My next attempt at going digital, here is Leedsichthys problematicus, a giant, filter-feeding bony fish from the Upper Jurassic, seen here doing its best impression of a basking shark.

My last piece of 2025 was one of my first ever forays into digital art. Drawn on my iPhone, here is the bizarre possible-lamniform shark Aquilolamna milarcae from the Upper Cretaceous of Mexico.

Autumn fieldwork 🍁

Freshwater sandstones from the Tonbridge Wells Sand Formation exposed in an old quarry near Fairlight, Sussex. #wealdenwednesday

I did a Plateosaurus this afternoon. I think I’m increasingly getting to grips with depicting dinosaur anatomy, though admittedly I still find drawing scales this way to be a little tedious.

The first speed talk session covered jellyfish lightning, wild dog visitor effects (with Bayesian stats!), baboon contraception and cassowary calls. A great showcase of the variety of research that goes on in BIAZA Zoos #BIAZARC2025

Have you seen the Band of Brothers episode of Walking With Dinosaurs yet? Last year it was an absolute pleasure to dig at the site with our University of Birmingham undergraduates - thanks so much to @jlivelypaleo.bsky.social & @prehistoricmuseum.bsky.social for an amazing experience!

Prehistoric Museum@prehistoricmuseum.bsky.social · last yr.

If you missed us on @pbs.org, you can stream the Band of Brothers episode of #WalkingWithDinosaurs online! #WWD2025 #FossilFriday www.pbs.org/video/band-o...

Conspiracy believers tend to overrate their cognitive abilities and think most others agree with them www.psypost.org/conspiracy-b...

Conspiracy believers tend to overrate their cognitive abilities and think most others agree with them

People who believe in conspiracy theories tend to overestimate their own abilities and wrongly assume that others share their views, according to a new study. The findings highlight overconfidence as ...

psypost.org

What a wonderful weekend at Lyme Regis Fossil Festival!

After a lot of work, I’ve finally finished my shield! I’ll be using it for medieval battle reenactment, though most of the action it’ll see will be during training. It’s an Angevin-style flat-topped kite shield. The design comes from the personal heraldry of Sir John de Radynden (1274-1350).

It was lovely getting to see the painted dogs again at Chester Zoo with @eleanorpinkney.bsky.social now that they’re back on display in the Heart of Africa area. #wilddogwednesday

For #fossilfriday, here’s an older piece I did a couple of years back, a speculative study of the head of Pendraig milnerae, alongside some sketches of it’s described material.

A little late to #fossilfriday, but this week I finally managed to get up to the Manchester Museum, and what a museum it is! The fossil galleries were, of course, a highlight, but the other areas on living species, Asian cultures and the ‘Wild’ temporary exhibition were all incredible as well.

Can Colossal get any more shameful? Trying to shed doubt on one of the world’s most well-respected science communicators when he correctly points out that switching a handful of genes doesn’t resurrect an extinct species is, quite frankly, embarrassing.

Happy Easter - please enjoy this selection of reptile photos from some recent visits to Dudley Zoo (the link with Easter was meant to be that they lay eggs, but it turns out that prehensile tailed skinks are viviparous)

I always try and do a spot of fossil hunting in the Hastings Beds (lower Wealden Group) down at Rock-A-Nore, Hastings, whenever I’m back down south. Not much from this trip, and I’m not yet sure exactly what I’ve found, but lovely nonetheless. #fossilfriday

Looks like all 6 episodes of Walking With Dinosaurs will air 7- 9 PM Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, June 16-18, on PBS in the US as 2 episodes a night so buckle up for a 3 day dino marathon. Betting our Utah episode is on June 16! issuu.com/nine_magazin... @paleontologizing.bsky.social

Close-up of an outcrop. Nothing particularly notable. Except this outcrop is on another planet.

For this #fossilfriday, here is a partial humerus of a crocodyliform, collected from the Lulworth Formation of Dorset. It probably belongs to the small-bodied Theriosuchus, first described by Prof. Richard Owen in 1879.

For this #fossilfriday, well… my undergraduate dissertation has been submitted! After a year of working on this project, it’s such a relief to see it finished, and hopefully it adds a little something to our understanding of palaeoenvironmental change in southern England.

A very exciting discovery this is, and surprising to think pterosaurs simply weren’t known from the Portland limestones until now.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.@arctomet.bsky.social · 2y ago

Roy E. Smith & David M. Martill (2025) A ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Portland Limestone Formation (Late Jurassic, Tithonian) of southern England Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 101100 doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.pg... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This project has started a long time ago, but in a galaxy not too far away… Happy to share this new study with @taphonomist.bsky.social looking at the functional morphology and biomechanics of the Rancor. Warning! Nerdy sci fi, palaeo & biomechanics thread following! jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i...

Is a bone a viable weapon when combating a Rancor? Estimating the bite force of an intergalactic mega-predator

Stephan Lautenschlager1,2 & Thomas Clements3 1School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. 2The Lapworth Museum of Geology, Birmingham, UK. 3…

jgeekstudies.org

Some shots from a visit to West Midlands Safari Park yesterday. I’d like to think that, despite my camera getting on a bit, I’m starting to take some better photographs.

Happy #worldwildlifeday. To quote Sir David Attenborough, “The natural world is the greatest source of excitement, the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest”. I hope today you get to go out and experience the magic of nature and, in return, act to protect it.

For my own sanity, I feel like I need to watch #prehistoricplanet again.

Many insect microfossils are known from the Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset - here’s what appears to be the carapace of one of them, collected on my most recent trip to Dorset and soon to be written-up into my dissertation. Happy #fossilfriday!

I’ve finally got my own hand axe! (And behind it, a shield that should be getting painted soon)

Shinji, get in the clock tower!

It's International Day of Women in Science! A Celebrating with palaeontologists that defined the field, Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (1925–2015), pioneer of early mammalian evolution, the leader of Polish-Mongolian expeditions that led to discoveries of Deinocheirus, Gallimimus and fighting Velociraptor.

📢 We're opening a new permanent gallery! 🌍 Fixing Our Broken Planet combines scientific research, climate advice and practical ideas to find your role in fixing the planet. It’s free to visit from Thursday 3 April – we hope to see you there! 🌱