Shauna Rasband
@concealocanth.bsky.social
evolutionary biology grad student @ UMD
studying birds and their funky hormones
*bi flag emoji* she/her
hobbies:
wildlife photography
drawing & painting
"world" literature & music
infodumping
follow me on iNaturalist (shauna1) or eBird (unashauna)!
studying birds and their funky hormones
*bi flag emoji* she/her
hobbies:
wildlife photography
drawing & painting
"world" literature & music
infodumping
follow me on iNaturalist (shauna1) or eBird (unashauna)!
This makes sense, but I can't say I ever thought of this particular logistical challenge before.
November 20, 2025 at 9:02 PM
This makes sense, but I can't say I ever thought of this particular logistical challenge before.
I love the concept of this list. Penugins are remarkably weird in so many ways.
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 PM
I love the concept of this list. Penugins are remarkably weird in so many ways.
Hawaiian 6th graders in particular might wonder about the palila, which have a diet almost entirely of highly poisonous māmane beans, but don't get ill from it. What are they doing? Breaking down the poison and pooping out harmless remains? Sequestering it in a safe part of their bodies like ifrits?
November 20, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Hawaiian 6th graders in particular might wonder about the palila, which have a diet almost entirely of highly poisonous māmane beans, but don't get ill from it. What are they doing? Breaking down the poison and pooping out harmless remains? Sequestering it in a safe part of their bodies like ifrits?
There are some. hypotheses for how the lens or other parts of the eye might accomplish it, but nothing has really explained what's going on yet.
November 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
There are some. hypotheses for how the lens or other parts of the eye might accomplish it, but nothing has really explained what's going on yet.
If you open your eyes underwater, everything is blurry unless you're wearing goggles, due to the different index of refraction of water.
Penguins have to be able to see well on land and underwater, since they actively hunt small prey! But we don't know how they do it without goggles! :)
Penguins have to be able to see well on land and underwater, since they actively hunt small prey! But we don't know how they do it without goggles! :)
November 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
If you open your eyes underwater, everything is blurry unless you're wearing goggles, due to the different index of refraction of water.
Penguins have to be able to see well on land and underwater, since they actively hunt small prey! But we don't know how they do it without goggles! :)
Penguins have to be able to see well on land and underwater, since they actively hunt small prey! But we don't know how they do it without goggles! :)
Congratulations! Look forward to the posts! Also fair warning, first it's this, then you find yourself ordering obscure film photo chemicals online to do species-identification tests of common lichen metabolites... this is the gateway ;)
November 18, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Congratulations! Look forward to the posts! Also fair warning, first it's this, then you find yourself ordering obscure film photo chemicals online to do species-identification tests of common lichen metabolites... this is the gateway ;)
Yep, I don't even know where to begin solving it. It's not a huge priority for donor or govt funds. All of the experiences that informed my above thoughts were from medium to very large groups. It's not just a problem for the little guys. Having a huge overall budget still doesn't = intern funding.
November 17, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Yep, I don't even know where to begin solving it. It's not a huge priority for donor or govt funds. All of the experiences that informed my above thoughts were from medium to very large groups. It's not just a problem for the little guys. Having a huge overall budget still doesn't = intern funding.
answer is clearly more funding and a robust system of paid internships, but I don't know how to make that happen & clearly lots of these places don't either. They're already doing so much on a shoestring budget.
November 17, 2025 at 3:04 PM
answer is clearly more funding and a robust system of paid internships, but I don't know how to make that happen & clearly lots of these places don't either. They're already doing so much on a shoestring budget.
...non-representative group of people who can get any training opportunities when it moves from "all people who can afford to work for free for a summer" to "these 10 people who have a relative working there who are willing to bend rules and let nepo kid 'shadow' them or 'just help out a bit.' The
November 17, 2025 at 3:04 PM
...non-representative group of people who can get any training opportunities when it moves from "all people who can afford to work for free for a summer" to "these 10 people who have a relative working there who are willing to bend rules and let nepo kid 'shadow' them or 'just help out a bit.' The
Agreed. It's a trickier problem to solve than I initially thought, though. "They need to be paid" doesn't bring funding into being. So instead all internships are cut. Which is equalizing in its own way, until under-the-table unpaid internships start sneaking in. It becomes an even more selective...
November 17, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Agreed. It's a trickier problem to solve than I initially thought, though. "They need to be paid" doesn't bring funding into being. So instead all internships are cut. Which is equalizing in its own way, until under-the-table unpaid internships start sneaking in. It becomes an even more selective...
"Before" of course being from herbarium specimens.
November 15, 2025 at 6:20 PM
"Before" of course being from herbarium specimens.
Thanks for your reply! Yes, seems the signal is certainly there, which is really cool! It would be interesting to look at the pop gen before & after common cultivation (and I'd guess this is likely a sp. that is mass seed sourced by gov't restoration projects too, so not just gardeners).
November 15, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Thanks for your reply! Yes, seems the signal is certainly there, which is really cool! It would be interesting to look at the pop gen before & after common cultivation (and I'd guess this is likely a sp. that is mass seed sourced by gov't restoration projects too, so not just gardeners).
seed but many will have sourced it from nurseries, leading to a nebulous genetic origin. Lots & lots of Prairie Moon seed both directly ordered and via resale. Prairie Moon (probably?) sourced it locally from the Upper Midwest. Or is this a small enough effect on the data that wild variation emerges
November 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
seed but many will have sourced it from nurseries, leading to a nebulous genetic origin. Lots & lots of Prairie Moon seed both directly ordered and via resale. Prairie Moon (probably?) sourced it locally from the Upper Midwest. Or is this a small enough effect on the data that wild variation emerges
This is incredible work! Can't see beyond page 1 of the preprint, so forgive me if you address this in Methods! My question is how you've accounted for many of the observations being of garden plants. Users are meant to mark them "Captive" on iNat but they usually don't. Some gardeners sew local 1/2
November 14, 2025 at 8:25 PM
This is incredible work! Can't see beyond page 1 of the preprint, so forgive me if you address this in Methods! My question is how you've accounted for many of the observations being of garden plants. Users are meant to mark them "Captive" on iNat but they usually don't. Some gardeners sew local 1/2
Nice! Two birds, one stone.
November 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Nice! Two birds, one stone.
This is so cool! Is it a field trip or do you take samples from the wild? Or is it from established tanks in your lab? Or a secret fourth option?
November 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
This is so cool! Is it a field trip or do you take samples from the wild? Or is it from established tanks in your lab? Or a secret fourth option?
In fact, the traditional ones have an upscale bakery texture whereas the shortcut ones have a cheap grocery store/Hostess texture.
November 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
In fact, the traditional ones have an upscale bakery texture whereas the shortcut ones have a cheap grocery store/Hostess texture.
The crumb and mouth-melting qualities of the traditional leavening method (beating eggs for several minutes until ribbon stage is vastly superior). Would that the baking powder shortcut produced the same results, but the baking powder ones are aggressively springy and a bit strange.
November 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The crumb and mouth-melting qualities of the traditional leavening method (beating eggs for several minutes until ribbon stage is vastly superior). Would that the baking powder shortcut produced the same results, but the baking powder ones are aggressively springy and a bit strange.
Yeah. Unfortunately the "so much plastic" never really goes away. I hope we can move to more sustainable workflows that still prevent contamination.
November 5, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Yeah. Unfortunately the "so much plastic" never really goes away. I hope we can move to more sustainable workflows that still prevent contamination.
This is so real. A part of me wishes RNA were the incredibly stable molecule conspiracy theorists made it out to be during the height of COVID vaccine panic.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
November 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This is so real. A part of me wishes RNA were the incredibly stable molecule conspiracy theorists made it out to be during the height of COVID vaccine panic.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
That said, I kind of like working with it? The challenge makes it satisfying.
Wow, this is really neat work! Surprisingly few Fₛₜ peaks.
November 4, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Wow, this is really neat work! Surprisingly few Fₛₜ peaks.
This is sooo good! Did you have any particular clade/species in mind, or is this more like the Platonic ideal of an African cichlid?
October 31, 2025 at 2:31 PM
This is sooo good! Did you have any particular clade/species in mind, or is this more like the Platonic ideal of an African cichlid?
I like the ones that you can use for art but watch out! They're poisonous. Like cinnabar and malachite. Not sure if you're interested in societal connections but there's a series of Ural malachite miner folktales about the deadly and beautiful Mistress of the Copper Mountain.
October 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
I like the ones that you can use for art but watch out! They're poisonous. Like cinnabar and malachite. Not sure if you're interested in societal connections but there's a series of Ural malachite miner folktales about the deadly and beautiful Mistress of the Copper Mountain.