Yesterday Scientific American published “Men and Women of (Limited) Letters: Must-Follow Twitter Accounts of 2013“, a list of the Top 20 science-related Twitter accounts which they think everyone should follow. It’s a great list and I 100% recommend following everyone on it if you use Twitter (and if you don’t yet, then it’s a great place to start), but I noticed a heavy bias towards the physical sciences, and a distinct lack of biologists among the recommendations.
Seeing as biology is the best, I figured I’d put together my own Top 15 list1 (in no particular order) of Tweeting Biologists who will undoubtedly make 2013 a fun, educational and most-definitely squishy year!
The Tree of Life: A title and figures say it all: An In-Depth Analysis of a Piece of Shit (note – a bit gross) goo.gl/fb/DME11
— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) January 9, 2013
Dr. Jonathan Eisen is a professor at UC Davis, and tweets about all the little things in life. Literally — he’s interested in the diversity of microbes and how they affect our lives.
I participated in a workshop that crowd-sourced the 50 most pressing questions in paleoecology. Here’s what I thought:wp.me/p1Abom-aH
— Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) January 8, 2013
Dr. Jacquelyn Gill is a Paleo-ecologist who studies the effects of climate change on plants and animals, and is a big believer in science communication.
Welcome to the African Savannah… #Africa twitter.com/BBCNature/stat…
— BBC Nature (@BBCNature) January 9, 2013
BBC Nature is responsible for the mind-blowing nature documentaries narrated by Sir David, and they routinely share bonus footage, photos and cool new biology news on their Twitter feed.
Just started new year and hit 2,500 “followers”–by whom I mean keen Twitter partners. Thank you, folks. Let’s eye 2013 together.
— David Quammen (@DavidQuammen) January 1, 2013
David Quammen, one of my favourite science writers (his ‘Song of the Dodo‘ should be required reading for humanity in my opinion), only recently joined Twitter, but has provided some excellent stories from his new book ‘Spillover’, as well as tales from the plains of Africa as he researches a new project.
Day made – husband’s colleague just emailed him out of the blue to say he found my blog and that I am a “rock star.”
— Kate Clancy (@KateClancy) January 10, 2013
Dr. Kate Clancy is a biological anthropologist who specializes in ‘ladybusiness’ evolution, but who also strongly believes that life in academia should actually include, you know, a life.
Ten years on and I’ve still only photographed 50% of ant genera and 5% of ant species alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic… #NeedMoreCoffee
— Alex Wild (@Myrmecos) January 9, 2013
Dr. Alex Wild is an entomologist who has a thing for ants, puns and cats, and who also happens to be one of the best insect photographers out there.
Virginity.Use it?Lose it? Own it?Work it? youtu.be/pN4HvrMXbmA#biology #sex #evolution
— Carin Anne Bondar (@DrBondar) January 9, 2013
Dr. Carin Bondar is a Canadian “Biologist with a twist”, and does a lot of work with science outreach through TV and educational videos, like her awesome new Wild Sex web series.
Bad move. Pine beetle switches elevations, threatening new pine species. Terrible. bit.ly/VlILrL #forests #insects via @cbctechsci
— Malcolm M. Campbell (@m_m_campbell) January 10, 2013
Dr. Malcolm Campbell may be a University of Toronto professor by day, but I think he’s practicing to become a headline writer with his daily roundup of the coolest science news.
300 more Wild Life of Our Homes kits shipped out today! WOO HOO! Bring on those microbes! #citizenscience twitter.com/YourWild_Life/…
— Your Wild Life Team (@YourWild_Life) January 8, 2013
The Your Wild Life Team is doing a great job sharing the biodiversity in our daily lives, and routinely ask for belly button, armpit or forehead samples from the public, all in the name of Science!
Today’s fishing spot: yes, big #sharks come this close to shore (Miami harbor) twitter.com/WhySharksMatte…
— David Shiffman (@WhySharksMatter) January 9, 2013
David Shiffman is a conservation biology PhD student who’s passion for sharks is infectious.
To maintain the pressure on the apparatus, we used a combination of duct tape, wrenches, and prayers to Jobu. #overlyhonestmethods
— sci curious (@scicurious) January 8, 2013
Sci curious is a neuroscience Post-Doc who finds & shares the weirdest research published each week, while also providing a hilarious commentary on life in academia.
I’m a real sucker for anything suggesting dinosaurs had fancy little feathers for attracting the ladies! phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/04/did… via @laelaps
— Tom Houslay (@tomhouslay) January 7, 2013
Tom Houslay, when not wanking off crickets for his PhD research, can be found tweeting about other animals having sex, and the evolutionary mechanisms that lead to the various ways in which they do the deed.
A head louse Xmas ornament on our tree! twitter.com/TheBugChicks/s…
— The Bug Chicks (@TheBugChicks) December 23, 2012
The Bug Chicks are a couple of my favourite people as they bring insects & entomology to the public in a way that gets everyone excited about creepy crawlies.
Today’s lecture to be written: Patterns and underlying processes in biodiversity distribution – all from a conservation perspective.
— Joshua Drew (@Drew_Lab) January 7, 2013
Dr. Joshua Drew is a conservation/marine biologist at Columbia University who has a lot of good advice for grad students.
This seems accurate…Congress less popular than lice, roaches, and root canals. ow.ly/gFalc
— Bug G. Membracid (@bug_girl) January 9, 2013
Bug Girl is, well, Bug Girl. Not really sure what else to say other than you’ll have a lot of fun learning about insects and you won’t regret following her. Most of the time.
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- Of course I love all the people I follow, and can heartily recommend each and every one of them! ↩
And yet, nothing to do with agriculture … enjouy your practical biology.
That’s a good point, Jeremy; do you have any suggestions for agricultural tweeters?
Of course I recommend my compadre Luigi Guarino, who blogs as @agrobiodiverse and among others, I would suggest @CABI_News and @Farming_First (though that has a very different point of view).