All indications from FHSU and Sternberg Museum is that no one currently is talking to any fossil sellers. But two leaders at FHSU (and legal counsel) spoke to Salomon Aaron back in June, 3 months before FHSU leadership told the Sternberg Museum staff that FHSU planned to close Sternberg.

Fossillocator @fossillocator.bsky.social · 3d ago

Its now been confirmed that Mason and some others at FHSU decided to talk to a london based middle east antiquities dealer that Mason heard on a podcast. So instead of talking to someone in-house or even in the US about ethical deaccessioning, she does this. www.hdnews.net/2026/10/07/b...

Eporeodon was a stinky lil' grouper pooper. (Emery-Wetherell et. al 2026)

PSA to the dino folks out there who use the rugose cheekbones of Hylochoerus (the giant forest hog) in any sort of head butting analogy: those are sexually dimorphic 😬 This and more disappointing truths from @drfamoso.bsky.social and I out now: doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

it's time to expand beyond the Carboniferous swamp and into the Carboniferous everywhere else starting with the Mazon creek which is apparently pronounced muh ZAHN, not may-zon. Also I know I'm posting these videos way out of order but I didn't know I could post videos to blue sky so 🤷‍♀️

At the beginning of the month Drexel University made public that they want to close the Academy of Natural Sciences at the end of the month. The academy is the oldest natural history museum in the Americas and this would end more than 200 years of research and outreach.

To expand on my last post, it seems the ANSP isn't the only Natural History closing up shop this year. RIP Sternberg Museum hayspost.com/posts/f38333...

Sternberg Museum future in question

" /> By CRISTINA JANNEYHays PostAn employee of the Sternberg Museum of

hayspost.com

Baby Lepidodendron: the worst Lepidodendron.

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument special issue! @geopetalfabric.bsky.social, Joshua Xavier Samuels, and I did a character analysis of the oreodonts (sheep-camel-pig-like things) from the John Day region. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A character analysis of oreodonts (Superfamily Merycoidodontoidea) in the John Day region of Oregon, USA | Journal of Paleontology | Cambridge Core

A character analysis of oreodonts (Superfamily Merycoidodontoidea) in the John Day region of Oregon, USA

cambridge.org

Oh hey turns out I can upload videos here! Also, new updates to make our educational game Finding Lake Chewaucan more fun and easier to play! You can find it on Steam for free.

Sadly, none of the trace fossils pictured come from oreodonts. But we do analyze a bunch of bones in lieu of footprints, and find there are not actually 34 species of oreodont in the John Day area, just a paltry 9.

Dr. Nick Famoso@drfamoso.bsky.social · last mo.

The fourth paper of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument special issue is out! @geopetalfabric.bsky.social, Joshua X. Samuels, and I look at the biostigraphy of oreodonts (sheep-camel-pig-like critters) in the John Day basin. doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

With my upcoming departure from the University of Michigan, I've found myself deep in the job hunt process. Moving back to Canada from the U.S is certainly something I'm really looking forward too. If any 🇨🇦 labs (especially in Alberta) are searching for a µ-CT expert, please let me know!

Our free educational game about Oregon's Pleistocene is out on Steam today! store.steampowered.com/app/3512920/...

Finding Lake Chewaucan on Steam

You’re a time-traveling detective with a bone to uncover. Hunt for clues, solve puzzles and complete minigames to unlock pieces of the past and identify fossil animals.

store.steampowered.com

So, some news: www.popsci.com/science/pbs-... We made a tv show! 🎉 #scicomm #paleontology

Watch an exclusive clip from new PBS series 'EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA'

The six-episode series brings The Great Dying to life.

popsci.com

New season of Weird & Dead airs starting today and Spotify's ai generated chapter labels really build up into some truly magical word hash at the end. Feminist critique indeed!

Finally, footage from that new whale graveyard. The fact that fossils and fresh carcasses mix together in this spot is bonkers. But of course it makes sense, because the scavengers that live down there also need a steady supply over millions of years. They can't just suddenly adapt to the deep.

Whale graveyard discovered 7km under the sea

YouTube video by nature video

youtube.com

Check out this fossil rhino jaw I found that has a slickenside! (Geology translation: this bish got cut in half by a fault)

🪼 Your tax dollars paid a scientist to squeeze jellyfish through cheesecloth. Osamu Shimomura processed tens of thousands on an NSF grant to understand why they glow. He found a protein that glowed green under UV light. Called it "green protein." Nobody cared. For decades.

Went to the new Deep Time display at the Martin G Lockley Discovery Center at Dinosaur Ridge! ...which should be my new faculty profile photo??

I have not ever seen wood that shrunk like a sweater in the dryer before. Super curious as to what exactly happened here! Anyone got ideas? This is late oligocene, presumably a lahar (everything out there is either lahar or pyroclastic flow). Plenty of hydrothermal metamorphism & faulting around.

🦖⚖️ Major dinosaur repatriation news: Irritator is finally going home! After years of tireless work by @alinemghilardi.bsky.social and colleagues, #IrritatorBelongstoBR is finally becoming reality. This is a milestone for decolonising palaeontology; thread to follow very soon!

Aline Ghilardi@alinemghilardi.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🚨🚨ATENÇÃO, GALERINHA! 🚨🚨 Tá vindo aí: www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/ca...

Our beta test is now live and we are looking for play testers to give feedback while we finish all of the bits and bobs (like that super enthusiastic flamingo). The game itself is about 30 minutes long and all about paleontology and geology. PG. store.steampowered.com/app/3512920/...

Finding Lake Chewaucan on Steam

You’re a time-traveling detective with a bone to uncover. Hunt for clues, solve puzzles and complete minigames to unlock pieces of the past and identify fossil animals.

store.steampowered.com

We have a Patreon! If you enjoy the Fossil Files, consider helping us cover our running costs!

The Fossil Files Podcast@thefossilfiles.bsky.social · 6mo ago

This is the first episode exclusive for our new Patreon where you can find bonus content and offer your much needed support www.patreon.com/c/FossilFiles

Seriously, #EduSky, #Physics teachers, #scicomm folks, if you aren't familiar with thescienceplayground.com, you should be. Amazing collection of all kinds of science demos and games from across the web, all curated by a science game expert and, indeed, no AI!!!

Andy Hall@testtubegames.com · 7mo ago

“I’m lacking so much for a physics applet that I’m willing to help billionaires crush society, rather than just browsing thescienceplayground.com and finding hundreds of free projects folks have lovingly built for decades.” The fuck?

Happy #FossilFriday here is a wee climate paper that I coauthored. We found that 20kya eastern Washington was drying and warming up and chasing away all the pesky pine trees (ew, trees). As usual with pleistocene stuff, my job was figuring out how old all the dirt was (age-depth modelling)

Late Glacial to Early Holocene Vegetation Reconstruction from the Wenas Creek Mammoth Site in Washington State

The Wenas Creek Mammoth site pollen record, which extends from ∼20,000–10,000 cal yr BP, is significant given that few eastern Cascade paleoecological records span the Late Glacial to Early Holocen...

doi.org

Not a biochemist but... Where is the R-squared value for that regression of 11 population averages that they are using for this point? Where is the analysis to compare fit between linear and nonlinear regressions to show that this is a continuous increase not something tapering off?

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.@arctomet.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Larcombe, A.N., Bierwirth, P.N. Carbon dioxide overload, detected in human blood, suggests a potentially toxic atmosphere within 50 years. Air Qual Atmos Health 19, 44 (2026). doi.org/10.1007/s118...

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

Again we have public denials of any close association but then he was close enough to contribute to Epstein’s awful birthday book in 2003 www.seattletimes.com/business/mic...

If the paleo community is going to be serious about Horner’s connection to Epstein, we also have to be serious about Myhrvold’s, because guess who contributed photos of animals mating to Epstein’s birthday book and has been appearing in new paleo papers this year - including the new Spinosaurus.

Former Microsoft executive’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein comes under scrutiny

Seattle Times business reporter Alex Halverson has written about connections between Epstein and former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold.

kuow.org

Not the kind of person you want to coauthor with or accept funding from...

Andres@andres4ny.social.ridetrans.it.ap.brid.gy · 8mo ago

"But maybe they didn't know about #Epstein's history!", you might be saying in defense of these shithead billionaires. And to that, I present the following:

In which I provide a few thoughts on the new Spinosaurus species, S. mirabilis. www.newscientist.com/article/2516... I also stressed the deep connections between one of the study authors - Nathan Myhrvold - and Geoffrey Epstein to New Scientist. They didn't mention it, neither has anyone else.

New fossils may settle debate over mysterious sail-backed spinosaurs

Spinosaurs have sometimes been portrayed as swimmers or divers, but a new species of these dinosaurs bolsters the idea that they were more like gigantic herons

newscientist.com