Karen Poole
@renpoole.bsky.social
Dinosaur paleontologist teaching human anatomy to medical students. Interests: ornithischians, systematics, diversity in science and medicine.
Avi by @blackmudpuppy
Avi by @blackmudpuppy
Reposted by Karen Poole
This is Alex Pretti.
This morning he was murdered by ICE. Six ICE agents held him down and shot him at point blank range. Alex was a nurse and researcher at the VA.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones and we stand united in action calling for the abolishment of ICE.
#ScientistsAgainstICE
This morning he was murdered by ICE. Six ICE agents held him down and shot him at point blank range. Alex was a nurse and researcher at the VA.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones and we stand united in action calling for the abolishment of ICE.
#ScientistsAgainstICE
January 24, 2026 at 8:03 PM
This is Alex Pretti.
This morning he was murdered by ICE. Six ICE agents held him down and shot him at point blank range. Alex was a nurse and researcher at the VA.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones and we stand united in action calling for the abolishment of ICE.
#ScientistsAgainstICE
This morning he was murdered by ICE. Six ICE agents held him down and shot him at point blank range. Alex was a nurse and researcher at the VA.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones and we stand united in action calling for the abolishment of ICE.
#ScientistsAgainstICE
Reposted by Karen Poole
I am tempted to say some things which could get me in trouble, so here's this instead
www.standwithminnesota.com
www.standwithminnesota.com
Stand With Minnesota Donation Directory
Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.
www.standwithminnesota.com
January 24, 2026 at 7:36 PM
I am tempted to say some things which could get me in trouble, so here's this instead
www.standwithminnesota.com
www.standwithminnesota.com
Reposted by Karen Poole
We had 50K people downtown yesterday, no ICE and zero incidents. ICE is the fucking problem.
January 24, 2026 at 4:20 PM
We had 50K people downtown yesterday, no ICE and zero incidents. ICE is the fucking problem.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Whatever fucking excuses the administration rolls out for executing this person in the street, all I have to say is
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
This was murder by the state. Period. Five shots when the person is already down is an execution. That's it.
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
This was murder by the state. Period. Five shots when the person is already down is an execution. That's it.
January 24, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Whatever fucking excuses the administration rolls out for executing this person in the street, all I have to say is
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
This was murder by the state. Period. Five shots when the person is already down is an execution. That's it.
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
Due process
This was murder by the state. Period. Five shots when the person is already down is an execution. That's it.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Also, the arctic vortex wandering south like this IS an indicator of climate change, as it is due to the destabilization of the jet stream and oceanic currents.
Yes, it’s cold across part of the United States today.
This does *not* mean the global-scale patterns of long-term warming linked to climate change are not happening.
The United States covers only 1.8% of the planet. And a few days is only 0.03% of the 30 years we average for climate statistics.
This does *not* mean the global-scale patterns of long-term warming linked to climate change are not happening.
The United States covers only 1.8% of the planet. And a few days is only 0.03% of the 30 years we average for climate statistics.
January 23, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Also, the arctic vortex wandering south like this IS an indicator of climate change, as it is due to the destabilization of the jet stream and oceanic currents.
Reposted by Karen Poole
They keep on coming! Take note of the hundreds upon hundreds of local businesses and cultural institutions participating in this action. And don’t forget the many businesses who have been forced to close for much longer than a day to protect their workers and customers from ICE.
January 22, 2026 at 4:03 PM
They keep on coming! Take note of the hundreds upon hundreds of local businesses and cultural institutions participating in this action. And don’t forget the many businesses who have been forced to close for much longer than a day to protect their workers and customers from ICE.
Reposted by Karen Poole
National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
January 22, 2026 at 8:25 PM
National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Reposted by Karen Poole
JOB: SEASONAL PALEONTOLOGIST
BADLANDS DINOSAUR MUSEUM (DICKINSON, ND)
2026 summer tourist season. May/June start, 15wks, end Aug/Sept. Full-Time, 40 hrs/wk, $19.84hr. 50% working with public, 50% lab/collections. See link in comms for info. Come work with us!
BADLANDS DINOSAUR MUSEUM (DICKINSON, ND)
2026 summer tourist season. May/June start, 15wks, end Aug/Sept. Full-Time, 40 hrs/wk, $19.84hr. 50% working with public, 50% lab/collections. See link in comms for info. Come work with us!
January 22, 2026 at 11:07 PM
JOB: SEASONAL PALEONTOLOGIST
BADLANDS DINOSAUR MUSEUM (DICKINSON, ND)
2026 summer tourist season. May/June start, 15wks, end Aug/Sept. Full-Time, 40 hrs/wk, $19.84hr. 50% working with public, 50% lab/collections. See link in comms for info. Come work with us!
BADLANDS DINOSAUR MUSEUM (DICKINSON, ND)
2026 summer tourist season. May/June start, 15wks, end Aug/Sept. Full-Time, 40 hrs/wk, $19.84hr. 50% working with public, 50% lab/collections. See link in comms for info. Come work with us!
Reposted by Karen Poole
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
January 21, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage
Reposted by Karen Poole
Seems to be the most dramatic breakthrough in preventing/slowing dementia & alzheimer's ever. But it's a vaccine, so it doesn't get headlines.
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
The Shingles vaccine and reduction of dementia: a new natural experiment from Canada replicated 3 others and adds to this week's link to slowing of biological aging.
erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...
erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...
Spotlight on the Shingles Vaccine—Again!
Two new studies add to a remarkable body of evidence for benefit
erictopol.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Seems to be the most dramatic breakthrough in preventing/slowing dementia & alzheimer's ever. But it's a vaccine, so it doesn't get headlines.
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
Wish you could get the shingles vaccine before age 50. You don't have to be 50 to get shingles—I can attest as I had it last summer (not recommended).
Have just learned about the recent death of a friend, Justin Hall. He was one of the two people who tried to warn me away from a graduate program working with a sexual harasser (though he was subtle and I ignored the advice).
I’ve always appreciated what he did, and tonight I’m sad.
I’ve always appreciated what he did, and tonight I’m sad.
January 22, 2026 at 2:43 AM
Have just learned about the recent death of a friend, Justin Hall. He was one of the two people who tried to warn me away from a graduate program working with a sexual harasser (though he was subtle and I ignored the advice).
I’ve always appreciated what he did, and tonight I’m sad.
I’ve always appreciated what he did, and tonight I’m sad.
This is art.
(Not the AI slop on the wall)
(Not the AI slop on the wall)
January 21, 2026 at 3:21 AM
This is art.
(Not the AI slop on the wall)
(Not the AI slop on the wall)
Reposted by Karen Poole
Dig for fossils, assemble your exhibits, and create the museum of your dreams in Fossil Quest, a game developed by husband and wife team Lasse and Romy. "Fix up your manor to create (and redecorate!) a museum where everyone feels welcome!"
January 20, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Dig for fossils, assemble your exhibits, and create the museum of your dreams in Fossil Quest, a game developed by husband and wife team Lasse and Romy. "Fix up your manor to create (and redecorate!) a museum where everyone feels welcome!"
Reposted by Karen Poole
I’m sharing this video again because people don’t really get what these data centers and ai are doing to our planet and our communities. Especially Black communities because they were strategically placed there.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
January 20, 2026 at 11:16 PM
I’m sharing this video again because people don’t really get what these data centers and ai are doing to our planet and our communities. Especially Black communities because they were strategically placed there.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
I need you to listen to these people.
STOP USING AI. STOP SUPPORTING AI.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Greenlandic politician Tillie Martinussen on the sovereignty of Greenlanders, the greed in the US, and how they view their land. Also comments on how the US treated Natives, as a very good reason to not want to be a part of the US.
youtu.be/xs53IESxz80?...
youtu.be/xs53IESxz80?...
‘Big Miscalculation’: Greenlandic Politician Warns Trump Over Bid to Take Arctic Island | APT
YouTube video by APT
youtu.be
January 20, 2026 at 11:45 AM
Greenlandic politician Tillie Martinussen on the sovereignty of Greenlanders, the greed in the US, and how they view their land. Also comments on how the US treated Natives, as a very good reason to not want to be a part of the US.
youtu.be/xs53IESxz80?...
youtu.be/xs53IESxz80?...
Reposted by Karen Poole
I posted this for 2 reasons:
1. The Little Rock Nine students are still alive, that is how recent integration was.
2. Be the nice kid, not the witness.
1. The Little Rock Nine students are still alive, that is how recent integration was.
2. Be the nice kid, not the witness.
Little Rock Nine student Minnijean Brown-Trickey: "There were 20 nice kids...There were about 300 really mean kids.... there were 1700 silent witnesses who stood by & said nothing...if you're walking through terror, if somebody smiles with a genuine smile, you feel like oh, there's hope."
Minnijean Brown-Trickey is one of the original members of the Little Rock Nine, the teenagers who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ru...
TikTok video by pbsnews
www.tiktok.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:01 PM
I posted this for 2 reasons:
1. The Little Rock Nine students are still alive, that is how recent integration was.
2. Be the nice kid, not the witness.
1. The Little Rock Nine students are still alive, that is how recent integration was.
2. Be the nice kid, not the witness.
Reposted by Karen Poole
I can’t go to the grocery store alone right now because ICE is racially profiling and abducting people who aren’t white
Despite Trump’s promises, grocery prices are still rising fast. Families can’t afford this… when is he going to get serious about lowering costs?
January 19, 2026 at 9:51 PM
I can’t go to the grocery store alone right now because ICE is racially profiling and abducting people who aren’t white
Reposted by Karen Poole
Very good piece by @mashagessen.bsky.social, the author of Surviving Autocracy, who left Russia in 2013 as the authoritarian hammer really started coming down, and moved to the United States. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...
January 19, 2026 at 3:43 AM
Very good piece by @mashagessen.bsky.social, the author of Surviving Autocracy, who left Russia in 2013 as the authoritarian hammer really started coming down, and moved to the United States. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...
Reposted by Karen Poole
Collaborate with me! Myself and @peterroopnarine.bsky.social are looking for a postdoc with expertise in quantitative paleoecology to work on our new NSF grant addressing whether communities after the PTME functioned differently than those beforehand.
job-boards.greenhouse.io/californiaac...
job-boards.greenhouse.io/californiaac...
Postdoctoral Researcher, Paleontology
San Francisco, CA
job-boards.greenhouse.io
January 16, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Collaborate with me! Myself and @peterroopnarine.bsky.social are looking for a postdoc with expertise in quantitative paleoecology to work on our new NSF grant addressing whether communities after the PTME functioned differently than those beforehand.
job-boards.greenhouse.io/californiaac...
job-boards.greenhouse.io/californiaac...
Reposted by Karen Poole
Cow Tools!
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
January 19, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Cow Tools!
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
We have lived alongside cows for nearly 10,000 years.
We breed them and exploit them
It is now, only now, that we have discovered THEY CAN USE TOOLS
Here I describe our study
(paper) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... in @currentbiology.bsky.social
with @auersperga.bsky.social
Reposted by Karen Poole
Maybe we should stick to a message this simple.
January 19, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Maybe we should stick to a message this simple.
This.
That White House Correspondents Dinner when Obama roasted Trump is such a driving feature of today’s politics.
Trump’s motivation is proving he’s better than the Black President—it’s why he was obsessed about winning a second term (or more) and the Nobel Peace prize.
That White House Correspondents Dinner when Obama roasted Trump is such a driving feature of today’s politics.
Trump’s motivation is proving he’s better than the Black President—it’s why he was obsessed about winning a second term (or more) and the Nobel Peace prize.
That Black Man has one.
He's still enraged that Obama humiliated him, he's an OG racist, & his whole life, he got what he demanded. Now he's raging at the world for not giving way to his rage.
Trump is driven by many things, but we really need take his loathing for Barack Obama more seriously.
He's still enraged that Obama humiliated him, he's an OG racist, & his whole life, he got what he demanded. Now he's raging at the world for not giving way to his rage.
Trump is driven by many things, but we really need take his loathing for Barack Obama more seriously.
"Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize."
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
January 19, 2026 at 8:23 PM
This.
That White House Correspondents Dinner when Obama roasted Trump is such a driving feature of today’s politics.
Trump’s motivation is proving he’s better than the Black President—it’s why he was obsessed about winning a second term (or more) and the Nobel Peace prize.
That White House Correspondents Dinner when Obama roasted Trump is such a driving feature of today’s politics.
Trump’s motivation is proving he’s better than the Black President—it’s why he was obsessed about winning a second term (or more) and the Nobel Peace prize.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Here's the thing that Pluto tells us. Stars are predictable. There are variations (and they're important) but to a certain extent if you know a star's physical parameters, you know almost everything about it. Planets (and dwarf planets and moons and asteroids), however, are *all seemingly unique*.
These are the icy mountains of Pluto. It took 9 years to get these magnificent images… and 4.8 billion kilometers.
January 19, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Here's the thing that Pluto tells us. Stars are predictable. There are variations (and they're important) but to a certain extent if you know a star's physical parameters, you know almost everything about it. Planets (and dwarf planets and moons and asteroids), however, are *all seemingly unique*.
Reposted by Karen Poole
People really really downplay dental health. Cavities are not the worse case scenario here. Poor oral health can kill you
January 19, 2026 at 1:59 AM
People really really downplay dental health. Cavities are not the worse case scenario here. Poor oral health can kill you
Reposted by Karen Poole
There's a guide I read at some point for writers about how to not use this shit, and one of the points it makes is that you can just use a word that describes the ACTUAL behavior.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
I will never for my entire life understand why people are so fucking hostile to the idea that a word they use is violent against disabled people and they shouldn’t say it
We remove racial slurs from our vocabulary easily. Slurs against disabled people are no different, you’re just lazy and ableist
We remove racial slurs from our vocabulary easily. Slurs against disabled people are no different, you’re just lazy and ableist
January 18, 2026 at 10:49 PM
There's a guide I read at some point for writers about how to not use this shit, and one of the points it makes is that you can just use a word that describes the ACTUAL behavior.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.
The actual description of what they do is never the developmental slur that you want to use.