Mel Pardi
@drpardi.bsky.social
📤 2079
📥 492
📝 218
Quaternary Paleoecology🧪, Curator of Geology Illinois State Museum, Bacchante, Museum Nerd
I saw this movie with a good friend and the validation I'm getting from everyone who had the exact same instantaneous reaction we did is... beautiful.
add a skeleton here at some point
1 day ago
0
3
0
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Birder K
8 days ago
There is a new Ryan Gosling movie out apparently and the only thing I know about it from posts here is that the centrifuge is unbalanced, and I’m delighted that this fact has come across my feed many many many times today. You’re my people 😂
1
39
4
reposted by
Mel Pardi
pussy commie-tatas
8 days ago
I love trying to balance centrifuges with odd numbers of tubes and in atypical configurations. Makes me feel like some sort of a physics pervert
12
275
4
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Stephanie
4 days ago
The only “online debate” I’ve seen about this movie is about how he loaded the centrifuge, and it’s not much of a debate - we all agree that Ryan Gosling doesn’t know how to load a centrifuge
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...
loading . . .
Why Has ‘Project Hail Mary’ Ignited So Much Online Debate?
"There's debate around a number of themes that seem to be political," says one industry expert about why the Ryan Gosling-led film has seen a sky-high level of social media engagement.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/project-hail-mary-ryan-gosling-social-media-marketing-1236547185
5
67
12
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Anders Bergström
6 days ago
Out today is our paper 'Genomic history of early dogs in Europe', in which we uncover the identity of the dogs that lived in Europe before agriculture—during the Paleolithic & Mesolithic periods:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
. A thread ⬇️ (10)
@biouea.bsky.social
@crick.ac.uk
@mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social
4
181
84
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Gwen Pearson
7 days ago
Fantastic news! 🦋🦋 Link to full report in 🧵
www.worldwildlife.org/news/stories...
loading . . .
Monarch butterfly population increases 64%
Two new reports estimate a 64% increase in species population and a significant decrease in forest degradation in the butterfly's winter home
https://www.worldwildlife.org/news/stories/monarch-butterfly-population-increases-64-percent/
11
1181
535
reposted by
Mel Pardi
11 days ago
Third installment of
#mammothmarch2026
a cast of a Columbian mammoth footprint found at the Carson City Prison, Nevada. On display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California.
#fossilfriday
#naturalhistorymuseumoflosangelescounty
#prehistoricnevada
#mammoth
1
23
6
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Owen Goodchild
11 days ago
#fossilfriday
it’s been a very busy week visiting the collections
@ucmpberkeley.bsky.social
to study the gomphotheres houses here. Enjoy the three holotypes I have had the pleasure of studying/scanning this week: Megabelodon minor, Gomphotherium cingulatum, and Trilophodon simpsoni!
1
18
10
It looks like an underwater armadillo
add a skeleton here at some point
18 days ago
1
2
1
Have student or early career mammalogists looking to attend the 2026 meeting? Apply for travel awards!
add a skeleton here at some point
20 days ago
0
1
1
American Society of Mammalogists, the deadline to apply for travel awards for the annual meeting is March 15. Visit the "instructions" tab at
www.mammalsociety.org/index.php/co...
loading . . .
Honoraria and Travel Awards | American Society of Mammalogists
https://www.mammalsociety.org/index.php/committees/honoraria-and-travel-awards
20 days ago
0
1
2
Rebuild those programs BIGGER
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
3
0
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Jennifer Ouellette
about 1 month ago
The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn’t What You Think
www.wired.com/story/2026-w...
loading . . .
The Curling Controversy at the Winter Olympics Isn’t What You Think
After Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian vice-skip Marc Kennedy of cheating last week, everyone has become an expert in curling rules. They’re missing the point.
https://www.wired.com/story/2026-winter-olympics-curling-controversy-canada-sweden/
0
3
2
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Virginia Gewin
about 1 month ago
Scientists: if you have pursued/secured philanthropic funding in the wake of federal research funding cuts, I want to talk to you. Reposts appreciated!
4
49
85
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Ferwen
about 1 month ago
Canadian fossil reveals one of the first plant-eating animals
www.reuters.com/science/cana...
loading . . .
Canadian fossil reveals one of the first plant-eating animals
Scientists have unearthed in Canada's province of Nova Scotia the skull of a creature dating to about 307 million years ago that is one of the oldest-known plant-eating land vertebrates, representing ...
https://www.reuters.com/science/canadian-fossil-reveals-one-first-plant-eating-animals-2026-02-10/
0
87
20
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Spencer Wells
about 1 month ago
Japan's ancient 'tigers' were actually cave lions, DNA evidence shows ⛏️🧬🦁🇯🇵
phys.org/news/2026-02...
loading . . .
Japan's ancient 'tigers' were actually cave lions, DNA evidence shows
There aren't any native lion or tiger populations living in Japan today, but this was not always the case. Fossil evidence indicates that at least one species of large cat roamed the archipelago durin...
https://phys.org/news/2026-02-japan-ancient-tigers-cave-lions.html
0
33
17
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Yale Environment 360
about 2 months ago
The grasslands of western India are, in the popular imagination, the remains of woodlands lost under British rule — areas to be reforested, not conserved. But an analysis of medieval songs and stories reveals the grasslands predate British colonization.
loading . . .
India Sees Its Grasslands as 'Wastelands.' Ancient Poems Show Otherwise
The sprawling grasslands of western India are, in the popular imagination, the remains of woodlands that were leveled under British rule — areas to be reforested, rather than conserved. But a recent analysis of stories, songs, and poems from centuries past reveals that western grasslands predate British colonization.
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/india-grasslands-poems-songs-stories
0
9
11
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Wolfgang Kiessling
about 2 months ago
New paper emerging from our Paleosynthesis project
@paleosynth.bsky.social
. In
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
, we highlight the value of databases to
#paleontology
and the importantce of sustained funding. Our finding are probably applicable to other science fields as well.
loading . . .
The billion-dollar case for sustaining palaeontology’s digital databases - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The authors survey community palaeontological databases, documenting their contributions to science as well as their vulnerabilities, and provide recommendations for the future of open science databas...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-026-02985-8
0
13
3
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The first Early Pleistocene (ca 1 Ma) fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand reveals substantial avifaunal turnover in the last million years
loading . . .
The first Early Pleistocene (ca 1 Ma) fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand reveals substantial avifaunal turnover in the last million years
New Zealand has a rich Late Pleistocene–Holocene vertebrate fossil record with numerous sites across the country in dune, cave and wetland deposits, collectively providing detailed knowledge on the...
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2025.2605684#abstract
about 2 months ago
0
2
0
New Date: February 23!
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
0
0
0
I desperately want this
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
0
1
2
Too late for me, but this is excellent news for millions of people who suffer with this condition.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
0
5
2
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Riley Black 🏳️⚧️ 🦕
about 2 months ago
So power imbalance and coercive behavior is taken as a price to be paid. Anything becomes permissible as long as things appear consensual. Those with power and money keep it, and many look the other way to not jeopardize funding, field camps, their opportunities. The problems are pervasive.
2
75
16
It's becoming so exhausting to be angry all the time.
about 2 months ago
0
3
0
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Jacquelyn Gill
about 2 months ago
Just as a quick note while we discuss all the new (and familiar) names in the Epstein files: be careful about saying "everyone knows" about prominent people who are predators. People new to the field, people less connected (often marginalized folks), people who are adjacent, etc. may not know.
6
297
69
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Dr. Rich B
about 2 months ago
(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...
3
151
16
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Colin Danby
about 2 months ago
Yep. The men who clustered around JE were already well funded, mostly at rich private institutions. Indeed that was their half of the bargain: JE wanted association with big names, and found that misogyny flattery and money reeled them in.
0
19
1
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Ben Miller
2 months ago
Hmm, sounds like we need a refresher. The issue of whether everyone's favorite long-neck is called Brontosaurus or Apatosaurus (or both) has *nothing* to do with which skull was historically included on museum mounts! 🧵#FossilFriday
5
122
44
reposted by
Mel Pardi
GDLeahy
about 2 months ago
#FossilFriday
: The Pacific mastodon, Mammut pacificus, known from California and Idaho. This species was described in 2019. This is the second of two species of Mammut from North America, the other being Mammut americanum.
0
19
8
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Stacy Cashmore
2 months ago
Anyone who says that people are lazy and won't work if there is UBI are telling on themselves. Many people volunteer for charities, help neighbours in need, organise community events all the time without getting paid for it. People want to feel valuable., that won't change.
3
144
32
reposted by
Mel Pardi
UBI Works
2 months ago
"Not only don't people work less when they are guaranteed an income, they might actually put in more effort at work. And the fact that they have more money to spend leads to the creation of more jobs." Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
39
2723
1265
reposted by
Mel Pardi
LA Dork
2 months ago
Imagine driving down the Miracle Mile in 1967 and seeing this in your rearview mirror... Fear not, it's just sculptor Howard Ball in a VW towing one of his fiberglass mammoths to be installed at the La Brea Tar Pits.
120
3717
639
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Biodiversity Pics
2 months ago
🦣 The Mastodon giganteus of North America /. Boston: J. Wilson, 1852.. [
Source
]
1
23
7
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Randall Munroe
2 months ago
Early Arthropods
xkcd.com/3199/
27
4569
905
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Nicole 🪲
2 months ago
New enamel pins will drop on my site this Friday 1/30 @ 10 am PST! 💕 🔗 here to preview all the new designs:
shop.fossilforager.art
Reshares appreciated to get the word out!
#sciart
9
617
254
Feels just like Twitter 🤣
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
0
4
0
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Dr Ross Barnett
2 months ago
www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
loading . . .
Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth
The animals' extended lower jaws were seemingly made for scooping, but research over the past few decades has found they could do a lot more than initially expected
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/strange-shovel-tusked-elephants-puzzled-paleontologists-until-experts-took-a-closer-look-at-their-teeth-180988064/
0
6
2
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Matt Shipman (he/him)
2 months ago
Wildlife megafauna! Microbial evolution! Poop! This research has it all. 🧪
news.ncsu.edu/2026/01/envi...
loading . . .
Study Sheds New Light on What Drives Evolution of Gut Microbiomes
A study of African herbivores offers insight into how environmental conditions can influence the evolution of gut microbes that play a critical role in animal health and well-being.
https://news.ncsu.edu/2026/01/environment-evolution-gut-microbiomes/
0
15
5
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Michael (Misha) Stemkovski
2 months ago
Species shift their ranges in response to climate change, but many can't keep up. The resulting "community-climate disequilibrium" can impair ecosystem function and cause counterintuitive dynamics, like short-term gain but long-term loss
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
loading . . .
Linking Community‐Climate Disequilibrium to Ecosystem Function
When turnover in species composition lags behind the pace of climate change, community-climate disequilibrium increases. We, for the first time, explicitly link this disequilibrium to ecosystem funct...
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.70314
1
61
32
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Ash Ponders is desperate for work
2 months ago
Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.
208
15196
3091
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Dr Dan Jones
2 months ago
Science teachers. If you haven't seen it before, this link contains pretty much all the resources you will ever need. 1000s of files.
#iTeachPhysics
#Science
🧪
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
0
18
9
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Elisabeth Bik
2 months ago
Thousands of scientists inflate their CVs with self-published studies that cost millions of dollars of public money 1 in 8 'special issues' is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
@manuelansede.bsky.social
english.elpais.com/science-tech...
loading . . .
Thousands of scientists inflate their CVs with self-published studies that cost millions of dollars of public money
An analysis of 100,000 special issues of academic journals reveals that one in eight is filled with articles written by the editor, particularly at the publisher MDPI
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2026-01-22/thousands-of-scientists-inflate-their-cvs-with-self-published-studies-that-cost-millions-of-dollars-of-public-money.html
6
77
45
reposted by
Mel Pardi
LindaFly
2 months ago
The BLM has moved to revoke permits that allowed the American Prairie non-profit to graze bison on roughly 60K acres of public land in MT, prioritizing cattle ranching over bison conservation. They argue that bison do not qualify as "livestock" under federal grazing laws.
1
19
19
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Stand Up for Science!
2 months ago
DOGE is behind the plans to shut down NCAR... so billionaires don't care about NCAR because they have private meteorologists, but what does that mean for everyone else? Use this link to help
#saveNCAR
! :
tr.ee/save-ncar
www.today.com/video/meet-t...
loading . . .
Meet the Team of Meteorologists Who Keep Amazon Moving
Amazon has a dedicated team that protects the company's employees as well as the packages it delivers when Mother Nature strikes: meteorologists. TODAY's Al Roker goes on the job with chief meteorolog...
https://www.today.com/video/meet-the-team-of-meteorologists-who-keep-amazon-moving-255960133852
2
76
39
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Daniel Swain
2 months ago
Attention folks in the weather, climate, disaster, wildfire, and Earth science communities: NSF has just published a new "Dear Colleague" letter inviting feedback (by Mar 13) on the proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
www.nsf.gov/funding/...
6
502
431
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Kaedan O'Brien, Ph.D.
2 months ago
A Deinotherium tooth from the Pliocene of western Kenya, along with a reconstruction of these giants by Mauricio Antón
#FossilFriday
0
32
10
#FossilFriday
One of my favorite fossils got an update this week. But Mel, aren't you an ice age paleoecologist? Sure am, but I'm also a lover of the weird.
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
0
1
0
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi | Science Advances
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
loading . . .
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi
Prototaxites fossils are distinct from Fungi, suggesting that they represent an extinct lineage of eukaryotic life.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aec6277?fbclid=Iwb21leAPgdlVjbGNrA-B2SGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHuki6uf1pliWWVaLVZnVStuy7eTzzXQmn5FB1TaS9GhHBvWiMnef8El-f8pU_aem_SGauwKPaC_u2u0QwMP6CPw
2 months ago
0
1
1
reposted by
Mel Pardi
Also, we have databases now
www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=146650
loading . . .
The Dirty Business of Slavery Historical Marker
(A historical marker located in Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.)
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=146650
2 months ago
0
1
1
reposted by
Mel Pardi
David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈
2 months ago
Editor here: I recently suggested five early career scientists who I know personally and knew would be good reviewers for a paper. We were only able to find current contact info for one of them.
add a skeleton here at some point
2
25
5
Load more
feeds!
log in