Fingers crossed!

Fun fact! Mastodon species are in the genus Mammut, which doesn't have the same root as 'mammal'. It's from an Indigenous language from Russia, and means 'earth horn' (for their fossil remains).

It may not be what was technically ever claimed, but common understanding of the Effect, i.e., that there is an inverse correlation between cockiness & depth of knowledge/competance is, I think, obvious to anyone who has ever been or dealt w/ 1st year university students (myself included in both).

Because the conditions materials are produced in (i.e., their impact on human heath, labour rights, and the environment) matter, if we're ethical consumers.

One of our temporary displays at the @johnsongeocentre.bsky.social features a group of Artemia, aka fairy shrimp or sea monkeys. These delicate little crustaceans have a fossil record extending back at least 115 million years! #FossilFriday

See doi.org/10.1080/0311...

This research not only provides exciting new insight into mammoth evolutionary history, it reveals an entirely unknown lineage of ancient mammoth. 🦣

gizmodo.com/million-year...

Great story! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Planning on applying for PromoScience for outreach activities through the Cape Breton Fossil Centre. Am hoping that some successful applicants might be willing to share their applications/budgets. In particular, I am curious how people made up the 2/3rds of $$$ that NSERC doesn't cover.

Another way of putting this: in the past 20 years or so, China and India *alone* have increased student places by about 70 million - that's roughly the same number of university places that existed in the entire world circa 1990.

Digitizing collections to unlock the full potential of palynology: A case study with the Smithsonian palynology collection

Carlos Jaramillo, Surangi W. Punyasena, Daurys de Alba, Roxana Alveo, Angelica Arcila, Jorge Bermudez, Jonatan Bustos et al

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

More exciting news! I am now able to share with you more of the concept art I did for the amazing upcoming NBC Universal show “Surviving Earth” premiering next year! This time for a fan favorite, Dimetrodon!

I can’t say much more than this for now 🙊

Bit confused by this. Is this for supervised thesis-based masters? I've only written a few for MSc programs, but in each, I've either had feedback/follow up from potential supervisor or the student has told me that their supervisor commented on letters' content.

For those still considering US academic positions, this is a great one!

Wrote a long book that comes out August. It covers from the origins of life at alkaline hydrothermal vents some 4 billion years ago through the Volcker Shock. I'm told pre-orders help, so if that sounds like your thing, buy one, won't you? www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

As someone with a PhD in earth science, who is generally pro exploration/extraction, and teaches engineering and petroleum geology, it's hard for me to overstate how offbase I think APGNS is here. (It's also terrible optics.) www.halifaxexaminer.ca/dismantling-...

In the meantime the work happening right now is super interesting: study of ancient earthquakes preseved in the rocks. I can hook you up with contact if you want story.

Will be down to attempt to either extract or cast it in the next couple of weeks. Will keep you posted!

I have a colleague down there with a student and some other profs doing unrelated work, but... the fossil has emerged!

This is basically the basement of Nova Scotia or British Columbia (or really any accretion terrane province)!

Found while searching for merch for our museum gift store. The more you look, the worse it gets. :)

The summer 2025 ish of The Biologist is out and it includes my article on taxonomic vandalism. Massive thanks to those who helped in getting this piece together. #taxonomy #biology

The fourth one is actually part of the same slab as the third one. I should have noted that. I just photographed the portion that most clearly showed the geometry that struck me as biological.

The fourth is the same, I've just captured it at a different angle/lighting to emphasize the "feather" like geometry of central axis and secondary elements coming off. This one shows same.

Here's another.