Peter Roopnarine
@peterroopnarine.bsky.social
Scientist, Trini-Jamaican lover of very hot Indo-Caribbean food. Many loves, dislikes AI. Scientist at California Academy of Sciences, but opinions are definitely my own. Proud alum, UC Davis and Mt. Allison University.
Advice to Trump: Violent tantrums, & letters of rec from Netanyahu, will not win you this prize. Good thing still happen in this world.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
White House blasts Nobel Committee for not awarding Peace Prize to Trump
A spokesman says the Nobel Committee placed "politics over peace" in awarding the coveted award to Venezuela's opposition leader.
www.bbc.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Advice to Trump: Violent tantrums, & letters of rec from Netanyahu, will not win you this prize. Good thing still happen in this world.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
"A request for comment from the U.S. Geological Survey, which is responsible for monitoring seismic hazards on the West Coast, resulted in an automatic reply stating no one could respond because of the ongoing government shutdown."
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Big U.S. West Coast earthquakes could come as a one-two punch
Cascadia and San Andreas fault zones appear to generate synchronized earthquakes
www.science.org
October 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
"A request for comment from the U.S. Geological Survey, which is responsible for monitoring seismic hazards on the West Coast, resulted in an automatic reply stating no one could respond because of the ongoing government shutdown."
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reminder. Fretting about escalators? We live in a Western world; powers are Western, pro-Western (money & weapons), or anti-Western (so-called new world order). The majority couldn't care less, but is forced to. There is wisdom in the majority. I am proud to be Caribbean.
youtu.be/_got5rApjJ4?...
youtu.be/_got5rApjJ4?...
Barbados PM’s extraordinary reply to Netanyahu for selective use of Bible in UN | Janta Ka Reporter
YouTube video by Janta Ka Reporter
youtu.be
September 25, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reminder. Fretting about escalators? We live in a Western world; powers are Western, pro-Western (money & weapons), or anti-Western (so-called new world order). The majority couldn't care less, but is forced to. There is wisdom in the majority. I am proud to be Caribbean.
youtu.be/_got5rApjJ4?...
youtu.be/_got5rApjJ4?...
Our new TREE paper is out! "‘Earth system engineers’ and the cumulative impact of organisms in deep time."
"Over ~3.5 billion years our planet has become increasingly bioengineered...". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Over ~3.5 billion years our planet has become increasingly bioengineered...". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 23, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Our new TREE paper is out! "‘Earth system engineers’ and the cumulative impact of organisms in deep time."
"Over ~3.5 billion years our planet has become increasingly bioengineered...". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Over ~3.5 billion years our planet has become increasingly bioengineered...". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Here we go.
www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...
Trump expands 'woke' criticism from Smithsonian to other museums
"The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of "WOKE," he wrote.
www.npr.org
August 24, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Here we go.
www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...
www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...
A #FossilFriday visual treat, the Cretaceous diatom Trinacria nitescens. In addition to their global ecological importance, diatoms are also a visual feast. Staring at this one enough will do wonder for your eyes. Scale bar = 10 microns. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/8cy7X6
July 25, 2025 at 5:10 PM
A #FossilFriday visual treat, the Cretaceous diatom Trinacria nitescens. In addition to their global ecological importance, diatoms are also a visual feast. Staring at this one enough will do wonder for your eyes. Scale bar = 10 microns. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/8cy7X6
This #FossilFriday we have a fish. An unidentified fish. Early Cretaceous from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. So many fossils, so few names, so few taxonomists. The dark data of paleo and Earth's missing diversity. All suggestions are welcome! #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7yP95M
July 18, 2025 at 4:46 PM
This #FossilFriday we have a fish. An unidentified fish. Early Cretaceous from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. So many fossils, so few names, so few taxonomists. The dark data of paleo and Earth's missing diversity. All suggestions are welcome! #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7yP95M
#FossilFriday trilobite Zacanthoides idahoensis! Great name. An early carnivore from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7v2AFP
July 11, 2025 at 6:16 PM
#FossilFriday trilobite Zacanthoides idahoensis! Great name. An early carnivore from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7v2AFP
Happy #FossilFriday ammonite. Acanthohoplites barryana, from the Cretaceous of Shasta Co., California. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/Yx4fie
June 27, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Happy #FossilFriday ammonite. Acanthohoplites barryana, from the Cretaceous of Shasta Co., California. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/Yx4fie
Ancient paleontologists or magical brachiopods?!
Fossils found on island are far older than island itself. How? The ancient Romans
The marine fossils found on a Moroccan island are estimated to be between 145 and 140 million years old.
amp-miamiherald-com.cdn.ampproject.org
June 26, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Ancient paleontologists or magical brachiopods?!
He gutted the intelligence networks, dismantled the anti terrorism task force, has the FBI working on deportations while headed by an imbecile, and then bombed Iran. Do all the miserable morons who voted for and support him feel safer today? I don't.
June 22, 2025 at 1:46 AM
He gutted the intelligence networks, dismantled the anti terrorism task force, has the FBI working on deportations while headed by an imbecile, and then bombed Iran. Do all the miserable morons who voted for and support him feel safer today? I don't.
Here we go again America. Supporting warmongering and bombing the Middle East. Old habits die hard; easier to kill people apparently.
June 22, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Here we go again America. Supporting warmongering and bombing the Middle East. Old habits die hard; easier to kill people apparently.
This week's featured article in Nature Protocols @natprot.nature.com . Big shout out to former student, post-doc and now colleague, Yuangeng Huang (China University of Geosciences, Wuhan).
June 17, 2025 at 6:56 PM
This week's featured article in Nature Protocols @natprot.nature.com . Big shout out to former student, post-doc and now colleague, Yuangeng Huang (China University of Geosciences, Wuhan).
New paper out online, "A modeling approach to quantify ecological dynamics and functional structures of paleocommunities", Nature Protocols. W/ Yuangeng Huang & ZQ Chen.
A modeling approach to quantify ecological dynamics and functional structures of paleocommunities
Nature Protocols - This Protocol outlines the steps to reconstructing ancient food webs using a variety of fossil data and applying the cascading extinction on graphs model to infer the effects of...
url.avanan.click
June 17, 2025 at 2:12 PM
New paper out online, "A modeling approach to quantify ecological dynamics and functional structures of paleocommunities", Nature Protocols. W/ Yuangeng Huang & ZQ Chen.
For #FossilFriday we celebrate Los Angeles w/ the round slipper snail, holotype of Crepipatella charybdis, from the Pleistocene of Los Angeles Co., California. Og genus Verticumbo (rev. J. McClean), still a part of California's great diversity. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/fmfhE7
June 13, 2025 at 5:43 PM
For #FossilFriday we celebrate Los Angeles w/ the round slipper snail, holotype of Crepipatella charybdis, from the Pleistocene of Los Angeles Co., California. Og genus Verticumbo (rev. J. McClean), still a part of California's great diversity. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/fmfhE7
"The right of #dissent ... is most secure where the system contemplates the right of dissenters to organize separately...the right to dissent is the foundation of liberty and liberty is the climate within which man's creativity flourishes best." Michael Manley, "The Politics of Change"
June 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
"The right of #dissent ... is most secure where the system contemplates the right of dissenters to organize separately...the right to dissent is the foundation of liberty and liberty is the climate within which man's creativity flourishes best." Michael Manley, "The Politics of Change"
#FossilFriday clam. Venericardia merriami holotype, Oregon, USA. From the Eocene, shortly before the planet changed, transitioning from a Warm House to the Cool/Ice House planet that we currently have (for now). #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/pUwnwu
June 6, 2025 at 4:36 PM
#FossilFriday clam. Venericardia merriami holotype, Oregon, USA. From the Eocene, shortly before the planet changed, transitioning from a Warm House to the Cool/Ice House planet that we currently have (for now). #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/pUwnwu
#FossilFriday foram! Vaginulinopsis verruculosa, Eocene Lodo Fm. of California. The Lodo records the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum when global average temp. rose more than 5 C, lasting ~200,00 years! A time of big biotic change. #paleontology #foraminifera @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/rBMU4y
May 30, 2025 at 4:06 PM
#FossilFriday foram! Vaginulinopsis verruculosa, Eocene Lodo Fm. of California. The Lodo records the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum when global average temp. rose more than 5 C, lasting ~200,00 years! A time of big biotic change. #paleontology #foraminifera @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/rBMU4y
Attorney General Bonta (California) Sues to Stop Termination, Withholding of National Science Foundation Grants
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
Attorney General Bonta Sues to Stop Termination, Withholding of National Science Foundation Grants
OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a lawsuit to stop the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) from: (1) terminating grants for scientific research that seeks to promote and understand diversity in higher education and the workforce, and (2) imposing a 15% cap on indirect cost reimbursements for research projects.
oag.ca.gov
May 28, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Attorney General Bonta (California) Sues to Stop Termination, Withholding of National Science Foundation Grants
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...
Reposted by Peter Roopnarine
Subjecting international students to more extreme social media vetting so they can study in the U.S. will only further chill free speech on campus.
The Trump administration must not double down on this discredited and discriminatory approach.
The Trump administration must not double down on this discredited and discriminatory approach.
Trump team pauses new student visa interviews as it weighs expanding social media vetting
It’s the latest salvo against universities, many of whom rely heavily on foreign students for funds.
www.politico.com
May 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Subjecting international students to more extreme social media vetting so they can study in the U.S. will only further chill free speech on campus.
The Trump administration must not double down on this discredited and discriminatory approach.
The Trump administration must not double down on this discredited and discriminatory approach.
“The protection of at-risk scholars is not just a moral duty — it is an investment in science itself.” Our community needs to define and recognize who among us needs help, and organize ourselves to do whatever we can. There is no one coming to the rescue until we act. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘Science saved my life’ — and it must save other at-risk scholars
The global scientific community must do more to offer safety and support to displaced academics and others.
www.nature.com
May 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM
“The protection of at-risk scholars is not just a moral duty — it is an investment in science itself.” Our community needs to define and recognize who among us needs help, and organize ourselves to do whatever we can. There is no one coming to the rescue until we act. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Are Humans Apex Predators?
(Oceana.org) In 2013, Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues published a study (Eating up the world’s food web and the human trophic level) in which they defined a Human Trophic Level (HTL). It’s a very neat study, in which the researchers examined human diets globally, with…
(Oceana.org) In 2013, Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues published a study (Eating up the world’s food web and the human trophic level) in which they defined a Human Trophic Level (HTL). It’s a very neat study, in which the researchers examined human diets globally, with…
Are Humans Apex Predators?
(Oceana.org) In 2013, Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues published a study (Eating up the world’s food web and the human trophic level) in which they defined a Human Trophic Level (HTL). It’s a very neat study, in which the researchers examined human diets globally, with a goal of providing the means of comparing trophic levels among nations and regions, examining trends over time, and providing a baseline for comparison going forward.
proopnarine.wordpress.com
May 23, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Are Humans Apex Predators?
(Oceana.org) In 2013, Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues published a study (Eating up the world’s food web and the human trophic level) in which they defined a Human Trophic Level (HTL). It’s a very neat study, in which the researchers examined human diets globally, with…
(Oceana.org) In 2013, Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues published a study (Eating up the world’s food web and the human trophic level) in which they defined a Human Trophic Level (HTL). It’s a very neat study, in which the researchers examined human diets globally, with…
It's #FossilFriday! Holotype of the Pleistocene diatom Rouxia leventerae, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Scale bar=10 um! Diatoms produce up to 50% of Earth's oxygen each year. They remind us that small can be mighty, and of the power of numbers. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/dT1BWa
May 23, 2025 at 4:33 PM
It's #FossilFriday! Holotype of the Pleistocene diatom Rouxia leventerae, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Scale bar=10 um! Diatoms produce up to 50% of Earth's oxygen each year. They remind us that small can be mighty, and of the power of numbers. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/dT1BWa
New paper out today in PNAS, with Geerat Vermeij and Rick Grosberg, "Energetics and evolutionary fitness", in which we take a look at the Equal Fitness Paradigm.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Energetics and evolutionary fitness | PNAS
It has long been recognized that energy is the currency of evolution, but contrasting
conceptions of the relationship between energy and adaptation...
www.pnas.org
May 16, 2025 at 4:31 PM
New paper out today in PNAS, with Geerat Vermeij and Rick Grosberg, "Energetics and evolutionary fitness", in which we take a look at the Equal Fitness Paradigm.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...