NSF GRFP awards just announced: www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee.... Nice to see that the overall numbers are back up, but only one award in paleontology (7 honorable mentions). No awards, one honorable mention for sedimentary geology.

Truly end of an era. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

Was approached by "Example 2." Then the alarm bells went off. Be aware. lits.mtholyoke.edu/news/2026-03...

Eocene belemnites?! *Fascinating* identification of these in Hungarian marine rocks. Would be curious to hear from those who know the clade better than I do.

Search-and-rescue crews were “flying blind” trying to rescue survivors from deadly tornadoes that hit the Midwest last week. Why? Because Kristi Noem hadn't approved FEMA’s $200,000 contract with a tornado-tracking tool. But she had time to spend $220 million on anti-immigrant ads. Priorities.

This just posted by NSF: www.nsf.gov/funding/info...

Very proud of the @paleosoc.bsky.social for advocating a safer & more welcoming community for all paleontologists

Joining the "We're horseposting post your horses."

Dowding, E.M., Dunne, E.M., Collins, K.S. et al. The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology’s digital databases. Nat Ecol Evol (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

About NSF GRFP's being rejected without peer review: [from submitted info to Grant Witness] "12 RWRs as involving ecology, six in cell biology, five in psychology, four in neuroscience, and 14 in other subfields of biology" www.science.org/content/arti...

True fact: the ice age ended 11,700 years ago. Some people have not gotten the message.

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

Whatever one thinks of the attack on Venezuela, you have to admire the skill and strategic precision of the military forces that stormed Madura's fortress and so effectively removed the Epstein Files from the headlines.

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/c...

Delighted to publish Forum Article by @nicolasgaltier.bsky.social et al: "Journals run by learned societies or universities have more ethical policies while being cheaper and similarly cited" doi.org/10.1093/jeb/... Thank you for choosing JEB - we encourage the support of #societyjournals

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

In some ways, this does make more sense than ctenophores as the outgroup to all other animals because it allows for the developmental programming for *some* sort of symmetry to be a synapomorphy of non-sponge animals.

Really bad news budgetprocess.unl.edu/final-budget...

There's something that feels a bit dead about the world right now, but tens of thousands of people just came together to help us solve a 100 year old mystery about a little blue jelly, and I find that heartbreakingly hopeful:

When I explain why I retired from teaching after 38 years, some of these same thoughts come up. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

At an airport in South Carolina on Thursday, representative Nancy Mace called police officers “fucking incompetent” and berated them repeatedly, according to an incident report. www.wired.com/story/nancy-...

Pretty good article about the specifics of PRI's situation and what led to the immediate need they have from upstate NY based media. www.newyorkupstate.com/news/2025/10...

We are so lucky to have him. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

At the empty USGS booth at GSA. More out of view on both sides

The very first moments of the Cenozoic

Reporting live from Chicago, there’s no “hellscape” I’d rather be in.

This is a great example of geoheritage: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Federal Troops Arrive in Portland and Immediately Form Bands

Science news article about 2nd year grad students being unceremoniously dropped from the GRFP eligibility with no explanation or warning: www.science.org/content/arti...

#BrianKilmeade should've been fired a LONG time before this. But especially this time @foxnews.com.web.brid.gy do something right, for once in your miserable existence as a so-called NewsOrg. Fire Kilmeade! #FoxNews

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/o...

I'm in there. I bet many of you are. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Global Change Biology | Environmental Change Journal | Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Hoo boy

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...

Been talking with a recent graduate in biology who wants to get a Masters in vertebrate paleontology. He's taking a gap year and will take some geology classes. He's looking for suggestions for grad schools. I had some ideas but would love to hear some more - anyone willing to communicate with him?

No, JD, belonging in America does not depend on how many generations of your family have lived here. The values of this country matter - deeply - to who we are and what it means to be American.

Yet another Mazon Creek animal reconsidered

The story about Colbert being cancelled because…. Trump doesn’t like him, should be a warning shot to everyone. The oligarchy has the power… they will use their money to silence you. Time to rise up.

Honorable mentions: total 2020 1788 2021 1786 2022 1377 2023 803 2024 1719 2025 2535

Awarded GRFPs since 2020. Yearly totals: 2020: 2076 2021: 2074 2022: 2193 2023: 2555 2024: 2036 2025: 1500

Here are the ecology and evolutionary biology numbers: Awarded Ecology: 44 (2.9%), Evolutionary Biology 19 (1.3%); Honorable Mention Ecology 198 (7.9%), Evolutionary Biology 74 (2.9%). Again, the drop off from Honorable Mention to Awarded is telling.

Some numbers on the 2025 GRFP awards. Total awards: 1500. Total in Geoscience: 85 (5.7%). Total in paleontology/paleobiology: 2 (0.13%). Honorable mentions: 2535. Total in geoscience: 217 (8.6%). Total in paleontology/paleobiology: 11 (0.43%). Not good.

Indiana University Bloomington B.A. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences B.S. in Atmospheric Science B.S. in Earth Science B.S. in Environmental Geoscience Indiana University Indianapolis B.A./B.S. in Geology Indiana University Northwest B.A./B.S. in Geology

Here is the list: Ball State University B.A./B.S. in Geology M.S. in Geology and Natural Resources B.A./B.S. in Environmental Geoscience M.A. in Environmental Geoscience Indiana University Bloomington B.A. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences B.S. in Atmospheric Science