Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Wild

@alexwild.bsky.social

15K followers 2K following 7.4K posts

Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin, personal account. Biology. Insects. Photography. https://www.alexanderwild.com

www.alexanderwild.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · Jul 9

The thing about entomology is, there are always weirder bugs than anything you could imagine on your own.

Here's Cysteodemus wislizeni, a blister beetle from west Texas.

Photograph of a metallic blue/green beetle with a very spider-like body, a huge fake "abdomen" that is swollen and dented with even pits over its bulbous surface. It is otherwise ant-like, standing on a pure white stylized background.

29 140 780

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 15h

A large part of the push for AI is as an encompassing propaganda tool so elites can cocoon the populace in bullshit.

Skate Blanchett @rahblah.bsky.social · 16h

“The Trump administration is currently pressuring OpenAI and other AI companies to make their models more conservative-friendly.”

www.theverge.com/news/798388/...

OpenAI is trying to clamp down on ‘bias’ in ChatGPT

GPT-5 is better at resisting liberal ‘pressure,’ the company says.

www.theverge.com

2 12 33

Reposted by Alex Wild

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 9d

I've obtained the Trump compact document, let me summarize it for you.

Screen cap of a document reading "COMPACT FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
American higher education is the envy of the world and represents a key strategic benefit for our
Nation. In turn, the U.S. university system benefits in a variety of ways from its extraordinary relationship
with the U.S. government. These include (i) access to student loans, grant programs, and federal contracts;
(ii) funding for research directly or indirectly; (iii) approval of student and other visas in connection with
university matriculation and instruction; and (iv) preferential treatment under the tax code. To advance the
national interest arising out of this unique relationship, this Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher
Education represents the priorities of the U.S. government in its engagements with universities that benefit
from the relationship. Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than
those below, if the institution elects to forego federal benefits." with bits circled in color and translated to "Nice college you've got there. We hold all your money. It'd be a real shame if anything happened to it."

11 180 470

Reposted by Alex Wild

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 18h

The National Guard mainly exists for domestic purposes as a compact where Governors agree to help each other in cases of disasters.

It runs on trust and norms of reciprocity.

Having Governors send their troops against the will of the receiving state creates some real long term problems.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 20h

Texas is preparing emergency resources for wildfires and floods. The Texas National Guard should be THERE — not in Illinois.

We stand ready to support their return home so they are best positioned for helping Texans respond to any natural disasters.

Abbott activates emergency resources ahead of growing wildfire threat, flood risk in Texas

With expected growing wildfire danger across Texas and the potential for a flood risk this weekend, Gov. Greg Abbott is activating more state emergency response resources Friday.

trib.al

13 130 520

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 18h

The amount of money being spent on racism is staggering.

1 3

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 18h

Texas sky update.

Photo of a pecan tree canopy, partly silhouetted, against a clear blue sky. At lower left is the silhouette of a squirrel.

1 30

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 21h

We decided the word for arranging Halloween skeletons into various scenes in the front yard is “Necroscaping”

8 53 200

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 22h

I can. The regime thinks it has enough resources to keep itself safe, while the more Americans it can kill and impoverish, the easier it is to hold power.

This is stupid and evil, but that is the Republican identity now.

1 1 10

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

We will use them to make interesting cheeses, obviously.

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

Temnothorax isabellae, from the rainforests of Puerto Rico, is one of the more colorful ant species I have photographed.

Macro photograph in side view of a small ant carrying a bit of tree bark in her mandibles, her gaster tucked tightly under her body pointed forward. The ant's head, antennae, gaster, coxae, and femora are black, the thorax and petiole are red, and the tibiae are bright yellow.

6 18 150

Reposted by Alex Wild

Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 4d

Look at her go!
#invertebrates 🌿

Screen shot of Project Monarch app map of progress of a monarch butterfly from southern Ontario to Oklahoma.

39 330 1.4K

Reposted by Alex Wild

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah. TikTok is out. It's an arm of the ruling fascist party at this point.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

Huh: TikTok took down my 8-second video featuring this image of Debbie Brockman — the news producer just detained by Trump’s CBP agents — saying it violates the “joy of TikTok”

12 97 290

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

Is collecting bids from luck hit contractors.

1 1

Reposted by Alex Wild

Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 1d

Perhaps you also need a weevil in size 13 trainers this evening. 👟👟👟

Nash Turley @nashturley.bsky.social · 2d

Big fan of this weevil's color scheme, pointy snoot, and huge feet!

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

black and yellow weevil on a green leaf with long thin rostrum and very large foot pads

4 20 120

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

The cat will personally oversee your bad luck.

1 2

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 1d

Gonna name my new band "Suspicious Package" and never have to do one of those crappy airport gigs.

2 13

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

A pyrgotid fly specimen, Sphecomyiella valida, in the UT Insect Collection. From an ongoing survey of UT's new Hill Country Field Station.

Microscope image, in great detail of a large brown fly in side view, pinned through the thorax with a black pin. The fly's wings are mottled dark brown and tan.

1 19

Reposted by Alex Wild

Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 2d

MIT Rejects the Compact!
I am so proud.
"The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief ...

3 63 290

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

Well, I guess it’s off to the Norwegian front with all of us now.

6 6 46

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

We have a few drawers of Bostrichids, do you remember what species, what dates/locations? I’ll have a look tomorrow.

1 1

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

Manchaca.

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 3d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

8 3 30

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

For a long while it was driven by the rich breaking various public assets, buying them cheaply, and profiting until whatever they bought fell apart.

The formal economy was based on those rich people paying for steak in various nice restaurants, making tourists pay to watch tango, and soy exports.

Reposted by Alex Wild

Matt Gabriele @profgabriele.com · 2d

I know this case is all over - & it should be - but Turning Point USA has waged a harassment campaign against faculty for more than a decade. I know of at least a half dozen other faculty, personally, who have received death threats and several of those who felt so unsafe they too left their homes

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 2d

Are we great yet?

Mark Bray, a Rutgers University professor and expert on anti-fascist groups, is fleeing to Spain with his family due to death threats that stem from a campaign by Turning Point USA and other conservative groups to get him fired, falsely labeling him as an antifa member.

Antifa expert at Rutgers University says he is moving to Spain because of death threats

An expert on anti-fascist groups who teaches at New Jersey’s flagship state university is moving his family overseas.

apnews.com

21 350 1.1K

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

These polar bears will be able to afford Lamborghinis.

Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 2d

A gallery of fireflies.

Phenomenal Fireflies - Alex Wild

Fireflies are a family (Lampyridae) of about 2,000 beetle species known for their ability to produce light through chemical reactions.

www.alexanderwild.com

5 20 91

Reposted by Alex Wild

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations to my UT Austin colleague Jason McLellan (@mclellanlab.bsky.social), who’s just received a well-deserved MacArthur Fellowship. His work has been instrumental in developing vaccines for RSV and COVID-19.

Texas Science @texasscience.bsky.social · 3d

UT Austin has a new “genius grant” recipient!

Texas Science professor Jason McLellan has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship — aka the “genius grant” — by The MacArthur Foundation.

#TexasScience @mclellanlab.bsky.social #MacArthurGenius @utaustin.bsky.social
cns.utexas.edu/news/accolad...

Virus Slayer Awarded ‘Genius Grant’ by MacArthur Foundation

The award recognizes Jason McLellan’s work to investigate how viruses infect our cells and to develop new treatments for infectious disease.

cns.utexas.edu

3 9 36