This is genuinely grotesque. Imagine the research this could fund. Imagine if the buyer chose to fund someone who is working on climate change mitigation instead. The world has problems, and we can solve them. But not if people spent $50m on a fuckin dinosaw www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tyrannosaurus Rex most expensive dinosaur ever sold

The dinosaur skeleton, which roamed the planet 67 million years ago, was sold by Sotheby's in New York.

bbc.co.uk

Today at 10 AM EDT Sotheby's will start the live bidding on its natural history auction featuring one of the largest, most complete skeletons of T. rex ever found. It could fetch $30M+ and go to a private collector. Here's what science--and the public--stand to lose. My story for @wired.com 🧪

Sotheby’s Big T. Rex Auction Raises Concerns Hype and Wealth Are Upending Science

Private buyers are increasingly outbidding museums for fossils. That’s making it difficult—or even impossible—for researchers to improve our understanding of the past.

wired.com

Today is my last day at Scientific American, which has been sold to LabX media group. For three decades I've led the magazine's coverage of human origins, archaeology, paleontology, animal behavior, ecology, BIRDS. End of an era. Anyway this feels weird to say, but I'm now available for assignments!

Statement by @sciamunion.bsky.social on Springer Nature's sale of Scientific American and massive editorial layoffs right before a successful union vote is counted. www.wgaeast.org/wgae-scienti...

WGAE-Scientific American Union Statement on Springer Nature’s Sale and Layoffs | Press Room

The following is a statement from Writers Guild of America East members at Scientific American on today’s decision to sell Springer Nature and lay off staff: “Earlier today in an all-staff meeting we ...

wgaeast.org

Scientific American is 180 years old. The most eminent science magazine for the general public. And today, sold off as scrap to stop the staff from unionizing. Many top editors I've worked with for a decade on several articles have been fired. What a disgrace @sciam.bsky.social

I’m taking a break from @natecoevo.nature.com while I get some first hand insight into whether hominin ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny but the Old Dead Stuff™️ desk is in the excellent hands of @devinleaward.bsky.social for the duration.

What if experimenting with new ways of photosynthesis could help you survive a mass extinction?

Nature Portfolio@natureportfolio.nature.com · 6mo ago

A paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution reports insights into how ancient plants lived around 252 million years ago at the time of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction, the most severe loss of biodiversity in Earth’s history. go.nature.com/4cGiEY5 #PlantScience 🌍🧪

➡️ It's on! Paid internship for aspiring science journalists at Nature's London office. Up to three days a week working from home. All the details are here: springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Spring...

Nature News Intern, Springer Nature Opening Doors Programme

Nature News Intern, Springer Nature Opening Doors Programme London, UK - Hybrid Working Model Application deadline: 9th March 2026 Are you looking for an internship that provides hands-on experience i...

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com

Also in the 'Old Dead Things' section of @natecoevo.nature.com this week, we've got a spiky baby iguanodontian www.nature.com/articles/s41... rdcu.be/e3CZH ...

Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur - Nature Ecology & Evolution

A juvenile iguanodontian from the Lower Cretaceous of China preserves both spikes and scales in its skin that are different from integumentary structures in either non-avian dinosaurs or extant squama...

nature.com

The early herbivor(ous microsaur) gets the...salad? Tyrannoroter heberti has teeth that suggest terrestrial herbivory was not an amniote innovation www.nature.com/articles/s41... rdcu.be/e3CX4

Carboniferous recumbirostran elucidates the origins of terrestrial herbivory - Nature Ecology & Evolution

A new species of pantylid microsaur from the Late Carboniferous of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, has teeth with dental occlusion consistent with herbivory, indicating an early transition to this co...

nature.com

What do we want? Fossil databases! 🐚🦕 When do we want them? Forever! 🗓️ Nice new paper highlighting how academic funding systems and digital architecture need to change, to ensure we can protect and sustain our precious fossil data 📚 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology’s digital databases - Nature Ecology & Evolution

The authors survey community palaeontological databases, documenting their contributions to science as well as their vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for the future of open science databas...

nature.com

Wallets made of “human leather”. Necklaces made of teeth. Turning people into products isn't quirky, it’s wrong. We need a ban on buying and selling human remains. www.itv.com/news/2025-08...

Same-sex sexual behaviour is part of the normal social life of some primates and could play an important part in their long-term success go.nature.com/4qNGo1I

Same-sex sexual behaviour can help primates to survive — and reproduce

Bonds between same-sex individuals help apes and monkeys to manage conflict and strengthen alliances, especially in dry habitats and predator-rich landscapes.

go.nature.com

Our January issue is now live: www.nature.com/natecolevol/... Featuring research on 🧪 🐝 pesticide impacts on wild bees 🪺 population genomics of avian brood parasitism 🌱 the origins of terrestrial herbivory Cover image from Abraham et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🎉🦕 Big news! The Palaeontological Association has just released the abstract booklet and programme for the 69th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association (Portsmouth, 11–15 Dec 2025)! 🌍📖 ⬇️ palass.org/annual-meeti... #conference #PalAss25 #uk

Great day for cat archaeology all round

Science Magazine@science.org · 11mo ago

The domestic cat may be a far more recent arrival to Europe than previously thought, a new Science study. finds. The results offer new insight into one of humanity’s most enigmatic animal companions and identify North Africa as the cradle of the modern housecat. Learn more: https://scim.ag/44kov1S

Finally the research has been published to prove that wild cat (Felis silvestris) lived in Ireland 5,500 years ago. Many claims over the years but the backup genetics was needed and a good number of bones have been recovered to provide enough material www.rte.ie/news/munster...

Wildcat bones found in Co Clare dated to 5,500 years ago

The first directly dated wildcat bones found in Ireland have been identified, confirming that the species inhabited the island more than 5,500 years ago.

rte.ie

Paleo folks: Please recommend researchers (incl yourselves) interested in phylogenetic reconstruction in deep time, molecular clocks (discord w/ fossil clocks), foundational/methodological issues in phylo/paleo-reconstruction & who'd be interested in hanging w/ historians & philosophers of science ⚒️

"Headless bodies hint at why Europe’s first farmers vanished" That'll be because without heads, they couldn't see where they were going? 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

science.org

The geology department at the University of Leicester, where myself and countless others did our palaeontology PhDs, is at serious risk of closure Please show your support by signing the below! c.org/KtYyZB8dHk

Save Geology at the University of Leicester

Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?

c.org

I'm not at #SVP2025 unfortunately, but if you're interested in publishing in @natecoevo.nature.com one of my excellent colleagues can tell you how to get in touch with us!

Henry Gee 亨利·纪@endofthepier.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Here’s the @natureportfolio.nature.com crew at #SVP2025 - @joaovascoleite.bsky.social @devinleaward.bsky.social @lukegrinham.bsky.social and me. Come and chat.

Here’s the @natureportfolio.nature.com crew at #SVP2025 - @joaovascoleite.bsky.social @devinleaward.bsky.social @lukegrinham.bsky.social and me. Come and chat.

Anyone interested in learning about why journals make a proactive effort to increase women's participation in the peer review process should take the time look at some actual evidence about why this is needed. Ditto journalists covering such a story. Do some reporting! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Women are credited less in science than men - Nature

The difference between the number of men and women listed as authors on scientific papers and inventors on patents is at least partly attributable to unacknowledged contributions by women scientists.

nature.com

Richard Wrangham pays tribute to Jane Goodall in an obituary for Nature, outlining how she was a tireless advocate for conservation, the welfare of captive chimpanzees and the protection of habitats. 🧪

Jane Goodall obituary: pioneer primatologist who inspired generations of scientists

She was a tireless advocate for conservation, the welfare of captive chimpanzees and the protection of habitats.

go.nature.com

Sheng et al. call for greater survey efforts and broader conservation initiative to protect the 11 (ELEVEN!) felid species of the Tibetan Plateau. (Strong contender for the Correspondence, or indeed article of any kind, with the best figure we ever published) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Protect the Tibetan Plateau’s rich felid diversity - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Protect the Tibetan Plateau’s rich felid diversity

nature.com

www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Scientists targeted by dark PR tactics: Several academic scientists critical of de-extinction projects have become the targets of anonymous smear articles and weaponized copyright infringement claims:...

EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.

embopress.org

The archaeological record of plastics

Barbara Brayshay@bbrayshay.bsky.social · last yr.

A fascinating new publication: The Plastics Age: An archaeology of our time, a cross-disciplinary approach to create an overarching theory of how and in what ways plastics are forming an archaeological record. #contemporaryarchaeology #anthropocene #plastics

FYI this excellent piece is now free access for a month--check it out! #palaeontology #plasticpollution

Luíseach Nic Eoin@roinnanluisigh.bsky.social · last yr.

Sarah Gabbott's @thepalass.bsky.social plenary talk has been living rent free inside my head ever since December so I'm delighted that she's written it up as a Comment for @natecoevo.nature.com: we need taphonomy to understand plastic pollution rdcu.be/eAmRU www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sarah Gabbott's @thepalass.bsky.social plenary talk has been living rent free inside my head ever since December so I'm delighted that she's written it up as a Comment for @natecoevo.nature.com: we need taphonomy to understand plastic pollution rdcu.be/eAmRU www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Understanding environmental impacts of plastic requires a palaeontological lens - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Growing evidence suggests that timescales for plastic degradation have been vastly underestimated. The fossil record of plastic-like biopolymers might provide a perspective on plastic fossilization in...

nature.com

Our August issue is now live! www.nature.com/natecolevol/... 🧪 Featuring research on: 🧬 The antibiotic resistome 🌍 Palaeobiogeography of lagerpetids and early pterosaurs 🫄 Evolution of mammalian pregnancy Cover shows a pangolin from Emogor et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...