Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly. Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help! 🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm

New paper alert! (My first!) This is a benchmark paper on all NPS fossils within the State of Utah through 2024. Loads of illustrations by me and pic by coauthors and collaborators. Open access, free to download! Thanks to all who made this possible! giw.utahgeology.org/giw/index.ph...

Nice 3-year teaching+research postdoc at NYIT! careers-nyit.icims.com/jobs/4126/po... The human anatomy teaching experience is tremendously valuable; for people in our fields (e.g., morphology, biomechanics, palaeontology) it opens up great faculty job opportunities! And the NYIT faculty are great.

I'm delighted to share the latest publication involving my lab - out now in PNAS: Geochemists & Paleontologists across the globe joined forces to confirm the preservation of molecular #biosignatures in #fossil organic matter - and explore signals associated with photosynthesis.

A’ho! 🪶🙌🏽🇺🇸

It's #GarWeek! Celebrate these living fossils by learning all about what makes this freshwater species known as "trash fish" so special in our latest conversation with @solomonrdavid.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw84...

What do we know about the last surviving dinosaurs, living right before the asteroid? And is Nanotyrannus a tiny tyrannosaur species or juvenile T. rex? Lindsay Zanno & I talk through the big questions with Ira Flatow on today's @scifri.bsky.social ! www.sciencefriday.com/segments/din...

Our collaborative genome project is now published!

The #FindThatLizard Scholarship is accepting applications until 12/10. We fund girls, women, and gender non conforming persons pursuing herpetology🦎🐍🐸🐢 I can’t wait to read your application! earynmcgee.com/findthatliza...

Interested in fossils? Brains? Reptiles? Want to study how reptile (particularly squamate) brains and senses changed over time? Want to be part of an international team studying the evolution of cognition? Then apply for our Univ of Edinburgh PhD project! e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...

Shaken to hear Mark Norell passed—good friend, trusted colleague, giant in our field. Coincidentally, I got the news as I was working on my talk for the Intl. Symp. on Asian Dinosaurs in Fukui later this month. Here's my slide on Mark’s impact on Asian dinosaur science. It hurt to add 1957–2025. 😥

I just heard the news that vertebrate paleontologist Mark Norell passed away. When I was a kid, I eagerly followed the latest discoveries by him & his team. Although I did not know Mark well, he was always helpful during my research visits to the AMNH. His biggest kindness, though, was early on. 1/2

We lost Mark Norell today. Dinosaur hunter extraordinaire. The coolest dude alive. My PhD supervisor. Wherever you are, raise a glass of your favorite lager or single malt, as it is what Mark would want.

incredible new national geological map for the U.S. just got released, mobile functional too, meaning you can get incredibly detailed geological information on the go, pretty fuckin' rad www.usgs.gov/news/nationa...

I'm beyond excited to announce that I will be joining the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma as an Assistant Professor in January 2026! Belasen Lab @ou.edu coming soon 🐸 ❤️

Instead of restoring American greatness, MAGA is destroying it. Science funding slashed in half. Earth science (my discipline) by 80%! Biology studies halted because some politician thinks 'biodiversity' is woke. Get used to slower economic growth, less innovation www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Hey @bsky.app can you please allow universities to verify their faculty? That would go a long way to promoting trust. I hope your list of verified people is not just sports stars and pop idols. bsky.social/about/blog/0...

When @mauritiantales.bsky.social and I began leading this study, we never thought it would get 10 citations let alone the 200 it reached his week! But what started almost 5 years ago as a lockdown data project has taken us on an unimaginable rollercoaster... (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My latest for @nytimes.com! Almost every iguana in the world is found in the Americas -- except for four species that live in the South Pacific, 5000 miles away. So how on earth did they get there? Well, y'all seen that movie "Flow?" 🧪🦎

Coauthors include @ashieldsestrada.bsky.social (recent UT PhD!), @allyboville.bsky.social (newly minted PhD candidate at UT@), and @jjjacisin3.bsky.social (incoming prof at UW Green Bay!) and many more not on bluesky

This was a super fun collaboration with LOTS of students including folks from South America, led by UT Austin grad student Céline Carneiro, and co-senior authored by my postdoc mentor @kzutaustin.bsky.social and me! Make sure to peep our positionality statement <3

Where are the global cold spots in genomic resources for amphibians and reptiles? And what can we do to ensure international collaborations are equitable? Check out our new Molecular Ecology paper, hot off the presses! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I have some good news: I have accepted a tenure -track position at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay as their first paleontologist! I would love to connect with scientists, and especially paleontology/herpetology/wildlife folks in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, etc.

Apply now for SVP’s Futures Award! 🦕 This award ($5,000 USD) is intended to support a summer research experience for current undergraduate students (incl. community colleges) who are Black, Indigenous, and/or members of other racial or ethnic minority groups! Link: vertpaleo.org/svp-futures-...

I just found out that one of my former interns also lost their job last week. She is a perfect example of the kind of person you want doing science for our country, and now her work has been tossed to the side, like so many others - it’s sickening. www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...

Announcing the rather epic 'Glossary of tetrapod tracks' in Palaeontologia Electronica. Three years of work led by Jens Lallensack, and with Guiseppe Leonardi (author of the original '87 Glossary). We hope it will be useful for anyone working on tracks palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025...

I am deeply saddened to have learned of the death, on Feb 5, 2025, of Elisabeth Vrba—a fantastically creative scientist and a warm, wonderful human being. She leaves us a legacy of original macroevolutionary thinking that is still fresh and illuminating.

Just learned that Elizabeth Vrba passed away last week. She was an intellectual giant in the field of paleobiology, and her work influenced the research programs of many a paleoecologist, including mine. I am sad that I never got to meet her in person. Rest in peace.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but "scientists don't know everything and have been wrong before" does not mean that a random-ass conspiracy theory with no evidence should be given the same respect as the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and expert consensus.

I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔

Dear researchers in decolonisation and museum studies, I am working on a syllabus on decolonial museology. Do you have any recommendations? Any references, especially relating to Asian-Pacific context or digital fields, are super welcomed!!!

Wow! Turns out that the giant allosaurid dinosaur Saurophaganax maximus from Oklahoma is actually in part a diplodocid sauropod (!) ... while the remaining bits that *are* theropod represent a new species of Allosaurus! That's ... that's a lot. 😳 journals.library.ualberta.ca/vamp/index.p... 🦖🧪

For a blog post on #Tomography flavored #holidaycookies! This handy "recipe" is a great reference when thinking about #FAIROS principles as they relate to your data. Thanks #Findability Working Group! nocturnetwork.org/blog/nocturn...

If you are interested in using #FossilSketch in your #geosciences or #paleontology classes, just send us a note through fossilsketch.org. We are constantly developing new features and would love your feedback.

New work from the lab! Annelise Blanchette found that brown anole lizards may be the most lead (pb) tolerant vertebrate known to date by integrating physiological studies of field and lab exposed animals and transcriptomics #urbanecology #ecotox #anolis 🦎 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New #MiddleSchool #Education resource! Along with @nocturnetwork.bsky.social's Education & Outreach Team, I'm proud to share this science lesson ft. #3Dmodels made from #CTscans (some from my #ForelimbHomology collection + fun new ones!) Download via QUBEShub! 🦴🐒🦅🐍🦎🐧 qubeshub.org/publications...

www.texastribune.org/2024/12/06/t... “Now, as state lawmakers head back to the Capitol for the 2025 legislative session, they could limit the influence faculty have over campus culture and curriculum.” CURRICULUM…

After decades, lake trout restored to sustainable levels in Lake Superior #GreatLakes www.wmuk.org/2024-11-20/a...

Want to stay up-to-date on all things Center for Biological Diversity? Check our our new #starterpack featuring some of the fiercest advocates for wildlife, wild places, the climate, planet and more. Follow us here ➡️ go.bsky.app/JLmwHjV

Navajo Nation is seeking congressional support in passing the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act. I wrote this in August explaining how the settlement means more than just water for the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Join the #FinsAndLimbs lab in Washington, DC, USA! We study the comparative biomechanics, physiology, and functional morphology of locomotion in #fishes and #herps 🐟🧪🦎. We are hoping to recruit two #PhD students to start in Fall 2025! Link to full recruitment ad: drive.google.com/file/d/1m_HB....

I couldn’t find a starter pack for POCs working in STEM, so I started one myself - my network here is still small and I didn’t want to assume how people identify, so please reply or DM me if you want to be added! go.bsky.app/BJkKQVR