In the world of #paleaort and #dinosaur depictions there’s always been interest in The Age of Reptiles mural on show at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut, sometimes called the Zallinger Mural. I'm here sharing a thread orignally posted at Twitter.... 1/n

This is obscene. Destroying something so precious for shitty memes? Just sickening.

Kasey Gifford@kaseygifford.bsky.social · 3w ago

To put this in perspective chestnut trees used to be dominant species in the United States. Billions of trees were killed by fungal blight and now fully grown America chestnuts are functionally extinct. There is no getting them back. Ever. All for a data center. www.gadgetreview.com/one-of-ameri...

I'll be giving a free public talk on "Mythbusting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction" in Christchurch (in the central city) on Thurs 29th Oct at 6pm. It would be great to see you there. Spread the word. events.humanitix.com/myth-busting... @smcnz.bsky.social

Myth busting de-extinction to sort fact from fiction

Associate Professor Nic Rawlence, University of Otago will speak on can scientists actually de-extinct animals, and more importantly, should they bring them.

events.humanitix.com

Happy to announce the publication of our article in Nature Ecology & Evolution on adaptive zone evolution in terrestrial mammal carnivores. Over the next few days, I’ll share the major results—and by extension, take you on a tour of carnivore evolution. (rdcu.be/6okG1hVhvtHa) 1/n

Like thylacines? Of course you do. A little thread on some recent research I was part of with @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social here 🧵⤵️ #SciComm #EvoBio #PaleoBio #Evolution #Paleontology 1/n www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Skull morphology of the extinct Tasmanian tiger suggests unique biting style - Nature Communications

The recently extinct thylacine was Australia’s largest marsupial predator and famously likened to dog-family carnivorans such as wolves. However, here the authors show that its skull functioned differ...

nature.com

Was slumming it on fb and ig to see reactions to the Academy of Natural Sciences closing. It’s heartening that people are pissed. But it’s astonishing/enlightening how little understanding there is of what *any* museum is, who runs them, and how they’re funded. 🧵with dinosaur pics for attention

Pterosaur palaeontology suffers from a high rate of early-career attrition of women. With many leaving the field around completion of their doctorate, or, despite good track record, struggle with future topical employment. Please, collaborate with & platform the young women remaining in this niche.

RETROSAUR HORROR: TYRANNOSAURUS "You'd swear you'd hear a thing that big coming. It wouldn't have mattered it we did. Not like we could stop it, you know? It didn't make no difference that Frankie was in the seat of the excavator. It took the whole damn thing down, and took him with it." (1/2)

www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainmen...

How Sam Neill’s Jurassic Park performance inspired a generation of dinosaur hunters

Experts from New Zealand to Canada recall Jurassic Park shaping their lives.

nzherald.co.nz

Gus the T. rex fetched $50.1 million at auction, a new record price for a dinosaur If this is how much dinosaurs cost now, how can museums afford them? Where does that leave science & education? Will the public still have opportunities to be inspired? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

T rex fossil ‘Gus’ sells for $50.1m at New York auction, setting new record

Skeleton judged to be one of the largest and most complete ever unearthed was excavated on a ranch in South Dakota

theguardian.com

$50.1 million could fund over 400 doctorates; 933 years worth of annual curator salaries (UK), or running cost for a millennium-worth of free events like the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival. It is inane that people can accumulate such wealth, and use it explicitly to cause public harm.

Steve Brusatte@stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Gus the T. rex fetched $50.1 million at auction, a new record price for a dinosaur If this is how much dinosaurs cost now, how can museums afford them? Where does that leave science & education? Will the public still have opportunities to be inspired? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

After years of advising palaeontologists to give up on the 'species recognition' hypothesis for elaborate structures AND of promoting mutual sexual selection in Mesozoic #dinosaurs, @davehone.bsky.social and I are seeing more takeup of what we suggested... www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

In the 90 minutes after @theguardian.com article went live, BHL received more than US$2,500 in donations. Thank you to everyone helping keep biodiversity knowledge free and open. Please read, share, and help us build momentum.

A bonanza for fans of the natural world: the digital library sharing 64m pages of scientific knowledge with everyone

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is an invaluable online archive of historic texts on species living and lost supplied by the world’s leading museums and universities. Now its future is in doubt

theguardian.com

I’ve been thinking a lot about the shifting baseline concept as applied to everyday life. People in their 20’s now have no memory of highly functional systems, products (from blenders to sweaters) that were so well made you could hand them down across generations, or even helpful customer service.

In case you're not aware of many tremendous women and enbies contributing to bringing prehistoric creatures back to life 💙

Everything IS bigger in Texas... Introducing TYLOSAURUS REX–“TEX”. A monster animal, a monster paper, & a monster project that I am *so* excited to finally share with everyone after ~5 yrs. Huge thanks to my coauthors, Mike & Ron, & to Alderon Games for bringing our lad to life!! #FossilFriday

This is Golden Information right here ⤵️

Krista Koeller@kristalerista.bsky.social · 5mo ago

All sectors are imploding or about to implode. Here are tips from survivors of mass extinctions -generalists fair better with rapid, large-scale change -hunker down. Don’t flail around anticipating where the lightning will strike -diverse, connected communities=more stability

Random stuff I wish someone told me, a working class student with no family in higher education, early in my academic journey A THREAD 🧵 Academic CV/Resume is different from typical industry CV. With different format and priorities. Update it on rolling basis.

a woman in a suit sits at a table with the words " resume speaks for itself " below her

Alt: a woman in a suit sits at a table with the words " I'd like to think my resume speaks for itself "

media.tenor.com

I am begging people looking to make major donations to universities to either 1) care as much about academics as they do sports, or 2) make unrestricted gifts instead. Signed, A faculty member at a university with brand new athletic facilities and crumbling teaching and research infrastructure

The attack on education in the US is not new, but the slow fuse that arguably started with Reagan is now setting off detonations across K-12 and higher education that are going to be incredibly difficult to walk back if we don’t treat this like the urgent crisis it is.

While we're talking percentages, let's talk about the proposed cuts to NASA's science budget. NASA is currently 0.36% of US federal spending. www.planetary.org/space-policy... The proposed budget cuts NASA science by 47%. NASA science is already on a shoestring, and that string is about to break

Your Guide to NASA's Budget

How big is NASA's budget right now? What was it like in the past? How does it compare to the rest of government spending? These answers, as well as…

planetary.org

@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Mar Wiley New study explains there is still no real scientific consensus on what sex is, and why gamete size--beloved of Rep state legislators--really doesn't work either since it is cannot be observed and thus proxies are inevitably used. [HT Denise Norris]

There is No Consensus on Biological Sex

At this critical moment when misinformation about sex is being applied to policy globally, scientific clarification on the definition of biological sex is valuable. Here, we evaluate the primary appr...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Today is International day of the seal, a time to celebrate all things pinniped! 🦭 Last year, I finally got to see Ontocetus posti from the early Pleistocene of the UK. This species is a close relative of the modern walrus that still has canines on its lower jaw!

The clouds parted just in time for me to see the eclipse last night. Nikon D7200; Nikkor 200-500 mm at 500 mm ISO-100 f/8 1/1.3 #LunarEclipse #MoonPhotography

This is a gorgeous representation of not-so-ancient Australia!

Joschua Knüppe@joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 8mo ago

And here there result of the Naracoorte #paleostream! This classic Australian megafauna assemblage is a well preserved treasure trove in South Australia that gives us a glimpse at a fauna just before the arrival of humans. Subsequently a large portion of the...

I've been tinkering with my website today, uploading the first new images in many, many years and making some nips and tucks here and there. There's now tons more #paleoart to see, including lots of new stuff you might have missed. Check it out at www.markwitton.co.uk

Home | MarkWitton.co.uk

Palaeontological artist, consultant and author The online home of Dr. Mark P. Witton, including details of my books, scientific articles and a gallery of my palaeoart.

markwitton.co.uk

Pleistocene steppe bison Bison Priscus. It inhabited Europe, Asia, and North America until the early Holocene and is the ancestor of modern European bison and American bison. I'm not sure if it's noticeable, but I was inspired by ancient images of bison and Altamira and other caves.

This is not a model. This is a "fossilised" taxidermy of a Woolly Rhino, discovered in Starunia mine in Carpathian Poland (now Ukraine) in 1929. Dating to the Pleistocene, its exquisite preservation is owed to a mixture of brine, oil and clays. 🧵