Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 23m

It’s great that anatomical work is being done, I just think that framing it as whether or not any given hominin could use tools is moot. They all could. But did they? The tools themselves are the only way to tell. I didn’t see mention of ‘knapping’ or ‘flaking’ in the paper, is that the claim here?

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 2h

I’d like to see a study of crow or vulture feet that looks for evidence of human-like skeletal markers then declares that these animals can’t possibly make or use tools. Or elephant feet. Or wasp feet. Or dolphin fins.

🐦‍⬛ 🐘 🐝 🐬

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 2h

🖐️ New study says our robust cousins Paranthropus had hands that could use tools 1.5 million years ago.

This is not a surprise. Monkeys have tool-using hands, so do sea otters (and crabs and octopuses if we stretch what makes a hand). Bird beaks/elephant trunks/ant mandibles are fine for tool use 🏺🧪

New fossils reveal the hand of Paranthropus boisei - Nature

Analyses of newly discovered hand and foot bones of a Paranthropus boisei specimen provide insight into possible tool use and other palaeobiology characteristics among Plio-Pleistocene hominin species...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 1d

Feels like it’s been a while since I put my workplace here. This is Skara Brae right now 🏺🧪🌊

Grass of various lengths around and over a 5000 year old stone village. The houses are beside a rocky coast, and the North Atlantic is off to the far right, with ominous rain clouds.

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

ManyBirds Project @themanybirds.bsky.social · 1d

🐦 Exciting news! Our new paper is out in PLOS Biology:
“A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia.”
Led by the #ManyBirds Project - 129 researchers, 82 institutions, 24 countries 🌍
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
@themanybirds.bsky.social

A large-scale study across the avian clade identifies ecological drivers of neophobia

Neophobia (the aversive response to novelty) varies considerably across species and individuals, and can impact adaptability and survival. This study assesses neophobia in 1400 subjects from 136 bird ...

journals.plos.org

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 1d

Feels like it’s been a while since I put my workplace here. This is Skara Brae right now 🏺🧪🌊

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 5d

Kudos to the editors @funecology.bsky.social for their suitably October cover 🕸️🎃🐠

This toothy alien is a Threadfin dragonfish (Echiostoma barbatum), a deep-sea hunter from the actual twilight zone

Cover of the October 2025 issue of the journal Functional Ecology. The image shows a dark, eel-like head rearing up and opening its mouth to show unevenly sized and very pointy white teeth. Its eye is light coloured and blank and a lure dangles from its chin. It’s a dragonfish auditioning for the next Alien film.

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 6d

#Palaeoanthropology in space. The human urge to name things is ridiculously strong 🔭

SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 6d

#PPOD: The official names of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson’s surface features — as identified by the Southwest Research Institute-led Lucy Mission — have been approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Credit: NASA/SwRI/Goddard/JHUAPL 🧪 🔭

This image is a detailed map of the asteroid Donaldjohanson, created by NASA's Lucy mission team. The asteroid is a contact binary, meaning it's composed of two lobes connected by a neck. The smaller, left lobe is Afar Lobus. The larger, right lobe is Olduvai Lobus. The neck is called Windover Collum. Two regions are near the nect: Hadar Regio and Mintogawa Regio. Other named features are (left to right) Luzia Dorsum (Ridge), Cashel Saxum (Boulder), Narmada (Crater), Kennewick Saxum (Boulder), Boxgrove Saxum (Boulder), and Mungo (Crater).

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 6d

One of the risks of bowerbirds sharing space with a university - sometimes scientific equipment (and samples) get pinched! Soy sauce containers also seem to be popular

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 6d

Also managed to track down some immature male great bowerbirds today, they were displaying at trees to get some practice in (paper on this shorturl.at/jqOQt). Found these two sites due to the birds making a right racket!

A tree trunk with several pieces of red plastic, green leaves and stones nearby.

A tree trunk with a few green objects nearby.

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

BOU @bou.org.uk · 8d

The origins and functions of bowers in the Bowerbirds: a review and synthesis | doi.org/10.1080/0158... | Emu | #ornithology 🪶

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 8d

Reminder to vote each day (until 15 October) for Baudin's black cockatoo as Australia’s bird of the year.

Its jarrah habitat in Western Australia is about to be cleared for bauxite mining. Every bit of attention this endangered bird gets could help it continue to exist 🪶 🇦🇺🧪

Australian bird of the year 2025: vote for your favourite #birdoftheyear in the Guardian / BirdLife Australia poll

From little penguins to (very big) cassowaries, every bird has its fans. Vote for your favourite in the 2025 Guardian/BirdLife Australia poll

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 10d

For #StandingStoneSunday the magnificent Sueno’s Stone. Likely named for the Dane Sweyn Forkbeard, but dating to the late 800s Pictish Fortriu kingdom.

It’s over 6 metres tall, with scenes of battle and beheading. The base has sword cuts from warriors pledging to their king 🏺🧪👑

📷 29 September 2025

A very tall stone carved on all sides, inside a protective glass box. The stone is in a grassy park with trees and houses nearby.

Detail of the base of the standing stone. On the thin face are carved mermen and people with swords. On the broad face at the base are a series of gashes in the stone, left by ancient warriors as part of an oath-taking ceremony.

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 10d

For #StandingStoneSunday the magnificent Sueno’s Stone. Likely named for the Dane Sweyn Forkbeard, but dating to the late 800s Pictish Fortriu kingdom.

It’s over 6 metres tall, with scenes of battle and beheading. The base has sword cuts from warriors pledging to their king 🏺🧪👑

📷 29 September 2025

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 11d

Remember to hydra-te 🐉 🐉 🐉

Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 11d

🐉 Ulyssis Aldrovandi ....
Bononiæ, apud C. Ferronium, 1640..

[Source]

Historical illustration from 1640 depicting a dragon-like creature with a single coiled tail and a body covered in scales. It has three serpentine heads, each with open mouths showing sharp teeth. The creature clings to a vertical, textured surface, possibly a tree or rock. The image is detailed with fine linework emphasizing the textured skin and claws. The text above identifies the creature as a multi-headed hydra or dragon from Ulyssis Aldrovandi’s natural history work.

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Andrew Digby @digs.bsky.social · 12d

Sad to report that we've lost another #kakapo, and a particularly significant one. Solstice was the last kākāpō rediscovered, found on Rakiura in 1997. She died on the weekend as a result of complications from the #disease cloacitis. There are now 237 kākāpō left. #conservation #parrots #birds

An adult female kākāpō in an underground nest next to three eggs. Credit: Andrew Digby

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 14d

Jane Goodall was also the first to bring attention to wild tool-using vultures, which she spotted randomly one day while out driving. These birds use stones to break into ostrich eggs.

Be observant like Jane and who knows what you’ll see! 🧪🥚

A two page spread of national geographic magazine with a story by Jane Goodall and her husband reporting on egg-breaking, tool-using Egyptian vultures.

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 14d

Jane Goodall convinced a reluctant world that apes use tools, then became one of the great environmentalists. She never gave up hope for a better world, and was an inspiration to all who met her, including children worldwide.

Thank you Jane.

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 14d

Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91. Gift link: nyti.ms/48FOuUn

nyti.ms

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 15d

My new favourite place from late medieval/Middle Ages Scotland. The Chapter House at Elgin Cathedral, rebuilt in the 1400s 🏺

📷 29 September 2025

A tall stone column in the centre of a spacious octagonal room, supporting a vaulted stone ceiling with radiating supports. Intricate glass windows are on each wall, with slightly different designs. A low bench with blue cushioning runs around the lower part of the walls.

The same room as the previous photo, looking straight up at the vaulted ceiling from beside the central column. The impression is like looking at a stone star, or spiderweb.

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 17d

Your daily reminder that tool use is not about ‘intelligence’ or having hands. It’s about a coincidence of object and actor with time to explore and a need to fill.

Whether tool use spreads can depend on social stuff like who’s watching, but isolated tool use springs up everywhere all the time 🏺🐮🛠️🧪

cow tools daily @cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social · 18d

ummm.. holy shit? tool use in bovids confirmed? holy holy shit?

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 17d

I’m not sure of the origin of the video, possibly Gus the Brahman on Facebook (I’m not on Facebook so can’t dig deeper there)

Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 17d

Your daily reminder that tool use is not about ‘intelligence’ or having hands. It’s about a coincidence of object and actor with time to explore and a need to fill.

Whether tool use spreads can depend on social stuff like who’s watching, but isolated tool use springs up everywhere all the time 🏺🐮🛠️🧪

cow tools daily @cowtoolsdaily.bsky.social · 18d

ummm.. holy shit? tool use in bovids confirmed? holy holy shit?

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Michael Haslam @twigtechnology.bsky.social · 18d

Night sky in the Cairngorms, Scotland

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🔭🪐

(📷 yesterday)

A long exposure phone camera photo of a dark sky crossed by the Milky Way and dusted with stars. The top of some pine trees are at the bottom of the image. It’s quite blurry if you zoom in.

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Marta Mirazon Lahr @martamlahr.bsky.social · 18d

#ESHE2025
Rhianna Drummond-Clarke ‘First documentation and quantification of wild chimpanzee rock climbing’
Camera traps, Issa Valley TZ & Moyen Bafing, Guinea chimps

Rock vs tree climbing: more dynamic movements, biomech diff locomotor modes, reaching further- role of uneven substrates!
Amazing 😍

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Reposted by Michael Haslam

Taï Chimpanzee Project @taichimpproject.bsky.social · 19d

📢JOB alert📢
Application for the camp manager position at the @taichimpproject.bsky.social is open now. We seek a new camp manager starting on January 1, 2026, for 2+1 years (3rd year optional) working with and for wild chimpanzees in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire.👇

emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/I...

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