Nick Crow
@nickcrowauthor.com
Author | Scientist
nickcrowauthor.com
nickcrowauthor.com
Oh no! Sara and Topher have been scooped!
NEW pub in @science.org 🥳
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 13, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Oh no! Sara and Topher have been scooped!
Reposted by Nick Crow
Ancient human playground found inside sloth footprints?
Fossilized tracks of a giant ground sloth are stamped with tiny human feet
Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt?
Human-sloth interactions in North America 🏺🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Fossilized tracks of a giant ground sloth are stamped with tiny human feet
Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt?
Human-sloth interactions in North America 🏺🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Ancient human playground found inside sloth footprints?
Fossilized tracks of a giant ground sloth are stamped with tiny human feet
Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt?
Human-sloth interactions in North America 🏺🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Fossilized tracks of a giant ground sloth are stamped with tiny human feet
Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt?
Human-sloth interactions in North America 🏺🧪
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Nick Crow
Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91
October 1, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91
Wow!
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Wow!
As always, Courtney Milan provides excellent legal insight.
I think that if you are trying to understand the Anthropic book settlement, and you are not doing it in light of the (extremely) failed Google book settlement from 2011, you will never be able to understand what is happening.
September 8, 2025 at 1:32 PM
As always, Courtney Milan provides excellent legal insight.
Reposted by Nick Crow
“The creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.”
- Virginia Woolf
- Virginia Woolf
August 7, 2025 at 8:42 AM
“The creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.”
- Virginia Woolf
- Virginia Woolf
Oh wow. This is gross. But also, I think I need to put it in a book. 😅
“Yet with Neanderthals, I find that almost every win is secretly a loss. That turned out to be the case with hypercarnivory. One thing everyone seemed to agree on: Neanderthals were weird.”
johnhawks.substack.com/p/bizarre-fo...
johnhawks.substack.com/p/bizarre-fo...
Bizarre foods: Neanderthal edition
Scientists propose a maggot-fueled hypothesis for the diets of ancient hunters
johnhawks.substack.com
July 27, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Oh wow. This is gross. But also, I think I need to put it in a book. 😅
Reposted by Nick Crow
Don't forget program
July 11, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Don't forget program
I had an anxiety dream last night where someone asked me, “Which bioinformatics algorithm should I use with these sequences?” and I said, “ClustalW,” then realized I meant “UClust,” but by that point, it was too late.
You can leave academia, but it never leaves you…
You can leave academia, but it never leaves you…
July 8, 2025 at 10:58 AM
I had an anxiety dream last night where someone asked me, “Which bioinformatics algorithm should I use with these sequences?” and I said, “ClustalW,” then realized I meant “UClust,” but by that point, it was too late.
You can leave academia, but it never leaves you…
You can leave academia, but it never leaves you…
Finally got this beautiful drawing of a Pachycephalosaurus by @serpenillus.bsky.social framed.
June 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Finally got this beautiful drawing of a Pachycephalosaurus by @serpenillus.bsky.social framed.
I remember learning about this skull back when I was a postdoc. At the time, scientists believed it would remain forever enigmatic because it was too old to harbor ancient DNA. Now we know it's a Denisovan. It's nice to finally put a face to a name.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/s...
Mysterious Ancient Humans Now Have a Face
www.nytimes.com
June 19, 2025 at 5:59 PM
I remember learning about this skull back when I was a postdoc. At the time, scientists believed it would remain forever enigmatic because it was too old to harbor ancient DNA. Now we know it's a Denisovan. It's nice to finally put a face to a name.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/s...
Reposted by Nick Crow
Getting stuck while we're writing is a feature, not a bug. It's the point of the exercise. It's what happens when we are trying to express something we have not expressed before. That friction forces us to make the tools we need to understand and express it. Getting stuck is how we make meaning.
May 29, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Getting stuck while we're writing is a feature, not a bug. It's the point of the exercise. It's what happens when we are trying to express something we have not expressed before. That friction forces us to make the tools we need to understand and express it. Getting stuck is how we make meaning.
Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi? I would have gone with Nymeria, Lady, and Ghost. time.com/7274542/colo...
The Return of the Dire Wolf
Colossal Biosciences has genetically engineered the first dire wolf to live in over 10,000 years. Here's what that means for other extinct species.
time.com
April 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi? I would have gone with Nymeria, Lady, and Ghost. time.com/7274542/colo...
Reposted by Nick Crow
The problem with the 23andMe data, or one problem, is that even if you didn’t contribute your DNA, if a family member did, you’re interpolated into their network.
March 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The problem with the 23andMe data, or one problem, is that even if you didn’t contribute your DNA, if a family member did, you’re interpolated into their network.
Same.
Yes, I still miss Daft Punk regularly
March 21, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Same.
Reposted by Nick Crow
Organic Molecules Found in 66-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones
Unambiguously identified, and for the first time quantified, hydroxyproline, a unique collagen-indicator amino acid, in acid-digested samples.
Evidence for Endogenous Collagen in Edmontosaurus Fossil Bone 🧪
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Unambiguously identified, and for the first time quantified, hydroxyproline, a unique collagen-indicator amino acid, in acid-digested samples.
Evidence for Endogenous Collagen in Edmontosaurus Fossil Bone 🧪
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
March 19, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Organic Molecules Found in 66-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones
Unambiguously identified, and for the first time quantified, hydroxyproline, a unique collagen-indicator amino acid, in acid-digested samples.
Evidence for Endogenous Collagen in Edmontosaurus Fossil Bone 🧪
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Unambiguously identified, and for the first time quantified, hydroxyproline, a unique collagen-indicator amino acid, in acid-digested samples.
Evidence for Endogenous Collagen in Edmontosaurus Fossil Bone 🧪
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Reposted by Nick Crow
mythology professor: so you think it's cool to make comedy about half-man/half-goats huh?
me: it's called "satyr"
me: it's called "satyr"
March 2, 2025 at 11:41 PM
mythology professor: so you think it's cool to make comedy about half-man/half-goats huh?
me: it's called "satyr"
me: it's called "satyr"
Relevant to my current book.
Here is the mollusc tree. (We fixed it, you're welcome.) 😇 @sgn.one @oceanspecies.bsky.social @kmkocot.bsky.social
@squamiferum.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@squamiferum.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
February 27, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Relevant to my current book.
Reposted by Nick Crow
The orange man has broken BLAST
February 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
The orange man has broken BLAST
I'm busy working on the final act of a new book in the "Lazurus Factor" universe. Things got a bit held up due to other projects, but I hope to have a draft by the end of the month. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out so far.
February 4, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I'm busy working on the final act of a new book in the "Lazurus Factor" universe. Things got a bit held up due to other projects, but I hope to have a draft by the end of the month. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out so far.
Reposted by Nick Crow
YOUR first draft doesn’t need to be perfect. but mine does
February 2, 2025 at 9:31 PM
YOUR first draft doesn’t need to be perfect. but mine does
Reposted by Nick Crow
Perhaps a contributing factor to the decline of Neanderthals
Rapid change in red cell blood group systems after the main Out of Africa of Homo sapiens🏺🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This likely led to hemolytic disease in offspring if a H. sapiens or Denisova male mated with a Neanderthal female
Rapid change in red cell blood group systems after the main Out of Africa of Homo sapiens🏺🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This likely led to hemolytic disease in offspring if a H. sapiens or Denisova male mated with a Neanderthal female
January 31, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Perhaps a contributing factor to the decline of Neanderthals
Rapid change in red cell blood group systems after the main Out of Africa of Homo sapiens🏺🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This likely led to hemolytic disease in offspring if a H. sapiens or Denisova male mated with a Neanderthal female
Rapid change in red cell blood group systems after the main Out of Africa of Homo sapiens🏺🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This likely led to hemolytic disease in offspring if a H. sapiens or Denisova male mated with a Neanderthal female
This is great!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCQ...
Jurassic Park With SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE Raptors [Animation] Part 1
YouTube video by CoolioArt
www.youtube.com
January 10, 2025 at 2:48 PM
This is great!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbCQ...
I am always excited to read a snake venom article in the @nytimes.com until I see they messed up poisonous vs. venomous.
January 7, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I am always excited to read a snake venom article in the @nytimes.com until I see they messed up poisonous vs. venomous.
Reposted by Nick Crow
New Bobby Fingers lfg
January 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM
New Bobby Fingers lfg