Dr. Dan Killam

While oysters lack ears, they still can hear, using statocysts, their balance organ. Researchers have found playing the soundscape from a healthy oyster reef attracts larvae to settle! They have evolved to settle on their ancestors to build reefs, and sound is a useful cue of a good spot! https://phys.org/news/2022-10-sea-soundscapes-summon-thousands-baby.html #clamFacts

It always gives me a chuckle when I get an ad asking if I want to go back to get another degree. They're marketing to a guy who went to school until I literally ran out of school to take! 27 years of training if you count the postdocs!

But low key maybe their algorithm is right. If I could, I'd go back and study carnivorous plants, podiatry, syrphid flies, or environmental law. Maybe all of the above and additional stuff depending on my mood.

TIL of "snail fur," a hydroid adapted to live on snail shells occupied by hermit crabs. Life is just a turducken (hydrosnailcrab?) of symbiosis all the way down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydractinia_echinata

New paper out! We used toxin measurements in mussels to identify a threshold of abundance for a harmful plankton, Alexandrium, associated with toxin rising above background levels. We then used that threshold to look at other harmful algae in SF Bay and what seasons they grow! We found a club of similar harmful algae that proliferate in the fall (August to October) when chlorophyll levels reach a certain threshold. These algae all have the ability to swim and are mixotrophic (use photosynthesis and eat bacteria/other algae), which may give them an advantage in that season. We are prioritizing those genera and this season in our future monitoring of harmful algal bloom events in SF Bay!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568988326000387?via%3Dihub=

Comparing historical hair samples from people from when they were babies to today, a new study finds a nearly 100-fold decrease in lead from samples after the EPA's crackdown on leaded gas. Regulation works and it saves lives!
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/a-century-of-hair-samples-proves-leaded-gas-ban-worked/