by Minje Song

drew that short italian guy from dragon age you guys like

Meet the seven new frog species we just named after iconic Star Trek captains!

Artwork by A. Petzold, CC BY-ND 4.0

At the right time of year along rushing streams in the humid rainforests that stretch the length of Madagascar's eastern and northern mountain ridges, otherworldly trills of piercing whistles can be heard.

Are they birds? Insects? Communicator beeps? Tricorder noises?

No, they're little treefrogs!

Boophis janewayae. Photo by M. Vences, CC BY-SA 4.0

Until recently, we thought all of the populations of these little brown frogs across the island were one widespread species, Boophis marojezensis, described in 1994. But genetics in the early 2000s and 2010s showed that there were several species here, not just one.

Now my colleagues and I have shown that they are in fact eight separate species, each with unique calls!

These whistling sounds reminded us so much of Star Trek sound effects that we decided to name the seven new species after Star Trek captains: Boophis kirki, B. picardi, B. janewayae, B. siskoi, B. pikei, B. archeri, and B. burnhamae.

Photos of all new species described by Vences et al. 2024. CC BY-SA 4.0

I subtly and not-so-subtly built some Star Trek references into the paper, but probably the best one is this one:

'Finding these frogs sometimes requires considerable trekking; pursuing strange new calls, to seek out new frogs in new forests; boldly going where no herpetologist has gone before.'

— Vences et al. 2024

There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that there are at least two Trekkies amongst the authors (including yours truly). As fans of Star Trek, we are also just pleased to dedicate these new species to the characters who have inspired and entertained us over the decades.

On a personal note, this marks a milestone for me, as it means I have now described over 100 frog species! I am very pleased that the 100th is Captain Janeway's Bright-eyed Frog, Boophis janewayae (if you count them in order of appearance in the paper)—she is probably my favourite captain, and I really love Star Trek: Voyager.

You can read more about the discovery of these new species on my website! You can also read the Open Access paper published in Vertebrate Zoology here.

@figueroththeinfaethable @magical-my-ass

Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box" 1929.

looking at that one booktok post and didn’t realize how funny this is. uou do not know what a safe word is

some highlights from the notes

I have never once wished for Tolkien to still be alive as much as I do in this moment

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen

hey Americans?

what the fuck is this? this isn't real right. it's made up for tv like those metal lockers

The metal lockers are real, and so are these.

the money I'd pay to just twist in one of those and pop my back the way I did as a teenager...

had a fascinating dream last night where there was a new, virally popular trading card game - it was called MOUNTAIN (stylised in all caps) and the whole gimmick was that you couldn’t buy boosters or anything - you had to find them?

nowhere sold MOUNTAIN - I mean, I expect players did, once cards were in their hands.

but acquiring cards meant noticing a box lying around, and just….nabbing it? they’d be in weird places - in a skip, wedged high up in a fence, nestled in the branches of a tree? nobody ever saw who left them there, and there was a lot of debate about how MOUNTAIN boxes were sometimes hard to acquire without risking one’s physical safety - but then, that was also bragging rights. especially as harder-to-reach boxes seemed to contain more elusive and sought after cards…

no, I don’t remember anything about the actual gameplay, we never played any MOUNTAIN. alas. I know there were “frame cards” that were literally transparent but for a fancy metallic or holographic border, which I guess upgraded the card they were applied to? frames were super rare, my coworker literally ran up to me in the pub purely to show off the frame he’d just found

dream brain gimme the deets on MOUNTAIN’s actual mechanics, I’m invested in this controversial unpurchasable scavenger hunt game

@cosmemery AHDJFKFKFK I LAUGHED

It would be just as effective as a full on strike, without risking their jobs in anti union states. Especially if they made public newspaper announcements that this is what they will ALL be doing.

This is called “Work-To-Rule” (a form of malicious compliance), and is a very useful and effective tool in labor organization!

My dad did this! He’s a high school teacher, and he and all his colleagues refused to write college recommendation letters - which was dozens of hours of unpaid labor not in their contract - until they got a renegotiated contract, and it worked in like less than a week cause parents went apeshit. The education system would fucking collapse without unpaid teacher labor, and that’s a huge source of leverage

Teachers did this here in Ontario a couple of years back and boy howdy were a lot of parents (not us, mind you) pissed about it. Like...y'all want all this extra stuff from teachers but don't want to pay for it, and then get pissed off when teachers want to be fairly compensated for all of the extra crap they do for your little Braydens and Jaydens and Okaydens? gtfo.

Growing up with your starters

Artist:  esasi8794 / Twitter

The captions are also really cute, although they mostly describe what’s in each photo:

Bulbasaur: Somehow, nomming on my clothes… has become a weird habit of theirs.

Venusaur: That hasn’t changed now that they’ve grown, but they’re very gentle.

Charmander: It’s my first attempt, but I made a plushie so that he wouldn’t get lonely.

Charizard: That plushie seems to be his favorite even now.

Squirtle: Squirtle’s a bit timid and hides behind me at the smallest things.

Blastoise: Looks like they’re scared of the first Pichu they’ve seen. You’re not really hiding!

@noelle217

This is adorable

They just posted some more!

[source]

And some more!

You forgot these!!!

I’m disappointed that these were left out

SO MANY GOOD ONES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

If I ever don’t reblog this, kill me

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"you knew what you wanted and boy, you got him."

oscar telling his mom he'd want lando as his teammate ("not that he could pick, but"). haha what if this is it. what if the i yeet myself into a void or whatever.

I'm stuck on the part where in the video it seems as though Oscar's mom is wearing a Yuki Tsunoda shirt, lol.

Or earlier! Any red state can turn blue if enough voters turn out.

Even though my absentee ballot is counted for the last state I lived in and that state is generally pretty red (Tennessee), I'm still absolutely going to vote, and vote blue.

Damn, missed it again

Happy Bog Day!

Happy Bog Day everyone!!!