Our beta test is now live and we are looking for play testers to give feedback while we finish all of the bits and bobs (like that super enthusiastic flamingo). The game itself is about 30 minutes long and all about paleontology and geology. PG. store.steampowered.com/app/3512920/...

We have a Patreon! If you enjoy the Fossil Files, consider helping us cover our running costs!

Seriously, #EduSky, #Physics teachers, #scicomm folks, if you aren't familiar with thescienceplayground.com, you should be. Amazing collection of all kinds of science demos and games from across the web, all curated by a science game expert and, indeed, no AI!!!

Happy #FossilFriday here is a wee climate paper that I coauthored. We found that 20kya eastern Washington was drying and warming up and chasing away all the pesky pine trees (ew, trees). As usual with pleistocene stuff, my job was figuring out how old all the dirt was (age-depth modelling)

Not a biochemist but... Where is the R-squared value for that regression of 11 population averages that they are using for this point? Where is the analysis to compare fit between linear and nonlinear regressions to show that this is a continuous increase not something tapering off?

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

Again we have public denials of any close association but then he was close enough to contribute to Epstein’s awful birthday book in 2003 www.seattletimes.com/business/mic...

If the paleo community is going to be serious about Horner’s connection to Epstein, we also have to be serious about Myhrvold’s, because guess who contributed photos of animals mating to Epstein’s birthday book and has been appearing in new paleo papers this year - including the new Spinosaurus.

Not the kind of person you want to coauthor with or accept funding from...

In which I provide a few thoughts on the new Spinosaurus species, S. mirabilis. www.newscientist.com/article/2516... I also stressed the deep connections between one of the study authors - Nathan Myhrvold - and Geoffrey Epstein to New Scientist. They didn't mention it, neither has anyone else.

(11/n) At least as of 2023, he was still allowed to submit first-authored abstracts to the annual meeting (presumably having a collaborator present in his stead). I was a bit miffed to realize that he could do this since I was still giving SVP free labor by being on the program committee that year.

(4/n) There's no indication that the Ethics Chair (who is the Vice Prez of ExComm, at least recently) receives any training in ethics or legal handling of ethics violations. Why does this matter? B/c like a lot of other things that PhD-holders are asked to do, a PhD does not prepare one for that!

I have nothing of substance to add re: the condemnation of paleo associations with Epstein, but as the initiator of one of the more recent high-profile SVP ethics cases who spent months going through their process, I have some thoughts re: SVP's handling of ethics cases/reports. A thread 🧵:

If you need 150 people in palaeontology, geology, zoology, scicomm and related. And I could list more, but ran out of space!

this is all i see (text was too long so i had to write it on discord) i really hope SVP actually does enact proper change, actually listen to the people who've been pushing for this for how ever long. they need to earn back our trust, dont let the higher ups forget that

And the next 2 meetings are a few hours drive from this guys home. And they will give no indication that he is not welcome back

3 days later, the Horner - Epstein timeline has been viewed 114,000 times. Thanks to everyone who shared to help ensure that this information was not buried. I do not have power to enact change on my own, but I do have the research skills to bring facts to light.

Pretty sure nothing happened to this individual. The guy had guns in his hotel room. SVP knew he was an issue in advance and instead of rejecting his abstract, they asked him to edit it to not name specific people in his weird manifesto.

★"The trip actually took place in South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where collecting fossils on reservation land without explicit tribal permission is considered looting."

Wikipedia, which in the teens became the 5th most visited website, had this as the second sentence on JE's page: "He served 13 months in jail of an 18-month sentence as a convicted sex offender in the state of Florida for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution" web.archive.org/web/20111124...

A big take-home message: most field work is organised and led by men, and men are bad at ensuring the physiological needs of their students are met. Male scientists still find natural phenomena like menstruation and maternity to be taboo.

While no harassment in international forums has been experienced by the 39 women asked, half of them have experienced some sort of discrimination during the peer review or publication process. 64.1% considered that age also plays a factor in how they are treated and seen by their colleagues.

Of the 39 women asked, 72% has experienced some misogynistic in nature harassment. 22 have experienced psychological or verbal harassment in academia. 5 have experienced sexual harassment. Gender and race are intertwined in the type of harassment experienced.

New paper to reflect on during the International Women in Science Day. 🧪⛏️⚒️🦕🦖 "Barriers Affecting Mexican Women in Paleontology: Challenges and Proposals for Building a Women’s Support Network" paleontologiamexicana.geologia.unam.mx/index.php/pa...

Really SVP? You’re just going to ignore decades of sexual and academic misconduct, marrying a student AT one of your conferences, and every report I’ve filed (implying that’s what you do with reports) to defend famous Horner? You’d rather have pedophiles than students is your message?

Over the years I’ve filled two reports of serious misconduct at SVP meetings and barely gotten acknowledgment of receipt. No consequences.

From @geopetalfabric.bsky.social and @maryanningsrevenge.bsky.social. You can follow the podcast at @weirdanddead.bsky.social. www.patreon.com/posts/150459...

Guess who gets applauded on their rational response to Jack Horner being in the Epstein files? Not SVP, that's for sure. But good job @dinoconuk.bsky.social ! youtu.be/4Y9NnzkxamQ?...

It is International Day of Women in Science! For this ocassion, a thread on influential women that illustrate prehistoric life🧵 Marta Szubert. Creator of one of the first to-scale feathered dinosar models (1997). If you've been to Poland or Slovakia, you've probably seen her models on display.

The public made noise for Liam Ramos and it got him released from Dilley. Now we must make noise for 7 year old Diana Crespo. Her parents were taking her for emergency medical care when ICE grabbed them, and she’s rotting in the camp sick and exposed to measles. Get them out!

I’ve already been incredibly disappointed by @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social’s handling (and lack of accountability) on serious safety and ethical issues. This latest statement is the final straw.

(1) Another long 🧵 because @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social finally put out a statement on Jack Horner's association with Jeffrey Epstein and this is about the most spineless pooh poohing of a serious safety and moral issue I have read. I guess studying vertebrates does not require a backbone...

The world can be scary for a newborn Moropus, but not with her mother by her side!

(11) In 2013, Horner was awarded the Romer-Simpson Medal by the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social (its highest honor). I was at the meeting and saw his acceptance speech. Given this, I would urge those still in SVP to perhaps call on the Society to RESCIND the Medal and suspend his membership...

Dinosaur paleontology is rife with sex pests and bullies. Men who have the academy on their side and count on the benefit of the doubt, usually keeping their jobs and prestige even when their abuses come to light. I hope we get some daylight because I’m not kidding, the science needs a reckoning.

This Jack Horner. Who’s been known to the whisper network for some time now. There’s a reason I have repeatedly turned down writing about his work or him.

Geoscience and paleontology in general, not just vert paleo and specifically dino paleo, have long been "boys clubs" with high creep levels. It's not restricted to those that do a lot of fieldwork, either.

(1) Long 🧵 Time. Today we learned that paleontologist Jack Horner (the same guy who helped give us "Jurassic Park") is in the Epstein Files. As a paleontologist, I feel compelled to say something because this touches my field and I want to make my stance clear on this...

Academics vying for a spot in Epstein‘s world. There are so many. I feel the need to make a thread, so I don’t keep confusing them. 1/

Huh. Didn’t have Jack Horner telling Jeffery Epstein that he could keep dinosaur fossils on my 2006 bingo card

MDPI also published the Kraken hypothesis about Berlin Icthyosaur state park. The 'beak' is now a 'peer reviewed' publication. I think a lot of paleontologists when they hear the word predatory publishing don't really know what to look for, so this article is a worthwhile read.

As such Agate features a very mixed community, ancient lineages like oreodonts were still thriving along newcomers like camels. And clades, like the horses, have grazers as well as browsers in their ranks. These herbivores have been found in some cases in large bonebeds...

Result from the Agate Fossil Beds #paleostream! This early Miocene lagerstätte from Nebraska (USA) is a fantastic window into our understanding of the transition from forest communities to grassland biomes...

FYI for all who celebrate: your annual reports for your federal Paleontology permits are due soon!

What type of black cloth do you all use as a background for your fossils in photos? Velvet? Some other mysterious fabric? I'm tired of cropping out weird colors.

Better than the emotional scars I have from @geopetalfabric.bsky.social and @maryanningsrevenge.bsky.social 's NSFW episode on bird milk that I indulged in while driving across Wyoming this summer www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUzr...

Oh, I just listened to @maryanningsrevenge.bsky.social and @geopetalfabric.bsky.social doing their thing about bird crop milk. I know.

We cover a lot of ground in this one: the ethics of publishing on Myanmar amber, article retraction, and whether Rob has any credibility. It's a good one. Give it a listen 👇