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
incredible! a gorgeously preserved skull from tupandactylus imperator has been described, offering new insights into its dietary ecology and soft tissues 😻
www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/6Hv...
(art by maurilio oliveira)
www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/6Hv...
(art by maurilio oliveira)
November 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM
incredible! a gorgeously preserved skull from tupandactylus imperator has been described, offering new insights into its dietary ecology and soft tissues 😻
www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/6Hv...
(art by maurilio oliveira)
www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/6Hv...
(art by maurilio oliveira)
Reposted by Karen Poole
OpenAI needs to be shuttered permanently, its assets appropriated for public use, & Altman punted into the phantom zone.
"Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model by default...tests repeatedly showed that the AI toy dropped its guardrails the longer a conversation went on, until hitting rock bottom on incredibly disturbing topics."
AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children
FoloToy says it's suspended sales of its AI-powered teddy bear after researchers found it gave wildly inappropriate and dangerous answers.
futurism.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:59 AM
OpenAI needs to be shuttered permanently, its assets appropriated for public use, & Altman punted into the phantom zone.
Reposted by Karen Poole
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
I thing I sometimes thing about is that university departments were still doing job interviews in hotel rooms in the mid aughts
November 16, 2025 at 7:42 PM
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Dr. @renpoole.bsky.social: Sauropods were offensively big because they were actually photosynthesizing.
Send tweet.
#2025SVP
Send tweet.
#2025SVP
November 15, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Dr. @renpoole.bsky.social: Sauropods were offensively big because they were actually photosynthesizing.
Send tweet.
#2025SVP
Send tweet.
#2025SVP
Hey SVPers, how's your travel going for #2025SVP?
I've had one flight cancellation, but a fairly smooth process rescheduling. Should still make it on schedule.
I've had one flight cancellation, but a fairly smooth process rescheduling. Should still make it on schedule.
Laughs in traveling to and from a conference next week.
November 10, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Hey SVPers, how's your travel going for #2025SVP?
I've had one flight cancellation, but a fairly smooth process rescheduling. Should still make it on schedule.
I've had one flight cancellation, but a fairly smooth process rescheduling. Should still make it on schedule.
Reposted by Karen Poole
This obit of Watson is *amazing*.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:14 PM
This obit of Watson is *amazing*.
Laughs in traveling to and from a conference next week.
November 8, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Laughs in traveling to and from a conference next week.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
Even the worst misogynists sometimes support certain women. I don’t doubt Hopkins when she says Watson was a good mentor to her. The more important question is how many women did he harass/disparage/discourage and thus push them out of science?
There is one part of his legacy that is hard to align with this view. He was a committed and effective mentor and supporter to a number of women in science at a time when this was relatively rare. Nancy Hopkins from MIT who worked with him as an undergrad has written and spoken about this.
39/41
39/41
November 8, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Even the worst misogynists sometimes support certain women. I don’t doubt Hopkins when she says Watson was a good mentor to her. The more important question is how many women did he harass/disparage/discourage and thus push them out of science?
Reposted by Karen Poole
To mark the 85th Annual SVP Meeting 2025, we've assembled an open access collection of landmark JSP vertebrate palaeontology papers.
Next study to highlight is.. The phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs by Butler et al. (2008) buff.ly/O0hipyA
#2025SVP #PaleoSky @richardjbutler.bsky.social
Next study to highlight is.. The phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs by Butler et al. (2008) buff.ly/O0hipyA
#2025SVP #PaleoSky @richardjbutler.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 8:00 AM
To mark the 85th Annual SVP Meeting 2025, we've assembled an open access collection of landmark JSP vertebrate palaeontology papers.
Next study to highlight is.. The phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs by Butler et al. (2008) buff.ly/O0hipyA
#2025SVP #PaleoSky @richardjbutler.bsky.social
Next study to highlight is.. The phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs by Butler et al. (2008) buff.ly/O0hipyA
#2025SVP #PaleoSky @richardjbutler.bsky.social
Reposted by Karen Poole
When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also
mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)
mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)
November 7, 2025 at 11:43 PM
When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also
mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)
mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)
Reposted by Karen Poole
#2025SVP USA 🇺🇲 🗽 alert: as your travel begins make sure to check your flights proactively! ✈️
One of my legs was cancelled due to the US Govt shutdown, but luckily I caught it. Worse before it'll get better.
Stay frosty!
See you in Birmingham. 😅🇬🇧🫖
One of my legs was cancelled due to the US Govt shutdown, but luckily I caught it. Worse before it'll get better.
Stay frosty!
See you in Birmingham. 😅🇬🇧🫖
November 7, 2025 at 6:53 PM
#2025SVP USA 🇺🇲 🗽 alert: as your travel begins make sure to check your flights proactively! ✈️
One of my legs was cancelled due to the US Govt shutdown, but luckily I caught it. Worse before it'll get better.
Stay frosty!
See you in Birmingham. 😅🇬🇧🫖
One of my legs was cancelled due to the US Govt shutdown, but luckily I caught it. Worse before it'll get better.
Stay frosty!
See you in Birmingham. 😅🇬🇧🫖
Reposted by Karen Poole
Just a reminder, that possibly the oldest piece of palaeoart dates to the Neolithic. The petroglyphs of horned characters with trumpets, recorded on the same rock as a ornithischian footprints (Zagaje Formation) in Poland, might be an early reconstruction of the Jurassic tracemaker.
November 7, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Just a reminder, that possibly the oldest piece of palaeoart dates to the Neolithic. The petroglyphs of horned characters with trumpets, recorded on the same rock as a ornithischian footprints (Zagaje Formation) in Poland, might be an early reconstruction of the Jurassic tracemaker.
Reposted by Karen Poole
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
November 6, 2025 at 6:32 AM
me at the end of class: here's a little speculative exercises; imagine you wake up from cryosleep in 2085. what's the kind of tech-society r/ship you'd like to see around you?
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
students: no AI
I honestly think students' views are missing from the 'should AI be integrated in classrooms' discussion
Reposted by Karen Poole
There is something deeply broken about an economy that creates trillionaires while people get buried under the cost of living and 42 million go hungry. The ultra-rich should realize that my Billionaires Income Tax, aimed at ensuring they pay their fair share, represents the moderate path forward.
Tesla shareholders have approved a pay package that could make CEO Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person, the world’s first trillionaire. https://cnn.it/43KZnkA
November 7, 2025 at 1:57 AM
There is something deeply broken about an economy that creates trillionaires while people get buried under the cost of living and 42 million go hungry. The ultra-rich should realize that my Billionaires Income Tax, aimed at ensuring they pay their fair share, represents the moderate path forward.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Come see my panel interview with all the women presidents of SVP! Wednesday at 12:30!!
November 6, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Come see my panel interview with all the women presidents of SVP! Wednesday at 12:30!!
Reposted by Karen Poole
Interested in a PhD at the intersection of biophysics and microbiology?
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Molecular mechanism of slow growth and antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using single-molecule microscopy at Newcastle University on FindAPhD....
PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Molecular mechanism of slow growth and antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using single-molecule microscopy at Newcastle Universit...
www.findaphd.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Interested in a PhD at the intersection of biophysics and microbiology?
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Karen Poole
🧪This included me. Most of the academic research, including medical breakthroughs & paradigm shifts is done by graduate students & post docs.
Via @studentsforsci.bsky.social
on IG
Via @studentsforsci.bsky.social
on IG
November 2, 2025 at 1:30 AM
🧪This included me. Most of the academic research, including medical breakthroughs & paradigm shifts is done by graduate students & post docs.
Via @studentsforsci.bsky.social
on IG
Via @studentsforsci.bsky.social
on IG
Reposted by Karen Poole
I wrote about an absolute diva
defector.com/fat-and-sass...
defector.com/fat-and-sass...
Fat AND Sassy? A Three-Legged Lizard Really Can Have It All | Defector
Decades ago, the evolutionary biologist Jonathan Losos found himself chasing a lizard around an island in the Bahamas. The island was little more than mound of craggy limestone the size of a baseball ...
defector.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I wrote about an absolute diva
defector.com/fat-and-sass...
defector.com/fat-and-sass...
Reposted by Karen Poole
Nuclear weapons testing is saber rattling in general
but in specific, Donald Trump has demonstrated since his first term that he very badly wants to use nuclear weapons and has asked about doing so repeatedly
including against *checks notes* ... hurricanes
but in specific, Donald Trump has demonstrated since his first term that he very badly wants to use nuclear weapons and has asked about doing so repeatedly
including against *checks notes* ... hurricanes
"A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought"
- Ronald Reagan
- Ronald Reagan
October 30, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Nuclear weapons testing is saber rattling in general
but in specific, Donald Trump has demonstrated since his first term that he very badly wants to use nuclear weapons and has asked about doing so repeatedly
including against *checks notes* ... hurricanes
but in specific, Donald Trump has demonstrated since his first term that he very badly wants to use nuclear weapons and has asked about doing so repeatedly
including against *checks notes* ... hurricanes
Reposted by Karen Poole
Schools and districts are not equipped to deal with the dysregulation students are going to experience due to excessive hunger and familial stress over food insecurity.
We’re just not in any way prepared.
We’re just not in any way prepared.
October 29, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Schools and districts are not equipped to deal with the dysregulation students are going to experience due to excessive hunger and familial stress over food insecurity.
We’re just not in any way prepared.
We’re just not in any way prepared.
Reposted by Karen Poole
The people on this airplane have a sense of duty and self-sacrifice that Donald Trump will never understand. They are NOAA employees flying their plane through the middle of the category 4 Hurricane Melissa south of Jamaica. And they aren't getting paid.
I wish them safe flying and a safe return
I wish them safe flying and a safe return
October 26, 2025 at 11:40 PM
The people on this airplane have a sense of duty and self-sacrifice that Donald Trump will never understand. They are NOAA employees flying their plane through the middle of the category 4 Hurricane Melissa south of Jamaica. And they aren't getting paid.
I wish them safe flying and a safe return
I wish them safe flying and a safe return
Reposted by Karen Poole
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
October 27, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
Reposted by Karen Poole
Cannot express enough appreciation for the teams *flying through a hurricane* while not being paid.
NOAA hurricane hunters flying aboard a P-3 Orion aircraft ("Kermit") are monitoring Hurricane Melissa as most aircraft steer clear. The storm poses a catastrophic threat to Jamaica and Haiti.
The crew are among the many federal workers working without pay during the US government shutdown.
The crew are among the many federal workers working without pay during the US government shutdown.
October 27, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Cannot express enough appreciation for the teams *flying through a hurricane* while not being paid.
Yes! A big component of teaching is acting, and I’d bet most good teachers understand this.
Note that this doesn’t mean I’m disingenuous in my enthusiasm for my subject matter or my students. But I have to be encouraging even if I’m tired/frustrated/etc. I have to give the energy the students need.
Note that this doesn’t mean I’m disingenuous in my enthusiasm for my subject matter or my students. But I have to be encouraging even if I’m tired/frustrated/etc. I have to give the energy the students need.
No, seriously. Y’all think that teaching is JUST conveying information? Fuck that: we have to perform to make the information stick. Shit is HARD.
October 26, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Yes! A big component of teaching is acting, and I’d bet most good teachers understand this.
Note that this doesn’t mean I’m disingenuous in my enthusiasm for my subject matter or my students. But I have to be encouraging even if I’m tired/frustrated/etc. I have to give the energy the students need.
Note that this doesn’t mean I’m disingenuous in my enthusiasm for my subject matter or my students. But I have to be encouraging even if I’m tired/frustrated/etc. I have to give the energy the students need.