John Jackson
LightNews LightNews
banner
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
John Jackson
@johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
1.8K followers 680 following 160 posts
Natural History Museum London science and humanities research, collections, laboratories and libraries - Head of Science Policy and Communication - own views - 🦇🐝🦂🐞🦖🦀🦒🌳🍄🌎☄️ &c

#NHMLondon #NaturalHistoryMuseumLondon
#NHMScience
Posts Replies Media Videos
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
NHM London is looking for a Director of Research as part of our leadership team. Guide a world-class research community, set a strong vision for collections-based research, and ensure research excellence across NHM activities.
plusportal.perrettlaver.com/VacancyDetai...
July 11, 2025 at 9:38 AM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
FREE COURSE: Field workshop on the taxonomy and natural history of freshwater and limno-terrestrial meiofauna

Apply now for a free place on the NHM NERC-funded upcoming short training course 27 Aug - 11 Sept. Applications close 31 May.

www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
Meiofauna - from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/study/postgraduate/phd-opportunities/projects/meiofaunal-molecular-systematics.html
April 14, 2025 at 10:48 AM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
FREE COURSE: Taxonomic skills and field techniques for freshwater ecology and quality. Apply now for a free place on the NHM NERC-funded upcoming short training course running 19-23 May. Applications close 24 April!

www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
Daphnia magna Dieter Ebert, Basel, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
April 14, 2025 at 10:31 AM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
We were honoured yesterday to be a part of return of ancestral remains to Wathithi, Warrgama and Woppaburra representatives, who will take these Old People back to Country, also escorting ancestors from the Yadhaigana people and other communities in Queensland

www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office...
April 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
One of the histories in @drbeldavis.bsky.social book is the use of the African Clawed Toad in the mid-20th Century as a way of detecting human pregnancy, featured in the new @nhm-london.bsky.social exhibition Fixing Our Broken Planet

Listen to the gallery guide soundcloud.com/nhmlondon/st...
April 7, 2025 at 1:55 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Rapid advances in scanning technology and data analysis open up new understanding of evolution and form - Morphological evolution in a time of phenomics, from @evoswami.bsky.social & Julien Clavel

👉paper doi.org/10.1017/pab....
CC BY Goswami & Clavel https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2024.35 Linear, geometric, and landmark-free morphometric approaches, demonstrated on a 3D mesh of a mammal skull, Arctictis bintuong (MNHN 1936-1529) - the Binturong
March 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Life with the Neanderthals - a great interview with Chris Stringer #NHMLondon in Current Biology, starting from first encounters at the age of nine....

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
March 14, 2025 at 12:27 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Concerns on coral reefs and climate change loom large, but do turbid waters mean that giant clams are better adapted to environmental stress? #NHMLondon Nadia Santodomingo & Ken Johnson + colleagues from Universiti Malaysia Sabah @cardiffuni.bsky.social @bristoluni.bsky.social

t.co/ppS2Gr4aGt
March 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Dead wood is a significant part of the Carbon Cycle, but what are the factors involved in carbon storage and release - microbes, animals, water and temperature? Paul Eggleton NHM
and colleagues investigate and consider implications for models

doi.org/10.1146/annu...
March 14, 2025 at 12:20 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Cambrian predation: Kuamaia lata has spiny frontal appendages instead of trilobites' sensory antennae Greg Edgecombe #NHMLondon, Robert J O'Flynn, Yu Liu & al MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology & Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
Cambrian invertebrate Kuamaia lata - related to a trilobite but with spiky frontal appendages rather than sensory antennae. Junnn11, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
February 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Bodies in the Thames - radiocarbon dating of human remains shows high proportion from Bronze Age and Iron Age, raising questions about funerary practices - research from @nic-arthur.bsky.social @drheatherbonney.bsky.social #NHMScience and Jane Sidell Historic England doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
February 10, 2025 at 1:30 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
The London Underground Mosquito lives underground, feeds on mammal blood & breeds in confined spaces - has it evolved in 200 years, or does it have a longer history? Research on genomes @yukihaba.bsky.social &al @flygirlnhm.bsky.social suggests older Middle East origins doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Diagram showing probable origin of Culex pipens form molestus in human agricultural areas, and subsequent transfer to the Tube CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.26.634793v2
February 10, 2025 at 1:25 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
A Bauer koala and Willughby’s birds
January 24, 2025 at 2:43 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Useful advice on flies -“Man’s greatest enemy”! Fight with flappers, whisks and Japanese clockwork fly traps…
Poster on fly control in Egypt
January 24, 2025 at 2:40 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Excellent open display of the intriguing and eccentric from @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social in the #NHMLondon Earth Sciences Library today
January 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Tracks in the Cambrian sand from 500 million years ago - what fossil traces tell us about the diversity of form and movement, evolution and the explosion in the diversity of life

Zekun Wang @imranrahman.bsky.social Li-Jun Zhang

doi.org/10.1017/pab....
typical Cambrian grazing trace fossils: Oldhamia(A) shows evidence of phobotaxis and thigmotaxis; Psammichnites(B) shows evidence of strophotaxis. These complex grazing traces first appeared in the Fortunian stage; photos adopted from Seilacher et al. (2005) and Mángano and Buatois (2020). Typical field photos of the vertical and subvertical dwelling burrows Skolithos(C), two opening of U-shaped Arenicolites(D), and Diplocraterion(E), which first appeared during Cambrian Stage 2; photos adopted from McIlroy (2017) and our collections from Shiyantou Formation, Yunan, China, and Hardeberga Formation, Bornholm, Denmark (Cambrian Stage 2). Arthropod trackway Diplichnites(F) from Cambrian Stage 2 (Pandey et al. 2014); and putative farming traces Paleodictyon cf. imperfectum(G) from the Goldenville Group, Nova Scotia, Canada (Pickerill and Keppie 1981). Scale bars, 1 cm. (c) The authors - Wang Z, Rahman IA, Zhang L-J. Quantifying the rise of animals during the Ediacaran–Cambrian using ichnodissimilarity. Paleobiology. Published online 2024:1-16. doi:10.1017/pab.2024.40
January 16, 2025 at 2:46 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
African Bat Database - what, where and when - evolving knowedge on complex diversity and distribution - NHM Cecila Montauban among the authors

Paper doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Database on github github.com/kanead/Bat_d...
Map of Africa showing species richness of bats based on the 209 SDMs created in this study https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-024-04170-7 CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
January 16, 2025 at 2:38 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Mapping Mars - how the @esa.int ExoMars team are mapping the terrain where the Rosalind Franklin rover will be landing

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Figure 1. Location. The location of the high-resolution map of the landing site in Oxia Planum, Mars (A) Topographic map showing Oxia Planum on the northern margin of Arabia Terra. White lines mark NW-SE extent. (B) Topographic map (CTX DTM from Fawdon et al., Citation2021) overlain on THEMIS mosaic showing the extent of the mapping area within Oxia Planum. The 1 and 3 sigma landing ellipses are show in yellow. The different ellipse azimuths represent the start (high azimuth – LPO) and close (low azimuth – LPC) of the planned launch window, with many more ellipses (not shown) aligned between these extremes reflecting launch at any time within the launch window. CC BY https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2024.2302361
January 15, 2025 at 2:27 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Christmas cheer? Afraid not - it’s the war cry of the robin - Hein van Grouw #NHMBirds explains youtube.com/shorts/Artnk...
December 24, 2024 at 6:52 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
A gallery of photos of scientist colleagues @nhm-london.bsky.social - great pictures by Christopher Jonas www.cwjpix.org/nhm-our-brok...
December 23, 2024 at 10:36 AM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Brilliant birds: Last couple of weeks of the @nhm-london.bsky.social temporary exhibition - ends 5 January

www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibi...
December 20, 2024 at 12:38 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Anne Jungblut and her #NHMBotany team is conducting a project to extract DNA from ancient herbarium specimens, including samples dating back to 1770 - the aim is to detect microorganisms from these plants and investigate present impact

Part of Excalibur H2020 collaboration excaliburh2020.eu/en/
December 20, 2024 at 9:57 AM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
And some other views of Scharf’s work in @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social - the huge megatherium that he painted for Richard Owen, and an enthralling predatory scene from the Jurassic based on a painting by Henry de la Beche that reconstructed Mary Anning’s fossil finds
December 13, 2024 at 7:08 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
“Enormous head of an unknown animal”

love this caption on an 1837 engraving from the George Scharf display put on by @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social today
December 13, 2024 at 6:57 PM
johnjacksonnathist.bsky.social
Time to go home
December 13, 2024 at 5:29 PM