Advice to Trump: Violent tantrums, & letters of rec from Netanyahu, will not win you this prize. Good thing still happen in this world. www.bbc.com/news/article...

"A request for comment from the U.S. Geological Survey, which is responsible for monitoring seismic hazards on the West Coast, resulted in an automatic reply stating no one could respond because of the ongoing government shutdown." www.science.org/content/arti...

Reminder. Fretting about escalators? We live in a Western world; powers are Western, pro-Western (money & weapons), or anti-Western (so-called new world order). The majority couldn't care less, but is forced to. There is wisdom in the majority. I am proud to be Caribbean. youtu.be/_got5rApjJ4?...

Our new TREE paper is out! "‘Earth system engineers’ and the cumulative impact of organisms in deep time." "Over ~3.5 billion years our planet has become increasingly bioengineered...". www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Here we go. www.npr.org/2025/08/19/n...

A #FossilFriday visual treat, the Cretaceous diatom Trinacria nitescens. In addition to their global ecological importance, diatoms are also a visual feast. Staring at this one enough will do wonder for your eyes. Scale bar = 10 microns. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/8cy7X6

This #FossilFriday we have a fish. An unidentified fish. Early Cretaceous from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. So many fossils, so few names, so few taxonomists. The dark data of paleo and Earth's missing diversity. All suggestions are welcome! #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7yP95M

#FossilFriday trilobite Zacanthoides idahoensis! Great name. An early carnivore from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7v2AFP

Happy #FossilFriday ammonite. Acanthohoplites barryana, from the Cretaceous of Shasta Co., California. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/Yx4fie

Ancient paleontologists or magical brachiopods?!

He gutted the intelligence networks, dismantled the anti terrorism task force, has the FBI working on deportations while headed by an imbecile, and then bombed Iran. Do all the miserable morons who voted for and support him feel safer today? I don't.

Here we go again America. Supporting warmongering and bombing the Middle East. Old habits die hard; easier to kill people apparently.

This week's featured article in Nature Protocols @natprot.nature.com . Big shout out to former student, post-doc and now colleague, Yuangeng Huang (China University of Geosciences, Wuhan).

New paper out online, "A modeling approach to quantify ecological dynamics and functional structures of paleocommunities", Nature Protocols. W/ Yuangeng Huang & ZQ Chen.

For #FossilFriday we celebrate Los Angeles w/ the round slipper snail, holotype of Crepipatella charybdis, from the Pleistocene of Los Angeles Co., California. Og genus Verticumbo (rev. J. McClean), still a part of California's great diversity. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/fmfhE7

"The right of #dissent ... is most secure where the system contemplates the right of dissenters to organize separately...the right to dissent is the foundation of liberty and liberty is the climate within which man's creativity flourishes best." Michael Manley, "The Politics of Change"

#FossilFriday clam. Venericardia merriami holotype, Oregon, USA. From the Eocene, shortly before the planet changed, transitioning from a Warm House to the Cool/Ice House planet that we currently have (for now). #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/pUwnwu

#FossilFriday foram! Vaginulinopsis verruculosa, Eocene Lodo Fm. of California. The Lodo records the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum when global average temp. rose more than 5 C, lasting ~200,00 years! A time of big biotic change. #paleontology #foraminifera @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/rBMU4y

Attorney General Bonta (California) Sues to Stop Termination, Withholding of National Science Foundation Grants oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

Subjecting international students to more extreme social media vetting so they can study in the U.S. will only further chill free speech on campus. The Trump administration must not double down on this discredited and discriminatory approach.

“The protection of at-risk scholars is not just a moral duty — it is an investment in science itself.” Our community needs to define and recognize who among us needs help, and organize ourselves to do whatever we can. There is no one coming to the rescue until we act. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Are Humans Apex Predators? (Oceana.org) In 2013, Sylvain Bonhommeau and colleagues published a study (Eating up the world’s food web and the human trophic level) in which they defined a Human Trophic Level (HTL). It’s a very neat study, in which the researchers examined human diets globally, with…

It's #FossilFriday! Holotype of the Pleistocene diatom Rouxia leventerae, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Scale bar=10 um! Diatoms produce up to 50% of Earth's oxygen each year. They remind us that small can be mighty, and of the power of numbers. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/dT1BWa

New paper out today in PNAS, with Geerat Vermeij and Rick Grosberg, "Energetics and evolutionary fitness", in which we take a look at the Equal Fitness Paradigm. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Happy #FossilFriday. A skull of the real dire wolf, Canis dirus, from the Pleistocene of California. We've tried repeatedly to reflesh this thing, but the result always looks like some weird cross between a modern wolf and my dog. 🤷‍♂️ #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7v6PFh

Standing up for science. GSA and GSA Foundation Announce Record Support for the Geosciences Joint Action Addresses Funding Shortfalls by Federal Scientific Agencies www.geosociety.org/GSA/GSA/News...

I love fossils. I've never met one that I didn't wish could be seen at least one as a living, vibrant organism, appreciated by all. Therefore, for #FossilFriday I present to you the US National Science Foundation ❤️

NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions. I am speechless. www.science.org/content/arti...

“It is completely unacceptable that some individuals are choosing to disrupt academic activities" Also unacceptable for you to repress academic, intellectual and democratic freedoms. Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Occupy Columbia University’s Main Library www.nytimes.com/2025/05/07/n...

#FossilFriday Paraphrasing the Great Bard, "Something is rotten in the state of USA" as we wake to news of NSF's demise. Rotten fish? To mourn, here is Vinctifer comptoni, Cretaceous, Brazil, described by the notorious Starr Jordan. #paleontology collections @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7A5Cx7

‘Kennedy told reporters that there were "many, many good ways to treat measles and doctors need to know that and to know those methods.’ One problem; there is no treatment for measles. Signed, a doctor who’s been forced to deal with measles because of this stupid fraud.

Infuriating, dumb, hateful, spiteful and fearful. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

It is very important for biologists and earth scientists to recognize the significance of museum collections, and to support them. youtube.com/watch?v=vckm...

Still #FossilFriday in my time zone...Californian herring-type fish, Xyne grex, member of the productivity-driven explosion of N. Pacific diversity during the mid-Miocene. Described by the notorious David Starr Jordan. From the #paleontology collection @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7v6Aom

"It is not human. And presenting it as if it were? That's dangerous. Because it's convincing. And nothing is more dangerous than a convincing illusion." techxplore-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/techxplo...

An absolutely masterful review of a book that appears to be a must-read. "Riffing on a fabled slogan, it is time to make humanity humane again, so that the values that guide our actions sing a love letter to our granddaughters." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Happy #FossiFriday. Trying to drown the sorrows of a frozen NSF with a Devonian trilobite from Morocco, Odontochile hausmani. As any trilobite can testify, this too shall pass. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social flic.kr/p/7tXLC4

"NASA Science Faces an “Extinction-Level Event” with Trump Draft Budget Proposal" #AGU eos.org/research-and...

Call for a postdoc position at Vilnius University. If you are interested in doing innovative macroevolutionary, macroecological, geobiological research in my group please write me: [email protected] or PM. Duration of the project 2 years, budget up to 130K euro. 1/2 #Paleobio ⚒️ #Geology

"If we really want the best talent in science, then let’s foster environments across the scientific enterprise that invite neurodiversity and recognize the strengths of neurological differences," writes @holdenthorp.bsky.social in a 2024 #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/3GcwC7z

Quiet & mourning the loss of our careers, yet looking ahead and seeking employment. Over 100 dedicated #NEH civil servants with SO much to contribute through years of expertise in grantmaking, project & program management, data analysis, research, knowledge of diverse #humanities fields, and more!

A justification for much of my work has been that the geological record offers natural experiments on how extreme global change impacts ecosystems, as our own human experience offers limited opportunities. Welcome to the club economists. www.science.org/content/arti...

Morning from Kyiv! As my medical treatment is on and I am 'crawling' for feeling better, the war is here, damaging and killing. So I will do my best to write to you. Yesterday, drones attacked Dnipro. Three people were killed, including a child 💔 THIS is important to know and share. Thank you.

It's too much. Our NSF award is frozen as we learn today that DOGE and Musk have set up shop at NSF. The Endangered Species Act is set to be gutted. Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid!,” the president wrote. Lord Farquaad: Some of you may die, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make.

This Day in History: April 4, 2025, the First Age of America is widely acknowledged to have ended. The barbarians were at the gate. On the inside that is, in the garden, the house, even the chicken coop (which was sadly devoid of eggs).

BREAKING: A federal court ruled the lawsuit of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Ph.D student detained for writing an op-ed, should proceed in Vermont — denying the Trump administration's motion to move the case to Louisiana. We will not stop fighting until Rümeysa is home.

#FossilFriday Molluscs 3 consecutive weeks! Ammonite Parahoplites stantoni, Cretaceous, Shasta Co., California. Many ammonites were geographically widespread, without tariffs. #paleontology @calacademy.bsky.social @[email protected] flic.kr/p/Yx4f34

Entire departments studying chronic diseases and environmental problems were cut. Major Layoffs Begin at Health Agencies That Track Disease and Regulate Food www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/u...