Benjamin Mills
@bjwmills.bsky.social
Professor of Earth System Evolution // University of Leeds
Chair of Earth System Science Group of the Geological Society of London.
Research group: https://earthevolutionmodelling.com
Life and Planet Conference: https://lifeandplanet.com
Chair of Earth System Science Group of the Geological Society of London.
Research group: https://earthevolutionmodelling.com
Life and Planet Conference: https://lifeandplanet.com
Really interesting mechanism here I think: thousand-year orbital cycle modulation can drive million-year pulses in nutrients, oxygen and (we hypothesize) biodiversity during early animal evolution
OA paper out today:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
OA paper out today:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
October 22, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Really interesting mechanism here I think: thousand-year orbital cycle modulation can drive million-year pulses in nutrients, oxygen and (we hypothesize) biodiversity during early animal evolution
OA paper out today:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
OA paper out today:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Googled the title of our new paper out today and the FIRST HIT was an AI sludge article that was completely incorrect
A: no we didn't analyse phosphorus isotope ratios in rocks
B: NOBODY analyses these
C: because phosphorus only has ONE stable isotope
Dead internet here we go
A: no we didn't analyse phosphorus isotope ratios in rocks
B: NOBODY analyses these
C: because phosphorus only has ONE stable isotope
Dead internet here we go
October 16, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Googled the title of our new paper out today and the FIRST HIT was an AI sludge article that was completely incorrect
A: no we didn't analyse phosphorus isotope ratios in rocks
B: NOBODY analyses these
C: because phosphorus only has ONE stable isotope
Dead internet here we go
A: no we didn't analyse phosphorus isotope ratios in rocks
B: NOBODY analyses these
C: because phosphorus only has ONE stable isotope
Dead internet here we go
Public talk this eve at the wonderful Seven Arts bar! I am reliably informed there will also be jazz!
www.sevenleeds.co.uk/events/
www.sevenleeds.co.uk/events/
September 17, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Public talk this eve at the wonderful Seven Arts bar! I am reliably informed there will also be jazz!
www.sevenleeds.co.uk/events/
www.sevenleeds.co.uk/events/
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
There’s an interesting series of 5 free online paleobotany lectures via the Oxford University Botanic Garden this autumn. You can book all 5 lectures here (scroll down webpage to ‘Get your tickets now’ button) www.obga.ox.ac.uk/event/dr-san... #paleobotany
September 14, 2025 at 9:22 PM
There’s an interesting series of 5 free online paleobotany lectures via the Oxford University Botanic Garden this autumn. You can book all 5 lectures here (scroll down webpage to ‘Get your tickets now’ button) www.obga.ox.ac.uk/event/dr-san... #paleobotany
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
New palaeo-PhD opportunity! Will you be the one to figure out the anatomy and function of fossil jawless fish? Come join the team! Application Deadline August 22nd, funding for UK student only (sorry)
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
July 31, 2025 at 9:40 AM
New palaeo-PhD opportunity! Will you be the one to figure out the anatomy and function of fossil jawless fish? Come join the team! Application Deadline August 22nd, funding for UK student only (sorry)
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
🚨Job offer 🚨 Postdoctoral position in micropaleontology opened in our team!
Postdoc (6 mois)ouvert au CEREGE en micropaleontology and ML / short term postdoctoral contract (6 months) in micropaleontology and ML @climatecerege.bsky.social ANR project #BioIndicIA emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - H/F CDD Chercheur en Micropaléontologie quantitative
emploi.cnrs.fr
July 30, 2025 at 3:48 PM
🚨Job offer 🚨 Postdoctoral position in micropaleontology opened in our team!
Hi Goldschmidt! Catch my Berner Lecture at 2.30 today!
July 8, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Hi Goldschmidt! Catch my Berner Lecture at 2.30 today!
Check out this cool map of sea level variability due to glaciation over geological time. Awesome to be involved in this work led by Douwe van der Meer
open access paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
open access paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
July 3, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Check out this cool map of sea level variability due to glaciation over geological time. Awesome to be involved in this work led by Douwe van der Meer
open access paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
open access paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Great to see this finally out today! We show that the collapse of tropical vegetation during the Permo-Triassic extinction is a key driver of the long-term super-greenhouse climate that followed it.
Read more at www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read more at www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 2, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Great to see this finally out today! We show that the collapse of tropical vegetation during the Permo-Triassic extinction is a key driver of the long-term super-greenhouse climate that followed it.
Read more at www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read more at www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Talking about the deep past and deep future of the Earth today at @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social / @noc.ac.uk Seminar at 3pm!
June 11, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Talking about the deep past and deep future of the Earth today at @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social / @noc.ac.uk Seminar at 3pm!
Did flood basalt weathering draw down significant amounts of CO2 in the Mesozoic? We think not so much:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
May 24, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Did flood basalt weathering draw down significant amounts of CO2 in the Mesozoic? We think not so much:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Registration is open for Life and Planet 2025 on July 14-16!
lifeandplanet.com
£60 (student/GSL fellow)
£80 standard
Hope to see you there!
lifeandplanet.com
£60 (student/GSL fellow)
£80 standard
Hope to see you there!
May 15, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Registration is open for Life and Planet 2025 on July 14-16!
lifeandplanet.com
£60 (student/GSL fellow)
£80 standard
Hope to see you there!
lifeandplanet.com
£60 (student/GSL fellow)
£80 standard
Hope to see you there!
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
Registration is now open for @lifeandplanet.bsky.social in London July - 14th -16th. A nice conference for ECRs working on all aspects of the co-evolution of life and the Earth's surface. #geology #paleontology lifeandplanet.com
Life and Planet
lifeandplanet.com
May 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Registration is now open for @lifeandplanet.bsky.social in London July - 14th -16th. A nice conference for ECRs working on all aspects of the co-evolution of life and the Earth's surface. #geology #paleontology lifeandplanet.com
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
How can zombie microbes interact with the Earth system? 🦠🧟🌎
Microbes, even when dormant, play a massive role in shaping Earth's ecosystems & biogeochemistry 🌎
In @natcomms.nature.com I explore dormancy in the context of Earth’s geosphere-biosphere co-evolution
🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Microbes, even when dormant, play a massive role in shaping Earth's ecosystems & biogeochemistry 🌎
In @natcomms.nature.com I explore dormancy in the context of Earth’s geosphere-biosphere co-evolution
🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Microbial dormancy as an ecological and biogeochemical regulator on Earth - Nature Communications
Dormancy enables microbes to withstand periods of environmental harshness. It occurs throughout diverse ecosystems and spans vast timescales, and could play an important role in shaping the co-ev...
www.nature.com
April 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM
How can zombie microbes interact with the Earth system? 🦠🧟🌎
Microbes, even when dormant, play a massive role in shaping Earth's ecosystems & biogeochemistry 🌎
In @natcomms.nature.com I explore dormancy in the context of Earth’s geosphere-biosphere co-evolution
🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Microbes, even when dormant, play a massive role in shaping Earth's ecosystems & biogeochemistry 🌎
In @natcomms.nature.com I explore dormancy in the context of Earth’s geosphere-biosphere co-evolution
🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The best part about running a conference is knowing that everyone else also leaves their submissions to the last minute!
PS: Life and Planet 2025 abstract submissions are extended for another week, so if you missed it you are not too late!
lifeandplanet.com
PS: Life and Planet 2025 abstract submissions are extended for another week, so if you missed it you are not too late!
lifeandplanet.com
April 10, 2025 at 11:15 PM
The best part about running a conference is knowing that everyone else also leaves their submissions to the last minute!
PS: Life and Planet 2025 abstract submissions are extended for another week, so if you missed it you are not too late!
lifeandplanet.com
PS: Life and Planet 2025 abstract submissions are extended for another week, so if you missed it you are not too late!
lifeandplanet.com
Excited for Life and Planet 2025 in London this July - please don't forget to submit your (free) abstracts!
lifeandplanet.com
lifeandplanet.com
April 4, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Excited for Life and Planet 2025 in London this July - please don't forget to submit your (free) abstracts!
lifeandplanet.com
lifeandplanet.com
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
🌎🦠🐚🧪🌏🧬🌳👽🌍
Interested in the co-evolution of life and our planet? Life and Planet 2025 abstracts are still open until 9 April! The meeting this year will be 14-16 July. Students and early career researchers especially encouraged!
lifeandplanet.com @lifeandplanet.bsky.social
Interested in the co-evolution of life and our planet? Life and Planet 2025 abstracts are still open until 9 April! The meeting this year will be 14-16 July. Students and early career researchers especially encouraged!
lifeandplanet.com @lifeandplanet.bsky.social
April 1, 2025 at 9:32 AM
🌎🦠🐚🧪🌏🧬🌳👽🌍
Interested in the co-evolution of life and our planet? Life and Planet 2025 abstracts are still open until 9 April! The meeting this year will be 14-16 July. Students and early career researchers especially encouraged!
lifeandplanet.com @lifeandplanet.bsky.social
Interested in the co-evolution of life and our planet? Life and Planet 2025 abstracts are still open until 9 April! The meeting this year will be 14-16 July. Students and early career researchers especially encouraged!
lifeandplanet.com @lifeandplanet.bsky.social
FYI if you are using language models for research:
Here's Chat 4.5 making a series of totally incorrect - but plausible to a nonspecialist - claims about our work:
Here's Chat 4.5 making a series of totally incorrect - but plausible to a nonspecialist - claims about our work:
March 25, 2025 at 11:54 PM
FYI if you are using language models for research:
Here's Chat 4.5 making a series of totally incorrect - but plausible to a nonspecialist - claims about our work:
Here's Chat 4.5 making a series of totally incorrect - but plausible to a nonspecialist - claims about our work:
The SCION Earth Evolution Model is turning 4 years old this spring. We have celebrated by extending the framework back to ~1 Ga before present
We find some agreement with broad environmental trends from the rock record, but there is still plenty to learn!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We find some agreement with broad environmental trends from the rock record, but there is still plenty to learn!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
March 19, 2025 at 10:28 AM
The SCION Earth Evolution Model is turning 4 years old this spring. We have celebrated by extending the framework back to ~1 Ga before present
We find some agreement with broad environmental trends from the rock record, but there is still plenty to learn!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We find some agreement with broad environmental trends from the rock record, but there is still plenty to learn!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Well done to the brilliant Leeds postdocs!
Congratulations to Dr Amy McGuire, Dr Fred Bowyer and Dr Khushboo Gurung, who have earned awards from The Geological Society for their contributions to geoscience! 🏅
environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...
environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...
Leeds geoscientists awarded by The Geological Society
Three academics at the School of Earth and Environment have been awarded by the Geological Society for their contributions to geoscience.
environment.leeds.ac.uk
March 18, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Well done to the brilliant Leeds postdocs!
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
A FINAL REMINDER that the abstract deadline for The Geochemistry Group Research in Progress meeting (GGRiP) is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. This will be a great meeting! Visit ggrip2025.co.uk for more information and to submit your abstracts.
GGRiP 2025
ggrip2025.co.uk
March 17, 2025 at 9:22 AM
A FINAL REMINDER that the abstract deadline for The Geochemistry Group Research in Progress meeting (GGRiP) is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. This will be a great meeting! Visit ggrip2025.co.uk for more information and to submit your abstracts.
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
"The Phanerozoic has experienced two major icehouse periods, the late Paleozoic and late Cenozoic (our current geologic era). The new model was able to reproduce both of those icehouses, as well as periods of warming in between" ⚒️🧪
eos.org/articles/how...
eos.org/articles/how...
How Do You Make Earth into an Icehouse? - Eos
A new model accurately reconstructs Earth’s past icehouses and indicates there’s no one driver behind them.
eos.org
March 10, 2025 at 10:33 PM
"The Phanerozoic has experienced two major icehouse periods, the late Paleozoic and late Cenozoic (our current geologic era). The new model was able to reproduce both of those icehouses, as well as periods of warming in between" ⚒️🧪
eos.org/articles/how...
eos.org/articles/how...
Reposted by Benjamin Mills
Come and join me in Marseille ☀️🌊🐟🔬🇫🇷🇪🇺
Aix-Marseille University in France will provide 15 million Euros over 3 years to 15 American scientists who feel threatened or hindered in their research by the orange manbaby.
French University to Fund American Scientists Who Fear Trump Censorship
The program, called ‘safe place for science,’ offers American scientists funding to continue their research in France.
www.404media.co
March 6, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Come and join me in Marseille ☀️🌊🐟🔬🇫🇷🇪🇺
An amazing honor to get this award last night! Huge thanks to the New York Academy and Blavatnik Family Foundation!
Congratulations to Professor Ben Mills, who has been named the UK Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering in the 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists! 👏
The prestigious award recognises his groundbreaking research in Earth systems.
environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...
The prestigious award recognises his groundbreaking research in Earth systems.
environment.leeds.ac.uk/news/article...
Professor Benjamin Mills wins Blavatnik Young Scientist award
Professor Mills has been recognised as the 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering, for his accomplishments in Earth System Modelling.
environment.leeds.ac.uk
March 5, 2025 at 11:30 AM
An amazing honor to get this award last night! Huge thanks to the New York Academy and Blavatnik Family Foundation!
Giving the Astrobiology and Planetary Habitability (APEX) seminar at UCL room G22 at 1pm today! All about oxygen!
February 28, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Giving the Astrobiology and Planetary Habitability (APEX) seminar at UCL room G22 at 1pm today! All about oxygen!