Hey Where's That One Post About The Sturgeon And Other Fish That Were Waaaayyyyy Evolutionarily Far Apart

My evening was spent making tiktaalik hate, I have to share it somewhere

Fossil diatoms retain their intricately patterned glassy silica shell cases. Called frustules, these may be either rounded or elongated. Living diatoms are single-celled, algae-like protists. They make up much of the plankton in the marine and freshwater food chains. Their shells accumulate by the millions on the seafloor, eventually fossilizing to form a siliceous sedimentary rock called diatomite.

Sea stars and friends by Alycia Uyeoka (mostlymarine on Instagram)

Byzantine history be like:

In 874 Emperor Kostalogous IV ascended to the throne after blinding sixteen nephews, and married his wife, Theodora.

However, he soon ran afoul of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Theopelagionikus, and his wife Theodora.

In 895 he was deposed by his general, Justiniapelomaxorianous II, and his wife Theodora.

This created nine new church schisms.

i love these wacky guys

NEXT UP ON THE SEPTEMBER UPDATE

Glass animals!

These real animals have transluscent properties, where their skin is see through and you're able to see their skeleton and insides... of course I tried my best to cutify them for you all!

This is a series of charms that utilises the transparency of the acrylic to make these creatures pop out, and with the addition of double sided epoxy it gives the effect of holding a real animal (pretty weird to experience!)

With 8 designs I'm sure there's some which catch your eye 👀

just found out that giant squid meat is chock fucking full of ammonium ions to increase buoyancy so they would taste fucking disgusting if you tried to make calamari out of them. i mean i wasn't planning on it but a girl can dream right? nobody talk to me

I thought this feisty little critter was an isopod until I got a closer look. This is a carrion beetle larva, and, as their name suggests, adults and larvae of this insect eat dead animals, maggots that live in carrion, and/or other types of decaying organic matter. I have no idea where this one came from, since there were no dead animals nearby or compost. Perhaps an insectivorous bird dropped it, or maybe this particular species likes chicken manure (there was a chicken tractor nearby vroom vroom). Putting this next part below the cut because it's a little gross. Proceed with caution:

This carrion beetle child seemed somewhat hungry, as it was nibbling at some dead skin around my finger nail. It tickled a bit and reminded me of the shrimp they sometimes have at aquariums that will nibble at your fingers. Yes that's a thing.

unidentified Silphidae larva Northeastern Pennsylvania, US

ScienceAlert

Ancient Genes of Zombie Viruses Revealed as Hidden Drivers of Cancer

When viruses pay us a visit, they sometimes leave parts of themselves behind.

When viruses pay us a visit, they sometimes leave parts of themselves behind. Silently tucked away in our genomes, some of these bits of foreign DNA can get passed down through the generations. They were long thought inactive, but we've since learned these stowaway sequences can be turned back on to wreak all sorts of havoc. Now researchers led by University of Colorado bioinformatician Atma Ivancevic, have found cancers can make use of some of these zombie virus parts for their own benefit.

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