Greg Pask

Greg Pask

@gregpask.bsky.social

Associate Professor of Biology at Middlebury College, lover of insect communication, good teaching, and nerd stuff

1K followers337 following233 posts

Greg Pask reposted

The first genuinely honest ad for generative AI I've ever seen, from Microsoft / CoPilot A mediocre white guy sees his non-white colleague getting praised for good work, he asks AI to *literally copy it*, and then he gets all the praise instead: www.ispot.tv/ad/SoDi/micr...

Does this surprise anyone?

Carl Zimmer@carlzimmer.com

Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc

Greg Pask reposted

More academics should take up embroidery. It can be good to have something socially acceptable to stab over and over during certain meetings. 🪡 🧵 🪲 #academicsky

Greg Pask reposted

Reposting!

Greg Pask@gregpask.bsky.social

Middlebury Biology department is hiring two VAPs for the upcoming years. Please help spread the word, and positions like these can be very helpful in gaining experience to be competitive for TT positions at small liberal arts colleges (it helped me a lot!). www.middlebury.edu/college/acad...

I'm at SDCC and my 1st panel was awesome and about teaching and learning with comics. Some audience members were championing AI for coming up with new superheroes in the activities... 🥱 Like, aren't we here to celebrate creators and artists? If you can't do that without AI, stay in your lane! 🤬

Greg Pask reposted

🐜 New in @cp-iscience.bsky.social: We show that leaf-cutting ant OR gene expression is colony-specific and that it changes after exposure to non-nestmate odours. We think that this means they tune their antennae for nestmate recognition. www.cell.com/iscience/ful... #Ants #Olfaction #Behavior (1/2)

cell.comExposure to non-nestmate odors changes the odorant receptor profile in Acromyrmex echinatior leaf-cutting antszoology; entomology; neuroscience

Congrats Mohammed, this looks like an amazing study!

Mohammed Khallaf@khallaf.bsky.social

Our new paper is out in @nature.com! We uncovered how a naked mole-rat queen 👑 controls an entire colony: a natural contraceptive scent that suppresses reproduction in other females! A remarkable mammalian parallel to bees and ants! 🐝🐜 @garyrlewin.bsky.social youtu.be/enfv3zJrWKM?...

Greg Pask reposted

🚨 Lifer alert! 🚨 Check out this deer bot #fly that @dradriansmith.bsky.social found while we were hunting bugs - my first time getting pics of a wild adult of this family! It's a convincing bee mimic, whose babies live in the sinuses & throats of deer 😋 👀 #Oestridae: #Cephenemyia phobifer NC, USA

Greg Pask reposted

Do you know an outstanding aquarist? We're hiring a Senior Aquarist to help run our cephalopod facility at Columbia University. Our team maintains a colony of 250+ cuttlefish, develops new husbandry techniques (inc transgenics) & studies cuttlefish camouflage and social behavior. 1/3 [Pls repost!]

Greg Pask reposted

NEW PAPER, JUST OUT! 👀 Insects from the '70s and '80s were already collecting microplastic, decades before the term microplastic even existed. 🤯 A thread on the surprising history of this pollutant and the incredible insect larvae that helped us uncover it. 🐛 Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x

Greg Pask reposted

"The rise in the island’s invertebrates – beetles, weevils, bush cockroaches and other bugs – has come after a campaign seven years ago to rid the island of about 300,000 invasive rats and mice." #Environment #LordHoweIsland #Biodiversity #Invertebrates #Insects #Conservation

theguardian.comLord Howe Island got rid of its rats and mice – now its ‘wonderful’ insect life is backInvasive vermin decimated the island’s native flora and fauna – but its unique cockroaches and beetles are thriving once again

Greg Pask reposted

Greg Pask reposted

The technology the shits out D papers is impossible to grasp. Yes, that’s it. 🙃

KetAnthropic JoshAI@ketanjoshi.co

Google's CEO saying that the reason there's intense backlash to AI is because humans aren't "evolved" enough to understand it youtu.be/RgV57kDzcng?...

Greg Pask reposted

WILL COCAINE MAKE COLLEGE OBSOLETE?

Jeff (Hot Type) Jarvis@jeffjarvis.bsky.social

WTF, NYer. "If we agree that college primarily serves a credentialling process that stamps select young people as worthy of work..." We do not. So much for the bastion of erudite journalism. This is sensationalism, damaging our most vital institution: education. www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

Greg Pask reposted

inspired by a post I saw on here and have since lost, I've started reading "AI companies" as "cigarette manufacturers," so something like this becomes "maker of Newports backs bill to fund smoking literacy in schools"

Greg Pask reposted

“Use AI to brainstorm but not to write.” “Use AI to help you outline but not to write.” These are commonly proposed as “ethical” ways for undergrad students to use AI, but I’m sorry, brainstorming & outlining are just as integral to writing as the actual construction of sentences.