@diplotomodon.bsky.social
paleontology | museums | Philadelphia | storytelling | 𓅽
Reposted
Perfect Tom Stoppard story from DTel obituary:
His response to a letter from Harold Pinter canvassing support for a proposal to have the Comedy Theatre in London rechristened the Pinter Theatre, “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”
His response to a letter from Harold Pinter canvassing support for a proposal to have the Comedy Theatre in London rechristened the Pinter Theatre, “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”
November 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Perfect Tom Stoppard story from DTel obituary:
His response to a letter from Harold Pinter canvassing support for a proposal to have the Comedy Theatre in London rechristened the Pinter Theatre, “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”
His response to a letter from Harold Pinter canvassing support for a proposal to have the Comedy Theatre in London rechristened the Pinter Theatre, “Have you thought, instead, of changing your name to Harold Comedy?”
Reposted
I understand that the Natural History Museum of Abu Dhabi spent a truly wild amount of money to purchase Stan the T.rex, which makes it all the odder that its mount of two fighting tyrannosaurs is so utterly sauceless
November 23, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I understand that the Natural History Museum of Abu Dhabi spent a truly wild amount of money to purchase Stan the T.rex, which makes it all the odder that its mount of two fighting tyrannosaurs is so utterly sauceless
Very funny to consider any form of graduate school when your 1st choice of advisor gets their funding pulled for being a serial academic harasser, your 2nd choice becomes a mouthpiece for a venture capitalist startup, and your 3rd choice starts working for the UAE out of nowhere
November 22, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Very funny to consider any form of graduate school when your 1st choice of advisor gets their funding pulled for being a serial academic harasser, your 2nd choice becomes a mouthpiece for a venture capitalist startup, and your 3rd choice starts working for the UAE out of nowhere
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What might be my favourite fossil has been just published by Kiat et al. 2025. Years ago I saw a pic of this Anchiornis specimen in nat geo article and I audibly gasped.preserving not only the feathers but also the original patterns as well. I made this drawing on the spot. Maybe its time to do v2.0
November 21, 2025 at 7:27 PM
What might be my favourite fossil has been just published by Kiat et al. 2025. Years ago I saw a pic of this Anchiornis specimen in nat geo article and I audibly gasped.preserving not only the feathers but also the original patterns as well. I made this drawing on the spot. Maybe its time to do v2.0
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🚨New paper alert!🚨🤩
🧪⚒️Welcome the first filter-feeding pterosaur from Brazil: Bakiribu waridza, from the Araripe Basin!! 🥳
The new species is AWESOME and was discoverd inside a regurgitalite 😱🤍
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪⚒️Welcome the first filter-feeding pterosaur from Brazil: Bakiribu waridza, from the Araripe Basin!! 🥳
The new species is AWESOME and was discoverd inside a regurgitalite 😱🤍
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
🚨New paper alert!🚨🤩
🧪⚒️Welcome the first filter-feeding pterosaur from Brazil: Bakiribu waridza, from the Araripe Basin!! 🥳
The new species is AWESOME and was discoverd inside a regurgitalite 😱🤍
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪⚒️Welcome the first filter-feeding pterosaur from Brazil: Bakiribu waridza, from the Araripe Basin!! 🥳
The new species is AWESOME and was discoverd inside a regurgitalite 😱🤍
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Of course the big paper on Azhdarchoid phylogeny comes out while I'm at a museum on a research visit (looking at Azhdarchoid cervicals, obviously) but now I'm back at the hotel so it's time to write a proper thread! 1/28
November 5, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Of course the big paper on Azhdarchoid phylogeny comes out while I'm at a museum on a research visit (looking at Azhdarchoid cervicals, obviously) but now I'm back at the hotel so it's time to write a proper thread! 1/28
Reposted
JUST PUBLISHED!!!! A major azhdarchoid phylogeny paper coauthored with @skyemcdavid.com - the fruit of years of work - is now out in @journalsystpal.bsky.social! New clades, reconstruction of size evolution, and more. Full thread to come soon!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Enter the dragons: the phylogeny of Azhdarchoidea (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) and the evolution of giant size in pterosaurs
Azhdarchidae is a clade of pterosaurs which includes the largest-ever flying animals. The evolutionary history of this clade and its closest relatives remains incompletely understood and highly deb...
www.tandfonline.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
JUST PUBLISHED!!!! A major azhdarchoid phylogeny paper coauthored with @skyemcdavid.com - the fruit of years of work - is now out in @journalsystpal.bsky.social! New clades, reconstruction of size evolution, and more. Full thread to come soon!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted
Sometimes, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett, you hear the voice of the electorate. And it growls
the entire twitter and group chat poisoned elite of American society who decided Trump winning an election by 1.5% heralded a thousand year reich may have miscalculated a bit
November 5, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Sometimes, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett, you hear the voice of the electorate. And it growls
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BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 3:33 AM
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Reposted
I’ll never escape the fucking Phillies bullpen.
November 2, 2025 at 3:51 AM
I’ll never escape the fucking Phillies bullpen.
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Papa Leo showing the Phillies how to hit the ball:
October 31, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Papa Leo showing the Phillies how to hit the ball:
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I'm pretty confident that certain online people are going to be cheering about how they were right all along on Nanotyrannus. Their take will be that they were right all along and their arguments, based on private specimens of uncertain provenance, photos of things without scale bars, and ideas...
October 30, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I'm pretty confident that certain online people are going to be cheering about how they were right all along on Nanotyrannus. Their take will be that they were right all along and their arguments, based on private specimens of uncertain provenance, photos of things without scale bars, and ideas...
Reposted
My latest for @nytimes.com! For 40 years, paleontologists have grappled over whether a small tyrannosaur — named Nanotyrannus — was its own animal, or simply a teenage T.rex. The debate has been ... contentious. Which is why it's so fun to finally be able to say this:
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
The Case of the Tiny Tyrannosaurus Might Have Been Cracked
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
My latest for @nytimes.com! For 40 years, paleontologists have grappled over whether a small tyrannosaur — named Nanotyrannus — was its own animal, or simply a teenage T.rex. The debate has been ... contentious. Which is why it's so fun to finally be able to say this:
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
It's a Sawdust and Diamonds type of night (aka: going through it)
October 30, 2025 at 2:00 AM
It's a Sawdust and Diamonds type of night (aka: going through it)
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fuck gavin newsom
gavin newsom says he wants to pass legislation banning trans people from playing sports in california
October 29, 2025 at 2:21 PM
fuck gavin newsom
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Jamaica is responsible for less than 0.03% of global CO₂ emissions but faces almost unimaginable loss and damage in coming days at the hands of wealthy nations.
It's heartbreaking and utterly damning.
It's heartbreaking and utterly damning.
Hurricane Melissa is forecast to strengthen into a rare Category 5 hurricane, threatening Jamaica with potentially catastrophic flash floods and landslides: https://cnn.it/47sseLE
Hurricane Melissa forecast to become a rare Category 5 tonight, seek shelter now in Jamaica | CNN
Melissa rapidly intensified going into Sunday morning and is now a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. The US National Hurricane Center expects it to strengthen into a rare Category 5 hurricane o...
www.cnn.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Jamaica is responsible for less than 0.03% of global CO₂ emissions but faces almost unimaginable loss and damage in coming days at the hands of wealthy nations.
It's heartbreaking and utterly damning.
It's heartbreaking and utterly damning.
Reposted
Reposted
I cannot tell you how many tech journalists at prominent media organizations do not understand this
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
October 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I cannot tell you how many tech journalists at prominent media organizations do not understand this
Reposted
New, on Heat Death! While going through some Texan paleontology archives, I stumbled across a scrapbook. The result is a kind of time capsule of early 20th century paleontology pop culture in poems and (mostly) cartoons.
🧪🦖
🧪🦖
The Paleontologist's Scrapbook
Cartoons and poems from the dawn of prehistory
heat-death.ghost.io
October 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
New, on Heat Death! While going through some Texan paleontology archives, I stumbled across a scrapbook. The result is a kind of time capsule of early 20th century paleontology pop culture in poems and (mostly) cartoons.
🧪🦖
🧪🦖
Reposted
Guillermo del Toro: life is not measured in breaths you take but in the number of moments that take your breath away
Me, blasting Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory and drinking five Sprites: that’s fuckin right king
Me, blasting Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory and drinking five Sprites: that’s fuckin right king
October 27, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Guillermo del Toro: life is not measured in breaths you take but in the number of moments that take your breath away
Me, blasting Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory and drinking five Sprites: that’s fuckin right king
Me, blasting Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory and drinking five Sprites: that’s fuckin right king
Reposted
THEY DOUBTED ME WHEN I CALLED THE YANKEES BUMS
MOREOVER, ICE MUST BE DESTROYED
MOREOVER, ICE MUST BE DESTROYED
October 9, 2025 at 2:33 AM
THEY DOUBTED ME WHEN I CALLED THE YANKEES BUMS
MOREOVER, ICE MUST BE DESTROYED
MOREOVER, ICE MUST BE DESTROYED
Reposted
This is the shit they’re defunding. Scientists can make your teeth see so you can get back to balling and they want to take that away from you forever
TIL that for some people with irreparably damaged corneas, you can pull one of their teeth, drill a hole in it, install an artificial lens, sew it into their cheek (so tissue attaches), then pull it out and stick it in their damaged eye, and ... it works fine!?! www.nbcboston.com/news/health/...
Man, 34, is no longer blind after tooth is implanted in eye in 'crazy' surgery
Tooth-in-eye surgery sounds like science fiction, but it can help people with severely damaged corneas see again. A patient and his doctors describe what it's like.
www.nbcboston.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:04 PM
This is the shit they’re defunding. Scientists can make your teeth see so you can get back to balling and they want to take that away from you forever
Reposted
The amount of carbon that forests can take up is much lower than previous estimates. If we don't reduce CO₂ emissions rapidly, we can say goodbye to the Paris climate targets forever.
Land availability and policy commitments limit global climate mitigation from forestation
Forestation (afforestation and reforestation) could mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon within biomass and soils. However, global mitigation from forestation remains uncertain owing to vary...
www.science.org
September 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The amount of carbon that forests can take up is much lower than previous estimates. If we don't reduce CO₂ emissions rapidly, we can say goodbye to the Paris climate targets forever.