AshPoust
@ashpoust.bsky.social
Paleontology, Anatomy, Evolutionary Medicine, Travel.
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln
Grazing with the dinosaurs and dear old horses.
-What I'm about to show you may shock and educate you
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln
Grazing with the dinosaurs and dear old horses.
-What I'm about to show you may shock and educate you
Reposted by AshPoust
#fossilfriday Calcified cartilage is not always rare. 20 years ago I found this strange "bone", later identified as a mandibular cartilage of a skate (Raja binoculata). I have since collected dozens of these, which seem to be the most common vertebrate fossil in the 3-5 myo Purisima Formation of CA.
December 12, 2025 at 5:32 PM
#fossilfriday Calcified cartilage is not always rare. 20 years ago I found this strange "bone", later identified as a mandibular cartilage of a skate (Raja binoculata). I have since collected dozens of these, which seem to be the most common vertebrate fossil in the 3-5 myo Purisima Formation of CA.
Highly recommend Alden's book: Geology impacts everything we do even though we pass our days hardly thinking about it: even in Earthquake country.
Deep Oakland is both a useful guidebook and a meditation on how geology shapes human spaces.
Also: Promo Code!
Deep Oakland is both a useful guidebook and a meditation on how geology shapes human spaces.
Also: Promo Code!
For local readers (and geologists who visit the Bay area), I lustily recommend this gift idea. <hint>Take 30 percent off with the promo code HEYDAY30</hint>
Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City [Paperback] by Andrew Alden
Now in paperback: This San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and California Book Award finalist drills down into Oakland's geological history and its impacts Now in paperback: This San Francisco Chronicl...
www.heydaybooks.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Highly recommend Alden's book: Geology impacts everything we do even though we pass our days hardly thinking about it: even in Earthquake country.
Deep Oakland is both a useful guidebook and a meditation on how geology shapes human spaces.
Also: Promo Code!
Deep Oakland is both a useful guidebook and a meditation on how geology shapes human spaces.
Also: Promo Code!
Reposted by AshPoust
Yet another paper about Nanotyrannus has reached the same conclusion about its being its own genus, so I'm reposting this again...
'You're adopted'
----------
(For the non-palaeo folks, this is in light of a newly published paper re-establishing that #Nanotyrannus, previously understood to be a juvenile #T.rex, is indeed its own genus after all.)
----------
(For the non-palaeo folks, this is in light of a newly published paper re-establishing that #Nanotyrannus, previously understood to be a juvenile #T.rex, is indeed its own genus after all.)
December 9, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Yet another paper about Nanotyrannus has reached the same conclusion about its being its own genus, so I'm reposting this again...
Reposted by AshPoust
Look at her: A kid from Nebraska who wants to know how the world around her works, but wants to stay close to her family and community while doing so.
She could do it when UNL thought Nebraskans deserved to. She DID do it!
The next generation, though? They can't anymore.
She could do it when UNL thought Nebraskans deserved to. She DID do it!
The next generation, though? They can't anymore.
December 6, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Look at her: A kid from Nebraska who wants to know how the world around her works, but wants to stay close to her family and community while doing so.
She could do it when UNL thought Nebraskans deserved to. She DID do it!
The next generation, though? They can't anymore.
She could do it when UNL thought Nebraskans deserved to. She DID do it!
The next generation, though? They can't anymore.
Reposted by AshPoust
I spent four years as an Assistant Professor in EAS @UNL. It was a vibrant department full of terrific people doing great science and education. The decision to end it is beyond foolish and reeks of ideology. This will hurt the university, the state and the disciplines of geology & climate sciences.
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.
www.dailynebraskan.com
December 6, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I spent four years as an Assistant Professor in EAS @UNL. It was a vibrant department full of terrific people doing great science and education. The decision to end it is beyond foolish and reeks of ideology. This will hurt the university, the state and the disciplines of geology & climate sciences.
Reposted by AshPoust
There were so many big paleo publications made this year, especially in the last few months. First sauropod with gut content, nanotyrannus X2, new hadrosaur mummies, new pterosaur in vomit. You think any more big things will come before the year ends????
December 6, 2025 at 5:03 PM
There were so many big paleo publications made this year, especially in the last few months. First sauropod with gut content, nanotyrannus X2, new hadrosaur mummies, new pterosaur in vomit. You think any more big things will come before the year ends????
Reposted by AshPoust
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.
www.dailynebraskan.com
December 6, 2025 at 5:35 PM
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Reposted by AshPoust
This #FossilFriday, we're excited to share about research UNSM curator Ash Poust contributed to proving the “Nanotyrannus,” a teacup variation of the “T. rex,” did exist!🦖 Poust and a team led by Christopher Griffin of Princeton University had their findings published in Science yesterday!🔬
December 5, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This #FossilFriday, we're excited to share about research UNSM curator Ash Poust contributed to proving the “Nanotyrannus,” a teacup variation of the “T. rex,” did exist!🦖 Poust and a team led by Christopher Griffin of Princeton University had their findings published in Science yesterday!🔬
Reposted by AshPoust
For #FossilFriday : Architectonica scrobiculata, an Eocene gastropod.
Personally collected from the Crockett Formation in Texas.
~ 1.3 cm in diameter.
#paleontology #gastropod #macrophotography
Personally collected from the Crockett Formation in Texas.
~ 1.3 cm in diameter.
#paleontology #gastropod #macrophotography
December 5, 2025 at 1:42 PM
For #FossilFriday : Architectonica scrobiculata, an Eocene gastropod.
Personally collected from the Crockett Formation in Texas.
~ 1.3 cm in diameter.
#paleontology #gastropod #macrophotography
Personally collected from the Crockett Formation in Texas.
~ 1.3 cm in diameter.
#paleontology #gastropod #macrophotography
Reposted by AshPoust
Happy #FossilFriday! #Dromaeosaurs (#raptors) have large sickle-like claws on their feet. Like today’s hawks, these #Cretaceous predatory #dinosaurs may have used their claws to grasp prey.
December 5, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! #Dromaeosaurs (#raptors) have large sickle-like claws on their feet. Like today’s hawks, these #Cretaceous predatory #dinosaurs may have used their claws to grasp prey.
Reposted by AshPoust
Plotopterid (extinct flightless relative of boobies and cormorants) tarsometatarsus (foot bone) from the Yamaga Formation (Oligocene of Japan): www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prps... 🪶🧪 (📷Mori)
December 5, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Plotopterid (extinct flightless relative of boobies and cormorants) tarsometatarsus (foot bone) from the Yamaga Formation (Oligocene of Japan): www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/prps... 🪶🧪 (📷Mori)
Reposted by AshPoust
Score more evidence for Nanotyrannus being a legit species of small tyrannosaur and not a juvenile T. rex:
Mature histology in, of all bones, the hyoid. Of the holotype Cleveland skull!
Truly innovative work by @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social & team.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Mature histology in, of all bones, the hyoid. Of the holotype Cleveland skull!
Truly innovative work by @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social & team.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A diminutive tyrannosaur lived alongside Tyrannosaurus rex
Whether Nanotyrannus lancensis represents a distinct taxon or an immature Tyrannosaurus rex is a decades-long controversy. The N. lancesis holotype is an isolated skull and ceratobranchials, but limb ...
www.science.org
December 4, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Score more evidence for Nanotyrannus being a legit species of small tyrannosaur and not a juvenile T. rex:
Mature histology in, of all bones, the hyoid. Of the holotype Cleveland skull!
Truly innovative work by @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social & team.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Mature histology in, of all bones, the hyoid. Of the holotype Cleveland skull!
Truly innovative work by @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social & team.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by AshPoust
(I was a peer reviewer on this paper, and read it before I saw the Zanno & Napoli paper. It was this new Griffin et al. paper--which has taken awhile to work through the publication pipeline--that actually first convinced me that Nanotyrannus was probably real).
December 4, 2025 at 11:07 PM
(I was a peer reviewer on this paper, and read it before I saw the Zanno & Napoli paper. It was this new Griffin et al. paper--which has taken awhile to work through the publication pipeline--that actually first convinced me that Nanotyrannus was probably real).
Reposted by AshPoust
Reposted by AshPoust
Lead author @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social did a nice thread walking through the research.
bsky.app/profile/grif...
bsky.app/profile/grif...
Very excited to share that our latest paper is out in Science! We show that the type specimen of Nanotyrannus—an isolated skull—is fully grown, showing that it is not a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex but a distinct species (1/12)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org
December 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Lead author @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social did a nice thread walking through the research.
bsky.app/profile/grif...
bsky.app/profile/grif...
Reposted by AshPoust
New research on a hot topic -
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
December 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
New research on a hot topic -
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by AshPoust
👑 Return of the Short (Tyrant) King! With the help of our 𝘛. 𝘳𝘦𝘹 growth series, researchers show throat bones accurately record maturity in dinosaurs, establishing 𝘕𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘶𝘴 as a distinct species—𝙣𝙤𝙩 a juvenile 𝘛. 𝘳𝘦𝘹: go.nhm.org/nanotyrannus
December 4, 2025 at 9:56 PM
👑 Return of the Short (Tyrant) King! With the help of our 𝘛. 𝘳𝘦𝘹 growth series, researchers show throat bones accurately record maturity in dinosaurs, establishing 𝘕𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘺𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘶𝘴 as a distinct species—𝙣𝙤𝙩 a juvenile 𝘛. 𝘳𝘦𝘹: go.nhm.org/nanotyrannus
New research on a hot topic -
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
December 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
New research on a hot topic -
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
histology of the holotype supports Nanotyrannus as distinct from T. rex.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by AshPoust
Reposted by AshPoust
Curatorial job with significant geological and palaeontological collections at Warwick Museums.
www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/250490/c...
www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/250490/c...
Curator of Natural Sciences - Warwick,Warwickshire job with Warwickshire County Council | 250490
About Heritage and Culture Warwickshire Heritage and Culture Warwickshire (HCW) provide a wide range of services that help local communities and ...
www.wmjobs.co.uk
December 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Curatorial job with significant geological and palaeontological collections at Warwick Museums.
www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/250490/c...
www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/250490/c...
Reposted by AshPoust
New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
December 1, 2025 at 5:56 PM
New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...
Reposted by AshPoust
Daspletosaurus wilsoni holotype skull full-size reconstruction. Went on display in our exhibit hall (Badlands Dinosaur Museum) Sept 2025. The nicest Daspletosaurus skull reconstruction I think. Casts possibly available in 2026. #dinosaurs #fossils #fossilfriday
December 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Daspletosaurus wilsoni holotype skull full-size reconstruction. Went on display in our exhibit hall (Badlands Dinosaur Museum) Sept 2025. The nicest Daspletosaurus skull reconstruction I think. Casts possibly available in 2026. #dinosaurs #fossils #fossilfriday
Cool Pterosaur papers keep coming!
Pêgas et al. on Romualdo pterosaurs.
‘Cearadactylus atrox’ is a junior synonym of Brasileodactylus araripensis
doi.org/10.1080/0891...
Pêgas et al. on Romualdo pterosaurs.
‘Cearadactylus atrox’ is a junior synonym of Brasileodactylus araripensis
doi.org/10.1080/0891...
Untangling the identity of Romualdo pterosaurs: ‘Cearadactylus atrox’ as a junior synonym of Brasileodactylus araripensis (Pterosauria, Anhangueridae)
The Romualdo Formation (Aptian–Albian) of the Araripe Basin is renowned for its exceptional three-dimensional fossil preservation, including a rich pterosaur assemblage. One of such pterosaurs from...
doi.org
November 30, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Cool Pterosaur papers keep coming!
Pêgas et al. on Romualdo pterosaurs.
‘Cearadactylus atrox’ is a junior synonym of Brasileodactylus araripensis
doi.org/10.1080/0891...
Pêgas et al. on Romualdo pterosaurs.
‘Cearadactylus atrox’ is a junior synonym of Brasileodactylus araripensis
doi.org/10.1080/0891...