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Defector

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

English: Tufted gray langur (Semnopithecus priam) stroking a Grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) caringly at Yala National Park - Sri Lanka.

Can A Monkey Have A Pet?

a yellow giant frogfish, Antennarius commerson, perched on coral

There’s Big News In Necks

Barry Petchesky

Squirrel Leads Detroit Grounds Crew On Merry Chase

a grainy still image of jimothy the raccoon with an abnormally short spine running across a lawn

Is Jimothy OK? A Creature Investigation

The images show two adult orcas feeding on the ocean sunfish,

Orcas Are Kerploding Sunfish Into A Thousand Pieces

an orange and black burying beetle on a blade of grass

Homosexually Humping Corpse-Eating Beetles Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time

Colobus congensis, known locally as “likweli,” has a dramatic black face with pinkish-orange lips.

New Monkey! New Monkey! There’s A New Monkey!

This photomicrograph of a fresh stool sample, which had been prepared using a 10% formalin solution, and stained with modified acid-fast stain, revealed the presence of four Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts in the field of view.

Science

Why The Explosive Diarrhea Parasite Is Way Worse Than Regular Diarrhea Parasites

a photo of a brown edible robot shaped like a rectangle with arms and two black eyespots

Would You Eat This Guy? What If He Were God, Or A Baby?

Mona Khalil, a Lebanese ecologist activist looks at a turtle at a coast in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre 12 August 2002

Mona Khalil, Who Devoted Her Life To Protecting Turtles, Killed By Israeli Airstrike

A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archaeological Museu of Bolzano on February 28, 2011 during an official presentation of the reconstruction.

They’re Making Ötzi The Iceman Show Feet

And They Were Tomb Mates!

A picture taken on September 6, 2021 shows the reconstruction of the face of the oldest Neanderthal found in the Netherlands, nicknamed Krijn, on display at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden. - - Netherlands OUT (Photo by Bart Maat / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT (Photo by BART MAAT/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Would You Want This Guy As Your Dentist?

Shots

You’re Not Looking Through 12,000 New Artemis Photos, So Here Are Some Of The Best

Let Pluto Rest In Dwarf Planet Peace

Giri Nathan

Qinwen Zheng of China returns a shot to Ekaterina Alexandrova during the Credit One Charleston Open at Credit One Stadium on April 04, 2025 in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Tennis

How Much Good Can A Green Clay Tennis Court Do?

The Earth sets over the Moon, with Orion in the foreground.

This Phone Video From Artemis Is So Damn Cool

It’s Time For The Scariest Part Of Artemis

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation.

Why We Fly

What Would You Do Behind The Moon?

Artemis Took A Picture Of Us

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - APRIL 01: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Getty Images provides access to this publicly distributed image for editorial purposes and is not the copyright owner. Additional permissions may be required and are the sole responsibility of the end user.) In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA's Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard launches on the Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft. The quartet launched at 6:35 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. (Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA/Getty Images)

Artemis Boldly Goes Where No Toilet Has Gone Before

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

A grainy black-and-white 1981 photo showing something that looks like an ape striding out of the woods.

What Did The Migrating Bigfoot Family Know About This Ohio Meteor Explosion?

Artist impression of what Prototaxites would have look like in life

Who The Hell Was This?

A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archaeological Museu of Bolzano

Let The Record Show That Ötzi Fucked

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - JANUARY 17: NASA's Artemis II is rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s integrated SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission are being rolled to Launch Pad 39B ahead of the 10-day mission in February 2026, which will take the crew around the Moon and back to Earth. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

I Am Not Immune To The Charms Of A Really Big Moon Rocket

A self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci in which he looks displeased, perhaps making the face he would make if he learned that scientists were trying to grind up some ancient hair to unlock a supervision gene

Arts And Culture

Leonardo da Vinci’s Legacy Won’t Be Found In His DNA

Patrick Redford

LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 13: A view of dense fog over Interstate Highway 580 (I-580) and wind turbines in Livermore, California, United States on December 13, 2025. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Climate

What Is The Tule Fog, And Will It Ever Go Away?

The Phoenix Mercury logo and the planet Mercury.

This Is So Stupid

The Phoenix Mercury’s New Logos Vs. The Planet Mercury: An Exhausting Showdown

IN SPACE - MAY 23: In this handout image provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour orbit Earth during Endeavour's final sortie on May 23, 2011 in Space. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli captured the first-ever images of an orbiter docked to the International Space Station from the viewpoint of a departing vessel as he returned to Earth in a Soyuz capsule. (Photo by Paolo Nespoli - ESA/NASA via Getty Images)

One Small Step For A Moss, One Giant Leap For Mosskind

a photo of RFK Jr. where he looks like a broken Chuck-E-Cheeze animatronic

Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism, No Matter What The CDC Website Now Says

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 26: Tom Brady looks on from the field during warmups prior to an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on October 26, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)