IT’S PUBLICATION DAY!! (UK)

How better to spend it than at an earthworm research conference 🪱

I’m so excited to see this labour of love finally out in the world, and I really hope you enjoy it. With any luck, my infectious love for soil biodiversity will pass on to those who browse its pages. A huge thank you to everyone who has already supported the book through preorders!

If you’re in the UK and Commonwealth, THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET is in a bookshop near you now! Coming very soon to North America and across the EU 🥰

#TheWorldBeneathOurFeet #author #Nature #soil #SoilBiodiversity

Tessa's twins are kind of inseparable and they want you to come play with them...

Das wird groß: Seid dabei vom 11. bis 17. Oktober, bei 80 Veranstaltungen zur Pressefreiheit – in der Hamburger Woche der Pressefreiheit!

Das Programm ist jetzt online: https://pressefreiheit.hamburg/programm/

Gemeinsam mit @koerberstiftung und über 50 starken Partner:innen stehen wir zum vierten Mal in der ganzen Stadt sichtbar für unabhängige Berichterstattung ein. Mit Programm für Schulklassen, offenen Redaktionen, Workshops, Live-Sendung, Panels und Gesprächen mit Journalist:innen. Wo treffen wir euch?

Zwischen »Einheitsfront« und Brandmauerdebatte: Im Vorfeld der Sachsen-Anhalt-Wahl spricht Albrecht von Lucke mit der WOZ über die Folgen einer AfD-Regierung und die Spielräume der anderen Parteien: https://www.woz.ch/!TEVSSKRC2JGH

Ihren #Durst müssen auch #Ameisen stillen. Keine drei #Minuten hat es gedauert, bis sie genügend #Informationen über ihre #Duftspuren ausgetauscht haben.

#Photography #Fotografie #Tierfoto #Ants #Wildlife_Photography #Darktable #mywork

On this day in 1920 the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, officially became part of the U.S. Constitution: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

This day has been known since 1971 as Women’s Equality Day.

#WomensEqualityDay

Cinder Lichen (Aspicilia cinerea) on a rock face

#lichen #Lichensubscribe #nature #closeup

Mastodon admins!

If you have extremely urgent info (e.g. data breach warnings, server closure announcements) you can email it directly to your users:

1. Go to Preferences > Administration > Announcements
2. If you haven't already, create & publish urgent announcement
3. After announcement has been published, go back to Preferences > Administration > Announcements and click "✉️ Notify Users" below urgent announcement
4. Check email is correct, then click "Send X emails"

#MastoAdmin #FediAdmin

Schaut mal, schöne Nähte!

So, wie ich euch kenne, guckt ihr doch wieder woanders hin! Das Orakel @FotoVorschlag sprach ausdrücklich 'Nähte'. Also reißt euch zusammen und achtet auf die Nähte!

#fotoVorschlag #nähte #fckAfd #statement #wirSindBunt #wirSindAntifa #antifa #anstand

A tale of two wasps & two moths.

First, a very pretty jewel-like cuckoo wasp in the Hedychrum nobile complex.

It was moving quickly, so the shots aren't as crisp as I'd like.

As pretty as it is though, it's a parasite, & its main victim is ...

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: A team of scientists engineered an electrospun purple #fabric that reflects about 88% of sunlight and stays cooler than white #cotton in outdoor tests.

In direct #sun, it ran up to 6º C (11º F) cooler than dyed purple cotton, and on simulated skin it beat uncovered skin by nearly 8º C. The lightweight #textile also kept its cooling effect after 50 wash cycles and showed strong durability under #UV exposure.

👉 https://interestingengineering.com/science/purple-fabric-reflects-sunlight-stays-cooler

#science #materials #physics #color #heat #innovation #engineering #clothing #research

I brought home my Grandma's sewing box from Mum's house. Going through it, I found this, which I thought was perhaps a needle case? But it turned out there were two smaller containers nested inside. All hollow. Perhaps they were all intended to hold small items? But I also wondered if they could serve as darning mushrooms...?

JE VEUX CE STICKER !
(@LaQuadrature, please)

#NoAI

Swamp Dragon - sculpt for Smaugust. 🐲

#Art #B3D #FantasyArt #Dragon #DragonArt #Smaugust #Smaugust2026 #Blender #Blender3D #Fantasy #Dragons #Creature #Creatures #CreatureDesign #DigitalSculpting #3DSculpting #Sculpting #Sculpt #Modelling #3DModelling #MastoArt #FediArt #3DArt #CreatureDesign

eigentlich wollte ich ja mit der birkenspanner-raupe anfangen, aber weil ich's grad mit @Wanda über die länge der fühler von heuschrecken hatte und meinte ich crop die meist ab, weil zu lang, hier gleich ein beispiel von heute, von vorhin

Gemeine Sichelschrecke
Phaneroptera falcata
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemeine_Sichelschrecke

#insekten #insects #krabbeltierchen #BugOfTheDay #nature #biodiversity #entomology #macro

It's funny that the most massive black hole known is called TON 618. In fact its mass is about 10³⁸ tonnes. Its event horizon is roughly 400 billion kilometers - over forty times the diameter of Neptune’s orbit. It sits proudly at the center of a distant galaxy.

Because it's so huge, you could fall into it without being ripped apart as you went through the event horizon.

And its surface gravity is *less* than most black holes! The surface gravity is the force per mass registered by a stationary faraway observer holding the mass right above the horizon via a long string. Surprisingly, this is inversely proportional to the black hole's mass.

For a 3-solar-mass black hole, the surface gravity is half a trillion times the surface gravity on Earth - half a trillion g's.

For the black hole at the center of the Galaxy, it's 3 million g's.

For TON 618, it's just 230 g's. Still damn strong, but much less!

The concept of surface gravity for black holes is a bit weird, and I didn't explain it carefully - but it does make sense, and it's important. The temperature of a black hole is proportional to its surface gravity!

It's explained more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_gravity#Black_holes

Given my jab on Monday and my post yesterday, this seems like timely news...

"Shingles vaccine linked to lower risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds."

#shingles #vaccine

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/26/shingles-vaccine-lower-risk-heart-attack-stroke-study?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

This similarity is echoed in the use of the descending contrail, a device I used in the sky of the cover art for the latter book. In both paintings, the symbol stands for the same idea: mankind's arrival signals the end of a beautiful native balance and harmony. 2/4

When I was a kid, I used to like sandy beaches best. But, as I've gone through life, I've come to appreciate stony beaches more and more. I love the infinite variety of the pebbles, and it's really nice to go home without sand in every crevice.

#Photography #Closeup #MeerMittwoch #Psychogeography #Beach