Overheard in North Minneapolis (my 4-year-old son talking to my 2-year-old daughter): "Lucky for us, Farrah, Dunkleosteus is extinct"

Agostino Scilla and the true nature and origin of fossils. #histsci 🧪⚒️ paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/a...

My new Gould paper is out today in Paleobiology (OA)! It is, in effect, a synthesis of some of my historical work on Stephen Jay Gould’s early career, which explores the curious position of punctuated equilibria in his early vision for evolutionary paleontology www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...

#Lancaster! Join Alison Bashford tonight, Nov 12 at 5pm, @globalaffairslu.bsky.social (with @victorianhand.bsky.social) as she discusses her new book, Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic. #HistSTM #HSTM #HistSci #BookTour #Palmistry buff.ly/jsJZ7Kp

why is James Watson's Times Obit 20,000 words longgggg to unnecessarily intellectualize this, it shows how much the public understanding of science is still organized by the concept of discovery. but that isn't the whole reason

I was just reading about the new documentary, The Marbles, and I thought it was time to repost this. It's an old post in which I ask whether some arguments developed for reuniting the Parthenon Marbles work for natural history specimens, like fossils... www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2023...

Bluesky sleuths & Ediacaran enthusiasts! I need your help... I found something very weird. It involves Reg Sprigg, discoverer of the Ediacaran fauna, who for 40 years complained about Nature rejecting his discovery announcement. But, the thing is ... (Read on!) www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

Some trilobite poetry for a lazy Sunday (of a rotten year, of a depressing decade). Courtesy of May Kendall, a satirist and radical sociological thinker, originally writing for Punch magazine

Excited our paper "Are We in a 6th Mass Extinction?" accepted in 2022 is now out @ BJPS! It began as UROP project w/ undergrad Gloria, expanded to a COVID lockdown project w/ Phi-Geo group, Sect 5 became kernel Federica's dissert & Sect 7 Aja's dissertation. Read ⬇️ doi.org/10.1086/722107 #HPS ⚒️

Reminder: the Handbook of the Historiography of the Earth and Environmental Sciences (Springer, 2024), ed. by Elena Aronova, @hallucigenia.bsky.social & Marco Tamborini, is #OpenAccess. Download the PDF here: link.springer.com/referencewor... #histsci #HPS

This week we welcome Prof. Steven Shapin to the pod!🎙️ We explore his journey through interdisciplinary spaces, revisit Leviathan and the Air-Pump 40 years on, and explore how credibility, trust and expertise are shaped by the fragmentation of expertise and (recent) political & cultural challenges

#HPBio #histsci #histSTM #evobio #HPS

A wonderful present arrived in the mail today: @melissacharenko.bsky.social's new book Climate by Proxy! #HPS

Physicists have long been enamored with “beautiful” models—but this seems to have changed in high-energy physics. In his new paper, Martin King argues that experimental contexts strongly determine the pursuitworthiness of “ugly models” 👇📃 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #philsci #philphysics #HPS

Don’t miss our Annual Lecture Series with Angela Potochnik! 📅 Tomorrow, October 10th ⏰ 3:30pm EDT 📍 CL-1008 Title: "Causes Don’t Push" Can't make the talk? Join on Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/94976944388 #ALS #CenterPhilSci

So, back in February I posted the first part of a reading list in the history of geology, intended mostly for people in philosophy and HPS who want to gain a footing in the subject. Here, 8 months later, is Part 2. (You can find the link to Part 1 within...) www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

Call for papers: Ian Hacking and the Philosophy of Psychiatry. Deadline: 1st February 2026. Guest editors: Şerife Tekin and Jonathan Y. Tsou. Submit your work! think.taylorandfranc... #philsky #philpsy #philsci

🎉 can’t wait to dig into this book - and to add it to my syllabus for philosophers-to-be. The glimpses I’ve seen are full of exciting ideas, and I’m sure the full thing is even richer. #sts #philsci 🙌 to @adrian-currie.bsky.social and @phieveigl.bsky.social for pulling this into existence

I had a rich and wide-ranging conversation w/ Professor Philip Kitcher for the podcast this week. We discuss his intellectual journey, interventions in creationism, sociobiology & the genome project, his philosophical evolution, and vision for philosophy serving the common good. A real privilege.

Florentino Ameghino, the father of Argentinian paleontology, was born #OTD 1854. He became a national icon for his role in creating national science and culture. 🧪⚒️ wp.me/p3ihHu-Af #histsci

For Day 16 #sciArtSeptember prompt rift: my portrait of #geologist & oceanographic #cartographer Marie Tharp (1920-2006), whose pioneering, thorough & complete ocean floor maps with Bruce Heezen, made using realms of echo sounder data, revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.⁠ 🐡⚒️🧪👩🏼‍🔬 #histsci ⁠ After studying

CFP on Recent Work in Philosophy of the Historical Sciences special issue Revue Philosophique de Louvain. Abstract 500 words to [email protected] & [email protected], by October 1, 2025. Accepted abstracts full papers due July 1, 2026 pencelab.be/en/events/rp... #HPS #paleosky

Our International Postdoc Forum is a virtual seminar series for early career researchers to share their work w/commentary by MCPS community members. Excited to welcome @rosetrappes.bsky.social (University of Bergen, Norway) at 1215 CT Wed 24 Sept. Sign up for Zoom link. buff.ly/MSAXLgY

In a few weeks, I'll be starting a new role as Research Associate in Natural History Humanities at Cambridge, based at the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social. As part of @camglamresearch.bsky.social, my project will be about 'Re-Excavating the Cambridge School of Geology, 1850–1914'.

Nice obit of Mark Norell in the NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/s...

Day 13 #SciArtSeptember prompt bottleneck, I’m interpreting literally with Japanese #geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi (1920-2007) 🧪🐡👩🏻‍🔬 #histsci who created tools that allowed her to make 1st measurements of CO2 in seawater, raised the alarm about nuclear fallout, tracing it in oceans & researched 🧵

Annie Montague Alexander, naturalist & fossil hunter, died #OTD, 1950. She co-founded the museum of natural history of the University of California and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. wp.me/p3ihHu-1MU #WomeninSTEM #histsci

For the 40th(!) installment of my "Problematica" series, I'm celebrating one of my favorite writers, Richard Fortey, who died this past May. Fortey wrote these beautiful bouncy sentences that REFUSE to leave your head. Here I've assembled a few of my favorites www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

M. J. S. (Jonathan) Hodge: In Memoriam: hpsleeds.wordpress.com/2025/09/05/j... #histsci #HPS

Today we are sharing a @harvardpress.bsky.social interview with @dagomardegroot.bsky.social on his forthcoming book, Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean: An Environmental History of Our Place in the Solar System niche-canada.org/2025/09/02/e... #envhist #histsci #space #books

Historian of science Janet Browne, author of the definitive biography of Charles Darwin (Voyaging, 1995; The Power of Place, 2002) will publish an abridged and updated one-volume version next year with @princetonupress.bsky.social: bit.ly/4mS7R0Q #HPS #histsci

Happy birthday to #geologist & #paleontogist Alice Wilson (1881-1964).⁠ 🐡🧪👩🏼‍🔬⚒️ #histsci ⁠ A job in the Mineralogy Division of the U of Toronto Museum was her entry into #geology. In 1909 as a museum assistant with Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), in Ottawa, she catalogued & labelled invertebrate 🧵

Join us Mon 1 Sept 2025 for @greenhouseuis.net #envhum book talk with @richardfallon.bsky.social on Contesting Earth’s History in Transatlantic Literary Culture 1860-1935: Believers & Visionaries on the Borderlines of Geology & Palaeontology (Oxford UP 2025). newnatures.org/greenhouse/e... #histsci

Today is publication day for this beautiful thing. I hope that it will tell a broad audience what historians of science have now long recognized: that alchemy was not a superstitious aberration but rather, an important phase in the history of ideas and of manufacturing.

The Interdisciplinary Entanglement of Characterization and Explanation – Max Dresow & Alan C Love Abstract in alt text or read it for free here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... #philsci #philsky

🎙️ New HPS Pod! I chat with Prof. Lydia Patton about HOPOS — the history of philosophy of science. From her editorship of the journal to the future of the discipline, Patton shares why a historical lens reshapes core philosophical questions. 🎧 Link in bio! #HOPOS

Just accepted: Situated Cognition in Early Modern Experimentation: The Case of Compelled Assent – Kirsten Walsh, Adrian Currie & Tom Roberts Abstract in alt text or read the full paper here: #philsci #philsky #hps

Soooo. I have a new paper on the origin and spread of the expression "Cambrian explosion," with some fun mid-twentieth century paleo, as well as some remarks on post-Wonderful Life shenanigans. Also, Darwin, Lyell, Simpson, Preston Cloud, TC Chamberlin and more! www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...

So... I have a new paper on the problem of classifying the Ediacaran biota, which includes a (very selective) historical narrative and some philosophical reflections, as well as a comparison with the problem of Burgess problematica www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...

Sarah Gabbott's @thepalass.bsky.social plenary talk has been living rent free inside my head ever since December so I'm delighted that she's written it up as a Comment for @natecoevo.nature.com: we need taphonomy to understand plastic pollution rdcu.be/eAmRU www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fun article in the NYT today describing a statistical model for ranking baseball players across eras. The Extinct connection? The model (called the "Full House" model) is inspired by Stephen Jay Gould's work on the disappearance of .400 hitting. Pretty coooool www.extinctblog.org/palaeonews/2...

The wildest debate in the history of American geology raged between ~1840 and 1890. It was called the Great Taconic Controversy, and it involved the oldest fossil-bearing rocks on the planet (allegedly). Read all about it on your local philpaleo blog, Extinct... www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

New today: the wonderful historian Alison Laurence (UC Santa Cruz, Contingent Magazine) explores the past and present of the La Brea Tar Pits in a "dire" age: www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

I never met Helen De Cruz, but I can testify that they left behind a trail of abiding positivity and openness and warmth in a profession not always known for these things. In 2016, they wrote a short piece for Extinct on Ancient DNA, which you can find here: www.extinctblog.org/extinct/7/20...

King Tyrant - a book - now has a trailer - like a movie! I had no idea this was coming, hats off to @princetonupress.bsky.social for putting it together!

New on Extinct: one of the best things we've had lately, imo. The philosopher Franziska Reinhard discusses early (and extraterrestrial) life research using her notion of a "circumstantial trace." Come for the stromatolites, stay for the Bayesian networks! www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025...

Jesus. Excellent work by Michael Le Page, and utterly infuriating scenario. As Michael points out, the press release from Colossal called these dire wolves throughout. But now they want to argue that they never claimed that. Scandalous, really. www.newscientist.com/article/2481...

Stop Forcing A.I. Into Every Fucking Thing!

New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team! Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05... Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Sand… deceptively simple, endlessly fascinating. Through geochronology and isotope fingerprinting, even a handful of beach sand can tell the story of mountains rising, continents colliding, and ancient rocks eroding. A whole world in a grain of sand. doi.org/10.1144/jgs2...