Heather Bruce
@arthropodlegs.bsky.social
Professor @ University of British Columbia 🇨🇦.
I use arthropod outgrowths as a model to understand evolution over half a billion years. #EvoDevo
1st gen student from low income family, community college grad, neurodivergent.
Everything's homologous lol
I use arthropod outgrowths as a model to understand evolution over half a billion years. #EvoDevo
1st gen student from low income family, community college grad, neurodivergent.
Everything's homologous lol
Pinned
Heather Bruce
@arthropodlegs.bsky.social
· Jan 30
My latest preprint! Will be in Arthropod Struct & Dev't journal.
Fine dissections of CRISPR phenotypes for
Dll, Sp6-9, dac, Exd, & hth
in the crustacean Parhyale for ALL APPENDAGES:
labrum, antennae, mouthparts, thoracic, biramous, and telson.
🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Fine dissections of CRISPR phenotypes for
Dll, Sp6-9, dac, Exd, & hth
in the crustacean Parhyale for ALL APPENDAGES:
labrum, antennae, mouthparts, thoracic, biramous, and telson.
🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Oh wow, I’m reading an old 1921 paper from a morphologist I really admire, GC Crampton, and it’s the proceedings from the Cambridge Entomological Club, which I just gave a talk at last year!
Makes me feel connected to all the scientists who came before me ♥️
🎶It's the ciiiiiircle of Sciii! 🎶🦁
🧪
Makes me feel connected to all the scientists who came before me ♥️
🎶It's the ciiiiiircle of Sciii! 🎶🦁
🧪
December 21, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Oh wow, I’m reading an old 1921 paper from a morphologist I really admire, GC Crampton, and it’s the proceedings from the Cambridge Entomological Club, which I just gave a talk at last year!
Makes me feel connected to all the scientists who came before me ♥️
🎶It's the ciiiiiircle of Sciii! 🎶🦁
🧪
Makes me feel connected to all the scientists who came before me ♥️
🎶It's the ciiiiiircle of Sciii! 🎶🦁
🧪
Caption this highly accurate scientific situation 😆
🧪
🧪
December 19, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Caption this highly accurate scientific situation 😆
🧪
🧪
Reposted by Heather Bruce
There isn't a straight up fried potato crab to symbolize latkes, but Aethra edentata is sometimes called the potato chip crab, and you can see why from its shape. It's a not too distant relative of Calappa
3/3?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
3/3?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
December 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
There isn't a straight up fried potato crab to symbolize latkes, but Aethra edentata is sometimes called the potato chip crab, and you can see why from its shape. It's a not too distant relative of Calappa
3/3?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
3/3?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Here is your Wednesday Weevil, waving. It's a broad-nosed weevil, (unsure of the species), that I spotted on a dirt road in the mountains of Colombia in '23. I initially moved to pick it up because I thought it was a small piece of trash, like a bit of shiny candy wrapper. 🐙🌿📷 #BugSky
December 10, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Here is your Wednesday Weevil, waving. It's a broad-nosed weevil, (unsure of the species), that I spotted on a dirt road in the mountains of Colombia in '23. I initially moved to pick it up because I thought it was a small piece of trash, like a bit of shiny candy wrapper. 🐙🌿📷 #BugSky
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Canada lynx
December 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Canada lynx
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Reposted by Heather Bruce
December 14, 2025 at 5:18 AM
Reposted by Heather Bruce
A new ornament recognizing employees of federal agencies who have dissented against ongoing damage to their agencies.
NSF, NIH, USAID, VA, EPA, FEMA, CDC, NASA
in place of honor next to Heinz ketchup bottle.
Courage is Contagious
@standupforscience.bsky.social
#BethesdaDeclaration
NSF, NIH, USAID, VA, EPA, FEMA, CDC, NASA
in place of honor next to Heinz ketchup bottle.
Courage is Contagious
@standupforscience.bsky.social
#BethesdaDeclaration
December 12, 2025 at 1:38 AM
A new ornament recognizing employees of federal agencies who have dissented against ongoing damage to their agencies.
NSF, NIH, USAID, VA, EPA, FEMA, CDC, NASA
in place of honor next to Heinz ketchup bottle.
Courage is Contagious
@standupforscience.bsky.social
#BethesdaDeclaration
NSF, NIH, USAID, VA, EPA, FEMA, CDC, NASA
in place of honor next to Heinz ketchup bottle.
Courage is Contagious
@standupforscience.bsky.social
#BethesdaDeclaration
Reposted by Heather Bruce
reading about genAI slop brokers makes me want to draw more weird manual art. extremely realistic brachiosaurus reconstruction for you
December 12, 2025 at 5:06 AM
reading about genAI slop brokers makes me want to draw more weird manual art. extremely realistic brachiosaurus reconstruction for you
jIyIntaHvIS not qajegh - Klingon Rick Roll Parody
YouTube video by Commedia Beauregard
youtu.be
December 12, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Reposted by Heather Bruce
This is the greatest trauma processing I've ever heard.
Will Arnett was on Conan and told a story about how Conan dealt with the death of his parents by accusing Jason Bateman of killing them. It’s so funny.
December 9, 2025 at 10:42 PM
This is the greatest trauma processing I've ever heard.
Reposted by Heather Bruce
plant literature always sends a chill down my spine, like what if this is what WE sound like to non-entomologists? Could something as ordinary and harmless as the beetle taxonomist be this violently inscrutable??
![snippet from Wendy B. Zomlefer's 1994 treatise on Tofieldiaceae of the SE United States, Harvard Papers on Botany. She notes that you can recognize the anthers of Tofieldiaceae because they have a "terete apical appendage, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, introrse [latrorse]; pollen grains ellipsoid, 2 sulcate, reticulate." It just goes on like this.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ywua4qjetzwsq5hzyty3exua/bafkreihjkgfnzftjyjmsrl2gv7wi6v7iwpn6k52ygju33uyi7cmbl3l5he@jpeg)
December 10, 2025 at 2:29 AM
plant literature always sends a chill down my spine, like what if this is what WE sound like to non-entomologists? Could something as ordinary and harmless as the beetle taxonomist be this violently inscrutable??
It’s way cheaper to improve air quality/circulation in work and school buildings than it is to pay a trillion dollars a year in viral burden from lost productivity and children falling irreparably behind in school
December 10, 2025 at 3:47 AM
It’s way cheaper to improve air quality/circulation in work and school buildings than it is to pay a trillion dollars a year in viral burden from lost productivity and children falling irreparably behind in school
Reposted by Heather Bruce
December 5, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Oops reposting with the tag!
One of my students earlier this year was an absolute springtail stan. This is for you, Riley.
#InsertAnInvert2024 in 2025
One of my students earlier this year was an absolute springtail stan. This is for you, Riley.
#InsertAnInvert2024 in 2025
December 5, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Oops reposting with the tag!
One of my students earlier this year was an absolute springtail stan. This is for you, Riley.
#InsertAnInvert2024 in 2025
One of my students earlier this year was an absolute springtail stan. This is for you, Riley.
#InsertAnInvert2024 in 2025
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Day 4 of my 2025 Favorites: Tiny Leaf With Grabby Hands!
Juvenile Macrocephalini, a somewhat rarely-seen tribe of ambush bugs. He's just a pleasing shape and color and disposition, with his chonky grabby hands he hasn't grown into yet
Juvenile Macrocephalini, a somewhat rarely-seen tribe of ambush bugs. He's just a pleasing shape and color and disposition, with his chonky grabby hands he hasn't grown into yet
December 5, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Day 4 of my 2025 Favorites: Tiny Leaf With Grabby Hands!
Juvenile Macrocephalini, a somewhat rarely-seen tribe of ambush bugs. He's just a pleasing shape and color and disposition, with his chonky grabby hands he hasn't grown into yet
Juvenile Macrocephalini, a somewhat rarely-seen tribe of ambush bugs. He's just a pleasing shape and color and disposition, with his chonky grabby hands he hasn't grown into yet
Reposted by Heather Bruce
🎄 Day 4 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
In 1984, Drosophila homeotic genes were found to be conserved across animals, including humans 🧬🐸. This article highlights a shared genetic toolkit for embryonic development 🔬🌟🎁 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
In 1984, Drosophila homeotic genes were found to be conserved across animals, including humans 🧬🐸. This article highlights a shared genetic toolkit for embryonic development 🔬🌟🎁 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
December 4, 2025 at 9:44 PM
🎄 Day 4 of the 24 Days of Development ✨🧬
In 1984, Drosophila homeotic genes were found to be conserved across animals, including humans 🧬🐸. This article highlights a shared genetic toolkit for embryonic development 🔬🌟🎁 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
In 1984, Drosophila homeotic genes were found to be conserved across animals, including humans 🧬🐸. This article highlights a shared genetic toolkit for embryonic development 🔬🌟🎁 doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
Reposted by Heather Bruce
i got this video the first time I saw one out and moving and I feel like it is important context in the appreciation of barnacles
December 2, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Nice drawing of a jellyfish from Ernst Haeckel. Forgot he was connected to the Challenger!
November 30, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Nice drawing of a jellyfish from Ernst Haeckel. Forgot he was connected to the Challenger!
Reposted by Heather Bruce
A very Eye of Sauron lichen scene. Porpidia (grey) and Lecidia (orange), possibly. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends #hiking
November 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
A very Eye of Sauron lichen scene. Porpidia (grey) and Lecidia (orange), possibly. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends #hiking
Reposted by Heather Bruce
there's an entire superorder (very big category) of crustaceans called Syncarids, and like 99% of them are tiny white eyeless sub-millimeter things living in cavewater, except in Tasmania, where they just casually live on the surface world like regular shrimp. infuriating
November 30, 2025 at 5:05 PM
there's an entire superorder (very big category) of crustaceans called Syncarids, and like 99% of them are tiny white eyeless sub-millimeter things living in cavewater, except in Tasmania, where they just casually live on the surface world like regular shrimp. infuriating
Reposted by Heather Bruce
Related bsky.app/profile/gild...
Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.
November 30, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Related bsky.app/profile/gild...
Reposted by Heather Bruce
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 30, 2025 at 1:10 AM
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.