The Kiss #paleoart #berensart2025

Interested in #macroevolution, #macroecology, and mountain biodiversity? I'm recruiting a #postdoc for an NSF-funded project at Yale, in collaboration with Martha Muñoz (Yale) and Maya Stokes (Florida State University). I'll be at #Evol2026 and happy to chat! Link below

We've just set up a Bluesky for @nu-mechanobiology.bsky.social - give it a follow if you're in the #mechanobiology space!

Benson, R.B.J., Walsh, S.A., Griffiths, E.F. et al. Mosaic anatomy in an early fossil squamate. Nature (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Mosaic anatomy in an early fossil squamate - Nature

Breugnathair elgolensis gen. et sp. nov., an early squamate identified from a newly discovered Middle Jurassic skeleton on the Isle of Skye, provides new evidence on the origins of snakes.

doi.org

More recent Luke news: I made some music and you can listen to it! https://lukejohns.online/blog/bits_peaces/

It's the 9th of #ssSnaketember and it's a day for looking at #InvasiveAlienSpecies Burmese Pythons are native to India & southeast Asia. In these areas the #snakes have a #conservation status of 'vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List. [1/9] #Herpetology #SciComm #snake

“Hearing” is #ssSnaketember the 8th’s theme! Whilst #snakes do not have external "sticky out" ears, they can still hear. It is a myth that snakes are deaf, however they do have some quirks in relation to their methods of hearing. [1/6] #Herpetology #SciComm #Snake

The 7th #ssSnaketember is a day for Growling! Even though many humans have never encountered a "real" #snake, thanks to film and TV, you will have probably heard a snake hiss. But did you know that some #snakes can growl too? [1/7] #Herpetology #SciComm

#ssSnaketember the 6th is the day for Flying! This #snake believes it can fly, believes it can touch the sky. Thinks about it every night & day, just to spread its wings and … oh wait .., This isn't flying, this is falling with style. [1/7] #Herpetology #SciComm

#ssSnaketember is back from weekend hiatus! Two #ssSnaketember days have passed, but that’s no reason to miss out on #snake facts. We’ll be brining you a special triple-filled day to make up for it! #MondayMotivation #Herpetology #SciComm

a cartoon of a green snake with a red tongue and the word yasss coming out of its mouth .

ALT: a cartoon of a green snake with a red tongue and the word yasss coming out of its mouth .

media.tenor.com

Finally got around to updating my website after the move to Boston. To celebrate, here's a blog post about driving a silly little car across Canada: https://lukejohns.online/blog/a_big_move/

There and Back Again... and There Again

First off, I’d like to offer a humble apology to all of my avid readers (who?) for my prolonged absence. In my defence, a Big Life Event™ got in the way. I’ll start this update by describing the BLE and then get sidetracked by a completely unecessary story of sentimentality, daring and hubris. Enjoy! Big Life Event So what’s new? In a breathtaking display of comic timing and self-preservation, I and my fiancée both moved to the USA to start postdoctoral academic jobs… in June 2025. More specifically, I’m now a postdoctoral research fellow at the new(ish) Institute for Mechanobiology at Northeastern University in Boston, where I can keep messing around with hips for a couple of joints. Maybe I could even peek at other joints too!

lukejohns.online

The 5th of #ssSnaketember is for Egg Eaters! Can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time? Probably the best chat up line to use on a Dasypeltis #snake. This group of snakes are also known as the Egg Eating Snakes. But how does a snake eat something so round? [1/7] #Herpetology #SciComm

The 4th of #ssSnaketember is here and we're taking some Deep Dives! How low can you go? Could you dive into The Twilight Zone? No, I'm not talking about swimming to a 5th dimension, but into the depths of the ocean. Piece of cake if you're a Hydrophis sea #snake [1/7] #Herpetology #SciComm

#ssSnaketember the 3rd is about #Conservation! So how are #snakes doing? For a start, they need a new PR team! A dislike of snakes by humans can hinder research & preservation projects. Add that to the secretive nature of many snakes & conservation becomes a difficult topic. [1/6] #Herpetology

2nd of #ssSnaketember! Time for Batesian Mimicry! "It's red & black, stay back!" - is what these snakes want you to think. A Batesian mimic is another term for "a critter in disguise". These snakes have patterns that make them look like a more dangerous type of #snake [1/6] #Herpetology #SciComm

Happy 1st of #ssSnaketember! Today’s theme is Asymmetry! Take a face. The left and right side will often be mirror images. Not the case for the face of the Keeled Slug #Snake. These snakes have up to 50% more teeth on the right side of their jaw than their left But WHY? [1/5] #Herpetology #SciComm

#ssSnaketember is migrating to Bluesky, and it’s bigger than ever! We’ll be bringing you an awesome #snake story, every weekday, for the rest of the month! I can promise that there will be noodles, and there will be highly boopable snoots. Come for the #snoots, stay for the #science! 🐍 #SciComm

a green snake with a red tongue is surrounded by yellow letters that say yasss

Alt: An excited coiled green snake with a red tongue is surrounded by yellow letters that say "yasss"

media.tenor.com

MUSEUM JOB KLAXON! Very excited about bringing this new post in to the team. If you've got good natural history collections management skills and solid leadership experience, we'd love to hear from you! #MuseumJobs

University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge@zoologymuseum.bsky.social · last yr.

📢WE'RE HIRING📢Could you be our new Senior Collections Lead? Would you enjoy working with one of the UK's most important natural history collections? Apply by 22 June to look after our amazing Collections Management, Care & Conservation team. @camunivmuseums.bsky.social www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51272/

🚨New publication alert!🚨 A big one! It might just be my *biggest* one: doi.org/10.1093/iob/... IMPORTANT THREAD! From the moment Dave Blackburn set me loose at the Florida Museum, I had a marvelous time using diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced CT (diceCT) to create anatomical datasets 🧪1/6

To sum up where we are Colossal: We made a dire wolf. Scientists: Ha ha, no, you really didn’t. Public: If you did, it was a pretty bad idea all around. MAGA: Great news! I guess we don’t need the Endangered Species Act anymore.

Angie Rasmussen@angierasmussen.bsky.social · last yr.

Turns out it was dumb to CRISPR up a transgenic wolf & claim it’s a deextinctified species when really you just copied your imaginary dire wolf phenotype. The cookie tyrant/former chimney sweep at Interior just shit on the endangered species act since Colossal can just make more.

This robin has excellent taste in real estate. (That’s 'Monty,' the bronze cast of an Edmontosaurus on UTK's campus.) 📸 McClung Museum

OK so where are we on this snake-predicted stock market graph? 📉🐍 *yes, the snake was climbing the side of a tree like this!

Every year UTCT teaches NSF sponsored short courses on high-resolution X-ray CT, taught by UTCT staff (including me!). Applications for the 2025 courses are now open! See below for the biological/paleontological course info, & we also have a geological one. If you'd like to apply, send me a DM 🩻☢️🦴

Quoting Physics Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton: “I can repeat my own opinion, which is that if the [Royal Society] gives fellowships for promoting science they should take them away for demoting science,” Precisely.

Roger Highfield@rogerhighfield.bsky.social · last yr.

Royal Society decides not to take disciplinary action against Elon Musk Fellows argue Musk has violated code of conduct but council believes investigation ‘could do more harm than good’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Brilliant news! At last, confirmation that the Govt *will* go ahead with the #NaturalHistoryGCSE 🎉 We have to get to know our fellow travellers on this planet again. Young people who know & love nature are far more likely to protect & restore it - as well as enjoying better physical & mental health

Department for Education confirms launch of natural history GCSE

Campaigners have been calling for the qualification for years but plan stalled despite a curriculum being drawn up

theguardian.com

Very much this.

My very sensible friend @adamrutherford.bsky.social on the absolute NONSENSE of trying to “de-extinct” mammoths. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reviving the woolly mammoth isn’t just unethical. It’s impossible | Adam Rutherford

At a time when US scientists are under attack from their own government, the illiteracy around these elephantine fantasies is dangerous, says geneticist Adam Rutherford

theguardian.com

NEW: The NIH has begun terminating grants for active projects studying gender identity, DEI, environmental justice, climate change, among other topics. At least 16 termination letters have already been sent — and hundreds more are coming, people inside NIH tell me. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants

Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.

nature.com