Dr. Brendan Anderson
@fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social
Paleobiologist. evolution and paleoclimate. Coffee enthusiast. Snail evangelist. Visiting Professor @ SUNY Oneonta. Paleontological Research Institution Research Associate. Dartmouth, KU, Cornell alum. He/him. Opinions my own. https://www.brendan-anderson
Pinned
‘Every Single Dollar Mattered’: Donations Save Museum of the Earth From Foreclosure
Just days before a year-end foreclosure deadline, the Museum of the Earth has paid off its mortgage following a wide fundraising campaign that rescued the Ithaca area landmark.
www.ithaca.com
ACTUAL GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: The Paleontological Research Institution and the Museum of the Earth have made it through the crisis!
Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI
www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...
Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI
www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
New research takes us inside the brain of a 230-million-year-old animal! Scientists used 3D technology and mathematical modeling to reconstruct the brains of pterosaurs and their pre-flight ancestors, the lagerpetids.
January 3, 2026 at 3:53 PM
New research takes us inside the brain of a 230-million-year-old animal! Scientists used 3D technology and mathematical modeling to reconstruct the brains of pterosaurs and their pre-flight ancestors, the lagerpetids.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
'A directive from above': Former NYT editor lays out how the paper pushes anti-trans bigotry
In this in-depth interview, former New York Times editor Billie Jean Sweeney details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, how some staff tried to stop it, how it's directe...
transnews.network
January 1, 2026 at 6:32 PM
In this in-depth interview Billie Jean Sweeney — a former editor at The New York Times — details how the paper shifted towards openly promoting anti-trans hatred, why this was directed from the very top, how some staff pushed back and the immense damage done by the NYT legitimizing bigotry.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
this is bad
THIS THIS THIS. ALL OF THIS
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
THIS is why faculty resist technological strategies for teaching. There is no engaging with Edtech without this context
December 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM
this is bad
ACTUAL GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: The Paleontological Research Institution and the Museum of the Earth have made it through the crisis!
Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI
www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...
Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI
www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...
‘Every Single Dollar Mattered’: Donations Save Museum of the Earth From Foreclosure
Just days before a year-end foreclosure deadline, the Museum of the Earth has paid off its mortgage following a wide fundraising campaign that rescued the Ithaca area landmark.
www.ithaca.com
January 2, 2026 at 1:29 AM
ACTUAL GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: The Paleontological Research Institution and the Museum of the Earth have made it through the crisis!
Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI
www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...
Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI
www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...
Why government funding of basic research is essential to scientific progress🧪:
www.americanscientist.org/article/%E2%...
www.americanscientist.org/article/%E2%...
“Why Are We Funding This?”
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
www.americanscientist.org
January 2, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Why government funding of basic research is essential to scientific progress🧪:
www.americanscientist.org/article/%E2%...
www.americanscientist.org/article/%E2%...
My 2025 wrapped: 4 peer-reviewed papers+2 in press, helped create a museum exhibit/online exhibit/blog post🐙🐌🦪, gave 2 invited talks & GSA talk, co-led a NY master teacher program, taught 4 courses at PUIs, co-wrote 2 NAGT position statements, and helped save a museum🦕
months until unemployment: 6
months until unemployment: 6
December 30, 2025 at 9:02 PM
My 2025 wrapped: 4 peer-reviewed papers+2 in press, helped create a museum exhibit/online exhibit/blog post🐙🐌🦪, gave 2 invited talks & GSA talk, co-led a NY master teacher program, taught 4 courses at PUIs, co-wrote 2 NAGT position statements, and helped save a museum🦕
months until unemployment: 6
months until unemployment: 6
Wow...nature. incredibly disappointing to let AI co-write an article about how great AI is and writing a review in a professional tone is just soooo hard.
December 30, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Wow...nature. incredibly disappointing to let AI co-write an article about how great AI is and writing a review in a professional tone is just soooo hard.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Colorado stands up for science.
NCAR isn't just your weather app. It's keeping us prepared up to the MINUTE when extreme weather hits. In an emergency, preparation and information keep us safe. Without NCAR, we are flying blind, just as extreme weather becomes more frequent. #SaveNCAR
NCAR isn't just your weather app. It's keeping us prepared up to the MINUTE when extreme weather hits. In an emergency, preparation and information keep us safe. Without NCAR, we are flying blind, just as extreme weather becomes more frequent. #SaveNCAR
December 22, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Colorado stands up for science.
NCAR isn't just your weather app. It's keeping us prepared up to the MINUTE when extreme weather hits. In an emergency, preparation and information keep us safe. Without NCAR, we are flying blind, just as extreme weather becomes more frequent. #SaveNCAR
NCAR isn't just your weather app. It's keeping us prepared up to the MINUTE when extreme weather hits. In an emergency, preparation and information keep us safe. Without NCAR, we are flying blind, just as extreme weather becomes more frequent. #SaveNCAR
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
December 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Finally, we’ve solved a long-standing mystery: what tintinnid shells are actually made of:
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
A new class of biomaterial formed by remarkable structural proteins unique to tintinnids.
A major milestone after 3 years of work! Read about it in our preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...
#ProtistsOnSky
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Steve is trying to work off the excess Christmas calories...
December 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Steve is trying to work off the excess Christmas calories...
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Dave Willat was just 11 years old when he showed up for what he thought would be a routine church choir practice in 1965. He and his fellow singers ended up making history.
We caught up with one of the kids who sang on 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.' He's 72 now
Dave Willat was just 11 years old when he showed up for what he thought would be a routine church choir practice in 1965. He and his fellow singers ended up making history.
n.pr
December 25, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Dave Willat was just 11 years old when he showed up for what he thought would be a routine church choir practice in 1965. He and his fellow singers ended up making history.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Helicoplacoid in a Santa hat and fossil friends wish you a very merry Christmas from the Cambrian mat grounds!
December 24, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Helicoplacoid in a Santa hat and fossil friends wish you a very merry Christmas from the Cambrian mat grounds!
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
It is open season on all of us, but I am so deeply concerned about our contingent colleagues, lecturers, and graduate student instructors.
Hope that she sues and wins.
Hope that she sues and wins.
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 24, 2025 at 5:06 PM
It is open season on all of us, but I am so deeply concerned about our contingent colleagues, lecturers, and graduate student instructors.
Hope that she sues and wins.
Hope that she sues and wins.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
This Xmas, 2 police officers would like someone to finally hang the legally-mandated Jan 6th police honorary plaque at Capitol
GOP Congressional leadership has defied March 2023 deadline to do so
So officers Dan Hodges & Harry Dunn filed this yesterday
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
GOP Congressional leadership has defied March 2023 deadline to do so
So officers Dan Hodges & Harry Dunn filed this yesterday
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Memorandum in opposition to motion – #29 in DUNN v. AUSTIN (D.D.C., 1:25-cv-01844) – CourtListener.com
Memorandum in opposition to re 27 MOTION to Dismiss or, alternatively MOTION for Summary Judgment Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss filed by HARRY DUNN, DANIEL HODGES. (Attachmen...
storage.courtlistener.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:48 PM
This Xmas, 2 police officers would like someone to finally hang the legally-mandated Jan 6th police honorary plaque at Capitol
GOP Congressional leadership has defied March 2023 deadline to do so
So officers Dan Hodges & Harry Dunn filed this yesterday
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
GOP Congressional leadership has defied March 2023 deadline to do so
So officers Dan Hodges & Harry Dunn filed this yesterday
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Does U. Oklahoma, and the state of Oklahoma, want every instructor to give everything an A, because one grade dispute on one assignment is firing offense?
Or is their standard that good grades should go to work that either displays knowledge, evidence, and logic, or aligns with right-wing politics?
Or is their standard that good grades should go to work that either displays knowledge, evidence, and logic, or aligns with right-wing politics?
December 24, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Does U. Oklahoma, and the state of Oklahoma, want every instructor to give everything an A, because one grade dispute on one assignment is firing offense?
Or is their standard that good grades should go to work that either displays knowledge, evidence, and logic, or aligns with right-wing politics?
Or is their standard that good grades should go to work that either displays knowledge, evidence, and logic, or aligns with right-wing politics?
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
"Peakers," power plants "meant to run only in short bursts during periods of spiking electricity demand," are "often decades-old, fossil-fueled facilities" that "emit more pollution when they are running and cost more to produce electricity..." Data center demand is keeping them online.
AI data centers are forcing dirty ‘peaker’ power plants back into service
In Chicago’s working-class Pilsen neighborhood, a 60s-era oil-fired power plant rises up from an industrial lot behind Dvorak Park, which in warmer weather is packed with children climbing on its colo...
www.reuters.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
"Peakers," power plants "meant to run only in short bursts during periods of spiking electricity demand," are "often decades-old, fossil-fueled facilities" that "emit more pollution when they are running and cost more to produce electricity..." Data center demand is keeping them online.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Hi.
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
December 22, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Hi.
Too bad canceling Paramount+ for "other" reasons doesn't give you a text box to say why
a bald man wearing a red sweater is covering his face with his hand .
Alt: Star trek gif- "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Captain Picard, a bald man wearing a red sweater is covering his face with his hand.
media.tenor.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Too bad canceling Paramount+ for "other" reasons doesn't give you a text box to say why
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Reporter: We have 3 videos, 2 breathalyzers, 4 bartenders, and a minivan full of nuns attesting to how the driver was drunk and reckless when he hit the school bus.
Weiss; What did the driver say.
Reporter: He and his lawyer won’t talk. We asked them 5 times.
Weiss: I’m killing your story.
Weiss; What did the driver say.
Reporter: He and his lawyer won’t talk. We asked them 5 times.
Weiss: I’m killing your story.
December 22, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reporter: We have 3 videos, 2 breathalyzers, 4 bartenders, and a minivan full of nuns attesting to how the driver was drunk and reckless when he hit the school bus.
Weiss; What did the driver say.
Reporter: He and his lawyer won’t talk. We asked them 5 times.
Weiss: I’m killing your story.
Weiss; What did the driver say.
Reporter: He and his lawyer won’t talk. We asked them 5 times.
Weiss: I’m killing your story.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Expect a "revolt" among 60 Minutes staff over Bari Weiss pulling the CECOT segment at the last minute, one network insider told me.
Another CBS News reporter added that a Rubicon had been crossed with this decision, which 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi called "political" and not editorial.
Another CBS News reporter added that a Rubicon had been crossed with this decision, which 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi called "political" and not editorial.
December 22, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Expect a "revolt" among 60 Minutes staff over Bari Weiss pulling the CECOT segment at the last minute, one network insider told me.
Another CBS News reporter added that a Rubicon had been crossed with this decision, which 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi called "political" and not editorial.
Another CBS News reporter added that a Rubicon had been crossed with this decision, which 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi called "political" and not editorial.
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Geologists, too! Not too long ago someone commented to me that there’s little value in rock sample and core libraries because everything important had surely been digitized. Relatively little has (and, even if it has, it’s hard to run a chemical or physical test on an image or PDF file).
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
December 22, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Geologists, too! Not too long ago someone commented to me that there’s little value in rock sample and core libraries because everything important had surely been digitized. Relatively little has (and, even if it has, it’s hard to run a chemical or physical test on an image or PDF file).
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
When viewing the fake article in Google scholar on my university network, there is a link to access the article via my uni's library. That link sends me to a library page that makes fake article appear real... Turns out library page is made programmatically from info on Google scholar 🤦
December 21, 2025 at 1:48 AM
When viewing the fake article in Google scholar on my university network, there is a link to access the article via my uni's library. That link sends me to a library page that makes fake article appear real... Turns out library page is made programmatically from info on Google scholar 🤦
Reposted by Dr. Brendan Anderson
Please share this widely. There have been 13 peer-reviewed critiques of the Cass Review, to the extent that academia regards it as pseudoscience, but so far all have been subject to organised censorship by mainstream media. This is the first time one has broken through. Oz Guardian only still.
Worked hard to get this into Guardian Oz & big props to @fiercemum.bsky.social for setting it up & Melissa Davey for publishing it. She will doubtless get loads of hassle from transphobes for it, but it needs to be out there.
Puberty Blocker bans harm trans kids, no-one should pretend they don’t.
Puberty Blocker bans harm trans kids, no-one should pretend they don’t.
Puberty blocker bans in Queensland and NZ risk extreme harm to trans youth, UK expert warns
Sociologist who surveyed effect of 2024 UK ban says denial of gender-affirming care has left trans and non-binary children in ‘abject misery and severe distress’
www.theguardian.com
December 21, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Please share this widely. There have been 13 peer-reviewed critiques of the Cass Review, to the extent that academia regards it as pseudoscience, but so far all have been subject to organised censorship by mainstream media. This is the first time one has broken through. Oz Guardian only still.