Busted out my reliable brain slug for Halloween 🎃

This is yesterday’s postcard-perfect view from my office in our Center for Research and Teaching Excellence at Allegheny. I love the show that Mother Nature puts on in the autumn!

😮

Happy Mole Day!

I know I’m not the only comparative anatomy prof that has been shipped Mustelus instead of Squalus for lab. Is anyone working on a lab manual or online resource that has head muscles & digestive system images? I can’t - I don’t have the capacity right now.

Being part of the team that has brought our Center for Research and Teaching Excellence to fruition has been an absolute delight! We’ve created a vibrant and welcoming space for our faculty. Also, I got to use the giant scissors!

Things I said at work today: "Where did I put that bag of cats, I just had them earlier this week..." "Sorry about the smell, I've got a lamprey" "Can you please bring these chemicals up to the lab? I want to clear and stain Nemo." "I've got chickens, cow, pig, horse, a goat, and 3 dinosaurs"

Oh. Chocolate plant-based protein shake with a banana and spoon of peanut butter has been my go-to work day breakfast for several years, since dairy has become a no-no for me. Protein helps keep my blood sugar stable, but I still need a carb kickstart with it (banana). 😞

Vought posted on X that RIFs have begun. We have not heard of them impacting CDC, or if this is another bluff to induce more trauma and terror before a long weekend. Nevertheless, some tips to prepare if you get a RIF notice below 👇 www.cnbc.com/2025/10/10/t...

A gentle reminder for whoever needs it: you don't have to make yourself small for anyone. You are perfect, exactly the way you are.

It’s band-tober, which means that marching band is our entire life right now. Tonight was a small show (4 HS bands and 1 college band), but the closer had them all playing Sweet Caroline together. Music brings such joy in a timeline where it is tough to find.

My comparative anatomy students had a blast learning with these @3danatomystudios.com shark skull models this week!

Check out this rare faculty-curator position at OU:

Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere. Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself. Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj

New paper alert!!!🚨 in our new study we find that Antarctic icefishes added a new module in their skulls during their adaptive radiation special shout out to @mayaranevesbio.bsky.social who led this project! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Happy to share that @taorminalepore.bsky.social and I are featured in @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social's continuing series sharing disabled scientists in ecology and evolution spaces! www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

One more cephalopod video for your enjoyment: clumsy Nautilus <donk>

Doomscroll safety stop! 🛑 Watch this wickedly awesome video of a sperm whale eating a giant squid! AND if you read the thread, you’ll see it’s been fact checked. 🤯 Ok, carry on

I need more papers like this in my life

OMG, amazing. Although, if they're having poultry for dinner, they're not wrong about it being dinosaur meat.

Wow, it’s been a while since an afternoon of lab work has made me this stinky. But I did manage to finally prep out a freeze dried snake and a barracuda head . Both have been sitting in my work freezer for 8 years, and before then were in Tom Frazetta’s freezer probably for decades.

If you're using our textbook for a course you're teaching, can you please fill out this quick Google Form so that we know how many folks have adopted it? forms.gle/47wJtmEMYMM8...

JOBS JOBS JOBS! Stony Brook are advertising two assistant professorships in vertebrate palaeo/evolution, one focused on (in the words of the SVP programme) NOT DINOSAURS and the other on evolutionary neurology: apply.interfolio.com/172502 apply.interfolio.com/172517

Can’t wait to bring this to my comparative anatomy class on Friday! I keep telling them that new stuff is discovered about vertebrate bodies constantly - and here’s more proof of that.

Undergraduate and graduate students can get $1500 ($2000 for international students) to visit and study in our museum collections. Contact a curator to discuss plans first to make sure we have what you need (that would be @planet-of-fishes.bsky.social for the Ichthyology Department). Come to LA!

It’s nice to do something fun for a good cause among all of this <gestures at world> Guest bartending at my local bar to raise $ for a local foundation that benefits our school district’s kids while also representing my kids’ marching band. Our lights are 🎵 and our hats are music themed!

Our paper on MISS programming effectiveness was recently published in Integrative & Comparative Biology! 📄 Read all about our journey (so far!), our mission, methods, and outreach programs at the link below! ⤵️ academic.oup.com/icb/advance-...

UC Berkeley's Martin Fish Speciation Lab seeks a part-time lab manager for pupfish research. Requires a biology degree and some lab experience. Flexible hours, multi-year position. Apply: [email protected]. More info at https://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/martin/ #job

If you know anyone interested in starting a Master's project working on ammonoid phylogenetics (or the phylogenetics of a mollusc group spanning the OAE2 event in the Late Cretaceous), then ask them to get in touch with me. The situation is a little tricky, as it would be funded by the remainder…

🐟 Bite by bite: @umich.edu researchers traced how jaws fueled the rise of vertebrates. In the Devonian, lobe-finned fishes (ancestors of today’s coelacanths & lungfish) drove jaw innovation—before stalling out. #Science news.umich.edu/bite-by-bite...

Curator job opening at the fabulous American Museum of Natural History in New York City! Know a marine fish person 🐠 or oceanographer who might be interested?

Proposals are due next week for the Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 US in funding for PhD students. Contact [email protected] with any questions. www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...

Me, this morning, in a weird meta moment: updating slides and lecture notes for comparative anatomy, thinking to myself "ugh, I feel weird aligning my lecture stuff so closely to a particular textbook"... ..and then remembering that I wrote the textbook chapter I'm working with.

Trump's very first example of the Smithsonian's "corrosive ideology" was an exhibit that correctly stated "Race is a human invention." How is scientific consensus (that biological races don't exist in humans) corrosive? We are asking scientists to co-sign our statement: forms.gle/kqKQF9CZ3jPB...

Doom scroll safety stop 🛑 Look at this worm! It may be tiny, but it’s vicious. It doesn’t show my absolute favorite part of these worms - the head!

Job alert 🚨

Ooooh cool!

This weekend, I’m working on making sure my money is going to good folks who are working hard to keep democracy going. I renewed my (accidentally lapsed) NAACP membership, which supports my local chapter. Did you know that you can join or set up a monthly donation? naacp.org 1/5

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Y’all!!! Our comparative anatomy textbook is out!!! Free, open access, and just in time for the fall semester!

The @altmetric.com on the @whysharksmatter.bsky.social @drjuliawester.bsky.social study academic.oup.com/icb/advance-... really tells the story, doesn't it?

The 2025-26 Eco-Evo job list is out. Good luck to those applying! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper! We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media. Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑 doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Fun news: I'm hiring a postdoc in ichthyology! Please spread the word #TeamFish, and message me if you have questions. (Job requisition id is R00107333 if LSU link below takes you elsewhere.) lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/LSU/de...

We can learn a lot from whale poop. 💩 New #WHOI research shows rising levels of toxic algae in bowhead whale feces—evidence of warming Arctic seas and growing risks for coastal communities that rely on marine mammals for food. 📲 Learn more from @discovermag.bsky.social: go.whoi.edu/dm-bowheads

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

🚨🚨 New tenure track position in #ConservationBiology @oberlincollege.bsky.social in the #Biology department--come join us, and contribute to our brand new Environmental Science major too! #biologyjobs #ecologyjobs jobs.oberlin.edu/postings/16671

Go, Jaida!!! If you don’t follow @sofishtication.bsky.social and @misselasmo.bsky.social, you should fix that!