Artwork by A. Petzold, CC BY-ND 4.0
At the right time of year along rushing streams in the humid rainforests that stretch the length of Madagascar's eastern and northern mountain ridges, otherworldly trills of piercing whistles can be heard.
Are they birds? Insects? Communicator beeps? Tricorder noises?
No, they're little treefrogs!
Boophis janewayae. Photo by M. Vences, CC BY-SA 4.0
Until recently, we thought all of the populations of these little brown frogs across the island were one widespread species, Boophis marojezensis, described in 1994. But genetics in the early 2000s and 2010s showed that there were several species here, not just one.
Now my colleagues and I have shown that they are in fact eight separate species, each with unique calls!
These whistling sounds reminded us so much of Star Trek sound effects that we decided to name the seven new species after Star Trek captains: Boophis kirki, B. picardi, B. janewayae, B. siskoi, B. pikei, B. archeri, and B. burnhamae.
Photos of all new species described by Vences et al. 2024. CC BY-SA 4.0
I subtly and not-so-subtly built some Star Trek references into the paper, but probably the best one is this one:
'Finding these frogs sometimes requires considerable trekking; pursuing strange new calls, to seek out new frogs in new forests; boldly going where no herpetologist has gone before.'
— Vences et al. 2024
There’s a real sense of scientific discovery and exploration here, which we think is in the spirit of Star Trek.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that there are at least two Trekkies amongst the authors (including yours truly). As fans of Star Trek, we are also just pleased to dedicate these new species to the characters who have inspired and entertained us over the decades.
On a personal note, this marks a milestone for me, as it means I have now described over 100 frog species! I am very pleased that the 100th is Captain Janeway's Bright-eyed Frog, Boophis janewayae (if you count them in order of appearance in the paper)—she is probably my favourite captain, and I really love Star Trek: Voyager.
You can read more about the discovery of these new species on my website! You can also read the Open Access paper published in Vertebrate Zoology here.
Based on Cardassian views on the medical profession (female dominated) and arguing (whore behavior), I think Dukat should have been scandalized to have an alien twink doctor get snippy with him in order to get a blood screening from him.
"And I find you offensive." Okay, here's my arm, man. Whatever you say, beautiful. But I have a wife.
words to live by
This is a friendly reminder to never, ever publish your book with a publishing company that charges you to publish with them. That is a vanity press, which makes money by preying on authors. They charge you for editing, formatting, cover art, and more. With most of these companies, you will never seen a cent of any royalties made from sale of your book. A legitimate publishing company only makes money when you make money, they will never charge you to publish with them. If a company approaches you and says "Hey, we'll publish your book, just pay us X amount of money," tell them to go fuck themself and block them.
My issue with writing Julian POV is that I don’t think Julian is actually self-aware enough to realise how mind-blowingly attracted to Garak he actually is, no.
I think he would be in denial about it conciously, because Garak is a dangerous Cardassian who may or may not be a spy. Julian would filter his attraction through whatever justifications he can for why he’s not ~really~ attracted to him. (While blushing and being flustered by Garak’s overt attraction and flirting back like his life depends on it for reasons he will conveniently brush over in his head.)
But you see, I cannot conceive that anyone could ever, ever look at Garak and not immediately be overcome with lust that makes them dizzy. I can’t imagine having someone who looks like that approach so blatantly flirty and not just immediately following them back to their store to do whatever the fuck they tell you for as long as they want.
So it’s very hard for me to write Julian not being immediately on his knees for Garak because it baffles me that he didn’t just throw himself at Garak over the table in that replimat to begin with.
Maybe it’s my bizarre taste in men talking but how did this scene not end with Julian following him back to his store and being like “Yes, sir, what do you want to do with me, sir”.
inspired by this post
Garak in a corset. Fanart and gift for @wanderingwriter87 and her amazing story Just a Cinch (I strongly recommend!).
*thinks about andy for 2 seconds* eyebal
I'd only ever heard of her parrot from Gates McFadden's podcast, and now i've chanced upon an image of nana visitor and her little personal bodyguard 👀
Austistic, genderfluid, abrosexual, panromantic, 18+ Tumblr punished my previous account for an NSFW doodle of aliens doing the Risian tango.
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