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World’s largest bee, thought to be extinct, found in Indonesia

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World’s largest bee, thought to be extinct, found in Indonesia

The giant bee was first discovered in 1859, but since has only officially sighted once. Now, researchers have found a specimen alive and wel

In 1859, while exploring the remote island of Bacan in the North Moluccas, Indonesia, the renowned naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace made an astounding discovery: the Megachile pluto — the world’s largest bee.

Wallace described the bee, which is about four times the size of a honeybee, as a “large black wasp-like insect, with immense jaws like a stag-beetle.” But for more than a century, that was the only known sighting of the Megachile pluto, and some feared that deforestation had rendered the giant insect extinct.

“It was absolutely breathtaking to see this ‘flying bulldog’ of an insect that we weren’t sure existed any more,” Clay Bolt, the photographer who captured the first images of the species alive, told the BBC. “To actually see how beautiful and big the species is in life, to hear the sound of its giant wings thrumming as it flew past my head, was just incredible.”

Yo guys.

Also @bogleech Look.

Happiness Will Come To You.

Enjoyed your Book Riot post “11 Amazing Books About the Wonder of Trees.” You mentioned “there is a lot of fantastic nature writing by authors of color.” Could you recommend some titles or authors? I’ve read a few, but want to read more. Thanks!

Yes of course! Top is of course Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, which blew me away.

But there's a long list of other books I came across in my research that looked amazing and interesting, but didn't fit the more narrow subject of my list. I added these books to my own to-read list!

Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape by Lauret Savoy

There’s Something In The Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities by Ingrid RG Waldron

The Unlikely Thru-Hiker By Derick Lugo

The Adventure Gap by James Edward Mills

As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis by Vandana Shiva

Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin

Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage by Dianne D. Glave

Sustainable South Bronx: A Model for Environmental Justice by Majora Carter

Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States by Carl A. Zimring

Black Faces, White Spaces by Carolyn Finney

The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World - note: the editor is not BIPOC, but the book is: "essays from authors representing diverse backgrounds, including Japanese American, Mestizo, African American, Hawaiian, Arab American, Chicano and Native American"

"In the 70s it was black and minority ethnic people, in the 80s it was gay people, trans people are just the latest to get it in the neck from comedians who can't be bothered to try at their jobs anymore. I cannot stand there and watch another dogshit comedian go: 'Ooohh if a woman can identify as a man, maybe I'll identify as a chair!' Why don't you identify as good comedians, you hack motherfuckers?!"

- Nish Kumar: "It's In Your Nature To Destroy Yourselves pt.2"

If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...

Start helping with citizen science projects

The Conversation

Explainer: what is citizen science?

Public participation in science is increasing, and citizen science has a central part in this. It is a contribution by the public to researc

What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!

You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases

Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.

Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.

Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.

Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.

Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.

Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.

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I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.

Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help

Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.

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For all your dnd purposes

Crochet an Anatomically Correct Skeleton - FREE Pattern Includes All 206 Bones, 1/5th Size Scale Model! 👉 https://buff.ly/3sxUOW6

Transfem horror protagonist who realizes she's a woman because she's the Final Girl

YALL. Holly Black has a list of resources she's used for writing her books on the fair folk. I'm OBSESSED. I love her work and world building. it's so true to the heart of faeries

Oh hey, do you know what time it is? It is highly specific resource time!

Today we have the Royal School of Needlework Stitch Bank! There are HUNDREDS of stitch types in the RSN Stitch Bank.

And more added regularly, let’s look at a recent addition

I picked the first one in the 25 recently added Elizabethan stitches, the Elizabethan French Stitch

The stitch bank provides written and photo tutorials as well as a video option to learn to do it yourself. There are examples of the stitch in use, resources, references, everything but a needle and thread!

rsnstitchbank.org