Ideal writing conditions

My students finding out that the biggest animal ever is still around blew their minds. How lucky are we to live alongside such giants?

This is why Triassic actinopterygians are fun, I have never once thought I understand them whatsoever

He’s gone mad!

🧪 Lecture on Fish History out today!

The NFC central are teams from a dark alternate timeline: Little Rock Miners St. Louis Mountain Ibexes Lexington Equines Mississippi River Raiders

Trying out recording lectures, listen here for an introduction to Fish History. open.substack.com/pub/fishhist...

I want to be a better crinoid appreciator

One of my favorite animals, love how there is fossil evidence for interactions like this! open.substack.com/pub/fishhist...

My cat when she hasn’t gotten enough attention 2 seconds

Sauropod dinosaurs are easily the coolest land animals ever. Not even sure how it’s possible to have a giant plant processing plant be alive, but they did it!

Love that fish with horrible teeth are becoming my research program. Had to share Dipteronotus ornatus, Middle Triassic of Switzerland. Illustration by Tony Bürgun.

Thinking about Dorypterus

went to the store

Couldn’t agree more with the idea that we MUST center students in education. Everything we do should be for the students and their learning, not profit for tech companies testing garbage machines.

Seems to be a Silurian coral! Probably the oldest fossil I’ve found on my parents property. Thank you for the information from several people.

Invertebrate paleo people: can anyone ID this? Found in glacial till in Michigan and I am not sure what this is.

Bring back giant predator salamander things with flat heads!

Everything alive in the Devonian period tried too hard. “Ooo, look at me, I’m a weird elongated pentagon” Shut up!

Seeing some people mocking these concerns but we should listen to student concerns. I needed a wrist brace for a month after final exam season my sophomore year of college from writing notes. Would prefer not to do that to my students.

Time to learn about teleosts!

My great grandfather’s scythe, very cool artifact at the family farm.

Found in my fossil collection. Bit of a challenge but anyone want to guess what this is?

Winter break

Go (red)birds

Thinking about brachiopods

Whoa very cool. Can’t wait to read!

I have so much empathy and solidarity for those struggling with the painful and structurally unjust academic labor market, but this racial grievance shit is simply not the way.

Apparently no departments of pseudobiology were hiring!

I am using my elongate snout to search for prey in the mud.

Despite the difficulties of this year, can't say enough how grateful I have been for my students at VT and now Bowie State this year. Worked with a lot of brilliant, hard working people who make teaching a joy.

To summarize my recent paper: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Citing myself to a reviewer

Draft from a paper I’m working on… the triangle at least a hundred species in it btw :)

How it feels to cite yourself.

Cannot agree more with this. Overall, I have had a fantastic experience with collections/collaborations. There are a few unnamed places that actively hold the science back and need to change how they do things.

Electric eels: imposters!

Can’t wait to read this!

New river monster work, excited to read!

I know genAI is cooked because my students now use ChatGPT to denote something is bad or bullshit lol

starting my phd during covid and then being on the job market **now** has been absolutely soul crushing 😭😭😭

Excited to talk about zoology with prospective students for natural sciences day at Bowie State! Had to get out the T-Rex of course.

What kind of amphisbaenian is this?

This is so cool. Also, how on Earth do you collect such tiny animals?

Linnaeus publishes his system of biological nomenclature (1735, colorized)

I should clarify, a student asked me if a lamprey was a type of leech and I knew the answer was no, but I had literally no idea what type of animal a leech is.

Professional taxonomy: what exactly is a leech?

GOATed thread

Artomyces pyxidatus, the Crown-tipped Coral or Candelabra Coral fungus, was not seen in the UK over the entire 20th century, its last record in 1886 until a spate of recent findings around 2022, which is when I found this specimen (in East Kent). Where did it disappear all this time?