I had a blast competing at the #BUC2023 semifinals for @tcddublin! I also had some great kelpy conversations at my poster and had an excuse to draw some really weird Ceropegia flowers for the creative competition. Thanks to everyone at @BUCBotany for all the hard work 👏🌿

The protests in Ireland are not about just fuel! They are about the distance between Ireland on this graph and every other modern and developed economy. Ireland is second wealthiest but gets waaaaay less than any other country for that wealth. By a golden mile. That visual gap in this graph? That’s what people are protesting. It’s a lack of infrastructure and the everyday enshittification of services, the economy, and the additional difficulty of trying to live, relative to peers in any other country. It also highlights why people don’t get uniformly listened to! - because there is no government architecture to engage meaningfully across this huge gap. That gap is a three hour drive to work in traffic, a 14 month wait for an MRI, buses that don’t arrive, trains that don’t exist, schools that have no places for your kids, houses that are unaffordable, pubs that close before midnight, €12 sandwiches, expensive fuel. People feel this gap, even if they can’t explain it precisely. And that builds into resentment, and ultimately protest. Fuel just happened to be the next thing that could be pointed to, today.

Tonight was one of those nights where we were left speechless. Six 6-foot tables that were filled with food were emptied after 45 minutes. We handed out 260 meals and still had around fifty people without food. This is the second week that this has happened and we don’t understand what’s going on. There’s been a huge increase in our soup run and we need to start thinking strategically for future soup runs. It is absolutely heartbreaking for someone to be at the end of the queue and know that there’s not a hot meal for that person. For the people that were left, we handed out fruit and goodies but that was still not a proper meal. Tonight we have no words, we feel defeated. We need to plan properly for next week to ensure that we have enough meals - this week 300 was not enough. If you would like to sponsor a hot meal, it’s €3 per person. If any restaurants would like to sponsor hot meals, please contact us. If you would like to help us or donate, please visit msoe.ie/donate/.

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Important work

In case people are curious what red wolf conservationists actually think of the situation, we have a public statement now.

This is HUGE!!! Massachusetts just banned this shit. Drone fishing is banned statewide and all shark gear is banned on Cape Cod and surrounding coastlines. Poachers will no longer be able to get away with targeting protected sharks. Which state will be next? @NYSDEC @MyFWC

I brought back the dire lotus from extinction by using CRISPR in Arabidopsis! Same Arabidopsis thaliana species, just four mutations..

You don't need wildflower mixes to make a meadow. Just mow less. Real, local wildflower seeds are already in the soil waiting for a chance to emerge. Choose patience, not packets, and let those Dandelions bloom 💚🐝

fucking insane. some fish use electrical signals to navigate; if two fish on the same frequency encounter each other, they automatically switch frequencies to avoid "signal jamming" each other. exactly like how your wifi router does at home. wow.

Yikes

Incredible work! Always check your assumptions 👈

We just received word that the RTB has upheld the students' complaint against the @tcddublin overnight guests policy. After getting legal advice on the ruling, we can state: (1) The current overnight guests policy is struck by law. If any student's guest is denied entry, 1/3