Karen Poole
@renpoole.bsky.social
Dinosaur paleontologist teaching human anatomy to medical students. Interests: ornithischians, systematics, diversity in science and medicine.
Avi by @blackmudpuppy
Avi by @blackmudpuppy
Reposted by Karen Poole
So, does this mean you’ll support articles of impeachment?
RFK Jr. is a completely unqualified conspiracy theorist who is putting newborn babies at risk.
The reckless decision to end a proven vaccine recommendation has no scientific basis.
This guy has got to go.
The reckless decision to end a proven vaccine recommendation has no scientific basis.
This guy has got to go.
December 7, 2025 at 4:09 PM
So, does this mean you’ll support articles of impeachment?
Reposted by Karen Poole
I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a more transparently corrupt government and I'm from India
trumpcard.gov is live and the million dollar fees are all referred to as “gifts” or “contributions” to an undisclosed party lol
December 11, 2025 at 7:08 AM
I genuinely don't think I've ever seen a more transparently corrupt government and I'm from India
Reposted by Karen Poole
Earth's largest land animals are limited by salt.
Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2
Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2
December 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Earth's largest land animals are limited by salt.
Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2
Sodium availability constrains the density and distribution of elephants, giraffes and rhinos across Africa, and offers a new explanation for the so-called 'missing megaherbivores'.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Free access: rdcu.be/eTPY2
Reposted by Karen Poole
Students are not our customers and they are not our bosses. Get your shit together, OU.
From the Oklahoma U student paper: the school is now saying it will automatically suspend faculty (with pay) in response to student complaints
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
www.oudaily.com/news/ou-poli...
December 14, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Students are not our customers and they are not our bosses. Get your shit together, OU.
Reposted by Karen Poole
The thing about measles is that it’s the only known virus that triggers immune amnesia - it causes your immune system to forget everything it has previously learned. Meaning you essentially reset to zero and are now at risk of basically everything.
It can take 2-3 years to get immunities back.
It can take 2-3 years to get immunities back.
December 14, 2025 at 12:43 AM
The thing about measles is that it’s the only known virus that triggers immune amnesia - it causes your immune system to forget everything it has previously learned. Meaning you essentially reset to zero and are now at risk of basically everything.
It can take 2-3 years to get immunities back.
It can take 2-3 years to get immunities back.
Reposted by Karen Poole
There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
December 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom
Reposted by Karen Poole
Not sure even in previous information revolutions was there a situation where fake info was being disseminated on anything like this scale. Gossip, skewed reporting, shady advertising, yes... but endless tainted #AI dross swilling through the web that isn't even directly selling anything? That's new
The advice given would take you over a crag. A search shows this bot created accounts replying to questions on lots of social platforms overnight, with plausible-sounding (but probably incorrect) answers.
December 12, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Not sure even in previous information revolutions was there a situation where fake info was being disseminated on anything like this scale. Gossip, skewed reporting, shady advertising, yes... but endless tainted #AI dross swilling through the web that isn't even directly selling anything? That's new
Reposted by Karen Poole
"I'm not in denial, I'm in open rebellion" damn that quote goes hard
“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.”
Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻
Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻
December 10, 2025 at 5:10 AM
"I'm not in denial, I'm in open rebellion" damn that quote goes hard
Reposted by Karen Poole
Thread on how to detect ai in that viral dog video
Yeah, I mean, I'm critical of any video nowadays that is trying to elicit an emotional response, especially when it's asking for subs at the end. It's weird that all the people seem to end up with the dog they want. And shelters are overflowing, where are the rooms full of people wanting to adopt?
December 7, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Thread on how to detect ai in that viral dog video
Reposted by Karen Poole
“This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.” Read our full statement by AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly:
www.aap.org/en/news-room...
www.aap.org/en/news-room...
December 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM
“This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children.” Read our full statement by AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly:
www.aap.org/en/news-room...
www.aap.org/en/news-room...
Reposted by Karen Poole
Check out our cover article by @timjanicke.bsky.social and colleagues about the role of sexual selection in animal speciation. academic.oup.com/evlett/artic.... The beautiful illustration is by Katharina Bóth.
December 4, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Check out our cover article by @timjanicke.bsky.social and colleagues about the role of sexual selection in animal speciation. academic.oup.com/evlett/artic.... The beautiful illustration is by Katharina Bóth.
Reposted by Karen Poole
The Internet is becoming increasingly unreliable. Buy books and read them.
December 5, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The Internet is becoming increasingly unreliable. Buy books and read them.
Reposted by Karen Poole
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
December 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
Reposted by Karen Poole
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 7:02 PM
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/...
Reposted by Karen Poole
More images in a scientific paper that can be described as low quality, of questionable accuracy, environmentally damaging, job stealing and copyright infringing.
Hey, maybe it's time for scientific journals to just stop accepting AI-generated images?
Hey, maybe it's time for scientific journals to just stop accepting AI-generated images?
e.g. to produce these two – which are still problematic – took at least 80 batches of DALL-E 2 generation (each batch making multiple images), and on top of that, required direct editing of the #AI images themselves.
Paper: Magnani & Clindaniel 2023
🏺🧪
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Paper: Magnani & Clindaniel 2023
🏺🧪
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
December 3, 2025 at 10:46 AM
More images in a scientific paper that can be described as low quality, of questionable accuracy, environmentally damaging, job stealing and copyright infringing.
Hey, maybe it's time for scientific journals to just stop accepting AI-generated images?
Hey, maybe it's time for scientific journals to just stop accepting AI-generated images?
Reposted by Karen Poole
Ilhan Omar rose from a single parent immigrant family where her dad drove a taxi to her current position. Trump is the kid of a racist wealthy slum landlord who headed multiple failed businesses. One of these people is the example of failed ambition and it's not her.
What a racist piece of shit.
What a racist piece of shit.
Trump on Somalis: "We're gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage."
December 2, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Ilhan Omar rose from a single parent immigrant family where her dad drove a taxi to her current position. Trump is the kid of a racist wealthy slum landlord who headed multiple failed businesses. One of these people is the example of failed ambition and it's not her.
What a racist piece of shit.
What a racist piece of shit.
Reposted by Karen Poole
I'm so tired of measles.
I'm also tired of people using needle shots on stories like this.
Show what measles looks like.
I'm also tired of people using needle shots on stories like this.
Show what measles looks like.
Gallatin Co. reports 2nd measles case, warns of exposure sites nbcmontana.com/news/local/g...
Gallatin Co. reports 2nd measles case, warns of exposure sites
The Gallatin City-County Health Department has confirmed a second case of measles in Gallatin County, with the latest case identified on Dec. 1, 2025.This foll
nbcmontana.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:09 AM
I'm so tired of measles.
I'm also tired of people using needle shots on stories like this.
Show what measles looks like.
I'm also tired of people using needle shots on stories like this.
Show what measles looks like.
Reposted by Karen Poole
I taught composition and technical writing at OU for three years. This decision is a disgrace. If instructors are expected to treat personal beliefs as formal “evidence,” then why even bother offering courses?
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
December 1, 2025 at 1:06 PM
I taught composition and technical writing at OU for three years. This decision is a disgrace. If instructors are expected to treat personal beliefs as formal “evidence,” then why even bother offering courses?
Reposted by Karen Poole
This thread is 💯. Labor precarity in academia means the evisceration of faculty governance and academic freedom, opening the door to administrative purges of the most vulnerable. And faculty-esp tenured faculty and academic leaders-who aren't defending their trans colleagues are enabling it.
So yeah, this is fundamentally about trans people and that cannot be elided, but the ways in which junior faculty are targeted and disposed of, while academic jobs are increasingly precarized, and political grandstanders seek to influence academic governance are fucking terrifying for everyone.
December 1, 2025 at 12:35 PM
This thread is 💯. Labor precarity in academia means the evisceration of faculty governance and academic freedom, opening the door to administrative purges of the most vulnerable. And faculty-esp tenured faculty and academic leaders-who aren't defending their trans colleagues are enabling it.
Reposted by Karen Poole
So yeah, this is fundamentally about trans people and that cannot be elided, but the ways in which junior faculty are targeted and disposed of, while academic jobs are increasingly precarized, and political grandstanders seek to influence academic governance are fucking terrifying for everyone.
December 1, 2025 at 11:53 AM
So yeah, this is fundamentally about trans people and that cannot be elided, but the ways in which junior faculty are targeted and disposed of, while academic jobs are increasingly precarized, and political grandstanders seek to influence academic governance are fucking terrifying for everyone.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Cannot be geologist without a Brunton pocket transit.
I just saw that Brunton is having a 20% off sale from now until Dec 20. (It's a small business and the owner is a friend and former colleague of mine.) Orange and yellow and purple transits! All kinds of gear re-designed to make field geology easier!
www.brunton.com
www.brunton.com
Professional Transits & Compasses | Navigation Tools | Brunton
Our professional transits and compasses set the industry standard for performance and reliability. We have been building the finest navigation tools and equipment since 1894.
www.brunton.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Cannot be geologist without a Brunton pocket transit.
Reposted by Karen Poole
As you’re preparing for your Thanksgiving meal, remember the skilled work it took to get that food to your grocery store.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
November 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
As you’re preparing for your Thanksgiving meal, remember the skilled work it took to get that food to your grocery store.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we can share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.
Reposted by Karen Poole
This is a fascinating & kind of terrifying piece, the way it rules out various reasons for collapse you might guess (famine, climate) to leave the impression these people just decided to slaughter each other
Pointed out by my friend @carloshasanax.bsky.social . There's something weird and unsettling about a fairly homogeneous culture spread out across Europe that then collapses into an orgy of genocide.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Headless bodies hint at why Europe’s first farmers vanished
Wave of mass brutality accompanied the collapse of the first pan-European culture
www.science.org
November 27, 2025 at 12:39 PM
This is a fascinating & kind of terrifying piece, the way it rules out various reasons for collapse you might guess (famine, climate) to leave the impression these people just decided to slaughter each other
Reposted by Karen Poole
I made an infographic for this very reason!
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
November 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I made an infographic for this very reason!
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
Every year I encourage my viewers to print it out for their Thanksgiving turkey dinner, Christmas goose feast, Boxing Day budgie buffet, or any other ritual when people gather to dismember bird carcasses. I'm not a meat eater, but I try not to judge
Reposted by Karen Poole
There is NO FUCKING EXCUSE for this to be happening.
I had a baby die in my arms of pertussis some fifty years ago. It was a HORRIBLE death. But my fellow nurses said to me, "It's almost stamped out now, they're all getting the shots, we won't be seeing this again."
HOW THE FUCK ARE WE HERE. 😡
I had a baby die in my arms of pertussis some fifty years ago. It was a HORRIBLE death. But my fellow nurses said to me, "It's almost stamped out now, they're all getting the shots, we won't be seeing this again."
HOW THE FUCK ARE WE HERE. 😡
A third infant has died in Kentucky, KYDPH adds:
“These are Kentucky’s first pertussis deaths since 2018. None of the infants nor their mothers received the recommended pertussis vaccinations during pregnancy or early infancy.”
s3.amazonaws.com/nursing-netw...
“These are Kentucky’s first pertussis deaths since 2018. None of the infants nor their mothers received the recommended pertussis vaccinations during pregnancy or early infancy.”
s3.amazonaws.com/nursing-netw...
November 25, 2025 at 10:01 PM
There is NO FUCKING EXCUSE for this to be happening.
I had a baby die in my arms of pertussis some fifty years ago. It was a HORRIBLE death. But my fellow nurses said to me, "It's almost stamped out now, they're all getting the shots, we won't be seeing this again."
HOW THE FUCK ARE WE HERE. 😡
I had a baby die in my arms of pertussis some fifty years ago. It was a HORRIBLE death. But my fellow nurses said to me, "It's almost stamped out now, they're all getting the shots, we won't be seeing this again."
HOW THE FUCK ARE WE HERE. 😡