Laura Cooper
@transitionalform.bsky.social
Postdoc investigating the plants of the past at the University of Edinburgh
Pinned
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 Laura Cooper
📄 No evidence that haplodiploidy favors the evolution of eusociality 🐝🐜
⬇️
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
⬇️
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
No evidence that haplodiploidy favors the evolution of eusociality | PNAS
The potential role of haplodiploid sex determination in promoting the evolution of
altruism and eusociality has been the subject of intense debate ...
www.pnas.org
February 16, 2026 at 2:07 PM
📄 No evidence that haplodiploidy favors the evolution of eusociality 🐝🐜
⬇️
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
⬇️
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Laura Cooper
#WorldHippoDay
#Roman mosaic with hippopotamus
on display in Naples Archaeological Museum. This is one of the Nile mosaics found in the House of the Faun in the ancient ruined Roman city of #Pompeii. #art
#AncientBlueSky
#Roman mosaic with hippopotamus
on display in Naples Archaeological Museum. This is one of the Nile mosaics found in the House of the Faun in the ancient ruined Roman city of #Pompeii. #art
#AncientBlueSky
February 15, 2026 at 2:07 PM
#WorldHippoDay
#Roman mosaic with hippopotamus
on display in Naples Archaeological Museum. This is one of the Nile mosaics found in the House of the Faun in the ancient ruined Roman city of #Pompeii. #art
#AncientBlueSky
#Roman mosaic with hippopotamus
on display in Naples Archaeological Museum. This is one of the Nile mosaics found in the House of the Faun in the ancient ruined Roman city of #Pompeii. #art
#AncientBlueSky
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Keep science accessible 🧪
The misuse of colour in science communication - Nature Communications
The accurate representation of data is essential in science communication, however, colour maps that visually distort data through uneven colour gradients or are unreadable to those with colour vision...
www.nature.com
February 15, 2026 at 11:51 PM
Keep science accessible 🧪
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Happy #WorldHippoDay! 🦛❤️
To celebrate here’s a lovely naturalistic painting of a hippo on a small flake of limestone. Painted by an Egyptian artist some 3,500 years ago!
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
To celebrate here’s a lovely naturalistic painting of a hippo on a small flake of limestone. Painted by an Egyptian artist some 3,500 years ago!
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
February 15, 2026 at 11:30 AM
Happy #WorldHippoDay! 🦛❤️
To celebrate here’s a lovely naturalistic painting of a hippo on a small flake of limestone. Painted by an Egyptian artist some 3,500 years ago!
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
To celebrate here’s a lovely naturalistic painting of a hippo on a small flake of limestone. Painted by an Egyptian artist some 3,500 years ago!
📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
#Archaeology
Reposted by Laura Cooper
One very rotten deciduous log, one very observant iNaturalist community member — and a close-up world hiding in plain sight. Say hello to the white tubelet (Henningsomyces candidus).
📷 cryptomarasmius on iNaturalist
📍 United Kingdom
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
📷 cryptomarasmius on iNaturalist
📍 United Kingdom
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
February 13, 2026 at 7:39 PM
One very rotten deciduous log, one very observant iNaturalist community member — and a close-up world hiding in plain sight. Say hello to the white tubelet (Henningsomyces candidus).
📷 cryptomarasmius on iNaturalist
📍 United Kingdom
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
📷 cryptomarasmius on iNaturalist
📍 United Kingdom
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay
Reposted by Laura Cooper
90% of you probably don’t need to read this.
But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy.
It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud;
partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3)
tinyurl.com/DudinO
But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy.
It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud;
partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3)
tinyurl.com/DudinO
Omaya Dudin
Interview with Omaya Dudin, who uses Ichthyosporea as models to study how and why
unicellular organisms evolved multicellularity at the University of Geneva.
www.cell.com
June 10, 2025 at 9:41 AM
90% of you probably don’t need to read this.
But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy.
It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud;
partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3)
tinyurl.com/DudinO
But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy.
It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud;
partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3)
tinyurl.com/DudinO
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Bringing this back up for the International Day of Women in Science, and yes, I consider scientific art, as part of scientific process and communication 🫰
February 11, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Bringing this back up for the International Day of Women in Science, and yes, I consider scientific art, as part of scientific process and communication 🫰
This also applies for Prototaxites btw
February 9, 2026 at 5:02 PM
This also applies for Prototaxites btw
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Really taken with Haolong dongi, out today from Jiandong Huang, Pascal Godefroit and team. Just submitted news article on it. An iguanodontian with abundant hollow spikes across the neck and body, projecting from among conventional basement scales, and with rows of plate-like scales along the tail.
February 6, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Really taken with Haolong dongi, out today from Jiandong Huang, Pascal Godefroit and team. Just submitted news article on it. An iguanodontian with abundant hollow spikes across the neck and body, projecting from among conventional basement scales, and with rows of plate-like scales along the tail.
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Reposting this old photo for #FossilFriday: what you are looking at is a fragment of Callixylon wood from the Late Devonian, about 360 million years ago, seen under the microscope. The elongated structures are the conducting cells & there's a hair on the right for scale. 🔬🌿⛏️
#paleobotany
#paleobotany
February 6, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Reposting this old photo for #FossilFriday: what you are looking at is a fragment of Callixylon wood from the Late Devonian, about 360 million years ago, seen under the microscope. The elongated structures are the conducting cells & there's a hair on the right for scale. 🔬🌿⛏️
#paleobotany
#paleobotany
Reposted by Laura Cooper
"Saw her in the Amazon
With the voltage runnin' through her skin
Standin' there with nothin' on
She gonna teach me how to swim"
for more about the electric (f)eel, check this primer by Ken Catania ⚡ www.cell.com/current-biol...
(and yes, finally some current biology in Current Biology)
With the voltage runnin' through her skin
Standin' there with nothin' on
She gonna teach me how to swim"
for more about the electric (f)eel, check this primer by Ken Catania ⚡ www.cell.com/current-biol...
(and yes, finally some current biology in Current Biology)
February 5, 2026 at 8:10 AM
"Saw her in the Amazon
With the voltage runnin' through her skin
Standin' there with nothin' on
She gonna teach me how to swim"
for more about the electric (f)eel, check this primer by Ken Catania ⚡ www.cell.com/current-biol...
(and yes, finally some current biology in Current Biology)
With the voltage runnin' through her skin
Standin' there with nothin' on
She gonna teach me how to swim"
for more about the electric (f)eel, check this primer by Ken Catania ⚡ www.cell.com/current-biol...
(and yes, finally some current biology in Current Biology)
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Founders of modern paleontology, and their contributions to systemic racism, classism and sexism (🧵)
Henry Osborn (1857–1935), responsible for naming of Tyrannosaurus & Velociraptor; president of ANHM.
Co-founder of the American Eugenics Society. Contributing to books later praised by Hitler.
Henry Osborn (1857–1935), responsible for naming of Tyrannosaurus & Velociraptor; president of ANHM.
Co-founder of the American Eugenics Society. Contributing to books later praised by Hitler.
February 2, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Founders of modern paleontology, and their contributions to systemic racism, classism and sexism (🧵)
Henry Osborn (1857–1935), responsible for naming of Tyrannosaurus & Velociraptor; president of ANHM.
Co-founder of the American Eugenics Society. Contributing to books later praised by Hitler.
Henry Osborn (1857–1935), responsible for naming of Tyrannosaurus & Velociraptor; president of ANHM.
Co-founder of the American Eugenics Society. Contributing to books later praised by Hitler.
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Opportunity for women students in paleontology! The Winifred Goldring Award will be presented to three women graduate students and the AWG Undergraduate Paleontology Award will be presented to a student pursuing a career in paleontology. Due April 30th. More information here: tinyurl.com/msdc3m68
February 2, 2026 at 1:47 AM
Opportunity for women students in paleontology! The Winifred Goldring Award will be presented to three women graduate students and the AWG Undergraduate Paleontology Award will be presented to a student pursuing a career in paleontology. Due April 30th. More information here: tinyurl.com/msdc3m68
Reposted by Laura Cooper
I've seen fossils in some remarkable places, but this takes the prize: the benthic foram Nummulites in the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza. These massive blocks were quarried from the Eocene Mokkatam Formation when a relictual population of woolly mammoths still lived on Wrangel Island.
February 2, 2026 at 5:43 PM
I've seen fossils in some remarkable places, but this takes the prize: the benthic foram Nummulites in the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza. These massive blocks were quarried from the Eocene Mokkatam Formation when a relictual population of woolly mammoths still lived on Wrangel Island.
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Plant Science Research Weekly -- Not a Fungi after all: new clues to the identity of Prototaxites (Science Advances) (Summary by Katarina Kurtović, katarinakurtovic.bsky.social) @sandyheth.bsky.social @transitionalform.bsky.social buff.ly/DwgUr2f
#PlantaePSRW
#PlantaePSRW
Not a Fungi after all: New clues to the identity of Prototaxites | Plantae
The colonization of land by plants was a crucial event in Earth’s history that fundamentally transformed our planet’s surface. Early plants were small and structurally simple…
buff.ly
February 2, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Plant Science Research Weekly -- Not a Fungi after all: new clues to the identity of Prototaxites (Science Advances) (Summary by Katarina Kurtović, katarinakurtovic.bsky.social) @sandyheth.bsky.social @transitionalform.bsky.social buff.ly/DwgUr2f
#PlantaePSRW
#PlantaePSRW
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Read all about Diego's hunt for lycophytes around Scotland in this post!
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A new blog is out on our website! 📄 Go check it out! Diego Sanchez Ganfornina from @sandyheth.bsky.social's lab talks about the field work he just completed in Scotland. He is trying to generate a lycophyte living collection – likely UK’s largest! 🌿 biology.ed.ac.uk/plant-scienc...
Blog - Bringing the wilderness to IMPS: Fieldwork in Scotland to generate a lycophyte living collection – likely UK’s largest! | Molecular Plant Sciences | Biology
This blog was written by Diego Sanchez Ganfornina, of the Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group (Hetherington Lab | Biology MPEG), collating considerations and reflections through his spring fiel...
biology.ed.ac.uk
February 2, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Read all about Diego's hunt for lycophytes around Scotland in this post!
👇👇
👇👇
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Not many animals are the shape of an #echidna, which is a shame.
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #echidnas
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #echidnas
February 2, 2026 at 8:31 AM
Not many animals are the shape of an #echidna, which is a shame.
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #echidnas
#Tasmania #MammalWatching #WildOz #echidnas
Reposted by Laura Cooper
More added 🦕🦖
👇 The list is growing 🌿
February 1, 2026 at 2:49 PM
More added 🦕🦖
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Qikiqtania attempts to prevent brother Tiktaalik from making a terrible mistake. Unlike Tiktaalik, Qikiqtania remained waterbound and could not support its weight on land.
#paleoart #SciArt #art #artist #paleontology #artistonbluesky #originalart
#paleoart #SciArt #art #artist #paleontology #artistonbluesky #originalart
January 29, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Qikiqtania attempts to prevent brother Tiktaalik from making a terrible mistake. Unlike Tiktaalik, Qikiqtania remained waterbound and could not support its weight on land.
#paleoart #SciArt #art #artist #paleontology #artistonbluesky #originalart
#paleoart #SciArt #art #artist #paleontology #artistonbluesky #originalart
Reposted by Laura Cooper
Today's lycopsids ("clubmosses") are small plants and do not produce wood but some of their Paleozoic relatives did! This is a detail of the wood cells in a stem of Sigillaria from the Carboniferous of the USA 🔬🌿⛏️ Happy #FossilFriday!
#paleobotany #botany
#paleobotany #botany
January 30, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Today's lycopsids ("clubmosses") are small plants and do not produce wood but some of their Paleozoic relatives did! This is a detail of the wood cells in a stem of Sigillaria from the Carboniferous of the USA 🔬🌿⛏️ Happy #FossilFriday!
#paleobotany #botany
#paleobotany #botany
Reposted by Laura Cooper
#PlantSci Res Wkly Jan 30 (2/2) plantae.org/plant-scienc...
Mechanoperception and defense signaling;
Rapid evolutionary gene expression shifts shaped angiosperms;
Intergenerational epigenetic acquired nematode resistance; That big, big fossilized organism that probably isn’t fungal after all
Mechanoperception and defense signaling;
Rapid evolutionary gene expression shifts shaped angiosperms;
Intergenerational epigenetic acquired nematode resistance; That big, big fossilized organism that probably isn’t fungal after all
January 30, 2026 at 7:27 AM
#PlantSci Res Wkly Jan 30 (2/2) plantae.org/plant-scienc...
Mechanoperception and defense signaling;
Rapid evolutionary gene expression shifts shaped angiosperms;
Intergenerational epigenetic acquired nematode resistance; That big, big fossilized organism that probably isn’t fungal after all
Mechanoperception and defense signaling;
Rapid evolutionary gene expression shifts shaped angiosperms;
Intergenerational epigenetic acquired nematode resistance; That big, big fossilized organism that probably isn’t fungal after all
Here's the top view of the hat, with baby hippos and Prototaxites!
January 27, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Here's the top view of the hat, with baby hippos and Prototaxites!