Big career update is now official: on July 1st I will move into the State Geologist role and take over leadership of the North Dakota Geological Survey. I will continue to work with the NDGS Paleo team, though in a reduced capacity. This means we will be hiring a new Paleontology Section Manager!

Can dudes who scream about minutiae irregularities in dinosaur models, because apparently it's good for scicomm, have the same energy and platform to scream about actual threats to palaeontology?

Mosasaurs as long as an adult T. rex swam through Cretaceous rivers. The lizards weren't there by accident or aberration. They lived there. My latest newsletter's out now!

It's not everyday you get to shake a dinosaur's hand

Not the kind of person you want to coauthor with or accept funding from...

On January 5th, I resigned as a co-chair of the Student and Postdoc Liasion Committee. My resignation followed the US invasion of Venezuela because that was like an imaginary line I set up for myself as the last straw. However, as I was organising the Round Table, I heard the concerns of members

Come be my boss! The North Dakota Geological Survey is hiring the State Geologist position. They are casting a wide net in terms of professional experience, including paleontology given the strong program we have here. To apply go to www.nd.gov/jobs and search for State Geologist.

Scratches and bite marks tell us that cat-like carnivores called nimravids fought each other often. And when they did, they went for the face. A favorite from my Smithsonian back catalog. 🧪

Vanavond in het 8 uur journaal over ons nieuwe onderzoek waarin wij ontdekten dat mosasauriërs ook in rivieren voorkwamen! #aardwetenschappen #paleontologie #mosasaurus @vuamsterdam.bsky.social @uuvertpalaeo.bsky.social @ndgspaleo.bsky.social @perahlberg.bsky.social @boydpaleo.bsky.social

Ep171: Freshwater Mosasaurs www.palaeocast.com/mosasaurs/ We're dipping into the Late Cretaceous rivers of the Hell Creek Formation in this special episode. What's the worst that could happen? Oh and we made a video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q24... #mosasaur #paleo #fossil #dinosaur #geochem

Happy #MosasaurMonday from Eustace, the holotype skull of Jormungandr walhallensis discovered in North Dakota by the NDGS. We were tasked with taking this not-quite-complete skull (right) and digitally restoring it for display at the NDGS as well as a library just a few miles from the dig site 🧪

Fresh. Water. Mosasaur. In. The. Hell. Creek. Formation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn8l...

We're almost at new paper day! Lets take a look at some of the specimens used in the study. 🕵️ Oops, I seem to have messed up some of the names. 😱 Well, we'll know what they are soon enough... ⌛

The paper coming out later this week will provide an interesting update on the Hell Creek ecosystem. 🌎 As a teaser, here is a cropped bit of artwork. Any guesses about the topic? Best guess wins some NDGS Paleo stickers!🎉 [Keep quiet any paleontologists that already know about the paper] 😁

I know the year is almost over, but maybe you have some time left before the holidays to squeeze in one more Hell Creek Formation paper? New paper on a discovery from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota from an international team of researchers drops next week. Watch this space...

Some updates on what we have been working on lately here at NDGS Paleo. T. rex and a whole lot of mammoths! www.yahoo.com/news/article...

The deadline for submitting abstracts & workshop proposals for the 2026 AMMP meeting is Sunday Nov 23rd. The 2026 meeting is hosted by the North Dakota Geological Survey in Bismark, ND. Our symposium will be: Defining “Best Practices”. paleomethods.org/Symposium paleomethods.org/Annual-Meeting

This is incredibly important: we must frame tonight as a resounding victory — an electoral landslide, a mandate from the universe itself and as a repudiation of MAGA, of Trump, and of vichy democrats we must be relentless, we must not shut up

BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani (D) elected mayor of New York City - DDHQ projection

Out before dawn on a cool October morning. The NDGS Paleontology field season continues, now entering our sixth month this year.

FINAL DAYS! This is the LAST WEEKEND to get your exclusive 2025 NDGS Public Fossil Dig shirt featuring our Medora dig site! This is a limited time fundraiser that closes on Sept 7th and shirts will not be available after this time so don't miss your chance to pick up this one-of-a-kind souvenir.

READ. THE. SUBHEAD.

Remember! Our open Paleontologist position [Field and Outreach Lead] closes Sunday, May 4th. Get your application in and come work with Jimmothy, our newest star specimen from the Pembina Gorge! See this page for more details and linknto the application site: www.dmr.nd.gov/dmr/ndgs/jobs

The secret to making happy little Edmontosaurus mummy murder mittens is lots of duct tape and really loud Ladytron while waiting for adhesive to cure. My methods certainly do get results i guess.

I am advocating for due process for Abrego Garcia.

One of my "secret projects" I've recently finished is making a copy of the arm of Dakota the dinomummy. Here's the blog update on it with shoutouts to @boydpaleo.bsky.social and @himmapaan.bsky.social and @uglyfossils.bsky.social for their work on the paper/exhibit rmdrc.blogspot.com/2025/04/dako...

I'm just discovering it's #portfolioday And since I've been busy with work, allow me to reintroduce you to my by this post:

Love me some pXRF!

We are hiring a Paleontologist to join the @ndgspaleo.bsky.social team! We are looking for someone to lead our outreach efforts, including taking a leading role on our Public Fossil Digs each summer, and assist in the Johnsrud Fossil Preparation Lab. To apply: www.dmr.nd.gov/dmr/ndgs/jobs

I suppose the officially official post went out from the university, so I can share that I got a teaching award from the UT College of Arts and Sciences earlier this week:

Since it is officially announced, it is time to spread the word: The 2026 Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology annual meeting will be hosted by @ndgspaleo.bsky.social in Bismarck, North Dakota! Mark your calendars for April 15-17th next Spring and join us for a great meeting!

Calling all Big 10 folks. Put pressure to follow suit and call for active coordination and alliance in defense of academic freedom. No more Columbias. No more Paul Weiss.

Repost if you used an invite code to join this site

Whether Universities allow students to speak their minds about Palestine or live as themselves, this administration will find some reason to revoke funding. The only path is for Unis to support their students and to sue the federal government when it fails to uphold its obligatory payments.

Reminder we are coming up on the final deadline for the 2025 @sternbergcamps.bsky.social program applications on April 7th. Here's an at-a-glance of everything we have offered for this summer. (Credit to @geosplore.bsky.social for the graphic design work.) sternberg.fhsu.edu/education-ou...

This is why you don't remove qualified people from crucial safety jobs for no reason. Even if this wasn't a direct cause, stunts like this raise the background risk for these types of incidents.

To every Senate Dem: Shut it the fuck down. Trump’s unconstitutional chaos will kill people. 1️⃣ Oppose all nominees until OMB reverses the freeze. 2️⃣ Deny Unanimous Consent to slow Senate proceedings. 3️⃣ Vote no on all Cloture. 4️⃣ Force Quorum Calls at every opportunity. It's time to fight.

Join our Public Fossil Digs this summer in North Dakota! NDGSdigs2025.eventbrite.com Registration opens Feb 1st, but if you want to be assured of getting a spot you can become a Dig Supporter donor and get access to early registration next week. More info here: Ndpaleofriends.org/dig-supporters/

Super excited that three of our high school programs hit or passed our six-applicant minimum tonight just 1.5 weeks into the pre-registration period! - Research Academy Kansas - Field Paleontology Kansas (session 2) - Field Paleontology North Dakota

Sobering read about ongoing financial challenges for PRI. I'm hard pressed to think of a US museum that stretches limited resources further for science and outreach.

Happy #FossilFriday ! Another "Deciphering the Dinomummy" video for your viewing pleasure - this time covering the artwork done by @himmapaan.bsky.social and the traits requested, based off of the fossil features. youtu.be/338pfPjiXnc?... #paleontology #dinosaur #dinomummy #paleo

I don't think I shared this here yet. This is the Edmontosaurus illustration very kindly commissioned by @ndgspaleo.bsky.social to accompany the return to public display of Dakota the Edmontosaurus dinomummy at the North Dakota Heritage Centre in 2021. 1/4

NEW dinosaur artwork today! I had a ton of fun creating these two sinosauropteryxes. Honestly, probably the most fun I've had with a painting in a *long* time...

Oh no! Paleontologizing caught @boydpaleo.bsky.social, @mhouseholder.bsky.social, and me being super normal about a rotting cow on the SVP field trip. #taphonomy

It was an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow poka-dot rare crocy, that I prepped for the first time today. Pin-vise is at 1/64" size! So little!

Hello there! I’ve subscribed here a little while ago but had no time/energy/head to write something yet. I’m Filippo Bertozzo, dinosaur paleontologists actually unemployed and in existential crisis 🫡😬 here’s my fav dinosaur, Ouranosaurus, from the Museum in Venice. I started my career with it!

Hello all! I'm a first-year Masters student at the University of Minnesota, studying the evolution of dental development in horses (and morphological evolution, more broadly). Hopefully this can be as good of a place to network as Twitter used to be!

Curious where Sternberg Science Camps+ will be this summer? Well we’ve got a map for that! Yellow states are places we have logistics pretty much locked in for. States in gray are ones we are diligently working on for 2025 programs! We’ll be posting updates of this map as we get logistics finalized.