#FossilFriday falls with the creeping inevitability of a global glaciation. These Proterozoic stromatolites from Minnesota's Iron Ranges stand as a reminder that, no matter how small we are alone, together we can change the world, making complex relationships possible like a breath of fresh air. 🧪⚒️

It is not often that I make a 2 #FossilFriday posts but, I will make an exception. This is the skeleton of the fish Xiphactinus audax. It was found by a friend looking fossils in the Late Cretaceous (Santonian) Smokey Hill Chalk in Kansas. You think you afraid of the ocean now? You've seen nothing!

Welcome back to #fossilfriday! Here are the impressions of the Inoceramid clam Mytiloides mytiloides. This specimen comes from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Greenhorn Formation (Colorado Group) in northwestern Nebraska.

3 hours ago, I shared my results of having combed through ~470 DOJ Epstein files that mention Jack Horner, his MSU email, or "Dinochicken". I posted a copy, w/ screenshots and receipts, to r/Paleontology. It has been pinned by moderators and thus far viewed 38k times. www.reddit.com/r/Paleontolo...

@michaeltconnelly.bsky.social et al. sequenced 342 Pocillopora coral samples from the Eastern Tropical Pacific, revealing four distinct species; algal symbiont community profiling identified dominant symbionts that varied according to host species. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf235 #genome #evolution

Welcome back to #TrilobiteTuesday! Here is the cephalon of the "lace collar" trilobite Cryptolithus tessellatus. This comes from the Upper Ordovician Kope Formation (Lower Cincinnatian Series) in Maysville, Kentucky. What you usually find are just pieces scattered throughout the limestones.

#MineralMonday Here is a big dark green Tourmaline (var. Elbaite) crystal from Brazil. The variety of green colored Elbaite is known is Verdelite. Would you believe I bought this specimen for $33 at an auction? This is at least a $300 specimen.

#MineralMonday Tiny silver crystals in a cavity in native copper, Osceola Mine, Michigan USA. The silver crystals are about 0.5 mm each.⚒️ #geology . No MAGA! Science = Resistance! #standupforscience

warmth © 2023

Happy #FossilFriday how does a thread about the Inner Meadow biota and unexpected age for the fossils, and a refocusing of Martin Brasier’s #KotlinCrisis sound? We’ve been trickling out our findings from Inner Meadow including #Charnia brasieri, #Aninoides and there's even cooler stuff in review. 🧵

I finally have a nice LeGrand crinoid piece. This Mississippian aged site in Iowa is famous for crinoids with preserved color. The darker crinoid is Rhodocrinites kirbyi and the lighter one is Platycrinites symmetricus. #FossilFriday

Welcome back to another #FossilFriday Here is the molar from an American Mastodon (Mammut americanum). This comes from Pleistocene deposits in San Jacinto County, Texas. Mastodons used their bumpy molars for grinding up twigs, leaf matter, and other shrubs.

Müller, R.T., Roberto-da-Silva, L., Aurélio, P.L.P. et al. The smallest tetrapod from the Middle Triassic of South America: a new procolophonoid parareptile from the Ladinian of Southern Brazil. Sci Rep 16, 866 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Cool fact, sand can be made up entirely of biogenic material (shell pieces, spines, exoskeletons). Just hard bits of tiny animals (sometimes fossilised!). It's just body parts of dead animals.

Welcome back to #TrilobiteTuesday Here is Bumastus ioxus from the Lower Silurian Rochester Shale (Clinton Group) from Middleport, New York State.

Welcome back to #FossilFriday Here is quite a large solitary rugose (horn) coral belonging to the taxa Grewingkia canadensis. This specimen was collected from the Upper Ordovician Whitewater (upper cincinnatian series) Formation in Indiana.

Pleased to join the "Emory Experts" website this year, which lists faculty expertises for journalists who need our guidance. I especially appreciate their hiring a professional photographer to make us look good, or at least up-to-date. news.emory.edu/tags/topic/e... @emoryuniversity.bsky.social 🎓🏫

NOT a giant mushroom! Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

If you're a fully grown Tyrannosaurus rex, raptor wings might not possess as much nutritional value as a big meaty Triceratops, but they work great as a low-calorie appetizer! #tyrannosaurusrex #dinosaur #prehistoric #paleoart #art

There was a M3.8 in Illinois early this morning. This video talks about the tectonics and earthquake history of the state. youtu.be/NhLzQKvhfU0?...

One year into this world-shattering insanity. By the books, 3 to go. By the rules of fascism, it could last for another 15 years. By the 25th Amendment, we could shut this down within 48 hours.

Welcome back to #TrilobiteTuesday Here is the schizochroal eye of Dalmanitid trilobite from the Lower Silurian St. Clair Formation from St. Clair Springs, Arkansas. 🎵I always feel like somebody's watching me and I have no privacy. 🎵

Love a good bivalve vs. brachiopod study. Love a good modern analog study for paleoecology. Love a good P/Tr physiological selectivity study. I'm glad I'm not the only audience for this stuff.

Snack size and party size. Thorny skates have a large distribution, but there's been a mystery about why individuals of this species along the coast of North America come in two distinct sizes, irrespective of sex. Story: www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/thor... Illustration by Jorge Machuky

For #FossilFriday a small #IsleofWight iguanodontian dinosaur tibia in the collections @nhm-london.bsk.social. What makes it special is that it is from the Gideon Mantell collection. The fossil takes me back 125 million years but its history casts me back to the 1820s.

This is a nice plate of crinoids I picked up unprepped at a fossil show for $8. It was in a "junk box" and I could only see 2 of the 4 crinoids. It turned out pretty nice. It's from the Mississippian Gilmore City Fm. of Iowa. Four unique species of crinoids. #FossilFriday

#FossilFriday Here is a gorgeous piece of petrified wood belonging to the genus Schinoxylon. This comes from the Eocene aged Laney Shale Member of the Green River Formation from in Valley, Sweetwater Co, Wyoming. This specimen has a beautiful vein of blue Chalcedony Quartz running through it.

#FossilFriday Graptolites are extremely useful as zonal fossils in the Ordovician and Silurian. Some look like pencil marks but better preserved examples, like this Monograptus priodon from the Wenlock of Scotland, resemble miniature saw blades.

So we're trading Nobel Prizes like their Pokemon Cards now? What a pathetic loser Trump is. This isn't real right? We have to be living in a simulation. What kindergarten behavior. You have to convince someone else to give you their Nobel prize just so you feel good about yourself for 2 minutes.

Jeffery, A.J., Rogers, S.L., Jeffery, K.L.A. et al. Autistic voices are an overlooked minority in geosciences. Nat. Geosci. 19, 2–4 (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

#Coralrestoration Corals grown in mid-water nurseries face fewer predators and less smothering sediment... Some species...can double in size several times annually when suspended on “coral trees” or attached to floating lines." share.google/UubtlL4Vwwuo...

Outreach today in Columbus, GA! Teaching 6th graders all day about the paleontology of the eastern United States! 🦴🦕

Welcome back to #TrilobiteTuesday Just to show you have big some trilobites can get, here is a replica cast of a slab of Acadoparadoxides trilobites. The original specimen comes from the Middle Cambrian Warwmast Formation in Morroco.

Lovely mini amethyst crystals from Karur district, India Video: Margraf Minerals

Saws, scissors, and more, the oceans used to be full of huge ratfish relatives with amazing teeth. So what happened to them? I dive in over at Smithsonian Magazine. 🧪

A beautiful specimen of Euptychocrinus fimbriatus from the Ordovician Girardeau Limestone of Missouri. These crinoids have 10 arms that would filter water for food. #FossilFriday

🦀 #FossilFriday ‼️Concretions sometimes contain exquisitely preserved crustaceans. Here are some Eocene (~45 million-year-old) crabs from Oregon, USA. Collected, prepared, and donated by Bob Manley. Specimens: University of Alabama Museums' paleontology collection. #paleontology #fossil 🦀

Morfologia pós-craniana e ontogenia do temnospôndilo plagiossaurídeo do Triássico Médio Gerrothorax pulcherrimus e o achatamento corporal acentuado em plagiossauros bentônicos academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

#FossilFriday a magnificent Iguanodon dinosaur skull from the Bernissart collection in Brussels. The prominent arch is the palpebral made up of two bones in Iguanodon presumably to protect the eye as it foraged through spiky Early Cretaceous plants or maybe it acted as a sunshade in those hot times.

Welcome back to another #FossilFriday! Here is a large incisor from a very large extinct beaver known as Castoroides. It lived during the Pleistocene and It was the largest beaver and rodent from North America. This specimen comes from Florida. 🦫 🪵 *size chart from PrehistoricWildlife.com

Today the kids created their planets❤️

I flood my page with Paleo and Geo content to distract myself from the sickening behavior of this current administration. 🖕ICE

I'm almost ready for my fossil talk with my son's class on Thursday. I made a short presentation this year with lots of pictures so I can show small details easier. I also have some fossils for the teacher. My son was not impressed with the examples she showed today, so I can help.

January 7th is National Old Rock Day! Well here is an old rock! These white circles are cross sections of Archaeocyathids. These were a type of sponge that built reefs during the Early Cambrian. This comes from the the Forteau Formation in southern Labrador, Canada. Over 516 million years old!

#TrilobiteTuesday Here is a beautifully enrolled Flexicalymene retrorsa trilobite from the Upper Ordovician Wayneville Formation (Cincinnatian Series) in Maimisburg, Ohio.

Here's a throwback video of me digging out a massive Exogyra ponderosa shell from the Cretaceous aged Demopolis Chalk in Tupelo, Mississippi. (March 5th 2020)

B.S. Singer et al. (2025) Radioisotopic age, osmium isotopes, and global correlation of the Albian-Cenomanian boundary GSA Bulletin (advance online publication) doi: doi.org/10.1130/B385... pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulle...