Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
@deadbovids.bsky.social
SUNY Oneonta Assistant Professor
Paleontologist, anthropologist, naturalist. Views my own 🏳️🌈
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xAy15BUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Paleontologist, anthropologist, naturalist. Views my own 🏳️🌈
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xAy15BUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Pinned
Non‐Analog Behaviour of Eastern African Herbivore Communities During the Last Glacial Period
Drawing from serially-sampled stable isotope measurements from 18 Kenyan large herbivore species from the Last Glacial Period (LGP), we evaluate how diet, diet-switching, and migration compare to obs...
doi.org
New Article Alert! doi.org/10.1111/ele....
In our newly published paper in Ecology Letters, we use serially sampled strontium and carbon isotopes from 18 species of antelope, buffalo, and zebra from the Last Glacial Period of Kenya to reconstruct herbivore behavior in the Late Pleistocene.
(1/6)
In our newly published paper in Ecology Letters, we use serially sampled strontium and carbon isotopes from 18 species of antelope, buffalo, and zebra from the Last Glacial Period of Kenya to reconstruct herbivore behavior in the Late Pleistocene.
(1/6)
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Eastern Gray Squirrel in Red Oak and Sugar Maple leaves for #MammalMonday
November 10, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Eastern Gray Squirrel in Red Oak and Sugar Maple leaves for #MammalMonday
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
My family has been without half our income for 40 days. It has been.. very hard.
We are willing to feel that pain so people can have health care next year, or to undo these illegal recissions.
We are not willing to have been put through this for NOTHING.
We are willing to feel that pain so people can have health care next year, or to undo these illegal recissions.
We are not willing to have been put through this for NOTHING.
November 10, 2025 at 1:36 AM
My family has been without half our income for 40 days. It has been.. very hard.
We are willing to feel that pain so people can have health care next year, or to undo these illegal recissions.
We are not willing to have been put through this for NOTHING.
We are willing to feel that pain so people can have health care next year, or to undo these illegal recissions.
We are not willing to have been put through this for NOTHING.
There's no way forward without
1.) Abolishing ICE and DHS in their entirety, and
2.) Nuremberg-style trials for DHS and ICE, including for individual ICE agents.
1.) Abolishing ICE and DHS in their entirety, and
2.) Nuremberg-style trials for DHS and ICE, including for individual ICE agents.
ICE agents in Chicago violently detain a non verbal autistic man for being “non compliant”
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
He couldn’t “comply” because of his disability…they don’t care
This is not the first time they’ve gone after a disabled person
They target the most vulnerable because it’s an easy way to meet their quota
November 9, 2025 at 11:42 PM
There's no way forward without
1.) Abolishing ICE and DHS in their entirety, and
2.) Nuremberg-style trials for DHS and ICE, including for individual ICE agents.
1.) Abolishing ICE and DHS in their entirety, and
2.) Nuremberg-style trials for DHS and ICE, including for individual ICE agents.
My little foraging path through the beeches and maples--looking for some early winter mushrooms and the last crop of hickory nuts
November 9, 2025 at 8:25 PM
My little foraging path through the beeches and maples--looking for some early winter mushrooms and the last crop of hickory nuts
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
If you’re wondering what a “least weasel” is, they absolutely live up to the name. This is the least amount of animal you can have that can still meet the bar for “is weasel”
June 2, 2025 at 6:30 AM
If you’re wondering what a “least weasel” is, they absolutely live up to the name. This is the least amount of animal you can have that can still meet the bar for “is weasel”
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
DNA scientist James Watson has a remarkably long history of sexist, racist public comments
“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty,” he said in 2003. “I think it would be great.”
www.vox.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
Check out this spotlight on Husna Mashaka! Really important research being done by an awesome person
Grantee spotlight on lab member Husna Mashaka, who is doing her PhD research on fossil plants in Tanzania @leakeyfoundation.org @asubeinghuman.bsky.social
Grantee Spotlight: Husna Mashaka
shHusna Ma
leakeyfoundation.org
November 8, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Check out this spotlight on Husna Mashaka! Really important research being done by an awesome person
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Watson was a racist who, "near the end of his life, faced condemnation and professional censure for offensive remarks, including saying Black people are less intelligent than white people"
James Watson, co-discoverer of the double-helix shape of DNA, has died at age 97
Scientist James Watson, who shared a Nobel prize for helping discover the double-helix shape of the DNA molecule, has died. He was 97.
apnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Watson was a racist who, "near the end of his life, faced condemnation and professional censure for offensive remarks, including saying Black people are less intelligent than white people"
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
After 11 weeks of working our way through the primate and hominin family tree, we've made it to Homo sapiens in Intro to Bio Anth! #FossilFriday
November 7, 2025 at 6:38 PM
After 11 weeks of working our way through the primate and hominin family tree, we've made it to Homo sapiens in Intro to Bio Anth! #FossilFriday
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Colonization was like a powerful jigsaw ripping apart nations' families, shredding them into the darkness of a denied past. Now, Indigenous people work to rebuild the puzzle, reclaiming the tiny pieces of history scattered to the winds and reclaiming their identities, histories, and homelands.
November 7, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Colonization was like a powerful jigsaw ripping apart nations' families, shredding them into the darkness of a denied past. Now, Indigenous people work to rebuild the puzzle, reclaiming the tiny pieces of history scattered to the winds and reclaiming their identities, histories, and homelands.
Pretty purple blewit as an appetizer today!
November 6, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Pretty purple blewit as an appetizer today!
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
IT’s HERE! The trailer from Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age!
I cannot wait for you to watch it! Once again, I’m so proud to be part of the amazing and talented group of people who help put this series together!
#PrehistoricPlanet
youtu.be/f7kvwp9aIyM?...
I cannot wait for you to watch it! Once again, I’m so proud to be part of the amazing and talented group of people who help put this series together!
#PrehistoricPlanet
youtu.be/f7kvwp9aIyM?...
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age — Season 3 Official Trailer | Apple TV
YouTube video by Apple TV
youtu.be
November 6, 2025 at 5:36 PM
IT’s HERE! The trailer from Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age!
I cannot wait for you to watch it! Once again, I’m so proud to be part of the amazing and talented group of people who help put this series together!
#PrehistoricPlanet
youtu.be/f7kvwp9aIyM?...
I cannot wait for you to watch it! Once again, I’m so proud to be part of the amazing and talented group of people who help put this series together!
#PrehistoricPlanet
youtu.be/f7kvwp9aIyM?...
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Folks, saying ABOLISH ICE isn't hard. Quite easy. The water is warm here. Jump in. Mainstream it. People will follow.
November 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Folks, saying ABOLISH ICE isn't hard. Quite easy. The water is warm here. Jump in. Mainstream it. People will follow.
When I imagined the future, I was excited for flying cars and a cure for cancer. I wasn't expecting daily emails from my washing machine.
November 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
When I imagined the future, I was excited for flying cars and a cure for cancer. I wasn't expecting daily emails from my washing machine.
White pines after sunset, illuminated by the moon (and a good non-apple phone camera)
November 6, 2025 at 3:33 PM
White pines after sunset, illuminated by the moon (and a good non-apple phone camera)
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
November 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Grateful to spend two days on the Klamath watching chinook, liberated by dam removal, return to streams from which they’d been precluded since the Titanic sank. Fish are everywhere, in numbers that stagger the mind & locations that biologists figured would take years to repopulate. Too beautiful.
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
The world's oldest bacterial DNA found in a million-year-old mammoth!
New results from researchers at #CpgSthlm published in Cell!
Paper:
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
New results from researchers at #CpgSthlm published in Cell!
Paper:
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
September 2, 2025 at 8:52 PM
The world's oldest bacterial DNA found in a million-year-old mammoth!
New results from researchers at #CpgSthlm published in Cell!
Paper:
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
New results from researchers at #CpgSthlm published in Cell!
Paper:
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
Amazing paper by some of my friends and collaborators at Koobi Fora!
Early Oldowan technology thrived during Pliocene environmental change in the Turkana Basin, Kenya
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Early Oldowan technology thrived during Pliocene environmental change in the Turkana Basin, Kenya
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Early Oldowan technology thrived during Pliocene environmental change in the Turkana Basin, Kenya - Nature Communications
Here, the authors present archaeology of the Namorotukunan site in Kenya’s Turkana Basin that demonstrates adaptive shifts in hominin tool-making behaviour spanning 300,000 years and increasing enviro...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Amazing paper by some of my friends and collaborators at Koobi Fora!
Early Oldowan technology thrived during Pliocene environmental change in the Turkana Basin, Kenya
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Early Oldowan technology thrived during Pliocene environmental change in the Turkana Basin, Kenya
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Buster likes his possum pillow
November 4, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Buster likes his possum pillow
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Ignoring for a second that geoengineering is one of the stupidest ideas, why would this have anything to do with AI? WHY?!?! You want to use satellites to control how much sun reaches earth? Okay. That’s just an engineering project. No need for any AI, at all. But grifters slap it on everything now.
So Elon saw my commmentary on Gates and wanted a piece of the action:
November 3, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Ignoring for a second that geoengineering is one of the stupidest ideas, why would this have anything to do with AI? WHY?!?! You want to use satellites to control how much sun reaches earth? Okay. That’s just an engineering project. No need for any AI, at all. But grifters slap it on everything now.
Reposted by Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
Your daily dose of climate hope. From the team at RMI: rmi.org/wp-content/u...
November 3, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Your daily dose of climate hope. From the team at RMI: rmi.org/wp-content/u...
Little dudes hanging out, gathering red acorns #MammalMonday
November 3, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Little dudes hanging out, gathering red acorns #MammalMonday