mastodon 4.7.3Environmental scientist and clammunicator
Provider of #ClamFacts
Pulse oximetry has previously been noted to have a bias against people with higher skin melanin content. It over-measures blood oxygen for Black people and others with more melanin, because most oximeters were calibrated for people with light skin. This can lead to someone with a real blood O2 reading of 91% reading as 94%. A new study shows that has led to different levels of follow-up care, with Black patients being less likely to receive supplemental oxygen as a result of this systematic mismeasurement. I was recently caring for my mom when she had a severe infection. During the recovery phase, she had supplemental oxygen at home and I literally had a pulse oximeter hanging on my neck like a pendant, taking spot checks frequently of her oxygen. It was already scary enough and I can't imagine not being able to trust the readings of what should be a life-saving device! This is why systemic racism is so insidious and pops up in all sorts of subtle but fundamental ways, especially when science is contaminated by the racist thinking! It makes me wonder what other effects this has had? Has this contributed to the known under-diagnosis of Black patients with sleep apnea? It's scary to think about.
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/05/pulse-oximeter-bias-black-patients-follow-up-care
Olympia oysters (Ostrea lurida) are our native oyster in estuaries on the West coast of North America. They are marvels of evolution, able to survive extreme swings in salinity and turbidity often seen in their native environment. As another adaptation to their extreme habitat, they brood their young within their shell for a couple weeks to a month, to increase their chances of survival. Some years, they may be nearly wiped out by extreme high flow events, and they maximize their chances of finding a mate during the following interval by alternating sexes annually (sequential hermaphroditism). There were once billions of these oysters in SF Bay in huge reefs, where they were harvested sustainably for thousands of years by native peoples, who produced enormous shell mounds as ceremonial monuments to their relationship with the Bay. But in the era of colonization they were almost wiped out by overharvesting, introduced predators/diseases, pollution and habitat destruction. These days the vast majority of farmed oysters are Japanese oysters, which grow faster and reach much bigger size. Nevertheless, Olympia oysters persist and can be found all throughout the Bay in somewhat sparse concentrations, biding their time for when conditions are more to their favor. I have full faith they will inherit the Bay after we're gone! #clamFacts
not enough people are asking, what is the water-speed velocity of an unladen scallop?
I am a very specific kind of reply guy. If someone jokes about the appearance of geoducks (Panopea), I must appear and remind them THEY👏LOOKED👏LIKE👏THAT👏FIRST
since the Jurassic!! #clamFacts
In 1764, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that when he was sick with smallpox, he ate 30 oysters to try to get better. I can't find any evidence that oysters have special therapeutic value against smallpox, though they are rich in zinc, which is an essential mineral for the immune system! #clamFacts
https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17640504ja
The best discussion of the actual biology of the Reflecting Pool algal bloom I've seen so far, including descriptions and microscope pics from GMU professor Rosalina Stancheva Christova. The green algae Desmodesmus is taking advantage of warm water, fresh nutrients and a lack of competition in the new pool water to explode in population! In this way it's analogous to weeds proliferating in disturbed soils. If there's anything I've learned about algae, it will usually do the opposite of what we hope it will do! Algae is truly ungovernable!
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/19/nx-s1-5863044/dc-reflecting-pool-algae-green-trump
I don't supplement CO2 in my aquarium, so it is a limiting factor for the plants in there, as it is in many freshwater aquatic ecosystems. For a long time, the tapegrass Vallisneria spiralis dominated in the tank. Its cheat code is that it can use bicarbonate (HCO3-) as a carbon source for photosynthesis. It uses an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase, to transform the plentiful bicarbonate in my very hard tap water to CO2, which it then uses for photosynthesis. About half of aquatic plants have some ability to do this. This year I had a baby boom of mystery snails that have decided the Vallisneria is a snack, reducing its biomass. So this summer another plant, the dwarf aquarium lily Nymphaea stellata, has exploded. It can engage in a limited amount of bicarbonate use, but even more important are its floating leaves, which allow it to sidestep the aquatic carbon sources entirely and just use atmospheric CO2! I am considering setting up a CO2 bubbler system as I have in the past to give some of the other aquatic plants a leg up. I had taken it down when the snails were babies to help keep pH high to help their tiny shells grow.
It is surprisingly common to find whole clam shells in everyday neighborhood concrete, since they often use sand or gravel mined from shallow aquatic environments to make the concrete. The legendary malacologist Tim Pearce from Carnegie Museum wrote about finding invasive Corbicula clams in a sidewalk! #clamFacts https://carnegiemnh.org/clams-in-the-concrete-how-old-is-this-sidewalk/
Georges Bank is a broad elevated area separating the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic. It has long been a desirable fishing location, and it is ideal habitat for scallops, with its sandy bottom and elevated position in the path of currents delivering phytoplankton food. But in recent years, the northern edge has been closed to scallop fishing. Scallop populations have been plateauing or falling across the Bank, and underwater surveys have determined that the northern edge of the Bank is an important site that scallops swim to and aggregate for mating, helping seed populations of scallops across the broader bank as a whole. Unfortunately after lobbying by fishermen, the Trump administration has now decided to throw that science out the window and ordered that area be opened for scallop harvesting, prioritizing short term profits over preserving an important New England seafood resource for future generations. #clamFacts https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-lowers-regulatory-burdens-fishing-adviser-navarro-says-2026-07-02/
