynamic behavior we observe in our own universe.

Mass: In 4D space, mass exists everywhere except where it exists in 3D space. This creates a kind of mirrored reflection of 3D matter, what I call negative bodies. For example, take Earth. In 3D space, Earth is a roughly spherical mass of energy floating in a void. But superimposed in the exact same position is its 4D counterpart, a negative body shaped like a hypersphere, or more simply, a toroid (a donut-like shape). This 4D structure is an area of empty void completely surrounded by mass-energy.

Structure: As 4D space contracts, the natural order of it is to lean towards structure instead of entropy. I-particles are naturally drawn to areas of high structure such as negative bodies because these bodies undergo almost infinite compression around their surface due to the gravatino. This compression is especially intense around their boundaries and within their cores, where a structure called a white hole column exists. We will explore this more in depth later on.

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These two dimensions make up the setting of our universe, but there is still one more concept we must discuss before diving into the Singulon. So, I hope you’ll join me next time for Part 4: The Zero-Point Boundary (ZPB).

This story is about climate change, global warming, and this worldwide summer heat when all of us were melting. And that each entered prompt will boost the next summer’s degree.

It was my recent illustration, but I redrew almost the entire piece, rethinking what I wanted to say. This time I like it much more

Are there other universes?

No one knows if there are other universes. Based on our understanding of this universe, there are some pretty convincing arguments that there must be others, but there is no way of checking whether these ideas are correct. However, there are ways of checking if these ideas are wrong.

Universe. It comes to us from the Latin: Universus. It translates from Latin as “one whole” 1. The idea being…

Are there other universes?

Partial Solar Eclipse Sunday/Monday! For a small part of the world, at least.

Third and last of the comics about the ocean I made with NPR this summer! One of the best things about working on this series was learning about the science and the scientists studying the ocean, such as Dawn Wright and her team’s work on mapping the ocean floor.

Comic #1: The Ocean Zones

Comic #2: The Ocean’s Menagerie

Comic #3: Mapping the Ocean Floor (this one!)

Thanks for following along with this series. And remember to support public media!

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media

PBS Member Stations | PBS

AppliedMicrobioBlog | AppliedMicrobio

Hi everyone. I started an environmental microbiology blog! I’ll be alternating between writing up some microbiology basics, and discussing how we can use microbes to clean up environmental pollution.

The blog is part of my bigger venture as founder of AppliedMicrobio, an environmental microbiology and microbial ecology consulting firm! I offer assistance with literature review, experimental design, and data analysis in the areas of basic and applied microbiology and general environmental science.

One service I’d like to highlight that might be of interest to folks here is science content review! I can help you craft accurate stories (any genre or format) involving microbiology and environmental science topics. Check out my website above to learn more!

I worked with NPR to make a series of comics about the ocean! This is the first of three: an introduction to ocean zones. I’m especially proud of the tessellation panel.

COMIC: Exploring the ocean’s wonderous, mysterious depths

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✨ Soon! ✨

Join us for SciArtSeptember. Interpret the prompts in your own direction. 🗺 Post new work, old work, works-in-progress. Set your own schedule. 🌟

ALT

I love that this project lets me make and share things with friends every year, so it’s extra exciting to co-host this year’s #SciArtSeptember with my friend Lucy, who illustrated this week’s banner. 🌟

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Lucy’s a dedicated scientist and artist, but what’s especially meaningful for me is sharing a project with someone I’ve known since I was 5 years old.

I hope you get to make things with friends this year, too.

You can follow Lucy on IG @LucyGemArt. 🖍️