Andy Farke
@andyfarke.bsky.social
Paleontologist, educator, museum person, open science person, homebrewer, spouse, parent. Homebrewing blog at http://andybrews.com
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Andy Farke
@andyfarke.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Welcome, new followers! Here's an introductory post to tell a little about me and what I focus on here. My name is Andy Farke, and I am a vertebrate paleontologist, museum director, high school educator, and homebrewer, among other things (not all at once, of course!).
Reposted by Andy Farke
Scientists discover telephone-cord-like optic nerves in chameleons, which were overlooked by Aristotle, Newton, and everyone else, until now...
Story:
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scie...
Study:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Story:
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scie...
Study:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
November 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Scientists discover telephone-cord-like optic nerves in chameleons, which were overlooked by Aristotle, Newton, and everyone else, until now...
Story:
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scie...
Study:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Story:
www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scie...
Study:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
A happy SVP to all attending this week! I'll (hopefully) be there next year!
November 10, 2025 at 7:23 PM
A happy SVP to all attending this week! I'll (hopefully) be there next year!
Reposted by Andy Farke
Oops…“Principal components (PC) axes
identified by a PCA are not necessarily the most informative biologically. Nevertheless, paleoanthropologists frequently interpret proximity in PC space as indicative of morphological and thus evolutionary affinity or relatedness”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
identified by a PCA are not necessarily the most informative biologically. Nevertheless, paleoanthropologists frequently interpret proximity in PC space as indicative of morphological and thus evolutionary affinity or relatedness”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Principal Components Analysis fails to recover phylogenetic structure in hominins
Objectives Paleoanthropologists often utilize geometric morphometrics and principal components analysis (PCA) to interpret shape variation within the hominin fossil record. It is common practice to in...
www.biorxiv.org
November 8, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Oops…“Principal components (PC) axes
identified by a PCA are not necessarily the most informative biologically. Nevertheless, paleoanthropologists frequently interpret proximity in PC space as indicative of morphological and thus evolutionary affinity or relatedness”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
identified by a PCA are not necessarily the most informative biologically. Nevertheless, paleoanthropologists frequently interpret proximity in PC space as indicative of morphological and thus evolutionary affinity or relatedness”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
I got some stellar views of a great egret this afternoon! It's been hanging around our area, and was totally fun to observe.
November 8, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I got some stellar views of a great egret this afternoon! It's been hanging around our area, and was totally fun to observe.
Reposted by Andy Farke
Parents, PLEASE check your kids’ Halloween candy this year. I just found atoms in this candy bar that were formed during BIG BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIS, and many more that were the result of earlier generations of stars exploding as POWERFUL SUPERNOVA. Parents need to know about this dangerous trend!!
October 24, 2024 at 2:31 PM
Parents, PLEASE check your kids’ Halloween candy this year. I just found atoms in this candy bar that were formed during BIG BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIS, and many more that were the result of earlier generations of stars exploding as POWERFUL SUPERNOVA. Parents need to know about this dangerous trend!!
Reposted by Andy Farke
It’s true, since we put up that giant cat skeleton, 407,013 people went full anti-vax, 1103 kindergarteners embraced fasting diets for longevity, 79,406 science majors dropped out of college, & 5 archaeology programs had to close because students could no longer discern reality from fiction.
October 31, 2025 at 11:51 AM
It’s true, since we put up that giant cat skeleton, 407,013 people went full anti-vax, 1103 kindergarteners embraced fasting diets for longevity, 79,406 science majors dropped out of college, & 5 archaeology programs had to close because students could no longer discern reality from fiction.
Reposted by Andy Farke
Whew. We’ve reached the point where the flood of People Serious About Scientific Accuracy need to DM me about all the ways they hope my Halloween/life/death is terrible because I’m spreading disinformation with my *checks notes* obviously comedically fake Halloween skeletons.
October 31, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Whew. We’ve reached the point where the flood of People Serious About Scientific Accuracy need to DM me about all the ways they hope my Halloween/life/death is terrible because I’m spreading disinformation with my *checks notes* obviously comedically fake Halloween skeletons.
Reposted by Andy Farke
This is exactly the reason every mission and scientist should have a wide-open data policy! PUNCH has specific science objectives (looking at the solar wind) – but in the right hands the data can reveal amazing things NOT part of our original science. Giving those hands access is best for all. ☀️🔭🧪
Interstellar comet 3I Atlas from all clear filter data from PUNCH's WFI3 satellite on October 29th. This is the combination of 134 separate images. It's again visible in single frames (moving coming next). Probably visual magnitude ~9.5ish.
October 31, 2025 at 3:50 AM
This is exactly the reason every mission and scientist should have a wide-open data policy! PUNCH has specific science objectives (looking at the solar wind) – but in the right hands the data can reveal amazing things NOT part of our original science. Giving those hands access is best for all. ☀️🔭🧪
The lectionary for this past Sunday in the Episcopal Church (and many other liturgical churches) was Luke 18:9-14, and today I realized that it is of course not at all reminiscent of the discourse around Nanotyrannus.
October 31, 2025 at 4:09 AM
The lectionary for this past Sunday in the Episcopal Church (and many other liturgical churches) was Luke 18:9-14, and today I realized that it is of course not at all reminiscent of the discourse around Nanotyrannus.
Reposted by Andy Farke
Remember to check your kids candy for paleontology! #paleontology
October 30, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Remember to check your kids candy for paleontology! #paleontology
Reposted by Andy Farke
You know, the longer I look at this specimen, the more skeptical I am. That doesn't look anything like an Appalachian tyrannosaur.
I'm pretty sure Nanotyrannus is Triceratops
I'm pretty sure Nanotyrannus is Triceratops
October 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM
You know, the longer I look at this specimen, the more skeptical I am. That doesn't look anything like an Appalachian tyrannosaur.
I'm pretty sure Nanotyrannus is Triceratops
I'm pretty sure Nanotyrannus is Triceratops
Reposted by Andy Farke
Science fact: if you look at any tyrannosaur from far enough away it becomes a nanotyrannus
October 30, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Science fact: if you look at any tyrannosaur from far enough away it becomes a nanotyrannus
I would love love love to see an anthropological study of the social / cultural dynamics of the whole history of the Nanotyrannus thing, done by someone genuinely outside of the field and independent of any of the folks involved.
October 30, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I would love love love to see an anthropological study of the social / cultural dynamics of the whole history of the Nanotyrannus thing, done by someone genuinely outside of the field and independent of any of the folks involved.
Reposted by Andy Farke
I'm a palaeobiologist, of course I have a favourite average
(It's the mode. Love me a modal value)
(It's the mode. Love me a modal value)
October 30, 2025 at 8:57 PM
I'm a palaeobiologist, of course I have a favourite average
(It's the mode. Love me a modal value)
(It's the mode. Love me a modal value)
Excellent thread (speaking also as now ?mature stage of former teenage dino nerd)! I'll also, somewhat grumpily, say that many of us professionals also fan the flames of dino fandom, engage in meme-ing and fanbase engagement, and then are suddenly surprised when a fandom behaves like a fandom.
October 30, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Excellent thread (speaking also as now ?mature stage of former teenage dino nerd)! I'll also, somewhat grumpily, say that many of us professionals also fan the flames of dino fandom, engage in meme-ing and fanbase engagement, and then are suddenly surprised when a fandom behaves like a fandom.
Reposted by Andy Farke
It was a real joy to write this paper with @guillermodiazliano.bsky.social - in many ways an overdue love letter to my colleagues in the trenches over the years.
Huge thanks to those who spoke to G, their job is hard and #archaeology is only the half of it! 🏺👷🏻♀️
Huge thanks to those who spoke to G, their job is hard and #archaeology is only the half of it! 🏺👷🏻♀️
So happy to see this article out!
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/TYFU3...
In this ethnography of the relationship between archaeologists and construction, we explore how both disciplines communicate, and how concepts such as risk, incommensurability, uncertainty and translation..
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/TYFU3...
In this ethnography of the relationship between archaeologists and construction, we explore how both disciplines communicate, and how concepts such as risk, incommensurability, uncertainty and translation..
www.tandfonline.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:20 AM
It was a real joy to write this paper with @guillermodiazliano.bsky.social - in many ways an overdue love letter to my colleagues in the trenches over the years.
Huge thanks to those who spoke to G, their job is hard and #archaeology is only the half of it! 🏺👷🏻♀️
Huge thanks to those who spoke to G, their job is hard and #archaeology is only the half of it! 🏺👷🏻♀️
Reposted by Andy Farke
“science number” 😂
- Hey, is your science good?
- Man, my science is like super-good. Look at my science number, it's 4.76 !
- Dude, that's nothing - my science number is 4.93 ! My science is so much gooder than your science !
I guess the dumbing down of society now extends to scientists.
- Man, my science is like super-good. Look at my science number, it's 4.76 !
- Dude, that's nothing - my science number is 4.93 ! My science is so much gooder than your science !
I guess the dumbing down of society now extends to scientists.
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 AM
“science number” 😂
Reposted by Andy Farke
Local news story on why MotE/ PRI is special:
$̳1̳ ̳m̳i̳l̳l̳i̳o̳n̳ left to raise before the end of 2025 to save the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY.
#SavePRI 🧪⚒️ #museums #dinosaurs #Mastodon #Ithaca
#fingerlakes
www.wbng.com/2025/10/27/m...
$̳1̳ ̳m̳i̳l̳l̳i̳o̳n̳ left to raise before the end of 2025 to save the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY.
#SavePRI 🧪⚒️ #museums #dinosaurs #Mastodon #Ithaca
#fingerlakes
www.wbng.com/2025/10/27/m...
Museum of Earth could be met with possible foreclosure
The PRI has until Dec. 31, 2025 to raise $1 million or the only collections based national history museum between New York City and Buffalo will be forced into foreclosure.
www.wbng.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Local news story on why MotE/ PRI is special:
$̳1̳ ̳m̳i̳l̳l̳i̳o̳n̳ left to raise before the end of 2025 to save the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY.
#SavePRI 🧪⚒️ #museums #dinosaurs #Mastodon #Ithaca
#fingerlakes
www.wbng.com/2025/10/27/m...
$̳1̳ ̳m̳i̳l̳l̳i̳o̳n̳ left to raise before the end of 2025 to save the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY.
#SavePRI 🧪⚒️ #museums #dinosaurs #Mastodon #Ithaca
#fingerlakes
www.wbng.com/2025/10/27/m...
Happening later this morning
I'll be at GSA tomorrow (one day only), giving a talk on the age of the Teapot Sandstone in our field area of Oregon Basin, Wyoming. Vertebrate biostrat can be very helpful! gsameetings.secure-platform.com/connects25/s...
Geological Society of America - Abstract
gsameetings.secure-platform.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Happening later this morning
I'll be at GSA tomorrow (one day only), giving a talk on the age of the Teapot Sandstone in our field area of Oregon Basin, Wyoming. Vertebrate biostrat can be very helpful! gsameetings.secure-platform.com/connects25/s...
Geological Society of America - Abstract
gsameetings.secure-platform.com
October 19, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I'll be at GSA tomorrow (one day only), giving a talk on the age of the Teapot Sandstone in our field area of Oregon Basin, Wyoming. Vertebrate biostrat can be very helpful! gsameetings.secure-platform.com/connects25/s...
Reposted by Andy Farke
Kind of guy upset at the mixing of Greek and Latin and thinks the T Rex should be called “Wanaxosauros”
October 19, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Kind of guy upset at the mixing of Greek and Latin and thinks the T Rex should be called “Wanaxosauros”
Reposted by Andy Farke
Looking for a graduate program in paleobotany, paleoclimatology, and/or terrestiral sedimentology? Attending #GSA2025 next week? Please reach out so we can chat!
Recruiting MS students for Fall 2026 for projects focused on the late Cretaceous - early Paleogene of western North America.
Recruiting MS students for Fall 2026 for projects focused on the late Cretaceous - early Paleogene of western North America.
October 17, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Looking for a graduate program in paleobotany, paleoclimatology, and/or terrestiral sedimentology? Attending #GSA2025 next week? Please reach out so we can chat!
Recruiting MS students for Fall 2026 for projects focused on the late Cretaceous - early Paleogene of western North America.
Recruiting MS students for Fall 2026 for projects focused on the late Cretaceous - early Paleogene of western North America.
This is a must-read paper for anyone who deals with head butting, cranial trauma, animal behavior centered around horns/bosses/domes! Nicole is doing some amazing work in this topic.
Violence, scientific DRAMA, and misunderstanding!
Who first asked if woodpeckers get headaches, or if rams are immune to brain damage?
New Paper! I trace the history of human thought on brain injury in head-hitting animals, and it's a wild ride. 🧪 🏺
A thread - 1/🧵
doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...
Who first asked if woodpeckers get headaches, or if rams are immune to brain damage?
New Paper! I trace the history of human thought on brain injury in head-hitting animals, and it's a wild ride. 🧪 🏺
A thread - 1/🧵
doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...
October 16, 2025 at 2:47 PM
This is a must-read paper for anyone who deals with head butting, cranial trauma, animal behavior centered around horns/bosses/domes! Nicole is doing some amazing work in this topic.
A Spinops sternbergorum (Ornithsichia: Ceratopsia) parietal from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Muddy Lake, Saskatchewan - by Mallon et al., new in Canadian Field Naturalist - OA at: www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cf... - Very cool to see new fossils referable to Spinops!
A <i>Spinops sternbergorum</i> (Ornithsichia: Ceratopsia) parietal from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Muddy Lake, Saskatchewan
| The Canadian Field-Naturalist
www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca
October 14, 2025 at 4:42 PM
A Spinops sternbergorum (Ornithsichia: Ceratopsia) parietal from the Dinosaur Park Formation (upper Campanian) of Muddy Lake, Saskatchewan - by Mallon et al., new in Canadian Field Naturalist - OA at: www.canadianfieldnaturalist.ca/index.php/cf... - Very cool to see new fossils referable to Spinops!
Reposted by Andy Farke
No better reason to join Bluesky then to say the first chapter of my PhD is out as a preprint! New surgeonfish phylogeny, ecomorphological relationships, evolutionary shape correlations-with NEW method to accurately account for phylogenetic covariation among shapes!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Phylogenetic relationships and the evolution of fin and body shape in the surgeonfishes
Patterns of evolutionary change in the fin and body shapes of fishes are strongly related to dietary ecology and locomotor mechanisms, and associations between shapes affects ecomorphological relation...
www.biorxiv.org
October 11, 2025 at 12:44 PM
No better reason to join Bluesky then to say the first chapter of my PhD is out as a preprint! New surgeonfish phylogeny, ecomorphological relationships, evolutionary shape correlations-with NEW method to accurately account for phylogenetic covariation among shapes!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...