Giselle Fernandez/GZ Fern (they/them)

Quick reminder to everyone that my pronouns are they/them ONLY. I am aware of how I present, but I am not a woman, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be. Anyone who is being intentionally disrespectful will be immediately blocked and forgotten. 🧡

eBay users! Don't ignore today's email, even though it looks like a boring standard update to the User Privacy Notice. They want to use your data to train AI models. If you click the link over the words "the right to object", it takes you to a page with a toggle button letting you opt out.

#FunFactFriday Orcas are picky eaters! They pass on hunting knowledge matrilineally, and different ecotypes (or communities) hunt different types of food, to avoid competition. Some orcas eat fish, others eat aquatic mammals, some sharks—and multiple species rip out shark livers, specifically! 🐠🦭🦈

#FunFactFriday We share the planet with these guys. Black dragonfish use near-infrared bioluminescence to hunt! Not to attract prey, but to see them in the dark. This one’s female; males are smaller & brown, plus they don’t have that gorgeous barbel on their chin. Or teeth. Or… a functioning gut😅🐉

#FunFactFriday Dr. Sarah McAnulty runs a nonprofit called “Skype a Scientist” that provides kids with access to scientists in different fields. These advent calendars are PERFECT gifts for all ages, plus they help fund learning & science communication! AND YOU GET TO LEARN ABOUT SNAILS!! 🧡🐌

#FunFactFriday Mosquitoes are not obligate parasites! That means they *could* just drink flower nectar their whole lives and never bother a single mammal— in fact, all male mosquitos do this! But female mosquitos choose to drink blood, because it’s a concentrated source of lots of nutrients. 🦟🩸

Just a fun Tuesday reminder that “AI Art” is an oxymoron, & takes about as much skill as it takes to look up random stock images 🧡 So many real artists undermine themselves, but if you’re putting in the effort, you’re already 1000x better than anyone using AI. Real art is worth doing the work. 🎨🎤📚📷

#FunFactFriday When ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang died on the road, those around him feigned he was still alive by dragging a cart of dead fish in front of the carriage he’d died in to conceal the smell. 🐟🐠 Ironically he likely died from trying to make himself immortal by drinking mercury.😬

Been reflecting a lot lately and figured I’d share something. I knew a man, growing up, who survived WW2 as a kid from Poland. He was a neighbor of mine and a kind-hearted soul. He told us stories of that awful time. The one the stuck with me the most was the last time he saw his father. 🧵 1/4

Fire & Ice RGX today was such a blast!! I’ll be back again hanging out tomorrow, anyone swinging through come on by and say hi! 🧡✨

Did YOU?

#FunFactFriday Some insects can technically live for 50+ years! Depending on conditions, certain buggos can stay as eggs until the environment is right to hatch. Others can actually reverse their development as larva if deprived in order to conserve energy, sometimes even repeatedly! 🪲🐜✨

#FunFactFriday At time of writing this, the oldest verified human to have ever lived was 122 when they passed away, and the oldest currently living is 116. Lots of animals can outlive us though! Many aquatic creatures, reptiles, birds, even invertebrates can live for decades longer than we can! 🦈🧡

#FunFactFriday The official language of the USA is not English. It’s not anything. The reason for not having an official language is to acknowledge the diversity of this country. Many languages were spoken here before English ever was, and many more languages than English are prevalent now. 🧡

Super stoked to get to see folks in Roseville this June!! I’ll be at Fire & Ice RGX the 20th and 21st; if you’re around come by and say hi! 🧡✨🎉 (Con info if you wanna check it out: fireicergx.com ~) …I gotta start practicing some character doodles 😅

#FunFactFriday Some animals can sleep with one eye open! It’s called unihemisphereic slow-wave sleep, where only half the brain rests at a time. We see it in birds & marine mammals like seals! Seals & dolphins still surface for air while sleeping this way, and birds can even do it while flying! 🦆💤

#FunFactFriday Red wine is made with red or black grapes fermenting along with their skins. White wine is made by fermenting grapes without the skin or pulp. A rosé is a red wine fermented like a white wine. A bit oversimplified, but if you ever wondered, that’s the difference! 🍷🥂

I have an entomology joke but it has a tendency to bug people

#FunFactFriday The smarter the insect, the more organized their social structure! The most complex for buggos is eusociality— where there’s communal caretaking of offspring & a division of labor for the whole. Eusociality can be seen in bees, termites, wasps, ants, and even some cockroaches! 🐝🐜🪳

Ellen Joe is best shark girl 🦈 This was so much fun to be a part of! Thanks @drgnmusic.bsky.social for making me sound so lovely! 🧡 #zzzero #EllenJoe #zenlesszonezero

#FunFactFriday Some plants don’t photosynthesize— because they don’t have any chlorophyll! Some parasitics attach to other plants to survive, like mistletoe and squawroot. Others, like coralroot orchids and pinesap, tap into mycorrhizal fungi networks in the soil for their nutrients instead! 🍄🌾

#FunFactFriday Whenever a month starts on a Sunday, the 13th lands on a Friday. Every year has at least one instance of a Friday the 13th! 🍀🧡

There seems to be a lot of discussion about Gavin Newsom today. I wanted to re-share this piece that I wrote, because I have a lot of center-to-left Dems that follow me that want to understand. There are very good reasons transgender people do not like Gavin Newsom.

#FunFactFriday Vanilla comes from an orchid flower! It’s considered a ‘new world’ spice, native to Mesoamérica where the Aztecs used it to flavor chocolate. Despite vanilla’s western origins, Madagascar is actually the leading commercial producer of vanilla these days, followed by Indonesia!🍦🧡

#FunFactFriday Animals have all sorts of ways to survive cold climates! Some insects overwinter as eggs, others undergo a hibernation-like state called diapause, red squirrels rely on cached food in middens, Alaskan tree frogs freeze solid and thaw later— nature’s adaptations are pretty varied! 🧡❄️

Little announcement— BIG HOPS IS OUT NOW!! It was such a blast to work on, @luckshotgames.com made a really fun game. Honored to have been a part of the team! 🧡🦇🦝

#FunFactFriday Tiger beetles look for food in two alternating modes: 1-running too fast to process the world around them 2-stopping to reorient in space Some hunt without using their eyes at all! Scaled up to humans, that’s like running blindly at 240mph in short bursts. Nature’s fast food! 🧡

living in LA during the winter is just like living anywhere else, it’s 72F post-solstice and sometimes an apocalyptic wall of noise makes you look up to see a tree with parrots for leaves, just totally normal and universal things

"COVID alters brain structure long after infection, new Qld study finds" "Queensland researchers have discovered coronavirus significantly alters the brain long after recovery, with MRI scans revealing lasting changes even in people without ongoing symptoms." Source: archive.md/JURHA

#FunFactFriday There’s a mushroom that drips a black inky substance as it ages, melting from the outside in. It has many names, but my favourite is “tippler’s bane”. It’s helpfully descriptive, because while technically edible, they’re poisonous when consumed with alcohol. 🍄‍🟫

One of the first live-action dubs I recorded entirely from my closet during the quarantine times was a Spanish dub based on true events about the depth of corruption in FIFA. Dunno why that popped into my head, must be nostalgia or something

Reminder: It's never too late to start wearing a mask again